[Level Progression] When do I move on to next skull(higher difficulty) area?

I'm leaving this question on New Player Welcome so others might benefit from its answers.

First and foremost, if you want overall guide for leveling, please find below thread written by the generous 'Themo Lock'. Although, it's outdated, still have useful information.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...what-is-going-on-a-sota-leveling-guide.41503/

As I progress(if you can call that 'a progress'), it's difficult to determine whether you're ready for next challenge.

For example, you got proficient in 1 skull area(can kill 3~4 mobs at once without difficult), but get pwned at 2 skulls area. Naturally, you tend to remain at 1 skull area, but experience points are too low for your state which cause low xp pool(this can be solved through questing though), but you don't dare go 2 skulls just now because integration of mobs is just too menacing.

This niche is quite frustrating.

Some say, 'do group!' or 'get a help from guild!', but I want to know how people progress through areas by solo, since many of newcomers might do just that.

How did you do? Your wisdom may benefit me and many others to come

 

Good quick rule of thumb on this is to always be fighting yellow mobs as they are a challenge and decent xp and should always be within your range no matter what level.

Also, take advantage of the many new buffs in the game. Potions, wearables, etc.

 

You may want to explore and try several different areas with one or two skulls.

I find that some areas are harder than others even if they have the same number of skulls.

Also, some zones have a section with mobs that are more difficult than the rest of the zone. For instance, a zone may be full of relatively easy to defeat wolves and bears but in one section of that zone there may be a kobold village or bandit hideout that has enemies that are more challenging.

 

spot on
this holds true throughout the game, there can be massive difference between two 5 skull scenes (not counting bosses/dungeons)

 

You're right, @Verit, @Lord Halvard Fimbultyr, I've been talking with players in discord regarding this matter, and they recommended several 2 skulls spot that might be easier than where I am right now.

Recommended 2 skulls areas were;

South Celestial Wetlands, South Midmaer Way, Aerie Longfall Woods, West Veiled Swamp

If there's any other locations(3 skulls and 4 skulls area) better to grind than others, please share!

 

I think it's also true that some areas are harder than others for particular builds. When I was low level, light armour and primarily melee I generally avoided spiders and areas where I was likely to aggro more than one archer at a time (still the same now on the archer front, really, but the number and level I can handle at once has increased). My heavy armour melee alt has a much easier time with spiders, my ranged alt has it much easier with archers.

I always liked Eastreach Gap, even when the enemies were orange to me:

• It's fairly easy to arrange things so you're never fighting more than two enemies at once
• Plenty of open space to run away to if things start going badly
• Resource nodes have a chance of dropping higher level/valuable stuff (e.g. beetles)

 

Yes. I find this to be true as well.

 

Have Fun @Max Bennis !

Some skills that are newly had aren't ready for good use within the heavier areas from where you began. Everyone has their own thing in skill building, but this is what I enjoy doing after having made over 25+ new characters using a single account (I've tried it all); When I gain a new combat attack skill, I then make a new deck, lock all those skills other than the one and head back to beginning areas and work that skills way up to the level at which I desire to head into a more skull on the pike level. If you are into speed of skill building, your skills will all eventually level when GM, yet some will have lagged behind and thus you may see your abilities of play less than the hunting peer group you hunt around with. At that point, it's not that you suc, it's that those lagging skills suc. This is one of the reasons why I don't like to rush my skill building, and the other reason is that once you do reach that upper pear level, there's not much else to do that's entertaining other than the highest of skull level. I like for my gaming enjoyment not to be so rushed, because I'm enjoying each stage of progress much longer than others that whip through, only to burn out of enjoyment once they achieve the top. So many of my friends did rush to the top, and are now waiting for new content to play again because they'd rather play other games once they've conquered all that our developing SOTA has to offer.



The quests are the same, "all in due time for me, though you may choose to rush past all there is here to savor".
It's a personal choice, but to rush upward is easy, just kill everything and you're done.
Just have fun Sir @Max Bennis ! It's what we came for
~Time Lord~

 

Oh you devil tongue

 

I have a Beginners Guide 101 available in Bastion's Point, Just south of Solace Bridge. I have gotten many, many great comments on it from new players that were able to transition from getting killed all the time to having fun and advancing. I sell them for a cheap 5g but you can also just read it as I have copies right out on the vendor table. It basically runs through the first towns quests (Soltown), covers devotionals, reducing skills to train only the basics and getting enough gold to buy a set of armor that will keep you alive in the Soltown Catacombs. You may have advanced beyond this by now, but I figured I would throw it out there for anyone looking for new character tips.

 

Also, this is a handy dandy list to help you find locations of particular Skull levels. Hope it helps

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-adventure-scenes-of-the-new-britannia.49018/

 

I think it's sort of ironic that people have been worried about CP areas being too hard for low-level players to get across, yet Eastreach Gap is really one of the better solo leveling areas. But yes, having room to run away and safely activate the rubber band really is important in SotA (so far), since mobs love to double/triple team you, making it hard to solo. Compare with some of the swamp areas that seem to almost have crocs placed on a grid, and by the time you rubber band one of them, you've attracted two more.

Also, learn to use rocks when you need to take a break! Unless there are archers or mages around, they are a very good safe place.

 

Some very good suggestions here. I would reiterate the importance of long term buffs, like devotionals and food.

The first is free, and you can have two devotional buffs at once. I would suggest you check out the Spirituality buff for sure as it raises your adv level so you can hunt in areas that you normally wouldn't and get the extra xp. There is one in Fortus End.

Food is relatively cheap, and especially the lower tier stuff. You can also have two foods active at once, though I believe they need to be from two different tiers.

Short term buffs as can be found in earth, air, and sun schools can be very helpful also. Leveling them up to 40 is very easy and will get you significant base trait bonuses, particularly at lower levels. I like to keep mine in the quickslot and fire them off before entering a battle. I personally like to keep them out of my combat deck though.

As others mentioned, there are different tactics necessary in order to be more effective with different mob classes. Generally, there are humanoids (cultists and bandits), undead, and animals (single and group). There's also different tactics for melee, ranged and in some cases magic versions of those basic mob classes.

At first, you will find that some of these groups are easier than others, depending on your build. This you might be able to take out a cultist hangout in T3 zone, while struggling with undead in T2. Eventually, you may want to have more skills in your deck, or more decks themselves.

Which leads me to the final suggestion. If you haven't already, start playing around with unlocked skills and deck swapping. This will serve you well now, and even better later.