What exactly is Power Leveling

[JoJoHoraHora]

Hello everybody. I'm JoJoHoraHora. You may remember me from newb questions such as

"What do people mean by mule?" or "About extra characters".

Today I would like to ask: whast do people mean by Power Leveling and why should we avoid it.



Sorry for the simpson-like intro.

[Jei]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

mule is a character made only to store items.

power levelling is having a high level mage healing you from outside the PT.

http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/-ga...impsons+player

[Eohmer]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Actually, I liked you're little intro, lol...

Anyway, like Jei said, a PL is an outside healer. It has it's pros and cons.

The good thing is, you can level pretty quickly since the outside high level healer will be doing most of the curing, therefore, there will be very little to no downtime at all.

The bad thing is, new people get... what's the word I'm looking for... spoiled, and then ask for a PL over and over later in their life, since they were first used to it when they started. Another bad thing is, tanks don't really LEARN to tank since the PL will have most hate. "It's ok, let the PL get the tank." You'll hear that in PT's, so when that happens, the tank never really learns how to tank and how often to Provoke and all that.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Tanks don't learn the importance of provoke, to cancel Berserk, to use Defender, how to time casting Utsusemi, etc. Healers don't learn how to judge how big of a cure to use, mp management and hate management. Damage Dealers don't learn to skillchain and mages don't learn how to magic burst. You get these people in Altepa and they kill parties or make the exp slow to a crawl. Power lvled people just don't learn the intricacies of the game and later on it hurts pts and hurts exp.

[Taodyn]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Actually, it is more serious than that for players, especially tanks.

Not only do they not learn how to do their jobs properly, but they miss out on raising a lot of important skills like Healing Magic, Shield Skill, Parrying, Evasion, etc.

If a player spend too much time being PLed, when they reach higher levels their basic skill stats will not be leveled enough to be effective.

[AngryUndead]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

I'm not sure what others think, but if you're on your fourth or fifth job, or you're a bunch of guys from the LS that are staticing together from level one... then sure, grab a PL.

Mostly the people I talk to use a PL to get through somthing they've done time and time again, and usually just to level 10-12, depending on the job.

But for the first time through, a Power Leveler (as others have said) takes away some of the ability to learn and gain skill. Sure everything goes well then, but at some point there will be no way to PL you, say in the early to late 30's, and what would you do then. You need to have a solid skillset to fallback upon.

The most insidious part of this is that newer players may not understand exactly why this is a bad thing. They desire it because everything is more fun when it goes quickly... they won't be able to understand the damage that is being done to them until much later, if ever.

So... learn the skills and coast later.

[Ellipses]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Yeah, there are very rare cases where the detrimental effects of a PL are minimized. If everyone in the party is already experienced, and experienced with jobs similar to the ones they're playing, it can be okay. If the PL is more of a guardian angel, and not just cure-bombing and tanking, it can be okay. Both of those are pretty rare, though.

Usually what you get is one impatient reject who thinks he'll just zip right through the Dunes and Qufim (and maybe further) with a PL, then two to four people who don't care how much it gimps their skill, then the rest of the party that doesn't understand at all or don't want the PL, but are afraid of losing a party or being considered noobs.

"/blockaid on" is one of the best things to happen to Dunes tanking since... something good that happened to Dunes tanking. If you're dedicated enough, you can make up for some of a PL's crap by just studying and taking advice and doing your best regardless. Play like the PL isn't there and be aware of the moments when you would have died without them, and why.

[kiffkin]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two times when powerlevelling is productive:

1) as AngryUndead said, when people already know how to play their jobs and don't have to worry about skills;

2) as emergency contingencies. Someone stepping in for one fight which has gone wrong for some reason (e.g. irritating pop at camp in a heavily camped area, aggro while not actually in a party, not having the appropriate ability to deal with links) is acceptable as long as it doesn't become a habit and is learnt from.

For example, the pugils in Korroloka aggro, and if you're heading along the top path, getting through the pugil/crab room can be a pain. There's been a couple of times when I've PLed someone through a fight they weren't expecting to stop them dying. Death wasn't necessary to let them know to be more careful next time.

[Kirsteena]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

I'm not sure what others think, but if you're on your fourth or fifth job, or you're a bunch of guys from the LS that are staticing together from level one... then sure, grab a PL.

That's all very well but don't forget you will be new on a job, and still have to learn the intricacies.

I am a mage by trade - going back to the dunes as a warrior scared the crap outta me. So much to learn - how to pull (I had a 75 job before I had to pull properly...), how to hold hate as best I could. I am pretty much anti-pl for all, but thats just me.

[AngryUndead]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Thats true... I meant more of a "I did WHM so I'll do RDM" type switch, or MNK to DRK. If you've got to learn game mechanincs for the first time, you might want to stay away from it.

Of course, getting PL'd to the low teens is awesome. Especially for us Galka mages. Though... come to think of it... nobody has done that for me and I've got WHM and BLM to 10... hmmn, my LS must be getting lazy.

[Jei]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

While this is not always true... But if you've been playing for a while and actually pay attention in PT, you will learn how to play other jobs.
I mean, I started as Whm as my very first job. By the time I got Whm to 40, I already knew how to play almost every other job without having to play one. I switched to those jobs, including THF, and I could perform everything just fine. I could pull, I could skillchain, I could hold hate if I'm a tank and etc.

A huge part of this is PTing with a good player. Seeing how experienced players play taught me a lot. This is also something you'll miss out having a PL at early levels.

I know there are level 75 n00bs out there. But these people, PL or not will still never learn how to play.

[Taodyn]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

I know that when I took my WHM through the Dunes, I liked the idea of a PL at first.

At first being the operative term there.

After a few levels of constantly having a PL around, I found I was getting bored. Taking away some of the risk took away the excitement and I started getting sloppy.

If I had it back, I wouldn't have done it.

[Murphie]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Of course, I found that when staticing with friends, we didn't need a PL, because we were so awesome, and we knew how to work so well together that the exp flew by. We very rarely died because we knew what to do when something went wrong, and the few times someone did die, we just laughed it off, because we were having so much damn fun.

But that's just me. And man, now I miss all my old friends who stopped playing.

[Numtini]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Power Levelling is easy. You start and you're with a normal group getting good experience. Then someone says their friend will come and "PL UZ"

They find reasons to stop pulling because we're going to be "PL'd DOOD!!!" (note: I'm not a dood or even a dude) and then you wait for 20 minutes.

Then the person gets there and spends 5 minutes telling you what to do.

Then you pull the same critter you were pulling 25 minutes ago and kill it for the same experience you were getting 25 minutes ago, except the PL guy gets aggro so it's boring boring boring.

Then after two pulls the PL guy goes AFK without telling you and you have a complete wipe.

That's, in all honesty, my experience of what power levelling is. It's not fun and you generally get far less experience than you would have without it.

YMMV (but I'll bet it won't)

[Macht]

Re: What exactly is Power Leveling

Power Leveling (n). - The dumbing process of removing skill and knowledge of the game in exchange for an inordinate amount of exp and levels in shorter time. Process generally includes a healer not directly involved in the fight or is not part of the party.

Side effects include headaches, stomach ache, nausia, diarrhea, cramps, drowsyness, HSDD, hypoadrenalism, hypoventilation, hypoadrenia, hypoalbuminemia, hypoaldosteronuria, hypobaropathy, hypocalcaemia, hypocalcification, hypochondria, hypochromia, hypochromatism, hypochromatic, hypocorticoidism, and death.



Ok, there's my fun definition for it.