How long does it take you to hit 50?

[mistagoat]

We all play in wildly different ways and I'm curious how much time folks spend getting to 50.  Just the run up to 50 not including incarnate stuff. 

 

I've gone through a few phases here:

I've powerleved stuff to 50 in 3-4 hours but haven't done that in years.

For a while I'd PL to 32 (1 hour) and play it up from there (1 week of 2-3 hours per night to get to 50 from 32)

These days I usually just play it up from 1-50 (2 weeks of 2-3 hours per night, roughly 40ish hours)

 

I almost exclusively run as a duo with a buddy. We'll join the occasional TF or something but mainly we just level through duo'ing story arcs/TFs cranking up the difficulty as we get stronger. We do run the double XP boosters and almost always run the TF of the week for the big xp bonus. We've found this to keep things fresh and interesting for us. After hitting 50 we might spend some more time with them getting Incarnate stuff and seeing how far we can push them or we might just make a new pair and start the whole thing over again.

 

So in general I spend 2+ weeks with roughly 40 hours playing a single toon to 50. (Funny to contrast that to the 6 months it took me back on live to get my first 50!)

 

So how long do you spend getting to 50? Do you solo all the way? Are you on 8 man teams the whole way up? Do you duo too? Are you leveling multiple toons at once or do you just focus on 1 at a time? Do you tend to spend more time pre-50 or post-50?

Edited July 2 by mistagoat

[arcane]

Hours-wise it depends on my focus, but at a minimum the toon should be 50 on the same day it was made.

[Without_Pause]

I mostly solo and get on teams to do TFs for the badges. I don't do 2x XP boosters unless maybe I am at a dead point content wise. I bounce around vastly between characters but have been known to focus on a build if it really clicks for me. More so as of late since I really don't make new characters these days. After coming back after a 200+ day break, I am playing my level 50s and soloing a Dark/sr Scrapper Red side. Farming got nerfed enough I just rather duo box regular content. How long to 50? Eventually. I don't think half my roster is 50 although it is close. 

[Skyhawke]

Since 1974...although I'm not quite sure who hit whom. 

[Oubliette_Red]

My first character (which also happened to be my first 50) on Legacy took me nine months.

 

I just started on my 5th tab of characters and have just six that are L50, the rest range from 1-44. I hop around a lot and tend to play whatever level is close to what my friends happen to be playing. From the get-go, getting to level 50 has never been the goal for playing my characters.

[cranebump]

I seldom run all the way to 50. When I do, it takes a while. I get to the 30s fast. Then I just sorta…do other things.

[Apogee]

I have around 130 characters, half of them in Praetoria.  I tend to switch back and forth from alt to alt so getting any one character to 50 takes awhile (months if not years).  I am never in a rush to hit 50.  I enjoy the journey more than the destination.

[Zhym]

I don't quite have the alt-itis that others have.  I have a total of 36 characters right now, of which twenty are level 50 and six haven't made it past level 15 (and four of those are concept characters that didn't make it level 6).  The rest sort of stalled in the mid levels as I realized that some characters just didn't grab me, either for powerset or theme reasons.

 

Of those twenty level 50s, I'd estimate that I leveled about half of them mostly solo through story mode, with just enough TFs to get some reward merits and badges.  At least a couple of those did nearly all the content, Blue and Red (and, in a couple of cases that started in Praetoria, Gold).  The other half I leveled more quickly (for me) by doing DFB, TFs, MSRs, and other group content, but also with some solo mission time.  None of them have been power-leveled.  I'm here for the story content and the teaming up for missions.

 

As an example, I created my most recent "slow mode" alt on May 23 and hit level 50 last week.  Melta (a random Atlas Park citizen who seems to be kind of disturbingly well-informed about me) tells me that that character has been online for 99 hours.  That includes running the Dark Astoria arc all the way through and about 8 hours or so sitting idle taking damage for a badge, so call it closer to 80 hours or so to level that one. 

[Riverdusk]

I typically will find an NPC to click on with a name starting with "M" when I hit 50 or soon after, which is how you find out hours played on a character.  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Civilian_NPCs

 

Pretty consistent it takes me 30 to 40 hours of playtime to hit 50 with how I play.  Which is far from efficient, but I've never been in a hurry to hit level 50 on any character.

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, Riverdusk said:

I typically will find an NPC to click on with a name starting with "M" when I hit 50 or soon after, which is how you find out hours played on a character.  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Civilian_NPCs

 

 

That estimate can be ... wildly inaccurate, though. (On the increased number of hours side, that is.) Something about how/when you might log off.

