Levelling 1-7 inside a day.

[Salazar]

Introduction

Like many of us you probably think of a new build and want to try it out, for some of you watching it evolve slowly will be half the fun, but to find there are mistakes is frustrating indeed. During the course of this guide you should have a good idea of a given builds strengths and what could potentially be improved. A character generator can only take it so far; for many people trying it out for real is the only solution. Getting a new build to 7 quickly is the point of this particular guide. Level 7 is generally a good level for most builds and you can quite comfortably do the Vault of Night series and also Tempests Spine to reach level8 if you feel you need more time to test your build.

Some of you will disagree with my methods, and some will even disagree with the whole power levelling principle, but personally for me, being low level is nothing short of a drag. By the end of this guide we should have a 4th bag slot and access to House P buffs.



XPS, Conquest, Purpose and Loot.

Power levelling is all about XPS (XP/Second), getting conquest bonus is seldom if ever the best route to high XPS, there are a few exceptions but on the whole, conquest bonus is not the best way to go. I personally feel there is higher XPS to be found quick running a quest many times without the bonuses, than doing the same quest fewer times with bonuses. Only personal experience will tell you if conquest is worth the trouble.

Know your quests, or find some like minded quick running individual who does. Wondering around aimlessly finding objectives will kill your XPS, as will not having the right tools for the job. Buy fear removal pots and hand them out to people, casters love fearing players at low level. Running around with no striding boots isn’t good for your XPS either. Use the best striders you can get and if available always send your lowbie an Expedious Retreat clickie as soon as possible. Acrobats ring from waterworks gives you 5% striding. Addictions to haste are no bad thing. Loot at the lower end of the level range is mostly junk, I’ve seen Maces of Smiting and Dwarven Throwers come out of TangleRoot and Gwylans Stand but those are utter exceptions. Bothering to loot chests that are any further a field than on your direct route will reduce your XPS.



Groups, Difficulty and Group Management.

Constructing a group is critical to some quests, but at lower levels it’s not so important. With possible the exception of (STK) Shan-To-Kor Part 3 requiring a caster you can go on these quests with just about anyone. You don’t need a full group, and assuming at least a few guys can heal, go without a bard or cleric. Waiting for a cleric is terrible for your XPS. As lower level players leave, replace them with slightly higher level players, to keep your average level in-line with the level of the quest you’re doing, one average level higher can make a huge difference.

The Elite difficulty setting is sometimes not as difficult as the Hard difficulty setting. For example in WW (Water Works) hard you will get held, that makes it messy, whereas on Elite, they will just try and lightning bolt you, an electricity resist potion mostly counters this. If your group struggles with WW hard they may have an easier time in WW elite. Doing quests when you are too low a level may give you a +10% or +20% bonus to your XP but if you struggle it may take longer, and your XPS actually may go down. As team leader it is up to you to gauge what your group can accomplish, if you make a mistake and wipe badly then move on, and come back when you have a higher level group. As with everything in life, Indecision is worse than a bad decision. It’s better to do a quest quickly with slightly higher level character than to struggle with lower level characters. Struggling to complete a quest adversely affects moral, whereas blitzing it in a blaze of adrenaline increases moral, which brings me on to my next point.

Congratulate your group on a job well done, a Melee on his DPS, a caster on his DPS/Crowd Control/Haste or a Healer on his heals. Keeping moral up is vital when you’re a team leader. High moral will make people inclined to remain in your party when a given quest is complete. This will reduce your LFM downtime, counter-act the micro-manage effect and also make you some friends.

Don’t be afraid to micromanage your group, there is nothing wrong with checking everyone has advanced correctly after WW Part2. This is especially applicable in TangleRoot. If you are repeating a quest straight away, remind your comrades to repeat their quests after they get their end reward. Check your caster has the right spells for the Construct in STK part3. Your group may begin to call you Mom, but being called Mom seldom reduces your XPS.


My next statement will be controversial but I will say it anyway.

Playing with less experienced players will drain your XPS. In all walks of life there are different leagues for different ranges of experience, the principle here is exactly the same. Stating “Experienced Alts Preferred” in your LFM (Looking For More) does not make you a bad person. I personally do help less experienced players, as the friends list of my X capped characters will show, BUT right now we are interested in testing if our build is viable and successful in the quickest possible time, grouping with less experienced or even slow players will not allow you to achieve this. Furthermore the less experienced or slower people probably won't enjoy being in a group of fast runners, that said, a new player who is conscientious and understands what's happening can be a joy to quick run with.

My ranting is over, let us begin!



