Nightmare Tide leveling woes

[notorious98]

I still don't see the problem. Now granted I'm old school. But why do modern MMO players require questing all the way to the level cap. Shouldn't the game be nudging you to do stuff other than play solo. I mean this is a MMO.

Nudge you and shove you are two very different things. There are plenty of ways to nudge people in that direction without forcing it for everybody.

As it is, I agree with Lathais. If you're F2P, suck it up. Either buy a patron pass, subscribe, buy XP boosts, or grind it out. This game isn't like other games that gate their content behind a paywall. You're getting everything for free.

[Slipmat]

i found a great way to gain xp: zone events. the xp gain was pretty amazing.

Yep, the game is called Rift for a reason, joining in a Zone Event with a few hundred other players is still an awesome feeling, heck people are opening Nightmare Rifts in lowbie zones like Silverwood and Freemarch because it can make getting to higher stages to unlock the various criteria needed to unlock NR II to V, essential to obtain the new best in slot essences.

New players are getting to see a bit of end game rifting, are joining up to a 100 other players in the Rift, some people are fine and can/will do nothing but quest and nothing else, but when the game is based around 'Rifts' and participating in Invasions, they're missing out, it's like doing nothing else but quest to level 50 in ArcheAge, ignoring the crafting and farming/housing

[Nogardgib]

I myself have no clue how anyone can be running out of ways to level especially quests. Most people I know are 65 before or at the beginning of hitting Tarken Glacier. I would say the Op might have missed something ?

[StrawberryZebra]

I still don't see the problem. Now granted I'm old school. But why do modern MMO players require questing all the way to the level cap. Shouldn't the game be nudging you to do stuff other than play solo. I mean this is a MMO.

I managed to get to level 50 without ever having set foot in three of the zones in Mathosia, Scarlet Gorge, Droughtlands and Shimmersand. I also got to 60 without doing anything in Kingsward, Ashora or the Dendrome. There was far too much quest content in these zones. Granted, they may have adjusted it in preparation for Nightmare Tide, but it still set a precedent.

Its not even a case of needing there to be quests specifically all the way to level 65, but there should be a clear path for you to follow. "Tough shit, go spend the next 36 hours killing Sharax" should not be condoned as good design. Nudging you to do other things is all fine and well, outright forcing you is another matter entirely.

I'm not wanting to point out the obvious here, but despite being an MMO, Rift actually has far more things you can do solo than you need a group for. Its fantastic for people who like collectables, housing etc. Hell, I've been enjoying myself playing the AH recently, I've got a personal milestone of 1 million Plat in mind. I don't think I'll ever understand the mindset that MMO's mean dungeons and raiding exclusively, there are plenty of ways other people can effect your play without you needing to directly group up with them to kill something big and nasty.

As it is, I agree with Lathais. If you're F2P, suck it up. Either buy a patron pass, subscribe, buy XP boosts, or grind it out. This game isn't like other games that gate their content behind a paywall. You're getting everything for free.

The greatest irony of all is that right now buying a Patron Pass or XP Boosts would do nothing at all to help. All the big sources of XP have already gone - Its too late for Trion to sell me that kind of stuff. If it was intended as a method to entice people to pay up, it was a hilariously poorly thought out decision that is going to drive more people away than its going to make cough up.

That said, what I have spent on the Rift store was on the kinds of things most helpful to a new player. Things like bag and bank slots, nice looking mounts and even the Storm Legion souls to unlock the Harbinger. As I mentioned above, leveling without XP boots pre-NT was smooth enough, and I did enjoy some of the story lines with Adriana Weaver and the Overseer and such. I was in no rush to get it over with.

[notorious98]

The greatest irony of all is that right now buying a Patron Pass or XP Boosts would do nothing at all to help. All the big sources of XP have already gone - Its too late for Trion to sell me that kind of stuff.

Actually, it will help to limit the amount of content you have to do in order to hit level cap.

If it was intended as a method to entice people to pay up, it was a hilariously poorly thought out decision that is going to drive more people away than its going to make cough up.

Not really. I would say that it's pretty much industry standard to require more effort to gain levels in F2P games if you're not a paying customer. If you're unwilling to pay them money, what are you complaining about? It's not like you CAN'T hit max level.

As I mentioned above, leveling without XP boots pre-NT was smooth enough

That's because SL and classic were designed as P2P content. And leveling in SL when it first came out was a nightmare.

[Lathais]

i'm right there with you OP. i was only 63 when i made it to the last zone. i tried to do all the carnage quests in the area also, but xp gain was really slow. not a problem for me tho cause my build puts out lots of dps. i finally finished questing in tarken glacier yesterday and was just barely over 64. but...i found a great way to gain xp: zone events. the xp gain was pretty amazing. sit at a wardstone that's being heavily targetted, hit your planar super power and watch your xp jump; and, you get the new sourcestone thingies for participating too. run a good aoe spec, hope people are there with you, and it's the best way to get xp.

