Is it possible to level up on combat only?

[Jovie]

By possible i mean feasible without bashing my head into the desk.

Short story is i am 100 percent sick of questing. The two solutions would be to switch back to eq1 or stay here.

I would prefer to stay here but not if "grinding" through combat isn't feasible.

Any thoughts?

[Gorpier]

I don't see a problem with it.  I do it frequently when I want to scream "No mor &#@! quests!"  Usually I end up going back to questing but grinding doesn't seem to slow down my progress either.

[Finora]

Not my personal preference but I know people who only do quests they deem necessary (fabled epic, Epic Reprecussions, a few of the heritage quests whose rewards are useful for a long while and such as that).

[Glenolas]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

I would prefer to stay here but not if "grinding" through combat isn't feasible.

I have a main who was in the top 10 questers on the server back in the day.   That was long ago and far, far away, and dissappeared when that server (Toxxilia) merged with Guk.   Still, he has nearly 3000 quests done today.  Notwithstanding that,  I'd never use that method to level the Nth alt.

Grinding is the favored method by "power levelers".   They just take the victim,  oops, I mean the character needing leveling,  group with them and go slaughter rooms of stuff.  My bruiser went from 0/0 and 0 vitality to 90/300 in 36 hours.  I would not be considered particularly good at power leveling, and refuse to purchase any speedup potions.  He just got behind the Paladin and ran to glory over a double xp weekend.   He finished wearing dropped junk for armor and jewelry,  and only took that as he grew to survive aoe's and detrimentals that show up at higher levels.

He did a few quests.   If you know the route upward, there are a few quests that entail killing the same things you are slaughtering en masse anyway, and it would be dumb not to take them.  Of course you also get L&L and language quests from some mobs, and get the drops from killing them, so get a small benefit from doing those.    Getting caught up in running to/fro quest givers just slows leveling down if your aim is to merely level or get AA's.

You can do it solo but it takes longer, as you don't kill as fast as an overpowered mentor, and you need to pay more attention to what you are wearing, to keep your kill rate as high as it can be.  It is, however, as fast or faster than questing.

Edited to add: reading other responses reminded me that you should leave a little headroom (stop grinding) at around 88 because you are going to run your Mythical weapon quests,  both the Fabled and then the Enervated quests,  both of which involve some slight grinding and good quest rewards.   That will top you out.

[Jovie]

I appreciate all of the responses, thank you!

I am an extreme alt fan. I have one of everything and it gets REALLY old doing the same quest lines over and over and over again.

The golden path can take a flying leap!

[Glenolas]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

The golden path can take a flying leap!

Most of us somehow made it to 90 on multiple alts without the benefit of the golden path.   

I have no idea how we could have done such an unimaginable feat.  Boggle.

[Glenolas]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

The golden path can take a flying leap!

When I first heard of the golden path, I thought of the things one sees just off a trail when hiking above the snowline.

[Zepor]

The fastest way to level has become mentoring down to a much lower level and grinding through old dungeons, which speaks volumes for just how badly broken this game is.

So, yes it is possible.  Just not fighting things your level, that would take forever.

[DxPreist1]

Absolutely, however I find mixing grinding and quests to be the most enjoyable, trying to level off all of one or the other makes me go bonkers.

[Jovie]

Glenolas wrote:

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

The golden path can take a flying leap!

Most of us somehow made it to 90 on multiple alts without the benefit of the golden path.   

I have no idea how we could have done such an unimaginable feat.  Boggle.

My original main and my newer main both did ALLLLL the quests along the way. When i started my new thing with one of everythough though, it got old fast.

Made me think of all the time i had in eq1 (started from the beginning) where it was just grind grind grind. I liked that immensely because the game was big enough and had many different zones of all level ranges. I could just pick one and go.

Eq2 is starting to get bigger with multiple options but not quite as big as its older brother.

[CoLD MeTaL]

Some guy on Guk, on double xp weekend mind, said he went from 0 to 90/300 in one day with no quests done.  My personal experience is far from that, I hate long quests that give bupcus, and I hate lnog quest lines that force you into step 1 then back step 2 then back.

[Glenolas]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Some guy on Guk, on double xp weekend mind, said he went from 0 to 90/300 in one day with no quests done.

I don't doubt it at all.  

I took 36 hours as noted above,  which meant I slept nights.  I rolled on a 3 year old account,  so the toon got some potions granted for veteran rewards,  but ran out about half way and I refuse to buy any from SC.   I was also only halfheartedly interested in running the toon up,  but when it became obvious I'd make it, I just pushed on. 

I actually didn't get the idea to start until the 2nd day of a 3 day double xp weekend,  and rolled then.  Therefore I had zero vitality from the start.  (You are born with zero vitality).    If I had it to do over again, I'd roll a week in advance, on the 8 year old account.   That would give me a start with 100% vitality,  an orb to get 100% more, and more potions from the vet rewards.  I'd guess that would shorten the time to a single day.   As it was, ad hoc still got 90/300 and enervated done in 36 hours play.

On the other hand, I think it's virtually impossible not to do some quests on the way up.   Lore and Legend drops on many mobs,  as do language, and skipping them doesn't make sense as they give 3-8% exp bonus.

