122974-leveling-speed

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Soo I came back because I read a post claiming that leveling became easier, and that the game was less less grindy after one of the drops. I come to find out this is not true. I really really love this game, it is the best game I have ever played, however the quest and leveling grind is just waay too much for me, and my line of work does not allow me to spend that much time. This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind. I am not sure why the population is so low, but I certainly think that the grind is keeping people away from playing the game.
Are there any plans for Carbine to make the game less grindy?	
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Soo I came back because I read a post claiming that leveling became easier, and that the game was less less grindy after one of the drops. I come to find out this is not true. I really really love this game, it is the best game I have ever played, however the quest and leveling grind is just waay too much for me, and my line of work does not allow me to spend that much time. This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind. I am not sure why the population is so low, but I certainly think that the grind is keeping people away from playing the game.
Are there any plans for Carbine to make the game less grindy?
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levelling up is not grindy. boring, maybe for some, but grindy? no way!
 
wait t'ill you try to cap these ability/amp points :)
 
and you can play at your speed... nobody is rushing you to endgame. its not unlike a LOT of players are not already thousands of hours in front of you. so, at that point, might as well take your time.	
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I don't understand this. How much less grindy can you get? I've leveled up with two characters and total play time to 50 is like 2-3 days tops. Grind really only happens at 50 for me. When I have to do dailies. Take some time and enjoy the game instead of rushing to the end.
 
BTW farside is best leveling area! So much fun with moon gravity!	
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I love leveling in Wildstar!
 
There are so many things to do and ways to level especially with the PvP drop coming :)
 
If you mean the "step and fetch" questing there aren't many MMO's that don't have that type of progression to move you through the zones.
 
IMO of course :)	
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Soo I came back because I read a post claiming that leveling became easier, and that the game was less less grindy after one of the drops. I come to find out this is not true. I really really love this game, it is the best game I have ever played, however the quest and leveling grind is just waay too much for me, and my line of work does not allow me to spend that much time. This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind. I am not sure why the population is so low, but I certainly think that the grind is keeping people away from playing the game.
Are there any plans for Carbine to make the game less grindy?
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			I'm finding the opposite, I'm out-leveling areas quickly, and I'm skipping a lot of the side quests :(	
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levelling up is not grindy. boring, maybe for some, but grindy? no way!
 
wait t'ill you try to cap these ability/amp points :)
 
and you can play at your speed... nobody is rushing you to endgame. its not unlike a LOT of players are not already thousands of hours in front of you. so, at that point, might as well take your time.
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			I cant tell if the OP (masterCerebo) is serious or a troll...	
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Getting to max level can be a bit of a chore, especially if you don't like questing. Raises hand
 
but honestly even if you stay out of the loop you don't really get "left behind" I stopped raiding a looong whiles back (never even made it that far admittedly, raiding just isn't for me) I don't queue for dungeons or adventures at all anymore but when I'm out there doing my dailies I can still kill mobs just fine, just as good as anyone else, I'm not struggling to keep up with the DS geared peeps.
 
Do you mean AMP/Ability points? because that I guess is still a bit of a grind but nowhere close to launch, with the time gate that they launched with. It's so much easier to get these now, and it's only going to get easier.	
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I think that the OP may be on to something but I do not believe it is with respect to leveling speed necessarily. Leveling to 50 is pretty quick as it is - probably a week or two of casual play.
 
However, I can understand why that would feel tedious to some if they were not enjoying themselves. I have been a fairly adamant critic of this since I leveled my main way back when. The questing is, admittedly, a bit dull at times (go to quest hub A --> kill X enemies and collect Y objects a total of Z times --> go to quest hub B --> repeat...). It's the same formula as many other MMO's before it. Even if Wildstar's combat mechanics are topnotch, it can feel tedious and grindy after a while despite the relatively quick leveling speed.
 
Personally, I would like to see Carbine spice up and vary the questing experience a bit more in the future.	
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Getting to max level can be a bit of a chore, especially if you don't like questing. Raises hand
 
but honestly even if you stay out of the loop you don't really get "left behind" I stopped raiding a looong whiles back (never even made it that far admittedly, raiding just isn't for me) I don't queue for dungeons or adventures at all anymore but when I'm out there doing my dailies I can still kill mobs just fine, just as good as anyone else, I'm not struggling to keep up with the DS geared peeps.
 