 

Example, on live I ran with some friends, all made shield characters, we all pretty much exclusively played them on that team (short of hitting the market or doing some enhancements, etc.) Their times? All 80-ish hours, expected variations from the above. Mine was showing ... honestly I don't remember what, but something like 100 hours more. We all hit 50 at the same time when we checked it.

 

 

That said? Time to 50 for me varies. Some characters get farmed, especially if they're just duplicates on another account, so time to 50 might be 10 hours or less. Some might never hit 50. Quite a few are in the middle of RP, so time to 50 includes weeks worth of time sitting in a base or just standing around chatting. I used to note it in my bios on my characters... My first 50 (where I didn't put in the hours) was something in the high-300s... thanks to being an early-COH blaster and running whole levels in debt (and no content at 38.)  Checking the old CIT site, I have things like the fire/kin corruptor that was the last of my "One of each AT to 50" at 155 hours.  (That was 2010.)

 

So... yeah. It varies.

[Wobegone]

My last two characters took about 30 hours each, mostly solo story arcs and a mix of solo and team TFs.  Double xp.  I used a few Experienced bumps in the 40s.   I usually run at +2/x1-5.   

Edited July 3 by Ignatz the Insane
Edited to note 30 hours each.

[WumpusRat]

All depends on the character and how much I group, really.

 

Some characters I tend to solo with a lot more, so they're a bit slower than those that I do lots of TFs with. 

 

On AVERAGE it's probably around 30-50 hours to hit 50th.

[Glacier Peak]

It takes 10-20 seconds to reach Level 50, only because I have to create a random costume and Archetype with primary and secondary powersets when I click Temporal Warrior during character creation. 

 

When I play on Indomitable then grab a double xp, I can powerlevel an alt in about 4 hours.

 

When I play on Indomitable and want to enjoy the game, I turn off my xp. The journey, not the destination style. 

[Triumphant]

There's a lot of variation, depending on my mood, goals and the AT/powersets I'm playing.  If I have a specific end-game plan, on an AT and powerset that I know well, I might powerlevel straight to 50 in a single day (though granted, that's rare).

 

If it's an AT/Powerset that is unfamiliar for me, it can take quite a while (weeks- possibly months) because I have to play normally from level 1, in order to learn how to use the power sets effectively.

[UltraAlt]

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

So how long do you spend getting to 50?

 

I don't level up past 49 any more.

No idea how long it takes to get to 49. I alt jump a whole lot.

 

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

Do you solo all the way?

 

I think I have soloed all the way on some of my Origin Quest characters (the only run their Origin contacts storylines).

Otherwise, I team up most of the time.

 

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

Are you on 8 man teams the whole way up?

 

Never. Team size varies even on a task force or trial.

 

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

Do you duo too?

 

Yes. Varies how much time is put into duos per week. I did level up a couple of 50's doing duos. (the duo partner(s) were twisting my arm to level to 50)

 

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

Are you leveling multiple toons at once or do you just focus on 1 at a time?

 

Yeah, I'm always leveling up different characters and making new ones.

Sometimes I just play the character I feel like playing. Sometimes I see a level range of players that don't appear to be engaged in anything and switch up to form a team to run missions in that level range. Sometimes I join a Giant Monster hunting team or switch up to join it. Sometime I switch up to team on different content that someone is recruiting for.

 

9 hours ago, mistagoat said:

Do you tend to spend more time pre-50 or post-50?

 

Pre-50.

I plan on turning off XP at 49 on all my characters that get that far.

 

[MoonSheep]

7 hours ago, WumpusRat said:

All depends on the character and how much I group, really.

 

Some characters I tend to solo with a lot more, so they're a bit slower than those that I do lots of TFs with. 

 

On AVERAGE it's probably around 30-50 hours to hit 50th.

 

i think hours to 50 is a good way of expressing it - it takes me months to get anything going up in the levels as life gets in the way at the moment

 

either way, i generally take a long time to get to 50. i like to get to know the alt and experience the upwards progression

[Snarky]

Sooo…. It depends.  If I “speed” I will grab my alt acct farmer.  Then just getva 2xp boost and farm the new toon.  With generous breaks this takes 6 hours tops.  I giess i could half that if i moved the operation to a 2xp server. 
 

My standard method is to run 4DFBs.  Then run every TF/SF/Trial in (ending) level order.  This way I learn the toon and enjoy the play. I use 2xp and it takes 2-3 gaming days.  

[SeraphimKensai]

Hmmm before my daughter was born I would say 1-50 in the same day most often within about 3 hours. My playtime has shifted over the last couple of years though significantly.

