A question for the power levelers out there...

Both. I roam from Deep (great mass mob pulls), to Crag (good mobs and XP for solo), to Ulfiem (mostly single target) to The Rise. I basically burn a mil XP a day.
I get my pool up over a days time to about 1.3, turn on the skills I want to "force" up, and drain my pool to around 200k. Start again the next day.

There will come a time when I rarely unlock a skill. Essentially everything will be leveled, my pool will just gain.

 

[Blade] - Thrust, Double Slash, Blade Speed
[Light Armour] - Dodge, Evasion
[Subterfuge] - Silent Movement, Dexterity

 

adventure level? if you don't know it, go to player created resources in the forums and download Umuri's SOTA Hud....it's pretty much mandatory it's so good
Okay, now, any magic skills? If not, I would say look at Air (Discharge), Earth (Stone Fist & Obsidian Arrow to pull to you), Death (Death Touch), Fire (Flame Fist). Out of those, the only one that has a cast time is Obsidian Arrow, the rest are instant and close-range spells. This will help kill things faster, not to mention Death Touch is nice for that extra life gain mixed in.

 

This is exactly right.

 

Without jumping off topic, and unless changed post 70 in a skill starts using a % of your pool to apply points vs a static number. That is where the debate of time vs pool comes into play. Is one way better than the other? Test it yourself for the answer that is right to you. Some of the responses on here from known power gamers are being shrugged off as incorrect information. @Themo Lock @Oba Evesor I know both of these guys and can say with utmost belief that they both know what they are saying and wont steer you wrong.

 

Also if you empty your pool, you have no buffer vs skill decay.

 

This is a really good point...Which brings up another question... Do you set your skill to maintain or turn them off when not in use? I have been turning them off...haven't noticed any skill decay yet but I don't think I'm a high enough level for that. (Al68)

 

The only oddity would be whether you actually consume less xp with a pool.

Since the amount of incoming xp is certainly static

 

Set to maintain unless you don't care if it decreases. Decay is not a huge issue until quite high levels.

 

I found out that the larger the pool, the more XP each skill will take (with a cap, I'm assuming). So they level up faster but they'll drain the pool quicker (obviously).

 

Question: Does the bonus to skill gains from a "Grandmaster" apply to passives or only active skills?

 

all skills can be GM and have the same effect, including train strength, int and dex

 

But if you locked those skills to build the pool, it all balances out in the end.

 

Unless the skill in question uses reagents! I've never had a pool of a million. Must have too many passives on. Once I hit 20K xp it definitely seems as if my pool starts shrinking faster. With no change in the mobs I am fighting I will slowly go back and forth between 17k and 20k. If I turn more skills on, that number seems to shrink to 5K and 9K. Again fighting the exact same enemies, so it definitely matters to some degree on what your pool size is as far as XP spent per event. For things like the Summon skills in the magic trees which are more likely than not to use reagents every cast, the number of castings needed is a huge factor when trying to raise that skill. Seeing as you don't typically cast these over and over again in combat, locking skills to build a pool to focus on this skill certainly makes sense!

The skill locking dance to force your xp to flow into specific skills in order to fill out your trees is definitely a strong tactic though. Especially in early game. Some skills are just complete game changers when it comes to survivability and efficiency and you want to unlock them as fast as possible if you intend to include them in your build.

 

This entire discussion is just one more reason why we will remain a niche game. How are going to convince millions that micro-managing your skill pools and not taking days off from the game is the best way to do things? Decay and skill management FTW!

 

Skill decay applies when you die. If you don't die often, then you won't experience skill decay much. An amount of decay builds up over 72 hours without dying. Upon dying, all 72 hours of that decay is taken from your skills. If you have them set to maintain or train, then it will take XP out of your pool. If you dont, then the skill will decay. If you were to die and then die an hour later, then you would only suffer the amount of decay built up over that hour. So essentially, the longer you go without dying up to 72 hours, the more of an XP hit to your skills you will take when you do die again.

 

Only when you die? what about if you just don't login for 6 months? Great info BTW @Sixclicks, Thanks!

 

I'm not sure if it decays very very slowly over time without use or not. I've only noticed decay on death. I went a couple of weeks without a death and didn't notice any decay in skills I wasn't maintaining that were above level 40. If they do decay over time without use then the rate must be so slow that it's not noticeable over a couple of weeks. Maybe you'd notice something over 6 months though. It would be nice if it was possible to hover over the skill's XP bar and see a number showing how much XP is in the skill and how much is required for the next level. Then it would be much easier to track something like that.

If I remember to, I'll record my pooled XP before logging off tonight and see if there's any change at all over night when I get back on tomorrow.

 

There's no need tbh. I rolled with all actives and over 10 passives until L60.

Once the skills hit 60 as well, then you have to be AoE farming to keep a pool.

Sometimes you want a focus burst for a newer skill, like a T5 one, or big push on a stat, or running with a GM in the party, then locking helps immensely

 

Decay is only applied when you die.