How long will it take to reach max level, for EVERYONE ELSE?

Changu

We have a handful of blessed individuals who arguably exploited their way to 75 or very close to that, and the game hasn't even been out for 2 weeks.  Was made clear that Starmourn was meant to be a "marathon and not a sprint," and we were asked to report any funny stuff and not take advantage of it.  Now we have people running around with the equivalent of hundreds (thousands?) of playtime hours worth of experience over everyone else...  Our bashing, unlike theirs, is also significantly more dangerous because we don't kill things as fast.  Also, they generate a HUGE amount of marks compared to normal people around half their level or less.  Can you say credit inflation?

I feel like we're being made a bunch of chumps here...  

If I can't max level from 35ish right now, in 2 weeks of focused bashing, then I'm done with this game.  I realize it's not the most mature thing to care about what others have, but what they have does impact the rest of us, and it's undermining my faith in just how much monkey business will be tolerated and even rewarded in Starmourn.  And honestly, every time I watch my xp go up less than 1%, per kill, it's just a shiv in my groin, made worse by all the above.

I have no problem with a marathon, but I do have a problem when other people get to finish it in a mountain bike.

Atalkez

Except the people who have hit max level have been grinding for 15-20 hours a day every day since release. I haven’t put in near that effort, and I’m 33. Not sure what you’re expecting. Grind for 80% of the day every day and you’ll be max level in no time.

Minion

I can't say that I disagree with the OP, honestly.

They may be grinding a lot but you can't say that being max level in two weeks or less was the intention. I won't be quitting over it but that is pretty extreme not to take some sort of action there.

Vielar

My understanding is that the few folks who have exploited bugs to cheat their way up have been docked xp accordingly, so that shouldn't really be an issue. Don't be jealous of the folks who have been able to bash to 75 already - be grateful that you're employed and haven't :P 

Uachet

Atalkez said:

Except the people who have hit max level have been grinding for 15-20 hours a day every day since release. I haven’t put in near that effort, and I’m 33. Not sure what you’re expecting. Grind for 80% of the day every day and you’ll be max level in no time.

Do you know if the people who did exploit those quests that allowed them to repeat them immediately over and over were banned or leveled back down to 1? If that is the case, he has no argument. Those who put in those hours you mentioned deserve what they have. Those who exploited though, should be banned or forced to start all over. 

Crag

Be thankful there is at least a level cap at all in Starmourn (i hope). There is always some Penwizian incarnate on every game that will grind into the depths of hell.

Atalkez

They were all bumped to level 1 if they were caught exploiting. I know a few personally that got the bump. I don’t disagree about the exploiting being nipped and them being punished. The ones that haven’t though, well they just worked harder.

Max level this quick likely wasn’t intended, but it happened. They’re not going to bump those people who did it the right way down because they went harder than was expected. Besides that, I imagine they have plans to increase the level cap soonish anyway, 75 is a tiny cap.

Xiru

Other than getting the credits and lessons along the way, what does it even matter?

bairloch

How long will it take to reach max level, for EVERYONE ELSE?

Speaking for myself, and basing it on past experience, probably more than a year. I still haven't done it in Lusternia and I've been playing that game for years, on and off.

Kix

Syaja said:

Other than getting the credits and lessons along the way, what does it even matter?

For anyone competing in PvP, higher level also means a higher health pool so you don't die from straight damage as well as increased STATs.

I find the speed at which some people have leveled to be staggering as well. That being said, I'm not the world's most hardcore xp grinder. I've been shooting for about a level a day (and surpassing it regularly), and fully believe I'll hit max level by around the middle of February. Grinding IS much slower here (in the other IRE games I could hit 50+ almost effortlessly) but I rather appreciate the slow pace.

Mardu

Every release I've been apart of, there is always the few that explode from the start and its not their fault!

Changu

Mardu said:

Every release I've been apart of, there is always the few that explode from the start and its not their fault!

Pareto principle or something. 

Yeah, it's not really their fault.  The system was a little less than tuned, but there are consequences to the rest of the community for that.  I'm sure I'm not the only person a bit demoralized.  Maybe my possible intention to quit is a bit hasty, but still.  If I fall behind or I lose, I feel like that should be all on my performance, not because some people hit the jackpot with what amounts to an exploit.  They didn't "earn it" unless everyone else has the opportunity to earn it in a similar time frame.  If it will honestly take months or even a year, well...

Atalkez

But you did. So did I. I cant bash for more than 2-3 hours as a time, so that is my failing, not against them.

Maruna

Atalkez said:

Max level this quick likely wasn’t intended, but it happened. They’re not going to bump those people who did it the right way down because they went harder than was expected. Besides that, I imagine they have plans to increase the level cap soonish anyway, 75 is a tiny cap.

Blizzard didn't anticipate Ensidia getting level cap and clearing Naxxramas within 2 1/2 days of Wrath of the Lich King release, while still using their previous expansion raid gear... Did they abuse any bugs to do it? Nope, they leveled 18 hour days and raids turned out to be undertuned. Did it suck for the guilds that didn't do that, and had to work  much harder for stuff after the raids got buffed? Sure, but punishing the guilds before them is stupid. It's not their fault.

tl;dr If bugs were abused, then the people who abused them were rightfully punished. The ones who weren't, it shouldn't really be any of your concern how much time they spent leveling.

