Post 20 Leveling

[Valang]

I solo'd Rotstuffs from 19 to 22, which was good exp, if not a little tight in that last level. Anyways, where to, next?At this point, I very honestly prefer soloing. You don't have to worry about people getting you (or themselves) killed and tossing debt on you, you get all the loot, and you have total control over your HO's. So if I could keep soloing for a while, that'd just be super swell.Any ideas?

[Thesp]

<DIV>Honestly, at level 20 I'd go work on my armor quests. Yes, you'll have to group, and yea, you'll probably get a fair amount of debt, but so what, just log off for a day and it will be gone. You'll get better items than you could ever hope for solo. There are some solo mobs in TS you could probably handle.</DIV>

[Valang]

Alright, thanks.Any other ideas?

[Vaelorn]

<P>Seriously, at level 20, *everyone* should start working on their armor quests.  The armor you get has very nice AC and it's comperable to most vendor armor that costs quite a bit, plus the quest armor has very nice stats.  You'll get a nice chunk of adventuring experience from completing each quest.  You'll also undoubtedly have to kill many many mobs to get the quest items (i.e., the one you need for quest credit is linked to 4 others that you don't need, and they all have to die before you get credit, etc.), so that means more experience, and many chances for some good loot to sell, scribe, or equip.</P> <P>You will have to group for most of these quest mobs, since many of them are ^^Group mobs, but there are solo versions of several quest mobs that you can kill by yourself if that's what you prefer.  However, not all groups are debt nightmares.  Sure, a bad group will get people killed a few times and cause everyone to accumulate debt, but a good group will rarely have casualties and they'll steamroll most mobs that you encounter.  It shouldn't be too hard to find a group for these quests, either, because as long as you're all working on the same quest, you'll all have to kill mobs in the same general area.  Most of the groups that I've been in just go down the list of what everyone needs and hunt those things until everyone is taken care of.  As an added bonus, many of the groups I've been in were generally "need before greed", so if an item or adept book drops that you can use, you'll usually get it by default, as long as you let other items go to other group members in the same fashion.  All in all, you can meet some good players (and bad players), work on your grouping skills, get some good loot, get some *great* adventure experience, and work on your quests, all at the same time.</P> <P>As far as where you can solo at level 22, there are plenty of solo mobs in the Thundering Steppes, and maybe a few group mobs that you can handle by yourself.  You'll really need to clear off the map anyway so you can see where everything is, so just take note of the things you see while you explore, and you'll find some good hunting spots that suit your play style.</P>

[Stenbjo]

Good lord, how did you solo rotstuffs at lvl 19???? I can't handle those guys for five seconds!

[michael_r]

<DIV>Im in a guild of about 30ppl. So when i do quests and grp i do it with my guild.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But i also solo alot, and im 24 atm. What i did was like you to stay in Ant till 22, then i went into TS.</DIV> <DIV>At the zonein from Ant you will see a drof shouting for assitence. He needs some food hunted.</DIV> <DIV>Just get a quest off him and go hunt the creatures he needs.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At 22 you should have little diffuculty handling Beetles, Snakes, Dears and Crabs.</DIV> <DIV>Just follow the road and you will find them all.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Easy crabs are found near the haubour that takes you to Nec forrest.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At 24 i havent solod mutch, but if you go thru the 'secret tunnel' from Ant to TS i have been able to solo blues on the other side near the gnoll guard towers.</DIV>

[Valang]

I'm not really sure, Stenbjorn, but the main thing is that they couldn't hit me at level 19. Right now, when I use my buff, my agility is about 70 and my AC is a little shy of 600. Starting at low 19 and going all the way through 22, they only dropped me into yellow maybe 3 times. So maybe if you get the AGI going for you, it'd be the same way.And for you guys mentioning armor quests... I appreciate it, but I've already started mine, and was really asking about where I should go after I got done with it. It sounds like everybody is pretty much saying TS, so I guess that's what I'll try to stick to.Thanks.

[bli]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Stenbjorn wrote:<BR>Good lord, how did you solo rotstuffs at lvl 19???? I can't handle those guys for five seconds!<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> Hmm..I could solo them at 19. By 21 I could take 10 at a time without using CA's, just straight melee and avoidance kept them from hitting me EVER

[Rolar]

<DIV>yeah i just went there, i was stuck in xp...went from 69% to ding soloing rotstuffs, great tip and and soon as u can solo them, id do it.</DIV>

[Stenbjo]

Well, I went back after upgrade some of myequipment. My agility with my buff is 72 and my AC is 518 and they still kick my butt, is there some strategy that I'm missing here?

[MillsFairchild]

I certainly couldn't do it at 19. Not the ^^ anyway, but I didn't try the two linked ^ crows. *shrug* I not so sure you're actually supposed to be able to solo these at 19.

