Reasonable Timeframe, Lvl 1 - lvl 80

[ParadoxThePG]

Roughly, if I was playin' four hours a day-mostly xp groups and solo quests-would it take to get to max lvl?

I ask, because I have a friend that is interested in a new MMO.  He's played WoW for years and he's a raider, he's afraid EQII is like FF11

[Tel]

Leveling here is alot more like WoW than it is like FFXI. Reasonable timeframe is relative.  I played rather casually with a slew of alts, and just hit 80 on my inquistor like 3-4 weeks ago, I created him on sep 26, 2007.Then again I wasn't in a rush, my necro that i'm currently playing, however, now that I know more about the game and the lay out of the zones, is level 38, and climbing very fast (I went from 22 to 35 in two days with the help of some collections, i'm sure you can level even faster if you get a lot more collections completed).

[steelbadger]

I reckon about 3, 4 or 5 months is a reasonable timeframe to hit 80 with that kinda play time.  Assuming you pause plenty to take in the sights and sounds.  Probably less time if we include the xp changes in the estimation.

[Ama]

Have to say since I have about 14 alts 3 level 80s, 1 level 78, 1 level 72 and such it's not very difficult to level up from 1 to 70.  The sticking point comes from leveling 71-80 since combat xp isn't as great as Quest XP unfortunately. 

Level 1-20: If you play about 4hrs a day at the most and do quests it'll take you about 1day maybe 2 max.  For some hard core people getting to level 20 can take only 1hr if even that. 

Level 20-30: Hard to say since things are combat xp/grinding oriented with some questing.  Can take probably 4 days maybe 5 at the most.  If you find a group and do zones like Ruins of Varsoon you can crank it out inside of 1-2 days 3 tops.

Level 30-40: Here's where it picks up and you can do Zek, Steamfont mountains and The Ferrott for XP.  Can do it in about 3-5 days tops maybe 6 if you're lazy.

Level 40-50: This is a sticking point of sorts because you really need to do grouping to help yourself out.  Lost Temple of Cazic Thule is the best place I can think of.  If you can find a group Permafrost is a great XP zone, but ya gotta be atleast level 45 since mobs are 47+.  Doing grouping and the quest line in Klak'anon  it'll take about 4-5 days maybe 7.

Level 50-60: Choice time do you want to do solo stuff or group stuff.  Solo wise I hit up the skeletons in Shimmering Citadel then when i'm 52-53 hit the DJinn dudes in the upper area till i'm 54.  After hitting 54 I head up to Tenebrous Tangle killing trash till i'm 55.  Hitting 55 you can do the quests in TT breezing wall past 56, 57 and possibly 58.  At 58 you can hit up the gazer island killing the gazers + roaming eyes.  59-60 Vultak island is the best.  If you want to group it you can do Mines of Meldrath, Shimmering Citadel the Poets palace (57+), and I think that's it.  Doing all of this you'll get to 60 in about 7-8 days maybe less if you push it.

Level 60-70: Trash on Gazer Island, Vultak Island and Isle of the ravasect in TT, and you can get some Sanctum groups (SoS) your gtg up to level 63.  At 63-65 you must hit The Nest in the Barren Sky it will net you atleast 50-70% xp.  Can do Lesser Faydark (Level 60 can do at 57), and the lopping plains (level 63 I recommend).  Here it will take you 7-10 days maybe less if you push it.

Level 70-80: This leveling depends on A.) Your class, B.) How well you know your class, and C.) how you have your class configured.  On my Warden it was long and took atleast 3 weeks nearly a month to get to 80.  My SK had it easier and took about 2 weeks possibly 3, but had it the easiest on my assassin where it took about 1week to 1week and 1/2.

So all said and told if you push it it'll take about 1 and 1/2 month to level to 80.  Some people can do it in about a month, but that's pushing it as well as popping XP potions imho. 

Vitality is a double edged sword cause you'll love it when ya have it, but hate it when ya don't cause you won't speed along so quickly.

Hope this helps out and if you look in the Gameplay area i've got a post about going from level A-B for PvE purposes.

[Donilla]

All the above is true, and I guess since your friend wants to raid, you want to get to raiding as quick as possible. But there is the other end as well. I've been playing almost two years now and am still at 77 on my main. Of course I have altitis, I quest, I craft, and I only play an hour day, not every day of the week, and weekends.

My point, this is a fun game, with nice quests, some low/mid range instances that can be raided or grouped and will provide class education. There are crafts to be made, houses to be decorated, status to be acquired so you can buy faster mounts, money to be made for the masters and adepts you will need, etc, etc. If raiding is all you do and all you are interested in, then okay, but I might suggest you not be so quick to reach the end and risk not knowing enough about your class to be a really valuable raider. Its just as much fun along the way, and you will level up pretty darn quick anyway, with the kind of game play you anticipate.

[Seidhkona]

I'd suggest taking a look at EQ2 Players in the Character section.Take a peek at the characters of your class on your server. If you poke around you can see level history, which gives the dates a person achieved various levels.If you see someone getting a bunch of levels at once in a city zone, chances are good that they have done that by turning in a bunch of collections at once.

[troodon]

A lot depends on how lucky you are getting groups during your play time, especially when you get to higher levels.  If you get into a good exp group, even 70-80, you'll be cruising to max level.  Solo questing, while perfectly viable and sometimes funner, is much slower.

[Spyderbite]

As others have said, its all relative really. I'm about to ding level 59 on my main toon created almost 3 years ago on my first account. But, unlike the OP, I rarely spend my days in XP grinding activities on that character. I harvest.. alot. And, I spend bonus exp weekends in the tradeskill instances for the most part. I raid casually.. sometimes once a week.. sometimes once a month. And, when I group, its usually to mentor lower level guild mates through content I did quit some time ago.On the other hand, a toon that I created less than 6 months ago has zipped to level 42 (zipped as in compared to my main hehe) primarily through pvp exp and disco/collection quests.I think its safe for the OP to inform his friends from WoW that exp gain is very comparable to WoW if one concentrates on exp focused activies. With the assistance of some high level friends, the trip to 80 can be done in less than a month. Probably quite a bit slower on a solo path though.

[Soulforged_Unre]

Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:

I'd suggest taking a look at EQ2 Players in the Character section.Take a peek at the characters of your class on your server. If you poke around you can see level history, which gives the dates a person achieved various levels.If you see someone getting a bunch of levels at once in a city zone, chances are good that they have done that by turning in a bunch of collections at once.

Note for this: you need to pay the extra I think two dollars a month to see those features.

[Kordran]

According to the developers, the average amount of time to level from 1 to 80 is about 260 hours played. If you played typically, which I believe is about 20 hours a week, that would come out to a bit more than 3 months. On the other hand, if you played hardcore (say around 12 hours a day), then you could hit 80 in about 3 weeks; and that's just an average, I'm sure there's been players who have done it in less. Probably wouldn't do much for your social life, though.