Showing posts with label leveling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label leveling. Show all posts

Thursday, May 10, 2012

WOW quick leveling

Question

Is there a better way to level fast in WOW than just completing quests? I've been playing for months and I'm barely at level 40, while my classmates play less than I do and have multiple lvl 80 characters.

Answer

There are a few things you can do to accelerate levelling:

Dungeons Use the Looking for Group tool to queue for dungeons. There are often quests within dungeons with good experience rewards (the first time at least). Dungeons also have high level mobs which will have a good rate of experience on them. Loot from dungeons will also make your character more powerful, making questing easier/faster.

Quest wisely Move out of areas once you out level them - don't feel compelled to stay and finish the story lines if your priority is levelling.

PVP Some people get a good rate of experience/hour by winning in battlegrounds.

Have a max-level character Your colleagues will have advantages over you if they have access to Heirlooms. As well has having excellent stats some heirlooms have bonus experience for both killing mobs and turning in quests.

Rest bonus Make sure you are in an Inn or a capital city when you log out to accrue rest bonus.

Gathering professions Nowadays you gain experience when you gather herbs and mine ore. You can then sell the herbs/ore on the Auction House and buy better items to level faster.

Answered by Antony

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Good class and profession combinations for leveling with a friend in WoW?

Question

this is kind of a follow up to my recent question regarding WoW and leveling (here). My friend decided to try WoW and i would like to play with him from level 1 to 85 with a brand new character. I would like to know what are some good choices of class and professions in a 2-man party, so that there is perfect synergy between us? We are on a PvE server and are mainly focused on PvE, so you can disregard anything thats related to PvP (Arenas etc.).

One thing to consider is that my friend strongly favors playing as a hunter (he looked through the classes available in WoW and immediatelly fell in love with this one). However I can probably persuade him to play something else.

As a side note, i was thinking of a Druid+Hunter combo, where Hunter would go for Skin/LW and Druid for Herb/Alch. Both can benefit from Alch (elixirs etc.) and both wear leather (+mail for the hunter). Any other ideas, suggestions?

Asked by PeterK

Answer

In terms of classes, trying to cover all three roles between the two of you is a good target. When you guys are questing together by yourselves, having one person be DPS and the other healing helps keeps downtime to a minimum. And if you guys decide to use the Dungeon Finder, having one person able to heal and the other be able to tank ensures you'll never have to wait long in the queue.

Blizzard has homogenized the classes over the years so there is a tremendous amount of overlap between the classes and specs. As long as you guys cover the three class roles, feel free to choose whatever fancies you.

For reference the hybrid classes are:

  • All three roles: Paladins, Druids
  • DPS + Healing: Priests, Shamen
  • DPS + Tanking: Warriors, Death Knights

If you're going to take my advice about role coverage, you'll want to avoid Mages, Hunters, Warlocks, and Rogues as they can only be one role: DPS.

Since you're talking 1-85 play, Death Knights are off the table as they start at level 55.

Putting it all together:

  • Person 1: Paladin, Druid, or Warrior (to cover tanking)
  • Person 2: Paladin, Druid, Priest, or Shaman (to cover healing)

In terms of professions, I'd avoid the heavy crafting professions that take a lot of time to level up and are usually taken for the Bind-on-pickup endgame recipes: Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Engineering, Leatherworking. Instead, focus on the professions that'll let you help each other out while leveling, like Enchanting and Alchemy, or the gathering professions, like Mining and Skinning, which will prove lucrative and won't require too much (if any) time soloing.

Answered by Mark Trapp

Saturday, March 10, 2012

What is the most efficient level for enchanting?

Question

According to the Minecraft Wiki article on enchanting, with full bookshelves, the max level is 50, so all further levels are pointless. While this is pretty straightforward, it's not too efficient to get to level 50 before enchanting, since experience yields diminishing returns.

