What's the point of leveling without experience...?

Just leveled an old mage of mine from L34 to L36 and did some Ao1 quests while I was at it. All I did was get the quests and join some groups. Actually did some snowballs first, then decided to go get some xp.

In the meantime, I ran into this bird in some of the groups. He had some long name Eradsomething or Exasomething. He had an xp pot and did not participate in any fights or even get close to the fights. He's just hang around. It was really weird and annoying.

And as I was joining PUGs I could see that some needed more experience than others. It got me wondering about this bird with no experience... what's the point?

Not to mention xp was so fast, what a waste of gold/plat :p

Just hadn't seen a "shadow" player in awhile...

Some people just want the kills, so they disable xp gain.

The idea is that you level up to the level cap and keep on going in that level for the kills. Eventually, the most dedicated will find themselves on the leaderboards.

As for the guy not participating, that is an entirely different issue. Perhaps he was new and doesn't know how to play. Or alternatively, he is ratioing and deliberately leeching (participating means risking death).

I really dislike leeches. And I'm not fond of power-leveling, per se, but I'll do it for friends who already know how to play. But....when I leveled my mage, I did it the hard way because it'd been a while since I'd maged and things had changed. I knew how to play fine as a bird, but that doesn't necessarily translate to playing another char with different abilities and a different style. To me, blowing through just to level takes a lot of the fun and the challenge out of it while others just want to get past the boring, growing pains bit asap. Whatever works. ;) But leeching, just.....no.

I've been pugging a lot lately and I have to tell you that the other night was full of people like that! There was a guy who was a bear and it was my bird, another bird and two mages. The bear was a level 49, as was I and the other players were 44-47. The bear would take like three steps, wait for us to rush mobs, then hit a few skills and that was it. It was so weird to see him trying to slowly pace us. I asked him why he was hanging back and he didn't respond. It was just so weird.

I joined another party and the same thing happened. People trailing behind, taking like two steps and waiting for us to clear mobs. Ugh.

uggh i dislike powerlevelers sooo much...i guess its fine if they know the class really good but most dont even know simple skills...All of my characters i level to 15 all by soloing and do pugs from then on...But what i hate is on Lost expedition and balefort castle my bird would have to take the lead cuz the bears are scared or something of running on and taking damage. Then in swamps im pretty much forced to wait for the bears (they are REALLY slow to come to front lmao) cuz if i take lead, i die...by then mages know how to rez but still...in ao1 the problem resides a little but every now and again i find myself taking lead cuz the bears arent doing it or they scsatter the enemies really far apart so i try to kill them before the bear gets to them lol. in ao2 it gets better cuz i normally doing rmks with a level 55...in ao3 its pretty good but i still run into people who dont know their class...by the time i get to sewers, i really dont care to see if a person plays their class good....i just kill and sell. Rinse and repeat for better results.

That reminds me of the groups I had last night. Was hosting in Hideout and doing good w/ 2 bears. Then had a 3rd bear. He wasn't horrible; wasn't great, but wasn't too bad. Then we had a 4th bear -- I'm just a bear attractor :P And unfortunately, even after some chatting and telling to that 4th bear about not scattering mobs (oh yeah, level 55 bear), he was still doing it. It was easy to tell: pre-4th bear, nice neat groups mostly; after 4th bear, lots of mob tossing and scattering. Immediately told him to stop tossing mobs about so much; did not get a response.

I didn't friend him and lost him on the next iteration, but it was strange. A 55 should definitely a million % know better. That also made me a bit more impatient w/ bear #3, who sometimes did not seem to be paying attention. Lost him too :P

But even at the high levels, there's better groups than others. There's ones where we combo and MEGA a lot and there's ones where you're lucky if you see one combo at all and it's probably your self-combo. I'm pretty sure my response is similar to others: I friend everyone in the good groups and may or may not friend those in the other groups, depending on what skills I see. So really it's good self-interest for a player to learn how to play his/her class/character well.

