Some thoughts about levelling new characters

[Capt. Rik]

I decided about 2 months ago I decided to use the other 3 character slots available on Saturn. I've been levelling my tank for about 9 months and although I still enjoy playing him, needing 4.5 million exp till the next str level is not fun. I've done pretty much everything with my tank (most epics, tagged every GR, been everywhere) but not been to MC5.

So, i've started 3 new characters and I thought i'd share my experiences with levelling them:

BTW: All these chars are ultimately going to become DRE to join my clan (after doing certain epics etc.)

Char 1 - Rifle Spy (Faction: DRE)

Well, we were short of Op hackers so I thought a hacking Spy seemed like a good idea. First impressions were that going straight from playing a tank to becoming a spy isn't the best transition. Died a few times from over zealously chasing rats and poisonous plants.
Went onto the aggie cellars and managing to level DEX and INT quite well. Die so ridiculously easy tho even to the aggies. Levelling PSI seems tricky (i've just managed to get TL3 heal!)
Got my hack up to 100 and i'm now using a Tangent Sniper Rifle and Gatling Rifle.
I got bored quite quickly at this point. I'm not hard enough to get remotely close to anything that gives me decent experience and using a sniper rifle it just so slow and time consuming that it's depressing.

Still, he's now /27 and i occasionaly log him on to hack a belt or two and the occasional Op layer.

Char 2 - Pistol PE (Faction: PP)

I've read a lot of posts over the last year about PE's and their skills. I'd been wanting to try one for ages and since i'd never even picked up a pistol before, i thought it would be fun to try.
Immediately I was impressed with the class. From the start I could level up extremely quickly and within a day I was happily solo'ing aggies. I decided to make him an implanter and a hacker as it is possible with pistols.
I'm at the MB bunker now with him. Teaming is fantastic, I get so much experience as long as there is 1 of every class present.
The one problem I found however is with low tech pistols. I decided from that the start that he would be lowtech only. This was fine until I hit about DEX 42. From then on there is a large jump to the next pistol (i'm an uzi man :D ). The one I was using did crap damage to Lauchers so I decided to bite the bullet and go hightech as well. Things are now better but as a /38 PE I hope to graduate to better (and more interesting) levelling places soon.

Char 3 - APU Monk (Faction: TG)

I started this guy about a week ago. I'd now a character in every class except monk so I decided to start one.

I picked TG for a very good reason. That reason is that in my opinion it is the best place for a newb APU to level. Those caves are wonderful hunting grounds! Within half an hour after starting I was already coping with TG caves 3 easily. Big Cavecrawler missions are a lot easier than Aggie Captain missions (both are Hard missions and give you the same cash/exp).
I don't even need to spend my hard earned cash on any armour yet as there is practically nothing mob-like that can hurt me.
I'm up to /18 now and I've hit a problem. Where do I go to level now? I hate the aggie cellars and MB bunker with a passion (I only go there with my other chars because other people are there to protect me or share exp with me).
If I leave TG canyon to go hunt outside I either get jumped on by the nearest hopper/grim etc. I don't want to go to NC unless I absolutely have to (whilst i'm a TG). Where can I go to level??

This post has gone on long enough. I'd better provide a summary:

1. Rifle Spy's, although they get killed easily, are quite fun to level in the beginning but quite boring during the "middle levels".
2. Pistol PEs are great but lowtech is not viable for levelling all the way up to cap.
3. TG caves are great! What to do after is a problem tho.

Not really sure what i'm trying to say here. I think i'm trying to say that there needs to be more mid-level levelling content for people to do. I get bored easily (nobody likes too many repetative tasks).

My tank has become fun again thanks to my HC thread the other day. He's now completely PvP viable!

Anyway. Comment, ignore, I don't mind!

Capt. Rik

Edit: If I could write this much easily on my uni dissertation that is due in next week i'd be sorted o_O

Edit 2: Really, really sorry bout the long post. If you made it to the bottom the well done and have a cookie!

[Genty]

I agree that sometimes leveling can be a very annoying, from my chars that I have leveled (see sig) I can tell you the end result is quite rewarding.

Just like to comment on one area though, Low-Tech Pistols, I beleive there is going to be some massive TL changes for all guns to get them more evenly distributed (see Test server forums) so in the future your problem with the Pistol PE jump form pistol to pistol may not be such a big problem.

[Cruzbroker]

Ahh, have you felt the exp between 93-100 DEX and INT of rifle spy?....

I was SOOOOOO bored when I hit 100 DEX after killing thousands of doy units and decayeds.. SOLO..

[Marx]

Originally posted by Cruzbroker
Ahh, have you felt the exp between 93-100 DEX and INT of rifle spy?....

I was SOOOOOO bored when I hit 100 DEX after killing thousands of doy units and decayeds.. SOLO..

Hell hath no fury like the capping of a spy.

I mean, capping con on a tank was nothing on capping the int on a spy.