I am going for maximum enchantments, aiming for an enchanted pick with 2-3 enchantments of high level. What's the lowest level where I can achieve this, and does getting to level 50 actually improve the chances of getting these high-level enchantments?

Asked by Jake King

Answer

In Short, yes getting to level 50 gives you the best chances of multiple high-end enchantments.

In Long:

Your kind of riding a grumpy horse on this one. You want the most efficient level to get enchantments. That would be level 50, there is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Flat out, a higher level gives you the greatest chances of getting multiple enchants. Period.

You can still get the highest level of specific enchants at some levels lower than 50 depending on the type of item you enchant, but generally speaking I would strongly suggest you enchant diamont toos\weapons\armor only, because they last longer so you get more bang for your 'buck' of experience. As listed on the wiki Diamond Items dont have the best qualities for enchanting, but 1300+ uses from a Pickaxe of Fortune III is just too good to pass up if you ask me.

Multiple Enchantments

The formulae for multiple enchants works like this:

1--After the first element is selected, there is a chance of receiving more, based on this algorithm:

2--Divide the modified level in half, rounded down. (This does not affect the possible enchantments themselves, because they were all pre-calculated in Step Two.)

3--With probability (modified level + 1) / 50, keep going. Otherwise, stop picking bonus enchantments.

4--Remove from the list of possible enchantments anything that conflicts with previously-chosen enchantments.

5--Pick one enchantment from the remaining possible enchantments (based on the weights, as before) and apply it to the item.

6--Repeat from step 1.

Now what this means for you is that the higher your MODIFIED LEVEL is during your enchantment instance, the greater chance you have for the keep going. And those two words are what gives an item multiple enchantments.

In the second step of the process you can see that it divides your modified level in half. I will go into what a modified level is later in the post, but lets just say its your actual level (50), for the sake of argument. Now divide 50 in half for twenty five, add one to it (26) and throw it on top of /50. That gives you just a bit better than a 50\50 shot on two enchants for your weapon. Thats not bad. It gets much much worse as you keep going though. Each time the repective chances are halved. Rather than do all the math here on Gaming.SE the wiki states:

A level 50 diamond pickaxe would have a 16.10% chance to have 3 enchantments, a 48.09% chance to have exactly 2 enchantments and a 35.80% chance to have exactly 1 enchantment.

You can see there that at level 50 you actually have a Greater chance to get two enchantments than you do to get one. And only 16.10% chance to get three. If you want to get three your best chances are at level 50, and they are still not very good.

Specific Enchantments by Level

This part is somewhat less tricky because the wiki provides us with a wonderfully easy to read graph. I however, suck at Microsoft Paint, and cannot make a sexy.jpg of it. Ill do my best here.
(Modified Enchantment Level in parenthesis)

Efficiency Enchantment
Level 1 (1-51) Level 2 (15-66) Level 3 (33-81) Level 4 (46-96) Level 5 (61-111)

Silk Touch Enchantement
Level 1 (25-75)

Unbreaking Enchantment
Level 1 (5-55) Level 2 (15-65) Level 3 (25-75)

Fortune Enchantment
Level 1 (20-70) Level 2 (32-82) Level 3 (44-94)

This section is pretty straightfoward. If your modified enchanting level falls into any of these number brackets you have the possibility to get that enchantment.

Some notes:
This part is decided before the number of enchantments are decided. So the halving of your MEL (modfied enchantment level) doesn't affect this adversly. All possible enchants are decided before the # of enchantments comes into play.

If your MEL falls into TWO different level brackets of the same enchantment, then the highest possible level is used.

You cannot get Silk Touch and Fortune. Getting one automatically disqualifies your item for the other.

Modified Enchantment Level

All that stated, your going to need to know how to get your MEL. Which is easy.

modified enchantment level = enchantment level + Random(0, enchantability) + 1

Enchantment Level = Your Experience Level

Random(0,enchantability) + 1 = a random number between 0 and the items enchantibility, and then add 1 to that.