Do you mean AMP/Ability points? because that I guess is still a bit of a grind but nowhere close to launch, with the time gate that they launched with. It's so much easier to get these now, and it's only going to get easier.
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you don't like questing, you don't like raiding, you don't like 5 man instances.
 
and you like... daily zones ?
 
 
oh well. need every type of people to fill nexus.
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Soo I came back because I read a post claiming that leveling became easier, and that the game was less less grindy after one of the drops. I come to find out this is not true. I really really love this game, it is the best game I have ever played, however the quest and leveling grind is just waay too much for me, and my line of work does not allow me to spend that much time. This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind. I am not sure why the population is so low, but I certainly think that the grind is keeping people away from playing the game.
Are there any plans for Carbine to make the game less grindy?
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I have played about 1 day according to /played and I'm 31 on my stalker alt. I thought I was going through it at a good clip... LOL
 
I do harvest on the side and I don't think our new guild has the XP buff/flask yet, so that slowed me down a bit.	
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Soo I came back because I read a post claiming that leveling became easier, and that the game was less less grindy after one of the drops. I come to find out this is not true. I really really love this game, it is the best game I have ever played, however the quest and leveling grind is just waay too much for me, and my line of work does not allow me to spend that much time. This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind. I am not sure why the population is so low, but I certainly think that the grind is keeping people away from playing the game.
Are there any plans for Carbine to make the game less grindy?
 
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I'm already level 37 at   only 41 hours /played.     I've been kind of taking my time, doing challenges and learning a new class, and that's still around an hour a level.   I'm sure pros at leveling could do it faster.  
 
There's also MANY exp buffs:  Authenticator(2%),  Housing daily bonus board(5%or 10%),  Flask of Exp for 500 renown (8% for 4 hours), rested bonus from furniture in your house,  Guild bonus( 8%),  Explorer bonus if you play one or can find a buff station. 
 
There might be more, but even without those the level process is pretty fast.  Just run the quests, slay stuff, and enjoy the game.    It's by no means grindy at all.   I'm not sure what you want...instant level 50s maybe?  
 
 
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			Maybe it's because I've been away but leveling alts seems much MUCH faster than when I left. I remember thinking that getting my main to 50 was a pain in the ass. Now, I'm leveling an alt and jamming along to Pantera and "Holy crap I'm already level 20 Batman!?"Cowboys from Hell!!... continues leveling...	
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Think OP just needs an alternative way to level up or yes make questing go faster.
 
I only got to level up 1 of my toons through PvP only and that was back in July. For me that was the best way to do it. Didn't feel grindy at all because I found it fun.
 
After that the only method I saw viable was questing and oh the pain that came with it...everyday for about 4-6 hours I would quest, it would take me 2-3 days to get a zone done like this and I would take so many breaks because it felt so grindy because it just wasn't fun for me :/
 
Not to mention when I realized the next questing zone up was Wilderrun...
 
That zone is grind central, nothing but
 
"kill this many mobs...."
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How much less grindy can it be without being trivial?  There are people going 1-50 in less than two days.
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Not sure if it has been said before, +8% exp guild flask(4hours), +2% authenticator dividents(infinite), +5-10% housing board bonus(24hours).
 
Gotta go fast.	
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			Perhaps there could be a way on which you pay cash and Carbine gives you a lvl 50 character! Wouldn't that be cool? (/sarcasm). Add some epics in there for a couple more bucks.	
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I doubt it's a matter of wanting instant gratification and all to do about doing something fun. I imagine the OP's complain is more about how many enemies you have to kill for all those "Kill X" quests or some such. Or just how very MMO-y the bulk of the quests are "Go kill X bears! Now use this gadget ten times on Y enemies! And don't forget to kill those Y enemies another Z times for a different quest!" 
It's not something that exactly thrills everyone. Plus, I'm not sure a new player would know where to find all those fancy XP bonuses without being told by another player.
 
