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4. Stick to your character.... Do not make too many alternate characters, this is a waste of time when you can be leveling up your main character.
...
Level 28 Empathy Defender : Ms-Healer
Level 27 Peacebringer: Blind Angel
Level 24 Invul/SS Tanker: Invulnerable
Level 16 Katana/Regen: Ms Katana
Level 14 Rock/Mace Tanker: Granite Angel
Level 11 Warshade: Kheldian Angel
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Uh huh. 
Just kidding... I have way more alts than that!! And I'm not 50 after 2 years. 
uhhh... no?
here's what nets you the fastest xp without PLing.
solo - period. you will level faster than normally possible if you run missions or hunt solo. run the missions with whites and even con lieutenants to get the max xppm. this is especially true on a scrapper who can likely one shot whites post 33 with dmg in his alpha primary.
if you MUST have teams - short of AV missions, an 8 man team is a set of xp leeches. this really is dependent on your skill and the skill of the team. 8 people is a waste of effort as i could easily clear a mission for 6 on my spine/regen or my fire/kin with no problem. for teams, 4 man is the best overall yield as you get few bosses but lots of lieutenants (run on unyielding) with tons of individual mob counts.
remember for every person you add, that's just another portion of your xp that you're losing, stick to smaller groups and you will level extremely fast. if you're a supporter or have a hard time solo'ing blasters then it's a fault in skill but you will be forced to run in teams.
disregarding the fact that this 8 man team may be running high level missions, in the low (pre-40) game you're better off running with a small team. get those praetorians and it doesn't really matter on team size as the sheer overwhelming force of a hero team will destroy missions faster than you going it solo.
[ QUOTE ]
Everytime I am on my level 50, I always get at least one question: What is the fastest way to level up a character?
I get tired of answering the same question over, and over, and over again, so I decided to make a post all about it!
Okay so lets get started.
1. Always make your own teams (always try to make them teams of about 8 and mostly all the players you invite above your level)
2. Do not hunt. Hunting is bad experience, always do missions.
Feel free to set your missions to rugged or maybe even invincible with a good team.
3. Always have a healer, a tanker, and some damage. I always find having at least 5 defenders or controllers and 3 damage dealers is most effective.
4. Stick to your character. It's okay to run off and party in Atlas once in a while, but do not do it all the time. Do not make too many alternate characters, this is a waste of time when you can be leveling up your main character.
Follow these four simple guidelines, and before you know it you will be flying or teleporting on your peacebringer or warshade!
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1. Even better than making up your own pick-up teams? Join up with a group (or formulate your own) of mature, dedicated and experienced players who play together on a regular basis. The best XP is when people know what they are doing, have an idea of what their teammates are doing, and work together effectively.
2. Hunting is not always bad. Although hunting missions are usually not the best XP, sometimes you can earn more XP/time hunting than doing missions, especially if you have to travel long distances to do your missions. With a good team, you can hunt oranges and reds, going quickly from group to group, and earn massive XP.
3. With 5 Defenders/Controllers, especially if you have Rads and Kins, you don't need a healer, and you may not need a tank. Illusion/Rad has pocket tanks beginning at 18. Earth and Grav controllers have a pet who can tank at 32. Other controller sets have powers that avoid the alpha strike and make a Tank no longer a necessity, depending on the team. (Sorry, tanks!) With a lot of controllers, the baddies get locked down. With a scrapper and enough buffs/debuffs, a scrapper can easily tank. I was on an awesome team the other night: 2 Kin defenders, 1 Rad Defender, 1 Fire/Rad Controller and 1 Fire/Fire Blaster. We walked through missions on the highest setting.
4. True, that if you want to get a character to 50, the only way to do it is to play the character. But I would not call playing other characters a "waste of time." This is a game, and the players should do what makes them happy.
LOCAL MAN! The most famous hero of all. There are more newspaper stories about me than anyone else. "Local Man wins Medal of Honor." "Local Man opens Animal Shelter." "Local Man Charged with..." (Um, forget about that one.)
Guide Links: Earth/Rad Guide, Illusion/Rad Guide, Electric Control
[ QUOTE ]
uhhh... no?
here's what nets you the fastest xp without PLing.
solo - period. you will level faster than normally possible if you run missions or hunt solo. run the missions with whites and even con lieutenants to get the max xppm. this is especially true on a scrapper who can likely one shot whites post 33 with dmg in his alpha primary.
if you MUST have teams - short of AV missions, an 8 man team is a set of xp leeches. this really is dependent on your skill and the skill of the team. 8 people is a waste of effort as i could easily clear a mission for 6 on my spine/regen or my fire/kin with no problem. for teams, 4 man is the best overall yield as you get few bosses but lots of lieutenants (run on unyielding) with tons of individual mob counts.
remember for every person you add, that's just another portion of your xp that you're losing, stick to smaller groups and you will level extremely fast. if you're a supporter or have a hard time solo'ing blasters then it's a fault in skill but you will be forced to run in teams.
disregarding the fact that this 8 man team may be running high level missions, in the low (pre-40) game you're better off running with a small team. get those praetorians and it doesn't really matter on team size as the sheer overwhelming force of a hero team will destroy missions faster than you going it solo.