(enchantibility is an items enchantibility determined by the type of item it is, diamond, gold, wood, ect. these are listed on the wiki as well.)

Once you have your MEL from the above formulae, the game modifies it further one last time, either increasing or reducing it by a random percentage that caps at 25% more or less than it was originally. (100 can turn into anything from 75 to 125)

I think this is everything you would need to know. Let me know if I missed something in comments and I'll be sure to add it in or clarify it.

Edit #1: Fixed a mistake in the enchantibility formulae.

Answered by Ender

How do I easily level up characters In Final Fantasy VII?

Question

In Final Fantasy VII, I'm near the end of the 2nd CD: I would like to level up my characters in order to have chances to defeat Weapons.

Where I can find monsters that give a good amount of EXP (better if easy to beat)?

Can you suggest some alternative strategies to accomplish the grown of my characters? (I use Cloud, Tifa and Barret).

Asked by dag729

Answer

The best place to level up in ff7 is the Swamp area in the Northern Crater, it is in the final dungeon of disc 3, but is by far the best place to level. If you are leveling to fight the optional weapons (Ruby, Emerald, Ultima) then i would just progress until you can level here. The enemies you want are Movers, they have little (0?) exp but insane AP and are easily killed, and Magic Pots give great exp and ap, but require an elixir to kill (must give it to them first). You can steal elixirs from Gighee Which is also found in the swamp.

General method in the swamp is Steal Elixirs from Gighee (Or just use W-Item Duplication on Elixirs), use Elixirs to kill Magic Pots. Also, while hunting these two be sure to kill Movers great AP, and just run from everything else. This place is so good I usually end up putting my save crystal here.

If that isn't preferred, where you currently are I would recommend Mideel area, the Spiral and Head Hunter (found in forest) enemies give good exp and ap for that part of the game.

If you want to auto level you can fight the Midgar Zolom (Just stand inside the Midgar Swamp with X taped down, turbo might be needed). You can also auto level on certain beachs by holding down, your character will run up and then down the beach in constant motion. Again having X taped down will auto kill monsters. For these methods you might want to consider Sneak Attack materia in your setup.

Hope this helps

Answered by Josh K

Sunday, February 12, 2012

What are some tips for leveling up in LOTRO?

Question

Where can I find a good guide that focuses on efficiently leveling-up for LOTRO?

Asked by antony.trupe

Answer

Mmorsrsel has a section of their site for fast leveling. I think they describe it best when they say lotro isn't really the game to fast level through. They will describe what traits/deeds you should be finishing along the way because what is a level capped player with no virtues.

Answered by Steve Hook

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Does staying level 1 reduce the requirements for gaining xp/levels?

Question

I read somewhere that staying level 1, and refusing to enter the level up screen, would allow you to get every perk.

I think the logic was something like... the game doesn't increase required experience for gaining skill levels until you take the level-up.

At first this seemed true, every sneak attack I landed raised me one full level in sneak, getting 100 right away. But grinding alchemy from 99-100 clearly doesn't have the same requirements as going from 01-02. So the game still seems to be keeping track of my levels.

If that's the case, can you really get every perk? Is there any advantage in refusing to level up, aside from easier enemies?

Asked by CreeDorofl

Answer

This is completely false.

The amount of experience required to gain a point of skill level is:

k(x1.95 )+C

  • k & C = are constants depending on the skill
  • x is the current skill level

The values for sneak are:

k = 2/45 c = 32/3

Here are the experience required for the first 10 levels of sneak:

1 10.71111111
2 10.83838868
3 11.045287
4 11.33015679
5 11.69186759
6 12.12955919
7 12.642538
8 13.23022354
9 13.89211712
10 14.62778195

You'll notice that there is not much difference in the experience required early on as this is not a linear curve. To go from level 49-50 will require nearly 100 experience. This may lead to the false impression that staying at lower levels means your skills go up faster, but whats really happening is if your skill level is low, its easier to improve it.