I didn't have a problem with those quests, for the record except in the level 50 daily zones. But that has been corrected since the last drop.
A bigger problem for the levelling experience is the lack of alternate paths. You always end up in Whitevale-Farside-Wilderrun-Malgrave-Grimvault no matter how you play or what you do. Unless you are a PvPer. I can't speak for that type of levelling.	
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     I found that if you go along the laid out quest chain, in each zone you start to feel stuck in that zone for far longer then you would like.  There are a ton of quest in each zone.  Do the ones you need to, the world and zone quest, to level up a bit and then check the next zone for that zones quest.  Every zone has a few areas, each with a story to tell.  If you just want to level feel free to skip large blocks of the questing to get to the next zone.  Near the end of some zones quest chain there is a nice reward and a little cinematic to watch.  But by the time you get that reward you would've been able to get a head start on the next zone and the loot you would've gotten would be replaced anyway.
 
     Do quest where the mobs are higher level than you are.  Simple enough.	
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     I found that if you go along the laid out quest chain, in each zone you start to feel stuck in that zone for far longer then you would like.  There are a ton of quest in each zone.  Do the ones you need to, the world and zone quest, to level up a bit and then check the next zone for that zones quest.  Every zone has a few areas, each with a story to tell.  If you just want to level feel free to skip large blocks of the questing to get to the next zone.  Near the end of some zones quest chain there is a nice reward and a little cinematic to watch.  But by the time you get that reward you would've been able to get a head start on the next zone and the loot you would've gotten would be replaced anyway.
 
     Do quest where the mobs are higher level than you are.  Simple enough.
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See...I'm the opposite.  I like to complete as many quests as possible, and be higher level than the creatures I have to kill.  That way I can just chain pull and practice a scorched-earth policy. It's a bit slower, but in the long run it's good for the pocketbook, and many random drops as well.   
 
 
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			In my experience leveling alts these days, doing levels at or below levels isn't just a bit slower than doing ones above level, it's waaaaaaaaaay slower. And leveling by PvP is not really a practical option at this point, which is very likely part of the problem for many who dislike PvE but are effectively forced to do it to get to the endgame these days.	
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Yes, I was doing that for a long time.  Which explains this:
 
https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/122919-ding-ding-ding50/
 
...That and sometimes not being very active during some weeks.
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			A bunch off the more annoying kill quests did get heavily reduced though. I remember Wilderun back in beta where I got like 4% completion per Mauler or something silly and now on my alt that quest was completed in 5-6 kills. Some of the tasks are still a major pain in the ass, but with the increased exp you don't need them anymore so you can just follow along the regional/zone quests.	
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In my experience leveling alts these days, doing levels at or below levels isn't just a bit slower than doing ones above level, it's waaaaaaaaaay slower. And leveling by PvP is not really a practical option at this point, which is very likely part of the problem for many who dislike PvE but are effectively forced to do it to get to the endgame these days.
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I've noticed the increased exp gains as well. Rolled up a Dommie esper ( to see how the otherside lived ) and hit lv 14 in a matter of a couple hours over 3 days. I'm not even remotely done with Elevar yet, and I'm already getting pinged to head to Illium for the tour. This is just from the local questing, two shiphands and the only exp benefit coming from the authenticator.
 
 
First run through on a faction, I don't mind doing every quest.. but on alts? at this rate I might just focus on Zone and Region stories alone.	
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			I believe the XP reward is fix that you get for a mission, so it's about how much the XP bar grows with each level.	
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			At this point, I think this thread requires a clarification on what the OP defines as "grindy".  Surely it is not time it takes to get to 50, or a lack of quests along the trek to 50.	
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A bigger problem for the levelling experience is the lack of alternate paths. You always end up in Whitevale-Farside-Wilderrun-Malgrave-Grimvault no matter how you play or what you do. Unless you are a PvPer. I can't speak for that type of levelling.
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			The only thing that's going to make the game less grindy is a button you can push to just get free exp. It's an MMO and no matter how much more exp they give per quest or buff, or how many extra filler quests are removed, it's always going to be a grind to some extent. At that point, they may as well just offer instant-50's. 	
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This is the type of game that requires a lot of time to be put in every week, and if you stop playing, you will fall behind.
 