I'm actually not sure whether every player can learn, though I really like them to try (TRY!). In my Forest Haven PUGs, I definitely try to point out the traps, not to reset bosses (don't run so far), that they really aren't doing anything to the Meathead Keeper when he's in his minion-invincibility phase, etc. These are definitely new players, so I KNOW it's their 1st time, but I can still see that some listen, others ignore the traps (trap-blind?), some will run away no matter what, and others will have ZERO strategy, die a lot and inform others that their experience ("That boss is impossible!") is the ONLY experience and everyone should just forget it and leave.

I've actually been told that there's nothing worth farming below level 45 at least (Sorry all you low level farmers, you're just WRONG! :p and those high priced low level items are illusions. ILLUSIONS, I say!). Guy in Ao1:3 was saying how he'd have to powerlevel everyone past that area level before they can farm. I was trying to disagree but everyone followed that guy away :P so who knows what interesting rules they've got for this game. The 3 level 30s people + the level 45 who was leading was clearing Ao1 slower than me on my level 35 dex mage. They should have been plowing through the area... but his offer to powerlevel them was probably very attractive... Wish I'd had a chance to tell them he was handicapping them..

Eh idk maybe a byproduct of coming in to a game so full o content. Just to reiterate not a flame post but far too many newer players focus way too much on level and no enough on learning to play and enjoy the game. Its a shame but i don't see it changing any time soon

I love playing tank-bear, but I'm awful at it. :( I just built a new baby tank, going thru the levels, doing all the quests, just to see if I can learn to do it right this time. I'd like to be a tank I'd want to play bird behind. Any tanks want to mentor a willing, but ignorant, pupil? ;)

There are a lot of great tanking guides in the guides section of the forums, but in general try to use beckon and stomp to group enemies against a wall or in a corner and make sure you use your debuffing skills.

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Originally Posted by CanonicalKoi

I love playing tank-bear, but I'm awful at it. :( I just built a new baby tank, going thru the levels, doing all the quests, just to see if I can learn to do it right this time. I'd like to be a tank I'd want to play bird behind. Any tanks want to mentor a willing, but ignorant, pupil? ;)

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I'm no leet tanker (mines an intbear afterall) but always willin to talk strat look for me on one of my birds kraze or purekraze but for the love of fnord don't forget to include taunt in your build for boss fights

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Originally Posted by Derajdefyre:336987

There are a lot of great tanking guides in the guides section of the forums, but in general try to use beckon and stomp to group enemies against a wall or in a corner and make sure you use your debuffing skills.

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Unfortunately the problem here is that such players are unwilling to listen to feedback, much less come to the forums.

Been playing for almost 2 months now and have built up all 3 different chars to see what it's like to walk that figurative mile in another's shoes. I soloed my bird and bear pretty much up to 30 so have used that to learn how to play them better but I'm sure I have a long way to go. Mage is the highest at 48 so have been dying my way thru aoe3 (LOL - not ready for sewers yet) or spend a lot of time helping lower lvls get xp/farm a bit. Play in PUGs mostly as my friend base is very limited - sucks to be me - or they are much higher lvls & doing sewers. Even as a nooB (which, frankly, I still am in many ways) I figured out pretty quickly what to do and not to do as I climbed levels and entered the higher level dungeons. I am amazed at how many 40-50+ chars I see that don't know how to play their chars effectively. I thought that surely by that level a person should have figured out some forms of strategy for their individual char - be it a bear aggroing, mage rezing, bird... ummm... screaming. LOL. Then I figured out pretty quickly that many of these 'high lvlish' crappy players were mostly leechers. Pathetic. Wish the devs could develop a system that denied xp gains to those that aren't interacting in some way but just hanging off in the fringes. Realise that's pretty much impossible yet still... would be nice.

I told a bear to stop stomping fever unless you pin him to the wall. His response was well than you tank him than. Stomping mobs is not tanking.

