I'm playing a neutral character that has a +250 exp requirement. I'm nearing 30s, so the rank exp is getting pretty steep. I know, you're likely thinking that 12K really can't be that much, but it is. Why? Well, as I said, I'm neutral, so no kill exp bonus for me. And for some reason it is VERY hard to find groupmates. I'm a defense char dishing out considerable damage, so I'd think someone you'd want in your group. Yet, I'll be very happy if I find two other chars much lower than me in rank, but somewhat able to form a capable group. Yet, being the highest ranking char, I have to settle to their needs, mostly. So, ranking is SLOW, like two and a half real life hours to gain ONE rank. Sorry but this is just brutal, being patient or no. And half of the time one of your groupmembers has to go before you gain, which means you have to find another, taking the actual time close to 3 hours and a half.

And like I said, finding groupmates is HARD, so often I find not a single one. So I go explore or practice, which means I get tooled by a mob, and get an exp hole, which means next ranking will take 4 hours. So I don't do that, I try to not stray to far and do something meaningfull. Yet, that brings me close to the ranking areas, which means I'll get summoned and bashed/tripped to death. And ofcourse I'll get full-looted.

So, I need to go regear. Basic gear is easy, but you need something extra to be competitive, or even remotely usefull while ranking. Yet, half of those mobs are hard even when nicely geared. Barely clothed, I'll get tooled, plain and simple. And you bet that this is the time I'll get asked to be third to a nice group (damn that Murphy). Again, I need to spend half an hour regearing, making me spend time doing NOTHING constructive, all I do is try to restore me to how I was before I died.

I doubt it's coincedence that a lot of chars level-sit around their thirties. I don't know, but all those no-brain, no-rp quick fix, quick reward games are becoming strangely attractive somehow .. :(

You should be able to gather what I consider "basic" gear and be able to contribute to a group. Now as a new player, what you consider basic and what I consider basic may vary widely. By basic I mean a couple of avg 18 weapons and for a warrior about 20 hitroll and 30 damage roll. As a defensively specced warrior, that 30 dam roll will mean your hitting for EVISCERATES to DISMEMBERS, more than enough to be adequately contributing to ranking. If you are playing a low strength non-dual wielding warrior (e.g. a felar spear spec), those numbers probably drop down to about 15/25.

Now, as far as getting a group goes it might be how you are asking. If I see "group?", "third?", "want to learn?" or similarly unimaginative tells, I'll usually ignore them or accept them only if I'm desperate. Once you reach the thirties even a half decent group should be gaining a rank/hour.

nt

>I'm playing a neutral character that has a +250 exp
>requirement. I'm nearing 30s, so the rank exp is getting
>pretty steep.

I'm not going to sit down and crunch the numbers, but I'd estimate that a 250 xp penalty will require your character to earn about 25% more total experience in order to hero. In the grand scheme of things that's not so much.

>Well, as I said, I'm neutral, so no kill exp bonus for me.
>And for some reason it is VERY hard to find groupmates.

If you find it difficult to assemble a group now, just imagine if you were good or evil. Your lack of alignment-based xp bonus should be offset by the fact that you can group with both good and evil. In theory that means you should have an easier time finding a group.

>I'm a defense char dishing out considerable damage, so I'd
>think someone you'd want in your group.

If this is true then you sound like the ultimate groupmate. Either it's not readily apparent from your race/class, in which case people may be declining to group with you because they don't realize your usefulness, or they realize it but decline to group with you for some other reason entirely. One thing that can help is to (as much as possible) avoid coming across as clueless when you communicate with potential groupmates. If someone asks you to meet them somewhere and you have to ask directions, that may make them less likely to group with you in the future. (Or the present).

>Yet, I'll be very happy if I find two other chars
>much lower than me in rank, but somewhat able to form a
>capable group. Yet, being the highest ranking char, I have to
>settle to their needs, mostly. So, ranking is SLOW, like two
>and a half real life hours to gain ONE rank.

The situation you describe (i.e. being the highest ranked person) has yielded some of more productive groups I've ever been in. Picking up groupmates that are significantly lower ranked than you are can make mobs that would usually be "beneath you" yield adequate xp gains. Even if you're earning half what you would in a tougher area with groupmates closer to your own rank, many times you can mow down the easy mobs at approximately twice the rate of tougher ones. I'll take 100xp/mob any day if my group is two-round-ing each one.

>And like I said, finding groupmates is HARD, so often I find
>not a single one. So I go explore or practice, which means I
>get tooled by a mob, and get an exp hole, which means next
>ranking will take 4 hours.

