Zero to 80 in... 7 hours?

[Calthine]

<p>Is leveling too fast in EQII, or is it convenient to be able to level up an alt quickly?  Zimm shows ZAM how to rapidly max a toon and we contemplate on leveling speed in the game in...</p><h2><span ><span ><a href="http://www.zam.com/story.html?story=21028" target="_blank">The Race to the Level Cap</a></span></span></h2><p>And on that note, all of us over at ZAM wish y'all the very best of the season.  I'm gonna go wrap more presents!</p>

[BleemTeam]

<p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /></p>

[SisterTheresa]

<p>Er .... <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/385970365b8ed7503b4294502a458efa.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Vonotar]

<p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p><p>As for the question itself, yes you can get to 80 in a stupidly quick time, but your character is going to be so gimped they are going to have to spend as much time (if not more) going back and earning AA, decent gear etc etc.</p><p>What's the point, there is a heritage quest called "the Journey is half the fun", now personally I think that it should be much more than half the fun, but level 80 in 7 hours... *sighs* that's totally missing the point.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p></blockquote><p>Shouldn't have...  did you get a screenshot of it?  PM me.  That's not allowed.</p>

[thephantomposter]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p></blockquote><p>Shouldn't have...  did you get a screenshot of it?  PM me.  That's not allow.</p></blockquote><p>It was fine for me</p>

[Xalmat]

<p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p></blockquote><p>Sounds like you have a virus.</p>

[BleemTeam]

<p>Link was fine for me too.</p><p>I still think this is incredible. Wonder how fast the 80/200 pace will be?</p>

[Allforgrog]

<p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p></blockquote><p>ROFL....in all seriousness might want to run a full system scan. Considering what material likely carried this gem, might not want to bing it to teh store to have it looked at <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" />.</p>

[Vonotar]

It's a work computer, Firefox browser, that I only use for eq2 sites while bored. The whole network is virus and trojan checked on a regular basis. With hindsight, given I have images turned off for sneaky browsing, I perhaps managed to click the link and then also click an advertising banner when zam opened. I doubt anybody else outside the UK would get "Nut's" showing as an advert.

[Saihung23]

<p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p>

[Poypoyking]

<p>Wow, I couldn't imagine getting to 80 with only 30 AA.</p>

[Ama]

<p>This doesn't surprise me in the least, but I will say that even with ROK it was very dependant on where you started from.  Had more luck doing the Sarnak area as far as leveling goes vs the regular starting areas including Kelethin and Darklight City. </p><p>With RoK it took me about a week or so to get to 70 something, but that was playing for 2hrs at a time or less per day.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>It'd be an autobiography.  This piece <em>does</em> make me embarassed that I haven't gotten off my you-know-what and dinged 80.</p>

[Brook]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>It'd be an autobiography.  This piece <em>does</em> make me embarassed that I haven't gotten off my you-know-what and dinged 80.</p></blockquote><p>No reason to be embarrassed, lots of us are in no rush to 80 and try to enjoy the journey there.</p>

[Vonotar]

<cite>Calthine wrote:</cite><blockquote><p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>It'd be an autobiography.  This piece <em>does</em> make me embarassed that I haven't gotten off my you-know-what and dinged 80.</p></blockquote> 80 is the twilight years, hobbling around, doing the same old routine all the time and getting cranky at the slightest thing, all the while hoping the doctors come out with a new treatment (read: expansion) to prolong your life a little futher. Be happy in the fact that you are still a youngster with a (..large chunk of the...) world of wonder to experience for the first time. No embarassment in that.

[hellfire]

<p><cite>Brailyn@Befallen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Link was fine for me too.</p><p>I still think this is incredible. Wonder how fast the 80/200 pace will be?</p></blockquote><p>A Wizard did it in 4 days 22 hours</p>

[Tabris93]

