Levelling advice 40-50

[Nostromo21]

Back on live I only ever got my ice/fire blaster to 44 I think, before I gave up on the grind & eventually the game got shut down.

 

I've now gotten my Ill/Dark troller to 40 (I have chronic alt-o-holism & very limited time!), and noticed the very slow XP bar progress, even with double XP. So, my question, what would be the best place(s) to do some group power-levelling for the last 10 levels? I'm a bit over DfB/DiB runs, so hoping there is some other area/zone/game mode I can join relatively easily. I also can't spend hours in TFs or whatnot, as I often only have a half hour/hour at most to play. Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go? She currently steam-rolls all +0/0 content, no surprise there!

Thanks guys.

[tidge]

On Blue I like to run the Tina and Marie missions in PI.

 

On Red, this is the time to run the Patron arcs among others.

 

Basically: do the stuff you need for accolades.

[Snarky]

What you want are Task Forces at that level range.  There are  not a lot 40+, but 45+ there are a few.

 

Best news?  The Imperious Task Force.  This much loved Task Force is run regular in many variations, and is 35+.

 

To access Cimerora to do the ITF you need a badge.  Get that badge by going to Night Ward.  From the Base Portal in Night Ward look up at the mansion on the hill.  Go in the front door of that mansion and you get the badge.

 

To get to Cimerora go to any Midnighter Mansion besides that one.  Then go through the door upstairs  in the back.  Then use the crystal pillar middle of the tunnel intersection.

 

You want the +4 Kill Most ITF most preferably.  

 

Good Luck.

[SeraphimKensai]

Without exempting you can do the following, besides just running story arcs (there's enough content you can hit 50 without doing TFs or radios/newspapers), or the previously mentioned ITF.

 

At lvl 40: Numina, Ice Mistral, Abandoned Sewer, Eden Trial, Dr. Quarterfield, Sara Moore, and the third/fourth respecs on both blue/red.

 

At 44 you can do the Justin Augustine and Faathim the Kind TFs.

 

Otherwise at 45, there's Ms. liberty, Lady Grey, Kahn, Barracuda, Lord Recluse, Hami 

 

Then at 46 there's Mender Silos.

[Uun]

9 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go? She currently steam-rolls all +0/0 content, no surprise there!

Illusion/Dark should be able to handle it. I would start with +2/x3 and increase if that's too easy.

[Ghost]

With 2XP 
A KM +4x8 ITF will usually get you 4-5 levels.

A KM +4x8 Market Crash will get you 3-4 levels.

 

Just be aware, they may also get you a few deaths.

[Xaddy]

10 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

Back on live I only ever got my ice/fire blaster to 44 I think, before I gave up on the grind & eventually the game got shut down.

 

I've now gotten my Ill/Dark troller to 40 (I have chronic alt-o-holism & very limited time!), and noticed the very slow XP bar progress, even with double XP. So, my question, what would be the best place(s) to do some group power-levelling for the last 10 levels? I'm a bit over DfB/DiB runs, so hoping there is some other area/zone/game mode I can join relatively easily. I also can't spend hours in TFs or whatnot, as I often only have a half hour/hour at most to play. Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go? She currently steam-rolls all +0/0 content, no surprise there!

Thanks guys.

There are others far more experienced than me - but having just gone through what you're going through, let me share what worked for me.

With limited time that you have - if you only have a 1/2 hour, you have to understand that getting folks to join you may take a few minutes. Sometimes, it will be easier to join someone else, and sometimes, it's just more efficient to recruit for your own missions. 

At level 35, two huge XP options open for you - the MSR -which you can do at level 1, I suppose, but the xp is all you get. At 35, you get vanguard merits if you do the initial short easy arc from Levantera. Then, if you happen to be online when they're forming one, you can jump on this gravy train. The time on the mothership itself will last about 31 minutes. Supposed to be 30, but it can go over due to various bomb clicks, supposedly. The recruiting for it takes a while on some days, depending on the server you're on. So, this would be something to try for when your time available is closer to an hour. 