As for whether or not you can gain every perk, the amount of experience required per level is:

Current level * 25 + 75

You gain the amount of experience points equal to the level of the skill you just obtained. The game will 'bank' any extra experience towards the next level, but the maximum experience you can gain in the game is absolute. There is no way to gain all the perks as you'll top out at level 81 even if you choose to not level up at all until you max all your skills.

Here is the entire XP curve for Sneak in case you are interested:

chart

Answered by yx.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Where are some good places to grind CP?

Question

I'm looking for some good places to grind CP. Ideally they would be:

  • Relatively quick and painless fights. Mindless button mashing at its best.
  • An amount of CP such that it makes sense to stop and grind there. If subsequent areas of the game are going to reward double or triple CP for the same level of difficulty then it's not a great grinding location.

Maybe 1 or 2 areas per episode? For those who aren't aware, the game is split into episodes until you've unlocked just about every area. Your growth is capped at fixed levels per episode.

Asked by Yuck

Answer

Try Academia -400AF 350-500 for quick match

Answered by brandon Sims

Saturday, February 4, 2012

What is the best place to grind experience?

Question

What locations are the best to farm for experience? I'm looking for those only after starting the World of Ruin and before end-game boss fights.

Answer

I like to fight the dinosaurs in the "dinosaur shaped forest" in the World of Ruin when I'm trying to level my characters. This forest is located on an island in the northeastern part of the map, just west of Triangle Island. I believe Brachiosaurs and Tyrannosaurs spawn here.

If you know Vanish and X-Zone, and have the Gem Box (aka Soul of Thamasa), you can double-cast these two spells on them to kill them instantly. The GBA version closes this loophole, but I don't know which version you're playing. Brachiosaurs frequently drop Economizers (aka Celestriads), and you can sometimes steal Ribbons from them, which is an extra boon.

If you're trying to level your whole party, you can leave one high-level magic user in while you gain levels on the others, so that you can power level the rest of the active team. The Brachiosaur casts very high level magic very quickly, so having appropriate speed enhancing relics is also a plus.

If you're not high enough level for this forest yet, you might try the Veldt, which has the advantage of teaching Gau new abilities if you have him in your party and Leap when you encounter something new.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Warrior Mage Level and skill help

Question

I am making my character a Warrior Mage, I mainly use melee moves or melee/spells. In leveling up what should I focus on? Should I go with Health Magicka and Stamina? and for my skills how many perks should I try to advance? I have so far gotten into the one handed combat tree and conjuration trees. If I spec into any more is that bad? or are there any recommendations? I just don't want to end up hindering my character by picking too many things or the wrong things..Thank you in advance.

Answer

This is pretty much the same build that I've been using. I put a bit over half my total points into Magicka, most of the rest into Health, and very few into Stamina. I don't use many power attacks, and when I do, it's to finish the enemies off or stall for time while my Magicka is regenerating. It's working for me so far.

You will get enough perks to fill up 4 perk trees with room to spare, so don't worry about starting into another. I'm focusing on Conjuration, Destruction, Restoration, and One-handed, with a minor amount in Light Armor. Putting a point or two in a tree just to get a slight bonus isn't going to harm your chances of completing other trees.

Even if you completely focus on Conjuration, chances are you won't use every perk in that tree. You might focus on Atronachs over reanimating corpses, or you might not use bound weapons.

Just pick whatever perks you want and don't worry about it too much.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Do followers have skill levels and level similar to my characters?

Question

I was helping Vilkas go to the temple and on our way I made a pitstop at a dungeon.
Inside the dungeon he would get hit only once and be down on the floor with barely any health...

So, I'm curious if followers have levels and if so how to do you check it and get them leveled?

Generally I don't take a follower because they ruin my sneak attack, don't do anything useful or end up getting killed because they stand right in front of me.

If there is a similar question on here please direct me..I've searched but haven't been able to find anything useful as of yet.

