Best Class for Leveling Quickly?

[Thurbus]

In your experience, what's the best class to play if you want to level up quickly? I would guess Cleric or Favored Soul are good choices, since healers are always in demand. If you wanted to reach level 20 in a hurry, what class would you choose and why?

[BOgre]

Sorcerer. Here's a link:

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=357759

[Therigar]

Are you going to solo or are you planning to group? Do you have lots of gear and experience or are you relatively new and poorly geared?

Arcanes work great if you know what you're doing. But, most people advising sorcerers either are just reading forums and regurgitating back what they read or they have a pretty reasonable amount of experience.

Favored soul offers most of the spell casting perks that go with arcanes and has the added advantage of always being in demand. It can be a little more challenging to get the build right compared to a cleric. Clerics really only need to focus on two stats: WIS and CON and can group pretty much at will with any and everyone if they figure out how to buff and heal.

Of course, most people advise against that. But, you aren't asking about what is most fun to play. You asked what can level up fast to L20.

Cleric played as a baby-sitter works remarkably well if that is your goal. You can pretty much guarantee you'll be getting a group invite if you can heal and buff. Or, you can run your own groups and they will fill quickly.

The thread on sorcerer for rapid TRing is pretty misleading. You should keep in mind that this character is run by an experienced player who has a very strong guild and friends to run with. If you don't have those things then you are going to be disappointed because a lot of what that player does is centered around a very strong support system and exceptional knowledge of all the quests.

The only classes that are pretty much guaranteed a slot in most groups are the divine classes. If you are just going the pick up group route you'll find the going is easiest with a healing focused FvS or with a cleric.

[Cyndrome]

Favored soul offers most of the spell casting perks that go with arcanes and has the added advantage of always being in demand. It can be a little more challenging to get the build right compared to a cleric. Clerics really only need to focus on two stats: WIS and CON and can group pretty much at will with any and everyone if they figure out how to buff and heal.

Good advice. Sorcs are super fast to level - even solo - once you know the quests and have access to decent gear, but it's a bit of a learning curve. Favored souls are quite a bit slower at low and early mid levels, and they do not have the easy healing that a cleric does with radiant servant blasts and aura. If you join groups that are looking for a healer you might be frustrated on favored soul for early levels, especially if you do not have the resources for consumables. If it were not for the huge amount of xp between levels 10 and 12 I would really hate doing that part of a favored soul life.

If you are willing to group you can play almost any class first life and get to cap pretty fast.

[testing1234]

If your experience, what's the best class to play if you want to level up quickly?...edited... what class would you choose and why?

its unfortunate how you being a modest and self-assuming person makes you phrase this question, a normal sane person would reply:
class=sorc why=fastest
luckily for you im something of a arrogant(me) know-it-all(definitely me) twit(very definitely me) so none of my personality allow me to do so instead i will bury you in a wall of text.

the one tryth to rule them all:
first of "in your opinion" this shows a you dont know this is not a complicated question its a very simple one (lest the way you phrased the question) the way you asked this will make people say its a sorc since he kills stuff really really fast. in 95% of the quests what you do is A kill stuff B run past stuff, so it basically boils down to which class can kill faster. when they introduced TR it became apparent how much faster a arcane (wiz or sorc) could lvl compared to anyone else before this there was not important to the long term players 6 days to cap or 4 days it didnt matter.
basically its not a opinion its as close to a fact as you can come sorc/wiz are vastly superior in lvling speed no other class can compete and win.
dont feel its very interesting to discuss if sorc or wiz is faster compared to each other so i just lump them together as "arcanes" and call arcanes the fastest lvlers *shurg

now you may think but are you talking solo play here or what since isnt a healer more wanted for a random lfm? if you are thinking this then your wrong in doing so.
lets say you have a challenge about solving a maze filled with lots of traps and dead ends, after you practiced it 1000times and can close your eyes and draw it from memory the only thing the matter are your running speed and endurance, this is the lvl were many of the repeat TRs are at and here arcanes shine even brighter for them. a healer is basically training wheels lvl1-19 useful for learning but not useful if your intrested in doing it fast, becuse of one fact faster kill=faster lvling and clerics dont kill as fast as a arcane.