[Jovie]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Some guy on Guk, on double xp weekend mind, said he went from 0 to 90/300 in one day with no quests done.  My personal experience is far from that, I hate long quests that give bupcus, and I hate lnog quest lines that force you into step 1 then back step 2 then back.

Exactly.

Fed ex quests that have you running back and forth are inane. I don't need to be shackled by time sink quests.

[Koleg]

I have personally leveled an Alt to 90/275 with a total of 15 quests completed ... 1 for the "Challenge" (not so Challenging), 5 or 6 L&L quests and ~7 for the flying mount in Great Divide.  I'm no powerleveler but once you know the "path" you can do it rather quickly.  It took me 2.5 played days and I'm sure others can do it in less than 1 played day.

[feldon30]

You can absolutely level from 1-80 from combat. 81-90 gets slow so I suggest questing, at least the SF icebox and pantry quests, then Velious quests. Also, Freeport has a whole new set of quests.

[Koleg]

feldon30 wrote:

You can absolutely level from 1-80 from combat. 81-90 gets slow so I suggest questing, at least Velious quests. Also, Freeport has a whole new set of quests.

Just to be fair, in my experiences, SF quests rewarded nearly double the XP amounts as Velious quests when comparing raw quest reward XP and would be the in the same general level range 80-90 and even though they are extremely linier they can be knocked off in a relatively short period of time compared to others.

[chelanfarsight]

could someone point me to a wiki page or somesuch that would not simply list the zones in which to level, but which mobs and areas within a zone are 'prime' spots for this kind of leveling. even waypoints would be nice, but directions and descriptions owuld good too.

i like to mix it up a bit, but i have to admit that lately ive just been killing things, though im not sure im getting the best bang for my buck in each zone i goto.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jovie]

One thing that affects my enjoyment of questing is the setup and pacing throughout the area.

Kunark, for example, i enjoyed the solo quest lines. It kept me busy but i wasn't deluged with constant back and forth.

The Erudin expansion, however, was like i was having a seizure with all the back and forth this way that way up down turnaround questing.

Outside of the flying mount and fae flying though and a little faction tied in with them i haven't quested at all in velious because it felt like the difficulty level was getting a bit much.

[Koleg]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

One thing that affects my enjoyment of questing is the setup and pacing throughout the area.

Kunark, for example, i enjoyed the solo quest lines. It kept me busy but i wasn't deluged with constant back and forth.

The Erudin expansion, however, was like i was having a seizure with all the back and forth this way that way up down turnaround questing.

Outside of the flying mount and fae flying though and a little faction tied in with them i haven't quested at all in velious because it felt like the difficulty level was getting a bit much.

It gets more difficult due to the Stat inflation, where DOV mobs are tuned for the new inflated stats but SF mobs are not.  So not only do the SF quests reward more raw XP, but the mobs are generally easier.  Doing DOV questlines will require a gear reset (if your in SF T-2 or T-3 then this is not the case).

chelanfarsight wrote:

could someone point me to a wiki page or somesuch that would not simply list the zones in which to level, but which mobs and areas within a zone are 'prime' spots for this kind of leveling. even waypoints would be nice, but directions and descriptions owuld good too.

i like to mix it up a bit, but i have to admit that lately ive just been killing things, though im not sure im getting the best bang for my buck in each zone i goto.

any suggestions would be appreciated. 

You're kidding right!?!  If you're on wiki and you're looking at a zone list then you're sure to find a questline within the zone detail.  Try clicking on that! ... Google => EQ2 zones by level (go!)

[CatamanderEQ2]

chelanfarsight wrote:

could someone point me to a wiki page or somesuch that would not simply list the zones in which to level, but which mobs and areas within a zone are 'prime' spots for this kind of leveling. even waypoints would be nice, but directions and descriptions owuld good too.

i like to mix it up a bit, but i have to admit that lately ive just been killing things, though im not sure im getting the best bang for my buck in each zone i goto.

any suggestions would be appreciated.

Zones by level are here: http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Zones_By_Level

But it sounds like you might be looking for the "Golden Path": http://eq2.zam.com/wiki/The_Golden_Path

[chelanfarsight]

sorry i wasn't clear enough. i do that sometimes.

i do know how to find the zones and even the quests, though the link to the golden path, i did not have.

the OP was asking if one could level simply through grinding, with no questing. what i was asking for was anyone's personal experience doing this. what mobs in which part of a particular zone are good to grind on for a few hours at a time.

so for me good mobs to grind on means they aren't prone to gang up on you through sudden respawn; they might have useful or good drops for collections, or money, or items; their respawn rate is steady; and their xp per kill at level is large enough to warrant the time expenditure; etc.

hope that clarifies a bit better what i was trying to say, for anyone who has experience grinding on mobs to level.

for those of you who have offered suggestions so far, i would like to say thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

[Crillus]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

By possible i mean feasible without bashing my head into the desk.

Short story is i am 100 percent sick of questing. The two solutions would be to switch back to eq1 or stay here.

