Stealthing missions viable?

Hi,

I was wondering if stealthing missions was an efficient way to gain levels? I always played by defeating everything on the map but playing a stealthy character to get through mission fast seems viable by itself and a change but I wonder about how efficient it is.

Thanks

Viable? Yes. Efficient? Not as much.

Fastest is to team with someone who is farming or a big fast group that steamrolls over everything and everyone. The mission complete bonus is not nearly as large as the exp from wiping out multiple large groups of enemies. But it is significant.

Stealthing, I recommend turning on bosses, and pausing to take them down from time to time as you search through the mission. They are worth by far and away the most exp per hp of damage dealt, so they are a good way to get a lot of exp in a short bit of fighting. I do this with my stalkers and it works pretty good.

But you do get a lot more exp in teams and on those who can mow down large numbers of enemies.

It's good when you stealth story arcs. The mission bonuses are very good. Also it gives merits, which will allow you to buy some really expensive IOs at an early level.

This is from a Soloers perspective, in a team, just wipe the floor.

Solo I will stealth on occasions, depending on my mood, enemy group and time constraints.

As has been said you will get more XP from killing through but sometimes stealthing is just more convenient/easier!

I have found on TF teams there will be mix. If a mission is stealthble then the stealther will go off to the end/find the boss while the rest of the team start killing their way through while they're waiting.

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Over all, beating up everything on the map is the best way to get XP. On the other hand, sometimes it's not about the XP and just about getting through a mission as fast as possible to continue your arc - such as anything on an outdoor map and/or with a time limit for a glowie/hostage/boss hunt.

I have stealthed paper missions before with stalkers it seemed about the same time to lvl early levels. Later levels it became boring though and it is a pain to constantly see the broker to decline mayhems.

It depends on your goals. If you want to maximize Merits and competion bonuses, or you are trying to get stuff done in a short time, then Stealthing missions is a great way to do it. Most of the time on Task Forces, we will stealth every mission we can to save time. Once you are level 50, XP is meaningless and the Merits are far more valuable than influence, so on many TFs, we stealth our way through.

Some TFs are far better to use stealth. On the Statesman TF, we always stealth our way to the Vine room. In the Cavern of Transcendance trial, Stealth + TP will cut the time of that thing to about a third of the time you would spend killing everything. And if you ever get on a Shard TF, you really, really want to be able to stealth through missions whenever possible.

I like stealthing as a roleplaying option. If I build a stealth capable character, it's a given that such a character has a different relationship with the objectives than a simple one of beating up or arresting goons. Sometimes you're made to arrest all the bad guys in the compound, but if you're objective is to access some code or device, who wouldn't want to be able to slip in unnoticed, grab it, and leave the same way?

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Whether or not its efficient depends on what you have available to compare it to.

If you're an AoE brute, stealthing won't be that efficient way to gain levels because you'd get more out of killing a bunch of things.

If you're a ST squishie, you may get more more quickly if you stealth because it would take you a while to kill a bunch.

A lot of mission stealthing through it is awsome but on some mission where
you have to kill every one or have to kidnap or escort some one back to
the beginging of the map stealth is not worth it beocus eyou still have to
clear the way to get the one your escorting back with as little obstruction
as possible.

The pro's for me are:
Get's mission done faster and extreamly more easily, if useing a stalker
then the Assassins blow helps take down the guy your sent to kill quicker,
it also allows you to gather the Mission Item in the mission map with out
having to worry about the en-mass of enemies espechly when you have
to go through a hall way of hell!


For me the con's are and only really three for me:
1. You don't get as much Exp as you would killing every thing onthe map.
2. You can't escort any one.
3. Unless your a tank or brute Stealth wont help you if you are detected
while walk past a massive swarm of enemies, well save for the
primary/Secondry power that gives bonuses similar to those with the stalker.

So yeah stealth is awsome to have but it comes with some
diss-advantages as well!


Edited Bit: It's all so great if you have to go AFK for any reason ^_^

Except the escort gives -stealth to the team. So unless your a stalker it's not as useful.

How quickly can a mission be stealthed and how quickly you can get to each mission matters. I ghost/ninja missions all the time but I tend to want arcs done before I outlevel them.