Question - Progression vs Grinding, what do you do? (1 Viewer)

[cintile]

This is really a two fold question. Firstly, do you actually take the time to run your team around doing progression? ToV and ToL specifically?
Or, do you prefer to just set up a grind and if so, I would love to hear some ideas on good spots to do this? (not using MQ2grind). Specifically ToV and or ToL.

I played with two group all day yesterday, about 4 hours per team. Firstly, BST/Brd/Mage in Laurion Inn. This is an easy camp, it's reasonable exp. My dps is still a little slow here as I'm waiting on Mage to be high enough to actually contribute real dps. It's safe and easy to get to. This is all fine and dandy, but I've been doing that since my BST was 115 and he's approaching 123 now.

Then I moved to team two. 112 Sk / 117 Bard / 105 Mage. Set up in a GD camp and pulled for a couple hours, no big deal, exp wasn't super fast, but the group with a couple heal mercs can get the work done. Decided to work on progression, but to be honest, I hate running all over the place. Even without a team, it's not a lot of fun spending half the playing time running back and forth. Sometimes it's a nice change, but usually it's filled with frustration. In my case, several deaths, rez in lobby, rinse and repeat. Not much reward for the time it takes.

If you know of a decent camp spot in ToV where the exp is fairly good for grinding up to 115 I would love to hear about it. My group is not ready to move over to ME or something like that or I would.

 

[Redmonkey]

You can grind till the cows come home but you need that progression. At higher levels running thru it starting in COTF becomes a cake walk and those Heroic stat upgrades are essential. Plus I feel a character with no progression is only half made. They are missing a huge part of the game.

 

[zuesizgod]

This is probably more of a combo answer. I do both (minus the merc/part in ToL) Mercs, parts, and HA's give a more of a bonus when there is a lvl increase. ToV, ToL, LS.

ToV progression really wasn't that bad, iirc, its all in the same zones.

in ToV there are a couple of decent grind spots in GD, one being the coldain caves, and the other being in the southern area of the river. I would do my best to stay out of Velks and ToFS (unless you want the key).

 

[dewey2461]

I've been maxed out on my main set of characters for years so for me I pretty much always bust out the partisan/merc quests working my way though the expansion. Then I'll take a few days to get the heroics missions figured out and write some scripts to do help automate them because you end up needing to cycle them 50-100+ times to max out your type 5 augs.

For characters I'm bring up from lower levels, I tend to not do progression. Instead I focus on making sure I log them in to do overseers ( free XP! )

I tend to go light on the grinding, until there is an XP boosted weekend, then I'll put in some 8-16hr PL sessions using group 50% xp pots.

I also save doing the heroic missions that give the one time XP boost to when there are bonus XP weekends. A 50% boost to those missions are pretty massive.

As far as grinding spots, you'll really need to clock your XP/hr and try some different spots.

If you dont have any outside DPS then generally do best killing the lowest hp dark blue cons you can find. If you have outside DPS then you might do better with the lowest level red con mobs.

One fairly nice spot to grind is the ToL Group mission Shei Vinitras. The trash in the mission repops. This makes it a really nice grind spot if you don't want to move up to LS

 

[cintile]

One fairly nice spot to grind is the ToL Group mission Shei Vinitras. The trash in the mission repops. This makes it a really nice grind spot if you don't want to move up to LS

Is this the group mission you pick up in ME? It ports you into an instance in Ka Vethan? Is there a particular spot that you recommend to sit and camp? Might do this on my 122 Bst / 111 Druid and 105 Mage and just grind AA for BST and level exp for the other too if its consistent and manageable. Looking for a nice spot to do this very thing and an instance that repops sound amazing.

 

[dewey2461]

Is this the group mission you pick up in ME? It ports you into an instance in Ka Vethan? Is there a particular spot that you recommend to sit and camp? Might do this on my 122 Bst / 111 Druid and 105 Mage and just grind AA for BST and level exp for the other too if its consistent and manageable. Looking for a nice spot to do this very thing and an instance that repops sound amazing.

Yes its one of the missions you get in ME.

