If I wanted to level characters fast with a single account:
1) create alt.
Ideally something with a decent damage mod and direct AoE output. Survivability is nice to have, but not essential. Aggro control is a plus, but not critical. Indirect damage such as pets or pseudo-pets, long recharge debuffs and mezzes are not great.
From most desirable to least: brute > scrapper > blaster > dominator > tanker > widow > stalker > soldier > corruptor > defender > ... everything else. I would avoid kheldians, (non-fire or plant) controllers and MMs like the plague for efficient self PLing.
2) turn on Combat Attributes
Monitor defense in a window, always. Defense is the most efficient mitigation in this game, doubly so when leveling, and the softcap in particular is a golden point for fast leveling as enemies can be specifically hand-picked so none of them are above base tohit.
3) slap a few hellions to reach level 2.
Training to pick my first damage AoE. If there's multiple choices, pick in that order: damage aura > PBAOE > cone.
4) raise rep to +0/x8, bosses on, head into AE.
Make my own tailored farm to the character. Enemy levels should be low, as player damage scales favorably versus mob HP the lower level you are. Low level enemies also tend to be less powerful. Custom is sometimes a good option. I tend to pick enemies with (IIRC) archery and claws, pick the minimum amount of attacks needed to reach 100% XP for each rank. The actual powersets are irrelevant, what's important is to find something that does no status effects nor debuffs, and for particular melee characters using a damage type they defend well against makes sense.
The map itself isn't too relevant. Anything with plenty of mob spawns and as little traveling between each group as possible will do. I like to pick outdoors because I can easily see what's up at a quick glance, and never run into a dead end. City 0x (I couldn't tell you the exact number) is an old favorite. Another advantage to outdoor missions is there is no level scaling, enemies will always be at the exact level you specify - as opposed to indoor missions where there's a 1 level variation, and a +1 at that.
I fill that map with as many "defeat boss" objectives as the map will allow, and set their groups to be "Hard". This makes it so you will fight 4 bosses per group instead of the 2 you'd have on x8. Bosses give the most XP per HP, especially at low level.
At this point I'm probably already 20 minutes in and still only level 2, so this isn't terribly efficient so far, but having the farm set up it'll get better.
5) buy 4 luck inspirations, enter mission
I chug either 3 of the lucks if I'm feeling confident or happen to have a mutation buff boosting my defense, or all 4, and start going to town on the first mob group, targeting the bosses, using my AoE when it's up and Brawl or my ST attack meanwhile, or lining up mobs for a 2+ target Sands of Mu if I'm feeling feisty.
Using inspirations as they drop, and using them efficiently is critical to this kind of leveling. If I see my lucks blinking in the status bar, I start to pop more lucks. If my inspiration box is full, I pop whatever inspiration is most useful at the time - blue, green or red.
Never stopping is just as important. The first group killed should have net me a level up, which comes with a full set of T3 insps, which I can use to move on to the next group and defeat them, and so on. Up until level 6 or 7 you can level this way through the level up insps.
6) die and train
I will inevitably die after a bit, when leveling up isn't as fast and the current inspiration drops aren't enough to sustain me. This generally happens between level 8 and 10. At this point, I go train, put 5 slots (6 total) in my AoE, pick any another good AoE I can get my hands on, throw a few slots in Stamina as well, and pick Hasten and Combat Jumping
The entire run took about 10 minutes, add 5 minutes for the traveling from AE to Miss Lib and back and the training part.
Note: for the low level part I define a "run" by going from the start to when I die, not by clearing the entire map as it is commonly defined.
7) rinse and repeat
Now I have either 8 or 10 inspiration slots and things are about to get much easier. Starting with 8 or 10 lucks, using 3 at a time putting me at around 40% defense with Combat Jumping coupled with the odd level up insp makes for a comfortable safety net.
It's still important to keep the momentum going. Rest should not be used, ever. Blues and greens is how I recover. Keeping a healthy shield of Lucks going is more important than anything, so I'll convert blues and greens to lucks if needed and will just punch stuff with Brawl waiting for recovery as needed.
This run will probably get me to level 12 before I die, in another 10 or 15 minutes.
Note: as soon as I hit level 10, I use my Patrol XP paragon reward power. Patrol XP isn't consumed in AE, but it still serves as a shield against debt.
8) slot DOs
All endmods in Stamina, all recharges in Hasten, all resistances in armors. I tend to put a mix of accuracy and end reductions in AoEs (I believe 2 accuracy DOs will let you have capped tohit against +0s, but I've never actually done the math...), damage can take care of itself with red insps.
Despite this boost, things are going to slow down soon in the level 16-20 range where I will need to get more XP to level and to do more damage relative to mob HP, and won't have SOs yet. So while I'm shopping for DOs, I sometimes also grab a Recovery Serum recipe, the appropriate salvage for it, and the salvage to craft a recovery boost and a recharge boost through the Empowerment station in my base. The Empowerment station buffs are small but helpful and always on for a hour. The Recovery serum makes a huge difference, but lasts a few minutes and had only 5 (IIRC) charges. Ideally, you want to wait until your endurance is low *and* you're out of CABs, and pop it then. Used this way, a single Recovery serum power can often last a hour.
