Exp rate drop off

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Treiln, Nov 16, 2022.

  1. Treiln Augur

    No, this isn’t because we lost our 200% bonus haha

    So I used this last weeks bonus as much as I could to level an alt up. Made it to about 100 (had to work all week /cry).

    I know each expansion our players power grows considerably. And as such, mob difficulty needs to scale as well. But I started noticing that during RoF specifically, that mob health begins to start getting a little out of hand. And more so for each successive expansion (that I’ve made it through so far, into EoK).

    So I leveled a BST, and been molo for the majority of the 100 levels. Which is fine. I understand this is meant to be a group game. So the time it takes me to kill things is going to be a bit slower than a groups kill rate. And this is why I titled it exp rate instead of just total exp.

    HoT, VoA, and RoF were all about the same exp rate. But stepping into TDS (skipped CotF outside of a few HAs), TBM, and EoK, it’s taking me a lot longer to kill mobs. Did a little progression in all 3 expansions thinking maybe the quest/mission rewards would help bridge that gap…and it really doesn’t. I know part of the issue is my gear. Still mostly VoA, and 1-2 pieces from RoF/TDS/TBM.

    My characters damage output doesn’t keep up with the scaling of mob health. I’m currently 104, pet is tanking like a beast (pun intended) and I have no fear of dying on single pulls. But man it takes awhile to kill things. Outside of boxing, what ways have you fellow players found to circumvent the steep hill of experience rate drop. I am in a guild, and do group and am actively LFG but you all know what it’s like below level cap :) mass slaughtering DBs from previous xpacs is about the same as taking on a white/yellow in EoK currently.

    PS I do use Overseer although it’s new to me and I’m not as proficient as to get 5 missions done in the AM and the PM. But every little helps!
    Dre., Aenvar and Marton like this.
  2. KushallaFV Playing EverQuest

    Try to get into a sympathy ME or UP group or alternatively Krono. EQ isn’t solo or group friendly. Good luck.
  3. Treiln Augur

    Well now this is quite the conundrum.

    Not friendly to play alone
    Not friendly to play with others

    So…friendliest option is to not play at all?
    Duder likes this.
  4. CrazyLarth Augur

    you can pop a merc and go a zone 10 levels lower then you and go play.
    minimind likes this.
  5. Marton Augur

    Attempting to Exp at 110+ is even worse.

    Partisan and Mercenary tasks, Overseer, and 4 group missions are about the only decent sources of experience.

    (Yeah, if a single player, that means buying TA's for missions because you won't be moloing those).

    I don't know why they decided grinding mobs will not be a reasonable option to level anymore but it was a horrible decision.
    Wayylon, Aenvar, Fcseven XIII and 4 others like this.
  6. KushallaFV Playing EverQuest

    It’s the modern design, quest based progression with little to no grinding. It just doesn’t work for EQ’s design.
    Wayylon, Aenvar, Fcseven XIII and 2 others like this.
  7. Treiln Augur

    So I don’t mind the idea of huge chunks of exp coming from achievements from completing quests/missions. Although I do some times enjoy just mindlessly grinding mobs. The issue comes from not being able to find people to do them with. As I said I’ve been doing progression as I’ve been going through the expansions, but I hit a road block in EoK in Lcea where I need to go into the drider caves. I don’t have the CC to pull singles, and I don’t have the damage/defensives to survive pulling multiples. And I couldn’t find anyone willing to help or anyone who needed to do that quest either.

    And I can’t stand the idea of spamming “help me” enough times to annoy someone into doing it lol. So getting around to doing those missions is gonna be another hard roadblock. I don’t mind working for my levels…but I’d like to be able to catch up at some point too. I don’t want to have to take 2 weeks to get the same amount of exp someone gets in 2 hours due to me not being able to complete “group” content.
    Duder likes this.
  8. KushallaFV Playing EverQuest

    Mostly just box and create a consistent play schedule to build a community around yourself. It’s a lot of effort and time.
    Duder likes this.
  9. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Really, at this point, they need to set up a LFG (looking for group) sub-forum on these boards for just such a thing. I feel like Treiln, I don't like spamming for help. It's why I started boxing. It'd be nice if we had a forum for "Server/Quest/looking for help", then you can offline gather a group, and know when to log in and get it done.

