The Darkened Sea... the COMMENTS thread

[SiegeTank]

I'm just grinding the levels out in RoF zones. Good thing I can mass-slaughter with aoe spells. Not sure how I'll level up all my alts tho. I have to find some repeatable instances/missions which continue to give decent xp, if such exists. I also think they will eventually improve the XP in the xpac. It's amazing to me how poor it is, given that they want to get players to play there.

Sony never ceases to amaze me with their level 300 skill at "Shooting Self in Feets".

 

[dadada]

I would recommend to just work through the progression and let the levels happen.
My reasoning is, I want mine flagged for all zones because I don't want to take a chance on rotting loot I can't get them to.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

This shit is gay as aids.

 

[Sum1]

There was a guide on the EQ forums somewhere on how to level to 105 in a matter of hours. I think the post said to do some bixie mission every 5 mins.

Truth... this is akin to the typical kinds of things SOE does when new expansions come out.... there's something that players can do to get a lot of exp in a little amount of time. I will assume it gets nerfed in short order.

 

[aspire2008]

There was a guide on the EQ forums somewhere on how to level to 105 in a matter of hours. I think the post said to do some bixie mission every 5 mins.

Truth... this is akin to the typical kinds of things SOE does when new expansions come out.... there's something that players can do to get a lot of exp in a little amount of time. I will assume it gets nerfed in short order.

That mission has been like that since the release of CotF almost a year ago. People were using it to level evolving items. It might get nerfed, but there are some other ways to level quickly besides that. I don't have TDS but I'd use collects to level, that's how people posting they got to level 103 or 104 in a hour did it.

 

[zdozbou]

There was a guide on the EQ forums somewhere on how to level to 105 in a matter of hours. I think the post said to do some bixie mission every 5 mins.

Truth... this is akin to the typical kinds of things SOE does when new expansions come out.... there's something that players can do to get a lot of exp in a little amount of time. I will assume it gets nerfed in short order.

That mission has been like that since the release of CotF almost a year ago. People were using it to level evolving items. It might get nerfed, but there are some other ways to level quickly besides that. I don't have TDS but I'd use collects to level, that's how people posting they got to level 103 or 104 in a hour did it.

Collections only really works if you don't play the game. Anyone who plays already has most of the collections, if not all, completed. And there is no way you're getting a full level in an hour doing the new TDS ones.

 

[aspire2008]

If you do all the RoF/CotF ones, you should be able to get to level 103 without any issue, each set is 2% no matter what level you do it at, plus completion of a zone gives another 2%. There are enough sets to get to level 103 from both of those expansions. The people who posted on forums clicked everything in the set minus 1 of the set, so they leveled to 103 or 104 depending on how many they saved, in less than a hour, you would have only have had to click one per set if you saved them. The people who made it to 105 in a matter 2-3 hours I'm guessing did a combination of collections, saved glyphs and banked task rewards, but you can easily get to level 103 with just collects if you saved them.

 

[Chase369]

I don't understand the rush to max level anymore. It'll happen and then the AAs will be maxed, then the chase items, then the alts, then the wait...

 

[Quackanator]

I don't understand the rush to max level anymore. It'll happen and then the AAs will be maxed, then the chase items, then the alts, then the wait...

It's important to race to the top for some peep's ego and their epeen

 

[Dealings]

I don't understand the rush to max level anymore

try not lvling and doing current content and see how that works out

unless the toon is just riding on the coat tails of a lvld main or grp its neccessary to be able to tank mez dps stuff and not doing it half ass

 

[SiegeTank]

Honestly if the game was DESIGNED so you could enjoy the content "as you go" there'd be far less pressure to max level. But "levels uber alles" in EQ. Plus it's DESIGNED to make it relatively easy to level to the max, believe it or not. Contrast this with the old days when every level from 51-60 was a "hell level" and 59 was an interminable black hole of a super-hell level. Even dedicated levelers spent weeks stuck in some of those levels.

You can see this on the P99 server. I spent a long time enjoying grouping and the scenery and doing quests while leveling because the levels took so damn long. It would have been far too frustrating to focus "just" on grinding so you literally had to add some other goals along the way to pass the time.

