I had a pretty good day gaming yesterday, I have to admit. I didn’t play that much, I was out for a bit (groceries and some shopping!) but I did get three or four hours in which I spent leveling my inquisitor. She’s now level 66 – with just slightly over 8 hours played total. When I tell people about how many levels she’s gotten in such a short period of time, they tend to stare at me like I’ve got four heads.
When it comes right down to it, there’s really nothing unique that I’m doing, and it’s a combination of things that allows me to level that fast – which others could also do easily enough as long as they also had those means. So what is it exactly that allows me to gain the levels as fast as I do?
- I box an 80 Shadowknight who is geared in top end raid gear, which gives me a constant tank (or I make him play his own character, which is far better then me trying to play teehee).
- The Shadowknight has a recruit a friend mount, which grants anyone in the group a 10% bonus to experience
- I have other level 80’s, and for each one you have (up to a max of 5) you gain 10% extra experience. This gives me a 50% bonus to experience
- I have the five year veteran reward that allows me to replenish my vitality once every 7 days (and you can use jesters cap when you use this item to shorten the time).
- I have a HUGE stock of potions from various veteran rewards that grant 55% bonus experience for an hour (and some times two hours). I have more then enough for every level, as most of the /claim rewards come with 6 potions (3 adventure and 3 crafting).
All of these items stack with one another, and since I’m blowing through content fairly fast, the leveling comes easily. Of course there ARE downsides, like my huge lack of aa – I’m not concerned about that. I’ll have all sorts of time once I reach 80 to work on those. Also keep in mind that this is not my first character, nor my first healer, I’ve played through the EverQuestII content numerous times before, I know where to level – and I don’t see anything wrong with skipping content after the length of time I’ve spent working through it. I would never suggest this method of leveling for anyone who hasn’t played through at least once (or more) at a regular speed.
I have other characters who take their time and work through each and every quest, slowly leveling up (my level 22 shadowknight is one of those characters for example) and this is just ‘yet another’ way to keep the game interesting for me, getting to level 80, getting my epic, and waiting for Sentinel’s Fate. Actually that is one of my main reasons for wanting 80 before February, I still have no idea who I’ll be playing once the expansion goes live, and I’d like to have a good selection of characters to choose from. No doubt it will depend on my mood at the time, hehe.
Anyhow, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I know Monday came too fast today, and it’s sad to be going back to a regular work week, but that just lets us appreciate the family times and holidays that much more.
Happy gaming, and I’ll see you in Norrath!
Wow i’m temped to resubscribe and level some character….
@We Fly Spitfires: Calthine, EQ2 Zam’s admin, issued a challenge to hit level 80 in a single day, and someone completed it in seven hours. (They took all of the perks Stargrace has and added the recruit a friend bonus and an entire party of players mentoring the boost-ee. Sounds like Stargrace would blow them out of the water if you gave her the same bonuses.) Nonsensically, Calthine concluded from this exercise that levels 1-20, which the challenger skipped in their entirety by purchasing collection items for instant exp, should be slowed down in order to create a more leisurely experience for the new player (who would have none of these bonuses to exp, and currently would be receiving exactly enough exp to reach level 20 from the existing quests in the more recent 1-20 zones).
Personally, as someone who has somehow come by level capped characters in two other MMORPG’s in addition to EQ2, it took me eleven months to reach the cap in Norrath. (It probably would have been more like 7-8 if soloing didn’t get so painful from level 60 on.) As an ACTUAL new player in the game, rather than a longtime veteran with supposed concern for the new player, I think it’s about right as is.
LOL … so sad that my friends are still level 50 after months of playing. But like you said, I’m sure it would go faster if I leveled them. I was just waiting til they got 50 so we could do the myriad of instances that become available then.
Wow. That has to be some kind of EQ2 record right?
You are kidding, JC reduces the timer on the vitality doodah, you have just made me a very happy Troubie, and likely my guild too. They will all want to hit 90 ASAP so we can start raiding again. Im sure i will be handing out Jester’s all over the place :)
Interesting, its not just me then. Thanks!
Honestly, it depends on what I’m doing. I don’t box all the time, if I’m just grinding through levels there’s really no difference. One character is on auto follow and not doing anything at all. I use my laptop to box and I’m used to it from EQ boxing (and WoW for that matter). When I’m quest grinding, crafting, or just want to level or PUG etc. I don’t box because as you said, it lowers the immersion.
Dang! That’s got to be some kind of record. Multi-boxing is something I’ve only ever done regularly in EVE. I tried it once in LotRO, but it just didn’t feel right. I think it is something to do with a higher level of immersion and personalization when dealing with people rather than ships/objects.
Do you notice a difference between solo- and multi-boxing in EQ2?