The other thing is the ITF. You'll see folks recruiting for this fairly often; it seems to be the most run TF next to maybe Yin and Apex/Tin Mage. The reason ITF is popular is the maps are large. So, folks like to "kill most". This tends to make things go longer. But - if you get on a speed ITF - you're still gaining a lot of xp - because you're primarily clobbering the generals/AVs. Some speedy teams are very, very fast. Like less than 10 minutes fast. You won't get the xp the Kill Most crowd gets (and some of those teams will finish in 45 minutes or so) but you will get more xp/minute. Speedy stuff can be fun - unless you're fragile. Fragile builds that often rely on team buffs can often be left in the background and not really have much fun. You might get tp'd to the action - and you might not. You'd still get the xp, though. All depends on the group you're with. 

So, in my mind - if you recruit for it - you simply dictate terms at the forefront. Share with them you have a hard stop at X time, and you want to zip through or kill through (as opposed to kill most) until the last mission, where you complete the objectives, and then stick around to clear. If you need to go, you can go, but if you have time to stay, you can stay. Your team, your rules. 

Most TFs can take longer to recruit for than it takes to actually complete them. I get the apprehension, because on a pug, you never know how long it can take. But, I don't think I've ever been on a yin tf that lasted longer than 25 minutes. It's almost impossible unless you have teammates that have no enhancements or they go afk more often than not. 

I would shy away from the Synapse and of course the Shard TFs. I would stick to trying for the weeklies because of the XP bonus, and so many folks run them speedy style, you shouldn't have any issue getting through in your allowed time. 

Heck, I was on this weekly's Faathim the Kind TF, and with everyone having TT (a fairly rare thing, I think), we got through it in 1 hour, 3 minutes. Not a great time for speed runners, but for a pug, not bad at all. Just having the TT saves a bunch of time. 

Lastly, people seem desperate for teams. They never want to recruit. No idea why this is, but it seems to be a real thing. Almost anyone recruiting for a PI team fills within a minute. You may not get the best of the best, but you'll fill the team and do fine. Just go through the Tina Mac and Maria Jenkin's content. Most have done these before and are familiar with them, which means you don't have to give much direction, if any. And it means things are generally faster. 

 

[UltraAlt]

15 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go?

 

If you are bored with doing mission content and and the goal is simply leveling quickly, I would suggest looking for a PI police scanner team or other high level door mission team.

Even if you have to end up bailing out during a mission - as long as you don't leave your character sitting inside the mission and leeching xp - no one is going to get upset about it  ... unless maybe if you are in the middle of a fight with an AV.

 

The XP will generally turn out to be much more when running with a team than when running missions solo ... even if you are the one recruiting people to join you on your missions.

I've been on plenty of teams that only run 1 or a couple of missions. Sometimes that is because I join a team after they have been running for a while. Sometimes because the person recruiting only intended to run 1 mission. (Personally, I'm fine with that. I like teaming even if it is a duo for 1 mission)

[laudwic]

15 hours ago, tidge said:

On Blue I like to run the Tina and Marie missions in PI.

 

On Red, this is the time to run the Patron arcs among others.

 

Basically: do the stuff you need for accolades.

 

This.

 

Personally, I run double xp until 40th as you start to gain far better inf at these levels and your going to need money to pay for IO Sets.  

 

Also, enjoy the game, getting to 50 and the incranates is not something you need to rush.  Play the game.  The story arcs in PI at this level get you a very good accolade, and there is a decent story there.

[Greycat]

*tosses a vote in for the "it's not a race, just enjoy and play what you want, as you want." *

[Scarlet Shocker]

There is no substitute for playing the game and enjoying the story as you go.

 

There's no reason to aim for 50 unless you actually feel that's what you need to do. End Game content is ok and it's got some quirks but it's not fundamentally different from the journey from 1-50.

 

Go at your own pace, play when you can, spend some time on your guy and get there when you get there. Don't fret about it. As Greycat says, it's not a race.

 

Personally I would advise you against rushing those last levels because if you do, you will miss a lot of content that you might otherwise enjoy. Your mileage may be different which is ok but have fun whatever you do.

[Sovera]

I suggest sticking to Ourobouros and just do random arcs. I would not recommend soloing TFs despite being nearly the same as Ouroboros as TFs always end with an AV which you might or might not be able to solo.

