test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

How can I grind up to RA?

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Ok, for some reason, I seem to be taking FOREVER to make it to RA unlike the rest of you guys. I am only a Commander 6 (been playing since headstart) and guess I want to finally make it to RA as you guys are getting all the goodies. What is the best way to grind up to that rank quickly? You guys who did it in a month tell me! Where to go or do? is it simply "investigate three anomalies?" missions or combat with enemy contacts or standard missions? I am tired of just being a Commander so at least tell me how to get to Captain fast!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    For fastest XP on the Fed side, do only the sector patrol, deep space exploration, and ground PvP missions.

    Put skill points into offensive skills only for space, and fly an escort. Put a lot of points into ground skills and as you get better, you will finish those PvP matches very quickly - and you will be a lethal weapon in ground PvE knocking those out very, very quickly.

    That is the fastest way.

    You'll skip just about everything along the way though, and the word 'grind' will apply. Leveling a Fed can be an engaging experience due to the rich content, and once you make RA - you'll actually find the high end content isn't as good as the stuff you had while leveling - so the fast grind isn't exactly the most fun way to play the game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    I guess I would need more information on your play style.....if you've been playing that long and havn't reached RA 5 on at least one char....then somethings wrong.

    I've been at it since launch at random spurts and I had 4 RA 5's but deleted one of them. So now I guess I have 3?

    How long do you play on average per session? You may have to grind out some DSE's in between missions to fill it out so to speak. I know at the Comdr and Capt lvls you tend to hit dead spots with your contacts so you just kinda gotta fill the holes to lvl.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Ok, for some reason, I seem to be taking FOREVER to make it to RA unlike the rest of you guys. I am only a Commander 6 (been playing since headstart) and guess I want to finally make it to RA as you guys are getting all the goodies. What is the best way to grind up to that rank quickly? You guys who did it in a month tell me! Where to go or do? is it simply "investigate three anomalies?" missions or combat with enemy contacts or standard missions? I am tired of just being a Commander so at least tell me how to get to Captain fast!

    You have to do the story missions as well as the patrol/defend missions. I suggest doing the story missions for your level or lower then doing one or two patrol/defend missions. Never do a story mission that is higher than your level.

    The basic idea is to do story missions for your level or lower and use the patrol and defend missions as a boost to get you to the next level.

    Also it depends on how much time a day you spend on the game.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Ok, for some reason, I seem to be taking FOREVER to make it to RA unlike the rest of you guys. I am only a Commander 6 (been playing since headstart) and guess I want to finally make it to RA as you guys are getting all the goodies. What is the best way to grind up to that rank quickly? You guys who did it in a month tell me! Where to go or do? is it simply "investigate three anomalies?" missions or combat with enemy contacts or standard missions? I am tired of just being a Commander so at least tell me how to get to Captain fast!

    To be honest I didn't really do much different. I took a month to go from LT1-RA5. Difficulty was normal(we didnt have a slider back then, spoiled kids!) I just did every storyline mission there was, with the exploration and defend sectors thrown in. I flew a Connie, Vesper, Cheyenne, Galaxy(and soon after Intrepid), and then finally a Sovereign. Nothing special, no buying bridge officers or eq from the exchange. Used almost exclusively drops from missions and exploration. Of course YMMV. I did this playing no more than 4 hours every couple of days as well.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    I was able to grind my Naussicaan to BG5 in fifty hours. Just doing explorer missions. I wanted to get to end game PVP and not wait on queues. Sometimes I would have to log out for 5 or ten minutes until the timer was gone. Because I was flying a Bird of Prey and could get through the space missions fast.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    attilio wrote: »
    You have to do the story missions as well as the patrol/defend missions. I suggest doing the story missions for your level or lower then doing one or two patrol/defend missions. Never do a story mission that is higher than your level.

    The basic idea is to do story missions for your level or lower and use the patrol and defend missions as a boost to get you to the next level.

    Also it depends on how much time a day you spend on the game.

    I did story line missions for above my level or even rank grade with dull ease.

    also put difficulty at normal harder does not mean more skill points so TRIBBLE that.

    beside that I did:

    Sector defence
    story missions
    pvp

    went fast enough. I just never can get out of those Lt levels :)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Frankly speaking, if you're trying to rush to Rear Admiral, you're doing it wrong. There's no point. It's not like max level is a land of happy fluffy bunnies and rainbows where everything is good and pretty and keen.

    This is not like most MMOs where the real game starts at max level. All the actual awesome content in the game is on the way up - the story episodes available as you progress through the game.

    STO has virtually no endgame. We have a tiny handful of STFs. Exploration dailies. PvP dailies. That's it. The dailies get old really really fast. I'm not even playing my RA5 anymore. I haven't played him for weeks now. And I won't until Season Two comes out and I have new stuff to do.

    The STFs are not worth rushing to Rear Admiral for. Really. They're of the same approximate quality as the regular episodes. They're not magically better - they're just harder and scaled for team play.