<p>I am a new player, and I don't think the levelling is too fast. I have now been playing (casually) for about a month and have an adv. lvl of 38 and artisan lvl of 23. (I also have an alt that's lvl 20). So for me, it will take me several more months to reach lv 80 and that suits me find. I am not rushing to get there. Part of me would actually have wanted the levelling to go faster as I would love to test out other classes and races as well, but I can't play too much since I am also a master student. Thus with my pace, it will take me years to get several characters up to lvl 80.</p><p>Many games have weaknesses or loop holes people can exploit if they want, gamers have been doing that since the dawn of games. Go to YouTube and search for "speed run [NameOfGame]" and you will find loads of games being completed in a matter of hours. I don't think any game should be made with those gamers in mind. Most people chill and enjoy their game in their own time, and those are who the game should be made for, in my opinion.</p>

[Jonaroth]

<p>What I want to know, which the article did not explain, is how do you lvl quickly from 68-80.</p><p>I have 12 lvl 80s, and I've power leveled a toon before from 1 to 80 in 48 hours (maybe less, sitting around afk, browsingthe broker, cleaning inventory, ect)</p><p>I did that without any potions at all, without three-six boxing, without any uber fabled gear. I simply had a T2 void shard geared mythical paladin with all export quality spells. I mentored my lowbie and just put the lowbie on autofollow never casting a spell all the way to lvl 70, and plowed through groups of heroic mobs for hours and hours as fast as I could back to back to get through 1 - 70 in somewhat like 15-20 hours. Now using potions and having a group of 5-6 with power regen and uber dps, fabled gear and masters, im sure you could turn that 15-20 hours down to maybe 5 hours from 1-70.</p><p>But what i want to know is how you go from 70-80, only way I could see doing it for decent XP was solo quests, I did it with a mythical paladin plowing through all the mobs so it went very quick, and i was able to do the last 10 lvls in about 20-30 hours, it was slow and painful, but I got it done in a week (playing a few hours each night)</p><p>If there is a faster way through lvl 70+ i sure want to know it.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Jonaroth wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>What I want to know, which the article did not explain, is how do you lvl quickly from 68-80.</p></blockquote><p>What Zimm told me is that any good group zone will do.  Part of your hint here is you can group with levle 80's, which means you can do much higher level content than you could at 68.</p>

[Solarax]

<p>could you ask the individual what his lvl80 dinged AA was.</p><p>just curious because soloing i have a system ( does not take advantage of RAF or mentor bonuses obviously) and while its not near 7 hours its not bad at all and after taking a character that missed the first 20 levels of AA ( character was made and dinged long before AA where in game as a pure crafter ) about 3 months ago i started playing this one that has a good 30 aa dis advantage ( starting characters from scratch i get about 32 aa by lvl 20).</p><p>where im going with this is .</p><p>i enjoyed playing my character completely solo and dinged lvl 80 ( this isnt my first one to concentrate on AA though) and when i dinged 80 yesterday i had 181 and nearly 182 AA.</p><p>I have started another experiment with a new character that will keep level locked for a VERY LONG TIME and see how many AA i can achieve and what the curve looks like to find sweet spots and move on points to establish new curves and spots.( this experiment requires a lot of patience and is not so enjoyable for most people )</p>

[Calthine]

<p>I doubt it was much AA; if you look at Zimm's leveling notes he only did a half-dozen dungeons. </p><p>I'd be interested in anyone's "how I did it" bits, especially one on hitting 80/200 with a quickness!</p>

[BleemTeam]

<p>Whoever said 30AA is probably close to right. With so few places visited, and only 4 completed collections, it can't be THAT many...</p><p>Then again with the slider bar set at 5% you actually gain AA really quickly with 275% xp gain.</p>

[Terrius]

Just gonna point it out, but if you are lvl 80 with 30 aas you're gonna be pretty useless.

[Miss_Jackie]

<p><cite>Brook wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>It'd be an autobiography.  This piece <em>does</em> make me embarassed that I haven't gotten off my you-know-what and dinged 80.</p></blockquote><p>No reason to be embarrassed, lots of us are in no rush to 80 and try to enjoy the journey there.</p></blockquote><p>2.5 years for me and I'm level 72. >.<</p>

[Solarax]

