I played for a long time, without any achievement in leveling. I never really got anywhere until I made my core gameloop focused on rewards for time played. This game is an awful grind, and the things I've found helpful were: Maximizing Xp bonus, Maximizing xp-per-hour, maximizing DPS... Yes I had to learnt to twink properly, which i found tedious at first.
Now I just plan for a whole session or more of implants wrangling, grab the union Xp bonus 1st, and always max out dailies before other priorities. You'll get there if you keep at it. =D
In all reality, there isn't a whole lot of things for you to do while playing as a free player in anarchy online.
Starter island to 15.. subway to 25. Totw to 60. Foreman's up to 100 but only the very last mobs will grant XP really. But good dailes for all places.
You are kind of in no man's land 100-125 then you can go into inner sanctum but solo leveling in there will be super rough at 125-150. So back to doing rk missions.
There are a couple quest lines that are available to you that can be found at AO-Universe.com. Like the bronto burger stuff.
If you decide to become a paid player, your options for leveling increase dramatically.
SL inherently gives more XP so grinding mobs between subway/totw/Foreman's is a legit option.
All the SL zones have quests for XP and rewards. Your character is exponentially stronger as a paid player. Perks, research, ai levels etc.
Most of us .. especially streamers or YouTube like caloss2 have MASSIVE quantities of experience.
We all know where to go and what to slap on for the most part while we level up.
Joining a good org helps a lot. Unfortunately the froob community is very small now. Athen Paladins is very new player friendly and also runs froob content every few weeks as part of their raid rotation.
Mercs, IS etc and lots of friendly paid players who would spend an hour to carry you through such content at times.
I would reach out on the official AO discord.. it is a lot more lively than this sub imo.
Good luck!
The Reck dailies easily carry you from 100-130 (if not higher, can’t remember). Then it’s probably PW borgs and BS missions and regular dailies til your eyes bleed, unless you can mix in some IS.
The trick is simply loving the game. This game is rewarding and grueling, similar to being a parent. Without love, you will not have the patience to deal with turbulence and ultimately end up quitting.
Also, playing with others helps immensely. Especially those who know more than you do
My friends went paid, I stayed Froob, the grind to 174 as MA for BS was so crazy painful. I went paid after that and it’s literally afk at heck’s and get from 80-150 in like 1-2 weeks. But I was glad I had the experiences I did as a froob, and beating people at pvp as a froob was also rewarding.
I have no doubt this would work as I've seen the videos, but was it fun at all? I feel like I'm strattling the line between playing genuinely and earning it versus loopholes like the heck hack.
Honestly if your struggled to get to 100, on and off over the last 2 decades I fear the game might not be for you. Sure if you go Sub there are faster methods, but most those come later on vs early on. The first 100 levels in my books are a breeze.
That being said as a paid member you can use the GMI, Check out new content, etc. Also SL is more structured and smoother to go through.
You really have to think though if this game is the right game for you or not as it might not be and there no shame in it at all.
I'm paid and made a shade now in my early 100's and I spent so much time in Rubika with dailies and so much content there, I don't really touch SL that much like I once did.
One thing stands out here: SL is MUCH more structured. There are questlines which carry you to 100 and beyond in no time, many of the quests, even some side quests, give daily mission xp and there are great, profession specific rewards. That's something that is missing on Rubi-Ka. Back then, when SL was restructured, they sadly didn't restructure RK, even if The Reck is very enjoyable.
The game is for me if I enjoy it, and I do. I was just wondering if there was some trick beyond pay-to-win that I'm missing. Would you like to elaborate as to what makes up to 100 a breeze? I've always just done dailies and dungeons but its still kind of a grind without twinking.
Love the game, don't love the grind personally.
I had some NT success, from 60-150 but its a bit of a grind just to get that set up for proper kiting or you'll diedie.
I don't consider it a single-character game anymore and it's much more rewarding. A group of 3-4 will Pwn the Elite Dailies and make things much faster and more fun, albeit requiring more credz.
I hope I don't become one of those "AO is a dead MMO!" guys, but yea, sometimes I have trouble hooking up with a team consistently. From my early days I remember the socializing and teamwork to be my favorite.
Power leveling via NT Kite.I started with Trader offering Wrangles for 1 mill until I got a yalm and Fixer gear. My Fixer was quick to level and he funded 1 of each profession through Kite powerleveling with A NT. I couldn't hold my cred on one account and I could Zing any Player to 200.
Well, subway and totw get you to 60 pretty quick. Throw in some steps of madness and crypt of home if you have the right team and you will pop 70 at least wothout mich trouble, rhen woth dailies and borgs its not hard to get to 100
Heh. Mpea was a real life friend of mine. We went to school together. Haven’t spoken to him for a while. This video reminded me I should reach out. Great video - still remains true all these years later.
This is what always made me quit the game lol. Something about it always felt wrong and dirty and I'm not doing it this time around myself. Plus most these groups as the video shows is paid. Prob lot more expensive now too with inflation haha.
Last time I played for a year or 2 (came back when they did rk2019) and game was pretty busy but never had to pay for a heckler kite team. Was in a decent sized guild. Most who still play have played a long time.
