Around Ancaria in 2 days

[Dobri 55]

Gogo sort of bumped me to do this topic and share some tips, so here it goes

 

Although I didn't get all the way to 90 something like chrona in 24 hours, I made it up to 61. Gogo asked me to share some tips on that, and I'll happily comply with that

 

People consider the BFG seraphim to be overpowered. Believe me, she isn't THAT overpowered. This may be because I made a build that focuses heavily on item finding and shopping - but hey - every person should have a shopper and a smith, right? And besides, this was my first HC char, so she had to count for something and help the upcoming chars. This made me omit valuable skills like revered lore and toughness or combat reflexes.

 

Here's what I can recommend when leveling up a char in HC

 

-> Although quests are nice, most of them are bugged and have mobs that are close to the level of the opener of the game. It's really nice when the person who makes the server puts the name of the opener as a title. A lot of people in DA and D.a.r.k do so, and I'd like to thank them. This saves a lot of unnecessary deaths.

 

-> People's opinions vary, but in my experience, grinding and careful boss killing is the key to fast leveling and good drops. You should also know your character's strengths and weaknesses and avoid areas that can put you at a disadvantage. For example, I will never do the Gryphon boss. I did cap him once at level 11, but that was about it. There is no point in doing bosses that are dangerous for you. The Gryphon debuffs and I found myself kicking him in the beak on many occasions. If you're doing mostly magic damage, there is no point of doing the gar'collosus. In addition to that, if you're on an item finding/boss killing spree, there is no need to join big servers. Make yourself a 2 ppl server, kill the designated bosses, and reset. With the BFG, I used to cap only 3 bosses - Gahanka (kobolds drop a lot of runes), Gar'Collosus and the Boar. Then I reset. This paid off big time Got all set items I need - and a gift from a friend, which was no small favor - a level 30 Holy protection. Love it

 

-> Don't do areas that are not cut out for you. For example, the Christmas quest with a BFG Seraphim. That's just plain time wasting. Approximately 75% of the mobs there are physical + ice resistant - the same kind of damage the seraphim does. I almost did the quest - but if it wasn't for Coruskane, who came to help, it would've taken hours to complete it. What's the point of being capable of inflicting 3K damage on a simple left click and in fact hit for 150-200? Just pitiful The same goes for a pyro HE in the swamps or grunwald. Although it's doable in certain regions of these areas (like Area of Effect in the southwestern area where there is no water), there are too many obstacles in general that reduce the effectiveness of Blazing Tempest, which is your best mass killing spell. I'd rather go to the desert, wastelands, dryads or orcs, but that's just me

 

-> Don't overexert yourself - or your character, for that matter. People may call me a turtle, but I really like utilizing the area. If an area is perfectly suited for your char, play it through till you reach the level cap. With 6-7 people on the server, orcs were dropping in 2-3 hits and each kill was over 4k XP on a simple orc, over 5k on a stronger, and double for champs without any use of mentor pots. I used mentor pots only when leveling with gogo even though he stocked me up with over 50 of them... (Will he kill me now? )

 

-> Don't feel bad about asking for something and be ready to give your own for the others. One thing I love about Sacred 2 is that it's a game of team work more than jealousy about levels, xp, equipment and such. If you need a port or a mount, few people will turn a deaf ear on your plea. You will most likely be given a ton of runes, money for the mount and a few other things in addition to your original request But just make sure you act the same way

 

-> Please try to complement each other when partying. For example, I really liked my parties with gogo and coruskane. We tend to keep each other safe, compensated for the other char's weaknesses, and such. This makes the game play and the team work very rewarding, and very pleasurable

 

This makes the leveling easier. Some may blame me that I'm a turtle, or that I'm missing out on some adrenaline and some of the fun - that is true. But I think that Ascaron gave us Free Play to give each person a chance to play the game his own way. My way is grinding, careful planning, knowing which area is best for me, and selective boss killing

 

I hope this helps the new players in hardcore

[Chrona 82]

Thanks for the tips and new ideas.

I'll post my way, maybe it helps too:

 

First of all, I made a level 2 HE and bought tons of rings with 4,5% experience

-Equip new Character

-start solo on campaignserver

-make your way to Thylysium (you're level 5-6 now)

-back to Startisle

-take the portal in the portalroom to blackoak

-run to orcish byway and do the complete mountquest (after this you're level 13-15)

 

now its time for free servers

I'm playing till lvl20 near entruag (killing orcs and trolls) or in grunwald

my prefer areas after 20 are jungle and wasteland. Don't forget to do some bossruns or partyplay, whenever you're bored from grinding.....

 

Tuwano and me done some tests in niob. Best and fastest experience you'll get on 5/5 or 1-2/5 servers.

Best drop you'll get by playing solo.

[Dobri 55]

I guess that drops are calculated by the combined EP of the people of the server. For example, while playing solo I get a lot of nice drops. While playing with gogo (2 ppl in the server) for about 5-6 levels, who also had EP on his dryad, 1 got 3 uniques and 2 set items, and he got a few uniques as well which was rather cool. However, the last few days were awful in terms of drops, so I guess few people in the server got EP in their builds.

 

My assumption may be wrong though, but what Chrona said sort of fueled that idea I had for some time

Edited March 31, 2009 by Dobri

[Spyrus 0]

Great post Dobri again. Makes me wanna play HC

I agree on many of those, like choosing areas and bosses.

Sharing items & money ,yes , altruism is encouraged

I strongly recommend mount, as soon as possible and use it wherever possible

( you forgot that to mention ... I am sure you knew it )

Edited March 31, 2009 by Spyrus

[Zandrama 0]

Great info Dobri..thanks...wish I could play EU servers...lol...bin playing mostly solo...on US servers because of lack of players.

 

Zandy

[Schot 407]

Wonderful write up Dobri. Your advise about playing in areas where your build works best is especially sound. No point in fighting enemies that you're not built for. In particular when grinding.

[Dobri 55]

Right, Spyrus, the mount is important indeed. It provides a lot of survivability in the early game, even if you don't plan on taking the riding skill in your build. The next thing to do is get a level 2 HE trader, but gogo already proposed that on different occasions, so I didn't want to repeat him

[gogoblender 3,078]

Another fantastic read, Dobri. Yours and everyone else's advice on this will surely help others attempting that climb through the levels.

 

And...let us never underestimate the importance of the well timed Mentor pot! Monsters all grouped together allow us better efficiciencies from a limited number of mentors, swigging one just when the group is assembled and ready for slaughter gives us a greater "yield" from a single imbibement

 

...and not only that.. I'm convinced that the more danger we put ourselves into / time... or risk/time equates in some way to better drops.

 

 

 

gogo

[Chrona 82]

Hi,

where are you farming mentor pots?

My favourite places are:

-the scarabs -->desert

-the lions -->bashade plains

[Dobri 55]

On early levels, I like farming them off the boars while on my was to the boss

Edited April 2, 2009 by Dobri