<p><cite>Tabris93 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I am a new player, and I don't think the levelling is too fast. I have now been playing (casually) for about a month and have an adv. lvl of 38 and artisan lvl of 23. (I also have an alt that's lvl 20). So for me, it will take me several more months to reach lv 80 and that suits me find. I am not rushing to get there. Part of me would actually have wanted the levelling to go faster as I would love to test out other classes and races as well, but I can't play too much since I am also a master student. Thus with my pace, it will take me years to get several characters up to lvl 80.</p><p>Many games have weaknesses or loop holes people can exploit if they want, gamers have been doing that since the dawn of games. Go to YouTube and search for "speed run [NameOfGame]" and you will find loads of games being completed in a matter of hours. I don't think any game should be made with those gamers in mind. Most people chill and enjoy their game in their own time, and those are who the game should be made for, in my opinion.</p></blockquote><p>as a new player versus a player that already knowss the game you wind a huge diference. once you have one lvl80 toon it will be tremendously easyer to get more and after 2 -3 it will be a science. and the bonuses are nice ( stop at 50% i believe)</p>

[Ansek]

<p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>It's a work computer, Firefox browser, that I only use for eq2 sites while bored. The whole network is virus and trojan checked on a regular basis. With hindsight, given I have images turned off for sneaky browsing, I perhaps managed to click the link and then also click an advertising banner when zam opened. I doubt anybody else outside the UK would get "Nut's" showing as an advert.</blockquote><p>Not necessarily. Using Firefox with a pop-up stopper and ad blocker I always ALWAYS get a new window open when I visit Allakhazam. Normally its an online poker or bingo site, twice its been Nuts and once was for a male genital enhancer that "all the top [Removed for Content] stars use!!" My brother has the same issue using Chrome - both of us based in Europe (Norway and UK). Not the end of the world cos we're using private, home PCs but annoying especially as we're both premium members. </p><p>Speaking for myself I only get it on Allakhazam EQ2, not EQ1 or FreeRealms.</p>

[Vonotar]

<p><cite>Ansek wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>It's a work computer, Firefox browser, that I only use for eq2 sites while bored. The whole network is virus and trojan checked on a regular basis. With hindsight, given I have images turned off for sneaky browsing, I perhaps managed to click the link and then also click an advertising banner when zam opened. I doubt anybody else outside the UK would get "Nut's" showing as an advert.</blockquote><p>Not necessarily. Using Firefox with a pop-up stopper and ad blocker I always ALWAYS get a new window open when I visit Allakhazam. Normally its an online poker or bingo site, twice its been Nuts and once was for a male genital enhancer that "all the top [Removed for Content] stars use!!" My brother has the same issue using Chrome - both of us based in Europe (Norway and UK). Not the end of the world cos we're using private, home PCs but annoying especially as we're both premium members. </p><p>Speaking for myself I only get it on Allakhazam EQ2, not EQ1 or FreeRealms.</p></blockquote><p>Ahh, I guess I'll add zam to my list of "Java/Javascript to be disabled" sites.  Although I generally don't use the site too often so no doubt I'll forget.</p>

[Calthine]

<p>If you're getting bad ads on ZAM, mail <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> or post in the site feedback forum.  <a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2.zam.com/forum.html?forum=3&mid=1207324744284516508&num=0&page=1" target="_blank">http://eq2.zam.com/forum.html?forum...um=0&page=1</a></p>

[Vonotar]

<p>Meh, I'll stick with adverts disabled...</p><p>In a wierd way I would get into more trouble at work having 'Party Poker' pop up on screen that [Removed for Content]... something to do with them being one of our competitors...</p>

[rareyrare]

<p><cite>Tariuss@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Just gonna point it out, but if you are lvl 80 with 30 aas you're gonna be pretty useless.</blockquote><p>That's true, BUT...</p><p>  If you go back and mentor for some of those zones/quests, you missed along the way, you're getting a HUGE AA exp bonus and I think they'd hit 150 AA before you could sneeze twice...now 150-200, may be a bit more difficult, but someone said 4 days for a wizard 80/200, I could believe that.</p>

[guillero]