Answer

Followers have stats just like the player in skills and health. Those values are static and are set the first time you enter/load the zone that they are in. There are also maximum level caps for followers should your level be higher than that the first time you encounter them.

For example, most people meet Lydia very early on and she'll end up being locked in with 100 health and skills in the 20s, so she won't be as effective as Jordis (the housecarl you get in Solitude) whom you'll usually meet much later on since the house costs 25k gold to purchase.

If you are on the PC, there is a way to force an NPC to level up by resetting them:

  1. First, remove all the gear from the follower (at least the ones that you want to keep).
  2. Walk up to them, be as close as possible, open the console with the ~ key
  3. Click on your follower. When you do so, a string will appear at the top of your console that represents your follower's reference ID.
  4. On your console, type disable, then follow it up with enable

After this, your companion will be 'reset' to match what your current level is. Their health and skills should be improved.

Finally, keep in mind that all followers fall under a general category: warrior, thief, or mage. Lydia, for example, is a warrior and will never gain a sneak skill above 15 no matter what level you meet her at.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Staying neutral at high levels in Fallout 3

Question

Here's the scenario: I'm going after the neutral achievements for Fallout 3. I'm currently about halfway to leveling up again -- this time to 20, which would get me the next achievement.

I'm trying to avoid gaining or losing karma at least until I level up again. I haven't done too many quests, oddly, mostly for fear of the karma gain/loss. Also, oddly, I haven't really explored much of the world. (I haven't even been to Minefield! I lied to Moira ... )

It looks like I'll need < 500 XP to get this next level and its corresponding achievement. After that, I can be good (or evil) as needed until I'm close to level 30.

What are some places I can go, or quests I can do, which will have no effect on karma, but gain me enough XP so I can get this achievement and get on with the game?

In order to help with this a bit, here are the quests (off the top of my head) that I've completed:

  • Wasteland Survival Guide
  • Power of the Atom
  • Main storyline until I'm told to go find Dad in a vault
  • Operation: Anchorage
  • Mothership Zeta
  • Reilly's Rangers
  • Blood Ties
  • Stealing Independence
  • The Replicated Man

Aside from locations needed for those quests, here are some of the other places I've already visited (and in most cases, cleared, if they were hostile):

  • Museum of History (including Underworld and all other levels, all Lincoln artifacts retrieved)
  • Rivet City
  • Megaton (which is still standing)
  • Arlington Library
  • "Enough" of the metro to have gotten me through the portions of the storyline I've completed
  • Only a few places in DC proper (those needed for the missions above)
  • MDPL-13 power station (but not cleared, just "en route" to Mothership Zeta)

Like I said, I just need a few hundred XP until I feel safe and comfortable continuing to do the real missions. :) I do have all the DLC, but don't feel like doing The Pitt nor Point Lookout just yet.

Edit: To clarify, I'm either looking for side quests which have no karmic ramifications, or I'm looking for other sources of non-karmic XP. (In the latter case, most likely places to go clear of already-hostile creatures, such as feral ghouls or super mutants.) Anything that can non-karmically take me up a few thousand XP fairly rapidly to get me to level 20 where the achievement is. At that point, I can go back to doing whatever I want, because I already know how to balance it all out. (EG, I have a stockpile of scrap metal to hand Walter for free, a bunch of caps for church donations, a bunch of purified water for Carlos, and am not at all above breaking & entering & looting people's homes. :)

Answer

This problem has different solutions depending on how you want to play.

If you're just looking for the achievement, one solution to your problem is to do whatever missions you want, choosing the side of good, until you get relatively close to your level point. Then go into a town and steal (for minor karmic reduction) or lay waste to entire towns (for major karmic reduction). You can quickly lower your karma this way. Then, once you're neutral, go kill some random creatures until you level.

(If you're looking to steal, a good place to do it is at Dukov's place… he's got stuff everywhere.)

