Which is the best way to level a stalker...

Stealth to the end and finish missions ASAP or Clearing the missions out as I go to the end.

The best way is the way you have most fun doing it. There is no absolute right way. It depends on lots of things. The level of the mission. IF you're teaming or solo. If the foes resist your damage. Do you just not feel like killing minions today? Do you have enough inspirations in your tray to kill the boss spawn? You may have to kill along the way to get enough reds, purples, whatever. There is no right answer.

Sorry, going back I think I could have worded this question better. I saw someone in another thread mention that a stalker would want to be able to get to the end of a mission quickly and kill whoever the target is and move on to the next. I want to know if stealthing to the back of missions and ending them as quickly as possible for mission completion XP will earn you more faster than grinding it out and clearing each mission. This isn't necesarily a question about what is most fun, its something I am sure has an objective answer.

I don't know about faster, but you can complete more arcs and thus get more merits along the way by stealthing. Didn't answer your question though...

I seem to recall that there's a day job which gives a mission completion XP bonus, with which just clearing missions can be very effective.

Thank you all btw for the replies. I'm really grateful for anyone attempting to help out on the forums! honest. (Reread my last reply and didnt like how I sounded.)

Also will have to look for that day job bonus and the idea of finishing arcs faster is nice for merits and Arc XP. Two things I didn't think about.

For gaining XP/Inf, treating every mission as a Defeat All is more profitable than than going just for the completion bonus - unless you can stealth something like 5-6 missions in the time it takes you to clear one. Obviously still should just stealth the more tedious ones that you can (such as glowie and hostage hunts on outdoor maps).

If, however, your goal is just to get a mission badge, reward merits, or to get your 3-5 scanner/paper missions or 5 tips done for the zone/day and you don't care about the XP/Inf, THEN stealthing is the way to go.

The problem is you've mistaken a game for an equation.

Yes, killing everything will always be faster in terms of leveling, save against the most dangerous foes. But this doesn't matter at all if you aren't enjoying it.

It took me almost six months to get my first Stalker to 40, and I just couldn't play it any more. He was no fun. A year and a half later I came back for the novelt,y and reworked his setup, and it was fun again. I got from 40 to 50 in less than three weeks, back when it took about as long as 1-40.

The amount of fun playing your character will always be the single most critical element of levelling up and getting rewards. A fun character is worth playing in and of themselves, even if the rewards are bad, and if they're good you'll enjoy yourself even more. An annoying character can only be mediocre even with the best rewards, and without them will be painful to play.

Rewards are not the objective you're really after. It's fun, presumably. Maybe an income for a few certain individuals. So, why go to the trouble of acquiring fun by proxy through better rewards, when you can attain it directly?

From personal experience, I find that simply completing the mission w/o clearing is much faster, especially if you're running +0/x1/+Bosses like wimps like me.

My reasoning is, at that diff, you're fighting either one two minions per mob (discounting the dead minion/LT you AS at the start) on the way to the boss, but the boss + mish complete bonus give much more xp in less time than clearing along the way.

In the Rouge Isles, you also don't have to worry about zoning all over the place like you do in Paragon City, but travel time between missions will be your biggest timesuck, but you'll probably make up for lost time getting the story arc complete bonus, which is much larger still than the mish complete bonus.

I like stealthing missions. Often I find that I cannot finish all the arcs and badges before a certain level unless I stealth missions. Arc completion bonus, merits and mission completion recipe drops make up for a sligthly slower levelling.

This has become even more true now with the tip missions.

I run both ways (depending on mood and RP considerations).

Depending on what you're trying to accomplish it might matter. For instance
(from a solo perspective).

Merits: If I'm trying to maximize merits, then stealthing ouros arcs is the
hands down efficiency winner.

XP/Lvl/Inf: For me, I find the fastest solo approach is running missions in
PvP zones. They're kill-alls, but they can usually be done in 10 mins or so, and
since they're all in the same relative area, you can cycle them pretty quickly.

In PvE zones, it's generally the contact/travel time that slows you down,
so even though you finish the individual mission more quickly, it still takes
longer overall to cycle through them (esp if zoning is involved).

Newspaper missions are probably pretty close though. In some zones
there are only a couple spots they send you to, and they're relatively
close together.

So. When do I stealth missions? Actually, it's usually my *default* choice
(at the expense of levelling speed) because, I tend to think of my Stalkers
as tactical/surgical killers - "get the assigned target and get out". Given
that viewpoint, stealthing the mission suits the RP profile better for me.

Also, some missions are more "interesting" than others, so I'll stealth the
ones I like least, and occasionaly kill-all the ones I like better.


As for AE, I've not done too much of that - the missions have no completion
bonus, so unless you're tailor-making a mission for the job, it seems too
hit or miss to me to rely on - YMMV. I'm not against them, but I'm also
not concerned enough about "efficiency" to put that much time into it,
compared to what I typically run.


Regards,
4

Out of curiosity, how much bonus exp do you get doing missions in PvP zones? I've avoided them ever since they added merits to story arcs, but I'm curious.

I generally clear the last rooms or take out select targets on the way to there. With the exception of escort missions, where I clear to that point, and kill anything I need to on the way back with the hostage.

I have only leveled one stalker, but what I found works the best for me is to stealth the mission set to +2/x1 with bosses. I will stop and kill the single Lt. mobs that spawn at lot on that setting also.

I also spent some time speed running oro arcs, but I would set to -1/x1 without bosses for that since I was only interested in merits. I normally picked "Spy Hunt" from Dimitri Krylov for 16 merits, I could finish this one is just over 30 minutes.

btw the day jobs that give extra xp are for villian, arachnos agent and hero, police officer

I do a bit of both, I will kill a few on the way to the end of the mission. I make sure the mob is solo or just 2 mobs when possible. I kill them and then run as I restealth. Kill another single or double and run as I restealth.

I was looking at the mission bonus at the end and it wasn't so high when I just killed the mobs needed at the end. But as someone mentioned you can do a TONS of story archs with a Stalker. Though OB makes that obsolete now.