New Tunnel Farm (or alternative) for lowbies?

[biostem]

So I had a tunnel farm that I would run my new character through, to get them through the first few levels, try out different power combinations, and earn from AE tickets.  With the changes in AE XP, and seeming increased difficulty, what are you folks utilizing nowadays?  I tried creating a modified tunnel under the new rules/system, but the enemies are just wiping the floor with the low level characters.  What're your suggestions or advice?  Thanks! 

[Ankylosaur]

Try out CELLFIRE arc ID 25000 (Have to play the whole thing but it is expertly crafted to yield a lot of XP for lowbies, with, if memory serves, OOTB characters)

 

I played a staff/bio brute through it and was in the high teens by the end. (before the latest changes)

Edited September 2, 2022 by Ankylosaur

[biostem]

So I think I pinned down a good balance of difficulty and XP, with Arc ID 51582.  Please give it a try , if you have time.  Thanks for your consideration!

[Sanguinesun]

On 9/6/2022 at 12:31 PM, biostem said:

So I think I pinned down a good balance of difficulty and XP, with Arc ID 51582.  Please give it a try , if you have time.  Thanks for your consideration!

 

I tested  your mission for a few levels between 2-5. 

 

As an example:  at +0,  the red conning EB's are throwing pretty frequently a knife that after the DoT is done, takes about one third of a tankers health(with the s/l res toggle on and regen on too mind you).  They throw that knife a lot (3 times on average a minute or more if unlucky).  They're also very high health and take a tanker with 1 punch and their VIP powers a minute+ to wittle down.... for about 3 and a half bubbles of exp at   level 3.  It also didnt seem to have a helper like various lowbie levelers farms do.   At level 2 with +4lvl setting,  it was a 2 shot death with 7 bubs of exp after a few attempts.

 

Its a mission very much not for most AT's nor lower levels.   By contrast,  3955 while the exp is only about 2 bubs at level 3(and unfortunately scales down as you level up) on max settings, most any AT can survive with no deaths(sadly a very far cry from its pre-Page 4 days).  

 

So overall it probably needs some adjustments.

Edited September 11, 2022 by Sanguinesun

[Sanguinesun]

On 9/2/2022 at 10:27 AM, Ankylosaur said:

Try out CELLFIRE arc ID 25000 (Have to play the whole thing but it is expertly crafted to yield a lot of XP for lowbies, with, if memory serves, OOTB characters)

 

I played a staff/bio brute through it and was in the high teens by the end. (before the latest changes)

 

At +0 for time spent vs difficulty solo, its exp is not better but worse than 3955 post Update.  Higher settings for some AT's would make it take longer or be not possible and the exp earned would not be worth it for the longer time spent.

 

One of the points is to have players be able to level any AT solo on the previous missions that folks used to use the the "Bads" series, especially when playing at a time/server that has little to no people to engage with or just simply because you just want to not group.   That's unfortunately become punitive overall now.

[Ankylosaur]

 

2 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

its exp is not better but worse

 

Oooo - did not realize a Dev's choice with, I think, all standard mobs (so no worry about not being 100% rewards) would be far below an OOTB mission. Well, at least there is still DFB and DIB

 

Sorry for the bad suggestion. 😞

[Sanguinesun]

17 minutes ago, Ankylosaur said:

 

 

Oooo - did not realize a Dev's choice with, I think, all standard mobs (so no worry about not being 100% rewards) would be far below an OOTB mission. Well, at least there is still DFB and DIB

 

Sorry for the bad suggestion. 😞

 

Its more to do with the fact that DFB and DIB are group centric, fast exp.

 

The AE missions discussed primarily in the thread focus on: 

 

-solo

-for any AT

-with exp per time spent on the mission that is better than that of typical door mission soloing. 

 

Thus a recipe of things.   Prior to the changes and for the last 3 years, there were various sets of missions that met those conditions that usually had merit to around the 15-21 level range and started to become diminishing returns from there to the point that doing other content had more merit.   The Dev choice recommendation you made though essentially is not of the same caliber and even at +0 are not equally paced for all AT/power sets.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2022 by Sanguinesun

[biostem]

8 hours ago, Sanguinesun said:

I tested  your mission for a few levels between 2-5. 

