Any way to power level nowadays? I only want class quests. :)

[mandoris]

Hello,

 

I've been away a while, as I got two level 50s and didn't want to repeat the questing content again. It occurs to me now that things are F2P, perhaps there is a way either through buying leveling potions or some other legal but efficient method to power-level a character.

 

Basically, I would love to play the class and companion quests for all 8 characters, but I can't stand the idea of plowing through the planet and side quests again. I'd love to be able to get a character up to 50, or at least well ahead of the leveling curve, and just plow through the class story quests and companion quests as a single player.

 

I saw some mention of using Ilum to level quickly, but I don't know a lot about this stuff. Any pointers? Appreciate the help.

[Elly_Dawn]

lol, sorry we don't have potions of any sort, this isn't Dungeons & Dragons in Space, but if you look in the Cartel Market you will find various XP-Boosters, and you get some for completing Class and Planetary Quests, but since you don't care for side-questing i'd suggest the Cartel Market for those Boosters or buy them on the GTN... Edited August 13, 2013 by Elly_Dawn

[Grimoir]

You can't really powerlevel in the terms that you're describing. There are some incredibly efficient ways to level if you're good enough at the game and not a lazy ****.

 

First step would be to make sure that you're subscribed(As a forum poster, you are), then join a guild that has the 10% boost active(should be 5 or 10 unique accounts in the guild iirc), and then finally grab an EXP boost(Any generic one will do).

 

Once you've accomplished the above, then do every single quest on the first 2 planets. By the time you're done doing that, you can pretty much skip doing anything but Story Quests on the 3rd and 4th planets. I would personally recommend doing the planet storyline(i.e. the one in/near the spaceport on every planet) in conjunction with your personal story quest, but you should be far enough ahead of the leveling curve by the end of DK/Coruscant to breeze all the way through the rest of Act 1.

 

If you mix in Space Missions, Flashpoints, and PvP, you'll be able to stay even further ahead of the leveling curve and limit the amount of PvE content you have to do, if any. In fact, there are more than a few people that I know who have leveled characters entirely through PvP, Space Missions, or Flashpoints. Granted you're going to take alot longer to level if you devote to JUST Space Missions or JUST Flashpoints, but its entirely possible to do so.

 

To quickly touch on the Ilum thing: You can't really do it anymore. What happened is that with the introduction of the Gree event, everyone was being bolstered(boosted stats used for PvP as an example) on the Western Ice Shelf(event area) which meant that as long you were a high enough level to get to the fleet, you could fly out to Ilum and leech exp by killing champion mobs up north. This led to people being able to 'powerlevel' to 50 in less than 20 hours iirc. The other cool thing is that you got MASSIVE amounts of social points by doing this. However, BW has since restricted the bolster effect to level 45+ if I'm not mistaken. This means that its incredibly hard to survive at low levels and makes the experience MUCH more time consuming than it was with bolster in effect.

 

To sum it all up, don't be a lazy ****. Use the tools at your disposal. If you can't sit down and replay the content or use one of the methods I've described above, then this is probably not the game for you.

 

If you're just interested in seeing the different storylines, then there are lots of people who have posted videos of the various class storylines on youtube for you to check out. OSWGuild has the best series that I've seen so far in fact; great editing and relevant commentary. Thats where I go if I don't feel like rolling another of a class that I already have just to see the storyline.

[grrrly]

Don't dismiss side quests entirely, some of them are fast and easy and if you've already run through the different planets you may be able to remember the ones that are worth doing. Pick them up from the NPC and decide. The great thing now is that you can see how much XP you will get and what the reward is. It's not always worth going for the bonus part of the quests (usually the most time consuming part), you can decide if it is by looking at your mission log to see how much XP it will give.

 

Heroics give great XP and are usually pretty fast, don't wait around on a planet for ages trying to get a group but if you see someone in general chat looking for a group, join them.

[Mirmirmi]

If you're willing to spend the credits to max out a few XP boosts from the legacy tab (increases amount of XP gained from certain game activities, such as flashpoints or warzones), those really can help. Combined with a cartel market XP boost and any guild bonuses you can manage - you can level up pretty quickly with warzones and flashpoints. I've been leveling a healer scoundrel this way and I only visit a planet for my class missions. As long as I don't barrel through too many planets in a day (getting frequent queue pops mid-questing helps slow you down enough so you don't get too far ahead in your class story), I don't get to behind level wise.

[Ashenti]

I recently decided to roll a new character and chose Operative (fancied a new healer).

