What levels do you like?

[Draggar]

Seriosuly, some people prefer certain levels over others. We all want to be 65, but where do we enjoy playing?

For me:

1-5: Beginners (obviously). It's a lot of fun to learn the basics of the class, learn what their roll is, and just kill kill kill.

5-10: Still beginners, but you're learning the ins and outs of the class, character devolopment starts to come out.

10-15: Character devolopment should be in force now, rough ideas are formed, factions are changing, and groups get better. I really enjoy playing in this range.

15-20: Fine tuning character devolopment, treasure and kills get better, quests are coming out and learning about the class should be fine tuned also, you're ready to take on the workd - also one of my favorite stages.

20-30: Woohoo! A Surname - no longer a noob! LDoN kicks in, tough levels to get groups (unless you're in a guild). Hard to gain exp but if you're twinked a little, you can still solo a bit. I didn't like this range too much with the excpetion of the last of my skills coming out.

30-35: Velious opens up to you, along with countless quests and money starts to come in, low quantities, but a steady flow. LDoN groups are common. I also like dthis range.

35-45: Limbo. Character devolpment is full, you've learned the class, and the world is your doorstep. Groups are common at this level, too, but I've had many bad experiences at this level, people who *think* they know the calss really don't and you end up paying the price.

46: Pop. 'Nuff said.

46-50 - PoP opens up the door to advanced players, learn new tips and tricks. You are now who you are. I loved this range.

50-52 (and higher?): When EQ launched - the limit was 50. Guildmasters, merchant, guards are now conning blue to you. You are powerful, and people know it. Most of the people see you, you con red. Newbies beg you for "Phat l337 POO!". Very annoying range, and hard to get a group (the lower you are, the harder it is).

I don't know much beyond that since my main is only 52 (heh, and I've bene on 3+ years???)

[sumamael]

65!! Where the fun starts!

[dahna]

lvl 65 AND ~115 aa, the minimal if you want to travel freely, camp, farm or just explore at will in Norrath

[Dunthor Warsmith]

1-10: Easy, fun, exploring. A lot more strategy can go into it, especially money/armor/bag/spell management, and you can really feel like you accomplished something, and that 4cp rat whisker and 1ac cloth choker are meaningful

25-40: EQ has a *lot* of content for these levels. It can be a royal pain to find other people interested in exploring the content or even grouping, but if you do, you can have some really fun times and do some really interesting things. So many zones that are just skipped over by most of the population are waiting for you, filled with dark blues.
However, this tends to be a slow time (as groups are hard to come by, and soloing slows down for most classes), and thus really is a mixed feeling for me.

52-59: Start to see the "high end" of EQ, albeit a few expansions out of date. Get to do neat things, and really explore the powers and individuality of your class. Can do a wide variety of quests, tradeskills, and farming. The options really start to open up, but the fact that "you're not 65" really gets slammed in your face. A lot.

The other ranges (11-24, 41-51) have felt mostly like a grind to me so far when I've gone through them, although there are exceptions. The higher ranges (60-65) I haven't done yet :P

[Lilosh]

Originally posted by dahna
lvl 65 AND ~115 aa, the minimal if you want to travel freely, camp, farm or just explore at will in Norrath

Why 115?

I only have 19-20 AA. :-(

But I HATED 53-57. It was the worst time of Noish's life, and I almost quit more then a few times.

But once i dinged 58, Life got a better. Since 58, Every Ding has had something I needed/wanted.


-Lilosh

[Aandaie]

Evidently I really liked 55 and 56 . I Think I was at those levels for around two years, until I got bored and cancelled.

I guess I was stuck in the hump levels, my guilds kind of lapped me and then it was sort of like Dunthor said. My alts never succeeded in a pick up group in LDON, yet my 56 druid was never welcome in one with her guild since she had to be higher level in order to go with anyone.. ahaha. Being bored with EQ I could not really stand to grind to 59 or whatever.

[kiztent]

If you've never ground out 65, you'll never understand how wonderful it is.

[Sanna]

52+53 are the worst levels ever. I spent my entire fall semester trying to get Iroke to 54. I don't mind leveling in the 25-45 range: Mistmoore, JPF, TM, Hole, so many zones that I enjoy grouping in, and this time around, I will explore more of Norrath with Tinkbang than Iroke ever could.

Having played a 65 Time geared druid, I must say that things go as smoothly as a hot knife through butter... as long as you don't accidentally press the Exodus key... twice in one day... or in the middle of a Justice trial....

HOWEVER:
I strongly disagree with the '65-115aa' claim. Yes, an incredible amount of things open up then, but it sure as heck doesn't START then.

I would say 20-25 is when the low levels end and classes start to become fun, and stay fun pretty much the whole way up. We'll have to see what happens when I actually get a char to 55 this time. ^_^

-- Sanna

[Itzena]

For me, 30 is THE shadowknight level, followed by 51/52.

30 is invisibility and feign death (and also new tap, new dot and new pet); 51 is new tap, harmshield and summon corpse followed the next level by (vaguely useful) new pet, mental corruption (and comatose, if you do the quest).