Changu

It's not just that they put in the hours.  Their hours were much more effective.  They killed quickly.  They didn't have to deal with crowded areas.  It's a lot different now when your hunting spots are almost constantly picked clean and your kills take much longer with a higher chance of dying.

Atalkez

That didn’t start until they had already gotten a big lead. There are also only 3 areas I think for 60+, so yeah they hit a logjam there too. There even is a post about it. I just don’t see why what level someone else was able to get affects you in any way. I love to PK. That’s why I play these games, no other real reason. I can’t PK effectively because of my level right now. I’m not upset about it, I just need to keep leveling.

Sephem

I really do not understand it. It's like this analogy.

1. Someone robs a bank to buy a house. He should get punished.
2. Someone who works hard and overtime to earn the deposit and then gets to buy the house when the interest rates are low. - Should he be punished?
3. Someone who could not work the overtime and did not earn the same amount, and then got the deposit after the interest rates where hiked high. Should they moan and call for those who are in no2 to be penalised?

Cubey

Changu said:

it's undermining my faith in just how much monkey business will be tolerated and even rewarded in Starmourn. 

Toleration of monkey business depends on which faction the players in question are from.

Maruna

So your issue is you didn't get to play as much as them, and skip by the crowded areas before others caught up and made those areas similarly crowded?

Also 'less than 1% per kill' isn't a big deal. I'm 37 and getting probably ~.7% maybe .6% (judging by it sometimes moving up 1% two kills in a row) per kill. Roughly 2% per minute, or a level an hour. To me that is too quick, regardless of not even being halfway to cap. Everyone has a different view on what's "too much of a grind"

@Kix you also can't compare level 50 in SM to level 50 in other games. Level 50 in other games isn't even 10% of the way to max level, when it comes to total experience needed.

Vielar

Bad analogy - everyone knows the only people under 40 who own houses had their parents help with the down payment, and I'd argue the bank robbers "earned" it more than they did.

Atalkez

Coming from Achaea, this grind is cake. You still get decent xp gains, can get a level in ~2 hours, even at the high end afaik. Not even possible for me in Achaea to get a level that quickly.

Also in regards to the same name thing. There are a few of us who use the same name regardless. Personally, I created the name from scratch. If you google it, the only thing that comes up are things that I’ve done. I like that, so I keep it. My PS4 handle is the same name, as well as every mobile game I play.

Sephem

Vielar said:

Bad analogy - everyone knows the only people under 40 who own houses had their parents help with the down payment, and I'd argue the bank robbers "earned" it more than they did.

Well, then I must be in the minority as I bought my first house all on my own at 23 and I worked hard for it.

Vielar

Yes.. I'm sure it doesn't come as news to you that you are absolutely in the minority there.

I was joking, anyway.

Xiru

Kix said:

Syaja said:

Other than getting the credits and lessons along the way, what does it even matter?

For anyone competing in PvP, higher level also means a higher health pool so you don't die from straight damage as well as increased STATs.

I find the speed at which some people have leveled to be staggering as well. That being said, I'm not the world's most hardcore xp grinder. I've been shooting for about a level a day (and surpassing it regularly), and fully believe I'll hit max level by around the middle of February. Grinding IS much slower here (in the other IRE games I could hit 50+ almost effortlessly) but I rather appreciate the slow pace.

... yeah. Um. Ignore me. That was a stupid question.

Kix

Maruna said:

@Kix you also can't compare level 50 in SM to level 50 in other games. Level 50 in other games isn't even 10% of the way to max level, when it comes to total experience needed.

That is defintely true. Wasn't it something like level 80 in Achaea was ~50% of the experience needed to hit 100?

Maruna

Kix said:

Maruna said:

@Kix you also can't compare level 50 in SM to level 50 in other games. Level 50 in other games isn't even 10% of the way to max level, when it comes to total experience needed.

That is defintely true. Wasn't it something like level 80 in Achaea was ~50% of the experience needed to hit 100?

92.5

Darios

Kix said:

Maruna said:

@Kix you also can't compare level 50 in SM to level 50 in other games. Level 50 in other games isn't even 10% of the way to max level, when it comes to total experience needed.

That is defintely true. Wasn't it something like level 80 in Achaea was ~50% of the experience needed to hit 100?

I think the 50% point to 99 regarding just flat xp, is level 92 in Achaea. Its not quite that in time needed, since you get more xp per hour the higher level you are there.

Kax

I don't think I've ever hit max level on any MUD. I'm not much for just killing things over and over. We'll see if I can stick it out this time...

Jericho

I just hit 20 and I do feel left behind, but only in the sense that if I don't attain max level in a reasonable amount of time I'll be left out of anything faction related. 

WyldeKarde

I’ve been playing 10-12 hours a day since release and I got enough of a head start to mostly have areas to myself - that was the major difference maker as far as leveling speed.

 I’ve been leaving as many ideas and bugs as I can about areas as I go to help other people coming behind me — mostly to increase number of spawns or decrease respawn time because I can foresee it being difficult to scale based on number of players.

I have not spent much time in groups and did not go to a zone more than 3 levels in advance - I purely just did the bashing grind and I’ve gotten to 66.  Hopefully as things get tuned over the next couple of weeks and it is actually faster as far as hours spent versus levels gained for those coming later.  This is just from my perspective though.

bairloch

WyldeKarde said:

I’ve been playing 10-12 hours a day since release...

Holy... that's just... wow.