How does that compare to Nightmare Rift farming?

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And leveling in SL when it first came out was a nightmare.

Not really. I hit 60 Saturday morning, 4 days after release. Questing alone, pre XP nerf, the Boost potions were bugged that first couple weeks as well so I did not use them either.

It seems that, as long as you have Patron, you can hit max in far less time then that.

[notorious98]

Not really. I hit 60 Saturday morning, 4 days after release. Questing alone, pre XP nerf, the Boost potions were bugged that first couple weeks as well so I did not use them either.

When you hit max level isn't as important as how long it took game time and the route you had to go about doing it. There were many issues involved with leveling between the Carnage quests having a ridiculous amount of required kills to the amount of damage that you actually did to early level mobs, even with good raiding gear. I remember getting frustrated at how spread out everything was, in an attempt to increase land mass I suppose, and how grindy Carnage quests were. And it's not like hitting max level would have taken less time if you avoided them, but they were still a pretty large time sink.

[Lathais]

When you hit max level isn't as important as how long it took game time and the route you had to go about doing it. There were many issues involved with leveling between the Carnage quests having a ridiculous amount of required kills to the amount of damage that you actually did to early level mobs, even with good raiding gear. I remember getting frustrated at how spread out everything was, in an attempt to increase land mass I suppose, and how grindy Carnage quests were. And it's not like hitting max level would have taken less time if you avoided them, but they were still a pretty large time sink.

I dunno, I completed most of them by just killing things as I was traveling from place to place, sometimes stopping to kill an extra few here or there. That's the way I normally level though. I quest mostly and sometimes stop and grind. I guess I am weird though, sometimes I actually like grinding. I can pretty much zone out and grind on autopilot. That's probably just me, I'm weird. As far as game time, I think I was playing about 10 hours a day, so about 40 hours, not too long. I did run out of quests, but upon looking at it, I missed quite a few, probably due to my sleep deprived state as I was rushing to level. Also, I still do not understand peoples complaints with Carnage quests. They are the same exact thing as collect bear asses quests, you just don't have to pick them up and turn them in. As far as mobs taking a while to take down, yeah, they kinda did, but again, I liked that. I do not like when I am trying to work on or practice rotation while leveling mobs dieing before I can get through it. I liked that there was a lot of land and empty spaces as well. It made it feel more realistic. I dunno, different stroke for different folks.

[Tankendog]

Leveling is a joke. It can be done in 1 day.

[notorious98]

I dunno, different stroke for different folks.

Funny because I was thinking this exact same thing while reading your post.

Also, I still do not understand peoples complaints with Carnage quests. They are the same exact thing as collect bear asses quests, you just don't have to pick them up and turn them in.

Never had a problem with Carnage quests, just the amount needed. 10 would have sufficed for me. I prefer how they handled it instead of wrapping some ridiculous quest text around it, just wasn't a fan of the initial number needed.

[Zapolix]

If you check under Achievements you can see what the basic requirement is for quests in each zone. It works out as Goboro Reef 129 quests, Draumheim 132 and Tarken Glacier 138 which adds up to a total of 399 quests, excluding the various dailies and excluding the Carnages which add to only 182 for all three zones

Pretty certain those quest sums include carnage quests. If I complete a carnage quest, it increments up both my count for the carnage achievement for the zone and the count for the overall quest achievement for that zone too. Roughly half of the quests available are carnage quests, similar to how it worked for SL.

[Slipmat]

Just to confirm, Carnage quests do not count towards Zone quests at all, neither do daily quests. Carnages are tracked and counted as a totally separate achievement.

[Zapolix]

Just to confirm, Carnage quests do not count towards Zone quests at all, neither do daily quests. Carnages are tracked and counted as a totally separate achievement.

I just completed the Fashion Faux Pas carnage (required to kill three, called Carnage: Fashion Disaster) in Draumheim to test this.

Before completing this carnage, my Carnage achievement for the zone was 18/62 and my overall quest achievement was at 45/132.
After completing this carnage, my Carnage achievement moved to 19/62 and my overall quest achievement moved to 46/132.

I understand there's a separate achievement for Carnage quests, but I'm still pretty certain that the overall count <does> include Carnages. I agree that it does not include daily quests, however.

[Lathais]

I just completed the Fashion Faux Pas carnage (required to kill three, called Carnage: Fashion Disaster) in Draumheim to test this.

Before completing this carnage, my Carnage achievement for the zone was 18/62 and my overall quest achievement was at 45/132.
After completing this carnage, my Carnage achievement moved to 19/62 and my overall quest achievement moved to 46/132.

I understand there's a separate achievement for Carnage quests, but I'm still pretty certain that the overall count <does> include Carnages. I agree that it does not include daily quests, however.

