Almost finished my IA and want to go with an inquisitor for my next character. I know the storyline is not meant to be the best but I don't like pure melee classes so Warrior is out and I found the wrting and premise of the bounty hunter unbelievable for various reasons so INQ it is.

 

Which AC gives the most straight forward levelling experience - Sorc with the ability to kill at range, Assassin able to stealth through quests ? I am not asking for easy mode, I don't mind a challenge but having played most of the non class quests at least once already I don't want an AC that takes forever to replay them this time.

 

Thanks for any comments

Assassin able to stealth through quests ?

 

Stealthing through quests has you end up skipping a lot of the bonus "kill X" missions. Which, ironically, slows down the levelling rate.

Almost finished my IA and want to go with an inquisitor for my next character. I know the storyline is not meant to be the best but I don't like pure melee classes so Warrior is out and I found the wrting and premise of the bounty hunter unbelievable for various reasons so INQ it is.

 

Which AC gives the most straight forward levelling experience - Sorc with the ability to kill at range, Assassin able to stealth through quests ? I am not asking for easy mode, I don't mind a challenge but having played most of the non class quests at least once already I don't want an AC that takes forever to replay them this time.

 

Thanks for any comments

 

The main question you have to ask yourself is whether you would prefer to play a ranged healer/dps AC or a melee tank/dps. Melee is not for everyone as interrupting becomes more critical as does avoiding "avoidable damage". You do get a stealth which can make the questing go by faster BUT you have to substitute the loss of exp from skipping by doing space missions / PvE flashpoints / PvP

 

I prefer assassin as I feel it allows me to play with more tactical finess and offers interesting PvP mechanics (I love DoTs). However, sorcs make awesome healers, deadly ranged dps'ers with nice aoes, and can CC both humanoid and droid targets.

The main question you have to ask yourself is whether you would prefer to play a ranged healer/dps AC or a melee tank/dps. Melee is not for everyone as interrupting becomes more critical as does avoiding "avoidable damage". You do get a stealth which can make the questing go by faster BUT you have to substitute the loss of exp from skipping by doing space missions / PvE flashpoints / PvP

 

I prefer assassin as I feel it allows me to play with more tactical finess and offers interesting PvP mechanics (I love DoTs). However, sorcs make awesome healers, deadly ranged dps'ers with nice aoes, and can CC both humanoid and droid targets.

 

You won't lose that much xp skipping a few thrash groups unless you also don't do the Bonus objectives.

 

As a rule of thumb, just make sure to kill at least ONE mob of each type to see if it triggers a bonus.

 

If you don't like melee class, sin can still be possible but deception is very melee-oriented.

 

Sorc, as its suggested, is one heck of a PvE wrecker with many powerful aoes, and access to some handy heals, even if not specced for it.

Thanks for the comments so far.

 

I don't mind playing a mostly melee class - the pure melee nature of the warrior is too much for me tho, and my plan was not to stealth thro entire missions but to use stealth to simplify a few. Overall I think assain will work best for me, Next choice is spec.

 

My current thinking is Madnes - Deathfield makes it feel less purely melee. How is madness as a levelling spec ? I don't like what I hear of Ashara as a companion so would prefer to use either Khem or the pirate guy as my goto companion if possible - will that work with Madness ?

Never really leveled madness, but khem is always a good choice for dps assassin. Easier time of getting the target's back for a maul, but its not as critical for madness, where much of your damage comes from dot.

 

However, madness is still squishier than deception at higher levels, even with the self-heals, with the recent change they made.

 

Madness however uses a lot more "ranged" abilities.

Honestly as an assassin, you may be better served going up to Death Field with reduced force cost in Madness, then hitting up the Darkness tree and running in Dark Charge stance. This gives you a 30m 3-target aoe, a 10m 5-target aoe, your knock down, and at later levels, spinning strike (or equivalent) aoe. Perfect for mowing down groups of 2-3 normals, and the spec is additionally effective at killing strongs and elites.

 

It isn't effective for pvp until very high levels, and as an assassin, I would recommend picking up the 'respec any time anywhere' character perk. Another advantage to leveling as an assassin with this perk is being able to que as dps and tank, and swapping your spec on the fly at zero cost (as a subscriber). Doing this has allowed me to level at an incredibly increased rate, skipping several planets by doing only the story missions on 3-4 planets by the time I've hit the late 40's.

 

Just a tip, anyways.

a 10m 5-target aoe,.

 

Is that Wither? If so, you can't have Death Field and Wither.

Not wither, Discharge (in Dark Charge) hits 5 targets instead of one. It also heals you for a bit as well.

Learn to love Khem Val, he is your murder muffin.

 

Go Madness/Lightning Hybrid Sorc.

 

First 16 points in Madness to Wrath like so:

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/sith_inquisitor/sorcerer/#::f38cf5efef3e6f

 

Next 12 points in Lightning to Max Lightning Barrage like so:

 

http://db.darthhater.com/skill_calc/sith_inquisitor/sorcerer/#::ef2efef2ef3ef25cf5efef3e6f:

 

At which point you will be level 37 and can go any direction you wish.

 

With this spec, you will mow down just about everything.

I ended up going Sorc...and even as a healer I seem to mow things down. Healing appeals to me as a tool, so I tend to always go for a healer ( i have a much neglected non healing toon...may never go back to it, not sure). Just my thing. But, I really really am enjoying the Sorc! Still low level with it, so maybe there are suprises ahead but classes seem to develop and improve later.

I ended up going Sorc...and even as a healer I seem to mow things down. Healing appeals to me as a tool, so I tend to always go for a healer ( i have a much neglected non healing toon...may never go back to it, not sure). Just my thing. But, I really really am enjoying the Sorc! Still low level with it, so maybe there are suprises ahead but classes seem to develop and improve later.

 

At low level, specced heal or dps isn't much a factor, the first 2 tier of any tree being accessible to any 31 points spec.

 

You start seeing a small difference depending on the spec between 15 and 19, mostly just small tweaks making things more fluid, small damage boosts to some move.

 

Then at 20 you get the first, spec oriented move. Healers gain a HoT which is going to be the central point of yor heal through the proc it gives, and both DPS spec gain a powerful AoE.

 

At that point, they'll become more powerful than you with thrash groups. At level 34 you'll somewhat catch back with force storm, but they'll then have much better single target dps. You will obviously have much better survivability tough.

Stealthing through quests has you end up skipping a lot of the bonus "kill X" missions. Which, ironically, slows down the levelling rate.

You can always kill what's needed for bonuses and stealth past everything else, which wouldn't put as much of a damper on leveling.