Level 1:

Put up a LFM for levels 1-4 stating “WW_QUICK_ run, experienced alts preferred” and let the group gather whilst you do the solo quests, leave and re-join to enter solo instances if you must.

Euphonia’s challenge is good XP for the lowbie. 1.3K XP for 2 minutes work. Then teleport and do the Sigmund quests. Go outside and do all of the Lord Goodblade quests on normal running past most things, then repeat the rare scrolls on hard and elite, you don’t even need to kill anything in this quest, assuming you can get the doors open without being interrupted. Casters: charm person works wonders.


Level 2:

By now your group should be well formed, go and quick run WW on normal, everyone should know exactly what they’re doing and this should be easy as pie. Remind your new friends to advance after part2 and to repeat after getting their reward.

Rinse and repeat WW until you’re level 3 or close. Your goal is to find the dead body in part4 and avenge the killing in 0 minutes. =)


Level 3/ Level4:

Do WW on hard and then on elite, be sure to inform your group they’re far less likely to be held on elite but that they need electricity resist potions, experienced alts should have these already. If you fail miserably on hard or elite then abandon your efforts and move to STK.

STK is a great quest for fast XP, quick run STK and then repeat part3 over and over any way you know how…

Your group should be of a generally higher level, and having played together for a fair while should be a more cohesive unit. Go back and attempt WW on hard or elite or both, if you’ve already successfully completed this then move on to STK hard and then elite. Once again if you fail miserably move on to TangleRoot, you will need to come back to STK later for coin lord favour.


Level4/Level 5:

TangleRoot! Love it or hate it, it gives good loot and good XP for our level. Your goal here is to quick run TR(TangleRoot) in around 35minutes un-Hasted or 25-30 minutes Hasted. The reason I left this quest so late is because you’re far more likely to have a caster with haste. Haste is amazing in TangleRoot, as is charm person, don’t forget to inform your caster that it’s a very good idea to use it in every part except the first.

You will do this quest a whole bunch of times over, but that’s not a bad thing as some of the TR rewards are as follows:

• Flesh Render Goggles: 1 charge of Deathward.
• +3 CON belt
• +3 STR gloves
• +3 DEX bracers
• Wizardry 2 gemstone.
• Devotion Item.


During TR people will generally get bored and decide to drop, when they drop try and replace them with slightly higher levels of 5-6 ready for doing TR on hard and then elite. I cannot stress how much heightened charm person will help you here.


Level 6:

At this point you have a couple of choices, it largely depends on how much you despise Delara’s tomb. You can potentially go and do a few runs of StormCleave and Gwylans Stand. Your XPS will probably go down but the smile on your face may go up, it’s up to you, you’re the leader, make the call! After you’re finished with either, or if you’d prefer to skip these quests then move directly on to Delara’s Tomb.

Halt Undead is great for the mobs you must kill in Delara’s and any mobs you don’t need to kill, move on! Right now! And remind everyone to move on too! =) Quick run Delara’s part1 and then repeat Delara’s part2 over and over anyway you know how… Delara’s part2 is often overlooked but it can be done in 5-10 minutes or less. 1-6K XP depending on your level and the times repeated. When you’re sick of Delara’s part2 move on to part3.

Finally we have Thrall of the Necromancer, this is the daddy of all levelling quests; 1-8K XP and once again, it can be done in 5-10 minutes or less. Repeat Thrall of the Necromancer multiple times anyway you know how… You should be close to level 7 or already level 7 by now, if you’re not then go and do any of the quests I have stated previously on hard/elite if you missed them.



Congratulations on reaching level 7 in a day, you have done well. If you wish to continue up to level8 quickly I would suggest Tempests Spine runs and VON (Vault of Night) 1-5, Repeat 3-5 any way you know how… You can kill Velah if you wish but that will lock you out of being able to open the quests yourself for a while, so I would avoid doing VON6

If you would like to chat I am Khyber, my name right now is Siuhan.

=)

[Impaqt]

Um.. Trader Skipp gives ya 1500XP... Well, Not skipp.. The Person ya deliver the letter to.. So Skipping Euphonias challenge doesnt effect anything.

Personally, I dont see this working in a day.... Your Skipping so many High XP quests that can be done in Minutes. Info Is Key, Kobalds new Ringleader, The Lighthouse Tome quest.... Even the Low Road offers Great XP for a 3-4 Minutes run....

[Salazar]

Cool I didn't know about the letter =)

It can definattly be done in a day, I have done it several times.

