Everquest Let's Talk: Experience

[@ronaldr01]

As of 1/10/2024, I am able to repeat The Emberclaw Sisters quest starting in Hero's Forge. You need to /say gift to Elmara to initiate the quest instead of targeting the journal.

[@hammackj]

THANK YOU!

[@anthonypanarese5789]

How much regular exp does it give?

[@hammackj]

39 AA or 1.6% exp. I did a video on it and it should be out tomorrow or so.

[@ronaldr01]

@zaraxeq posted a video on this over a week ago, thats how i found out about it. nice that you can repeat it every 30 minutes. I made two EQ socials. The first will [ /target Elmara, /say gift, /pause, /say drop ] The second does [ /say ...., /autoinventory ] so then its just a matter of targetting the 4 npcs for updates and clicking that hotkey to trigger the quets update. Start with Thormir, go upstairs to Thornel, then back down to Baker, then Elistyl, then outside to the garden and run back to Hero's Forge.

[@Subzer82]

I personally dont like how they have stacked exp into missions. I started playing in 1999 so maybe I'm just jaded but I like to find a camp, and grind. Find it relaxing to chill with some friend or box and listen to a book. It feels like they're trying to take a modern theme park approach with some of this and to me it dosnt fit what this game was/is and really isnt implemented the best, I'd love to say espeially for returning players but I could be wrong there. Let me grind mobs with a reasonable experience rate, no missions and id be pretty happy

[@hammackj]

As of October 2024 they added exp back to kills so grinding is an option now. Quests still give huge exp one time. Some quests can be repeated for 1-3%.

[@bobbun9630]

I have heard this complaint a lot. Granted that people have different expectations than they did years ago, but I think if you were to talk to someone who quit EQ long ago and never returned, they would be saying, "So? I remember grinding all night and being happy that I came away with two blue bubbles of xp." Killing thousands of blue mobs to level was once the norm at the highest levels of the game. I recall someone making a statement about the time Kunark came out that they had planned for it to take about a year to get from 1-50 in original EQ, and expected 50-60 to take just as long in Kunark.

[@Darazzle]

This was based on a lack of knowledge though. We have since learned that a game should not scale outside of a person's lifespan. We also now know that having systems like this will result in people acting against their better health to get ahead. We are smarter now I would hope.

[@bobbun9630]

@@Darazzle I'm not sure I agree, but it's possible I just don't understand your take. MMORPGs continue to expand, so they're definitely moving targets on scaling and as long as the market supports the game's continued operation, there are no limits to that based on expectations of how long a person will live. I do think what has been learned, though, is that a game can attract and retain more players if it's a less time-sucking experience, implying there's more money to be made with a faster leveling experience. Players want to get to the end of the game, and barriers tend to send them to other games.

[@hammackj]

A year to level in a game with focus on raiding is dumb. And it never took a year to get from 1 - 50 in EQ unless you fucked around all day.

[@bobbun9630]

@@hammackj "A year to level in a game with focus on raiding" At release, EQ wasn't focused on raiding.

[@_Wake_Up_If_U_Can]

Thank you for again covering an obvious issue with the persona system. Keep up the good work Hammackj. Here is one possible conclusion about why the dev team removed XP from grinding long ago: -they sell power leveling on every server (one toon comes to mind, name rhymes with bonita)? -they maintain and rent out the software everyone seems to use to automate box teams? Either way, hope they find a way to solve this issue. Thanks again for the video.

[@hammackj]

They have increased the exp rates as of October 2024 to be half way decent and maintain the .1 to .5 a kill from 85-125.

