I haven't started playing with personas but feel this is pertinent as they just added this system. I recently started some level 1 characters on several new accounts, since A2A transfer is unlikely to ever comeback, I'm reacquiring through gameplay, except I noticed that yellow/red con mobs in hot zones are seemingly capped on experience FAR lower than previous play throughs. I get less than 1% per kill with a full group killing mobs roughly 10 levels higher than the group. I recall it being something much higher than that previously. Once the mobs are within 5 levels of the characters, it is 0.353% per kill. This started around the 60s and has progressed into the late 70s. So killing mobs 5 levels higher than the group takes roughly 283 kills per level? I checked the quests, thinking maybe they added experience comparable to what used to be from killing, it is not.
I recently took an alt to Resplendent Temple to PL. I >think< it is a hot zone, so that may make a difference. At ~level 70, with mobs being ~95, I was seeing 16.77% XP per mob. Double that with LotD running. At level 71, that changed to ~26% per mob, with LotD. By level 80, that had come down A LOT, like ~6% per mob, with LotD. Now, another consideration, when you say "group", are you talking 6 live players (no mercs)? Seems like you should be seeing a bit more XP. Also, with 6 chars, you should be mowing through the kills pretty fast. Remember, it's XP/hour, not XP/mob that counts My recommendation would be, stick with hot zones, use LotD whenever possible, and, if you can't do a PL situation where the mobs are 20 or more levels higher, then stick to situations where the mobs are within 5 levels, as that's where the bonus XP calculation kicks in. And, if you stick with hot zones, do the Teek quests as well, they give another ~20% XP when it's right at the char's level.
While I appreciate the response....I am not a rookie player. My original post said that I was in hot zones. The hot zone quests are requestable once per day. LOTD is once per day. Your post is specifically about PL situations as you mention killing mobs 25+ levels higher. I'm talking about the group game experience of grinding....has come to a screeching halt.
It would help if you provided your level, the number of players in your group including levels as all of that will impact how much XP you get per kill.
Valdeholm, Fortress Mechanotus, Sillyssar ? A group full of lvl 78 characters killing gnomes lvl 78-81 in Fortress at 0.353% per kill is actually good source of exp. I personally take different route to PL at 78, but that will do.
Who said anything about PL? This is a discussion about the state of current grind experience. Fort Mech is where this was currently getting that abysmal per kill rate.
We have different norms. I fully expect lvl 78 group getting 0.325% per kill for grinding gnomes in Fortress. What were you actually expecting?
Yeah, it’s normal. It sucks, but you can always improve your EQ experience via the Marketplace. They’ve never gone back to look at the 70+ gameplay. It’s terrible.
Kinda what I'm getting at, feels nerfed from the last time I did this level...with the intention of people buying xp pots for cash.
I just happen to have a standalone 77 DE character and a character with a 77 persona DE to test this out. I took them both to FM (which is not the hotzone given by Teek at the moment on my server). They were ungrouped and without a merc. I had each of them do a solo kill. Each got the same exp. They each got .672% for a level 76 kill and .724% for a 77 kill. It looks like the exp is consistent for persona or regular characters. One thing I've noticed from my PL experiences is that the experience gained from reds seems more based on the relative difference than the absolute difference. If you're a level 5 and you kill a level 10 (5 levels which is 200% your level), you'll get 15%+. If you're level 70 and kill a level 75 (5 levels but 1.07% your level), you'll get 3-4%. If your experience killing reds was based more at the lower levels, you may be remembering those higher percentages.
So what I'm gathering from what everyone is responding with is, don't try and level your character up through normal game play/grinding so that you can learn the class you are playing, but find someone to PL you so you can be 125 and know nothing about how your class works because just playing the game HOW IT WAS INTENDED TO BE PLAYED AT THAT TIME is just too painful now with how they've nerfed grouping in open zones vs doing quest/missions. Got it.
I couldn't even get the level 80 hotzone from Teek at the time that I went to FM because I was "too low". But I just checked on a higher level toon and level 80 is in fact Fort Mechanotus. In the currently equipped gear at that level I would get absolutely wrecked by the mobs if it weren't for the ability of 125 level buffs landing on level 78 characters. I'm saying it is an absolutely sloooooow grind to be a group casual....which I am not. I should add that if you use mercenaries (cancer of EQ) that they wipe buffs every time you level (bug that is fixed internally). I am advocating for some attention to the average leveling experience, especially as personas become less buggy people will surely want to go group up and grind through expansion after expansion, exploring for the first time perhaps in some zones.
Yes, buying a Heroic is the best and easiest way to level. Moloing at level 69 won’t teach you about the 420 skills you get later on.
Heroic toons are great if you are already familiar with a class/arc type. You know what each line of spells/AA do, how they change names over the many expansions. Starting out fresh, on a class you've never played, I would argue, you need these experiences to know how stuff works, what stacks with what, ect.. You also miss out on picking up RK II spells, better gear, augs, AA, gear, acheese you can only get through playing through the expansions. With personas becoming more stable... I guess, I know more people are checking them out and trying out classes they've never played before. What a disservice to make people have to seek the marketplace to gain exp, rely on PL'ing, and not experiencing the class as it evolved to be today's version.
I do agree that the lower level experience should be looked at. Maybe make all zones have the hotzone bonus (on live servers). It made sense to have hotzones back in the day when there were lots of people at those levels, but now all the lower-level zones are deserted, hotzone or not. There is basically no pick up groups happening in hotzones today. A solo/molo player will really struggle to get past 80/90 if they don't do something like get covered in 120+ MGB buffs or box another character. Self-only moloing is totally feasible up to 70 or so, and a lot of fun. It'd be great if that kind of experience could last to 100 or so. That way the person can get themselves through the deserted levels and into the levels where people are grouping. The post 70 slog is one reason I think returning players quit. It's a ton of fun leveling up to 70, but then it's a huge slog to get yourself to the level where the rest of the server population is. Unless you're really motivated or have some kind of help, it's not really a fun experience. I'd guess a lot of people leave to do something that's more enjoyable. One thing I think would help is to allow you to have your merc be a higher level than you. There could be an exp penalty for that, but the benefit would be that you could continue to solo your way through the levels. Regardless of exp rates, just staying alive gets pretty tough past 70 or 80. If your merc could be 1-2 levels above you, you'd at least be able to make it through the content without constantly dying. And they already have all the code for mercs at every level, so it wouldn't be a big deal to implement. The reality is that the vast majority of people are PL-ing their way up to 100+ by using their other characters. Just let us have more powerful mercs and the solo players could do the same thing on their own rather than get frustrated and quit.