did you notice at start i mentioned it was unfortunate how you phrased the question since this is the easy answer its not a opinion its a fact a team of 6 sorc/wiz cant be beaten in lvling speed and for solo you cant beat a arcane.
not gona beat around the bush and say this is my opinion its just the way it is
while i might be wrong if then 99% of my friends who TRed more then 20times are also wrong all of them as i cant think of one which do not agree some might not like to play arcanes but even so they agree.

this assumes you are basically a walking encyclopedia of knowledge about how to lvl fast but the thing is that if your not, then its unlikely being a arcane will make you lvl slower so its a either win or break even situation.

newer players lvling speed:
now if you assume we have a new player played max one month then even so a wf wizard is such a solid OP choice that i cant imagine he would lvl slower then another class but will admit in this situation we have a dominant random element and its just a from the hip shooting guess several other class/race comboes could offer basically similar lvling speed.

a player which played 1month-4month still "new" with mmo standards this is like the 1week player very hard to guess which quests he will do and if he will solo or party mostly, just to hard to say with any certainty how it would play out this is why most prefer (and me also) the use the experienced TRer as a example with an easy answer.

conclusion: id hazard as the closest thing to a all around answer would be a WF wizard for fastest lvler taking into account each of the three skill lvls

edited: cleric/fvs yes your not completely wrong but id say instead its being self sufficient that will boost your odds of not failing quests (and thereby lvling speed) and having a easy time finding a party, lest this is what my experince tells me now a cleric/fvs are to reliant on team members in lower lvls to offer a secure lvling speed

[HastyPudding]

While most of what this thread says is true, I feel it also depicts 'healers' in a rather derogatory way. Clerics and FVS aren't just about throwing around heals; there are plenty of buffs, offensive spells, and crowd control spells at your disposal. A divine that just stands around waiting to heal somebody, even a full support one, is a waste of a party slot. **This, of course, tends to change on many epic elite quests and some raids, but those are extreme cases**

A good, experienced FVS or cleric can solo very easily, FVS more than cleric due to their offensive-minded PrE and higher SP. Finding groups is also easy, as divines are always in demand, and even an offensive-minded caster FVS can be a good healer for the majority of groups.

Now, playing a full support cleric (FVS aren't really true support yet, since they only have their offensive casting PrE, at this point in time) is an acquired taste. Like in most MMO's, playing a real support class is frame of mind. Anyone can be a healer, not everyone can be a support class; it takes lowering your character's self-worth and sacrificing some of your independence to make your party's abilities burn brighter. That's not as easy as it sounds.

In my experience, a full support cleric/FVS will level slower than a hybrid, generalist, or offensive-focused one, due to slower and less efficient soloability. But, this means you'll be more valuable to a party, should you find one, and that -10% exp penalty should disappear if you take your support roles seriously. It's up to you.

[JasonJi72]

If your experience, what's the best class to play if you want to level up quickly? I would guess Cleric or Favored Soul are good choices, since healers are always in demand. If you wanted to reach level 20 in a hurry, what class would you choose and why?

Ignore everything above.

The only factor in determining how fast you will level that really matters is how much fun you have playing that character.

[EarlofPain]

The OP doesn't care about fun. He doesn't want to PLAY his character. He wants it to be level 25 as fast as possible. The three days it takes some players to TR back to level 20 is too slow. There has to be a faster way to do it.

[Ermin_Sivarch]

1st liife people who jump on the TR train level fastest. you join a group of TR's and just run repeat missions, and you level fast. Run elite missions primarily, and you'll level in 3 to 5 missions. I had one char who was on the TR train, and I had to get off it cause I leveled three times in like 2 hours. one minute I'm level 10 and suddenly I'm level 13.
I barely got to missions before TR completed it. He'd complete missions in a few minutes.

If a TR knows what he is doing, they can level extremely fast. Class becomes less significant as your knowledge of what to run and the quests involved. If you don't know the quests, then your spending your time learning the quests and that takes time. Once you know certain quests, you can blow thru them either quickly or take your time.

Breaking containers in quests is time consuming. In some quests, its worth it, in some its not. In level quests 1 - 6 or solo quests, I wouldn't break containers. Its a waste of time. Killing every mob in the quest is also time consuming. Consider only killing the mobs you have to do complete the mission and who have agroed/cannot get away from.