 

I'm currently doing a 1-50 run with an arsenal/trick arrow troller that I've been leveling up via story arcs and slotting IO sets as I go. That toon will likely need a respec at 50 to redistribute slots and put in it's purples. So far it's been all solo, which I don't do often and honestly it's kind of refreshing from carrying a team.

[mistagoat]

9 minutes ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Hmmm before my daughter was born I would say 1-50 in the same day most often within about 3 hours. My playtime has shifted over the last couple of years though significantly.

 

I'm currently doing a 1-50 run with an arsenal/trick arrow troller that I've been leveling up via story arcs and slotting IO sets as I go. That toon will likely need a respec at 50 to redistribute slots and put in it's purples. So far it's been all solo, which I don't do often and honestly it's kind of refreshing from carrying a team.

Oh man, I just finished one of those last week and it was sooo much fun!! That's one I kept played post 50 just because it was so much fun! I'm a big fan of Trollers in general but that combo was next level! By mid 30s we had cranked the diff up to +3x8 and really cruised through just about everything. I ran with my buddy who was playing a MM, if I were solo I probably would have kept it to +2 a bit longer but regardless, it's an absurdly effective Troller! Have fun! 

[tidge]

Like @Riverdusk, 40-50 hours of play (over however many sessions that takes) is about how long it takes me to get a character to 50, because my playstyle is:

1. There is a LOT of content I like doing "at level", and some that can only be done at certain levels
2. I'm not thrilled with much of the 50+ content, some of this is a personal dislike from the Incarnate system rollout of Live
3. I can easily "afford" things (enhancements, buffs, temp powers, etc.) to smooth out the play experience
4. I enjoy seeing how sets/ATs play across levels.... trying new powers, new slotting choices, I respec/unslot quite a bit.

Now that zone exploration badges yield Patrol XP, I never buy 2XP and I generally avoid team-ups (like DFB, but also early TFs) until I find myself at a relative slow point. Often 2XP isn't even considered until something like 30+, depending on what I am doing. If I'm not crazy about a build, there is a 50-50 coin flip between setting it aside or rushing to 50 to see if set bonuses make it come together (usually they don't).

 

This is just a personal attitude: When I do content in a less rushed way, I feel like I have more personal agency in how I approach the game. Eventually my characters will want certain accolades and temp powers, it isn't that much harder to get most of them "along the way" than circling back to them as a level 50+. I'm perfectly happy to be challenged by playing a sub-50 build on TFs that have had the difficulty turned up. I don't need 50+ builds to seek out "challenges".

 

 

[Ukase]

I am unsure how to measure this. Do I count my time afk while the character sits in base, or in the mission? If I do count that time, it's generally 5 days or so. Sometimes 3. 
Melee characters, like my recent stone/electric Brute can run +4/8 in the 40's fairly easily, and quickly. The xp comes fast. My ranged characters could do that - but not as fast, nor as easily. So, it takes them longer. 

I try to avoid doing tfs, particularly the blue side ones. Sure, the merits are nice, but story arc content also offers merits, and I can go at my pace instead of the pace of a team. And it's not like I haven't done the tfs hundreds of times. With the story arcs, I can choose a different contact for a leveling path. 

If I just count the time I'm actively playing my character, it's probably about 12-15 hours.

[Go0gleplex]

I have a lot of alts and rotate thru them as I'm in the mood to bash or blast. Add in that I am strictly solo I've yet to hit 50 with any of my toons since I came back. The two I had back with original CoH/CoV took me around 6-7 months including some TF runs with some really missed friends of the time. 

[jprewitt73]

When I first came back I remade several of my old characters and blitzed through content with the 2XP mod on so I could "get my characters back." I did everything I could as fast as possible to try to relive my old glory days. Now, all of those characters sit on the shelf collecting dust. All of those characters (4) were level 50 within a month.

 

After doing all that I got bored and decided to take my sweet time. I make a character, fall in love, solo a ton of content, run TFs and SFs, and Incarnate like crazy. I have several new 50s that I play every once in a while. Those characters by themselves took around 1 - 2 months each. 

 

Now, I solely play one character just to experience all of the content through Oro and teams and that one took me about 3 months to get to 50. 

 

[Pleonast]

It took me four real-life months to get to level 50. Since I play less than an hour a day on average, that’s less than 120 hours. 

Edited July 3 by Pleonast

[Riverdusk]

17 hours ago, Greycat said:

 

That estimate can be ... wildly inaccurate, though. (On the increased number of hours side, that is.) Something about how/when you might log off.

 

 

 

True, have heard others mention that.  I guess I don't do whatever triggers that bug or have been lucky, my times have always at least seemed to be accurate as far I could tell.