<p><cite>Couy@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Tariuss@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Just gonna point it out, but if you are lvl 80 with 30 aas you're gonna be pretty useless.</blockquote><p>That's true, BUT...</p><p>  If you go back and mentor for some of those zones/quests, you missed along the way, you're getting a HUGE AA exp bonus and I think they'd hit 150 AA before you could sneeze twice...now 150-200, may be a bit more difficult, but someone said 4 days for a wizard 80/200, I could believe that.</p></blockquote><p>No matter what. This is just so pointless.</p><p>Why rushing to lvl80 in 7 hours. Having only 30 AA and so be totally useless and gimped.</p><p>And then spending weeks wasting money on chronomaging each Tier getting your AA's up.</p><p>It's much more effient. Not to mention. A lot less tedious and lot more fun. To spend a bit more time with leveling and keep your AA's up along the way.</p><p>But that's just my 2 cents.</p>

[Saihung23]

<p>With the addition of the chronomancer, it is easier to go back and get the aa's imo.</p><p>At 80, mentored to any level you will plow through quests faster seeing as you will kill it 10 times faster.</p><p>/shrug</p><p>Either way works. Fun is subjective<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[TheVekk]

<p><cite>Banedon@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Warning!!</p><p>Link is not safe for those browsing at work, I ended up with soft-porno site Nuts opening in a second window!</p><p>As for the question itself, yes you can get to 80 in a stupidly quick time, but your character is going to be so gimped they are going to have to spend as much time (if not more) going back and earning AA, decent gear etc etc.</p><p>What's the point, there is a heritage quest called "the Journey is half the fun", now personally I think that it should be much more than half the fun, but level 80 in 7 hours... *sighs* that's totally missing the point.</p></blockquote><p> to get the aa's and gear that wont take long realy... with all the PoF runs going on now u can get atleast 10 from there plus if ur in a guild that has decent gear and  they are helping u it wont take long we our new dirge over 20 aa in a day jsut from running tso zones with her lol</p>

[feldon30]

First thing I'd do with that toon? Delete and reroll. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Level 26 now with 54 AAs.

[BleemTeam]

<p>You missed the point...</p><p>The guy did it as a sort of told-you-so esque way to show that you -can- level a toon really fast. People didn't read Calthine's post regarding the nature of the leveling?</p><p>Besides, leveling 1-80 in 7 hours isn't hard. Getting the remaining 170 aa's? I'd bet money it was about another 13 hours of grinding if my math is right. Then you figure the epic quest? Oh no! 6 hours tops. Mythical? PUG it up in a couple nights.</p><p>End result 80/200/Myth and some t4 patterns if you've bought some or an alt of a guild that can get them. Basically This "useless" toon is now better than most people's mains. In less than 1 week no less.</p>

[Solarax]

<p><cite>Brailyn@Befallen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Besides, leveling 1-80 in 7 hours isn't hard. Getting the remaining 170 aa's? I'd bet money it was about another 13 hours of grinding if my math is right. Then you figure the epic quest? Oh no! 6 hours tops. Mythical? PUG it up in a couple nights.</p><p>End result 80/200/Myth and some t4 patterns if you've bought some or an alt of a guild that can get them. Basically This "useless" toon is now better than most people's mains. In less than 1 week no less.</p></blockquote><p>grossly exagerated. i get AA at an increadable rate and i could not get 170AA in 13 hours of grinding even with potions and 5 people to help . it just doesnt go up as fast as level.</p>

[Alvane]

<p>how 'bout a story on the lowest lvl character with 200AAs <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Saihung23]

<p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>how 'bout a story on the lowest lvl character with 200AAs <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>lol</p><p>Is it going to be a level ten or twelve?</p><p>I bet level twelve and we dont see it for another few days at least.</p><p> <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>how 'bout a story on the lowest lvl character with 200AAs <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>I'd love to do that one too.  With a guide, of course!  Anyone PM or email me if you're interested <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[The Akulan]

<p>wow</p><p>even takes weeks for me to tradeskill up to lvl80 :S</p>

[Stardrama]

<p>I level the good old fashion way.....most of the time.  However, when I feel like I've been stuck in one level long enough, I usually search the broker for collectibles and collection myself into the next level.  I don't have the funds to do that on a regular basis.  But if plat is no object, you could feasible just collection yourself up wherever you wanted to be.  It wouldn't be a toon you'd want to actually play, just a a test subject or mule.  In the old days, some of us would create mules to hold overflow items we didn't want to sell or figured we'd to keep upgrade a lower toon.  But with the extra bank slots, share bank slots, and home slots, I don't think too many people do that anymore...do they? </p>