I already have several 55s, including a Sniper, so aimed to minimise the time spent doing planetary quests.

Currently I am level 43 and aroudn half way through the Hoth class missions. I expect to stay just ahead of the leveling curve right through.

 

I have a 5% guild xp bonus (guild I am in has ended up just my alts)

I have a lot of presence bonus from alt companions.

I have not used any xp bonuses (although I have managed to acrue a few, so may use them if things slow down a little)

I did purchase the first 3 legacy class mission and WZ xp bonuses.

 

To begin with, I gave my Op 100k credits and a full set of orange gear.

I have a cybertech alt who crafts blue armourings for Op/Comp every 5 levels and Purple earpiece every 10.

I have a biochem alt who supplies my Op with purple implants every 10 levels.

 

 

I completed all possible quests on Hutta and DK.

After that I just did class quests and grabbed all relevant Datacrons on each planet.

As soon as I was able I started to queue for FP and WZ.

I complete each available FP once per day that I play (sometimes twice if I am playing both before and after the 1pm daily reset), I make sure to get the daily/weekly missions from Fleet. Being a healer makes the wait for a FP through group finder short.

I complete at least enough WZ to complete the daily/weekly missions. I usually do at least 3 or 4 WZ per day, never more than 5 or 6.

I do no space missions (i have completed them so many times on alts that they hold no interest for me)

 

I have taken biochem, bioanalysis and diplomacy as my crew skills.

I craft enough items to level, rarely bothering with blues/purples. I sell any ingredients I have spare on the GTN. (I do craft with any blue ingredients I get from diplomacy, but this is mostly handy for comp gifts, If I was to do this again, I would probably not bother at all with Diplomacy and get UT or slicing from the start).

I use my biochem alt to supply my Op with purple re-usable meds.

All my crew skills are currently 400+. I'll probably drop bioanalysis and diplomacy to take UT and slicing once my Biochem is 450.

 

 

In regards to credits/gear.

I always have a few credits available (without giving more from my alts)

Missions rewards, FP loot sales and, more importantly, sale of bio resources gives an ample income.

More than enough to fund all skill training and crew-skill training (I only purchase the recipes I need to level)

I have earn more than enough planetary comms to keep my Op and my comp equipped in up-to-date blue mods/enhancements/barrels. In fact 3 or 4 times I have had to spend some comms on item boxes as I have hit the cap.

 

This works for me.

Keep in mind I only play this character for a couple of hours at a time and not every day. there are probably faster ways to level if getting there asap is your thing.

 

I also believe this system could work well if you don;t have a 'sugar-daddy' alt or three

You would probably have to do a few planetary quests every 3rd planet to make up for the loss of legacy bonuses and to ge the extra comms to supply armourings as well. (it doesn't take long to get together an orange suit from quest drops/FP loot and checking the GTN). You can even buy one from the cartel market if wanted to)

[Razamatazz]

I personally like to PvP a bunch on some characters so as others have stated I purchased the Legacy boost for that. I plan on getting the class mission XP boost maxed out next. I, like you, sometimes just don't feel like doing all the side quests, I start to lose track of my main story sometimes with all the side quests going on. I think you do have to do a little more than just the class quest though to keep around level, I'm lucky that I enjoy PvP and can fill up the gap that way, maybe FP's would be good for ya if PvP isn't your thing but I'm pretty sure you'll have to do something in addition to the class quests.

 

On a side note, I saw some people say they use the CM XP boosts with the legacy boosts. Do these stack properly? The CM boost says it does not stack with any other boosts but I didn't know if that meant other CM XP boosts, or any other XP boosts like Legacy.

Edited August 13, 2013 by Razamatazz

[Ashenti]

I

 

On a side note, I saw some people say they use the CM XP boosts with the legacy boosts. Do these stack properly? The CM boost says it does not stack with any other boosts but I didn't know if that meant other CM XP boosts, or any other XP boosts like Legacy.

 

The CC (or quest reward) xp boosts do stack with the legacy boosts.

So the legacy WZ xp boost will stack with the 1 hour/3 hour general xp boost OR with the 1 hour/3 hour WZ boost.

The different CC/reward boosts do not stack with each other though (for instance, you won't get benefit from using a general 1 hour/3 hour xp boost and a 1 hour/3 hour WZ boost at the same time)

All these also stack with double-xp weekends etc..

