Overview of Alternate Advancement Enhancements:

In an effort to improve the advancement process,, we have made a few changes to the to the Alternate Advancement system for EverQuest. The AA window was revamped and many of the AA lines have been consolidated to make them easier to find. Also, we increased the rate at which AA points are earned at the lower levels of the scale.

AA Organizational Changes:

The biggest organizational change you'll notice when you first open the AA window is that there are a number of tabs "missing"! When the AA system was originally created there were only 3 tabs (General, Archetype and Class) and that setup worked fairly well. But for each expansion that contained more AAs to purchase, we added additional tabs. The current number of tabs was becoming overwhelming so we decided to slim the UI.

We settled on 4 tabs. The three original tabs are still there but next to General, Archetype and Class tabs you'll see a new tab named "Special." The first three tabs are fairly self explanatory but let's talk about the "Special" tab for a bit. The Special tab will hold any AA that doesn't fit neatly into the previous three tabs. For example, the "Glyph" (expendable) AAs will be on the Special tab and various AAs that have been used for progression for several expansions will live on this tab as well.

When we created the new UI for the AAs that we didn't wind up creating a data overload. We also wanted to make sure there were at least as many, if not more, ways to "sort" the AA lists to find the AA you are looking for. The only "sort" previously available was the tab system - you could choose which expansion you wanted to look at by clicking on that tab and then scrolling through the AAs on that tab. With the new UI there are a series of drop down menus you can use to view only certain sets of AAs. Additionally all of the column headings can be clicked to order the visible AAs by that column in either forward or reverse alphabetical order. Finally there is also a "Can Purchase" button in the new UI that will narrow the list down to only the AAs that you currently qualify to purchase (ie: the AAs that either have no requirements or have requirements that you have already met.)

The final large change was the consolidation of AAs. New AAs were created for previous expansions that were pure upgrades to existing AA lines. These added rank after rank of similar abilities, each with its own name. Finding the next AA in a line was difficult at times. To eliminate that confusion and to cut down on the amount of data that each tab held, those types of AA lines were consolidated into a single line. For example, Innate Strength ended up with quite a few more ranks than you were used. This should make it easier for you to see where you are in a line without the need to search through multiple tabs.

AA Scaling Changes:

Alternate Advancement experience has been accelerated significantly for those with fewer AAs spent and will scale back down to the normal rate as more AAs are earned. This means that when you first start to gain AA points on a new character the points will be easier to get than previously but the bonus will slowly drop off as you gain more and more AAs.

The experience gained formulas have been modified to present players with a much smoother increase in the number of kills required to progress through a level as they gain more levels. This change has the side effect of reducing the number of kills required to gain a level in certain scenarios between levels 50 and 75.

Previously AA experience was a static amount no matter how many AA points you have earned. We changed the system to give a bonus to players with lower AA counts to assist them in gaining the first few series AA points. The bonus reduces slowly as you gain AA points and AA experience returns to normal eventually. Currently the AA bonus ends at particular amount point earned but we plan to continue to adjust that as time goes on so that the bonus remains relevant.