Alternate Advancement (AA) System — EverQuest II Guide

Master the EverQuest II Alternate Advancement (AA) system: understand AA trees and optimize point allocation for character progression.

The Alternate Advancement (AA) system is a crucial component of character progression in EverQuest II, allowing you to further customize and empower your character beyond traditional leveling. AA points are earned alongside regular experience and are spent in various AA trees to unlock new abilities, enhance existing ones, and boost your core statistics.

AA Trees:

There are several AA trees, each focusing on different aspects of your character:

• Class Tree: Specific to your chosen class, offering powerful abilities and enhancements directly related to your class's spells and combat arts.
• Subclass Tree: Specific to your subclass (e.g., Paladin, Assassin), further specializing your character.
• Archetype Tree: Shared by all classes within your archetype (Fighter, Scout, Mage, Priest), providing general improvements relevant to your role.
• General Tree: Universal enhancements available to all classes, such as increased health, power, or run speed.
• Tradeskill Tree: Improves your tradeskilling abilities.
• Prestige Tree: Unlocked at higher levels, offering very powerful, often game-changing abilities.

Spending AA Points:

You earn AA points at a steady rate as you gain experience. To spend them, open your AA window (default key: N). Each ability or stat increase in an AA tree has a cost in AA points. It's generally recommended to prioritize AAs that directly enhance your primary role (e.g., damage AAs for DPS classes, healing AAs for healers, mitigation AAs for tanks). Many community guides and class forums offer optimized AA builds for specific classes and playstyles. Don't be afraid to respec your AAs (for a small fee) if you feel your current build isn't performing optimally or if you want to try a different approach.