How to: level with the 12x XP boost

[DimmuJanKaarl]

I haven't seen any thread that explicitly spells out how to get through the 12x accelerated leveling, but I've seen plenty of threads that ask how to get through it due to various reasons such as "lack of gear", or threads complaining thereabout.

 

So here are a few tips that have easily gotten me through 5 new 55's since 12x came out:

 

The guild XP bonus stacks with the 12x bonus, as does the 25% xp buff. While the former isn't necessary, the latter absolutely is. It seems to me that the devs assumed everyone would be running this buff. With this buff, you can almost completely ignore gear. You will level so fast that you should always be at least 1 level higher than all mobs you face, but will often be 2 - 3 levels higher.

 

Try to start with a full set of orange moddable gear, or purchase a full set of at-level green gear after the starter planet. Personally, I unlocked the Reaver outfit in collections which has every slot. Not all armor sets do. This gear starts you out with much better armor rating than what you get on the starter planet. Over time, you'll get mission rewards that give you mods (armor plates, mods) or you will get planetary comms (I save those til later). If you go the green gear route, you simply need to equip drops that match your armor type (light, medium, or heavy) and can largely ignore other stats. Most of the drops will have your main stat, anyway. But it's the armor rating that helps most in this case. Either way, because of the accelerated leveling, you can get by with drops until, as I personally find, somewhere above level 30. On average I re-gear around level 33. At this point, the simplest thing to do is replace any significantly low rating armor plates with green plates you can buy from the "Mods" vendors on the planet whose level rating is closest to yours. The point is that, at 1 level higher, often 2-3 levels higher, a few pieces of green gear are more than sufficient, but by level 33-ish, you'll want to have at least a green slot piece in every slot at or around your current level, or at least a green armor plate in every slot. I have never had to equip an earpiece, implant, or relic during 12x.

 

In order to help keep you alive and/or kill mobs quick, you should always use whichever companion was most recently obtained. This is a fast track to 55, so you shouldn't be worried about affection or number of kills for the achievement. Keeping the latest companion out will give you a nice boost in survivability because they start with a good amount of gear rated usually rated at the higher level rating of the planet they came from. So you get a whole bunch of at or near-level gear on your companion with whom you'll be fighting mobs 1 or more levels below you.

 

Lastly -- and this is something a lot of players don't seem to realize -- as soon as you hit level 47, start the Makeb mission chain. Again, you are fast-tracking to 55, so forget about the story mission you've probably already done. The reason for this: Makeb now gives a bolstering buff that you can pick up near any of the planets taxi points and on the orbital station. This will bolster your stats to put you on par with the mission level you're running. More importantly, the missions give out the 12x XP starting at XP for a level 50+ mission. Your first mission completion will get you something like 1.5 - 2 levels. On average, I've been getting from 47 to 55 in a little under 2 hours. This means -- even if you don't like Makeb -- you can get to 55 way way faster than trudging through Voss and Corellia and then still going on to Makeb, and certainly faster than trying to get to 55 on Ilum (which can be done).

 

A few other tips: rocket boost works under stealth, and if your advanced class has stealth, use it. Things go a lot faster if you can ignore 90% of the mobs along the way. Also, if your advanced class allows it, go defense spec all the way. That makes the gear "issue" virtually non-existent.

 

Hope this helps, and keep in mind this just gets you to 55. Obviously (though maybe not obvious to some) you will be horribly undergeared for any endgame content. Spend your planet comms at this point on Makeb mods if you want to go run Oricon for the 156 gear, but personally I'm waiting to see what the starter gear is when the xpac comes out. You can also run bolstered Makeb dailies and the weekly for Basic comms too.

Edited October 26, 2014 by DimmuJanKaarl

[DimmuJanKaarl]

Something I did forget to mention: without the guild 10% bonus, you will find that around level 41 you will be on par with the class mission level. I still didn't experience any issues using the lower level gear though. And as I said once you hit level 47 and get on the Makeb missions, it is completely a non-issue, even more so than before.

[DarthTHC]

Not sure why anyone would need a guide for this and that's a whole lot of writing to cover what I could in 3 bullet points:

 

1) As soon as you start your first character, buy a pack of Major Experience Boosts. Use ONE on the character you buy it on. After that, use the experience boosts the game gives you. Keep them on all the time. Save the rest to use one per character for the next 4 characters you roll.

 

2) Every 10 levels, visit GTN to buy green equipment to get yourself and your current companion geared to level. (You can skip this once you get to Makeb.)

 

3) Play through the class stories and Makeb. Have fun!

Edited October 26, 2014 by DarthTHC

[Lotharofxev]

12x actually warrants a thread?

