The Fell Cleave conundrum

So I recently took up arms and decided to lvl something new and I ran into a problem not to far in. Seems that even book burns are disappearing at an alarming rate and the only real way to lvl is done via fell cleave pts. So here is the problem...idk which of these pts are real players out to make some gil and which are rmt, not being one to support rmt I am hesitant to join. Especially since the name of the ppl /sh in pj are constantly changing again making me think rmt sponsored lvling.

Are fell cleave pts the only way to lvl anything these days outside soloing? Even the gusgan pts are dwindling. Not sure how ppl are really going 10-30 but I have gone to gusgan multiple times to find nothing but the remnants of a pt in the form of afk leechers standing around. The few lvl 75+ aby pts are usually full of keyers and afk leeches causing even these pts to not be really worthwhile.

I really hate to give my hard earned gil (haha) to rmt and I dont really wanna solo either so whats a guy supposed to do? Whats the level building alternative?

Don't really need a full alliance to get an all right exp rate in a book burn. You should be able to do 10-20k/hour even with 6 people if you all aren't severely underleveled in gusgen. While that doesn't sound like very speedy exp, you gotta remember that you also don't need nearly as much exp per level down in your teens and twenties. In CN you should be able to do 30k+ even if you're just around 6 people and do an efficient circular run down to the ball room and back up through the one-way drop tunnel.

Gusgen parties aren't as long-lived anymore, this is true. You don't see an alliance staying alive for like 10+ hours anymore, but they still happen not too rarely. Sometimes you have to wait around in the area. If you can get a friend or two with you for a little while, it will make other people think there's enough people in the area to bother running out. I know I'm guilty of not even going to gusgen if i /sea and only see 1 person there. If there's 3 or more there already, I usually head out.

I recently made a 2nd character for whm dualbox.. and it only took about 5hrs to get 7-30 with 2 99 dd/dncs in zeruhn mines, page 5 (whatever the lst one is). You can afk in the SE tunnel and be in xp range of all the mobs. Also a great incentive for the lv99s wanting prouesse ring (we got 2 to drop in the 5hrs we were there)

Yeah there are plenty of variety of how to level now, including the old school set up. Just have to be creative with your strategy and as usual having a couple of friends will open up many ways on how to do things. It is definitely suck if you are more solo player, and happen to try to level mage jobs or not quite solo able jobs. You can still do the book burning killing easy prey with your exp ring, slow but still a lot faster compared to the 2003-2006 old school ways.

A lot of people still will solo to 15, get a small to large group in gusgen, then crawler's nest, then garliage citadel, then the tree and or besieged, and then campaign battle to 75 or so. On my server La Thiene worm parties in abyssea are still pretty popular and happily take any job that is 75+. Dom ops in Altepa are still pretty popular too. Most folks can take a job to 99 in a couple of weeks without leeching or keying.

Gearing yourself decently every ten levels or so also makes a tremendous difference in the ease of levelling.

You can solo exp surprisingly fast and take full advantage of the exp per mob rather than book exp. I usually stick with a page until exp drops to less than 150 per kill, then switch area/mob. My server is also lackin in exp roups but TBH, i'm more of a solo/duo player anyway.

I usually do:
1-8 page 1 in east sarutabaruta.
8-14 crows and crawlers page while walkin to the canyon.
14-18 bee's and saplings page in the canyon(+ everything else i happen to see)
18-25 mandies and a rabbit in buburimu + goblins. Try to get exp chain going on goblins while waiting for mandie repops.
25-32 page 1 in quifie (Switch to higher page with pugils on it around 30). Avoid the roundabout bit in the middle, the haunts cause some issues. try to time it so you kill 1 worm to finish your page and another to start the next during the day. Kill crabs in the open.
32-36 Rolanberry is good, killing crawlers/bee's.
36-48 Garlage Citadel on bats and beetles. This is when it starts getting worth it to stick with an area until the limit. Head from entrance to the gate and back around. the first few levels you should get really nice exp from chaining.
48-58 Crawlers Nest, page 4. again, its a good place to stick with a page until the absolute limit.
58+ The Boyhada Tree. You can sometimes pick up a party here on page 1. Usually small party, but you aintain decent exp per kill that way anyway. Once you are 65ish you can switch to page 3 and solo your way to 75 before switching to page 4.

After that you can either stick with page 4 until the high 80's (or even higher if you don't die of boredom). at that point, its a good idea to check the page 8 area often. At 99 you get between 500 and 750 a kill in there and up to 4k+ a page. If you can find someone to (Team up?) with, you will be 99 in no time at all.

Roughly following that, you will level at a respectable rate and be highly adept at your job for the end game content instead of underskilled, and essentially useless at it. You will have a much easier time gettin your empy gear too as you will most likely be able to solo alot of the nm's for papers/+2's.

Remember to keep your gear up to date for your level, especially before you move up a step to the next area.

Meh....Idk, pay em or don't, when you do and get what you paid for, sometimes, you make more than you pay,....but thats assuming lil a holes like me dont come along and aga your cleavers pull,....its funny, they dont complain if shady, but bicsh piss and moan if a legit player trying to make some gil (theyre the ones that suck at it)