The "nice" thing about this system is that if you stay on the path of "good" the whole time, you can do this at each achievement point: be bad until you get to the right karmic level, level up, get your achievement, and then restore a save to get back to your good self. You can quickly get "good", "neutral", and "evil" achievements for all levels on one playthrough this way.

(I did this, because I don't really enjoy long-term playing as an evil character… but I do like my achievements!)

You could also do this as an evil or neutral character, but it's much easier to quickly drop from "good" down to your new goal, than to work your way up.

If you find that you're close to leveling, and you're at the right karmic level, and don't want to take a chance on changing your Karma by doing a story-type adventure, you can always go wandering looking for random bad people to take out. Going near the Washington Mall can get you some XP fairly quickly, and you can go inside the capitol building and clear out large areas without picking up any Karma, positive or negative.

How do I know the level of a monster, creature, or human in Skyrim?

Question

How do I know the level of a monster creature or human in Skyrim?

Answer

You can only do this on the PC via the console:

  1. Open the console with ~
  2. Click on the target (now you should see the ID of the target in the form of a hex string)
  3. Type getlevel

You can also just use getlevel [hexstring] if you know the ID of what you want to check.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Leveling Restoration

Question

There are some nice restoration perks I'm trying to level up for.

Does (dual) casting heal when your health is full gain restoration experience?

If not, what are some good restoration leveling techniques?

Answer

No, it does not. Skills only level when the game judges them to have been "usefully" employed; in the case of spells, that means the spell must have had some noticeable effect. Casting healing spells at full health does nothing, nor does casting damage spells into a wall or armor spells without entering combat.

For leveling restoration, your best bet is to use the turn undead spell line, which gives skill increases very quickly. Head to your favorite barrow and start sending the skeletons fleeing before you kill them.

I would strongly caution against "boosting" non-damage skills in Skyrim. You risk your character leveling up too rapidly without having the combat skills he needs to survive. These techniques are best employed to catch up support skills that have fallen behind.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Reach level 61 in Borderlands

Question

I have all the expansion packs, and I have finished all the quests (except kill crawmerax) on both playthroughs of the game, and I am only level 58. I tried going through the last section of the main game and the Knoxx expansion, but killing enemies alone is not giving me much experience. What is the best way to get the experience needed to reach level 61? Are there any other sections of the game with lots of high level enemies, or bosses that I can beat repeatedly?

Answer

You can go back and fight Motorhead. He respawns every 15 minutes and he gives out experience each time you fight him.

Also, fighting SkyScraper at Level 57 nets 23,000XP if you kill him on the ground. Aim for his rear end (for critical hits).

Also (and I can't believe I just remembered this), the higher level challenges unlook about 20,000XP a piece.

After you beat General Knoxx, the enemies are 'leveled up' to levels 55-61. This allows you to gain experience by fighting them again.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

What is the minimum level I need to be to get the strongest version of leveled items?

Question

Some items given as quest rewards vary in strength based on your level when you are given them. What is the minimum level I need to be to ensure that any of these items I receive are as strong as they can be?

Answer

UESP says 46 is the highest level required for leveled items. Level 48 is where you can start finding Daedric armor. We might need the Creation Kit to be sure about every single item.

Levelling in FIFA 12

Question

In FIFA 12 you are awarded XP and rise through experience levels. Are the experience levels actually used for anything, e.g. unlocking features? If so, is there a list somewhere of what gets unlocked at each level?

Answer

The points are used to compare yourself with other players, and the points you earn are also given to whatever club you've chosen (whether you are actively playing as that club or not), which are then used to rank the clubs in week long "seasons".

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

How is Experience handled with Companions?

Question

When I am out in the wilds with a companion, e.g., Aela the Huntress or Mjoll the Lioness, how is it decided who gains how much experience by defeating foes?

Do all the kills my companion achieves get attributed to me, are they splitted up, or does each companion level up on his own?