They do and always have.

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Just to confirm, Carnage quests do not count towards Zone quests at all, neither do daily quests. Carnages are tracked and counted as a totally separate achievement.

Slip, come on man, you gotta stop spreading misinformation. You are better than that. We all know you love the game and hate to see anyone say anything bad about it but saying things that are not true about the game does not help your case at all.

[Syce]

Strange. I'm finding myself at 64 and not even finished in the second zone with nothing more than normal quests/carnage and doing the first dungeon once (plus a few short nightmare rifts, but those weren't squat for experience).

Are you sure you picked up/completed all the optional quests out in the world and managed to complete all the carnage quests? Because there seems to be more than enough experience from quests alone, at least for me.

same really, i managed to get to 63 and a 1/2 before i even left goboro reef and it seems now that im still missing 17 quests from goboro, but i know a bunch of them involve killing level 65 elite mobs up around gyel fortress.

[xenogear3]

New Player Beware!
This game is VERY strong on Pay-To-Win.

XP is designed to have 40% exp bonus from patron.
That is not the worst.
You can BUY 160% exp bonus vial.

You can BUY raid gear for hundreds of dollars.
Nearly everything in the game has 2 prices, in game currency and $$$.

[Zapolix]

New Player Beware!
This game is VERY strong on Pay-To-Win.

XP is designed to have 40% exp bonus from patron.
That is not the worst.
You can BUY 160% exp bonus vial.

You can BUY raid gear for hundreds of dollars.
Nearly everything in the game has 2 prices, in game currency and $$$.

Not really sure this necessitated a three month old necro, but I'll bite anyway.

Your first two examples are pay-to-accelerate, not pay-to-win, there's a pretty big difference between those two.

[Heathy]

although on the surface it is very pay to win, when you start playing you will realize its no more pay to win than any other mmo, everything on the cash shop can be bought or found else where, i'd say its definitely worth putting some money into rift if you plan on playing for a while, the only things your really locked out of are the expansion souls which are about $60 or so for the pair. even then i would do patron over those until i have a max level of each class to make full use of the trees. ill probably pick them up eventually when i have enough alts.

as for the thread topic with patron you level so fast, i took 15 days of patron at lvl63 and i still have story quests left in the ice area plus lots of carnage i've missed out on. if you haven't played for a while you should have 7x random warfronts and x7 random dungeons which will give you maybe 4-8mil exp. plus the weeklies and dailies it doesn't take long to finish that last half a level.

[Fencers]

There is not a single pay-to-win element in Rift.

Further there is no proof or evidence whatsoever that the game is tuned to necessitate XP bonuses. This is fantasy and conspiracy.

[Zapolix]

Further there is no proof or evidence whatsoever that the game is tuned to necessitate XP bonuses. This is fantasy and conspiracy.

I think this is a little misleading and really depends on the individual. If someone is looking to level solely by doing quests, is not a subscriber, and will not use xp potions, there is not enough content to get from 60 to 65. I've done that route twice now, the second time even doing all of the underwater quest content off the coast of EI at 60 before heading off to NT and still didn't come even close. That included doing the available dailies from the previous NT zones each day after I completed them while I was still leveling. Both times, I wound up roughly 40% of the way past 64, but with still a hefty gap to close to finish the process. This was completing all of the zone quests and carnages (tracked via the quest tracker add on), but not including the L65 elite carnages that could be found in each zone.

Now, like I said, that was .solely. from doing quests. I'd complete zone events if I was in that zone when it started, and would occasionally knock out a few rifts if they were in the path as I was moving from one hub to the next, but I wasn't actively supplementing with other activities as I went. Obviously, there are many, many options to help supplement xp gains as you level (IAs, dungeons, PVP, rifts, etc), but if someone is looking to level solely by quests without bonus xp from other sources (patron or vials), that's not going to happen. I'm not sure why folks would dispute that, it's been reported many times over now.

Many people will say things like "a person shouldn't be able to level to max just by quests, there are other activities there for a reason". Sure, that's true, but it really cuts down on the variety for taking additional characters through the leveling process when you .know. you're going to wind up short in spots if you just want to quest. What I've enjoyed about WoW leveling in the past is that you'll commonly be presented with questing choices so that the process is a little different if you take a second character through, either with optional zones or with different quest choices like the outposts in WoD.

WoW is a rare beast now, though, where someone can expect to be able to quest to an expansion's max level without supplementing it with other activities. I've seen the same thing winding up short in LotRO, TOR, EQ2, and Tera. Oddly, Wildstar seemed to be tuned such that I hit max level on two characters almost exactly when I ran out of quest content. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, and I don't mind doing repeatable content to fill in the gaps where it's needed, I just wish things were tuned a bit differently to avoid the grind.