Having just leveled a gunner from 1-50 over the last 2 days I was surprised a lot by the changes to the game in leveling over the last few years. I started my first character slightly before the launch of 3.5 and the leveling then is very much different then it was back then starting with the ability to get so far in 2 days. I remember spending a week in beluslan just getting from 40-45ish grinding blue quests when I first started. Since then I have leveled 6 characters to level 65 and probably another 6-10 to somewhere between 30-64 and its been different.

Starting off at level 10 (because other then being easier 1-10 hasn't changed much) Altgard has honestly seen the least amount of change to the quests line and instances. The changes to the campaign quests have made it overall (in every level) a lot more streamlined and a lot less running back and forth to npcs half way across the map and back every step you go through. The focus at the end of Altgard (17-20ish) has definitely been pulled away from the black cloud area and the quests there by haramel. The xp from haramel now makes it such an easy jump to 16-22 in only a few runs.

In Morheim adding the fast track server entrance for NTC has definitely helped. In 3.5 I know it used to take forever to get into the instance simply from lack of players running it. The quests for NTC don't offer much xp and for the most part aren't repeatable but the xp from the mobs keeps this from being a draw back. The fact that NTC is soloable at 25 for all classes except for possibly the minibosses and the actual boss for some classes makes it a pretty easy xp grind doing it only a couple times solo or duo. This is a dramatic change over the last couple years where trying to finish it in a group of 4 or 3 was near impossible depending on the gear and skill level of the players in 3.5.

Fire Temple is a huge incentive now as soon as the quests unlock to players. Killing the extra mobs actually made groups explore a bit more of the instance now which is nice. When I originally ran this (3.5) I had no idea there were other bosses (mini ones at least) then Kromede inside the instance. To be honest I'm not sure many others notice that either except maybe the rock one. It's nice thought to see the push to get people to do more then run in, kill the boss, reform and repeat. Kromede is very nerfed now not even being a full boss any more which I think is a bit disappointing as now there are no real bosses until DC now. The xp gain from it might be a tad bit to high as it is insanely easy to level from 30-37 in about 5-8 runs.

I was sad to see the event quests in Beluslan had been removed (added in 4.0 I believe). These were a great incentive to run DC and Alquimia Research Center. To be honest I didn't even run either of them in my latest leveling go as 1) there were no groups forming and 2) there was no longer an incentive to run them. I went into ARC to test the xp from the mobs because in 4.0 outside of the quests I remember duoing it for decent xp off the mobs (plus the old skill books were some pretty nice cash). The xp wasn't quite as nice as I remembered and with no quests for the instance any more I couldn't see the point in running it as the boss at the top doesn't really drop much. DC as a decently fun instance and a good starting challenge to what more end game instances feel like (ie. the boss fights) also lost its quests. The campaign that used to take you into DC doesn't even require you to enter the instance any more and rather kill mobs outside the entrance instead. It feels like these two instances are headed in the same direction of others that are now gone in 4.8. The mob area outside DC has been nerfed to much more non-elite mobs with a spattering of avoidable elites though there are quests that bring you into the previously abandoned area which is nice to see the map area being highlighted again. Kromede Trial has also gained a bit of a bump. The xp gain from the multiple 5x repeatable quests has been greatly increased I recommend grabbing the extra "bosses" that you can defeat on your way to Kaliga that reappear to fight with him at the end (the wife, the librarian, and the dungeon guard) as the weapons aren't really needed any more (more on gear below) and the extra stuff is nice to sell for a bit of quick kinah.

Between that and the campaigns it isn't too hard to skip up to 56 for Adma and Theo Lab. In brusthonin they added a resurgent gear quest that is semi decent gear but even better for the nice xp it gives for killing a relatively small amount of mobs though it is a bit of a walk around. The campaigns were removed from Brusthonin which is a bit of a disappointment as there is no long much reason to do anything but the instances in Brusthonin and not explore much of the area. I remember the challenge of one of the quests to go out to the pirate ship that you had to glide across several islands to get to. It was very frustrating quest but I do miss the exploration that used to come with the time it took to get through levels before. Adma and Theo have not changed much at all other then a relative nerf in hp and damage output between bosses and regular mobs. In 3.5 it was a small bit of an accomplishment to trio Adma and not many bothered, and honestly not many people ran Adma because Theo Lab had all the quests though I preferred Adma over TL (and still do). The removal of the entry quest to Adma also played a bit of a part in its rise back to popularity the spirit drop quests used to require either a full group or a high level mentor to complete and was a rather pain in the nerk to get through. I do have to say good riddance please don't bother coming back. The addition of the repeatable quests for Adma and Theo Lab (5x each I believe) make it easy to get to 50 with just the two instances from 46. Also Adma mobs are just shy of 1mill xp solo on the elites if you want to take the time to clear it solo which makes it a very easy xp grind.



Coin gear has gotten very easy to acquire. While I am disappointed at the xp reward removal on the coin quests quite frankly the dark blue quest indicators and the large boost to the xp from instance quests the coin receptacles aren't really needed anymore. The Red Event quest give you 2 gear pieces of each coin set and a weapon which is a huge reduction in how much you have to spend on the gear. The addition of the cheaper coin gear in the camps across the maps in morheim and beluslan have helped as well. Then finally with the amount of coin rewards you get from repeatable quests and other dark blue quests its very easy to acquire the full set every time. Alternatively there have been updates to the campaign quest that give out 3 slot gear (as opposed to the 4 slot) same stats as the coin gear for each level in morheim and beluslan so if you would rather make some kinah off your gained coins instead of buying the gear you can just acquire the quest/campaign gear instead. (Though I don't remember seeing a weapon so you might still have to get that).


(And for a bit of personal opinion and probably much scorn from players who will comment). Overall the climb from 1-50 has been dramatically eased. Is it necessarily a good thing to be this dramatically nerfed, perhaps or perhaps not. The character I was leveling was simply going to 50 to pick up the anniversary tempering solution (make some money on a plume!) and isn't going any further. I do however have a glad at 56 an a chanter at 63 and am seeing a bit of the struggle players are having at getting to 65 now that some of the maps are deleted and quests not being balanced and frequent enough. Honestly looking back at the dramatic change that the game has taken from 3.5 to 4.8 I wouldn't worry too much. Yes it is going to be rather frustrating to you now, but things will change as the game is updated and some of the issues are fixed over time. I'm sure people who were playing at 1.0 were shaking their heads by the time 3.5 came around marveling at how much easier it was to level and even then it took months to get to 50 rather then days. In the mean time enjoy a bit of the scenery get to actually know your instances instead of just skimming through them twice and being 6 levels higher :D