Need a lot of advice, I am needy

getting below midras will be fun. you need to either go through midras, which is a pvp zone, or go through midmaer passage from kiln. you don't have to go far into the passage, but you do have to get a key to get into it.

once in the crypt, there are a couple of quests. the plotline one doesn't involve any fighting. the other one is well above you at this point, just get it in your journal and go back later.

 

How mission critical is it to get Fortify Defense in your opinion? 3/4 of those stances are basically things I can't use while I'm playing so I'm truly not looking forward to doing so despite the clear and obvious benefit Fortify Defense would bring.

Now about experience. I've read the posts and I understand why having a huge pool provides more experience for the actively gaining skills. This is my opinion/understanding/experience so please point out where I'm wrong/have shallow understanding:

What I don't believe holds true until >40, maybe even 50 skill points is that overall both time wise and in terms of new player experience it's better to only train 5 at a time vs the all important things (Stats, Very Strong passives, etc.) to that minimum proficiency state. It definitely tanks my adventure experience pool, but at the same time I'm building way more things and reaping that benefit immediately. I don't feel I'm at a point yet where I'm capable "as is" to then just focus a few things and become better. Ultimately my argument is this: If I banked experience and then leveled select things to 40, I realize I would level those select things themselves faster than if I did them all at once. However I think this, while ultimately more sustainable, is not as helpful to newbies who have some ability to quickly replenish experience in the form of quests to supplement the clear and present need for well-rounded "general" advancement (to the 40's in skills to basically unlock things/generate stats).

Now I could be very wrong and it's both sustainable AND overall faster to get a few things at a time and then pass the baton. I've basically taken Sara's advice along with trying out skills everyone else has mentioned here with different mileage as far as specializing the very powerful skills/passives first to a minimum proficiency and so far it's working really well as long as I have quest experience to bolster my activities.

 

If you are taking Sara's advice then you are in good hands my friend. I believe if I was in your shoes, I would level 1 heavy armor skill, one blade skill, one stance, one stat and one innate (5) at a time to 80 then rinse and repeat with another 1 of each. My priority would be body slam, thrust, defensive stance, strength and earth to get to the innates. also include bladed combat in the first group to skill up so six to work to 80 first. look at the subterfuge tree to get the minimum to open up sneak attack. This in my opinion will kill things fast enough at your level to get things to 80. R/Boris/El Pirata

 

It's certainly a bit of a balancing act, and I wouldn't worry too much about a fixed number of 5 at once. My approach is to check my pool every so often and turn something off if it's going down fast or turn something on if it's going up fast, and this will vary according to the scene you're in and whatever you're fighting, generally aiming for a slowly increasing pool. When in a party with someone who has GMs in something I'm willing to deplete my pool a bit to take advantage.

I would note however that a big pool can be a major advantage when levelling things that require reagents because you'll use fewer reagents doing it. Also, once you get up to the point where decay happens you always want to have much more XP in your pool than a death will cost you.

 

What determines when decay happens? >80?

 

Nevermind I accidentally learned about it in Chris' daily blog and how it's changing up on the 25th. Thanks again @Wintermute of CoF for your help.

 

Do we have Numbers for Pool increase the skilling?
Is there a maximum of Pool what skills can benefit from?
Lets say if you have just 1 skill on learn and learning speed = xp that get from the pool to the skill by one single use, then until what amount of pool does the benefit increase?
Sorry, if it sounds weird, i dont know to explain it better in english.
I once had 300k Pool, but atm i'm at 160k
I cannot imagine to get 1Mio.
Would take me 4 Weeks while stop learning anything atm to get to 1Mio i guess.
But would it be better and would it also be better to have 2, 3... 5... x Mio. pooled XP?

 

I don't know for sure, but I'd wait to do any real testing on it until after R42 since it's a week away. Things may change from what they are now.

 

I really would like to have Pool to be no matter about how "fast" a skill levels.
Skills should always take a fix amount of pooled XP to gain in level.
Pool should only be saved for death's - so that you maybe pool to be able to compensate your 1st, 2nd, 3rd... death that hurts the most (after r42 changes) and to have enough pool to level skills by use.
You should only need more usage to level it higher and higher.
The more pooles XP you have, the more skills gain in level by usage is just creating a bigger gap between casuals and hardcore gamers, who even faster level further.
And to my understanding it's always better to have no such large gap, because of all competetive aspects of the game.
If now some highlevel hardcore gamers feel accused again - i dont want to accuse you or your style to play, i just want balance the time= reward thing, because a lot of people seem to have 5x more time to play and therefore there is no competition in the game about economy or PvP.
There are just a few who could control all competetive aspects of the game.
But most just gift gear or support the lower level players, grinding XP while group with them in highlevel areas and support with GM skills etc... until they can do it alone. Thats maybe not wrong and a lot of player exaclty want it, i benefit from that also from time to time, but i like it more to achieve things by myself or with equal strong players in my group.
therefore i want closer gaps - or maybe just more people in any levelrange!?!?

conclusion: if a big pool let you gain skills faster, then this let players with more time not just level faster by having more time usng skills, but extra by havong more time to build up more pool. Doublefeature.
Creates a larger gap between casual and hardcore gamers and i think it's not good for the whole community to have such a large gap between these groups.
No offense!!!