[Smirkey_of_Nektulos]

<p>I'm confused about something in the Zam article, where they say that collection XP is capped?</p><p>Skip the whole newb experience; instead, take that little bit of cash and buy some collections.  Remember that collection XP is capped, so you don't have to shell out for high-level stuff.  Zimm bought four collections, hit level 6, and set out across Antonica killing trash mobs all the way to Blackburrow.  He cleared Blackburrow once and dinged 18. </p><p>Can someone please explain to me what this means, as I have never heard about it before?</p><p>Like in, how many collections is the maximum, if that's what they're referring to?</p><p>I need to know because I have some crafting alts with a lot of collection quests to turn in, and I'd hate for that to be a waste because half of them didn't award any XP because of some "cap"!</p><p>Thanks.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Smirkey_of_Nektulos wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'm confused about something in the Zam article, where they say that collection XP is capped?</p></blockquote><p>Turn in as many as you want, there's no limit there.  It's a level-based cap on the amount of XP you can receive from a collection turn-in.  I've never seen exact numbers, but it means that if you turn in a level 80 collection at level 20 you're not going to ding 10 levels from it.  Collections still give <em>very</em> good XP, and now you can auto-mentor down to turn in grey ones.</p><p>The point to the statement you quoted is you can buy up cheap low-level collections to get that first handful of levels and get on your way to grinding.</p>

[Treana]

<p>I have to agree, leveling in EQ2 has gotten to be much faster.  I created a Conji on September 10th.  As of today she is just level 78 and a level 80 Master Armorer, with 107 AA's, after playing a total of 14 days, 10 hours.  She had the aid of 50% bonus for both adventuring and tradeskilling from have maxed out alts.  During live events the exp/AA slider was moved to 50exp/50AA.  She will be level 80 by the time the the Expansion goes live.  She still has half of her exp and tradeskilling potions left.  I have missed alot of content while leveling her, but then again I have done most of the content with one or another of my alts.  In my opinion this fast rate of leveling was great, as I wanted to have a conji on the AB server in time for Sentinal's Fate.  However,  if I was a relatively new player I would have missed tons of content, especially alot of quests that are fun and challenging.  Even having a total of 7 level 80 alts on two servers, there is still many zones, quests I have yet to visit or do.              </p><p>Perhaps there is someway to script leveling rates to adjust aside from the exp/AA slider or from turing off exp gain.  I do know that many newbies do not know that these features are available, much less on how to use them.</p>

[Alvane]

<p><cite>Treana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I have to agree, leveling in EQ2 has gotten to be much faster.  I created a Conji on September 10th.  As of today she is just level 78 and a level 80 Master Armorer, with 107 AA's, after playing a total of 14 days, 10 hours.  She had the aid of 50% bonus for both adventuring and tradeskilling from have maxed out alts.  During live events the exp/AA slider was moved to 50exp/50AA.  She will be level 80 by the time the the Expansion goes live.  She still has half of her exp and tradeskilling potions left.  I have missed alot of content while leveling her, but then again I have done most of the content with one or another of my alts.  In my opinion this fast rate of leveling was great, as I wanted to have a conji on the AB server in time for Sentinal's Fate.  However,  if I was a relatively new player I would have missed tons of content, especially alot of quests that are fun and challenging.  Even having a total of 7 level 80 alts on two servers, there is still many zones, quests I have yet to visit or do.              </p><p>Perhaps there is someway to script leveling rates to adjust aside from the exp/AA slider or from turing off exp gain.  I do know that many newbies do not know that these features are available, much less on how to use them.</p></blockquote><p>This is y there are such choices. Yes, if you do not want to pwr level, just change slider to AA 100% and turn off XP. After u finish the zones you want to play in for that level, just turn on the XP again and readjust your slider according to how much you wish to be allocated to AA. Then when you reach the plateau you want, turn it off again and continue your merry way.</p><p>I've done that with 3 of my alts, and I love it. It allows me to level up what I want, when I want and for how long I want. AFAIC, it is the best of the both worlds. Those that pwr level can, and those that don't can. IMO, the adjustments one can make is just fine.</p><p>As for newbies, they learn sooner or later through the prompts while playing, through forums, through friends, through guilds,  through new friends online, and even asking in channel. So unless the new player totally stays to themself, doesn't communicate, doesn't ready on screen prompts, doesn't check forums, doesn't join a guild or make friends and only plays solo, then of course, you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Treana wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p> Perhaps there is someway to script leveling rates to adjust aside from the exp/AA slider or from turing off exp gain.  I do know that many newbies do not know that these features are available, much less on how to use them.</p></blockquote><p>I was thinking the same as I ran an alt through the Qeynos newb experience after the XP changes.  I'm carefully checking all the tutorial pop-ups, and I haven't seen one about XP-locking or the AA slider.  I might /feedback it, as that'd probably be easy to throw in there.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As for newbies, they learn sooner or later through the prompts while playing, through forums, through friends, through guilds,  through new friends online, and even asking in channel. So unless the new player totally stays to themself, doesn't communicate, doesn't ready on screen prompts, doesn't check forums, doesn't join a guild or make friends and only plays solo, then of course, you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink.</p></blockquote><p>The problem with that is trial accounts, which are chat-restricted.  Anyone on a trial account is basically playing a solo game unless they have friends in the game, and with no level cap it's possible for it to be too late by the time they figure it out.</p>