1. Don't explore if you're not okay with dying. You can always do it later when you're a hero.

2. If you're dying while practicing then you're doing something wrong.


>So I don't do that, I try to not
>stray to far and do something meaningfull. Yet, that brings me
>close to the ranking areas, which means I'll get summoned and
>bashed/tripped to death. And ofcourse I'll get full-looted.

Is it a given that you'll be summoned into a perma-lagging group if you stray near a ranking area? If so, either you're doing something more than just "straying near" these areas or you're being careless (i.e. not keeping detects up).

If you're not ranking or exploring, there are four things I can think of that are really useful. A) Trying to PK people, B) practicing skills, C) gathering preps (including cash), D) checking mobs for gear. If you try to PK people and wind up dying "most of the time" then you're doing something wrong. It might be helpful to log all these PK attempts then go over them in detail once you're offline. If you try to practice skills and repeatedly get jumped by people, either you need to be more vigilant while practicing or you need to find a more obscure place to do it. Gathering preps and scrounging for gear both keep you fairly mobile, so as long as you stay vigilant you should be alright.

>So, I need to go regear. Basic gear is easy, but you need
>something extra to be competitive, or even remotely usefull
>while ranking.

This is true for some characters, but usually not for those like you described, i.e. defense-oriented but also causing some damage. As an experiment, with my most recent character I swore off all spam practicing. Defenses, skills, everything. All I've done is work on quests, look for gear, and rank. Am I the best tank in the world? Do I dish out a ton of damage? Do I have great gear? A big "No" to all three. And yet, I still find myself "useful" when ranking.

>Yet, half of those mobs are hard even when nicely geared.
>Barely clothed, I'll get tooled, plain and simple.

To some extent gear has to be bootstrapped, if that phrase means anything to you. It takes gear to get gear. So you start with the stuff you can get while naked, then use that stuff to get better stuff. Pretty quickly you'll reach a point where there's not really any way you can improve your gear short of PK'ing someone else. When that happens, you're probably geared out well enough that you can be useful to a group. Especially if you're defensive- usually lack of "good gear" doesn't negatively affect your tanking ability as much as it does your damage output. So, even if you don't do near as much damage as before you died, you should still be a decent tank.

Anyway, hope you found something in there helpful. These are just my opinions too, so your mileage may vary.

>I'm playing a neutral character that has a +250 exp

That's where you think your problem started. Yeap Neutrals have it tough with no exp bonus. But they have a whole range of areas and people to group with.

>requirement. I'm nearing 30s, so the rank exp is getting
>pretty steep. I know, you're likely thinking that 12K really
>can't be that much, but it is. Why? Well, as I said, I'm
>neutral, so no kill exp bonus for me. And for some reason it
>is VERY hard to find groupmates. I'm a defense char dishing

It's also hard for others. However when you find a good group with transmuter/healer/bard/hard-hitting warriors, you can rank really fast. When I said fast, it is really fast. With hooded mobs too!

Yeah the problem is finding them.

>just brutal, being patient or no. And half of the time one of
>your groupmembers has to go before you gain, which means you
>have to find another, taking the actual time close to 3 hours
>and a half.

Also playing times affect the range of people present. Works both ways. When you tons of people playing, you have to watch for Pkers, cabal raids, etc. When the pool of players is small, you have problems of finding the right combo.

CF requires lots of time. But it is also very satisfying.

>And like I said, finding groupmates is HARD, so often I find
>not a single one. So I go explore or practice, which means I
>get tooled by a mob, and get an exp hole, which means next
>ranking will take 4 hours. So I don't do that, I try to not
>stray to far and do something meaningfull. Yet, that brings me
>close to the ranking areas, which means I'll get summoned and
>bashed/tripped to death. And ofcourse I'll get full-looted.

Ganging is over-powered. Stay away from them.

>So, I need to go regear. Basic gear is easy, but you need
>something extra to be competitive, or even remotely usefull
>while ranking. Yet, half of those mobs are hard even when
>nicely geared. Barely clothed, I'll get tooled, plain and
>simple. And you bet that this is the time I'll get asked to be
>third to a nice group (damn that Murphy). Again, I need to
>spend half an hour regearing, making me spend time doing
>NOTHING constructive, all I do is try to restore me to how I
>was before I died.

Sorry about it. But you may need a cabal to back you up. Perhaps you need a hiding class or be a ranger who can flee and hide from mobs. Then ambush, and etc.

>I doubt it's coincedence that a lot of chars level-sit around
>their thirties. I don't know, but all those no-brain, no-rp
>quick fix, quick reward games are becoming strangely
>attractive somehow .. :(

Not true. This is where the real crunch comes to see who survives till at least above 43. Once you break the duck at 40, you'll be wanting to see yourself hero. No exp hole or gang is going to stop your hero-ing.

Join a cabal. Helps a lot when you have cabal mates, powers, etc.