[/ QUOTE ]
What is the point of buying a MMORPG if you are just going to solo!?
Only number 4 really has merit.
Sorry, but all the others can be negated through experiences of bad teams (sometimes even the one you create), reliance on post-32 and 38 powers, and an unwillingness to group street sweep (or even solo if you are a kheld or AoE blaster) in hazard zones.
If you just want to level up stick with a character and play them exclusively. Avoid the alt-itis and just work on them for an hour or so each day and you'll get there.
As for the person who was talking about only solo, couldn't help but notice he had essentially the two biggest PL-Farming characters.
In other words YMMV.
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What is the point of buying a MMORPG if you are just going to solo!?
[/ QUOTE ]
Getting up to level 50 so you can socialize and PvP?
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Getting up to level 50 so you can socialize and PvP?
[/ QUOTE ]
I can do that with all of my characters, 1-50.
NXT Q PLZ.
Back after 18 months away!
I find the PvP solo missions to be very good in exp.
I'm with Omega_Medic. I ALWAYS level slower when I team. Why? AFKs. Waiting on folks to sell, bio, get to the mission. Waiting on folks waiting on tactics. Waiting on leaders to make decisions. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
Solo there is no waiting. There is only killing. Only leveling. Teaming raises mob con. Higher level mobs take longer to kill. Thus slower. Teaming reduces XP per kill.
Want to level fast? Roll a scrapper or a brute, go to highest difficulty at 22 with maxed out SOs. Be on the middle diff at 12 with maxed out DOs. Only do what is necessary to finish the mission. Always have 3 missions ready in your mission list so that your travel is optimized.
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What is the point of buying a MMORPG if you are just going to solo!?
[/ QUOTE ]
He's talking about leveling fast. If you want to enjoy the game and other players, expect to level slower. (Barring being a leech and powerleveling from 1-50.)
Be well, people of CoH.
[ QUOTE ]
Everytime I am on my level 50, I always get at least one question: What is the fastest way to level up a character?
I get tired of answering the same question over, and over, and over again, so I decided to make a post all about it!
Okay so lets get started.
1. Always make your own teams (always try to make them teams of about 8 and mostly all the players you invite above your level)
2. Do not hunt. Hunting is bad experience, always do missions.
Feel free to set your missions to rugged or maybe even invincible with a good team.
3. Always have a healer, a tanker, and some damage. I always find having at least 5 defenders or controllers and 3 damage dealers is most effective.
4. Stick to your character. It's okay to run off and party in Atlas once in a while, but do not do it all the time. Do not make too many alternate characters, this is a waste of time when you can be leveling up your main character.
Follow these four simple guidelines, and before you know it you will be flying or teleporting on your peacebringer or warshade!
[/ QUOTE ]
Absolutely. Proper team "balance" is critical. Good teammates are another important point as well. Too often I have run into horrible players running Warshades and Peacebringers (which makes me think they did not "lead" teams nor were they key players on their way up). I can run into dozens of examples of bad players, but, that is not as important as sticking to the positive here - the positive of how to level quickly.
Another very important thing to remember is "contribute". There is no "I" in TEAM but there is an "I" in WIN. Laying back and letting others control everthing is both lazy and selfish. I am not talking about a well oiled machine here, I am speaking of simply showing up... firing a few shots... and collecting XP for not much more. You should "know" how to use your toon to the best advantage of the team - not how it best works for you. Another point is folks who "solo" whilst on a team. Team means to forget "self" and work as a member of a organization.
AND... to those who say SOLO is the best way, well, your statements are not valid - enough.
1. Back in I4 I took a Fire/Ice Tank to 50 in <160 Hours - Solo or on massive teams in the 40s whereby I simply Solo'd whilst the rest of the team stood about and smoked cigarettes.
2. Other toons DO NOT have the power to do what that Tank did.
Try it sometime with an Empath build... go ahead... Having one myself and even changing his build to a "light duty regen offender" it was a slow, painful, solo from 47 to 50. The point is, not everyone solos equally. My Scrappers can, my Tanks (exception of my Stone Tank) can, my Defenders... no way.