[@ceroy02]

I did notice there were quite a few collections missed in as you scrolled through, Since each of those even the ones from the previous expansions are worth 2%, I noticed many people getting 125 the day of release due to collections. Also timing really matters. Waiting to do some missions when double XP is going makes a huge difference. I have had group mates start chars weeks after mine but saving certain quests for the bonus had them surpass me. Also the last partisan quest of Hero's forge gives like 1.7 %XP and takes less than 10 min to do with 30 min replay time This whole issue kills personas for me. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't roll out a 115 or 120 heroic soon

[@hammackj]

They removed the ability to replay the journal quest. I have been doing collections and grinding but any personals will be fucked. I will have all collections done by the time he hits 125 :/

[@ceroy02]

@@hammackj ahhh you got to be kidding! I had big plans for that mission. I thought it was a little gift like the last partisan mission of Bloodfalls. Then yeah I am convinced the long game here is to create a market for a higher-level more expensive Heroic. They have to know Creating a massive XP deficit for the personas will create demand for it. Update: with the journal quest after you complete it the first time you have to say "gift" to Elmara to get the quest again.

[@Enoah35]

I completely agree that the current method of leveling will make you get stuck when not planning right. I returned to EQ a few month back after 1 year break. But when I was in the guild, I encountered numerous people getting "Power leveled" via missions that got boosted from 100-115. But then, they were stuck with no missions left to do and had to grind to 120, which was quite a pain. I agree leveling personas will be a painfull process that i don't wish to do. Now many people said they "Borrowed" the multi class system from FFXIV, but I beleive they got it from FFXI. The limitation is exactly the same, as well as the need to grind the levels just by killing mobs. They should have increased the exp gain from killing too. FFXI never had issues grinding exp from 1-99. (or whatever level cap is now). In fact leveling to 1-99 is quite easy, can be done in a few hours. Grinding Merit points (AAs) is more tedious, but doable. EQ should have done somewhat the same, increase the exp gain from mobs. Or drastically reduce the exp required from 111-125.

[@hammackj]

As of October 2024 they have increased the exp gain significantly.

[@TallosNull]

Merc quests themselves in LS give good quest exp even after the achievement is done. One of the best is probably Hero's Forge merc quests. Each quest only needs 5 kills, gives slightly under 1% per quest completion, and has a lockout of under 10 minutes. So that would be 15 kills for around 3% xp. The mobs in Hero's Forge also only seem to have the HP of T1 zone mobs so they are almost as fast to kill as stuff in the LI zone. You can also throw in the no-kill parisan task from heros forge to break up the grind for another 1.6% every 30 minutes.

[@hammackj]

Good info sir. Thank you.

[@OldRod99]

I'm noticing this - after coming back from such a long absence, I started several new characters. Leveling 1-50 is way too fast IMO, but I understand they want people to be able to get through it quick. 50-60 is a little slower, over 60 is slower still, and I'm just getting them to the 70ish range, which I hear is even worse. And even as bad as that is, I'm still getting more xp than I see you getting at the higher levels. I can't imagine how long it will take me to level given that I only get 1-2 hours per day to play

[@chanelMacTruck]

85-100 kills me on some of my characters

[@hammackj]

At 110+ it’s less than 500 kills per level after the exp changes in the October 2024 patch. Less if u do all the quests and missions. A new character can go from 110 to 125 in a short amount of time with help.

[@zorgonox8479]

I have another persona gripe - the equipment overload in the bank - having to keep multiple sets for multiple classes; like I want to save my glooming deep gear because the new level 1 persona can't get it....rinse and repeat for a rough defiant, simple, intricate, flawless, elaborate.....whew; that's a lot of bank space.

[@hammackj]

Yeah they need to store the equipped gear on persona and replace the lore tag with lore equipped.

[@kennethbarr7224]

Hero's forge merc quests are great for grinding, especially if you like roaming and not camping

[@hammackj]

I will try the merc quests again. I don’t recall getting any good exp from any merc quests.

[@kennethbarr7224]

@@hammackj and in-between the timer for re-request, do the 2nd partisan no kill mission

[@billylong9801]

Blarp is a great guy...welcome to drinal....I totally agree , xp need to be adjusted In some fashon

[@hammackj]

Blarp is great and they recently buffed experience all is good in the world!

