How do you finish W8 at lvl 20 or earlier ???

[Loudhy]

My magic party is doing well and I think they'll reach the circle. But I'm quite sure that this party (currently 2 priests with 4 Bishops) will have more than lvl 22 (bishops) at the end.
When I played my muscle party, they had lvl 27 at the entrance to the circle.

I made all quests and side quests and collected all possible Exp's hidden in the game, so I think I play a "normal" game. I fight most combats (I ignore only the boring ones), but I don't search them.

So please tell me: How do you play to reach the Circle at that early level ?


[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[Scatter]

Stop doing all the extra quests, avoid combat more. I've stated how hard it is to get in under L20 with a solo, not because you get killed, but because of all the XP. But it should be really easy with 6. You only have to join the Umps--not do any quests--and only two quests for the T'rang and you can get in the Mook building. Aside from that, you can just go directly to what you need. The lowest level i've been and survived every fight in the game (with 4 chars--just to see what level that would be) was 16.
Of course, you can just avoid leveling, and drag a couple dozen million points around...

[Nightowl2]

My parties have typically been in the 18-20 range when it's time for the finale. They did all the quests, including the alliance, but I tend to avoid combat when it isn't necessary. I also use portal spells for maximum effect (easy to do when you're familiar with the game). Less walking equals less fighting.

My earliest groups, back when I was still learning the game, were a little higher than that, though I no longer recall exactly what levels they were.

Nightowl2

[Loudhy]

That's what I do, Nightowl2. With my full magic party I've 6 portals set. It was a horror with my fighter party, running all the long ways.

With my current party I only joined the T'Rang . Finished Nessie and the Queen.
Set a portal in front of Marten's tomb. Finished the retros.
Now I'm on the way to insert the Chaos Moliri into the shrine ( I never entered Ascension Peak from Bela's entrance ). I want to try something new this time.
We'll see, how good my party is at AP.

It seems, that the number of combats make the difference.

[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[Nightowl2]

Yeah, that's why I gave up on my non-mage parties early. No portals meant too much walking and far too many fights.

Note that I don't do any of the retro dungeons these days, and haven't for some time. After looking all of them over, I sometimes did the Nebdar dungeon, but typically I don't bother with them. Doing quests gives more experience than fighting, although in time you start picking up some good experience in the Mountain Wilderness and on the peak as level rises.

Nightowl2

[Scatter]

I gotta have Nebdar if i have a Ninja or Bishop; otherwise i don't go in any of those either.

[Loudhy]

I don't like it to ignore parts of a game.

First : There are many monsters I never met ( f.e. the cubes I met in the northern wilderness retro for the first time after more than a year of playing )

Second : I have many different parties, that need different items and I havn't found lots of good stuff for the different professions up to now . So I usually don't ignore some maps ( f.e the unexplored sector in the mt. gigas caves ) . And especially this area is loaded with EXP because of the Ensnaring Spiders and the Contagion Bats.

Last but not least: In some areas it is quicker to fight and remove the enemies than spending lots of minutes and turns to run away . The higher my party level the less I look on the radar screen. I often forget the x-ray spell then.

Even with 6 portals, T'Rang teleporter amd humpawhammer my party is on the way to lvl 20 now ( for my bishops) . And I'm sure at AP they'll earn another level.

I think, it is impossible for me to reach the circle with a lower lvl than 20 the way I play my games.

[img]graemlins/monster5.gif[/img]

[Nightowl2]

Yeah, your playing style pretty much means a higher level at the end. Unless you cut out some of the optional stuff - like those unexplored Gigas caves - you'll just keep racking up the experience. This is not a bad thing, but I found it boring myself and stopped doing that some time ago.

On the other hand, it's just another proof that the game was designed very openly, allowing us to play the way we want and still reach the finale.

Nightowl2

[Wereboar]

Well, you could just stop taking levels.
Don't know how high you have to be for AP, vbut with one part (six characters, expert/ironman), i stopped levelling at level 11 for quite a while.

Did the whole rapax rift and castle at that level.
Well, i had enough experience to gain 3 levels at that time i think. But beeing low level reduces the level of the random encounters, thus reducing the amount of experience you get.

I had played a big part of the game when i finally took my outstanding levels. Was level 16 then.