[loramil]

<DIV>I dont remember if I could do the ++scarecrow at 19, but at 20 he was cake.  Mind you, i usually have 2-3 poisons going (at just under a silver each it's pretty cheap), but even so,  he can barely touch me. and the regular + ones rarely lay hand on me. </DIV> <DIV>I usually start with a backshot and immediately start backing up seting off an open shot. I trigger my HO and if i land a ringing blow a regular + scarecrows just about 1/2 health before he can swing once. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Loramil</DIV> <DIV>21st Ranger/19th Scholar</DIV>

[-vali]

as far as soloing goes, dont forget you can start with backshot, then get your debuffs in, then think this combo:Lucky Break -> cheapshot (triggers HO) -> turn off melee during cheapshot -> stalk (while circling around back) -> shadowblade (pow!).... then pop in the last part of the HO, (pow!)Most ppl dont know you can actually get the sneaking backstab in during solo, instead of just using it for an opener... Even better to use it during combat, b/c your debuffs are active (dirty tricks, impale) and it'll hit harder.Keep in mind that if you have bleed active, or poisons going, they may interrupt the stun from cheapshot. I dont usually have a problem with poisons, but bleed is best saved for after you nail the shadowblade (assuming the monster has some health left, and the DOT is worthwhile)

[loramil]

<DIV>I wouldn't think poisons would actualy interfere with Cheap Shot. They're a proc and not a DOT. If your not attacking, they shouldn't be going off. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>BTW....speaking of poison, does anyone else have a problem stacking poisons?  example, i have 2 stack of poison in the activate slots and one of them drops. If i right click on the other stack, i dont get a use options. I have to drag the stack back and forth to my inventory to get the 'use' option.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>-Loramil</DIV>

[MillsFairchild]

<blockquote>BTW....speaking of poison, does anyone else have a problem stacking poisons? example, i have 2 stack of poison in the activate slots and one of them drops. If i right click on the other stack, i dont get a use options. I have to drag the stack back and forth to my inventory to get the 'use' option.</DIV><DIV> </DIV><DIV>-Loramil</DIV><hr></blockquote>Yep, same problem here. I hadn't really thought of it, but I'll report it tonight.

[Kafnaz]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Valanger wrote:<BR>I solo'd Rotstuffs from 19 to 22, which was good exp, if not a little tight in that last level. Anyways, where to, next?<BR><BR>At this point, I very honestly prefer soloing. You don't have to worry about people getting you (or themselves) killed and tossing debt on you, you get all the loot, and you have total control over your HO's. So if I could keep soloing for a while, that'd just be super swell.<BR><BR>Any ideas?<BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>1. In TS there are lots of solo undead mobs down in the river basin which net good exp per kill, even for being solos. The undead in the zone seem to yield more exp than the wildlife, so I'd recommend working on them. You can set up camp just south of Thundermist village and kite the solo undead out into a safe area. If you can handle Rotstuffs at 19, you can surely handle the orange solo undead here.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. I have to point out a couple of issues that make soloing not quite so great as you say. First, the loot dropped by soloable mobs is nothing compared to that of named exp-yielding mobs which often come in groups with minions and thus can only be taken by a group, nor to that of even or better con mobs that are 2 triangles up. Second, your solo HOs are nowhere near as powerful as a well coordinated two or three man HO, which you as a scout have LOTS of control over, being the only one who can rotate the wheel if something comes up that you don't want. Third, while backstabber classes are used to the tanks and healers taking all the death in EQ and other MMORPGs while they silently deal damage and are hardly ever at risk of death, let's try to remember that these games are by design about teamwork to get anything of substance accomplished. Teamwork, to me, is not letting certain classes absorb all the risk while we absorb all the benefit. As long as I'm not in a group that plays without regard for the debt issues of all members, i.e. carelessly, I have no problem with helping to bear the burden of an even split of the group's experience debt, and I don't really feel the need to assign "blame" for the death or to bemoan that I had to partake in any measure of the debt when there was almost no risk to me at all as a scout class. Also, don't forget that it's not necessary to wait around for hours assembling the "perfect" 6 man group just to go out grinding or looting for a little while. As a ranger, all you really need is a tank to keep the mob's back to you and a healer to keep him alive. I've made a majority of my net exp in 3 man groups with friends, which are much much easier to assemble, and accrue exp from killing green and blue con double triangle mobs at very nearly the same rate that 6 man teams will gain from yellow and orange 2 up cons. Of course, for an all-day grind, there is no substitute for that perfect team of all 4 archetypes plus 2 more DPS for fast kills, but it's not like grouping is something to be avoided altogether because of all the minor annoyances it presents.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>In my opinion, too many people are obsessively polarized toward either the exclusive 6 man group model or the solo model as playstyle goes. This game presents, better than any other I've played, so many options for gaining exp and acquiring awesome items, including the quest and collection systems. In fact, one of my friends in-game has leveled from 7-22 exclusively on quest content, mainly doing collections by buying the items on market and completing red con quest after red con quest. I guess my best advice would be this: don't buttonhole yourself into one way of playing the game.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Kafnazzo on <span class=date_text>12-15-2004</span> <span class=time_text>11:06 AM</span>

[Kafnaz]

<P>** Removed dual post **</P><p>Message Edited by Kafnazzo on <span class=date_text>12-15-2004</span> <span class=time_text>11:02 AM</span>

[Martyr31]

<DIV><FONT size=4>                      Im level 25 and I solo the elementals and skeletons around Ruins of Varsoon. This proves to be o.k. exp. </FONT></DIV>