I generally setup to pull/move around in a circle, starting from the first tunnel to the west of where you zone in and around the big pillar area. Size of the circle and/or where you setup camp is going to depend on your group. Its fairly easy to get 2-3 at a time just blindly pulling.

 

[cintile]

Yes its one of the missions you get in ME.

I generally setup to pull/move around in a circle, starting from the first tunnel to the west of where you zone in and around the big pillar area. Size of the circle and/or where you setup camp is going to depend on your group. Its fairly easy to get 2-3 at a time just blindly pulling.

Hmm, so am I going to need to bring crowd control instead of the druid I'm working on? I need this same situation but ideally with mobs around 115. hmmm. something decent AA for 122 bst but easy enough for fast kills for the 110 toons.

 

[smokedog66]

Can your tank handle 3 mobs? You are free to play how you want but any group is going to want tank/cc/priest to be able to tackle content without having to be overgeared for it.

 

[Maxflo]

I always preferred grinding but they force progression on you these days, unfortunately.

 

[cintile]

I always preferred grinding but they force progression on you these days, unfortunately.

I prefer the grind as well. Maybe do progression on your main, but not every toon. I have most of it done on my BST as an example. Do you have any suggestions on worthy grind spots in ToV or ToL?

 

[2ndGoat]

I prefer the grind as well. Maybe do progression on your main, but not every toon. I have most of it done on my BST as an example. Do you have any suggestions on worthy grind spots in ToV or ToL?

I'm sort of in the same headspace. I usually don't do progression except for my main, which also means my main crew because why not get it all done at the same time? But then I grind for alt crews almost exclusively, except to farm augs for baby tanks.

Coldain and tizmak caves in GD are great in ToV, but at least on my server, GD's good camp spots are perma-camped by the same handful of PL sellers. If those aren't open, just get an instance of the GD mission and kill all the wurms and tizmaks there (or use MQ2Grind).

ToL has a few decent spots. Either set of caves in Umbral Plains are good, so is the akheva camp in the north-middle of ME.

 

[Kingkiller71]

I prefer the grind as well. Maybe do progression on your main, but not every toon. I have most of it done on my BST as an example. Do you have any suggestions on worthy grind spots in ToV or ToL?

Can I ask when you are grinding in LS, what exp per kill are you getting?

I'm all for grinding wherever I can but in Eastern Wastes etc., I'm think I get about 0.01% a kill which is about 10,000 mobs per level - just not really feasible. I have to lean on Overseer to bulk it up.

 

[Oldman66]

This is really a two fold question. Firstly, do you actually take the time to run your team around doing progression? ToV and ToL specifically?

ToV and ToL are a must for progression. Those two xpacs came with level increases therefore the xp for merc/part quests is well worth doing. While doing them you will see areas that might interest your setup and play style to sit a grind a bit. Open up your achievent tab and look at the rewards for doing them. I am thinking that if you walk into ToL FTP and no CC you will be regretting it.

 

[cintile]

Can I ask when you are grinding in LS, what exp per kill are you getting?

I'm all for grinding wherever I can but in Eastern Wastes etc., I'm think I get about 0.01% a kill which is about 10,000 mobs per level - just not really feasible. I have to lean on Overseer to bulk it up.

LS is considerably better. Not to mention that up until I dinged 122 on Bst I was getting 1% every 10 mobs by simply taking 30 seconds to refresh a quest. I believe up until 122 I was also getting about 1% per 10 kills just from reg exp. So from 115-122, I was getting about 2% per ten kills. It really can't be matched by any previous expansions. (Hopefully they don't nerf it). I'm thinking ToV and Tol are going to be fine for grinding AA and working up lower level toons, but really EW is just horrible and pointless imo. Unless you want to do all the progression.

 

[Kingkiller71]

LS is considerably better. Not to mention that up until I dinged 122 on Bst I was getting 1% every 10 mobs by simply taking 30 seconds to refresh a quest. I believe up until 122 I was also getting about 1% per 10 kills just from reg exp. So from 115-122, I was getting about 2% per ten kills. It really can't be matched by any previous expansions. (Hopefully they don't nerf it). I'm thinking ToV and Tol are going to be fine for grinding AA and working up lower level toons, but really EW is just horrible and pointless imo. Unless you want to do all the progression.