[Tyrus Dracofire]

<p>you got any maxed out main character(s), maybe you get extra 10% bonus xp for alts.</p>

[Alvane]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As for newbies, they learn sooner or later through the prompts while playing, through forums, through friends, through guilds,  through new friends online, and even asking in channel. So unless the new player totally stays to themself, doesn't communicate, doesn't ready on screen prompts, doesn't check forums, doesn't join a guild or make friends and only plays solo, then of course, you can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink.</p></blockquote><p>The problem with that is trial accounts, which are chat-restricted.  Anyone on a trial account is basically playing a solo game unless they have friends in the game, and with no level cap it's possible for it to be too late by the time they figure it out.</p></blockquote><p>Trial accounts are limited. Peeps who do use them are aware of the limitation. And even so, all have forum access. As you know, many questions on some of these forums come from peeps using trial accounts. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Chat is just one form of communication.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Trial accounts are limited. Peeps who do use them are aware of the limitation. And even so, all have forum access. As you know, many questions on some of these forums come from peeps using trial accounts. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Chat is just one form of communication.</p></blockquote><p>But only about 10% of players know that there even are forums.</p><p>*shrug*  Just sayin' that throwing the information in one of those pop-up tutorial boxes wouldn't be a bad thing.</p>

[CoLD MeTaL]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>..</cite></p><p>But only about 10% of players know that there even are forums.</p><p>...</p></blockquote><p>That explains so much.</p>

[Alvane]

<p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Trial accounts are limited. Peeps who do use them are aware of the limitation. And even so, all have forum access. As you know, many questions on some of these forums come from peeps using trial accounts. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Chat is just one form of communication.</p></blockquote><p>But only about 10% of players know that there even are forums.</p><p>*shrug*  Just sayin' that throwing the information in one of those pop-up tutorial boxes wouldn't be a bad thing.</p></blockquote><p>and you know that because?....... I never have seen any studies, surveys or such providing 10% of players (new and/or old) know there are forums.</p><p>Please link such surveys..... thanx</p>

[Grignard]

<p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>I've been 80 tradeskill for a few months, but I have yet to hit 80 adventure( though I probably will this month) with my main who I have had since 2006, on an account I've had since launch. Its good to know there are other people who aren't there yet who have been on a while.</p>

[Saihung23]