If your geared for it and have AOE's, agro a ton of mobs and then kill them all in a bunch, its quicker that way. Running thru a mission and dropping blade barriers were the mobs have to run thru them to follow you is effective and quick, cause your not stopping to fight the mobs, your just moving thru the mission and casting one spell occassionally. Mobile spellcaster also helps, but I beleive it requires 13 dex to be able to have that feat. You also need combat casting feat as a pre-req to it.

Self healing/gear/knowledge is what counts. There are some classes that cannot self heal. I think the best classes for leveling are arties/arcanes/divines. If you think that divines cannot blitz thru a mission, your mistaken.

I thought that you can only TR every 7 days, and after the first level you need more and more experience. 3rd life and after I believe was 4.4 mil or so. After your first life, things go slower, regardless of your class.

[HastyPudding]

Self healing/gear/knowledge is what counts. There are some classes that cannot self heal. I think the best classes for leveling are arties/arcanes/divines. If you think that divines cannot blitz thru a mission, your mistaken.

Don't forget monks, shintao in particular. They can be very efficient soloers and very self-sufficient.

[Thurbus]

Wow, lots of stuff to pick through here. Thank you for all the great responses!

Are you going to solo or are you planning to group? Do you have lots of gear and experience or are you relatively new and poorly geared?

I solo often, but join PUGs when I can find them. Some gear and experience, but not a ton. I just got my first character (a cleric) to level 20, if that's any indication.

A good, experienced FVS or cleric can solo very easily, FVS more than cleric due to their offensive-minded PrE and higher SP.

Agreed. I solo'd a couple quests at level in Eveningstar and was pretty proud of my little self.

Ignore everything above.
The only factor in determining how fast you will level that really matters is how much fun you have playing that character.

I agree this is an important point. If you're having fun, leveling always goes a lot more quickly.

The OP doesn't care about fun. He doesn't want to PLAY his character. He wants it to be level 25 as fast as possible. The three days it takes some players to TR back to level 20 is too slow. There has to be a faster way to do it.

I'm surprised that some of you are talking about leveling in terms of days. It took me several months to get my cleric up to level 20.

Self healing/gear/knowledge is what counts. There are some classes that cannot self heal. I think the best classes for leveling are arties/arcanes/divines. If you think that divines cannot blitz thru a mission, your mistaken.

Don't forget monks, shintao in particular. They can be very efficient soloers and very self-sufficient.

Do bards belong in this group as well?

[Aashrym]

Do bards belong in this group as well?

Bards can be very self sufficient, yes, and many like to group with them. If you are soloing the AoE damage isn't there so much and the individual damage isn't spectacular, but the effectiveness of fascinate becomes more prominent as everyone else isn't breaking it on you.

CC, self healing, decent skill list. Can splash for traps. You can also do the invis sprint to the end of many quests for faster completions. I find wiz/sorc to be faster for leveling for that reason plus the AoE offense.

I solo all kinds of stuff on a bard; it just isn't always as fast as with higher AoE damage and instant kills comparatively.

[HastyPudding]

Bards can be very self sufficient, yes, and many like to group with them. If you are soloing the AoE damage isn't there so much and the individual damage isn't spectacular, but the effectiveness of fascinate becomes more prominent as everyone else isn't breaking it on you.

CC, self healing, decent skill list. Can splash for traps. You can also do the invis sprint to the end of many quests for faster completions. I find wiz/sorc to be faster for leveling for that reason plus the AoE offense.

I solo all kinds of stuff on a bard; it just isn't always as fast as with higher AoE damage and instant kills comparatively.

Agreed. I rank bards along with rangers in the solo arena. They're self-sufficient and can hold their own, but they're just not top tier like divine/arcane casters and monks. Bards shine in parties, though.