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			I suppose there's a disparity between playstyles. Is it a rush to the level cap, or enjoying the way the class plays at all levels?I, for one, have NEVER liked the concept of "The game really begins at level cap."   Why can't the game just be the game?  It's ALWAYS felt like a strange transition from one type of game to another, and I don't necessarily think that's good.   Which is why I liked Guildwars 2 so much.   The transition was hardly noticeable between how the game played during the level process and at 'end game'.  It's also very strange from a design standpoint.  Here we have this massive open world, filled with quests, and loot, and puzzles, but the second you hit level cap, you're supposed to sit around in a tiny daily area, or wait on instanced queues?   Really, why isn't it the opposite? Leveling/questing is so repetitive and relatively easy. Kill X monsters ad nausem, with a few vehicle or fetch quests or whatnot to break up the monotony. I've always wondered why the leveling process even need to be so long and drawn out. What value is there for the player in that?   Why isn't all of the story and leveling up done through very specific and limited instances(so you CAN tell the story better), then open up the world full of activities at level cap that are designed for max level characters?  Anyway, a little off topic I guess.  On a side note, I literally just did those 'kill x beast' quests last night. And yes, they ARE trimmed down.  I slammed out all of them in maybe 15 minutes. Only took killing 10 of each.   I remember back at launch I had to kill so many that I not only exhausted all the normal versions of the beasts, but had to farm the primes to get the quest done in any reasonable amount of time. It was either that or sit around waiting for respawns.   It's MUCH better now.  	
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... a button you can push to just get free exp.
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			Shh.	
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			Oh...I just ran through Malgrave, and I'm sad to say many of the "Kill X" quests in that zone are still pretty heinous.  VERY grindy.  I'm fortunate that I'm playing an esper with a build that excels at killing wtih AOE.  Not sure how other classes would handle it, but I'm glad that I enjoy the way my class plays more than I enjoy the zone.  One is temporary, the other is persistent.  	
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Wha-?What am I doing wrong?! I see people claiming to go from 1-50 in two days! While the best I can manage is 15 in maybe 4 hours, then maybe i reach 20 the next day!  
By 20 I mostly re-roll another character cause I got bored and variety is the spice of life; only to repeat the process, so yeah. 	
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Wha-?
 
What am I doing wrong?! 
I see people claiming to go from 1-50 in two days! While the best I can manage is 15 in maybe 4 hours, then maybe i reach 20 the next day! 
 
By 20 I mostly re-roll another character cause I got bored and variety is the spice of life; only to repeat the process, so yeah. 
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Wha-?
 
What am I doing wrong?! 
I see people claiming to go from 1-50 in two days! While the best I can manage is 15 in maybe 4 hours, then maybe i reach 20 the next day! 
 
By 20 I mostly re-roll another character cause I got bored and variety is the spice of life; only to repeat the process, so yeah. 
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Well if you really rushed it with an optimal route, you could probably pull 20 hrs without too much of an issue, so when you got nothing to do during the weekends 2 days is doable :P
 
As for Malgrave, I think tasks didn't get reworked, so they still require the old amount of kills and Malgrave had a lot of bothersome tasks. After Wilderun the zone is a fresh off breath air imo, but some of the tasks are better of ignored :P	
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			I'm starting to wonder if I'm just weird because none of the quests in Malgrave seemed particularly... heinous? xD Certainly not revolutionary, but I can't think of any "kill X" quests that dragged on overlong...	
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I'm starting to wonder if I'm just weird because none of the quests in Malgrave seemed particularly... heinous? xD Certainly not revolutionary, but I can't think of any "kill X" quests that dragged on overlong...
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I think that's why Malgrave is my favorite zone.  The big game hunter quests, you notice them (especially killing the striders, when you basically have to double-sweep the zone).  Nothing I'm not used to from WoW, but noticeable.  In Malgrave, I kept doing that thing where I get into killing things, forgot my comm call, and only realized I'd finished the quest 10-15 minutes after it was done.
 