There was a dev post explaining exactly how stacking of xp boosts works, but I can't seem to find it (I only did a quick search though)

Edited August 13, 2013 by Ashenti

[TheNevet]

Subscriber + Guild + Experience boost stims + staying 3 levels below the content (You earn A LOT more experience that way)

 

Skip sidequests as necessary. You can skip just about every other planet, doing only the class quests. Sometimes two planets.

 

Don't believe all the people up there saying to do all the sidequests, that is absolutely the slowest way to go, the more overleveled you are for the content, the less experience you get for it.

Edited August 13, 2013 by TheNevet

[Ashenti]

Subscriber + Guild + Experience boost stims + staying 3 levels below the content (You earn A LOT more experience that way)

 

Skip sidequests as necessary. You can skip just about every other planet, doing only the class quests. Sometimes two planets.

 

Don't believe all the people up there saying to do all the sidequests, that is absolutely the slowest way to go, the more overleveled you are for the content, the less experience you get for it.

 

This is quite true, as long as you are able to supply very decent gear to your character and companion and have the presence boosts from alts.

Without these, being much under the designed level for content will slow down your kill rate so much that any extra XP gained is countered.

 

As I noted a few posts above. In my experience of being a few levels over all content, the kills are very quick, so you fly through the areas and I have not noticed much of a drop in xp gain, if any. I'm still able to skip all side quests on all but the first 2 planets (which are quick and easy and give you the boost needed to stay a step ahead)

Edited August 13, 2013 by Ashenti

[TheNevet]

Yes, I wouldn't recommend this method to anyone that hasn't already leveled at least a couple of toons to max level. You're going to need credits and/or crafters because you won't be getting very much gear from questing. It's also quite a bit more difficult when you are three levels below the content. At four levels below the mobs, you won't even be able to hit them very often. Three is the sweet spot. Never more than two, experience slows down.

 

And yes, the experience is quite a difference. Turn ins will award you 10% more per level under. So three levels under is 30% more experience than on level. Three levels over will give you 30% less experience than on level. I'm not sure what the percentages are on mob kills, but they are much higher than 10% difference per level. Three levels under will net you about twice as much experience as on level per kill. Combine that with a full bar of rest exp and you will fly up the levels. The way to do this is to be leveling three alts at a time. Two are parked gathering rest experience while you are leveling one. When you've depleted your rest exp bar, move on to the next one.

 

If you're really good, you can also solo the random champion mobs you come across on the planets. With rest exp and all the other boosts I previously mentioned, taking one of these down is equal to a quest turn in. The ones without boss immunity are easier, but depending on your spec/build, you can even bring down the ones with it sometimes.

Edited August 13, 2013 by TheNevet

[Amera]

Just do warzones. They are generally much more fun than random quests, and you can convert them into planetary coms to have blue quality gear the entire time.

[mandoris]

Thanks for all the insight everyone, I appreciate the help. This is a great game, ironically hurt by its own awesomeness. In other MMOs, it doesn't bother me to repeat the same stories, because I am not really reading them honestly. However, because SWTOR is so good at not feeling like an MMO while questing, I instead feel like I'm in a single player RPG. Which lets face it, you don't immediately replay again and again now matter how good it is, you at least take a few years in between to really enjoy it again.

[theUndead]

Thanks for all the insight everyone, I appreciate the help. This is a great game, ironically hurt by its own awesomeness. In other MMOs, it doesn't bother me to repeat the same stories, because I am not really reading them honestly. However, because SWTOR is so good at not feeling like an MMO while questing, I instead feel like I'm in a single player RPG. Which lets face it, you don't immediately replay again and again now matter how good it is, you at least take a few years in between to really enjoy it again.

 

I disagree with you on a few things. I have 9 alts and I have repeated the stories loads of times sometimes immediately after completing one story so the notion that you need to take a few years before enjoying it again is quite simply untrue. Also if I may ask how is it hurt my it's awesomeness? I am not sure I understand that. Could you elaborate please?

[mandoris]

I disagree with you on a few things. I have 9 alts and I have repeated the stories loads of times sometimes immediately after completing one story so the notion that you need to take a few years before enjoying it again is quite simply untrue. Also if I may ask how is it hurt my it's awesomeness? I am not sure I understand that. Could you elaborate please?

 

Well, to each their own of course... For me, on my 3rd play though near launch I found the planets repetitive because I still remembered doing it all fairly freshly in my mind, I don't enjoy that. In a normal MMO because it isn't trying to be engaging storyline wise (at least to me heh) I can get swept up in the grind and move forward on repetitive content. Here, because there actually IS a good story, I notice it much more and in turn notice that I've done it already. Not sure how else to explain it.