 

As an example:  at +0,  the red conning EB's are throwing pretty frequently a knife that after the DoT is done, takes about one third of a tankers health(with the s/l res toggle on and regen on too mind you).  They throw that knife a lot (3 times on average a minute or more if unlucky).  They're also very high health and take a tanker with 1 punch and their VIP powers a minute+ to wittle down.... for about 3 and a half bubbles of exp at   level 3.  It also didnt seem to have a helper like various lowbie levelers farms do.   At level 2 with +4lvl setting,  it was a 2 shot death with 7 bubs of exp after a few attempts.

 

Its a mission very much not for most AT's nor lower levels.   By contrast,  3955 while the exp is only about 2 bubs at level 3(and unfortunately scales down as you level up) on max settings, most any AT can survive with no deaths(sadly a very far cry from its pre-Page 4 days).  

 

So overall it probably needs some adjustments.

You need to set yourself to "No solo bosses", then those EBs will become bosses.  I've been using that farm now for several days, and it routinely gets my new alts from about 1-6 on the 1st run, which can be done in under 10 mins.  It is easier if you start at level 2, though, as you'll have another attack and rest to use as needed between enemies.  I'll adjust the description of ARC ID 51582 to reflect needing to adjust that setting - it was common to do that in the other tunnel farms...

Edited September 12, 2022 by biostem

[biostem]

I've made the updates to the description.

[kelika2]

I been using #51382 for the past 10 or so days.  Atta roaming cave map.  I need to kill maybe 20-30% more enemies to match what I was getting before and its serviceable.

[Sanguinesun]

14 hours ago, biostem said:

You need to set yourself to "No solo bosses", then those EBs will become bosses.  I've been using that farm now for several days, and it routinely gets my new alts from about 1-6 on the 1st run, which can be done in under 10 mins.  It is easier if you start at level 2, though, as you'll have another attack and rest to use as needed between enemies.  I'll adjust the description of ARC ID 51582 to reflect needing to adjust that setting - it was common to do that in the other tunnel farms...

 

So let me again explain test results:

 

+0 / 1 / No Solo Bosses

 

Level 2 SS/RadA Brute tested with 119.8 Health.

 

Your Boss does this (with the s/l shield shield (unenhanced) on):

 

 Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 22.6 points of Lethal damage.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 1.7 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 1.7 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 1.7 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 1.7 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 1.7 points of Lethal damage over time.

 

31.1 Total damage from 1 hit.

 

Without s/l shield:

 

Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 29.16 points of Lethal damage.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 2.2 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 2.2 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 2.2 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 2.2 points of Lethal damage over time.
Practice Robot hits you with their Throwing Knives for 2.2 points of Lethal damage over time.

 

40.16

-----------

 

Their AoE Savage Leap (with s/l resist shield on):

 

Practice Robot hits you with their Savage Leap AoE for 7.82 points of Lethal damage.

 

Depending on the context of the attack, it does:

 

Practice Robot hits you with their Savage Leap AoE for 0.62 points of Lethal damage over time.

 

(Between 1-5 times that DoT will land) 

 

So the total is between 8.44-10.92 damage.

 

 

 

Without the s/l resist shield on:

 

Practice Robot hits you with their Savage Leap AoE for 10.1 points of Lethal damage.

 

And again depending on the context of the attack, it does:

 

Practice Robot hits you with their Savage Leap AoE for 0.8 points of Lethal damage over time.
 

(Again between 1-5 times that DoT will go off).

 

So the total for that is between 10.9-14.1

 

 

--------------------------------------------------

 

 

Both attacks go off pretty quickly/frequently (not surprising given the short recharge times on them).

 

 

So as I stated in the original post, the knives essentially do about One Third of a player's health in one hit.  

 

And given the fast recharge times of it and the savage leap, pretty much a player goes down in a few hits.

 

AT's with no defense/resist will obviously go down the fastest.

 

This is essentially not a good choice of powers for a lowbie leveling mission consideration.  Its also why Humble Farmer switched out his lowbie leveling maps from knives as well(previously he used them before Page 4).

 

-----------------------------------------------------

 

 

As for exp:  approximately at level 2 with the settings mentioned above, they give just around 2 bubs of exp.  Given the number of mobs, the difficulty both in damage they do and health they have to take down for the time spent, its just currently not optimal.

 

I hope this feed back helps.

Edited September 12, 2022 by Sanguinesun

[biostem]

16 minutes ago, Sanguinesun said:

So as I stated in the original post, the knives essentially do about One Third of a player's health in one hit.  

 

And given the fast recharge times of it and the savage leap, pretty much a player goes down in a few hits.

 

AT's with no defense/resist will obviously go down the fastest.

I have had a lot of success with it, but either way, ty for the feedback.