Thanks for this. Looks like I may hit LS soon then. I have the following characters / groups...

Group1: druid (123), rogue (123), mage (123) + mercs for now, but levelling cleric (108), shaman (110) and bard (103) to replace the mercs.
Group2: warrior (125), beastlord (120), mage (123) + mercs / others.

I've spent time trying to get Griklor on rotation and also been doing the ghouls / ghosts and dorfs in the EW during the lesson.

I've never really moved into any expansion beyond ToV, so assume I'm missing out on some nice camp spots in CoV, NoS and LS. I guess I just assumed they'd own me - never really thought I could grind in those.

I've taken a sabbatical this month to get some work and other non-EQ things done, but will likely restart my subscription in February. Can you suggest an easy LS camp where I can chill whilst I fight? The only time I've been there was to get some spells and I aggroed an alligator on the way to the building which made short work of my mage lol.

 

[cintile]

Thanks for this. Looks like I may hit LS soon then. I have the following characters / groups...

Group1: druid (123), rogue (123), mage (123) + mercs for now, but levelling cleric (108), shaman (110) and bard (103) to replace the mercs.
Group2: warrior (125), beastlord (120), mage (123) + mercs / others.

I've spent time trying to get Griklor on rotation and also been doing the ghouls / ghosts and dorfs in the EW during the lesson.

I've never really moved into any expansion beyond ToV, so assume I'm missing out on some nice camp spots in CoV, NoS and LS. I guess I just assumed they'd own me - never really thought I could grind in those.

I've taken a sabbatical this month to get some work and other non-EQ things done, but will likely restart my subscription in February. Can you suggest an easy LS camp where I can chill whilst I fight? The only time I've been there was to get some spells and I aggroed an alligator on the way to the building which made short work of my mage lol.

Just go to Laurion Inn or any of the T1 zones. Pulls are very well spaced out, so its easy going. With the groups you mentioned, this will be very easy. Inside the Inn are quest givers for the mercenary quest. They are repeatable so just keep grinding them out, and refreshing. Or if you just want to grind, you can do that too, it should at least be better than any grinding in ToV. Sometimes If i don't want to move camp, ill just pick a camp and Ill just refresh the quest on which ever character I'm trying to focus on rather then moving the whole crew every ten kills.

Did you actually grind all the way to 125 in ToV?

 

[Naturesong]

 

[Kingkiller71]

Just go to Laurion Inn or any of the T1 zones. Pulls are very well spaced out, so its easy going. With the groups you mentioned, this will be very easy. Inside the Inn are quest givers for the mercenary quest. They are repeatable so just keep grinding them out, and refreshing. Or if you just want to grind, you can do that too, it should at least be better than any grinding in ToV. Sometimes If i don't want to move camp, ill just pick a camp and Ill just refresh the quest on which ever character I'm trying to focus on rather then moving the whole crew every ten kills.

Did you actually grind all the way to 125 in ToV?

No. I used a combination of Overseer and the merc / partisan tasks from ToV.

I haven't ground exp since about lvl 108 as I never found a spot that made it worthwhile. Guess LS has a few spots that may change that though. - thanks.

 

[vandersl]

If you aren't doing progression at least for the XPACs that have level increases you are missing out. Not only is the XP better (you kill mobs and finish quests) . And you get rewards that you cant get otherwise. Plus its the only way to level the new evolving items, and seems like that is a trend that will be continued. So given you will want to do it anyway, you might as well do it while you can get the XP and not after grinding to max already.

Plus, its actually more fun. This is a game. I would rather play it than let my little bots grind to max without me.

 

[durango773]

I was able to grind from 120-125 and max AA in.. 7 days? total of.. 60? hours.. it wasnt long, xpac wasnt even out for a week and i was done.. and went to progression...

Roughly, the same amount of time it takes to walk all over NoS, ToL and CoV to finish progression quest, that wont even get you from 120-125. LS quest, i was max/max for, but if they give XP, the quest themselves are pretty quick (8-10? hours to do them all)

Dont grind in old zones. Ngreth posted when TOL (maybe was COV) launched, that they where going to hammer old xpacs XP per kill to force people "in level band" to DO content. Ok, but if your DPS is high enough, killing is still faster.

