Smart way to grind up to 70 (aka Drowned Shore quick route)

randomdigits · September 2015

If you, like me, like to power-level in a most efficient way, please share here your thoughts on the best strategies.
As a first step I've looked into optimizing the otherwise random Vigilance tasks in The Mines (entry) area of Drowned Shore.
Here are my notes about the time it takes to complete them and their locations:

Quest	Quest Giver	Location	Time	Exp	Exp/second
Target: Riptide Molly	Alinda Greenwood	outside	1:30	5000	56
Herbal Malady	Alinda Greenwood	outside & mines	3:45	10000	44
Mysterious Symbol	Alinda Greenwood	outside & nearby	5:45	10000	29
Healing Harvest	Alinda Greenwood	outside & mines	6:00	10000	28
Alinda's Bounty	Alinda Greenwood	outside	8:00	10000	21
Sea Hag Slaying	Alinda Greenwood	outside	8:00	10000	21
War Machines	Bellan Norell	nearby	2:19	10000	72
Reptilian Reavers	Bellan Norell	outside or glimmerstone	4:02	10000	41
Goldseekers Folly: Rogues Gallery	Bellan Norell	goldseeker	7:05	11000	26
Shock Troops	Bellan Norell	silverdrip & glimmerstone	7:03	10000	24
Target: The Tidemaster	Bellan Norell	glimmerstone	3:52	5000	22
Needful Things	Udo Stonekin	mines	3:35	10000	47
Silver Strike	Udo Stonekin	silverdrip	5:10	10000	32
Sea Trolling	Udo Stonekin	outside or silverdrip	5:30	10000	30
Goldseeker's Folly: Mine Rescue	Udo Stonekin	goldseeker	7:05	11000	26
Target: Deepclaw	Udo Stonekin	silverdrip	3:30	5000	24

Other useful tips:
1) It's fastest to run with tasks on an instance with the minimum number of players.
2) It's oftentimes faster to return to the mine/dungeon entrance using Change Instance command.
3) It's possible to get into Glimmerstone and Silverdrip mines quickly without fights.
4) Glimmerstone mine has lots with lizardmen & some sea hags.
5) Silverdrip mine has lots of sea trolls & many sea hags.
6) Goldseeker's Folly is mostly filled with Cult of Crushing Wave mobs.
7) Don't bother with encounter(s): they take too long to complete solo.
8) You can run by/ignore sea trolls and bruisers, other mobs have ranged attacks.

P.S. Here is a similar guide I've found from PC: http://josephskyrim.blogspot.com.au/2015/05/neverwinter-online-drowned-shore.html

silktrocity · September 2015

I have a buddy whos doing this too. I don't recommend it for several reasons.

By ranking up the way you are suppose to, you come across the "story" missions or "important" missions which not only give you some really powerful/cool looking gear but those specific yellow quests give you 30-40k XP each time you accomplish one.

Also: the other locations quests offer a few thousand more xp and some of them are even easier/faster to farm, and navigate the maps. My fav is the the fiery pits because there are a select few extremely close to the spawn.

Lastly: I'm quite sure you have to do every yellow quest in spinward rise to actually receive your artifact weapon. So if you hit 70 just by doing drowned shores, you'll be stuck another day or 2 doing the lengthy quests in spinward rise regardless.

randomdigits · September 2015

True, the quest line should be followed as much as possible.
I've accidentally skept Reclamation Rock initially (due to lack of proper sorting of locations) and went to Fiery Pit and found the tasks there way more challenging and time consuming then the ones in Drowned Shore, so I went back to level up a few levels back there, and then properly go to Reclamation Rock.

I think it all depends on your current experience bonus % - ideally, imho, you should be able to stay a few levels above the current minimal level for the zone to run through Vigilance tasks swiftly.

amafia313 · September 2015

Give him credit for trying to help with tips

armadeonx · September 2015

I'm focusing on the 8x3 then move on to next area. It may not be more efficient in the short term but I'm hoping in the longer run it'll equal out from the vigilance completion rewards but also means I only have to do each task once per character.

That keeps it more interesting for me, seeing what's over the next hill and what challenges are coming. I get to see everything twice as I'm doing both my characters simultaneously (few hours on one then switch).

I'm hoping I can do that through the 4 areas and be L70 by the end ~ or at least very close to it. I'm only about 40% through at the moment.

corydonn15 · September 2015

I was also adding in the next area of quests for my grinding when the first area ended up on cooldown, You can also use killing yourself as a shortcut when you finish all four quests to respawn at the campfire next to the questgivers.

thefiresidecat · September 2015

I think the way suggested by the OP is perfectly chromulant. After reading this thread I tried to move on from drenched to do some other content and the tasks were harder and took longer because I kept getting killed and the tasks weren't as easy to lump to run together. I made it thru all the tasks to get my rewards on the next area but it took all day and I didn't rank up because I wasn't able to get them done quickly and do them again. Went back to drenched and it was a cake walk. I'd rather go to those areas when I can play as a couple levels above the monsters and just do the tasks once to progress and do the actual levelling in drenched. My strategy is to pick and choose the tasks to run together. lump two waternodes together, do the one with the crabs and eel grass, waterbreathing, buoye releasing, and equipment finding together, water archeon and cult killing and waterbreathing and mementos together (or some variation similar to above lineups depending on what's available) that way you can do more than one thing at once in the same area and it goes really quickly.

mrtehpuppy · September 2015

I personally reccomendation using a hybrid between this Drowned Shores repetitive grinding and actually moving on to the next area. There seems to be a level deficiency if you follow the quest path without repeating any quests (meaning you'll hit level 65 when you finish Fiery Pit but need level 66 to progress to Spinward Rise and when you finish Spinward, you'll be level 67-68 and not 70 IF you were to follow the quest path fully).