If I wanted to level up fast, is it better to avoid using companions?

Answer

You do not gain experience from kills in Skyrim. Whenever you use a skill in a meaningful manner, you gain a little bit of experience in that skill. Gain enough experience and that skill levels up, giving you experience towards your next level.

Having a companion may make leveling slower solely through the fact that they take the kills and you have less opportunity to exercise your skills, but their kills do not attribute anything to you at all.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Skill points use in Skyrim

Question

What's the use of skill points other than granting access to perks? Do I get more damage output when fighting with one handed weapon if my skill is high, even if I don't use perks in that tree?

Answer

Yes, every point of skill gives you a little more benefit even if you do not use the perks. For instance, every point of speech craft improves merchant prices by 1%. Every point of destruction lowers spell costs etc. Even if you don't put perks into the skills, its still highly beneficial for you to have high skills. Not to mention it also gives you more experience for leveling.

Friday, November 18, 2011

How do spells affect skill leveling?

Question

I'm playing Skyrim as a mage, and I am wondering how I can level up the skills for mage.

Alchemy and Destruction seem quiet straight forward. However, many skills consist of mostly defensive spells: how do those effect skill progression?

For restoration, I notice healing gets increases my skill; does this only work if my health isn't full?

What about spells that create something (a light, armor rating, a weapon, summon, etc): when will those affect the skill? Does constant renewing increase skill, or is it useless?

Answer

As you noticed, Destruction is pretty straightforward. Each cast and while continued casting, you will increase skill, but this has a caveat: only if you are attacking someone. If you're fizzling your spell in the middle of town, it's not going to increase it.

Alchemy is also straightforward: each potion created will increase your skill. As dpatchery notes, eating ingredients for effect determination will also increase your skill by a small amount.

With Enchanting, each enchant (or disenchant, as LessPop_MoreFizz notes) as will increase skill. dpatchery also notes that you can increase your skill by recharging items with soul gems.

Restoration, namely the healing spells, only increase skill if your health is below its maximum. The others only work if you're in combat or near hostile enemies: this includes spells like Steadfast Ward.

For summoning spells (essentially most things in the Conjuration school), you won't get a skill up for the summon until you enter the range of hostile mobs and, in the case of summoned creatures (like the Atronach and the Familiar), they do some damage. With bound weapons, entering range of hostile mobs is all that's necessary: using them will increase their appropriate weapon skill, not Conjuration.

Alteration and Illusion spells that are targeted towards messing with hostile mobs need hostile mobs within range to skill up. Buffs, like Oakflesh, don't increase skill without hostility as well. Others, like Candlelight, are recastable without hostility but only increase skill by a small amount.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Are there any disadvantages to leveling too fast in skyrim?

Question

I play a warrior dual welding two axes and some heavy armour with a dash of conjuration. I have some skills I want to level like smithing that can be power leveled but I am worried this will cause me to gain too many levels too fast.

The leveling in Skyrim feels fast in general, is it ok to power level up a skill or two or do I risk throwing the game off balance?

Answer

Absolutely, leveling up faster has these disadvantages:

  • You lose the ability to take advantage of the 5 training attempts per level (though this further increases your leveling speed). You should use this in a hard to level category, such as armor, restoration, lock picking, etc.
  • Your equipment will fall behind compared to the increased difficulties of monsters you face. (This is a major issue as facing high level enemies and dragons wearing hide armor is typically not a good idea). Taking it slow gives you plenty of opportunities to hoard up gold and valuable loot for better gear and spells.
  • You may not have enough helpful secondary skills, such as alchemy, restoration, etc to make adventuring easier.
  • Power leveling a none combat related skill (such as smithing) means you won't be as effective in killing those enemies who will be using better gear than you.

The best approach (though time consuming) is to try to maintain a constant level across all your skills. Even though you don't plan to put any perks into most skills it's still beneficial to be able to do some things (such as enchanting, lock picking, or improving gear through smithing).