I also find running 50+ char through progression is mind numbing after like the first 15... grinding in open world, least find some names, have some fun, can wander how you like.. but this is personal pref..

 

[dewey2461]

Dont grind in old zones. Ngreth posted when TOL (maybe was COV) launched, that they where going to hammer old xpacs XP per kill to force people "in level band" to DO content. Ok, but if your DPS is high enough, killing is still faster.

They've been doing that for years longer. I think it was more like TBM or EoK

 

[cintile]

I was able to grind from 120-125 and max AA in.. 7 days? total of.. 60? hours.. it wasnt long, xpac wasnt even out for a week and i was done.. and went to progression...

Roughly, the same amount of time it takes to walk all over NoS, ToL and CoV to finish progression quest, that wont even get you from 120-125. LS quest, i was max/max for, but if they give XP, the quest themselves are pretty quick (8-10? hours to do them all)

Dont grind in old zones. Ngreth posted when TOL (maybe was COV) launched, that they where going to hammer old xpacs XP per kill to force people "in level band" to DO content. Ok, but if your DPS is high enough, killing is still faster.

I also find running 50+ char through progression is mind numbing after like the first 15... grinding in open world, least find some names, have some fun, can wander how you like.. but this is personal pref..

Do you have a recommendation for grinding those levels 110-115 other than MQ2grind. Adding that plugin is just in my budget right now. Then 115-120? (I did 115-122 on a BST in LS, but I doubt my SK will be able to tank LI mobs at 115, but maybe).

I agree with you. Open world grinding, killing open world names, way more fun then running all over the place. For me EQ is about relaxing, grinding, and chatting. If I wanted to run all over the place, I would play the more modern MMOs.

 

[Darkwynd3]

Do you have a recommendation for grinding those levels 110-115 other than MQ2grind. Adding that plugin is just in my budget right now. Then 115-120? (I did 115-122 on a BST in LS, but I doubt my SK will be able to tank LI mobs at 115, but maybe).

I agree with you. Open world grinding, killing open world names, way more fun then running all over the place. For me EQ is about relaxing, grinding, and chatting. If I wanted to run all over the place, I would play the more modern MMOs.

110-112 or 113 in Howling Stones or Sathir's Tomb. 113 or 114 - 117 or 118 in Great Divide or ToV in general. Maybe get to 120 in T1 ToL since 120 is a pretty important gear threshold, then 120+ in LS. Or at least that's what I would do if I was doing it again. There may be other approaches.

 

[smokedog66]

TOV progression is where its at for 110 to 115. Quests are easy and xp moves very quickly. Crystal caverns sucks(not hard just annoying for multiple toons) but everything else is a breeze.

 

[hackzimus]

Do you have a recommendation for grinding those levels 110-115 other than MQ2grind. Adding that plugin is just in my budget right now. Then 115-120? (I did 115-122 on a BST in LS, but I doubt my SK will be able to tank LI mobs at 115, but maybe).

I agree with you. Open world grinding, killing open world names, way more fun then running all over the place. For me EQ is about relaxing, grinding, and chatting. If I wanted to run all over the place, I would play the more modern MMOs.

Theres plenty of spots, GD gets mentioned a lot because of mob density in the caves combines with a good repop rate.

if youre grinding you can't be doing 20-30 second kills and hope to get ahead... you need to handle 4-6 pulls with or without CC and do 8-12 second kills and get that kill rate into the 300+ mobs per hour range. Find the zone with the highest lvl dark blues you can plow through at the fastest rate and settle in.

I did 115-120 in GD. Was doing a level every 8 hours. But my kill rate was 300+ with sk/cler/bard/mage/mage/mage

 

[an_image]

@Naturesong when he's looking for group...

 

[cintile]

Theres plenty of spots, GD gets mentioned a lot because of mob density in the caves combines with a good repop rate.

if youre grinding you can't be doing 20-30 second kills and hope to get ahead... you need to handle 4-6 pulls with or without CC and do 8-12 second kills and get that kill rate into the 300+ mobs per hour range. Find the zone with the highest lvl dark blues you can plow through at the fastest rate and settle in.

