Leveling without questing..possible??

[Logicman69]

So I had a thought the other day while I was doing a loot run the the desert. Is it possible to level a character to cap WITHOUT ever steping into a quest? After a little research and number crunching I figured out that it is possible to level a character using explorer zones only.

So I'm thinking, why not. I'm going to give this a go. It's going to be a challenge (and one LONG grind), but should be interesting. My question to the community is, what type of build would be the best for dominating the explorer areas (prefferably solo). Key factors would be the ability to self heal efficently, have decent AC and DPS, and good saves. I was thinking some form of a Ranger/Monk combo (Halfling for Drangon Marks). My other thought is this character will be a Plat sponge as I will have to rely on the AH and vendors for most of the decent equipment (no end rewards and untill the desert, no named loot).

Any thoughts on this undertaking?

[Visty]

afaik someone proofex by numbers that it is indead possible without entering a quest...though you have to make sure that you can skip the tutorial, otherwise you would have to do misery

[Cuth]

2 Paladin / 14 Sorc

The Pally will get you thru the lowbie explorers and the Sorc will get you thru the higher ones. I'd go WF as well.

[Logicman69]

afaik someone proofex by numbers that it is indead possible without entering a quest...though you have to make sure that you can skip the tutorial, otherwise you would have to do misery

I thought about that and I can skip the tutorial. Though no matter what I think Korthos is going to be rough going at first.

[Greydeath]

2 Paladin / 14 Sorc

If you want to start now that would be pretty good. Pal3 would be nice for the Fear Immunity as well. Perhaps Monk/Rogue for Evasion? ...but starting to give up significant casting ability.

Another option would be to consider Favored Soul and look to go all the way to 20!

[Logicman69]

2 Paladin / 14 Sorc

The Pally will get you thru the lowbie explorers and the Sorc will get you thru the higher ones. I'd go WF as well.

I was thinking about the WF sorc route. Though I have to admit I did try playing a WF sorc once and did not like it. It would be powerfull at higher levels, but I think getting there would be a bear.

[Yajerman01]

as mentioned above going pally the first two levels will make Korthos a breeze. Seriously, its a joke, the creatures take 10 hp of damage or so, basically one shot.

[Runningaway]

Hmm you will have to find 70k from somewhere.
Korthos, ww, cerulian, searing, tangle, 3bc and sorrowdusk leave you 70k short of lvl 7 - which is what is needed for restless isles and ataraxia.

[Logicman69]

If you want to start now that would be pretty good. Pal3 would be nice for the Fear Immunity as well. Perhaps Monk/Rogue for Evasion? ...but starting to give up significant casting ability.

Another option would be to consider Favored Soul and look to go all the way to 20!

Yeah. With a monk splash character I would be giving up alot in the way of casting ability. What about a Monk/Cleric speced as a battle cleric? My Pure Cleric does decent in the explorers. Having Greater Command would go a long way.

[Leyoni]

AFAIK you cannot do Korthos explorers w/o having done the initial 4 Korthos quests.

Edit: took out the word "some".

[Logicman69]

Hmm you will have to find 70k from somewhere.
Korthos, ww, cerulian, searing, tangle, 3bc and sorrowdusk leave you 70k short of lvl 7 - which is what is needed for restless isles and ataraxia.

Interesting... I did a quick look at the overal, but not individual levels. Hmmmm.....

Maybe back to thew drawing board?

[binnsr]

AFAIK you cannot do Korthos explorers w/o having done some the initial 4 Korthos quests.

That would be correct, sir.

[Runningaway]

Interesting... I did a quick look at the overal, but not individual levels. Hmmmm.....

Maybe back to thew drawing board?

Depends how flexible you are...

I'm pretty sure after level 7 you shouldn't have any problems capping yourself

[Zenako]

In Mod 9 you could start grinding the rares since repeating them gives you experience now.

You could run parts of areas like the Threnal Caves which do not show up on the quest log...the outside area still gives some experience as well in Threnal.

[Logicman69]

In Mod 9 you could start grinding the rares since repeating them gives you experience now.

You could run parts of areas like the Threnal Caves which do not show up on the quest log...the outside area still gives some experience as well in Threnal.

Good points.. So it looks like I would have to do the 4 in-town quests on Korthos, and possibly a WHOLE lot of rares. This might take some more carefull mapping.

Any other build ideas?

[Draccus]

As far as the build goes, I'd stick with either DPS or AOE. I don't think I'd bother trying to work self healing in there since you can recall out and re-enter explorer areas without penalty.

Without trying to create a build specifically for this, some of the things that would be helpful would be:

Running speed - explorer areas are pretty big and require a lot of running. This is expecially true when hunting rares, as the last rare you need for the bonus is ALWAYS the furthest away.

Low level AC - Entering an explorer area at the lowest possible level (like Sorrowdusk at level 4) is tough because the mobs will have very high ABs. This is irrelevant at higher levels, when you should have some sort of AOE spell or good enough DPS to kill quickly. But at low levels, AC is king in explorerer areas.

Ranged attacks - Some explorer areas are perfectly set up for killing at a distance.

Stealth - I only threw this in because Dresek has made a career out of stealthing around slayer areas picking off named mobs for loot. After Mod9, when you get experience for killing the same rare over and over, this could be a way to efficiently gain XP after you've reached the slayer cap.

Friends! - One of the best ways to maximize slayer area efficiency is to run it with multiple people "soloing." In other words, enter the area with a few friends, and each of you go a different direction. Since most at-level slayer area mobs are easy to kill, three people solo can clear an area faster than three people working together.

The more I think about it, the more likely I would be to go with DPS vs. AOE. With Dungeon Alerts, the practice of gathering large groups of mobs and firewalling or BBing them to death could end up being less efficient. A high DPS character dual wielding appropriate weapons (Disruptors for the desert undead, GUBs for the Orchard, Banishers for the Vale) is probably your most efficient slayer grinder.

[binnsr]

Depends how flexible you are...

I'm pretty sure after level 7 you shouldn't have any problems capping yourself

especially given the insane amounts of XP for capping slayers in the higher explorer areas .. my cleric still /cry's when she zones into the orchard and remembers the 75k she wasted on the way to a Vol run one night..

[Lorien_the_First_One]

AFAIK you cannot do Korthos explorers w/o having done some the initial 4 Korthos quests.

Not true if you skip the tutorial

[VKhaun]

especially given the insane amounts of XP for capping slayers in the higher explorer areas .. my cleric still /cry's when she zones into the orchard and remembers the 75k she wasted on the way to a Vol run one night..

What?

[Gringo]

How about an 2wf halfling 18 Ranger/2 Monk or maybe just a pure 20 ranger? You get self healing with wands, amazing AC, tempest speed attacks, multi-shot, evasion, resists, FOM. Str based with khopesh's or Dex based with rapiers & short sword. In my opinion this will probably be the most well rounded character for you.