 

Ouroboros lets you log off mid-way and come back to it later and you do not outlevel the mobs or the contact.

 

With half hour gaming sessions that exclude teaming this is the way to go. Don't do random AE mission arcs or radio missions as these only give XP and random loot (since double XP cuts

off influence). Ouroboros will also give XP and loot, but always give merits as a reward for the final mission.

 

 

If you CAN spare an hour then ITF is the absolute best bang for your buck.

[Xaddy]

One really fun arc (for me anyway) is the one that gets you the itsy-bitsy badge from Mender Silos, which is a level 45+ arc. You have to deal with Manticore and his winning personality, but you also get to rescue a bunch of heroes - Back Alley Brawler, Mynx, Swan, Ms. Liberty, etc. 

So, given the time constraints, I'd solo all except the finale. For the finale, recruit - mention the badge - and set as high as you think the team can handle, which would likely be +4/8. 
Tackling Lord Recluse as an AV will likely give you 5 bars of xp alone. If you had the teammates, you could make a case for farming it to 50. Just pop in and kill recluse over and over. Not easy, mind you. He's no slouch. The 5 bars of xp is why I mention it. And I can't say if it was really 5 bars of XP, I just know it was a LOT more than the other AVs, and it was fun. 

[tidge]

Here is another vote for "you don't need to get multiple levels in a single session".

 

One of the nice features of the current Homecoming is that players can choose their T7/T8/T9 powers (as well as most of the Epics) earlier in a character's career. The positives manifest themselves in many ways; one of them is that it is possible to experiment with a more-or-less complete suite of powers for a character earlier than we used to be able to do on Live. Obviously we are waiting for more enhancement slots between 35 and 50, yet I like to see how those powers are working for me to get an idea of what sort of attack chains should I be using, what quality-of-life slotting should be considered, and if there are any hidden gem powers I can leverage.

 

Writing only for myself: I find it easy to slip into a mode of thinking that I've "solved" certain power sets and ATs. That is: I am tempted to look at a power set, identify the optimal power picks and slotting choices, and "see" what the level 50 build will be and imagine how it will play. I fight this mode of thought on almost every character I build... and the levels 30-50 are key for me to get a feel for the choices I'm making. It is common that I discover something subtle about slotting choices. It is not that rare that I find some power to be of low utility and can drop it. I suppose it is possible to do a similarly deep level of testing with a level 50 build (as I have done this too!) but I find I learn more about the various choices by playing content up to 50.

[wjrasmussen]

On 4/23/2024 at 7:36 PM, Nostromo21 said:

Back on live I only ever got my ice/fire blaster to 44 I think, before I gave up on the grind & eventually the game got shut down.

 

I've now gotten my Ill/Dark troller to 40 (I have chronic alt-o-holism & very limited time!), and noticed the very slow XP bar progress, even with double XP. So, my question, what would be the best place(s) to do some group power-levelling for the last 10 levels? I'm a bit over DfB/DiB runs, so hoping there is some other area/zone/game mode I can join relatively easily. I also can't spend hours in TFs or whatnot, as I often only have a half hour/hour at most to play. Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go? She currently steam-rolls all +0/0 content, no surprise there!

Thanks guys.

When burned out in msr, tf, and hami.  I just run continuous radio missions.

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 4/23/2024 at 10:36 PM, Nostromo21 said:

Do I just add +1/2/3 to mob level and team size while I solo & see how I go? She currently steam-rolls all +0/0 content, no surprise there!

 

Math-wise you get a lot more bang for the buck (and more drops) increasing your x rather than your +.  Both help, but more enemies gets you stuff a lot more quickly.

 

Try +1/x3 and see how quickly you go.  then I'd try +1/x5, and feel things out from there.

 

In my experience with melee alts, by lvl 40 I'm generally running +2/x5 and maybe x8 if I have enough Aoe.  I'm at level 50 before I can blink.

 

Also, the Experienced power (which is the same as Patrol XP) really helps a lot with rapid levelling.  The devs give it out occasionally during events, but I get it mostly from opening hero or winter packs.