[Blazer]

Even if you can do it in a day, as Impaqt points out, you're missing out on so many high XP quests, plus opportunities for favor. Running the WW/STK/TR/Delara's/SC/Gwylan's series of quests is nothing new. That Lighthouse quest on n/h/e at lvl 2 is worth about 5k total, IIRC. Tack on another 4-5k each for Ringleader, Info is Key, and maybe 3-3.5k for Low Road and not only have you achieved more favor, gotten the same (or more XP), but you haven't gotten bored running the same things again and again.

To each his own, OP. I just want to let people know there are other options, including many more than what I've listed, to leveling up quickly.

[Impaqt]

Originally Posted by Salazar

Cool I didn't know about the letter =)

It can definattly be done in a day, I have done it several times.

Well, If it can be done in a Day, It would be one sigificantly boring day.... I put about 12-15 hours into my lowb this past weekend and got him to Level 5.... ALos close to 300Favor though so I did a lot of quests and didnt get bored at all....

[Salazar]

I fail to see why this thread has sparked such negativity. The point of the thread is simply to let the less informed people know where I believe the good XP quests are and the basic "rules" of power levelling.

My reference to "less experienced players" in the intial post is a respectfull way of saying complete newbies.

There may be quests that may or may not be better, but these are quests 90% of people know so it's easy to get a zerg group for.

Repeating the same quest is fairly boring for some people but I enjoy the adrenaline of zerging, even if it is the same quest, and besides I have personal records to beat in this regard. If you want to see how useful your build concept is in double quick time, then power level using this guide.

Favour is a nice biproduct but not the point behind this guide.

Level 5 in 12-15 hours is 90-139k XP, my personal record (totally not gloating) is 203k inside 14 hours, pure PUGGING and taking the odd 10-20minute break, like I said I like breaking personal records.

Try the guide out, be potentially bored and figure out if or not you like your build in a day rather than a week. That's a week of your life you'll never ever get back.

Peace.

[noilli]

Just that you left out low road, Bonebite, and Osgood's which all give excellent xp very fast.

Also, what's this about a letter and skipping Euphonia's chalange?

[Impaqt]

Originally Posted by noilli

Just that you left out low road, Bonebite, and Osgood's which all give excellent xp very fast.

Also, what's this about a letter and skipping Euphonia's chalange?

Osgoods = Information is Key

Trader SKip was added with Mod 4 I think.. Maybe earlier....

Talk to Trader Skipp (Skipp.. Get it?) just off the Dock whener your character starts to get teleported right to the Waycrest.

I dont see the comments here as Negative..... But I would say that this mightbe a Powergamers Guide to leveling.. Not a Newbie... a Newbie is going to need the Favor.. a Newbie is probobly going to want to experince as much as the low levels as possible.....

[ErgonomicCat]

Originally Posted by Impaqt

Osgoods = Information is Key

Trader SKip was added with Mod 4 I think.. Maybe earlier....

Talk to Trader Skipp (Skipp.. Get it?) just off the Dock whener your character starts to get teleported right to the Waycrest.

I dont see the comments here as Negative..... But I would say that this mightbe a Powergamers Guide to leveling.. Not a Newbie... a Newbie is going to need the Favor.. a Newbie is probobly going to want to experince as much as the low levels as possible.....

I got it pretty clearly that this was not for a newbie, but someone that is experienced, and wants to roll a new alt....

Skipp -> Trader what's her name gives you 1500 xp to start.

Trust me. I've rolled about 30 characters in the past 3 months. I know that part by heart.

[Salazar]

Ah, this letter thing is reasonably new, I've been away for quite some time =)



Allow to me clarify some things.

1) This is aimed at a reasonably experienced none complete-newbie player.

2) As the title suggests, this is about getting to lvl7 quickly.

3) The favour is nothing to do with the guide, it is simply a usefull bi-product should you find the build turns out to be successfull and you don't delete it.



The other quests you have suggested are reasonable quests, granted, but it's simply not how I'd do it. The more times you change to different quests the less time you spend questing. Through personal experience, people feel far more inclined to sell/repair/afk if they feel they're not going straight back in to a quest. This lowers XPS. starting the group off with WW and doing a bunch of quick runs each run being less than 10 minutes for all 4 parts generally means you get 15-20K XP inside of 30minutes. People get into a swing of things, and on say the third run they could do it blind fold.

Everyone knows WW.

[arcane_nite]

You forgot to mention that if you dont actually take the levels you qualify for and stay a couple of levels down you maxmize your xp even more.

[Taoxos]

AN, he did mention that struggling in a quest lowers XPS.

