POTD: Returning player confusion - skip mobs or not?

[Makeda]

I'm a returning player, and when I left they didn't have POTD, or I had managed to not know about it (I left during ARR, and then came back for a month or two around 3.0, and am trying to 'come back' again).

So...

I tried POTD for the first time last night and all my groups were doing full clears to get experience.

I presumed I wanted to do the same thing, thinking that this would translate to more experience for my 'actual class' upon leaving. I now believe this is wrong though, right? Is the experience gained for your 'real class / job' just a fixed number based on the number of levels cleared?

That said... this morning I had a group getting very mad at me for attacking enemies and not trying to 'carefully skip around them to avoid all aggro and just reach the next level'.

They told me the kills gave no experience. But I do see my 'POTD level' rapidly going up when we attack enemy mobs...

What is the correct approach in all of this?

How should I be using this place?

Consider that my main job is level 53, and I have an alt with her main job at 51. I was in POTD based on advice that I need to reach 'some point' in it (that I couldn't figure out what point) in order to get an iLevel 230 weapon when I hit 60.

I went in on lower level classes that I need a few levels on (darknight for the main to make it easier for me to be able to pick warrior or DrK to 'focus' later, thamaturge for the alt as she's a healer still lacking swiftcast).

- Am I doing this place all wrong? All right? somewhat?

I asked in chat in game... and I got back "they're skipping because you get no exp at 60, and you will be 60 anyway really fast" which just confused me more... if I skip getting exp, how do I get to 60? Clearly there is something people who have been doing this just 'intuitively know' that a 'noob' like me doesn't yet grasp...

[ManuelBravo]

For the most part you can skip most, what you need to focus is on silver chest to get your lights up. Majority of times you will encounter speed runners go with the flow. As advance in floors, your level will go up, so XP you can normally cap around 30-40th floor for sure by 50 so don't worry too much about xp and focus on doing runs faster and learning the items and when to use them.

NOTE: You have the right idea if your going solo, IF your doing solo attempt work best to have all at 99/99

[Sagittarian]

PoTD floors 1-50 is very different from floor 51+
First, your PoTD character level is different from your actual character level. You start floor 1 of PoTD at character level 1 no matter what you have outside. Until you reach level 60 in PoTD you do get xp from kills. So while running floors 1-50 I would try to kill everything until you hit level 60. Your weapon/armor bonus matters more but having those extra skills can be very useful depending on your class. After you reach character level 60 the kills don't matter any more.
Once you've cleared floor 50 you can then start any later runs from 51. When you start at floor 51 your PoTD character level starts at 60, so again kills won't help at all for xp. This is where you just get a lump of xp for each 10 floors cleared - like 500K.

Regarding the 230 weapon, if you get your weapon and armor bonus both up to +30 you can talk to one of the NPCs outside to get an ilvl 235 "padjali" weapon for your current class. Doing this lowers both bonuses by 30. If you then get them back up to +60 you can upgrade the padjali weapon to an ilvl 255 "kinna". This lowers both bonuses by 60.

[Alistaire]

Time is the ultimate gating.

For players who want (insert thing to want from potd here) it's best to do runs as fast as possible because queues are fast. More runs = more stuff.

Dragging out a run for whatever benefit you want is shooting yourself in the foot.

[dragonseth07]

Experience gained in the outside world is indeed fixed. No additional kills inside will change it.

[Sunspawn]

I think dragonseth07's answer was that OP was asking - as long as you clear the 10 floor segment you're in (they go in 1-10, 11-20, 21-30... etc), you get a lump of exp based on your current (non-potd) level. For floors 1-50, it's usually around a third of a full level.

Also, OP specifically said he tried potd for the first time ever, so why do half of the answers contain advice for 51+?

[Liedulv]

Time is the ultimate gating.

For players who want (insert thing to want from potd here) it's best to do runs as fast as possible because queues are fast. More runs = more stuff.

Dragging out a run for whatever benefit you want is shooting yourself in the foot.

Except when people skip treasure in the interest of speed of course. Run into this more than I would like.

But yeah get your treasure skip any mobs possible. My fiancé has been doing a lot of stealthy runs into rooms so we can skip the monsters guarding the loot.

[dragonseth07]

Except when people skip treasure in the interest of speed of course. Run into this more than I would like.

But yeah get your treasure skip any mobs possible. My fiancé has been doing a lot of stealthy runs into rooms so we can skip the monsters guarding the loot.

Well, the chests per run drops in a speedrun. But, if it's a well-done speedrun, your chests per hour is likely comparable, maybe higher.

[Keldon]

As mentioned, your in-dungeon level, and out-of-dungeon level are separated from each other. The reason most people skip mobs is because the xp you get at the end of the run is a fixed amount based on your character level. If you enter at lvl 53 outside, you get the same xp at the end no matter what you do inside the dungeon (usually a similar amount as the bonus xp from a leveling roulette).

Since you have to kill a certain amount of mobs inside the dungeon to unlock the exit, you'll end up with plenty of xp to raise your in-dungeon level just doing that. The only thing you should really be aiming for are the silver chests, and any gold/bronze chests that are unguarded, or that you would need to clear to get through the room anyway.

[Illmaeran]

Makeda,

I'm a returnee too and had the same problem last night and this morning running PotD for the first times. Then I got lucky and had a run or two with an actual tank and the old reflexes kicked in- always follow the tank. Taking your queues from the tank usually works out.

If there's no tank then just follow the zerg and go with the flow.