Yesterday I decided that it was time to level up my dirge. Now, when I put my mind to a task like that I really try to do it well. My dirge went from level 80 to 87 in a matter of five hours (which I understand is a large chunk of play time but I still think it went pretty well). One of the most common questions I get is HOW do I manage to level that quickly. It’s really not that difficult to level in EQ2, and I’ve touched on the subject briefly before but I really wanted to expand on it.
First of all you need to keep in mind that for the last 24 days I’ve been making use of a ‘recruit a friend’ account. Because the recruit a friend account costs $15, and it also allows the friend who has recruited them to get a ‘free’ month of game play, there’s really no reason for me not to take advantage of this. It also grants my main account (another) mount that gives my group a 10% increase to experience. You don’t need to be a recruit a friend to make use of this, everyone in group will benefit. That account alone gives me a 200% bonus to experience on both accounts.
I always level in an area with a LOT of mobs, that’s key. I don’t typically quest until I reach my goal and require achievements. I know you may not think that EQ2 is the sort of game that allows for ‘grinding’ but it really is. This is my leveling schedule and one I’ve used for basically every single character.
- 1-10 Freeport gates, I just kill the mobs outside until 10 (snakes etc)
- 10-22 Wailing Caverns
- 22-35 Fallen Gate
- 35-43 Runnyeye
- 43-50 Cazic Thul
- 50-60 Clefts of Rujark, Pillars of Flame
- 60-70 Sanctum of the Scaleborn, Nest and Vaults instances
- 70-80 Palace of the Awakened, Sebilis, Chardok
- 80+ Sebilis (bottom floors), Chardok, Erudian Library (main two floors)
That’s it. I get that it’s a very boring schedule, but that’s the point. I also understand that rushing to end game is not everyone’s cup of tea, but keep in mind the amount of characters I have and what ranges they’re spread between. Some times I don’t feel like sitting back and enjoying the ride, because I’ve already done it a million times before. Other things to make note of.
I box a tank, so yes technically I’m three boxing. I have the tank, my character of choice, and the recruit a friend account tagging along for the 200% bonus.
I use experience potions, and I have a lot of them. My account is over 6 years old, and that gives me a lot of options
I use the vitality replenishment token that came with the five year reward
While I can get to level 87 with just three days of game time played, it DOES NOT bode for a good character. The character only has 110 aa, and that hurts. It will be something that I must work on afterward (when I have all the time in the world). I also don’t bother gearing up any of my characters until they hit levle 70 or so, and then it’s just handcrafted with some resists so that the AoE’s don’t obliterate the little ones.
Alts are EXPENSIVE. They require gear, spells, and other little trinkets to compensate for the fact that you haven’t been playing them for years.
Basically the only thing you need to have to level up quickly, is patience. Patience to grind away at mobs for hours at a time and not become utterly bored of it. I like to thank EverQuest (the original) for my love of dungeon crawling. It’s really come in handy for EQ2.
So really all I need to do is raf another account and im good to go? I dont need some high level to do things and such?
This is why I need to get my Pally(and sk) leveled and geared… Cant mass pull with the coercer ;)
She is wearing the SF appearance gear that you get from the collections that reward 1 piece of appearance gear + stone to add to another collection. Elemental Warrior I believe is the exact name.
what armour is that toon wearing?
I’ve certainly found that alts are expensive, but then I tend to get each tier’s mastercrafted stuff and after about level 50 I start getting all their spells/ca’s at Expert. It adds up in a hurry.
I don’t have the capability to multi-box, so I don’t have the ready made group like you do either, so I take a lot longer ;-) I just barely got my 1st 90 last night and I haven’t played any other toon since the expansion came out. And I haven’t fully upgraded all her spells/ca’s yet since it takes a while to find rares and/or earn the cash to buy the rares. So since the main was expensive…. I’m gonna be grinding out cash on her for a while before leveling anything else up ;-)
Still absolutely having a blast, though.
I so much don’t care about leveling quickly that I haven’t used most of my free experience potions. They just sit in my bank (or in /claim, for all the ones I’ve got from LoN) taking up valuable space that I could be using for another set of appearance armor.
I should probably go and delete them :)