    For a long time, I only logged in my Rear Admiral for PvP dailies. But I don't need to be Rear Admiral for that, nor does being Rear Admiral improve the quality of my PvP experience. In many ways the lower tier PvP is more fun. Because at lower tiers, the people in the PvP queues want to PvP. At Rear Admiral, there's lots of people just doing it for the dailies...which doesn't make for great quality of competition.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    i would say that explorations mission usually level you up quick, as do patrol missions.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    I did explores, then defend, then explore, go cash in badges at sol for gear... do patrols, then do the missions.... the explores and defend missions are always your level... where as the patrols and missions are a static level... the missions will be easier & go faster and you will have better gear and a higher level...

    I never really bothered with pvp until I hit RA5 and needed the daily marks.....

    Once u get your self "ahead of the curve" things move faster.... u can always repeat the explore & defend missions after a short cooldown time... if the story mission bad guys are +2 to you then you are behind the curve....
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Liandras wrote:

    also put difficulty at normal harder does not mean more skill points so TRIBBLE that.

    yes it does, higher difficulty means more skill points, devs have confirmed that and i know i got more skill points in the past, unless it was bugged when you tried

    but the amount of extra time you spend on the harder settings makes the extra points meaningless if your going for a quick level up op i would still agree with keeping it on normal
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    I will mention that while the defend missions are nominally your level, every once in a while someone of a much higher level will be in the mission when it resets and you can end up facing enemies that are significantly higher than you are. That sucks alot
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    nebula missions,dse's ? :O
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Having just leveled a character to RA5 in two weeks i'd make the following suggestions.

    first, hit the exploration clusters, repeatedly. earn the badges for the good quality green equips which make life easier and you get some occasional good drops too. keep doing this and leveling up.

    second, grab up all the missions you can as they become available but dont do them unless you're at least 2 levels above them! thats the key there.. the higher in level you are compared to the story/patrol mission the easier that mission is, however the skill points earned still count towards your overall total in the same way.

    manage your inventory on the move between systems, do the same with skill ups.

    check maps against whats on your mission list, if you have a patrol mission at say 3 levels below you and then a story mission at 2 levels below you in the same sector then do them one after another, keeping the travel distance between missions to as little as possible.

    as soon as another exploration cluster offering the next level of badges comes up go hit that for 2-3 levels, earning enough badges to outfit 90% of the ship and making sure you're still a good couple of levels higher than the story/patrol missions.

    finally keep ALL your gear as up to date as you can, drops or from badges or even crafting.. that means your bridge crew as well. move the better gear off your captain onto them until everyone has something better already equipped then sell it.. weapons, shields and armour.

    keep your ground team well stocked with foods and items, they'll use them a lot and it helps speed up ground combat. make use of all your crew too, Jem'Hadar like to close in so when facing them take crew that specialise in close combat (melee skills in tactical, mines and traps in engineering and heals in science as melee bypasses shields) while cardassians and romulans prefer ranged, so adjust accordingly (grenades, turrets and sci based attacks like graviton shift). follow the same tactic with your kits.

    stock your ground crew with mostly expose weapons and have two exploit weapons yourself, and one on another crew member. vapourising people is the quickest way to end ground combat!

    thats the basic plan i followed, and I learnt this from closed beta onwards, which is probably why i was able to level from a new character to RA5 in 14 days. hope it helps!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    Thanks for the suggestions guys. It is true I have not devoted much time with this game and barely play a few hours a week with it. What with school full time and working full time. But I am taking a month off school until my new job kicks in, so now have time to kill. So am now wanting to level my main up to at least Captain this week. I just made Commander 7 a little while ago, and guess I will just do explore missions for the time being. I am a very casual player and was the exact person Cryptic had in mind when designing the game! LOL A very slow leveler. I know, why rush and my own words of advice to all the monthly RA's in the game, but now i am bored at being just a Commander and want to up-rank quicker!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    There is no real need to rush, like someone already said, the story missions are where it is at.
    Captain goes by too fast people will tell you. Just play every thing and enjoy the ride.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    attilio wrote: »
    ...Also it depends on how much time a day you spend on the game.

    Really...I've only been playing about 5 to 10 hours a week since official launch, and I've maxed out 3 characters so far (hoping some stuff in Season 2 will slow level progression actually). One of my biggest (not "the" biggest, but one of them) complaints is how quickly characters level. I really wish that earning ranks was more immersive and truely felt like I was earning them...not just the same old "ding" as all the other games (yawn).

    PS - Yes I have adjusted the "difficulty" slider...but really making the same few encounters harder is no were near the same as added content and development.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited July 2010
    I would consider myself a casualy gamer, but en the end I played every night from 7.30-10.30 when the kids went to bed. I basically just printed out the "List of Missions" page from www.stowiki.org and ticked off all the Story and Patrol Missions as I leveled. When they ran out for my level I did the appropriate Explore missions.

    My dates are as follows...

    Started : 18th April
    Lt. Commander : 1st May
    Commander : 13th May
    Captain : 28th May
    RA : 4th June
    RA5 : 11th June

    I have to say that leveling in this game is great (compared to my last mmo Lineage 2 ... OMG what a grind). But I have been RA5 for what seams like ages and there is nothing interesting worth doing apart from getting all my Very Rare gear via the B'Tran daily chart mission.
Sign In or Register to comment.