I am Airman America... Super Hero... and I approve this message!
[ QUOTE ]
I find the PvP solo missions to be very good in exp.
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I think you wanted to replace "very" with "insanely." 
I can solo these with any character in about 10 minutes, defender on up. Heroic for the sake of speed most of the time, but for those of my characters that can handle it I'll go up to Unyielding. As long as it's a steady pace and not insanely long on a boss (an incorrect setting for me can force that boss battle to take 5-10 minutes all by itself), the exp just rolls in and the drops are usually pretty good.
BillZBubba's comment is also quite salient: "Solo there is no waiting. There is only killing."
But then again so is the earlier comment to team with those you are familiar with. I duo a lot, and my duo buddy and I know each other pretty well. No matter what combo, we can fly pretty fast and be running on Rugged for good combo of speed vs. exp.
I do get bored though, and when working on a particular alt, you can't escape the OP --form the team yourself. 4-5 for leveling speed, 6-8 if you like a lot of chaos but not as fast exp gain. The only exception I've seen is when I was invited to an 8-character group that had a whole deck of AV missions ready, most of the team knew each other, and the team was focused on mostly hitting the AV objective with a little bit of clean up. This has, unfortunately, only happened to me once, but was great fun that Saturday morning.
President of the Arbiter Sands fan club. We will never forget.
An Etruscan Snood will nevermore be free
[ QUOTE ]
remember for every person you add, that's just another portion of your xp that you're losing, stick to smaller groups and you will level extremely fast.
[/ QUOTE ]
Every person you add to a team also adds an XP bonus, and MOBs to the mission spawns. If your team with the additional player can kill the incerased number of MOBs per spawn quickly enough, those two chunks of extra XP (XP bonus on all XP and more MOBS of XP per spawn) will outweigh the amount of XP absorbed by the new player.
I've found my XP comes quickest on large, well-formed teams for exactly this reason.
The part about 8 man teams being slower isnt always true.
I was on a team yesterday of 8. We had so many buffers/debuffers; Until we came up against a Hero, no one's health went below 80%. And we cleared missions out FAST.
However the quickest exp I have ever gotten was from being on a team of 6-8. We were all lvl 26ish. We were running paper mish after paper...One of our stalkers would ss to the end and TP team in there and we would clear the boss.
I ended going from lvl 25 to 26 in ONE hour.
Thats fast. We would do a mission and be done and started on the next in 10 minutes flat.
I wish I could get a team like that again.
Pilcrow's got it right, as usual. Here's the team multiplier:
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For every person in a team up, there is an XP boost. The experience points of each mob are multiplied by a value before being divided among the team members. Currently, the XP boost values are this:
.
Team Size XP multiplier
2 - 1.25
3 - 1.5
4 - 1.8
5 - 2
6 - 2.1
7 - 2.2
8 - 2.5
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So, I find that the "sweet spot" is either at 4 to 5 members or 8 members. It all depends on the team, how fast you can move, and how high a difficulty setting you can handle.
My tips:
Find some mature, experiences players to team with.
Solo, the best experience would be PvP missions (and Newspaper missions for Villains)
Teamed would be TFs, on any experienced team.
The best difficulty is the 4th (not the 5th). Doing the 4th will grant you +1-2 mobs and 3-5 mobs each group. A post was written about this, explaining that you would get the best xp/hour ratio and the best xp/mission ratio using the 4th Difficulty setting. I would find it but my search-fu is weak from laziness.
Sell at the proper stores for Influence, so you can afford SOs and DOs. This will make it a lot easier in the 2 and 7 levels,
because you can afford the jump in effectiveness
Find a team with a good mix of buff/debuff, damage, and holds/Tanks.
Fight against foes higher level then you.
That is all from the Combat
TW/Elec Optimization
Obviously over the longhaul it is doing all of these things at the certain moment.
I have found that hanging out in PvP zones is really good xp. What?! you KrAzY debt what what... wahh! If you are lower than the zone all the street mobs are yellow/orange to you and there are a lot of bosses without much support. Hitting 15th and if you have SS, you can Patrol BB again and again... taking out interesting mobs along the way.
If you set your mission difficulty low you can run through the missions there getting fat on the (I have heard 25% xp boost in PvP zones) while getting to fight a interesting boss at the end of each mission!
Since you have run a good amount of PvP missions you are buffed up. I always choose the "buff your side" because it will help you street sweep. And then when you do see the enemy you charge and have a bit o' PvP madness!
I agree with solo being faster xp then groups. I'm mainly thinking of my scrapper. He'll get 2-3x more xp per kill solo then teams. As a damage dealer, he's killing things nearly as fast as on teams. There's no downtime between spawns waiting on people to regen, or waiting on the tank to decide to start.
