I know that it wouldn't be a problem if I didn't PL from 1 to 60+ but after getting my Bard to 62 and playing a 5 song melody(one for each instrument) for 48 hours my skills are only at 226/291 218/291 213/291 209/291 190/291 this seems a bit much, 2 days of constant playing and my singing still needs 100 points. It seems to be going at a pace of around 1 or 2 points per hour in each skill now. It's a bit ridiculous.
Ya, the difference between the speed of skilling up melee toons and speed of skilling up caster toons is ridiculous
At this point in the game (since sony does like new players / main changes / alts / whatever) getting up to speed They should either just substantially up the rate at which skills skillup (by like 10x what they currently are) OR they should just make it so your skills automatically max out levels 1-90 (free to play levels), I'm sure people wouldnt mind grinding out the final 10 levels of skillups, but currently making new toons or mainchanges can be kinda a pain to skill stuff up for. It takes longer to get skills caught up to max level than it does to actually *reach* max level.
/agree - especially on the bard. I spent weeks of afk singing and only a couple skills were maxed... Yes I know that we can AFK skillup with a bard easy, but we shouldn't hae to leave our computers on for weeks on end to level up a bards skills.
So after 6 more hours of nonstop playing my skills are now 229/291 (+3) 221/291 (+3) 219/291 (+6) 213/291 (+4) 196/291 (+6) ZZzzZZZzZZZZZzZzzZ...
I wonder if the Devs are less concerned about this because there is supposed to be some amount of time put into the character. Someone who knows shortcuts can get around the leveling time stamp but still has to put in the casting time that may have come more easily/naturally with regular leveling. I've never heard it mentioned but makes sense in a way to me there's a tradeoff the Devs find acceptable. Most new players aren't being PL'd anyway so they will experience the skillups much more normally and this may just be an issue with experienced folks more often.
Don't forget that there are many other means of triggering instrument skillups, as well. Arcane Arietta (level 85) and its upgrades include a melee proc of a wind instrument song. Storm Blade's melee proc is singing (though Song of the Storm does not share this quality). Similarly, AA's like Selo's Sonata can help to increase percussion instrument skill and the Crescendo line's triggers include a second Stringed instrument trigger. There are plenty of other options to be found, as well. It can just may take a little digging to see exactly what's available.
The key is to max your dex. If you aren't doing this already, get the best unity you can for over cap Dex and also get a shaman to put Ancestral Aid for an extra 240 Dex. As long as you stay in the lobby Ancestrial aid won't expire. With this my skills were maxed in less then a day.
I don't know how its taking you so long I just equipped defiant with instrument mods and played a melody of each type of song and it was done in a couple hours?
I make alts all the time. With only ten seconds in the newbie zone forum you can find someone mentioning to use tank mercs to help you level. I can level from 1-60 just like a new player would casting spells, and I would very quickly end up with some of my casting skills close to max, some about half way, and some with only one or two points in each. Even if you level without a merc, certain classes don't use certain casting skills that often and experience gains have been severely increased since 1999. The skill increases haven't kept up.
disarm, begging, and intimidation are all useless so i'm not sure why it matters that those level up even slower. spell casting and instrument skills are actually necessary to play a class properly and even without getting PLed they take a long time to max out. should have been changed for FTP launch, but it would be better to get it late than never. some skills can be leveled by spam casting AAs, but not everyone is so lucky. For example, mages can target a friendly player character and spam click companion of necessity to level up abjuration in like 10 minutes.
I'm having the same issue as the OP. It was fast enough to 200, but it's taking 1-2 hours per point since then, which is a bit silly. I even tried more difficult songs and dex buffs, nothing matters. Slow as all heck. Not sure what the difference is to those reporting they did it quickly. The only thing I can think of is some combination of AA purchases somehow slows down or speeds up the process indirectly.
Try buying the first rank of Instrument Mastery and Singing Mastery, and maybe Jam Fest. Skill ups on my bard alt seemed to go a lot faster after getting those.
This! Put a melody of just one instrument type together. eg. string and then afk with your /mel going. Even without the armor mods your skillups will go much faster.
Over 8 stacks of bandages per skill up is ridiculous. Swimming against a wall all night long (over 8 hours) for 5 skillups is just wrong. Even casting and melee skillups are far too slow. Looks like disarm is fixed and thank you. However, I've only seen begging skill up on a named mob that I am fighting- never once on a trash mob since the patch. Let's get the rest of the skills fixed please.
For bard song skills i found starting to sing or play instrument in skill u want to raise, hit the bazaar and set yourself up as an offline trader, log back in next day and u got alot of skill rises. Found that out accidently on my trader cus he's a bard.
Why do people always go for the easy button? I just took my bard from 0-100 in a month and he is maxed out in everything now. Just go to work at playing your toon. sheesh
