1.19 powerlevel guide

[Dyne]

Bla bla bla. Now you're definitly on the right's part. Go dyne, you have a shining future !

Not exactly sure what you said, but I'll take it as a complement and I accept your apology.

[Jabo]

Step 1: Make a full party of similar levels.
Step 2: Put all 8 on follow on one high level character outside of party.
Step 3: Use provoke to engage an enemy using one of the party members.
Step 4: One shot it with your high level character outside of party.
Step 5: Rinse and repeat. Make sure you do it fast, so you can chain.

This update will be awesome. I can't wait. It's so exciting!

1.19 will also see a general exp algorithm change, as well as a party exp change, so this threat is pretty much muh.

[MrKupo]

with reinforcements and exp chains, I can see how normal experiencing can be better than PLing. This would be especially true if chains can be broken by interrupting high level chars.

For example, if you have a full party of 30s killing 40s raptors, those raptors are less likely to call in as many reinforcements and the exp chains will be maintained by the speed of the kills. On the other hand, if you have a PL r50 trying to change that up, the raptors will be calling in all nearby mobs to gang shank the PL on top of the fact that r50 is higher than r40s, thus making a chain impossible.

Boom, counter PL system already stated in the release notes. Conversation over.

[Maya_Yam]

Not sure how it is now, but a few months ago, if there was a high level in your party, you got crap sp, and they get slightly higher sp. And then it was changed so the lower level gets more sp, and the higher level gets almost no sp. Not sure which came first. They keep switching things around, it's like they don't have testers with opinions, and prefer to use player outrage to get a good grasp on things.

I'm not sure what you're referring to, but the party bonus algorithm hasn't changed significantly since they switched to 8 person parties. It's basically Party-Bonus * Enemy-SP / Members-in-party. The bonus of course increases as the party size increases. The actual values for the bonus may have been tweaked a bit, but I don't believe it has changed significantly since the max party size got lowered.

The exploit you describe in the OP isn't all that different that what's possible now. Take for example a rank 40 enemy that give's 500 SP solo when you're R30.

I don't recall what the exact values for the party bonuses are, but lets assume that for 2 people it's 2x and for 3 people it's 2.8x. These values probably aren't exactly correct, but I think they're close enough for this example.

If a R30 pairs with a R50 and lets the R50 one-shot the above mentioned R40 enemy, the R30 player gets 250 SP (total SP is halved and they don't get any bonus because the rank difference is too large) - not bad considering they didn't do any work, but they can get even more.

If another R30 player is added into the party, then the R30 players both get 333 SP (the total SP is divided by 3, but the R30 players both get the the 2x bonus because they're within the appropriate level range of each other). It doesn't matter that neither of the R30 players are in the bonus range of the R50 player, they still get the 2 person bonus because they're in range of each other. If the 3 person bonus was 2.8, then by adding another R30 to the party (for a total of 3 R30s and 1 R50), then the SP for each rank R30 player would be 350 (2.8 * 500 / 4). The idea that adding leaches to a party can in some cases actually improve SP seems a bit bizarre, but unfortunately it's the current reality.

I guess my point with all this is that the exploits that are possible now aren't that different than the one you described. Also, the post on these changes states: "We will also be implementing adjustments to overall experience point rewards and the current party bonus algorithm." We'll have to see how things turn out, but I don't think we should be so sure that 1.19 will make these sorts of exploits easier.

[Dyne]

with reinforcements and exp chains, I can see how normal experiencing can be better than PLing. This would be especially true if chains can be broken by interrupting high level chars.

For example, if you have a full party of 30s killing 40s raptors, those raptors are less likely to call in as many reinforcements and the exp chains will be maintained by the speed of the kills. On the other hand, if you have a PL r50 trying to change that up, the raptors will be calling in all nearby mobs to gang shank the PL on top of the fact that r50 is higher than r40s, thus making a chain impossible.

Boom, counter PL system already stated in the release notes. Conversation over.

Link system only works if there are nearby mobs. With higher level players helping an already speedy party doing chains, chances are areas would be very empty. Also keep in mind player mindset of sticking to only one area for leveling. Just like you only mention raptor parties, how many parties do you think that little area can support?

[Dyne]

Sorry, but this game has a history of ruining things. They will change it into something that causes such outrage, then ultimately scrap it and say, "Let's just bring back something from ffxi" a couple months later.

[Rentahamster]

All you need to do to stop the OP's exploit is to award SP to the valid party as a percentage of damage done to the mob in question.

Edit: Although, it would open up griefing opportunities for people to deny EXP to other parties by hitting their mobs on purpose.

[Maya_Yam]

Although, it would open up griefing opportunities for people to deny EXP to other parties by hitting their mobs on purpose.

I don't think that sort of griefing would be much worse than (under the current system) claiming and killing mobs before the party in question can even get to them. A single R50 character could single-handledly ruin most R40 and below grinding areas even now.

[Nero]

Oooooh exploits.. and now? Want a cookie? Whats the point of this Thread? Complaining that People going to use it? Complaining that it is even possible to exploit? Its basically what People did for Month with aborting leves. Just that you can do it, does not mean that everyone will actually do it.

I dont care about exploits, i play the way i like to. SP-Grinds, 1-4 Man leves, Solo. The use of exploits like that will end up in having tons of people, which dont know how to play their Jobs. ( Sounds kind of familiar if i think of FFXI ).

So those people will have a Rank50 Class real quick and then? They cant do shit, cause noone wants to play with them, since they dont even know the Basics of their Role? Exactly what will happen, like it did in FFXI and that is why people shouldnt need to care about Stuff like that.

And beside what i just said...

with reinforcements and exp chains, I can see how normal experiencing can be better than PLing. This would be especially true if chains can be broken by interrupting high level chars.

For example, if you have a full party of 30s killing 40s raptors, those raptors are less likely to call in as many reinforcements and the exp chains will be maintained by the speed of the kills. On the other hand, if you have a PL r50 trying to change that up, the raptors will be calling in all nearby mobs to gang shank the PL on top of the fact that r50 is higher than r40s, thus making a chain impossible.

Boom, counter PL system already stated in the release notes. Conversation over.

^ This.

[MrKupo]

Link system only works if there are nearby mobs. With higher level players helping an already speedy party doing chains, chances are areas would be very empty. Also keep in mind player mindset of sticking to only one area for leveling. Just like you only mention raptor parties, how many parties do you think that little area can support?

As i said, if a high level player is helping, no experience chain. And it's not like a full party can kill a mob much slower than a PL. And the reinforcement system is different from a normal linking system in that it is based of the strength of the players attacking the mob. If there was a PL in the raptor area, that raptor would call all nearby raptors, and as you said it is a small area. Not only will the PL pull in a full gang of mobs, there will be no experience chain.
Compare this to playing as we do now at the raptor camp. Fast kills one by one. The result in the new system is an increased rate in exp. You kill the mobs just fast enough to beat the respawn time, just as a PL would. The difference, more exp.

PL would kill exp chain. that's basically my whole argument. If you have one player who has a level above the mob, the chain is broken. of course this is my assumption. The notes say that mobs chain when equal to or higher than the level of the attacking party, but does that mean average, highest individual level, or something else.