<p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Trial accounts are limited. Peeps who do use them are aware of the limitation. And even so, all have forum access. As you know, many questions on some of these forums come from peeps using trial accounts. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Chat is just one form of communication.</p></blockquote><p>But only about 10% of players know that there even are forums.</p><p>*shrug*  Just sayin' that throwing the information in one of those pop-up tutorial boxes wouldn't be a bad thing.</p></blockquote><p>and you know that because?....... I never have seen any studies, surveys or such providing 10% of players (new and/or old) know there are forums.</p><p>Please link such surveys..... thanx</p></blockquote><p>Ask players in game.</p><p>When I was in Solo Artist, no one went to the forums but me.  And when Tainda came over to Solo, she was the only other one...and tweety and sLide.</p><p>Most of the friends I have in game have never ever even typed everquest 2 into a search engine.  They play the game and changes are surprises to them.</p><p>I can't tell you how often in chat I would go over upcoming changes with folks.</p><p>Is 10% accurate?  It is accurate enough for Calthine's point I believe.  Lets say its 30% make it to these forums.</p><p>Thats still 70% that dont.</p><p>Lets put it this way...the majority of mmo gamers do not make it to official forums.</p><p>Semantics.  I love 'em.</p><p>:P</p>

[Alvane]

<p>deleted parts for brevity</p><p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Calthine wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Eldra@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Trial accounts are limited. Peeps who do use them are aware of the limitation. And even so, all have forum access. As you know, many questions on some of these forums come from peeps using trial accounts. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /> Chat is just one form of communication.</p></blockquote><p>But only about 10% of players know that there even are forums.</p><p>*shrug*  Just sayin' that throwing the information in one of those pop-up tutorial boxes wouldn't be a bad thing.</p></blockquote><p>and you know that because?....... I never have seen any studies, surveys or such providing 10% of players (new and/or old) know there are forums.</p><p>Please link such surveys..... thanx</p></blockquote><p>Is 10% accurate?  It is accurate enough for Calthine's point I believe.  Lets say its 30% make it to these forums.</p><p>Thats still 70% that dont.</p><p>Lets put it this way...the majority of mmo gamers do not make it to official forums.</p></blockquote><p>Well, guess we have different personal xp.... everyone I know is quite aware of the forums. But once again, it's misleading. Then others repeat it in error..... eventually it gets a bad rap as peeps take it as being the gospel when in fact it is strictly a guess based on personal experience. Calthine's is 10%, yours is 30%, mine is 100%.</p><p>So, to base a point on erroneous anecdotal statistics is a bit pointless. Truth is no one really knows how many gamers actually read any part of the forums, or which part or how often.</p><p>C is talking about placing information in those popup boxes in Trials to teach new players various things about the game. Question is, how much information should trial players be bombarded with and which information is more pertinant than others.</p><p>More valuable for discussion rather than anecdotal experience of who looks at forums and who does not or a guestimate that is full of errors, is to list specific items that should be in a popup list for new players and for trials. Of course, I'm assuming you wish to include new players who do not bother to do trials.</p><p>However, IIRC, I was informed of the forums as a new player as soon as I registered. So when I was in the Queen's Colony (no trials), I already knew about the forums and was using them for information. I also purchased a retail version of the game which had information inside about the forums and registration.</p><p>IIRC,  there were numerous ? boxes that popped up as I was in the Queen's Colony. And IIRC, if I delayed looking at one, after a length of time, it disappeared. I was fighting and dying and running and dodging, was too busy to stop to look at a pop-up box, so I missed whatever it said.</p><p>Would be interesting if SoE did a research survey on different subjects including playstyle (%time spent solo, grp, less than full grp, instances, raids, live events, crafting, decorating) information retrieval (email, forums, guilds, wom, chat, external chat), and so on. IMO, that would assist greatly in offering ideas for improvement in certain areas.</p>

[Alvane]

<p><cite>Grignard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Roboto@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>If you're ever intersted in doing a story on someone levelling from 0-80 in 5+ years, send me a note.</p></blockquote><p>I've been 80 tradeskill for a few months, but I have yet to hit 80 adventure( though I probably will this month) with my main who I have had since 2006, on an account I've had since launch. Its good to know there are other people who aren't there yet who have been on a while.</p></blockquote><p>LOL... I have several characters not yet 80 adventure. All are master crafters (80), but only 2 out of 6 are actually adventure 80. I began EQ2 in 2005. And yes, I do play all of them. Not one sits. I have XP locked and slider totally 100%AA. If I decide to move a character up a couple levels, I'll do that, then lock that XP. My characters are at lvls 43, 60, 61, 63 and 2 at 80.</p>

[Calthine]

