Everyone levels so fast...

calaran

calaran

Dalayan Beginner
Okay, so this has been something that has sorta bothered me for a bit and I want to know what my friends and I are doing wrong...

The three of us started playing a while back, and we started a trio of Warrior, Cleric and Wizard... Things went okay if slow, and we had to solo a good bit since we couldn't get on at the same time together very often... It became very apparent very early on that finding groups without belonging to a guild or having RL friends other than us in the game was going to be difficult thanks to all the DCer's, so we jumped on the bandwagon.... First we added an enchanter, then a necro, and now a shaman... the shaman and enchanter are a little behind on levels, but just for those keeping track, this is the group setup now:

Warrior 10/ Shaman 5 - first person
Cleric 9 / Necromancer 9 - second person
Wizard 8 / Enchanter 7 - third person

To me, that sounds like a pretty stout group... tank, 2 healers, 1 pure dps, 1 utility/dps, crowd control... Maybe once we're all the same level it'll be okay, but that brings us to the other point. Everyone seems to say that "Oh, you can get from level 1 to 40 in like a weekend, no problem" or less drastically "You should be 25-30 in the first week of playing". We don't play that steadily, granted.... (I'm the most steady, and I play about 2-3 hours every night, the others play when they can) and we are all still less than or around level 10. Every time we get on it seems like one thing after another go wrong... we either settle for killing tiny things (lt blue to highest level in group) and get tiny exp, or we try to push ourselves a bit (going into Mielech A for instance) and we end up wiping. It seems obvious to me that either we are just not in the right areas for our level range, our level range is such that we shouldn't even try grouping anyway, or something else is up.

We don't really want to spend 2 hours trecking to the other side of the world for an area that would last us another 3-4 levels, only to end up coming back over to Mielech anyway... But, is there just a much better place for us to be right now? We will be working on getting them all leveled to 10 in the next night or two so that everything is balanced out better, but after last night's WONDERFUL </sarcasm> experience we had trying to kill the entrance to Mielech A (people grabbing low level aggro, resists, etc) I'm not convinced it'll be much better when everyone is 10.

Basically, we're really looking forward to the levels like 25 and up, where your characters start to have access to at least the first versions of the spells that define their class, but it's just getting SO frustrating trying to make any forward progress even just at levels 5-10... not sure what to do.

Help? I would accept suggestions by way of 2-boxing suggestions, advice that we need to get everyone to the same level first, advice on different areas to hit, advice on items/gear that we should be looking for that would make life easier, etc... anything.
 
All the methods of which you refer involve...

A... gearing up very well with high HP, high Mana, focuses, and high ratio weapons...
and...
B... having a high level out of group healer/buffer/puller


Note the new sticky about powerleveling.

Playing a month straight through from the ground up every night and a bunch on the weekends, grouping whenever possible gets me to 40 in about a month.

Playing a paladin with a 50pp sword and a level 50 shaman to babysit, it took me 4 hours to get to 17.

That would be the difference between what you are seeing and what you are being told.
 
Okay, so basically.. what we are doing 'wrong' in this case, is we are playing it the way that Wiz intended. Gotcha. I just felt like such a newb, since we all are old EQers and know the game decently well I would say... and yet leveling seems to be going at an absolute crawl. Alright I guess we'll stick it out as it is right now... without having an out-of-group power-leveler, or suddenly coming into huge amounts of plat/awesome gear, do things ever start to speed up/smooth out. Our biggest concern is that while it's fun right now, if levels get progressively slower (as they are supposed to) as we level up, and we continue to have the problems with dying and advancing so slowly, then by like level 20-30, it's going to feel like such an absolute grind....

Right now it's exciting 'cause it's like EQClassic, but it has new zones and new mobs and difficulties are different, etc... we're just concerned that by the time we finally manage to get through this tough beginning stage, we're just going to be absolutely bogged down in a grind ad infinitum. Now, this is not to say that I don't enjoy the aspect of leveling and gaing power... I mean, heck, that's what the game is... I enjoy that, it's just that when you spend an hour or two getting your group of 6 finally together, then you kill for exp at a mediocre rate for 2 hours and then you wipe one or two times, it makes it feel like you've made absolutely no progress at all.
 
I would suggest blackburrow for your levels...MiechA is just to high if your highest level character is 10. I was able to get my characters from 7 to 20 easily in blackburrow, If you get sick of BB you can move to the Warrens as well around 15. After 20 try out Ruins of the First city.

You have to remember that there are HUGE gaps in gaming experience between players. Some folks have been playing mmo's for 10 years...some started 1 month ago. Of course there will be a gigantic, noticeable difference between their ability to level up! A person that has just started playing is still learning to move...use macros...figure out what their spells do...remember what hotkey each spell is on...etc etc etc. A person that has been playing for years generally has a pattern they have adapted, is less timid, and already has been there, done that..twice, and knows the ins and outs.

Don't get discouraged because people level up faster than you! Understand that while you are new to the game, they may not be. While you play a small amount (2-3 hours a night) they may play like an addict (7-8 hours a night). I mean..that doesn't sound like a huge difference per night..but add that up to a week of playing.

2 hours a night x7 = 14 hours a week
7 hours a night X7 = 49 hours a week

That is a HUGE difference in levels. It's even larger over the gap of one month...56 hours vs 196 hours!

