Best quests for leveling/ rewards (low level char)?

[Daania]

I'm a level 6 elven ranger/ Rogue (3/3) and only solo due to the weird hours I play and the fact I only play maybe a quest or two at a sitting (1-1.5 hr usually).

I've completed most level 2 quests on hard, level 3 on normal, but am having trouble completing even some level 4 quests on solo/ normal so all I get is lousy loot and xp.

Is it a matter just completing higher level quests by improving the way I play? Using hirelings?

Any suggestions would be helpful...

[Draccus]

There's a leveling guide out there on these forums somewhere. Check the user-written guides forum and see if you can find it. It will have a ton of good info.

In the meantime, the most popular quests for good/fast XP are:

Information is Key
Kobold's New Ringleader
Durk's Got a Secret
The one near Durk's that is just full of Kobolds with a named shaman at the end. Drawing a blank on the name.
Irestone Inlet (also great for farming festival coins)
Waterworks (not great, but fast and and really easy to solo)
Recovering the Lost Tome (can't remember the exact name, most people call it the Lighthouse quest)
Tangleroot Gorge series (Good end loot as well)
Deleras series (get your Voice of the Master as end loot and then rerun it!)
New Sharn Syndicate series (1500xp each and they are fast and easy)

That all being said, I'm sure you've seen that most of the quests in the 4-5 range aren't worth your time from a pure XP persepective. Most of the house quests, in my opinion, are horrible. They are very poorly designed and have very low xp/time ratios. Many of the marketplace quests are similar but the new ones are pretty good. Quests like Freshen the Air simply take too long to run and consume tons of resources for some classes (elevated shaman raining scorching rays and magic missles suck for melees!). Some quests have a ton of running and take too much time even though they are easy (like the finding the lost party one outside the Rusty Nail. Lots of running and lever pulling for 600 xp...not thanks). Proof is in the Poison is a fun, challenging quest but not an efficient one for fast XP.

The Depths quests in House D are, in my opinion, some of the worst quests in the game from a design standpoint (they basically shook the Monster Manual over a generic dungeon design and whatever fell out ended up in teh quest) but they are fast. The XP is low but they're so easy that they're worth running.

[IronAngel]

The one near Durk's that is just full of Kobolds with a named shaman at the end. Drawing a blank on the name.

The Butcher's Path

[Draccus]

The Butcher's Path

That's it. I keep calling it The Low Road.

[tihocan]

Playing only 1-1.5h at a time should not be a reason to avoid grouping. You can do pretty much any quest in the game within this timeframe (avoid the quest chains though if you don't know them well).

That being said, by looking at your build, it looks like you're too squishy. Starting at 8-9 base Con is not recommended, especially for a new player. And ranger/rogue are rather low HP classes to start with, so high Con is even more important. It's not surprising you are having trouble soloing.

Loot is pretty much always going to be under your level when you run quests at your level, that's normal. You'll discover the twinking fun on your next character

If you want to keep leveling this character, my suggestion would be to just keep farming the quests you can do without much trouble to get XP as fast as you can (= just zerg these quests). As you increase in level then you can start tackling higher level quests, etc. It's better IMHO to wait than to waste time and resources trying to complete a quest you are struggling with.

Just be aware: this kind of build is not the most solo-friendly, and it'll get worse as you level up. And I'm not too sure what's your leveling plan, but typically rogue/ranger will either focus mostly on rogue or on ranger. It's usually better than deep multiclassing, which makes you lose the classes' highest level abilities.

[Daania]

Playing only 1-1.5h at a time should not be a reason to avoid grouping. You can do pretty much any quest in the game within this timeframe (avoid the quest chains though if you don't know them well).

That being said, by looking at your build, it looks like you're too squishy. Starting at 8-9 base Con is not recommended, especially for a new player. And ranger/rogue are rather low HP classes to start with, so high Con is even more important. It's not surprising you are having trouble soloing.

Loot is pretty much always going to be under your level when you run quests at your level, that's normal. You'll discover the twinking fun on your next character

If you want to keep leveling this character, my suggestion would be to just keep farming the quests you can do without much trouble to get XP as fast as you can (= just zerg these quests). As you increase in level then you can start tackling higher level quests, etc. It's better IMHO to wait than to waste time and resources trying to complete a quest you are struggling with.

Just be aware: this kind of build is not the most solo-friendly, and it'll get worse as you level up. And I'm not too sure what's your leveling plan, but typically rogue/ranger will either focus mostly on rogue or on ranger. It's usually better than deep multiclassing, which makes you lose the classes' highest level abilities.

Yes, I think that's it... I'm not a sturdy, tank type that's for sure. My leveling plan was 3 levels of rogue and continue leveling as a ranger from now on (while increasing rogue skills), so I'm hoping it gets a little easier with a +1 BAB with each level (as well as a natural progress with my actual playing sill and learning the nuances).

Thanks for all the advice and I can say at least I'm having a blast while I get wailed on.

[tihocan]

Yes, I think that's it... I'm not a sturdy, tank type that's for sure. My leveling plan was 3 levels of rogue and continue leveling as a ranger from now on (while increasing rogue skills), so I'm hoping it gets a little easier with a +1 BAB with each level (as well as a natural progress with my actual playing sill and learning the nuances).

You may regret your 3rd rogue level then, as it locks you out of the extra attack granted by the Tempest III enhancement at ranger 18.

[LordMond]

I'd consider renting a hireling, probably a cleric.

They aren't all that great when it somes to AI, but you're being a Rogue cures one of my major complaints, that being the hireling cleric stands in the middle of a spike trap casting CLW on himself until he's out of mana, no matter how far away from him I move. Since you can find and disarm traps, that won't be an issue for you.

Alternately, you can rent a Fighter hireling and let him do the heavy lifting. If you're doing equal level quests, the fighter is pretty decent. You can do what you do best and let him tank.

[HawkFest]

one of my major complaints, that being the hireling cleric stands in the middle of a spike trap casting CLW on himself until he's out of mana, no matter how far away from him I move. Since you can find and disarm traps, that won't be an issue for you

I know this thread is old... But it's still out there for the readings in reference searches, thus I must "actualize" this. Maybe some update corrected this issue, I don't know and that's not the point : it's not an issue anymore, knowing that a UI slot pertaining to the hireling's toolbar, obliges the hireling to move from wherever it is (and whatever it was doing) towards you (the icon with little footsteps). Just click it and your hireling runs to wherever your PC is standing.

[kanordog]

necro

[FestusHood]

Heh, got me again. Went a little ways down the first page and saw a post by Tihocan and thought holy ....! Then i looked at the date.

" Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, ...uh...? Well, we won't be fooled again. "

[HawkFest]

Gotcha! ;-P