This article by E.L.F.A of Sarah gives us some tips and tricks on how to level up faster and more efficiently.

Without further ado...

It’s not easy leveling… One of two primary reasons why people bot is the “brain sloshing” or boredom that level-grinding brings to gamers. This is especially so for melee characters, like assassins, rogues, agility knights or crusaders… basically any class that uses normal attacks most of the time. Even blitz hunters fall under this category, although not literally melee.

Here are a few tips in hand-leveling your MELEE characters:

1. Set short term goals –this is especially important when level 80+, as you may find that it will take several days (or weeks… even months) for you to reach your next level. For example: collect 1000 of a single common drop, like skel bones or rotten bandages. Or look around for that rare shining plant hidden around your map. Or keep tally how many monsters you can kill in 30 minutes, trying to break your record each time you play.

2. Move frequently–look around for new and fresh areas to level in. It helps remove the fog in your head before you head back to your primary leveling spot.

3. Study and research about your chosen profession –this helps you get hyped about making your character stronger, and helps you defend your build when they call it a n00b/weak/useless build…

4. Find easy monsters to kill –when you get a really bad day or just feel down, nothing beats running around in a dungeon and massacring anything that moves. You may be surprised at the experience you get (or even the loots) when you’re done with your massacre.

5. Hide your experience bar –have fun! Don’t look at that nasty experience bar and notice that you only got 0.3% experience in 30 minutes... You need to check it once in a while, but it would be better if you did that once in a while, not all the time

6. Avoid the “rare obsession” mentality –don’t go into a dungeon expecting to get rare items… you will begin to hate leveling with this mentality if after a week or two you STILL haven’t gotten that card. (In my dungeon, it’s been two months and 4000 whispers estimate… still no card). Enter dungeons with a “leveling and a looking-for-adventure” mentality. That’s much better than being obsessed with rares.

7. Find a party to level in a difficult dungeon –THIS is the core essence of MMORPGS: banding together with others to achieve something great! Team up with friends to explore the deepest recesses of Glastheim, or dare to enter the fiery Magma Dungeon, even float around in the surreal dungeon of Kunlun. It’s all up to you!

8. Role play once in a while –In the dungeon I level in, I’m the janitor. I mop up monsters that bunch up in certain areas (that’s because I’m all alone in that dungeon.) That’s why it’s called an MMORPG. Give your character a mentality or a persona you want to portray… it keeps things interesting Just learn to differentiate between reality and fantasy, or else you’ll end up an MMORPG-junkie!

9. Give your character a purpose in existence –my purpose with my assassin is to show my peers that you don’t need bot programs to reach 99, or to make money, even with a melee character. What is YOUR purpose? WoE? PvP? MVP? Any purpose can inspire you to keep playing your character!

10. Make a friend –this is the primary reason I still play pRO. No, don’t go looking for the ‘barkada’ type friends, or the sugar daddies/mommies, or those who only know how to show off and try to act all rich and powerful. Look for those people who can stir up a good conversation. It is not easy, trust me. More often than not, you will meet immature dudes and third-party programs throughout your adventure in pRO, but there are still some decent people out there. Talk to people, say hi and type /heh when you meet real players… you never know if that mage you bump into while leveling in seals could become your best online buddy!

That’s all folks… my two cents