[Heartsong_Steelsoul]

I think I probably like 20-40 best. My highest character is 54 and it weren't for lost dungeons I might not play her anymore... people are all about raid this, raid that, grind here... The idea of thinking of playing as _grinding_ just sounds like no fun...

Heartsong

[Minta Rose]

Is not. But tag an' leapfroggie an' gnomie songs an' gobbie extermination campaigns an' Don't Wake the Chanter an' stickshard scavenger hunts an' the Greatest Game of Tag Ever are fun an' are gonna be lotsa fun!

[kiztent]

Originally posted by Heartsong_Steelsoul
The idea of thinking of playing as _grinding_ just sounds like no fun...

Heartsong

Think of it as delayed gratification. Either that or find a good set of people to exp with, find something trivial enough that you can chat but tough enough to keep the exp bar moving. The levels go by really fast when you do that.

And once you get to 65, you never need to exp again. There's never that feeling of "I'd really like this new spell but I need more exp." It's hard to explain (since you have to earn plat to buy spells, or get some important AA, so it shouldn't really feel different), but it is noticable.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

Originally posted by kiztent
Think of it as delayed gratification.

I just always found that mentality a bit confusing. Why actively try to make lvls 1-64 as boring as possible? There's a whole world out there to explore. Sure, at level 30 you can't crawl Sol Ro's Tower, but you can crawl the Tower of Frozen Shadow. Every level can be filled with interesting things and zones to do, if you just look around a bit.

People on the "must get to 65" track naturally seem to gravitate toward the most efficient zones for quick levelling, which tend to also be the most boring. (I know its a little out of date) Spending 10 levels in OT, followed by 10 levels in DL, is going to be mind numbing for anyone - so why put yourself through that torture, when you could actually be enjoying those levels, crawling the Hole, ToFS, or SolB? True, it will take longer to get to 65 that way, but if you're having *fun*, is that really a problem?

I know for some people they really aren't going to find any fun in levels 1-64, no matter how they go about it. Being an emotional question, "why?" really doesn't have much relevance, nor does logic. But I'm still left wondering, why?

Maybe its what Kiztent said, " There's never that feeling of "I'd really like this new spell but I need more exp."" Maybe I'm just strange, but to me that seems like the end to gratification, since there's nothing more to look forward to, and the knowledge that much new content (via zones, spells, quests) will be entirely irrelevant to that character. (true, not "nothing" more to look forward to, but nothing as innate and 'simple' as spells & abilities. Gear upgrades have never driven me)

[sumamael]

Well to add to the 115 AA debate, I felt wonderfull when I reached 300+ AAs on my necro, there was no more pressure to xp, all my usefull skills were maxed, woot, lets relax!

Then I quit playing alltogether soon. Well quiting was 90% due to RL and 5% due to personal conflicts in game but if I had to name the remaining 5% I would say it was the lack of in-game motivation.

There were no more quests to do after Aid Grimel 2x, no more tradeskills to max, no more equipent to gain with my guild stuck in the progression, no more AAs to get, no more new and tricky mobs to solo.....you get the idea, boredom.

So SOE is totally right about adding new expansions and keeping the pressure up with the new AAs IMHO

[kiztent]

Originally posted by Dunthor Warsmith
People on the "must get to 65" track naturally seem to gravitate toward the most efficient zones for quick levelling, which tend to also be the most boring. (I know its a little out of date) Spending 10 levels in OT, followed by 10 levels in DL, is going to be mind numbing for anyone - so why put yourself through that torture, when you could actually be enjoying those levels, crawling the Hole, ToFS, or SolB? True, it will take longer to get to 65 that way, but if you're having *fun*, is that really a problem?

Actually it's quicker to level in Solb (I alternated between there and CC mostly from 46-51). If you have a regular group. Don't act like everyone who is 65 took the 65 at any cost route. I had over 100 days played when I hit 65, I've seen every unkeyed zone in the game, I've seen a few keyed ones, and I've hit 65.

Originally posted by Dunthor Warsmith
Maybe its what Kiztent said, " There's never that feeling of "I'd really like this new spell but I need more exp."" Maybe I'm just strange, but to me that seems like the end to gratification, since there's nothing more to look forward to, and the knowledge that much new content (via zones, spells, quests) will be entirely irrelevant to that character. (true, not "nothing" more to look forward to, but nothing as innate and 'simple' as spells & abilities. Gear upgrades have never driven me)

I'm going to try and be polite about this, but I'm not going to say it politely. Simply put -- I've seen all the zones. I've factioned in HH (as a dark elf) to smith there when it was the best place to get MQ ore. I've also made 65. Having done all these things, I will tell you there is a big difference getting to 65. By not needed to focus on exp, you can do whatever you want with less regard for exp. I can certainly have fun below 65 - I spent a year at 55, but having played below 65 and at 65, there is a difference. You are not 65, you can't comment on this difference.

Don't put words in my mouth and assume I levelled in 6 zones. Don't tell me what I think is wrong when you can't have done it yourself. I've done it, there's a difference. If you don't want to, that's fine, but don't try to tell me I don't know what I'm talking about.

In the same way that, say, adding a LoY type expansion is useless to me, how much are you getting out of GoD? Not levelling limits what you can see as much as levelling does.