I love that zone to death!
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Wilderun?
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			There's a game hunter in Malgrave as well, who has a bunch of tasks, some more tedious than others. Especially the one where you kill Roans, then have to wait for Vulcarrions to swoop down so you can kill them. Not sure about the follow up, as I never completed the first set on my alt, but iirc that sends you to kill Chompacabras. Then there's the quest at the Protostar part, where you have to kill Malverines, but there's barely any Malverines spawning. Overal Malgrave is a great zone, but those are some quests I'm not even accepting on my next alt.	
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There's a game hunter in Malgrave as well, who has a bunch of tasks, some more tedious than others. Especially the one where you kill Roans, then have to wait for Vulcarrions to swoop down so you can kill them. Not sure about the follow up, as I never completed the first set on my alt, but iirc that sends you to kill Chompacabras. Then there's the quest at the Protostar part, where you have to kill Malverines, but there's barely any Malverines spawning. Overal Malgrave is a great zone, but those are some quests I'm not even accepting on my next alt.
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			Well the whole process off shooting the Roan, then sitting there for an hour until the birds finally decide to show up was just such a pain in the ass :P	
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			If I'm focusing on maximizing rep while tempering my leveling time it usually takes me about 40 hours /played to get from 1 to 50.	
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Well the whole process off shooting the Roan, then sitting there for an hour until the birds finally decide to show up was just such a pain in the ass :P
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I'm starting to wonder if I'm just weird because none of the quests in Malgrave seemed particularly... heinous? xD Certainly not revolutionary, but I can't think of any "kill X" quests that dragged on overlong...
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Wha-?
 
What am I doing wrong?! 
I see people claiming to go from 1-50 in two days! While the best I can manage is 15 in maybe 4 hours, then maybe i reach 20 the next day! 
 
By 20 I mostly re-roll another character cause I got bored and variety is the spice of life; only to repeat the process, so yeah. 
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Yeah, there's the one where you have to kill the vultures that come down after killing the yaks(or whatever they are), and each vulture is maybe worth 2% completion.  Followed by the nearby quest to kill chompacabras, who again are individually only worth maybe 2% per kill.   There's a couple others like that.   
 
It's not necessarily the entire zone, it's just that there's enough of that kind of quest to make the area really feel like it's dragging along.
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Sorry, I was talknig about Wilderrun in the Big Game Hunters quest sentence.  I kind of forget not everyone knows what those are, despite their notoriety.
 
I'll add an addendum.
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Yeah, when they say "2 days"  they mean 48 hours  worth of time logged in and playing, NOT  2 days of real time. I suppose you COULD live off rockstar and coffee, and just slam it out in 2 days without sleep, but I wouldn't recommend it. 
 
Even so, 48 hours to reach level cap is still pretty fast. You also need to consider that these are players who are experienced with the leveling process, and know which quests to skip, where to go exactly, and aren't worrying overly much about making plat, doing challenges, reading quests, or gathering rep and crafting mats.  They're just focused on knocking down quest after quest.     
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I agree that I still wouldn't recommend it.  I suppose if you need a 50 in a hurry it's your best option, but I wouldn't think it was as entertianing of a game that way.
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Sadly, getting to 50 quickly is the best way to give your alts capability to wear anything you want (thanks to the level restriction on equipping gear on costumes), and getting them some of the soulbound customization items (most notably, ship decor from the Veteran Shiphands, the costumes from the Renown vendor and decor fromthe reputation vendors).
 
Not particularly fun, but if your character 'really needs' those items and you are already bored with the levelling experience, levelling them up as fast as possible might be desirable for some people.
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			I went 1-50 in 40 hours last week which is apparently slow as some can do it in 20-30 hours.	
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			I went 34-50 in a solid 6 hours, I don't think 3-34 took more than 12-14 and that's because I was dragging a friend along who had no clue how to play.Problem is players just starting out don't understand MoOs/amps/strong PvE builds/all the EXP buffs available. On top of that, they don't know the quest paths so well that they know where they'll be wasting time doing certain tasks and so on. So yes, 2 days is about right if you spend at least 9-10 hours a day playing.During questing, I also notice people afraid to group mobs up any more than they already are which is going to slow the speed of your exp.	
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Leveling is fairly easy now. 
 
Going solo with no guild boost and no 2 step authorization dividends, it took me 6 days game time to ding 50 at launch...granted I 100% up through Wilderrun. Sc could have finished sooner.
 
My son just dinged 50 in 25 hours game time after Drop 4.
 
8% guild boost
8% flask of experience
2% 2-step 
and at lvl 45+ 6% from from the experience rune set.
He also had the the housing boost when he remembered to grab it. Very rarely did he remember to log out at his house for the rested XP.
 
Granted he had some help from me, yet leveling is quite fast now.	
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