Ilum XP Farm

If it's a "problem" to you, don't do it. I don't see the "problem" with it...it's a GREAT way to encourage massive grouping in a game that needs it.

Alright...

This is not any different than now. Some folks choose to wait until 50 to grind out their gathering, some do it along the way and some choose to throw cash at the problem by leveling purely through crew skills (with 5 companions, it's quick).

This is actually a benefit as it makes crafting viable. There is currently a trailing off of crafting as well as mats prices due to 2.0 and the fact that people are starting to dump their molecular stabilizers and stuff. This move is actually good for keeping the player economy healthy and moving until 2.0.

I can't argue with you here... But at the same time, if 2.0 is truly coming in a month or so, this simply means more people in your level band to play with (either the new FPs, new OPs, quests, Makeb, PvP, whatever). I think giving the entire player population the ability to "start fresh" is brilliant. Those of us that have been 50 for a really really long time and have been complaining about lack of groups (out of guild) will suddenly have an easier time of queue pops and such. The skill level aside, more queue pops is a good thing.

This is only true for those folks that have enough time on their hands to grind all the dailies on all their toons. Again, this isn't really any different. All that changes is that these same folks are getting their extra 50s a week or so earlier (if that even).


People need to stop looking at the negatives and think about the long term benefits of having a lot of equal level toons to play with. I've seen folks desperately trying to get their Ops runs in on Sunday evenings... but because there aren't enough toons, they can't get groups. Not everyone can run their FPs/OPs during the week, so this helps by adding more available toons to the pool. Again queue pops are good.

To reiterate, from what I understand, the ONLY reason this "power leveling" method in the Gree events is possible is because of the existence of the Bolster effect on Ilum only.

If this wasn't meant to be done, there would have been an immediate emergency patch on Saturday morning, or Sunday morning, or else they are waiting until tomorrow morning's patch (if there is one?) to alter this ability.

Otherwise, yes, next weekend is the last time this will be possible for the time being. And I believe they are doing this specifically to let characters gear up and level up for the Makeb launch. I highly doubt the existence of these boosts on two weekends are going to have any significant overall effect on the game.

With the exception of momentary inflation on leveling and 50s gear.

Is it not still possible to level there today? I understand the XP boost is gone, but the XP should still be way better than elsewhere, right?

Double XP makes it viable to level on class quests only, which works out pretty nice for a new class where you haven't played through the story before. In fact it's kind of an ideal way to solo level alts.

Apparently. As I said in another thread, a guildie has emailed some of us that there are still lowbies on Ilum right now grinding the pylons...

It should be, and my biggest question is why hordes of people weren't doing this before double XP weekend (i.e., why was this not discovered and fixed earlier). If people can get to 50 in 10 hours with double XP, then they can get to 50 in 20 hours without double XP, right? Apparently people were doing it before, but they managed to keep it quiet enough that very few knew about it. Now that it's out, maybe there will be crowds during normal days as well, for as long as the event is active.

It's an exploit, nothing more and nothing less. It should be fixed. Whether it will be fixed, we'll have to wait and see. It certainly isn't intended by Bioware that people should be doing this, and trying to justify it continuing is just a bit silly. I don't have a beef with people who take advantage of it, because you can't blame them for playing the game that the game maker makes. But nobody has any legit gripe when it goes away either.

The biggest actual, tangible downside to it is that, because there is an obvious demand for power leveling (as there is in every game), Bioware is missing out on substantial revenue by allowing power leveling exploits to capture this demand rather than selling legit power ups in the cash shop. If they learn nothing else from this, they should at least realize how much money they can make if they roll out a 1-click power up to 50 item in the cash shop along with the release of ROTHC and Makeb.

"If it's a "problem" to you, don't do it. I don't see the "problem" with it...it's a GREAT way to encourage massive grouping in a game that needs it."

it's a problem for the game and anyone that wants to play it - all other leveling progression paths are currently obsolete and eventually, once this gets down to a widely known routine, no one other than a select few will bother with them. Good luck finding people to do sub 50 fps or wzs or heroics. That's -IF- the Gree event occurs monthly as it has for the last two. I've seen the same thing happen in other games and don't want it to happen to this one.

It's very likely it was unintended, I agree with you there...but it's been fun for the majority of players, and that needs to factor in to their decision about what to do now. It's a time consuming, but viable alternative to leveling via quests...I would love to see it stay as it is.