For the Love of the Leveling Process

[Sarova]

A number of years ago the developers decided to sacrifice the new player experience so older players could zip past leveling and into end game with their nth toon as quickly as possible. You are far from alone in your feelings.

I'm feel the opposite - I don't think they've sacrificed the new player experience. I left (I'll be honest, I rage quit) the game before they changed the levelling/zone thing and came back after the change thinking it was glorious! I have not been the least bit bothered by out levelling mobs/areas because they drop usually level appropriate loot and most of them still give xp because you're character is lowered to the area's level. My characters might level very quickly BUT that does not interfere with the story progression for me at all. Another plus is not having to do every single quest to get to the next planet; that was terrible & I'm glad that's gone. It's one of the few things in the game that I think they got mostly right. If I have to gripe (and I'm not really), I think they should have left the class story end act bosses as champions, especially Zash. Remember the total nightmare she was to kill? She's far too easy now. However, I'm not an endgame wh*re - I'm here for the story BUT doing/grinding stuff I hate because of GS? That's another thread entirely (and the "novelty" has already worn off).

[eabevella]

You can do it in KotFE/ET chapters but neither before nor after.

 

Too bad Kotxx is the expansions I want to replay the least...

[Massacre_Wurm]

Well I am new player and I play original stories only,

Finished all Empire classes already. I have different opinion.

1. Not fast enough.

2. Not easy enough.

3. Travel is not fast enough,

 

All I want is class story. I am not interested in doing planetary arcs over and over again. And some planets like Hoth or Voss are too big for no apparent reason. You have to ride for like5 mins to a quest locations. Horrible.

[xordevoreaux]

Well I am new player and I play original stories only,

Finished all Empire classes already. I have different opinion.

1. Not fast enough.

2. Not easy enough.

3. Travel is not fast enough,

 

All I want is class story. I am not interested in doing planetary arcs over and over again. And some planets like Hoth or Voss are too big for no apparent reason. You have to ride for like5 mins to a quest locations. Horrible.

 

Hoth Pro Tip: Do not engage in gen chat while piloting a speeder near a ridge.

[OddballEasyEight]

I've leveled dozens of characters so I'm at the nth playthrough and I skip all the stuff you mention but I'm still overleveled. Now I don't mind that as I want to skip the expansions as much as I can, but the fact is that with the consumable level boost and the legacy boost I manage to be overleveled just the same by just doing the story and some heroics (for gear). Again, I don't mind, but as far as your issue with their issue goes I have to disagree with you on that point. I'm currently leveling a sorc that is level 67 and is at the end of the class story. Oh and of course I get a lot of xp from conquest as well.

 

I highly doubt that.

 

Because I'm currently running through the game recording the storylines, and I'm literally doing nothing but the main class stories.

 

And I'm constantly either right *at* the level for the mission (judging by the enemy levels, since the main story missions always lists the level requirement as whatever you're at) or just below.

And that's using the customary 30% xp booster that you keep getting thrown at you constantly.

 

It's been that way for 4 class stories so far.

 

So don't tell me that you're overleveled by just doing the storyline missions. Because that's clearly not true.

 

But, this is still irrelevant to my post.

 

Like I said... you'll want to do all those side missions on your first run through... but you really don't want to do them on your 25th. (or 3rd, even)

 

There's nothing stopping you from doing them, though. Being overleveled doesn't matter. I'm doing just fine being underleveled while going through the main storyline.

Edited August 7, 2021 by OddballEasyEight

[OddballEasyEight]

But if you are leveling, you can boost whatever character you feel to max level.

 

What are you talking about?

 

You can't just boost characters to max level for free.

 

Or are you saying that they should change the system back to the slow, painful slog that it used to be and if I don't like it I should *pay* to boost my characters?

[OddballEasyEight]

Uh. What? Older players aren't leveling through story quests lol, but by farming group content. The "make everything easy" thing was done to cater to the lowest skill players (and I'm fine with that tbh) because you'd have so many players complaining about not being able to progress past some random mob. They stopped doing that in KOTFE and beyond, and how many "someone help me kill Vaylin" posts we still see even now after all these years?

 

Umm... I've been here since the beta... and I still level using nothing but story content.

[Tsillah]

I highly doubt that.

 

Because I'm currently running through the game recording the storylines, and I'm literally doing nothing but the main class stories.

 

And I'm constantly either right *at* the level for the mission (judging by the enemy levels, since the main story missions always lists the level requirement as whatever you're at) or just below.

And that's using the customary 30% xp booster that you keep getting thrown at you constantly.

 

It's been that way for 4 class stories so far.

 

So don't tell me that you're overleveled by just doing the storyline missions. Because that's clearly not true.

 

But, this is still irrelevant to my post.

 

Like I said... you'll want to do all those side missions on your first run through... but you really don't want to do them on your 25th. (or 3rd, even)

 

There's nothing stopping you from doing them, though. Being overleveled doesn't matter. I'm doing just fine being underleveled while going through the main storyline.