Dedicated players today can all crunch out 101-105 in a matter of days. But we're looking for the most efficient way to do it, because frankly I'd rather max out first and THEN spend time doing quests, missions and exploring cuz like a guy said above, it's so much easier with the skills, abilities and stats that come from being higher-level.

That's my take, for what it's worth.

 

[Zeta1]

Contrast this with the old days when every level from 51-60 was a "hell level" and 59 was an interminable black hole of a super-hell level. Even dedicated levelers spent weeks stuck in some of those levels.

I remember being stuck at 59 for about a week in 2001. I was playing at least 12 hours a day and that damn yellow bar would barely move.

 

[SiegeTank]

At level 103 the level 90 hotzone quest, and the alternate, both gave me 2% regular xp. That's without LoTD or xp pot running. Considering the mobs are green or LB and the biggest work comes in rounding up 5 of them this is an easy peasy way to get 4% reg XP a day without breaking a sweat.

 

[aspire2008]

At level 103 the level 90 hotzone quest, and the alternate, both gave me 2% regular xp. That's without LoTD or xp pot running. Considering the mobs are green or LB and the biggest work comes in rounding up 5 of them this is an easy peasy way to get 4% reg XP a day without breaking a sweat.

With an enc and wiz combo you could easily pull 50+ mobs at a time and gain some fast experience.

1) Set enc to twist pbae mezz/stun (should be able to load 95 version and the 100 version)

2) Pull with wiz using staff of temp flux (instant cast aggro)

3) Use 2 caster mercs set to ae damage stance, 3 if space allows

4) drop your pull right on top of your enc & hit arcane destruction right before you get to enc (rune for ~320k dmg)

Blow it all up and wait on AD to refresh, or sub in another wiz to start your next pull.

You will be shit out of luck if the mobs are not stunnable.

 

[SiegeTank]

Good idea, certainly worth trying for someone with the right classes available. My problem with 50-mob aoe strats is that eventually you die and dying/recovery takes time. Time that could be used XPing. That isn't to say it doesn't work and the challenge isn't FUN, which is ultimately the point eh?

Plus to aoe 50 mobs they probably have to be all LB or at worst low DBs. Right now I pull about 20-24 mobs and aoe them at range so the risk is small. Plus the mobs can be all the way up to yellow or even low red. And I do it solo so I get all the XP. To max out my potion I use an alt druid to consume the time tagging all the mobs with ensnare (the aa). Once that's done and the pack of mobs is nicely rounded up awaiting destruction the puller fades and then the toon I'm working to level takes over.

It works and works fine but it gets boring after awhile and I'm also considering how to level up my mixed-class bot group, for which this doesn't make use of the rest of the group's firepower. Looks like the daily hotzone should be good for 4% a day, which is better than a level a month, just for that trivial time spent. Wish they could be done more often or that there were more "alternates." I'm surprised they didn't at least add level 95 hotzone tasks.

 

[SiegeTank]

At 104 XP drops again, probably about 20%, doing mass slaughter in RoF zones. But this is practically to be expected just due to level increase.

Anyone done the heroic mission Storm of Sorts ? I wonder what kind of XP this gives since it's from the new xpac entry zone.

 

[dewey2461]

I've done the first HA "storm of sorts" and it looks like a nice instance to cycle. Mobs were not hard to pull and there were plenty of mobs.

The only thing I don't like about it is having it out in the open so anyone who happens to be near npc will see you pop in/out of the instance.

 

[aspire2008]

Wouldn't it be better to do the CotF HA's over TDS ones? I hear the TDS mobs have a crap ton more HP, seems like you'd finish the CotF ones at a faster rate, if you are continuously farming exp.

 

[SiegeTank]

Well, yes, that's part of my question: is the TDS mission XP good enough to justify the extra effort? It seems NOT from what I've been hearing.

I'm also wondering if tradeskill drops are valuable enough to justify the extra time. I made a LOT of PP initially pharming those drops in the last two xpacs until they got so common prices plummeted. Talking about the next line of silks, marrows, spinerette fluid, etc. for the next rung up the ladder of tradeskill combines.

 

[WIZMAN]

Grinding in Argin-Hiz and got the rare ranger raid bow drop! So I think grinding in static zones not a bad way to go- at least a chance for some sweet loot!