But probably the biggest difference between solo xp and group xp comes from the lack of downtime between missions. Groups seem to waste a lot of time rebuilding the group, deciding what mission to do, or running through someone's mission who "forgot how old it was."
I think these issues are probably why the OP recommended running your own team... I assume that means you're saying you're always on a well run team.
That's pretty important.
I gotta make pain. I gotta make things right. I gotta stop what's comin'. 'Least I gotta try.
41 Dark/Dark Defender Solo Missions
2500 EpM Burst and 2500 EpM sustained.
41 DDD Group of 8, 2 defenders, 2 controllers, 3 blasters, 1 tank. 4 Sidekicks, 4 tactics, 3 assault, 1 maneuvers, and occaisional Vengance
10,000 EpM Burst and 8,000 EpM sustained.
43 Scrapper Solo 5k+ EpM Burst and Sustained. She can typically solo at 75% of what an average group does. However, that average group is still better and a good group hunting +4 and +5 is twice that. Grouping is much better, but soloing isn't slacking either. But she is a scrapper.
Solo, for characters that can solo, is nice, but a good group is still better. And the group above was only hunting +2 and +3 to me since I was the highest. In more Even groups, I'll grab a +1 or +2 to me, and raise the target level and experience even more. In the above group, our lowest SK's were facing +6's and were going "omg, I can hit +6!" and the average were facing +4 and +5. I was the groups +2 feeding the rest missions. But on days when we're all the same level and someone ELSE is the +2, the XP gets even better. The +6's were getting nearly double the XpM I was.
[ QUOTE ]
41 DDD Group of 8, 2 defenders, 2 controllers, 3 blasters, 1 tank. 4 Sidekicks, 4 tactics, 3 assault, 1 maneuvers, and occaisional Vengance
[/ QUOTE ]
The key to the above group is you had 4 force multipliers (def and trollers). As seen with the RSF and all defender/troller/corrupter teams the more force multipliers the faster exp you get. But you also see from your solo defender that a force multiplier is pretty crummy solo relative to an army of one kinda character (tank, scrapper, stalker, dom, blaster, brute, kheld).
The key to a force multiplier is they have team buffing powers and/or AOE enemy debuffing power.
An 8 man troller team (level 32+) can walk through any mission at record speed. 6 /rad and 2/kin all with leadership being what I think is the ideal post 32. Almost as fast as i4 tank herding.
Bots/Traps Guide for I19.5
RO Network
[ QUOTE ]
But probably the biggest difference between solo xp and group xp comes from the lack of downtime between missions. Groups seem to waste a lot of time rebuilding the group, deciding what mission to do, or running through someone's mission who "forgot how old it was."
[/ QUOTE ]
He hit the nail on the head with this statement. A team will fight larger and higher level mobs than a solo player, but often hobbled by downtime between missions.
Now, if you can get a motiviated group, who are all XP hungry, you can trump solo XP easily.
Sometimes just a duo or trio of powersets who compliment eachother will burn through missions much faster than either could solo. Just imagine a Stone Tank/Brute teamed up with a Kin Defender/Corrupter or a Regen Scrapper with an Empath in tow. They become much more efficient and finish bigger missions faster than they couls solo. More mobs per mission compunded with more missions, and the mission completed xp bonuses that come with them, per hour means faster leveling.
Centinull
[ QUOTE ]
What is the point of buying a MMORPG if you are just going to solo!?
[/ QUOTE ]
Sometimes, Teaming is fun. Other times, Soloing is just as fun, if not better.
"NO....No clowns" - Positron
50s: Smasha (SS/SD Brute), House Rules (Mind/Thorn Dom), Wind of Mind (Illusion/Storm Controller), Coraxa (Kat/Inv Scrapper), Summer's Dream (Fortunata)
Everytime I am on my level 50, I always get at least one question: What is the fastest way to level up a character?
I get tired of answering the same question over, and over, and over again, so I decided to make a post all about it!
Okay so lets get started.
1. Always make your own teams (always try to make them teams of about 8 and mostly all the players you invite above your level)
2. Do not hunt. Hunting is bad experience, always do missions.
Feel free to set your missions to rugged or maybe even invincible with a good team.
3. Always have a healer, a tanker, and some damage. I always find having at least 5 defenders or controllers and 3 damage dealers is most effective.
4. Stick to your character. It's okay to run off and party in Atlas once in a while, but do not do it all the time. Do not make too many alternate characters, this is a waste of time when you can be leveling up your main character.
Follow these four simple guidelines, and before you know it you will be flying or teleporting on your peacebringer or warshade!