Please don't accuse me of not telling the truth when you do not read my posts properly.

I said:

• I use the xp boosts that you get
  
• I use the legacy xp boost (for class stories)
  
• I do heroics to get gear (some referring to cherry picking the easiest ones)
  

 

So please don't make your reading mistakes my fault.

[Tsillah]

Too bad Kotxx is the expansions I want to replay the least...

Yeah that's the problem really. I play the class stories and then skip straight to Ossus.

[Rion_Starkiller]

Yeah that's the problem really. I play the class stories and then skip straight to Ossus.

 

hear hear

[Shayddow]

I have characters on all servers, have been playing since 2013 (so I missed out on being a Founder by 1 year) and do appreciate the quick travels, because after having done the "been there, done that" of the original class stories and doing literally all the side quests on the planet before moving on, I do appreciate the pace of the game.

 

There is still content that I find challenging. For instance the heroic on Oricon, Heroics on Makeb. And that $)#(*&$# monster in the Chiss Flashpoint in Alliances content.

 

Sometimes I do turn off a companion during some side missions (i.e. on republic side on alderaan where you are supposed to subdue a joiner, I have to turn off companion (put them in passive mode so they just stand there) so they don't kill the thing before I have a chance to subdue it), or on the imperial side planet story (again Alderaan) where you have to subdue a noble, same issue.

So there are ways to make it more challenging for yourself if it is your first run-thru for story content. But after doing it 3,507 times (made-up number) I really don't want to have it "challenging".

[OddballEasyEight]

Please don't accuse me of not telling the truth when you do not read my posts properly.

I said:

• I use the xp boosts that you get
  
• I use the legacy xp boost (for class stories)
  
• I do heroics to get gear (some referring to cherry picking the easiest ones)
  

 

So please don't make your reading mistakes my fault.

 

Then don't use that as evidence that you get overleveled by playing just the storyline...

[eabevella]

Yeah that's the problem really. I play the class stories and then skip straight to Ossus.

 

Same. Class stories are always good to replay. I don't even bother the post Kotxx stuffs unless it's for romance reason.

[Stellalunacat]

I started playing just before 3.0 and as f2p to boot, so leveling was really slow.

 

I had to do every mission and the bonus series as well just so I wasn't underleveled for the next planet. I was of cause on a sentinel so I didn't get healer comp till Balmorra, so well let's say I died a lot.

 

I had to spend way too much time on some planets, got really sick of Taris when leveling. And with me doing so many side quest I was sometime difficult to keep track of was actually happening in my class story.

After I got subbed I was leveling way faster and when I was overleveled for the planet I would get no reward anymore for the missions, like no xp and maybe like 10 credits or so. Also most side missions get really repetitive when you level your 5th or so alt.

 

So I really don't want to go back to the pre 4.0 leveling experience. I for once do enjoy the faster leveling and the level sync. It's not perfect, some of the boss fights are way too easy now. They are not really balanced right.

 

I could see them add like an item or something like that that makes you level at a slower rate. They already have the white acute module that essentially removes the double xp when there is a double xp event going on. So it should be possible to add something like that.

[Tsillah]

Then don't use that as evidence that you get overleveled by playing just the storyline...

I wasn't doing that. Please read my comments again and try not to let what you think I said get in the way of what I actually said.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Tsillah

[OddballEasyEight]

Please don't accuse me of not telling the truth when you do not read my posts properly.

I said:

• I use the xp boosts that you get
  
• I use the legacy xp boost (for class stories)
  
• I do heroics to get gear (some referring to cherry picking the easiest ones)
  

 

So please don't make your reading mistakes my fault.

 

Right... so, I'm leveling an Inquisitor right now.

 

And as of Belsavis, I'm 1-2 levels underleveled.

 

And I have the 30% XP boost active constantly.

I have the legacy XP boost for class stories.

I've done a few of the daily tasks for GS (including GSF and PvP)

 

And I'm still underleveled.

 

Let's not pretend that doing just the storyline will keep you overleveled.

 

You literally said:

 

I've leveled dozens of characters so I'm at the nth playthrough and I skip all the stuff you mention but I'm still overleveled. Now I don't mind that as I want to skip the expansions as much as I can, but the fact is that with the consumable level boost and the legacy boost I manage to be overleveled just the same by just doing the story and some heroics (for gear).

 

You're obviously doing something more than "just the story and some heroics (for gear)" if you're overleveled.

[Tsillah]

Right... so, I'm leveling an Inquisitor right now.

 

And as of Belsavis, I'm 1-2 levels underleveled.

 

And I have the 30% XP boost active constantly.

I have the legacy XP boost for class stories.

I've done a few of the daily tasks for GS (including GSF and PvP)

 

And I'm still underleveled.

 

Let's not pretend that doing just the storyline will keep you overleveled.

 

You literally said:

 

 

 

You're obviously doing something more than "just the story and some heroics (for gear)" if you're overleveled.