 

[Random Axis]

Don't forget about the new mechanics for exploration badges. Finding them gives you rest XP, so if you can it's a good idea to take a break to find them while you're soloing to keep getting rested XP.

[Nostromo21]

On 4/25/2024 at 4:04 AM, laudwic said:

 

This.

 

Personally, I run double xp until 40th as you start to gain far better inf at these levels and your going to need money to pay for IO Sets.  

 

Also, enjoy the game, getting to 50 and the incranates is not something you need to rush.  Play the game.  The story arcs in PI at this level get you a very good accolade, and there is a decent story there.

 

Thanks laudwic, guys, been most helpful. Will take your advice about running the lest time-demanding group content, and up to +2/x3 story content solo.

I have about 320mill saved across my mains, as I've been playing the AH for a while now on & off, so I should be ok hopefully. I'm using Carnifax's cheap IO build & have everything twinked out with attuned sets + 40 IOs, which I'll upgrade to 50 at 47 & then boost to +5 as I get to 50. The Superior Will of the Controller will be the expensive, currently going for 15-20mill each = up to 120mill (yikes!). 

[Random Axis]

3 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

The Superior Will of the Controller will be the expensive, currently going for 15-20mill each = up to 120mill (yikes!). 

It may be worth it to look for cheaper ATOs and try to convert them to the set you want. The one converter transformation changes it to a different ATO set, so it may be way cheaper to gamble up the first three or four and then buy the ones you specifically need. 

 

Also take a look at the cost for catalyzers in inf and merits to see if it's worth it to buy regular ATOs and make them superior on your own.

Edited April 26 by Random Axis
Typo

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, Nostromo21 said:

 

Thanks laudwic, guys, been most helpful. Will take your advice about running the lest time-demanding group content, and up to +2/x3 story content solo.

I have about 320mill saved across my mains, as I've been playing the AH for a while now on & off, so I should be ok hopefully. I'm using Carnifax's cheap IO build & have everything twinked out with attuned sets + 40 IOs, which I'll upgrade to 50 at 47 & then boost to +5 as I get to 50. The Superior Will of the Controller will be the expensive, currently going for 15-20mill each = up to 120mill (yikes!). 

 

Check the normal Will of the Controller. It's usually 8-10 million. A Catalyst from the AH is invariably 1 million.

[Shred Monkey]

OK... first off.. Don't rush.  I know you want to get to 50, but seriously, you're not missing out on a secret handshake prize vault by hitting 50 this week instead of next week.

 

That said, I usually work on accolades once I hit 40.  Killing 100 fake nemesis alone usually gets me through level 41.  Then I start Tina McEntire arc until I get the arc that finishes with Positron.  That gets me to 44.  Then a few more missions to 45 where I can start Maria Jenkin's arc and missions for the rest of the Portal Jockey enemies.  At that point I'm about level 48.  That's only 1-2 more Task Forces from 50. 

 

The only TF's you can't do before 50 are Tinman and Apex.  ITF is probably the most common one for XP, and Penelope Yin for merits.  I'd avoid "Speed ITFs" because they don't give much XP when truly run for speed.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26 by Shred Monkey

[tidge]

A couple comments about ATO and catalysts.

 

If I am not rushing a character, I will typically have about 600 merits by the time it gets to 50. When I am rushing, it is more like 150, probably from TFs/SFs that I would have done anyway. I personally burn a new 50s merits on Boosters, but if you don't have ATO, I think there are worse things to spend Merits on. It may not make the most "economic" sense, but it is somewhat "self sufficient".

 

Catalysts drop 1 every 24 hours for level 50s, and they are surprisingly cheap on the market. I stockpile catalysts. I end up using more for attuning crafted enhancements than Winter/ATO upgrades, but that is me being 'self-sufficient'... the Auction house is a cheap way to attune most enhancement pieces.

 

A solo player without much time can do quite a bit of content that yields healthy merit rewards, such as the Signature Story arcs.

 

When I find characters in a "lull between levels", and I want to solo, I'll do things like:

• Radio/Newspaper missions, plus the Safeguard/Mayhem
• PVP zones (exploration, plus PVP unlocks)
• Ouroboros (particularly for badges, but there are some decent merits to be had)