The only real thing I have to contribute is this...:

morale***


And these...lol (complimentary of Dictionary.com):
mo·rale –noun emotional or mental condition with respect to cheerfulness, confidence, zeal, etc., esp. in the face of opposition, hardship, etc.: the morale of the troops.

mor·al –adjective 1.of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes. 2.expressing or conveying truths or counsel as to right conduct, as a speaker or a literary work; moralizing: a moral novel. 3.founded on the fundamental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom: moral obligations. 4.capable of conforming to the rules of right conduct: a moral being. 5.conforming to the rules of right conduct (opposed to immoral): a moral man. 6.virtuous in sexual matters; chaste. 7.of, pertaining to, or acting on the mind, feelings, will, or character: moral support. 8.resting upon convincing grounds of probability; virtual: a moral certainty. –noun 9.the moral teaching or practical lesson contained in a fable, tale, experience, etc. 10.the embodiment or type of something. 11.morals, principles or habits with respect to right or wrong conduct.

[Rentz]

i grouped with this fellow the other day zerging the heck out of TR and Delera's. i'll vouch that he's not bs'ing on his numbers-
and I actually had a good time trying to beat our times on subsequent runs.


as mentioned, this is for the player who has 'done it all' and just wants to level a new character as quickly as possible.

cheers, Siu

[Salazar]

Arcane: very true, but don't forget that this guide is about getting a feel for the build so leveling up is required.

Thanks Rentz I appreciate the feedback, it was fun zerging with you =)

[Sleepy]

Any chance you could add in your xp per minute for the different quests. Thats what I use to decide what quests to do on the very few occasions I zerg. Osgoods, I think, I've gotten down to about half a k per minute. Maybe less. SC I got down to about 200 per minute after running it about 5 times, hard and elite included.

[MrWizard]

Originally Posted by Salazar

Introduction

=)

I agree with you on xp/second..or minute...

for experienced players who just want to level, getting a good group and blasting through everything with no conquest, optionals, ransacks, or even wasting time on chests....boom...super quick.

I do dislike repeating quests at all since Ihate favor farming..would rather do it as I leveled.....

In an hour or two you can elite all the 1 and 2 level quests and be at 4th level..

you and your party will be 4th and just staring 3rd levels...with a lot of favor...a run through catacombs and partway through elite TR should get you 5...can do that ina few hours with agood group.....

but repeating quests..ugh..means I have to come back for the favor..ugh...usually I knock out the house P and house d stuff on elite too. Throw in the house J elites...and you are okay..

however, this assumesa good group of experienced players....all leveling together...

I think any quest chain you do though, as long as you are eliting..or hard/eliting, should burn you right through levels no MATTER HOW YOU DO IT...as long as you do not waste time ransack, conquest, optionls, or for low level chest stops...

/agree with you for fastest way to level, just do not like repeating...

[SteeleTrueheart]

For experienced players there is no reason to do Euphonia's challenge any more. I did it a month ago to start off a non-twinked character and dutifully picked up all the money/collectibles to help the toon on its way. This weekend I ran 2 new characters (on new servers where money is in short supply) and Euphonia's challenge had no money or items dropping in the quest (where you break all the boxes). Really not worth the time now.

[Kistilan]

I'd have to disagree.

Experienced players can zerge through Euphonia's Challenge (without picking up anything, etc) in 3-4 minutes. The payout is your first rank (which is a huge help for most action-based enhancements).

3-4 Minutes to have another edge in the harbor. C'mon...

I'm not saying it's by all means a requirement, but if you don't read anything and just pick up jewels and slay three spiders plus flip 2 switches...

[Salazar]

Kistilan:

apparantly some recent changes (recent to me as I've been away for a while) mean that you can skip Euphonia's challenge and then give a letter to someone for the same amount of XP. The gate between the newbie harbour and the harbour is open all of the time so you could simply take that XP and spend an AP just the same.

That's how I understand it, anyway =)

[Impaqt]

Originally Posted by Kistilan

I'd have to disagree.

Experienced players can zerge through Euphonia's Challenge (without picking up anything, etc) in 3-4 minutes. The payout is your first rank (which is a huge help for most action-based enhancements).

3-4 Minutes to have another edge in the harbor. C'mon...

I'm not saying it's by all means a requirement, but if you don't read anything and just pick up jewels and slay three spiders plus flip 2 switches...

Huh?

Euphonia does Not offer anything that Trader Skipp doesnt. The Person you deliver the letter too will even let you spend your action point with em.

Next time you start a lowb, Talk to Trader Skipp.... You will understand then....

If your talkign XPM or XPS, Talking to an NPC for 1500XP is a LOT faste than running througha 3-4 minuite quest.