Don't judge your progress by the progress of others. ;) Everyone that plays will eventually get to 65 if they put the time into their character. If you want a better comparison...judge your progress by your hours played. (See them by using /played) As your skill increases and you learn the game and where quests are etc, you will notice a better ratio to hours played vs levels on your secondary or tertiary characters! Alot of time you spend on your first character in a game is just wandering around trying to find things! Once you find them though..you decrease your wandering time. :D

I hope this helps explain some of the gap you may be seeing and gives you some encouragement. In the end it all comes down to; are you having fun? If the answer is no, figure out why. Are you just discouraged because you expect to much from yourself compared to others that play much more? You can always ask your friends that level faster to make an alt that stays in your play range. That is what I have done for my friends. I have alot more play time than they do, so I have one character I play just for me, and one character I keep in range to play with my friends! <3
 
I leveled to 65 in around 3 weeks time, give or take a few days. I box'd a beastlord / druid and constantly made full groups - I guess porting cut down on my playing time because i did not have to travel much but - if you play a lot you will level - if you take advantage of the great bonus you get for grouping - you will level

i almost never duo - it just doesnt make sense on this server, full groups all the way even if the 5th or 6th person doesnt do much

if you play like 2-3 hours a day, no - you wont level fast

it takes a while to find groups most of the time since its a lower pop and that doesnt include travel time

I never had an out of group power leveler or any twinked items - it's just amount of time played and skill - thankfully i have excess in both :D

Noth - 65 Beastlord
Nothie - 65 Druid
 
Don't kill light blues to the highest member. XP is limited by the highest member of the group, so killing light blues in a group will yield very little xp.

You're still kind of young for mielech as well. I would suggest you look around a bit from more appropriate mobs. Although they're a bit spread out, you should be able to find some good areas in Greenmist Jungle, or even northern Stingers Bog or southern Southern Waste of Tarhyl. Try heading for Mielech around lvl 15.

The level differences may seem big now, but they'll smooth out quickly as you gain a few levels.
 
GuiardoTuneweaver said:
Don't kill light blues to the highest member. XP is limited by the highest member of the group, so killing light blues in a group will yield very little xp.
Click to expand...


Most helpful thing I've read anywhere. I'm sure that's stated somewhere, but that makes great sense. I knew the exp would be worse with like a lvl 10 and a lvl 5 in the group... when we were able, we found mobs that were white/yellow to the level 10, and those mobs seemed to give everyone pretty decent exp, so that makes sense.

To everyone else that's replied so far, thanks for the responses. I think it's likely a combination of being in the wrong zone and killing the wrong sized stuff due to the level difference. We'll try in the northern part of the bog, or if necessary, head into the southern wastes... Thanks for the suggestions.

Cheers guys.
 
head to BB if you have a full group and grind levels there. then around lvl 17 id head to warrens with your full group - not much traveling (only the one large trek from BB to warrens) and lots to kill. Eventually you want to get to warrens king room which is sick exp
 
Playing from the ground up, the lower levels take the most time. Miel A is actually one of the best places to be as long as you can find enough mobs that you do not have to stop killing longer than is nessicary. Several of your characters do not yet have basic skills like meditate, nor do you yet have most of your class defining abilities. These come shortly.

Upper teens goes by fairly quickly... one or two levels a night.

BB and First Ruins are places people go because other people are there, or they are near where they already are. The XP there is aweful. Warrens is a decent place 15-20.

Once you make it to the mid teens, do not worry about it dragging until the 40s.
 
Like Nothie, I levelled to 64ish in about 3 weeks, finishing on 65. The key really is full groups, and tackling mobs that are white/yellow. Even if you have members sitting around doing nothing, the exp bonus makes up for it (which is ironic in a way).

Blackburrow is great for your level range, and then The Warrens is good until 18-20. First Ruins is great in the early 20s all the way to 26 or even 28. Choosing the right spot goes a long way, and making the most of the new zone bonuses go a long way as well.

If you fight mobs that are white to the highest level member, your exp will improve drastically. But when fighting mobs white to the highest level member, make sure your lowest level member is not significantly apart in levels or else he/she won't be able to hit the mob at all. I believe the hard cap is 7 level difference to hit a mob as a PC.
 
Of course, you could be like me and just enjoy the journey rather than racing to the end. I've been playing my pallie for about 3 weeks and have just hit level 12. Of course, I also had major surgery 2 weeks ago, so my computer time has been severly curtailed, but even without that impediment, I doubt I'd have her past level 20.

Some people like to level as fast as possble. Some people like to take their time. Do some exploring. Maybe do a bit of tradeskilling. My husband and I often lose groups because we don't chain pull. We take things at a leisurely pace, enjoy to play time, and let the levels take care of themselves.
 
Yeah, having played EQ1 and EQ2 pretty seriously, I do like to chain-pull when I am in killing mode. I do believe in tradeskilling, exploring, taking it all in, etc... but when I >AM< in a killing mode, I like to mow things down and see progress. I basically just want to get to the point that our toons all have the skills that sort of define their classes... I'd like my Necro to have his first really strong DoT's/Snares and the next level or two in the Lich line so I can REALLY start hurting myself... I'd like my Cleric to at least be able to heal the closely-leveled warrior from 70% to full with a heal... and some nice hp/ac buffs... etc... Once we get to that point which seems to be the earlier/mid 20's, then I'll be happy I think... heh :)

Anyway, thanks everyone for your advice.
 
Still playwise w/good grouping you can easily pull off 4 levels in a day (of course I'm talking pretty much a full day)
 
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