I did 115-120 in GD. Was doing a level every 8 hours. But my kill rate was 300+ with sk/cler/bard/mage/mage/mage

I might just set up shop in FM again. That's how I got my Mage from 85-100. She's currently 104. SK was and still is 112. So for this, I just have a 112 SK, 104 Mage, and 111 Druid. No mercs needed for FM. I could just spend a few nights cranking FM until my Mage hits 110. I wonder if I could get my SK from 112-114 or 115 there? I tried going to Sathir's Tomb but kept ding in HS trying to find my way and the NaV wasn't working for that for whatever reason. I would really prefer to have my toons closer to 115 before I start messing around doing ToV and ToL to level 120.

ps while this is happening, I might start a fresh 3 toons on rgmercs and start working them towards level 85 and the hopes of combing them with main group. Hopefully this wouldn't take to long to accomplish.

 

[Hendo513]

I expect to grind this afternoon when HoT goes live and stay away from the couple groups plowing progression. Might try and do some guild groups or something if they happen but rather be low key and knock out progression at odd times/past the initial rush.

 

[Kilroy03]

I might just set up shop in FM again. That's how I got my Mage from 85-100. She's currently 104. SK was and still is 112. So for this, I just have a 112 SK, 104 Mage, and 111 Druid. No mercs needed for FM. I could just spend a few nights cranking FM until my Mage hits 110. I wonder if I could get my SK from 112-114 or 115 there? I tried going to Sathir's Tomb but kept ding in HS trying to find my way and the NaV wasn't working for that for whatever reason. I would really prefer to have my toons closer to 115 before I start messing around doing ToV and ToL to level 120.

ps while this is happening, I might start a fresh 3 toons on rgmercs and start working them towards level 85 and the hopes of combing them with main group. Hopefully this wouldn't take to long to accomplish.

If youre doing FM and want an extra kick try Droga. Also there are the augs that drop there.

 

[cintile]

If youre doing FM and want an extra kick try Droga. Also there are the augs that drop there.

I might just have to try Droga tonight. Ive never done this zone before but I like the idea of something useful other than just exp, such as augs. Do you recommend a certain spot in the zone to camp?

 

[B_I_G__D_A_D_D_Y]

Firstly, do you actually take the time to run your team around doing progression?

Yes!

But some caveats apply. It's a PITA but you can make the process simpler.

1. Figure out a good method for applying bard speed and double invis to your mage.
2. Run the mage around and then CoH the group.
3. Use a key repeater like ISBoxer so you can easily make your entire team do the same actions and say the same phrases.
As an example, on my driver I'll target the quest mob, then turn on the key repeater, then type /ass driver, then H for hail, then /say whatever key words are necessary to continue a quest.
4. Turn off your loot manager so that you can manually distribute quest loot.

It's still a PITA but you can minimize how many character swaps are required.

 

[durango773]

Yes!

But some caveats apply. It's a PITA but you can make the process simpler.

1. Figure out a good method for applying bard speed and double invis to your mage.
2. Run the mage around and then CoH the group. if your double invis and ran 1.. why not just run them all..
3. Use a key repeater like ISBoxer so you can easily make your entire team do the same actions and say the same phrases. huh what? MQ also has this function. they where already talking about not shelling out more money, use the tools they have..
As an example, on my driver I'll target the quest mob, then turn on the key repeater, then type /ass driver, then H for hail, then /say whatever key words are necessary to continue a quest.
4. Turn off your loot manager so that you can manually distribute quest loot.

It's still a PITA but you can minimize how many character swaps are required.

 

[Kilroy03]

I might just have to try Droga tonight. Ive never done this zone before but I like the idea of something useful other than just exp, such as augs. Do you recommend a certain spot in the zone to camp?

There are a bunch of named spawns in the zone, I'd just do a search on the web and pick a camp from it. Early warning.... the gobbies dont see through invis but the spiders do. And there is roaming spider once you drop down in the tunnel after zone in.

 

[Darkwynd3]

In addition to Durango’s suggestions, check out Sic’s hot key guide for a button to make everyone hand in the same quest items based on item ID.