I guess if you had to make a rundown of them all:

Favored Soul - excellent solo class; a half step behind sorcerer, purely because sorcerer has a wider range of offensive spells
Cleric - great soloers, although a little slower than FVS
Sorcerer - WF sorcerers are arguably the best soloing class, fleshies being on par with a good wizard or FVS
Wizard - good soloers; PMs are very soloable once they hit 12, AMs can solo well if WF
Fighter - lack of reliable self-healing for real soloing, but decent UMD isn't hard to achieve; hireling required in most cases
Monk - dark monks can easily solo with a hireling; light monks make excellent soloers
Barbarian - no self-healing at all and little in the way of self-defense; hireling required
Paladin - not as good as casters or monks, but self-healing is very useful
Rogue - depends entirely on the build, but a good rogue can get high UMD for self-healing; hireling required in most cases
Ranger - modest healing and buffing abilities, but more fragile than fighters or paladins; hireling would prove useful in most cases
Artificer - excellent soloers; might have trouble in some quests but definitely self-sufficient
Bard - on par with paladins and rogues; very self-sufficient, but depending on the build a hireling might be needed
Druid - on par with wizards and monks for soloing; good survivability, self healing, and offensive abilities

[Therigar]

Do bards belong in this group as well?

No.

Favored Soul - excellent solo class; a half step behind sorcerer, purely because sorcerer has a wider range of offensive spells
Cleric - great soloers, although a little slower than FVS
Sorcerer - WF sorcerers are arguably the best soloing class, fleshies being on par with a good wizard or FVS
Wizard - good soloers; PMs are very soloable once they hit 12, AMs can solo well if WF
Fighter - lack of reliable self-healing for real soloing, but decent UMD isn't hard to achieve; hireling required in most cases
Monk - dark monks can easily solo with a hireling; light monks make excellent soloers
Barbarian - no self-healing at all and little in the way of self-defense; hireling required
Paladin - not as good as casters or monks, but self-healing is very useful
Rogue - depends entirely on the build, but a good rogue can get high UMD for self-healing; hireling required in most cases
Ranger - modest healing and buffing abilities, but more fragile than fighters or paladins; hireling would prove useful in most cases
Artificer - excellent soloers; might have trouble in some quests but definitely self-sufficient
Bard - on par with paladins and rogues; very self-sufficient, but depending on the build a hireling might be needed
Druid - on par with wizards and monks for soloing; good survivability, self healing, and offensive abilities

A reasonable list but, IMO, some of the character classes are out of sequence.

In my experience the easiest class to solo with is monk. I do not know why that is, it is just my experience.

Based on the bigger population and what they seem to say on the forums, I would probably rank the character classes this way:

1. Sorcerer -- As I noted earlier, you have to know what you are doing and be properly geared. With that said it is the best solo class.
2. Favored Soul -- More forgiving than sorcerer with the added advantage of being in higher demand for pick up groups.
3. Monk -- Even with AC changes the combo of DEX & WIS along with Stunning Fist and little in the way of gear requirements makes this much more potent early on. As plat and gear becomes available it just keeps getting better.
4. Wizard -- A poor person's Sorcerer.
5. Cleric -- A poor person's Favored Soul.
6. Paladin -- The combination of good AC and self healing makes this a really decent soloing class. People tend to discount Paladins because they aren't generally seen as great DPS for groups. But, as a soloing class they are probably ahead of other melee types.
7. Ranger -- Again, self healing here. Innate TWF feat line and smart use of ranged attacks makes for a potent combination.
8. Artificer -- Machine gunner means fast kills. Can be self healing. Has a puppy.

After that, it is pretty much a toss up except for Bards. Bards are just yuck IMO. I know lots of people love them. But, they are a jack of all trades but master of none. The way DDO is implemented means that their ability to fascinate mobs gets run over by most groups. So, early in life bards aren't much more than an extra body in the group. Soloing with them works pretty well early when most stuff is easy to fascinate. But, later on it gets tougher. If you build to be able to fascinate then you can easily build to be unable to fight your way out of a wet paper bag.

It is a class that I'd like to love but just have trouble finding a way to do so.

[Aashrym]

After that, it is pretty much a toss up except for Bards. Bards are just yuck IMO. I know lots of people love them. But, they are a jack of all trades but master of none. The way DDO is implemented means that their ability to fascinate mobs gets run over by most groups. So, early in life bards aren't much more than an extra body in the group. Soloing with them works pretty well early when most stuff is easy to fascinate. But, later on it gets tougher. If you build to be able to fascinate then you can easily build to be unable to fight your way out of a wet paper bag.

It is a class that I'd like to love but just have trouble finding a way to do so.

Spells work well for them early and fall off later except for enchantments with the capstone, but fascinate?

