Has leveling in EQ2 gotten TOO easy?
That’s a thought that’s been going through my mind lately. People take a look at the characters I have and then usually gasp in surprise or give some other reaction. The truth of the matter is that it’s only been since the experience was increased in EQ2 that I’ve managed to get all of these characters. Until that happened I had three steady ones that I played, with a whole lot of lowbie characters.
So just how fast is the experience now?
Well. I do have five years playing the game. There are places I head to right away, and others I tend to avoid. I do know what I like, and what I don’t like and I realize that this plays into it a lot. I met up with a group of very good friends on the Kithicor server and have been spending some time over there while Najena has been quiet. I moved one of my characters over (not one of my level 80’s) and it was going to take a week for the manual transfer to go through so in the mean time I created a level 1 coercer on my main account. This means there is a 50% bonus experience on the account for already having level 80’s.
I have had the help of a level 80 conjuror, and a level 67 (at the time) shadowknight. Neither are ‘uber’ by raid standards, but know their classes and are great to be around.
Today would mark day four of the creation of my coercer. She has 1 day played, and is 50% away from level 55. I did use the orb of concentrated memories, and I have been taking advantage of the experience potions I have. I lack in aa (sevearly) but I know I can catch those up later on. My main ‘goal’ was to catch up to the group of friends. When I created the character I (jokingly) mentioned that I would be level 80 before the transfer went through and I’d have no need for it. I had no idea just how close to the truth that was going to be.
My issue with this whole theory is that having a level 80 doesn’t mean anything any more. People have multiple level 80’s. It’s not a challenge. So where is the challenge? You basically have to find it and create it yourself. For some that may be questing, for others that may be obtaining gear or master quality spells. Others may not need a challenge at all and play only for their friends and couldn’t care less about actual game play – which is fine too, we all play for our reasons. On one hand I enjoy the fact that I was able to catch up so quickly, but looking back I begin to wonder if it is too much of a good thing.
I could never do that, ditching a toon that is. I make a background about each one and invest so much into them. My first raid or TSO instance and even if I some how managed to get to 70+ I’d have to delete a perfectly good character. I have deleted characters, but I never had any real emotional attachment to them.
I like the idea though, I’ve heard it quite a few times now. ;)
I don’t remember exactly which EQ2 Forum it was on, but one guy decided to do a “one-death” toon. Basically his rules were: 1) No twinking, 2) One death, then the characters gear gets vendored, and the proceed given to someone on the /beg channel (ok…the /beg part wasn’t in the rules, but you get the point). After that, the character would delete the toon. As I recall, he got to lvl 19 before getting jumped by spiders in DLW.
If you are looking for a challenge, a one-death toon would probably be a good challenge for you.
Also, to Starke, try questing, it gives you way better xp than grinding.
I don’t find it easy to level in EQ2 at all. I’m on my second character to hit 72 and can’t seem to get to 73. I have a terrible time finding groups, and soloing for exp is so slow and tedious. You have a fantastic group of friends that you hook up with as often as you want to. I haven’t been able to make that happen. You’re taking for granted what I would kill for.
I don’t have direct experience leveling in EQ2 yet (ask again next month, it’s at the top of my list of games I’d like to try out), but I know that I move MUCH faster on even my second playthrough of the same leveling content in other games. That alone might be a huge factor in how fast you’re moving, and I’m sure that 50% bonus exp combined with your veteran’s awards aren’t hurting.
That said, 55 in four days is pretty impressive – if my maths are right, you’re gaining over two levels per hour /played – I’m presuming the average is slightly skewed by the early levels, but still, I’m pretty sure that’s faster than I can go in WoW.