How bad is it leveling with the hybrid exp penalty?

[Zerdos]

I was thinking of rolling a troll shadow knight, but was wondering how much of a henderence it is to level with the 40% reduction in exp?

[Twochain]

It will be absolutely brutal. If you're talking about leveling on green...

Now, it really depends on what your goal is here.

If you're looking to casually play, not worried about getting to max level, just want to play a fun toon, Troll SK is fun!

However, a lot of groups won't want to invite you due to the exp penalty.

[ldgo86]

troll shadow knight 40%

Uh oh. Should we tell him?

[ldgo86]

In all seriousness, it’s gonna take a lot longer, especially if you are playing with friends they will out level you by a large margin.

But don’t let it stop you from playing what you want. Come Kunark I will be playing an Iksar SK. I don’t even expect to get past mid 50s before Green (probably) rolls into Blue, but I’ll have a blast doing it.

[kaev]

In all seriousness, it’s gonna take a lot longer, especially if you are playing with friends they will out level you by a large margin.


Not if you are actually grouping with said friends rather than doing the toddler style side-by-side but not actually interactive (xp is distributed in a group based on xp accumulated, not levels.) Your friends will hit levels first and will be 2 levels higher than you much of the time, but having a cleric 2 levels higher than your tank is not actually a bad thing.

Also, Troll SK is 68% penalty.

[ldgo86]

Not if you are actually grouping with said friends rather than doing the toddler style side-by-side but not actually interactive (xp is distributed in a group based on xp accumulated, not levels.) Your friends will hit levels first and will be 2 levels higher than you much of the time, but having a cleric 2 levels higher than your tank is not actually a bad thing.

Also, Troll SK is 68% penalty.

Good point, and the xp distribution people tend to be afraid of when grouping with a hybrid is at its worst when the hybrid is the highest level in the group. It’s really not that bad if the SK or w/e is a couple levels lower.

[Snortles Chortles]

troll SK its noticeable but if you like to group and lead dungeon crawls and look cool
does it really matter?

[Danth]

With the newly increased (dare I say non-classic) experience modifiers in many zones, if you stick to such zones you'll level more quickly than an unpenalized class would have pre-patch. My leveling rate straight up doubled relative to doing the same content 12 months ago.

Danth

[Keebz]

My ranger was a little faster 1-50 than my warrior, because I could solo a little while waiting lfg. Honestly, it was way easier to carry a shitty group on the ranger than the warrior. It was a little easier to get groups on the warrior, but not much.

The exp requirements are spread out over the whole group, so it's not like a 68% penalty unless you're soloing, which isn't really an option on a warrior half the time.

[Kirdan]

The brutal parts are the hell levels. When you can't see any progress after a few kills, it just feels like you're wasting your time.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I leveled a Troll SK on Blue before the penalty was removed. It honestly wasn't that bad. The nice thing about SK's is they can solo quite well, and you get regeneration. So you are going to be killing more than other melee classes, and you can make good money killing guards. That is actually the nice thing about the xp penalty: more time getting money per level on guards before they green out.

[Jimjam]

At the worst you just get to spend more time playing the game you enjoy. Hardly a problem.

[Tethler]

The brutal parts are the hell levels. When you can't see any progress after a few kills, it just feels like you're wasting your time.

Back in the day, people used to put tape on their monitor to cover up the xp bar so you wouldn't be discouraged by how slow it moved.

I leveled a ranger to 50 on green with the 40% penalty. It wasn't that bad, except for 45.

[kaev]

I leveled a ranger to 50 on green with the 40% penalty. It wasn't that bad, except for 45.

lol, between vanilla content, the xp penalty, and the zem nerf to SolB making group xp nearly as slow as solo, 45 was the level that never ended for my ranger. Or so it seemed at the time

[Zaejii]

30 was probably the level that felt the slowest for my ranger. 45 was bad, but mostly because I had trouble finding groups. Most of the exp in SolB is awful, but anything moving it forward is still better than nothing.

[Tethler]

lol, between vanilla content, the xp penalty, and the zem nerf to SolB making group xp nearly as slow as solo, 45 was the level that never ended for my ranger. Or so it seemed at the time

I did very little xp'ing in solb. I did 45 in 2 sessions at CT archon pyramid. Even being mostly xp greens, the xp was still solid. After 45 I was fortunate that several guildies were regularly forming Kedge groups, so I cruised from 47-50 in a couple days in Kedge.

[Tethler]

30 was probably the level that felt the slowest for my ranger. 45 was bad, but mostly because I had trouble finding groups. Most of the exp in SolB is awful, but anything moving it forward is still better than nothing.

Hey Zaejii! You make it to 50 yet? I've been helping my brother level his necro (hes 48 now). I'll keep an eye out for you when I log on. We can ranger/necro duo somewhere for xp.

[Zaejii]

Hey Zaejii! You make it to 50 yet? I've been helping my brother level his necro (hes 48 now). I'll keep an eye out for you when I log on. We can ranger/necro duo somewhere for xp.

48 and slowly climbing. Would rather group than root/rot stuff :p

[Golith999]

So the penalty is still on blue?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

So the penalty is still on blue?

Racial penalties still exist, but class penalties are removed on blue. This is the better of the two options for hybrids, since hybrid class XP penalty was like -40%. The worst racial penalty is -20% on Trolls and Iksars.

[Tethler]

48 and slowly climbing. Would rather group than root/rot stuff :p

Fear kiting, my man! Ranger snare/pulling saves the necro mana and keeps the pulls steady. It's not bad a at all.

[Baler]

A real example...
Halfling Druid level 1, took 5-6 kills to hit level 2
Half-Elf Bard level 1, took 20 kills to hit level 2

And it only gets worse from there.

[Danth]

A real example...
Halfling Druid level 1, took 5-6 kills to hit level 2
Half-Elf Bard level 1, took 20 kills to hit level 2

And it only gets worse from there.

How interesting. This might warrant some additional trial. If you fought entirely level 1 opponents a 140% bard level rate should not triple-quadruple the kills required compared to a 95% experience rate halfling druid. It should be around half again as many for the bard. Did the druid sneak a few level 2 opponents in? Were you in the same zone? differing zone experience modifiers (what are they, now?) could toss a wrench in the works, too.

Danth

[Danth]

Followup: I took a little while to do some trials with level 1 experience rates. No newbie notes were turned in. All kills were against even /con level 1 monsters on P1999-Green.

halfing druid (95%), misty thicket: 10 kills to achieve level 2
high elf cleric (100%), greater fardark: 10 kills to achieve level 2
half elf bard (140%), north qeynos: 17 kills to achieve level 2
dwarf paladin (140%), butcherclock: 17 kills to achieve level 2

I suspect that the slightly greater amount of kills required to advance the hybrids (I expected about 15-16) is probably due to rounding/overflow since each kill at level 1 awards a proportionally great deal of experience. However if someone wants to do a similar solo experience rate test using higher-level characters against a consistent-level adversary you're more than welcome to do so.

Danth

[Vertiggo]

Just play on blue and avoid the issue all together