Pocket Legends Characters Timbabird -55 Oldsillymage -55

Yeah, I wish there was a dev/program way but I think there's leechers/non-learners/let's-get-to-the-endgame-as-fast-as-possible-without-actually-playing-because-then-i'll-be-LEET-and-can-conquer-the-world! in every game. Only thing to do is try to give them a bit of guidance when you see one and then avoid them if they are not listening.

When I started PL, I basically just "read" the game -- I looked at each classes' skills and tried to figure out how to play those skills for that class and how to play those skills in a group. And there's constant adjustment: as the group changes or you notice something, your skill usage and timing can change.

I also played in group as much as possible. 1st because I noticed xp and clearing dungeons is MUCH easier in a group and 2nd because I noticed that where you meet people and there are lots of nice people to meet in PL. A neverending stream in fact. I play in a lot of PUGs and there's always new people who give good game.

I always try to tell people to use JOIN GAME to get into groups. Solo'ing is more for trying out your skills or testing something. Normal xp'ing, farming and dungeon learning/clearing should be done in groups, so your experience is fuller, you can see how group functions and figure out your role in a group. This really is, first and foremost, a SOCIAL game.

Of course, it also does help to try out different classes. Partly for understanding the game and group dynamics. Partly for meeting other people.

I think that there may be a solution. More aggressive booting. It's not the way that I like to run games, but it will get the job done.

I've been very reluctant to use the booting tool, but now that I've seen enough, from people leaving right before Gold Fever when I clearly stated otherwise, to leeching, I'm starting to see it as a potential solution. I think that if enough people boot leechers, perhaps they will have a change of heart.

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Originally Posted by davidis57

I told a bear to stop stomping fever unless you pin him to the wall. His response was well than you tank him than. Stomping mobs is not tanking.

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It depends. If I loose aggro at boss a good way to recover is stomp+taunt+3 slashes - for my bear it works almost always. But it could NOT be your case...

Booted a leech a couple of days ago.

I don't mind running with players using pots as I sometimes use them myself.

But for leeches I pm them to ask if they are going to help.

If there is no reply within a minute they get booted.

Yes there maybe a good reason why they can't move i.e. bad ping but they should be able to chat even with high ping times.

I think some of them think that on busy levels they won't get noticed.

Only solution is to boot them.

I tend not to boot. I will try to tell/chat to them 1st and train them. Mostly they don't listen, but I try :)

I do boot for leeching and if someone is being really bad for the group, but I think I haven't booted anyone in weeks.
Mostly I lose them on the next iteration or just leave the game if I see them. There're plenty of games around.

I will boot if someone who's been running with the group needs in. And depending on how long the current group has been together (if everyone's been working at it for awhile, they get to stay), I might boot to let in someone I usually run with.

For scale farming, if I'm being really strict, I will be in a private game.

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Originally Posted by Tamino

It depends. If I loose aggro at boss a good way to recover is stomp+taunt+3 slashes - for my bear it works almost always. But it could NOT be your case...

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Problem is if you stomp him away from wall he makes my bird go splat. Stomp like knockback has to be used carefully at a boss to avoid a party wipe and or a reset of the boss

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Originally Posted by Kraze

I'm no leet tanker (mines an intbear afterall) but always willin to talk strat look for me on one of my birds kraze or purekraze but for the love of fnord don't forget to include taunt in your build for boss fights

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Will do and I've already got 4 points in Taunt at level 19 (I think it is).

ETA: I don't like to boot, either and also try talking to them. I had to give one guy credit for charm, tho. I was leveling up my mage in Balefort and a bird is just kinda standing there, not doing much. I PM him, "Bow not working?" and he comes back with, "Oh, no, it's fine. I'm just enjoying watching your work." C'mon....how could I boot someone for that? :cool: And yes, he did pick up his game after that, but it did make me laugh.