So, I've been extremely unsettled in my cfing lately. It seems I cannot get into hero range with a character. I've written roles I've liked, and been awarded good exp from you kind Imms for those roles... So I think they must decent roles... But the characters just seem to die out and I either delete or they auto-delete... I'm sure I'm not the only who has been in a rut like this... Any suggestions? As of right now I don't even want to roll a character as I don't want to think of killing anymore elves/zombies or whatever. Perhaps it's the leveling dragging me down...

Bryan

Consider making a character you think you'd enjoy just playing (you'd enjoy their RP, you think trying to PK with them at any level would be challenging/interesting, whatever) and play and don't try to level.

Join a cabal early if you're going to; otherwise just do whatever that character would do. Between the incidental fighting XP you get doing anything, skill XP, commerce XP, observation XP, exploration XP, quest XP, etc... I think you'll be surprised at how fast you level just playing.

At that point, trying to grind out XP in a group can be something you optionally do if it sounds fun, rather than something you feel like you have to do to even get in the game.

Invest enough effort in a role, interactions, and being a general "mover and shaker" that you cannot fathom deleting the character for at least 400 hours.

Go pray to an Imm even if you aren't an empowerment class. Work on getting the Tattoo. Try to make things happen with the game, instead of just existing inside of it. Set a goal that isn't likely to succeed until late-game (Emperor. Chancellor. Captain. Commander. Etc.)

But set multiple goals, so if one is lagging or doesn't work out, you still have other stuff to shoot for.

Be dynamic! CF is completely unpredictable because you are playing with/against other people. Be open to changing your goals, and don't make your character into a static blueprint that can never be altered from the first step you take in the Academy.

Slow down! ENJOY the various ranks! If you think invokers get hosed in the 20's, GO KILL SOME PEOPLE in the 20's and feel badass (I did, and it was fun!). Then that badass feeling might help spur you forward during the lulls.

That brings up an interesting point. The endless and mostly mindless mob killing that is associated with leveling can really feel like a drag if you create a character, then delete/auto/rage, and then get the urge to play again, only to have to do the same thing over again. The people who play one character, or maybe even two, and take those characters the distance, have a more enjoyable time. These people usually spend anywhere from 60-100 hours getting to hero, sometimes longer, but this seems to be the average. Then when you spend 1-200 hours at hero before deciding to eventually delete, you almost feel as though you're ready to experience the leveling grind again. But if you just keep going through the same cycle over and over, of course you aren't going to enjoy things.

Also, the game doesn't begin at hero. There really do seem to be a lot of people that thing leveling up into hero range is like a race. Like they can't be bothered to develop their character long before ever reaching hero.

That said, and this is what I'm hoping some feedback from, I'd like to see some really tough low level mobs, that give 1500-2000 experience per kill. If I get a decent group (warrior, bard, transmuter, or warrior, healer, shapeshifter, or some other power variation) at level 40, I can go rock skeletons on calandaryl, regardless of alignment, and crank out 5, 6, maybe 7 or 8 levels in a matter of an hour or two, if I know what I'm doing. So why aren't options like this available to lower level characters (like levels 20-40)? I wouldn't really feel like I'm grinding out levels if all the fights I were engaged in felt more like epic battles against light and darkness.

Some examples of this might be:

A mean lich in the Arkham Crypts who is raising all the skeletons/zombies. A group of level 20 lightwalkers goes and kills the lich, and they get 2K experience for it. Have Ghiska(sp) in Arkham initiate some talk with the group to help bring down the evil.

Make killing the trollmaster in the past worth a bunch of experience.

Put an Elven mage in the past with all the other elves.

Put a Dwarven Berserker in Akan.

The idea behind this being that a strong group of adventurers could try to really challenge themselves. There should be a risk of dying. But the mobs should also be killable within the reaches of of ranking group of that area. Plus, it would offer something to talk about for people. Someone stops by the Inn, excited to talk about their victory over the lich of the arkham crypts. People can add role segments about these things.

It should be noted that not every group will have the capability to bring down these single, tough mobs. But those that do, reap the big reward. And if some people felt that hey, let's just kill this one mob, get the big xp, then rest, then rinse repeat, that should be their choice. It might not end up being quicker than just killing 20 zombies real quick. But in some cases, it could be.

Depending on if, or how often, you die. The right group in the high twenties, low thirties doing drow warrior students will also get 800-1200 each, but getting past the patroller is always a chancy bet (which I'ven ever understood because the patroller is worth less exp than the students). For the imms, I'm sure it's a matter of balancing the risk reward ratio - there aren't that many places in the 20-40 range that are dangerous enough to have mobs that give that much experience.

While I think more of that would be cool... what about the Mausoleum?

You can level crazy fast there in the 20s, as long as nothing goes wrong... and often it does.

The Maus is *so* dangerous because the mobs wander, they track, the area is no-recall, no-teleport, they're so tightly packed, they're for real agro (opposed to skeletons) that the possibility of it going badly is actually higher than on Calandryl. There, you can (potentially) word out if it's going badly, teleport if you are surrounded, make a beeline to the trail, choose your tank because they are delayed agro and generally have much greater access to the kinds of groups, and losing a point of con trying to rank there at 45 isn't nearly as big a deal as losing it in the maus.

Also, I don't consider the maus with evil aligned characters. That may just be my own narrow thinking, but the risk/reward doesn't seem to be there as much for non goodies.

I think the Maus *could* be a place like he's talking about, but right now, having one really good tank isn't enough there, you need basically two, and they should have the ability to rescue, which pretty well limits you to paladin/warrior + healer or bard, because you will absolutely need healing.

I should mention I haven't even tried ranking in the Maus in the 20's since knights with healing weapons were a grouping option, so my opinion may be slightly innaccurate, but I do think that the maus could be the 20-30 place that Calandryl is for 40-51, but it might need some tweaking in the evil xp department, and in the slightly less total suicide department. There is a serious gap for the 30-40 range.

You have to worry about PKs, but Arkham Crypts at those ranks is pretty insane, assuming you can exploit vulns.

Maus is too much risk for the reward you get. Its just not enough XP to warrant the likelihood of eating a mob death. Calandaryl is dangerous but with a decent group you're much less likely to die there.

There are comparable XP areas that are just a better tradeoff than Maus - like Arkham Crypts, etc.