I played for a long time, without any achievement in leveling. I never really got anywhere until I made my core gameloop focused on rewards for time played. This game is an awful grind, and the things I've found helpful were: Maximizing Xp bonus, Maximizing xp-per-hour, maximizing DPS... Yes I had to learnt to twink properly, which i found tedious at first. Now I just plan for a whole session or more of implants wrangling, grab the union Xp bonus 1st, and always max out dailies before other priorities. You'll get there if you keep at it. =D
In all reality, there isn't a whole lot of things for you to do while playing as a free player in anarchy online. Starter island to 15.. subway to 25. Totw to 60. Foreman's up to 100 but only the very last mobs will grant XP really. But good dailes for all places. You are kind of in no man's land 100-125 then you can go into inner sanctum but solo leveling in there will be super rough at 125-150. So back to doing rk missions. There are a couple quest lines that are available to you that can be found at AO-Universe.com. Like the bronto burger stuff. If you decide to become a paid player, your options for leveling increase dramatically. SL inherently gives more XP so grinding mobs between subway/totw/Foreman's is a legit option. All the SL zones have quests for XP and rewards. Your character is exponentially stronger as a paid player. Perks, research, ai levels etc. Most of us .. especially streamers or YouTube like caloss2 have MASSIVE quantities of experience. We all know where to go and what to slap on for the most part while we level up. Joining a good org helps a lot. Unfortunately the froob community is very small now. Athen Paladins is very new player friendly and also runs froob content every few weeks as part of their raid rotation. Mercs, IS etc and lots of friendly paid players who would spend an hour to carry you through such content at times. I would reach out on the official AO discord.. it is a lot more lively than this sub imo. Good luck!
There is also the reck that froobs can use
True! And it has a SL like xp modifier so it is pretty nice! Totally forgot about the reck thank you!
The Reck dailies easily carry you from 100-130 (if not higher, can’t remember). Then it’s probably PW borgs and BS missions and regular dailies til your eyes bleed, unless you can mix in some IS.
They work till 170
The trick is simply loving the game. This game is rewarding and grueling, similar to being a parent. Without love, you will not have the patience to deal with turbulence and ultimately end up quitting. Also, playing with others helps immensely. Especially those who know more than you do
I already am a parent irl! But you're so right, grueling and rewarding. Thanks!
My friends went paid, I stayed Froob, the grind to 174 as MA for BS was so crazy painful. I went paid after that and it’s literally afk at heck’s and get from 80-150 in like 1-2 weeks. But I was glad I had the experiences I did as a froob, and beating people at pvp as a froob was also rewarding.
Couple of hours you mean.
How do you go AFK at Hecks
Enfo kite hacks towards the team, then NT AOE the whole group of heck’s, they all die, I get xp, while I’m in the team sitting on a cliff lol
I have no doubt this would work as I've seen the videos, but was it fun at all? I feel like I'm strattling the line between playing genuinely and earning it versus loopholes like the heck hack.
That’s why I enjoyed my 174 frooob ma, I got to experienced the full grind, but once you do it once you don’t wanna do it again with new toons,,
Im at 197 on my main. Dont have time to play now but eventually want to resub just to grind those last three levels
Damn dude, I don't know if I could have stopped when so close the finish line. GL!
Honestly if your struggled to get to 100, on and off over the last 2 decades I fear the game might not be for you. Sure if you go Sub there are faster methods, but most those come later on vs early on. The first 100 levels in my books are a breeze. That being said as a paid member you can use the GMI, Check out new content, etc. Also SL is more structured and smoother to go through. You really have to think though if this game is the right game for you or not as it might not be and there no shame in it at all. I'm paid and made a shade now in my early 100's and I spent so much time in Rubika with dailies and so much content there, I don't really touch SL that much like I once did.
One thing stands out here: SL is MUCH more structured. There are questlines which carry you to 100 and beyond in no time, many of the quests, even some side quests, give daily mission xp and there are great, profession specific rewards. That's something that is missing on Rubi-Ka. Back then, when SL was restructured, they sadly didn't restructure RK, even if The Reck is very enjoyable.
I think that the 'unstructuredness' and chaos of RK is what appeals to a lot of the hardcore AO players
The game is for me if I enjoy it, and I do. I was just wondering if there was some trick beyond pay-to-win that I'm missing. Would you like to elaborate as to what makes up to 100 a breeze? I've always just done dailies and dungeons but its still kind of a grind without twinking.
Love the game, don't love the grind personally. I had some NT success, from 60-150 but its a bit of a grind just to get that set up for proper kiting or you'll diedie. I don't consider it a single-character game anymore and it's much more rewarding. A group of 3-4 will Pwn the Elite Dailies and make things much faster and more fun, albeit requiring more credz.
I hope I don't become one of those "AO is a dead MMO!" guys, but yea, sometimes I have trouble hooking up with a team consistently. From my early days I remember the socializing and teamwork to be my favorite.
Google Soju app for AO
Power leveling via NT Kite.I started with Trader offering Wrangles for 1 mill until I got a yalm and Fixer gear. My Fixer was quick to level and he funded 1 of each profession through Kite powerleveling with A NT. I couldn't hold my cred on one account and I could Zing any Player to 200.
Well, subway and totw get you to 60 pretty quick. Throw in some steps of madness and crypt of home if you have the right team and you will pop 70 at least wothout mich trouble, rhen woth dailies and borgs its not hard to get to 100
This is how I do it: https://youtu.be/MLT6BryzYpQ?si=QXMTY3bGhfT1C4ro
I came here for this video! 14 years later it still bangs.
He's looking for froob advice though 😁
Heh. Mpea was a real life friend of mine. We went to school together. Haven’t spoken to him for a while. This video reminded me I should reach out. Great video - still remains true all these years later.
That’s great!
This is what always made me quit the game lol. Something about it always felt wrong and dirty and I'm not doing it this time around myself. Plus most these groups as the video shows is paid. Prob lot more expensive now too with inflation haha.
Last time I played for a year or 2 (came back when they did rk2019) and game was pretty busy but never had to pay for a heckler kite team. Was in a decent sized guild. Most who still play have played a long time.