    Even for me, boxing now, I'd be happy to help folks, but I've gotten out of the habit of even having General on a visible tab, so I don't even see requests for help, if there are any. But the ranks have thinned enough, we need more ways to get these types of things done.
  10. demi Augur


    I wouldnt mind helping you but it sure would be nice to know what server your on :p im on Bertox and have a multitude of toons that could assist.. If your on Bertox let me know a good time for you and we can set up a play date and get`r done..


    this would be a good idea. break it down by server so peeps who solely play on a certain server can browse and see if anyone needs help and in what form or what they need .. then that person can review the mission or whatever prior to loggin in and giving assistance ..

    also although I too mostly keep the /general chat behind another tab and not in front of me , I do keep the class specific channel in view .. maybe they could or we (on each server) dedicate a specific channel (help channel) to the server where one could ask for help , not necessarily a LFG channel but an assistance channel .. ??
    Make it so #1 .
  11. Gnomeland Augur

    What the people above you are saying is that... it's not a molo game, and it's also not a group game... because it's a box game.

    Start another character and you will find your game opens up. Don't do it, and you'll remain frustrated. That's the way it is.
    Duder likes this.
  12. Treiln Augur

    [/quote]

    Both very solid ideas :) I'd be alright with this. Especially since they made the experience gain predominantly from grouping content, and anyone not 110+ rarely see's a group.

    PS - FV demi, sorry :( but thank you for your offer!

    Yeah I 3 boxed the last time I played, and the issue is I became very anti-social. And I'm kind of getting that way even now. It seems every time I group up, things slow down. I get more deaths from someone not paying attention and body pulling, so there's the down time with that, or the exp rate drops from having multiple people without increasing the kill rate high enough to take advantage of the group bonus.

    And like last time...I ran a <tank> / Chanter / Mage combo with 1 Cleric merc, 2 caster mercs...and it seems like everyone I dropped a box/merc for, they did less DPS and it was a little frustrating.

    I just want to get to the point where I can group with people (be it 110 or 115) and be of use and not have to be a parasite.
    Duder likes this.
  13. Kaenneth [You require Gold access to view this title]

    If you prefer grinding instead of questing to gain exp, you now have the bonus fun of having more grinding available to you.
  14. Cadira Augur

    Starting around your lvl, eq started to transition even further to a "must have a group" to keep up with dichos, synergies, etc. Mob health scaled with it. So you're further penalized for being alone sadly. Hopefully you got your dicho ability and current weapons at least but gear and aa are obviously a good factor as always.

    Sadly your best bet is to hope a bad mo fo can help you lvl up a bit to play with others closer to 120.

    What server you on?
    Treiln likes this.
  15. Raptorjesus5 Augur

    To me this started around TBM/EoK where mob health got dramatically higher and tanks became much more necessary than before. They pulled away hard from solo play. Everything is designed for a group now. Even solo classes that 'can' solo, it isn't very fun since mobs take forever to kill and EQ combat isn't nearly fun enough to justify several minute long solo fights.

    The irony is most people just get around this by boxing.
  16. Treiln Augur

    I need to go get it - not sure when I'll get to use it, lol I'm so mana starved as it is already :p

    And FV

    And i'm all for groups....it just seems others are not so much. And as I had previously mentioned, I do join groups, but from my molo experience and previous 3 box experience, inviting other players is a DPS loss and makes things even longer for me lol
  17. Svann2 The Magnificent

    Now they show the exact xp in chat it seems even worse!
  18. Shillingworth Augur


    My experience since returning in summer of this year was somewhat similar. Pick-up groups are almost completely undesired but not entirely undesirable. Sometimes I pop on LFG for awhile to see if anyone actually invites me to a group and it has happened, albeit less than 10 times in that span. Compared to 10 years ago where I would spend at most an hour or two LFG or much less if I built the group from whatever was available.

    Oddly there are still people that do old fashion camp and grind style of exp groups with their guild mates but they don't call it exp groups, they call it PL groups. That one threw me through a loop until I caught on that they meant old fashion camp and grind. However even with the absurd DPS of someone that has boxes decked out in raid gear and all their keys figured out to a science, it just doesn't compare to the exp you get from doing tasks and missions.
    Treiln likes this.
  19. Treiln Augur

    It’s a nice QoL at the same time. Remember the days of counting bubbles and dashes and doing math to figure out how many mobs it took to get there? ;)

    But that’s the issue at the same time. I was getting .75% a kill for killing a dark blue mob and it was taking 30 seconds. About an hour and a half to get a level. Now it’s taking me 2-3 minutes to kill a dark blue mob and I’m getting .6% a kill.

    And quests give like 3-7% a completion. But the amount of running around that’s required actually makes it a lower experience rate than the camp and grind style.
    Marton, Fenthen and Svann2 like this.
  20. Cadira Augur

    Hah. Well for what it's worth, dicho is the most mana worthy spell you'll ever own! Sorry can't help ya on fv ;(
    Treiln likes this.