This is by no means a comprehensive FAQ, simply what I, Copperfox, know about putting on a boost. I'll keep this post as up-to-date as I can, and if you have any other advice, I'll add it to this post.
Also, I know everyone in the guild when I wrote this knows almost everything in here. However, we plan to add more people eventually, right? I'm writing this as if telling someone *fresh* off Valinor.
**What is a Power Hour?**
Power Hour or Experience Boost is a 60 minute period where *all* experience earned is increased by half. So something that gives you 100 exp normally will give you 150 during an exp boost. This goes for crafting exp, combat/spell exp, and most importently, quest/taskmaster exp. As far as I know, this also holds true for bronze accounts - so they get 15% normal exp, instead of 10%.
**Where do I go to make a Power Hour?**
The altar for a power hour is in Teylan, which is far north of Valmond, a little below snowlands. Take the road north of Valmond, turn west, don't take the fork that leads to snowlands, and keep going west until you reach Teylan. The altar is housed in a building directly below the spawn portal.
**How do I make offerings to the Gods?**
To 'feed' the altar, stand next to it, and click on it. Your curser should change to an 'active' icon, like for most crafts, first aid, etc. Click on whatever you're putting in, providing it's tooltip value is over 1k. It'll ask you if you want to destroy whatever as an offering to the gods. Click yes and the alter should glow.
**What happens then?**
The alter has several stages of 'glowyness' which mainly indicate how close you are to actually getting the boost. As far as I know there's no time limit, something put into the alter stays there until a full boost is generated.
The stages are -
Slightly
Warmly
Brightly
Very White
Incandescently White
Often, I've started feeding for a boost and the first item got me a warm or bright glow - this means things have already been put in by other people.
**What if I want to do more than one boost in a row?**
Feed the altar until the boost begins. Then continue feeding it until it's glowing incandescently. Once it's glowing incandescently, STOP. Power Hours don't overlap or stack. Wait until the first one is over or almost over before you resume feeding it.
**How much does a boost cost?**
Two answers to this one -
5 million gold. Meaning 5million gold, split out and clicked on when the altar asks for the offering.
1 million or so items, by tooltip value. I'll try to get an exact amount eventually.
**I don't want to put that much gold in, what sort of items will the altar take?**
As near as I can figure, there are only two requirements for items to go into the altar. 1) A tooltip value of 1k or more. Confirmed recently by the alter accepting an item valued at 1,047g. 2) It has to be equippable. This is based on the fact that it *will* accept drinking horns (worn on the sheild arm) but not valden's hammers, which aren't worn. It also won't accept containers of any kind.
**Where can I get that much stuff?**
Two ways - drops, and crafting.
Drops are the longer, harder, but for many more fun method. A popular drop for boosts is Frost Gear, because it's not uncommon to get a peice of frost gear every 10-20 kills, which is an astounding drop rate compared to other mobs, and Frost Gear all has a tooltip value at or above the 13k mark. What drops you put in is entirely up to you.
Crafting seems to be where the majority of the boosts come from. And thankfully, almost every single tradeskill can either make, or directly contribute to boosts.
**What are some good things to craft for boosts?**
Short answer: Any gear over 1k tooltip price.
Longer answer: There are a lot of factors that come into play. Do you have a lot of storage space? What's your overall build, or what skills do you like doing?
If you don't have a lot of space to store things for a boost -- sometimes you'll need several HUNRED of something -- your best bet is something that can be crafted anywhere. Mystic robes are very popular, partly for this reason. Go to the altar with scissors and about one thousand malacinth cloth and just sew mystic robes until you've got a boost. Anvil of Valden makes iron crafted stuff viable with this method as well, but they're increasingly hard to come by. Many plain wooden weapons are also valued at 1k or more and can be crafted on-the-spot.
If you do have storage space, or at least someone to help carry things, then there are really no limits, since you can easily craft things elsehwere and just carry them to the altar.
Some idea of how much it takes of an item to make a boost ..
Item: Mystic Robes (43/Sewing)
Made with: 8 Malacinth Cloth
Tooltip Value: 10,442 Gold
No. for boost: 96
Total starting mats for 1 boost: 768 Malacinth Cloth
(This assumes no fails in crafting)
Item: Rugged Plate (23/Iron Forging)
Made with: 6 Iron Ingots
Tooltip Value: 3,800 Gold
No. for boost: 264
Total starting mats for 1 boost: 1,584 Iron Ingots.
(This assumes no fails in crafting)
**What are some perks and drawbacks to crafing elsewhere vs. at the alter**
Crafting at the altar allows for an on-the-fly boost. It's good for mixed boosts, where some items are drops. This allows you to feed the drops, then craft only exactly enough to make the boost. It doesn't require any containers devoted to holding things for a boost. If there are already things in the boost or someone comes along to help, you're not left with half a boost worth of stuff clogging up your bank. On the downside, if you have only exactly enough material for a boost, and you fail, you can be left with an incandescently glowing altar and nothing left to put in it.
Pre-planned/crafted boosts have the drawback of requiring the storage space for a hundred or more things, several hundred if it's a smaller item like mauls or rugged plate. On the plus side, since you're crafting, you can easily calculate how much of what you're making is required, and you arrive at the altar with 1m plus in items, no questions, fails are already taken into account.
**I've got 1m in rugged plate. Can someone help me put stuff in?**
Yep! Most boosts are done by several people all feeding the altar at the same time. You can tell if they're doing it right because you'll get a glow-message for their offerings. It's easy to get help feeding a pre-crafted boost -- just pass out crates to all willing to help and everyone feeds until the message appears.
**Is there anything else you've left out?**
Let people know you're planning/working on a boost. They might be able to help, either by donating excess gear, or aiding in the crafting at some level (planting mal, smelting iron, etc)
Also, let people know when you're actively feeding the altar for one, or when a boost is very upcoming. This lets them save handing in a quest so they get that extra xp. We all know how frustrating it can be to see the boost begin just after we've handed in a high exp quest.
-- Jan 18, 2008 -- A few changes, fixed some typos, tried to make the 'altar/alter' spelling consistently altar, and xp should be exp in all cases. Added several questions as well as the answers.
Anything that you'd like to see elaborated or added, please let me know. If you have any craftable stats like what I did for Mystic Robes and Rugged Plate, I'll add them as well.
Thank you all so much for your feedback, I'm glad this will be helpful and I'd like to see it expand, offering more tips, advice and facts about boosts.
___________________________________________