I would prefer to stay here but not if "grinding" through combat isn't feasible.

Any thoughts?

I'm level 62 with 120 AA's now - I've grinded most XP, except for the newb quests - I wanted a mount, so I did those.

Otherwise, I'll do a quest here and there, if it's a good reward, but doing just a small number of them - I find fun. Doing 152 per zone - isn't; to me in any event. I find a quest fun, if I do just a few here and there. I'll pick up a couple interesting quest lines and in the course of grinding, will do them.

You'll need to find the best zones for your class/style - so experiment, don't hang out in a zone if the XP seems bad, you'll likely find better.

Plus, I did quest in the 40's for a level or two - personally, I find the stop/go potion of questing just distracts me, I prefer to just 'get rolling' on the XP grind and keep at it. While many are running to and fro, reading the quests and all that - I'm non-stop killing.

It's personal prefernce; but very do-able. Maybe I would have leveled faster questing - perhaps, but that wasn't my goal. On the good side of this, my rotation and memorization of where my abilites are on my hotbars, along with timing is great now, with all this grinding - it's becoming second nature playing my character now. So for me, it's certainly preferable.

Any zone will work - just finding the 'right spot' in the zone can be touch and go.

After you do your 'newb quests'... here's a list of do-able zones.

Thundering Steepes - once that gets easy, hit Varsoon's Ruins. That will work longer than you think it will - smashing green Heroic mobs in mass nets good XP. Maybe do Varsoon until mid/high 30's. The Golems are great XP, even being green.

Then you are in your mid-30's - hit up Butcherblock or find another dungeon where the mobs are green to you (they might be grey at the zone in - go in further - you want the mobs green deeper in, so you know you can easily handle the dungeon)

I outta put together a 'grinders guide' - I was insistant upon not questing so much. But here's another goodie you may not notice if you quests a lot - some mobs will drop items that will start quests... and you can do those while you grind. It seems to me that EQ2 was setup with some plain XP grinding in mind, you'll note that more as you do it.

See - I don't like to think too deep about EQ2 and my leveling most of the time - after work beats my brain all day, I like just a plain all-out slaughter fest.

That enough to get ya' started?

Experiment - what's good for a tank might not be for a caster.

[Jovie]

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions and encouragement

[Crillus]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

Thank you all for the excellent suggestions and encouragement

There's a side benefit too - tons and tons of sellable goodies :O

So even gear upgrades aren't an issue. Check out the dungeon finder too - that's a good break here and there.

[chelanfarsight]

thanks Crillus, thats the type of info i was looking for.

appreciate it.

[ksax56]

Do you guys pre-make equipment / weapons / spells for one of these sessions?  I am thinking of trying this with a new toon the next time a x2 xp weekend comes around (will be grinding mobs solo) - I'm not interested in breaking records or "competetive leveling" but just to try and grind this out for a weekend and see how it goes.  If it turns out that you can expect enough from drops or to buy equipment off merchant when you need to because you have the funds, so much the better.

It seems that a common practice is to solo green-level dungeons - or just overland mobs? (i imagine you dont stop to harvest )

thanks for input.

K

[Raffir]

Or you could also run Writs...and get a mix of combat and quest + tokens and Guild XP

Raf

[LordPazuzu]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

By possible i mean feasible without bashing my head into the desk.

Short story is i am 100 percent sick of questing. The two solutions would be to switch back to eq1 or stay here.

I would prefer to stay here but not if "grinding" through combat isn't feasible.

Any thoughts?

Yes, it's possible.  It's how I level most of my toons.  I hate questing.  It's faster than questing if you have someone to mentor you or even a few folks to group with.  EQ2 has alot of great dungeons from 10 to 90... welll... 10 to 80.

[KerryOK]

Junglelilly@Guk wrote:

By possible i mean feasible without bashing my head into the desk.

Short story is i am 100 percent sick of questing. The two solutions would be to switch back to eq1 or stay here.

I would prefer to stay here but not if "grinding" through combat isn't feasible.

Any thoughts?

Yes, definatly. Like the others has said before me. I have a bad case of altitis and can you imagine going through ALL the quests again Now with my alts I pick and choose. For instance the ones born in the newer cities follow the zone paths that is best for them. For instance Gorowin leads you to BB and the higher zones within that area. I don't normally visit the old world zones with those chars except to get the quests that give houseitems, the Lore quests, Heritage quests, event quests and any "can't be without quests."

And alternating between questing and pure grinding really saves my sanity.

But really the world has become so big with so many quests and paths that I think it is quite possible to lvl a char and pick questlines that does not mirror others.

[Axelia]

One thing nice about this game is you can have it anyway you want it.

If you want to do some of the 6000+ quests you can.

If you want to just fill collections you can (given you have the means to obtain them).

If you want to grind on one specific type of mob you can.

By self mentoring you can grind one zone and never leave it all the way to level cap.

No one is forcing you to ride any ride here if you look at all the options available. There are a lot of solo and group dungeons to go to and a lot of exploring to do if you want that. You can craft your way to fame if you want to also.

Just go do it the way you want and have fun doing it.

No other game I have played offers so much content.