EQDiva

You should solo the back islands of vitri, will yield better xp.

PoN still uber xp ... if not as uber.

I do a lot of soloing in PoN, but to swarm the higher lvl mobs you have to use the new charm... really sucks up the mana.

I will just do some calculation to clarify the difficulty of the choosing between Solo or Group XP. The points are : - XP by mob - Time to kill mombs - level of mobs - downtime (u may have in group or solo) - other variables Most people forget to include all the parameters to see what is best for them. XP is not the only parameter to see if solo is better than group xp. U should include at least the time for killing mobs(experts will add other parameters to be the closest of the reality in game :) 0) Solo: 100 XP mobs in 7.5 minute(chant kitting: al lvl mobs) Imagine a mob is giving 100 XP and U take 7.5 minutes to kill the mob. --- [b]U get a ratio of : 100/7.5= 13.3 XP/min[/b] 1) Solo: 100 XP mobs in 1minute(swarm: mob lvl 58-) Imagine a mob is giving 100 XP and U take 1 minutes to kill the mob.( I m not a soloer bard so i have not values to base on so u can do the calculation with your own. ) Let guess u have no downtime, no deaths hehe, and regen mana of 10 at least. --- [b]U will then have a ratio of : 100 XP/min[/b] 2) 5 Group:100 XP mobs in 1 minutes Now with the same mob(the mob is under lvl 58), in a 5 group with bonus XP is 180. with no downtime, --- [b]Everyone get : 36 XP/min[/b] 3) 6 Group:100 XP mobs in 0.85 minutes Mob with Bonus is still 180. But now u killing faster. Here the 6th member help kill 15% faster. with no downtime, ---[b] Everyone get: 36/0.85 = 42.35 XP/min[/b] The meaning of this is that to choose between Solo and XP, u have to know how fast u killing mob swarming and how fast in group. I can say that [b]chant kitting is almost useless for XP[/b]. not for fun and the ability to solo anytime u want. [b]What i can say is that is in group u killing a mob 3 times faster than with swarm then grouping is better for u.[/b] There is one important parameter not including in my calculation though but hard to describe: the level of the mob. I dont know if there is still a bonus for fighting mobs with a higher level. If so, u have to change the calculation for the groupe ratio( At lvl 65 u can group kill lvl 65 mobs, but u can t swarm them ). This could increse the ratio in group. IF anyone can give numbers on how fast they are killing flies with swarm and the same mobs in group. We could see easily the difference between group and swarm. 8) But i doubt that anyone is group killing lvl 51 mob if he is lvl 61 }:) Bleric 65th Vah Shir Bard Of Bertox

Something I forgot to say }:) with bonus on high lvl mobs, ratio in chant kitting can be better too. Not to speak about some bards Area kitting 20 mobs in plane in 20 minutes and getting one AA XP. I have heard of some people doing this. I hope to see this soon 8) Bleric 65th Vah Shir Bard of Bertoxx

Why are you so worried about the exp ratios. Are you having fun? It is a game, enjoy it. Unless you enjoy crunching numbers that is.

Yeah just enjoy the game but everyone is walking his own path through the game so my previous post was for the one who likes play EQ and numbers too. So dont worry about number this was not for U. World is number and in some way EQ is a matrix :) Bleric 65th Vah Shir Bard on Bertoxx

I'm at 64 right now and can now swarm again in Maiden's. I usually get 2% exp for every 5 kills (dark blue cons). It's a hell of a lot more fun than chanting frogs in POS for 10 minutes/frog.

I'll never turn down a good group for soloing. In the beginning learning to swarm was just a way for a jaded cleric (turned bard alt) to get some time to himself and some good xp. Then I was ready to share the group love. Bards excel in groups, everyone gets more xp with one in group, and if you're good at your job the invites come readily. It's less painful, less repetitive, more social. That's why I play this game, and why it's still the only game loaded on my computer. Especially in light of the xp change group is the way to go. Get two things, a name for yourself AND some xp. warble

Don't forget the experience distribution ratios created by the levels of your groupmates. This can have a dramatic impact on how much exp any one member gets. For example, if I'm in a group with: A level 60 A level 56 A level 65 A level 61 A level 63 Myself (61) A modifcation is placed on exp distribution so that higher level characters in a group get a larger cut of it (when you think about it, it's only fair since the higher levels should theoretically be doing more work than the lower level people...Though I've definitely seen situations where this isn't the case :D ). Thus, the level 56 character will get the least experience from any given mob, and the level 65 will get the most. This does not necessarily mean that the level 56 character's experience will appear to be moving more slowly than, say, the level 61's, since 56 is a faster level. Therefore, it's advantageous for a grouping bard (or any class for that matter) to join a group where he/she is at least on par with the levels of the rest of the group. Of course, this isn't very helpful if the group where you're going to get a nice cut of the experience is a really sucky one in general, so once again the other factors take precedence. Personally, my connection is hyper unstable (go go gadget 28.8k on a WinModem) so I've essentially been forced to group for my exp from level 6 onward.

if you have access to the elemental planes, grouping in earth in a good group blows away solo xp, can make a aa every half hour or so