Levelling up.

[Target]

Just wondering what different people’s views on levelling up are. I know some players like to wait a long time then level up quite a bit in one go, what are the benefits of that approach?

[DraconFighter]

You'll probably get a lot of conflicting opinions on this question.

I think a good general rule is to level up as you go unless you can think of a good reason not to do so.

One good reason not to might be that you don't want to level up to 6 until you hit Arnika. The Monastery and the Road spawn harder, disease-carrying monsters once you get to level 6.

If I want my Lord to have a solid base in magic, I'll let him spend level 1 as a Priest. I'll let him stay at level 1 through most of the Monastery. Same goes for a Samurai whose first level will be as a Mage.

One small disadvantage of not leveling up is that when you enter an new area some of the treasure chests are based on the average level of your party. It is possible you won't get such good stuff. But this is minor as the better chests are not based on level.

dracon fighter is right - there's a lot of opinions on this one.

personally, i take every level up as soon as i can get it, usually.

one reason i will put it off is if a spell caster doesnt quite have enough in their spellbook to qualify for the next level of spells that become available at their levelup. for example, if i'm running a bishop who is level 7, qualifies for level 4 spells with their next level up, but only has 43 in psionics (needs 45 so i can buy ego whip, for example), then i might put off the level up until i get that extra couple points in psionics, which i'll concentrate on.

another downside i find to not taking levelups as soon as i can, particularly early, is that attribute levels just arent high enough to be learning skills quickly.

[Scatter]

There are a couple places i save levels earned within a zone until i've entered the next zone (usually one, rarely 2 levels) so the mob spawns are a bit lower--Arnika Road, and Mine Tunnels, where i go at L8-9.
I also end up saving 2 or 3 levels in the Monastery, especially in Solo or Duo, during the Stealth level, which is almost always L5.
Bishops usually save Levels 7 and 8 so they can go into and back out of Mage without having to fight. (to Knock Wizardry up)
Sometimes i switch back and forth; especially a Bard/Sam, who may take some levels as a Sam when there's no pockets to pick, and switch back when entering a new NPC-rich/friendly-natives area. To do this, they stay a level behind in order to change back when there's a lot of fighting again.

[Loudhy]

I always level up as soon as I can. My gamestyle is a little bit different from most of the W8 players ( my magic parties never left the monastery before they reach Lvl 10 ). During that time my party has so much chances to train all skills, that there is no need to wait .
I also sometimes force leveling-up at the beginning ( I kill both noxious slimes immediatly ) because I want to get the harder enemies as soon as possible. IMO killing harder enemies makes skill development faster .

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

[ 12-12-2003, 03:11 AM: Message edited by: Loudhy ]

[dplax]

I always level up, when I get the level up.

[DraconFighter]

Loudhy wrote:
"my magic parties never left the monastery before they reach Lvl 10"

Whenever I have leveled up past 5 in the Monastery, I have had disease problems. How do you avoid it? [I forget how soon Alchemy skill reaches the point where you can make cure disease potions, but I think it is 40. You don't reach that by level 6, do you?]

More thoughts on the Arnika Rd:

I don't level up past five in the Monastery in order to avoid the disease-carrying rats, but right at the door before leaving, I take all the level ups I can. Why? More often than not, as soon as I step out I meet a bunch of venom crabs and get my shells to give to Antone. I never see them at level 5 and don't want to wait till Bayjin to get them. My spellcasters are generally Faeries, so Z'plates are useful to me. I know this makes the road harder, but I've also become very good at running away.

[Brian]

What I do is wait until the whole team has become eligable for promotion then up-grade them all at the same time.What this does is keep them all the same level all the time,this keeps the opposition monsters at the level of the highest member,thats all of them.This prevents one party member being one or two levels higher than the rest of the team,drawing higher level monsters to the weaker members..BRIAN

[Ziggurat]

Brian, I try to do the same thing as you for the same reason, at least in the Monastery and Arnika Road.

I have tried the other ideas mentioned above with various games. If it's a reasonably strong party I will lev every time. That is now my default, being experienced.

If it is too weak, I hold back on leveling for the Arnika road. This allows the party to increase combat and magic stats, getting stronger, without attracting stronger enemies. (I actually made it to Arnika with everyone lev 2, a 4-party to boot, got lucky against Gregor).

The diseased critters kicking in at lev 5 is also a valid point. I don't have too much trouble but reload if diseased (unless I can get Cure Disease with Alchemy or luck). I don't try the road if diseased, never seems to work. The game senses if you are desperate, or at least it seems that way.

as i recently learned the hard way (and with help from loudhy ), the alchemist can mix cure disease at alch=40. with the 25% bonus, that's easy to achieve by level 6 for an alchemist, but if you're counting on a bishop or ranger/ninja to do it for you, forget it.

on the bright side, you can buy the ingredients at burz, if you need it, so that helps too.

in my most recent game, i was actually doing what brian described and have been very pleased with the results. i think early in the game, because of the way monster levelling is so dramatic, it makes a huge difference.

now that we're level 12/13/14 i dont think i'll be quite so selective.