9) rinse and repeat, again
Next run will probably get me to level 16-18 before I die. The run after that should get me to level 20-22. If I'm under 22, I'll keep going until I get to 22. I don't always head out to level between level 12 and level 22, but if I do, it's OK to put more than 3 slots in Stamina and/or Hasten, as with DOs the ED cap won't be reached, and a second build can be used at level 22 to "fix" these slots.
At this point we're about one hour, one hour and a half in.
10) train and slot SOs/common IOs
While on my way to do the above, I trade all my tickets for rare salvage and drop them on the Consignment house. I also put bids up for level 25 or above common IOs, Accuracy, Damage, End reds, End Mods... Depending on price and availability I might end up slotted with common IOs instead of SOs. Either way doesn't matter; the advantage of level 25 common IOs is that you don't have to shop every five levels, but it's not a terribly big difference. I like to put stacks and stacks of bids right away so there will be appropriate common IOs waiting for me when I get new powers and new slots.
SOs/common IOs are generally 2 acc, 3 dam and 1 end red for AoEs, or 2 acc 2 dam and 2 end red; on brutes I tend to go with 2 acc, 2 end red, 2 rech due to Fury boosting damage enough. Stamina gets 3 end mod, Hasten gets 3 recharge. Beyond that, armors get as much resistance/defense/healing as possible, and buffs get recharge.
11) changing foes, raising rep
Custom critters optimized for low levels probably won't give full exp anymore, so I check it and if needed give them an extra attack.
I raise the rep to +1/x8 or +2/x8, based on character.
12) rinse and repeat, once more
This run should net me level 25, which comes with 15 inspiration slots. Yum. If my character couldn't previously handle +2/x8, I should be able to now.
At this point we're probably two hours in.
13) rinse and repeat, over and over
There is really little more to say. Go, hunt, farm stuff. More powers, slots and AoEs are coming, and killing speed should only improve. Raising the rep to +3/x8 should eventually happen. For some characters it'll be as soon as level 25 or even 22, for others it might take until the 40s.
All in all, it takes about twelve to twenty hours to reach level 50 doing that. The hardest part is to keep doing it optimally when levels start taking twenty minutes each.
If I wanted to level characters using a second account:
a) create a SS/fire brute and follow the above, specifically
- make foes using fire damage exclusively
- pick Blazing Aura at level 2
- pick Rage at level 18
- pick Burn at level 28
- pick Foot Stomp at level 32
- pick Fiery Embrace at level 35
- pick Rise of the Phoenix at level 38
- pick any epic leading to Fireball, Ball Lightning or Dark Obliteration.
b) at level 50, get your T3 Alpha slot as to have a level shift, and farm as many lowbies on your other account as you want. Each should take about 2 or 3 hours to get from level 1 to 50.
Nihili, thank you.
This type of instruction is even better than I could have described as desiring. You were specific and yet generic enough to allow for any type of character to be successful, which is exactly what I didn't even know I wanted. I can't wait to try this out, which alas must wait until tomorrow evening (did I mention my lack of copious amounts of free time, in addition to the deadline coming up for all of us?).
I'll keep you posted on my progress. For any others reading this thread, please don't hesitate to offer your advice or instruction. Hopefully, many others aside from myself may benefit.
M. Bison: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me...it was Tuesday.
-- Street Fighter (1994)
McClane: Hey, thanks for saving my daughter's life.
Farrell: What was I going to do?
McClane: That's what makes you "that guy."
-- Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
For a number of reasons that aren't really relevant now, I've played very little over the past 18 months. Now we've got a little over 2 months. I have powersets I want to play, but I'm very tired of and have very little time left for the slog to level characters up into the 30s and beyond. Here and there, now and again, I've read posts by this or that forumite wherein they claim to have leveled a character to 50 in a handful of hours.
Firstly, I find such claims hard to believe.
Secondly, if there are methods that exist to level characters with such speed, I'm wanting to do the work myself, such as it is. Thus, I'm hoping to get advice or even actual methods, to include "live" or AE missions I could use. (Side note: I tried CEBR a time or two, but I guess I couldn't get the hang of it, left out vital steps, or was still too much of a lowbie to be successful. I died dozens of times before giving up.)
I've played a bit on Beta, with the DXP Boosters and etc. Still too slow for what I'm wanting. It took me 2 hours, even using AE farms, to get a new character to level 12. That might give you an indication of my level of ability. :/
I understand, too, how unpopular powerleveling characters is, or AE Babies, and whatever. I've done both in my time. And I've experienced much of the journey from 1 to 50 over the past 6 1/2 years, so with only a few very short weeks to go, I want to play characters that are fully- or almost fully-realized. If you normally frown upon what I'm asking, or feel that such behavior ruined the game (or greatly contributed thereto), I don't disagree. However, with the clock ticking...
Recapping: I want to level characters fast. How do you really, actually, do it? I need detailed plans, please. If you don't feel comfortable replying publicly, please consider sending me a PM.
Thank you to all those willing to help me, and for all of you willing to understand.
M. Bison: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me...it was Tuesday.
-- Street Fighter (1994)
McClane: Hey, thanks for saving my daughter's life.
Farrell: What was I going to do?
McClane: That's what makes you "that guy."
-- Live Free or Die Hard (2007)