[@anthonypanarese5789]

I’ve been working on a persona via grinding, since most of the quests have been used on the toons main class level. Same results, about .25 a kill at 110/111. I’ve been going through CoV just doing hunters to pass the time. I did miss ToL parts Mercenary/Partisan so still have that, but it doesn’t seem like much. The other issue is between 100 and 110 ToL and LS aren’t an option, quest levels are too high to allow the toon to pick up.

[@hammackj]

They recently upped the exp rates significantly in 109+ content. So the problem should be even less now.

[@0bronk0]

Just found your channel, so far great content. As a returning player (I’m talking almost a decade) you think you could do a “wtf do I do?” for the long long time absent ?

[@hammackj]

Thanks for the suggestion ill see what I can do.

[@shawnwalden2669]

i remeber hell levels haha, level 30 on my cleric in 2000 seemed to take a month! i honestly went through 120-125 on my main box crew by lesson of devoted and overseer..... i agree though doing missions wasnt like oh shit! look at the exp off of that

[@hammackj]

IMO hell levels were just bad math and the fact in the old content there was so little to kill. For example when I played Lord/AM/Hand/Frenzy were separate camps. On TLP these are typically one camp and you still run out of mobs. Obviously classic was slower but 99% of the time it was just sitting around with nothing to do. Artificially making it slower because you had to compete against everyone else for mobs. Also the CLA exp rate is terrible to make the content last longer IMO.

[@chanelMacTruck]

Don’t get it twisted. I appreciate a bit of a grind, but I completely agree with you here. The FAQ just says to go repeat quests. I have wondered if the exp for the next time you do it to be as if you’re starting it over, or is the exp flatlined because you already completed it?

[@hammackj]

Some of the quests give .9 to 2% exp but recently they increased the exp for all 109+ content making grinding to 125 possible with less effort its about 500 mobs a level give or take.

[@Bryen81]

I started a 100 and rolled through HoT and pretty much MOLO’d my way through. I skipped a large chunk of TBM and am working in EoK at 117. I haven’t been working to level asap, just clearing content and story lining a bit. Maybe you skipped too much content at the beginning, hindering your top end gains? Just a thought.

[@hammackj]

There apparently was bugs in the amount of exp given at the LS launch and since I did it under 121+ I got effected and hence I leveled slow. Now they have upped the experience for 109+ so that grinding is possible.

[@Darazzle]

I also dislike the current grind system. I would be happy with .1 to .2, but .0036 etc is ridiculous.

[@hammackj]

Yeah sadly. Lucky the quests make leveling 111+ fast

[@bsherder]

Kill exp sucks. I will be skipping that whole Persona feature just like i skipped over the entire Spirit Shroud feature.

[@hammackj]

Understandable.

[@Mr.Mister1974]

Great until level 80 then gets very slow.

[@hammackj]

I find 111+ to be the slow down. 1-110 you get meaningful exp per kill and easy to grind/power level through.

[@Malkail]

Persona is 110 its horrible beyond that.

[@chanelMacTruck]

119-120 on my regular character is rough enough.

[@hammackj]

Yeah lack of quest exp sucks, hope they fix it.

[@Deektrick]

If you would have done hunters as intended aka grinded mobs you'd be 125 I bet

[@johnwilliams5717]

I have a 3 box team that are 92 and exp is slow going, but I love grinding the armor and the gear. Plus, you really get to know the zones by hunting the names. I am doing House of Thule and its been a lot of fun. Also, I started way back in 1999 and I can remember having a good night of grinding where I got 2 bubbles of exp for about 4 hours of experience. And I can remember moving back to log out and I decided to take a short cut thru Cazic Thule (wizard spire) and got killed in the mazed and lost all my 4 hours of experience in the bling of an eye. I am glad it isnt like that anymore. Those days were rough. Plus, the hell levels every 4 levels sucked.

[@hammackj]

They recently increased the experience significantly and hitting 125 is much easier now.