[jankiel]

Considering there is a butload of threads with people crying that they can't handle the gear upgrades I think it does warrant.

[Lotharofxev]

Considering there is a butload of threads with people crying that they can't handle the gear upgrades I think it does warrant.

 

Hard game is hard.

[Pilgrim_Recon]

Some things I'd like to add. I use guild boost and 25% exp but not adaptable gear. I needed to spend 40k credits at level 30 on gtn. I bought 30 to 32 gear and never had any issues. Doing a stealth toon compared to an unstealthed the only difference was I leveled 4 hours faster. ( 20 vs 24 hrs ). I have always used my healing companion. New DPs companions may work for 3 levels. I have two characters at 55 and four at 29. So far this info seems consistent.

[DimmuJanKaarl]

Not sure why anyone would need a guide for this and that's a whole lot of writing to cover what I could in 3 bullet points:

 

1) As soon as you start your first character, buy a pack of Major Experience Boosts. Use ONE on the character you buy it on. After that, use the experience boosts the game gives you. Keep them on all the time. Save the rest to use one per character for the next 4 characters you roll.

 

2) Every 10 levels, visit GTN to buy green equipment to get yourself and your current companion geared to level. (You can skip this once you get to Makeb.)

 

3) Play through the class stories and Makeb. Have fun!

 

 

I'm not sure what you're adding here. A few comments on what you've said though: based on my guide, there is no reason to keep spending money, much less give money to other players via the GTN. As I said, you only need to gear up one time: some time after you get to level 30. So why are you advising to gear up 4+ times? Not only that, very often the GTN is hyper-inflated on prices. I actually checked the GTN a few times on different characters just to see if I could do better. Green gear is seeing a boon on the GTN and the prices have inflated. Why would I spend 10-20k (as I'm seeing for level 34 green willpower gear) for an armor plate that sells from the mods vendor for 7k??

 

Also, even if someone didn't want to read the whole thing I say at the beginning to keep the 25% buff active. So you haven't said anything new there either, though I suppose it does help to point out that you do get an occasional xp buff as a reward. It is helpful to note that individual experience will vary, and it entirely possible to find oneself stuck without the xp buff if they let the timer run out (travelling on hoth, alderaan, etc takes a long time and all that travel time adds up), so players should keep in mind that they may not get all they need in terms of xp buffs as rewards.

 

Some things I'd like to add. I use guild boost and 25% exp but not adaptable gear. I needed to spend 40k credits at level 30 on gtn. I bought 30 to 32 gear and never had any issues. Doing a stealth toon compared to an unstealthed the only difference was I leveled 4 hours faster. ( 20 vs 24 hrs ). I have always used my healing companion. New DPs companions may work for 3 levels. I have two characters at 55 and four at 29. So far this info seems consistent.

 

That doesn't sound too far off, except -- as I said to DarthTHC's comment I personally wouldn't recommend relying on the gtn. Recently I've found it to be expensive compared to what you get from the green gear vendors; but to each their own. Also, I found my survivability was increased by never using a healer comp and instead using a dps or tank comp, but again that's my own experience.

[wainot-keel]

Not sure why anyone would need a guide for this and that's a whole lot of writing to cover what I could in 3 bullet points:

 

1) As soon as you start your first character, buy a pack of Major Experience Boosts. Use ONE on the character you buy it on. After that, use the experience boosts the game gives you. Keep them on all the time. Save the rest to use one per character for the next 4 characters you roll.

 

2) Every 10 levels, visit GTN to buy green equipment to get yourself and your current companion geared to level. (You can skip this once you get to Makeb.)

 

3) Play through the class stories and Makeb. Have fun!

 

If your way of doing things was the only way, sure, this post is all people will ever need. But that's not the case.

[Jonoku]

Not sure why anyone would need a guide for this and that's a whole lot of writing to cover what I could in 3 bullet points:

 

1) As soon as you start your first character, buy a pack of Major Experience Boosts. Use ONE on the character you buy it on. After that, use the experience boosts the game gives you. Keep them on all the time. Save the rest to use one per character for the next 4 characters you roll.

 

2) Every 10 levels, visit GTN to buy green equipment to get yourself and your current companion geared to level. (You can skip this once you get to Makeb.)

 

3) Play through the class stories and Makeb. Have fun!

 

You don't necessarily need to buy a pack of Major Exp Boosts. I bought a pack and I havent used a single one because they made it so that every planet you finish, you get a minor exp boost, every chapter you finish you get a major exp boost which is what I use when I get to makeb at 47. I barely upgraded my gear, once I got to makeb at 47 with the bolster, it was cake.