If recommend always stating one level ahead of the minimum level required for the zone your on and use the DS grinding detailed in the OP to supplement your levels when your too low.so, start Drowned Shore at 60, grind the starting area quests until you hit 61 then finish all of the quest chain for the area. Then, IF your level 63, move on to Reclamation Rock, if not, grind more of the starter area until you hit 63. For Fiery Pit you'll have the easiest time starting there at 65, and spinward rise you'll have the easiest time starting at 67.

Another huge factor that will go a long way to making this less painful, stack ArP HARD. You'll want to maintain around a 40-50% RI all the way through the new EE content BUT, as you level up higher, the stat curves become more and more harsh. At around level 60, 2,400 ArP is equal to aroubd 44% RI. But at level 70, 2,400 ArP is worth 24% RI...

thefiresidecat · September 2015

yeah, I went into reclamation rock at 65 and still was getting owned by slaati. I tried going into flames first and REALLY got owned there. did the content the once for reclamation then went back to farming drowned. I figure at level 68 (which I'll probably hit tomorrow) I'll go back to flames and spinward and then just go back to drowned if I don't hit 70 doing regular content. I think my Arp is probably not sufficent at the moment.

silktrocity · September 2015

corydonn15 said:
I was also adding in the next area of quests for my grinding when the first area ended up on cooldown, You can also use killing yourself as a shortcut when you finish all four quests to respawn at the campfire next to the questgivers.

Why would you kill yourself? ...instead of changing instances..?

mightyeriksson · September 2015

silktrocity said:
I have a buddy whos doing this too. I don't recommend it for several reasons.

By ranking up the way you are suppose to, you come across the "story" missions or "important" missions which not only give you some really powerful/cool looking gear but those specific yellow quests give you 30-40k XP each time you accomplish one.

Also: the other locations quests offer a few thousand more xp and some of them are even easier/faster to farm, and navigate the maps. My fav is the the fiery pits because there are a select few extremely close to the spawn.

Lastly: I'm quite sure you have to do every yellow quest in spinward rise to actually receive your artifact weapon. So if you hit 70 just by doing drowned shores, you'll be stuck another day or 2 doing the lengthy quests in spinward rise regardless.

The thing is, that even if you do all the Vigilance quests in all the areas, and I mean all, you still won't be 70...

So, you'll have to grind a lot,keep in mind that some quests randomly give you an Elemental Aggregate or a Unified Element, so check all quest rewards for those too, not just how much exp they give.

thejawlives · September 2015

I
Good idea if your have rank 7 VIP ...if you kill yourself, you will respond at the "start" campfire with no injuries!!

thejawlives · September 2015

*respawn

randomdigits · September 2015

Update, I've reached level 70 yesterday, and even with 45% experience bonus from Azures I think I would be missing around 1.5M experience if I was not doing a bit of grinding in Drowned Shore. In addition to the first zone I was also running several easy quests in the nearby camp while the first zone was on cool down.
E.g. these ones (from the site I've mentioned in my first post):
The Render - lacedon boss
Undead from the Deep - lacedons
Drowned Menace - kill lacedons
High Road Warning - post signs
Getting Goods - recover trade goods from monsters (use the nearby cultist camp)
Taking Stock - recover merchant wares (from keep OR mobs, use the nearby cultist camp)
Hateful Horrors - kill green hags
Heroic Encounter: Cultist Ambush (very near the camp, high chance for assists)
Ranger Reports - gather reports
Scaly Persuasion - kill cult agitators
Life Guarding - free captives (found in watery lacedon areas)

randomdigits · September 2015

FYI, the end game gameplay after completing Elemental Evil quests and reaching level 70 does not get any more orderly.
You are about to be sent onto multiple campaign quests without clear priorities with regard to which one gives better rewards, Each campaign seem to be a many-week grinding of daily and weekly tasks to get the respective campaign currencies and slowly afford better gear.

So the point is: Enjoy the Elemental Evil where the enemies are weak and you know exactly what to do next.

jody095 · September 2015

I played through all areas on my main, skipping reclamation rock and coming back to it after spinward. As soon as I got done with spinward rise at level 68 I had this same epiphany - Should've just stay in drowned shores the whole time.

I got my first alt up to level 69 this way and am praying to level 70 while i level 2nd alt. 2nd alt is at 64 now. I also tried running giants with my guild. This way seemed faster to me.

Smart way to grind up to 70 (aka Drowned Shore quick route)

Comments