 

So I've seen that you did NOT do the heroics that I mentioned. When I level up a new character I do heroics to keep geared up. I did mention that and you just keep glossing over that. And I do count talking to my companions as part of the main story line. I also clarified in a later post that "some" referred to a handful of easy ones and I do them every day I play said characters. This is necessary to keep geared and it takes around 20 mins to do them.

 

What I did forget to mention is that you get conquest rewards for doing certain things and you can get XP for that as well. So on a daily basis you can get the conquest rewards for levels gained, missions completed and companions gaining an influence level and utilities assigned and heroics done and missions done on a planet, plus mobs killed on a planet and I do level according to that as well. So I do track those conquests rewards so I get the maximum out of those.

 

All for doing stuff that I'm already doing during the story lines and those heroics. So no special extra effort except checking the conquest progress from time to time.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Tsillah

[CKNORTH]

The level system is quite arbitrary and subjective. I have played since prelaunch earned all the gravy perks "For a Reason" so I could in-fact have a easy leveling experience. Such but not including some paid for level boosts in collections and a pain in the butt DvL event, for boosted gear. With that being said there is a solution to your issue. don't subscribe. its meant for people with the need to play like it was around launch. The real issues on launch were so painful people have actually forgotten, my first character was a Sentinel and couldn't start past Tatooine Harbingers' Chapter 2 at Lvl 43!!! that was how much I had to over level and still couldn't get it done. 2 reasons Doc was past that part. only knight healer companion stuck behind a story wall. the second reason, Back then Sentinels couldn't fight there way out of paper bag.

 

So from experience you don't really know what your asking for simply because people have paid a lot of dues along the way for the way the QoL system works now. countless threads, countless hours playing, grinding. the list is extensive. So I am sorry as a veteran player of this game, I will have to decline your proposal...

[Ardrossan]

So from experience you don't really know what your asking for simply because people have paid a lot of dues along the way for the way the QoL system works now. countless threads, countless hours playing, grinding. the list is extensive. So I am sorry as a veteran player of this game, I will have to decline your proposal...

 

That is an amazing bit of historical revisionism to imply that this forum had anything to do with those QOL improvements. I am also a "veteran player" and I mostly remember the forum regulars here attacking anyone who wanted QOL improvements. Most of the forum was against level sync, against legacy wide datacrons, against changes to streamline gearing...pretty much every time they changed anything, it got a lot of screaming in general discussion. I remember the main argument against QOL upgrades was that people asking for it were "entitled".

 

Anyway, instancing story level bosses outside of the planetary level [i.e no more lvl 10 Darth Thanaton on Korriban] and giving us the option to play veteran mode in class quests is ALSO a QOL improvement, it just happens to be one you don't like.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Ardrossan

[CKNORTH]

That is an amazing bit of historical revisionism to imply that this forum had anything to do with those QOL improvements. I am also a "veteran player" and I mostly remember the forum regulars here attacking anyone who wanted QOL improvements. Most of the forum was against level sync, against legacy wide datacrons, against changes to streamline gearing...pretty much every time they changed anything, it got a lot of screaming in general discussion. I remember the main argument against QOL upgrades was that people asking for it were "entitled".

 

Anyway, instancing story level bosses outside of the planetary level [i.e no more lvl 10 Darth Thanaton on Korriban] and giving us the option to play veteran mode in class quests is ALSO a QOL improvement, it just happens to be one you don't like.

 

Ah yeah, i forgot about that part Lol, however i do agree with adding the same features they added to KoTFE regarding difficulty. from a story to veteran to master type settings, it doesn't hurt anyone and would give incentive to run those story's for higher rewards if that were a thing.

[RJWidowMaker]

Ah yeah, i forgot about that part Lol, however i do agree with adding the same features they added to KoTFE regarding difficulty. from a story to veteran to master type settings, it doesn't hurt anyone and would give incentive to run those story's for higher rewards if that were a thing.

 

Even if you only got an achievement as a reward I WOULD LOVE the option to do class stories at a higher difficulty. If its optional then nobody has a reason to hate on the idea. Some people want a story like breeze. Some like challenge. Either way, the idea sounds fun.

[Templock]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, you can turn on Exploration Quests in the map window.

[Templock]

Lots of people annoyed that they actually have to play the game.

[AlaricSevGirl]

In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, you can turn on Exploration Quests in the map window.

 

And you will be level 18 by the time you leave Tython.

[Ardrossan]

And you will be level 18 by the time you leave Tython.

 

So, I had heard that the White Acute Module may not work for subs, so I rolled an Agent and a Consular, used the WAM, and did all the quests and exploration missions. I didn't do any of the heroics though. For both classes, I finished the starter planet at level 10.

 

To recap, if you want to level slower:

 

1) Buy the WAM during 2xp events and use it outside the event when you level, will slow down xp gain by a lot. I generally take it off around level 30 or else I start underleveling by the time I reach Belsavis.

 

2) Pay attention to planet levels and make sure you finish your quests by the time you reach the max recommended level, i.e leave DK at level 16.

 

3) Obviously, don't use any xp boosting gear or consumables.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Ardrossan