[ezza]

well since were relating stories of noobish leveling etc.

recently started a hybrid monkey(atm shes 40/37), now normally i find leveling horrible, i just get bored after about 10mins.

but so far its been quite fun, using my capped TL3 heal, shelter and blessed deflector and my trusty energy halo, it take a while to kill mobs, but it means i can solo, which i enjoy, was quite nice to be able to stand toe to toe with a 70/70 terrormauler with out losing much health.

only problem i have so far, is when i level in areas with people in, to get damage on mobs i have to daamge boost to get decent damage, but you always get some one running in, after the3rd dmage boostwith there energy beam/raygun/plasmawhatever kiling the mob before i can pull my halo, damn annoying.

was able to go toe to toe with doomy and a terror leaper(the 85/85 one not sure if thats right mob name) but aint able to stand against a warby yet, they still do to much damage.

but im actually enjoying myself, makes a change from pking all day :lol:

[Glok]

I did it different from you ezza, I went pure apu up to 121 base, and now as I level the last few levels (91 base psi now) I'm sticking everything in ppu. Saves me LoMing and saves me time. I can use a TL3 heal now too, and damn it is nice. Levelling on warbots for so long with medkits was a bit hard. Now it's grims. :D

Oh yeah and WRT the original post, get your TG monk over to tech haven and level on bots in core 3/6 (named 3 on the outside, but named 6 when you get inside) it is in TH3. From TH2 into 3, go to the right side door, then all the way down the hallway. Core 6 is at the bottom of that crazy spiral ramp. You will level like a mofo in there, make sure to wear all the armor you can and a light deflector belt. Hack skill of 20-25 would be nice too to open the door at the end of the core.

[metalangel]

Given most of my chars on Saturn are either high or medium lvl, let's look at my three Uranus chars:

APU: Does pretty good damage, unfortunately, does not stand up well to being hit, I'm gradually moving towards hybrid, if only because being able to heal yourself GREATLY increases your survivablity when hunting. Decent fun.

Pistol Spy: Painfully slow. Spies get absolutely ********** by everything early on, so unless you have a hiding spot, PPU or a lot of luck you need to be very careful what you fight.

Droner: I've never droned before, and it's a fun experience, the only drawback thus far has been a lack of teams to increase my EXP gain. But the out-of-body experience is... bizarre to say the least!

[Cruzbroker]

Well, I think I just get bored easily.. I haven't capped any other chars (not even my 9 months old Apu (hybrid atm), he's PSI 96). But I have 6 chars over /55...

[Capt. Rik]

Originally posted by Glok

Oh yeah and WRT the original post, get your TG monk over to tech haven and level on bots in core 3/6 (named 3 on the outside, but named 6 when you get inside) it is in TH3. From TH2 into 3, go to the right side door, then all the way down the hallway. Core 6 is at the bottom of that crazy spiral ramp. You will level like a mofo in there, make sure to wear all the armor you can and a light deflector belt. Hack skill of 20-25 would be nice too to open the door at the end of the core.

Cheers, that's probably just what i'm looking for :D

[Psyco Groupie]

I know its 'boring' .. but level your chars in caves ... hunting is for items :)

If for any other reasons that your wasting rares (crap reason) .. it makes a whole lot more time sense tho

[Glok]

Originally posted by Psyco Groupie
I know its 'boring' .. but level your chars in caves ... hunting is for items :)No way. I've done about 20 cave runs, got from 84 to 89 psi (91 now) and it just sucks. I would much rather spend my time outside hunting grims than cave. It is sooooo much more fun and I get rare parts from most of the mobs I kill.

[Morris]

Originally posted by Marx
I mean, capping con on a tank was nothing on capping the int on a spy.

Especially considering how crucial the last few con levels are to a tank. You can keep your nibbish heavy belts, but I almost cried for joy when I knocked 5 dmg off an xray cs burst! :o

[Capt. Rik]

It's maybe not clear from the first post:

My 4 chars:

HC Tank 53/61
Rifle Spy 23/27
Pistol PE 26/38
APU Monk 13/17

Don't think i'm high enough level to go near the caves yet.

Edit: For the record, it's not that i don't find it fun to level new characters, it's just that I like variation in what I do. Spending a weekend in the aggie cellars is not fun under any circumstances!!

[amfest]

Spending a weekend in the aggie cellars is not fun under any circumstances!!

I found myself attracted more to the butchee/hurler in oz 4. Maybe it's just cause in beta 4 it was the place to be! there was awesome crowds of people there and the poor hurler/butchee would just fall over dead on respawn .. lol. Then the GM would show up and spawn doomreapers, mutants, ceres warriors that shot lasers out of their cyborg heads (I haven't seen those since playing retail nor ever knew where they spawned at all) choas queen, and all sorts of other things. a doomreaper in that small area was just funny. Anyhow with a gogu room there and they drop imps and advancded bones the money payout is better. Just stack junk items and bones in your gogu from looting and get the xp for killing their rank.

As for TG . .hmmm I"ve been hunting there lately and I must say I hate the way spawns are. There should be zones where low lvel stuff spawns. liek the wolves and reaperspiders and such. And maulers shoudl spawn on their own also in those areas. But everywhere I run it's a horrid nightmare for a noob to hunt out there. 2 star terrormaulers, hoppers spawn in groups on each other or if one spawns not long afterwards a grim chaser or
perc spawns ontop of those. oh well.

Snipers are okay but I prefer the assult rifle versions to lay in that constant dmg. I'd get bored of just going . .bang . .wait wait wait .. bang .. .wait wait wait bang! to level >_<

[Nightbrother]

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[Capt. Rik]

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I thought that someone had found my old thread and written an interesting and intellectually challenging response.

I read your reply and thought :confused: :confused: :confused:

[ezza]

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this thread bumping is starting to piss me off