Fascinate isn't something a person needs to build for or sacrifice melee for. Feats, stat points, and enhancements can take away from the melee for casting but I can dump CHA, use a quick perform item swap before I fascinate, and still easily out DC the casters on their spells.

Fascinate isn't something that gets harder. The DC's actually increase at a faster rate than spell DC's.

[Therigar]

Spells work well for them early and fall off later except for enchantments with the capstone, but fascinate?

Fascinate isn't something a person needs to build for or sacrifice melee for. Feats, stat points, and enhancements can take away from the melee for casting but I can dump CHA, use a quick perform item swap before I fascinate, and still easily out DC the casters on their spells.

Fascinate isn't something that gets harder. The DC's actually increase at a faster rate than spell DC's.

Might be true. Just never had that experience myself. I found that it was pretty much wasted effort in groups because, even if it was working, melees with two-handed weapons were breaking the holds anyway.

But, each person's experience is different. All I know from reading the forums is that Bard consistently ranks near the bottom of player choice. And, my own experience is pretty much there with that as well. So, for me at least, it stays at the bottom of the list.

[MRMechMan]

AOE damage is a must
high single target dps is a must
self healing is a must
survivability is useful
faster than base runspeed is useful

There is a reason 19sorc/1barb is the most popular build for speed-TRing.


Hell...if geared, 10sorc/10barb is faster to cap than any class not a sorc/wiz/arti/clr/fvs (blade barrier or acidrain/fw ftw).

AOE damage and quickened self-heals are that good. Playing anything without a good AOE (cleave sortof counts but not really) once you are an accomplished zerger is pretty horrifying.

[knockcocker]

AOE damage is a must
high single target dps is a must
self healing is a must
survivability is useful
faster than base runspeed is useful

There is a reason 19sorc/1barb is the most popular build for speed-TRing.


Hell...if geared, 10sorc/10barb is faster to cap than any class not a sorc/wiz/arti/clr/fvs (blade barrier or acidrain/fw ftw).

AOE damage and quickened self-heals are that good. Playing anything without a good AOE (cleave sortof counts but not really) once you are an accomplished zerger is pretty horrifying.

This. One of the preferred builds for TR zerging (to accumulate past lives) is 14 Sorc/1 Barb/5 Desired PL then
use a +5 heart to drop 5 Sorc levels and then TR again (different timers). There also a Wis based ranged build
using Zen Archery, Manyshot, AA and Ten Thousand Stars but I can't personally vouch for that one.

[Aashrym]

AOE damage is a must
high single target dps is a must

Yup, this is the part that slows bards down. IC is a nice boost to group DPS but bards individual DPS can be lacking and AoE DPS is horrible.

[Ermin_Sivarch]

Arties are above alot of the other classes in terms of DPS. With blade barrier/flame turret and repeater with nice weapon buffs and good spell damage. They also have a pet, and can do the best UMD of any class, with saving charges from being used and upping the UMD item.

Only classes that compare to arties are cleric/FV and sorc/wiz. All the other classes fall in comparison.

Monk is fast DPS, but its always single target. monks can also get overwhelmed. Their healing requires you to sit still, which slows down the DPS when your sitting. Monks probably move the fastest of any of the classes, so this makes a little ground up for having to sit and heal, but not enough.

Bards are good at alot of things. One of their most powerful things that sorc/wiz also have is mass charm spells. Overall I wouldn't rank them above the first 5 classes i listed above. Cleric/FV also have access to some mass charm spells, but not as many as a sorc/wiz. A spell singer bard is desirable in any party with people who need mana, as they can regen mana for those who are running low and lower casting costs on spells a little. crowd control also helps parties survive. To think that bards add nothing to a party is mistaken.

The difference between a wizard & cleric vs a sorc & FV is variety. wizards and clerics get access to more spells, and can swap those out whenever they rest/at tavern. To think that wizards and clerics are lower than a sorc/FV in terms of overall DPS and raw power is mistaken.

One of the most powerful things that a sorc has is casting speed. They cast spells very fast. they can also burn thru their mana reserves quick because of this also, even though they can have alot of mana reserves. Wizards might have lower mana reserves and slower casters, but they also have lower casting costs.

I wouldn't rank sorcs and FV's above the raw power of a wizard and cleric. I wouldn't rank them below it either.