<p>I don't have a citation for the 10% number - I've just heard it batted around by various SOE persons over the years.  Suffice it to say that "The majority of the players don't frequent the forums".</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Ultani@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>IIRC,  there were numerous ? boxes that popped up as I was in the Queen's Colony. And IIRC, if I delayed looking at one, after a length of time, it disappeared. I was fighting and dying and running and dodging, was too busy to stop to look at a pop-up box, so I missed whatever it said.</p></blockquote><p>Having run lots of newbie alts through the new player experience for various reasons, I can tell you there are still lots of ? boxes that are triggered when you do something for the first time.  The content has changed a lot over the years, and they are quite good. As far as I've seen they're very persistant - I've ignored them until there was a line of 10 of them intruding into my screen.</p><p>Of course, people actually have to read the content, too <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[melaine_dvarvensplitter]

<p>I have a warden that I rolled in 2005 and I had pretty muched stopped playing it for about 2 years and was at level 52 I think it was then I played to about 58 and stopped for about another 2 years....I had when I relogged into it about 22AA's so I was pretty gimped and at the time was going full heal spec, it took forever to kill things, I then got some information respeced and now at 78 and 80ish AA... I do have a couple sub 10 toons that I will try the zero to 80 in 7hrs run just to see how it goes.I do find it interesting to see how people play the game for different reasons... be it fastest leveling or fastest AA etc..</p>

[Aylix]

<p>I personally think that if you are basing your opinion that leveling is 'too fast' on your little test study, I'm glad you're not developing meds.</p><p>Sure, you can hit 80 in 7 hours - with 100p, 5 accounts, some real life cash.</p><p>The point is that if you wanted to get a good example of the leveling curve, you would have done it with one account. Starting from scratch.</p><p>Yes, leveling 1-80 in 7 hours is too fast. But not everyone has the capacity to do what your friend did. Therefore, it is the exception, not the rule. I don't care either way, I don't ever go to ZAM, so think what you want.</p><p>I just don't like when people start 'advocating' things from a very, VERY skewed perspective.</p>

[Novusod]

<p>I wish I could level my alts that fast. But really you also have to consider AA as well when leveling these days. Even the fastest power levelers take over 100 hours played to get 80/200.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Sidhan@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I personally think that if you are basing your opinion that leveling is 'too fast' on your little test study, I'm glad you're not developing meds.</p></blockquote><p>Honestly, it the original challenge was a knee-jerk response to the 100th time I saw someone say "You can hit 80 in a day."  I said "Prove it!" and someone did.  My personal opinion on leveling speed was based on newb toons I've played myself. </p><p>I mean to (when things slow down a bit after Sentinel's Fate is launched) roll another toon and see how that first 20 levels is now that SOE has smoothed out the leveling curve.</p>

[Calthine]

<p><cite>Novusod wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I wish I could level my alts that fast. But really you also have to consider AA as well when leveling these days. Even the fastest power levelers take over 100 hours played to get 80/200.</p></blockquote><p>I've had someone say they could do it in about 18 hours, although no one's taken me up on documenting it yet.</p>

[Alvane]

<p>Playstyle is very personal. What's nice about EQ2 is there is a choice. Some games like WoW give no choices. You level up as fast as it happens and cannot slow down the rush to the "end game."</p><p>I have characters that are over 4 years old and are at 60 and 61 with 122AA/89AAs respectively. At the same time, I have a character who maxes both level & AAs with every expansion. One character I did kinda pwr level to 80 in about 2 months. It wasn't for me.... I like to slow down and smell the flowers along the way.</p><p>To me, it's a journey never ending. To others it's only the "end game" that's worth while. And yet, to more peeps, it's somewhere inbetween. Some peeps think raiding is the only game in EQ2. Others love the instances and dungeons. Still there are more choices, the lore, crafting/decorating/tradeskill timelines, collections, HQs - L&Ls - Sig quests - live events and general quests that are the draw. And some love working in those AAs even at lower adventure levels. Of course, I would never leave out those who want to be the most uber player in their class with masters and gear!</p><p>My hat is off to peeps who pwr level characters as well as to those who decorate and revolve their character around tradeskilling - and to everyone else inbetween.</p><p>That is what I like about EQ2 - always choices. And that is what we should celebrate rather than the differences.</p>