If only you could put that into meaningful words instead of just “I’m not vibing”.
A lot of people with thousands of hours in playtime actually enjoy leveling new characters.
After all, we’re playing the game we like.
This is coming from somebody who doesn’t use leveling items btw.
With best intentions: don’t.
You’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t enjoy playing GD. Why bother?
Keep playing the games you like, don’t make it a second job.
For somebody who uses the phrase “can’t put into words” somewhat sparingly, you sure do write a lot of words.
If you played TQ as much as you have played GD you would get burnt out/see the flaws there too. The only reason why you’re enamored by leveling in TQ is because it’s a more fresh experience for you.
I played so much TQ I can barely make myself play it anymore. I’m approaching similar playtime for GD and starting to get to the same spot of burn out. It’s normal and happens with basically everything in life.
I personally agree on this. For me GD also surpasses TQ in any metric possible, it’s just the much better game. I find the only real thing which TQ still has going on is the Setting/Scenario, and that’s up to pure taste if you prefer Greek Mythology and what not, version a gritty victorian fantasy etc.
Buddy I level a new character in GD Campaign from lvl 1 to 50 in precisely 65min! (Lokar set, Malmouth XP potion, Merit).
You can get to around lvl 30 in exactly 10min - you just need a Merit and XP potion > go in Normal, collect all possible Lore notes in towns/camps (still keep being lvl 1). Then speedrun to Burial Hills, enter the dungeon (without killing anything so far you need to be lvl 1 when entering as the Boss spawns based on your level when you enter the Dungeon).
Once inside - use the XP potion, read all Lore notes - that will bump you to around lvl 18.
Go and kill the boss easily (he will be around lvl 8 or som). Go to town, collect quick XP from all convos/quick quests. You should be around lvl 22-23 by that point.
At this point you can do the quickest first quests in Normal or if you have some decent gear - hop in Ultimate and beeline doing all those Starting area quests in Devil Crossing - you hit lvl 45-50 due to the Ultimate XP increase (that is with XP potion/Lokar set etc).
Then i port hop all devotion points i can get quick in Normal/Elite.
And start Ultimate at around lvl 60 - usually hitting lvl 100 around Ultimate Homestead.
Leveling in GD in the current game state is anything but slow and boring - on the contrary - the game is huge and there is tons of content in every possible corner of the world - it is really the pinnacle of ARPGs.
You can look for video from RektyProtos on YT - he has a detailed simple guide how to speedrun a new alt!
I notice you are doing a lot of things here like me. Somehow it’s not fun anymore. Although I’m starting a new character, but the higher the lvl the less fun it is. I have just as many builds that I want to make saved, but I start noticing them at lvln so from 30 that it does not promise what I think about it. Maybe because it only works if it’s the same equipment. I’ve tried my own builds, but without the right equipment, the fun is just as lost. I play a lot of times at the moment, but it’s not that good either. I’ve started 4 new characters recently. 2 with own build and 2 from another one. But the higher the lvl the less I feel like continuing to play. I have 3 lvl 100 characters, but even they don’t work that way for me now.
Maybe try re-specing some of those builds - this is what I do and i am playing GD since Early Access.
Always playing self found, over 2k hours playtime and have ~20 lvl 100 characters.
I try to get at least 1 class combo of every kind which i find fun in terms of gameplay loop and of course OP-ness.
Once i get bored - for example i had ultra high end Ulzuin Canister bomb Shieldbreaker.
I did all GD content including Nerf, farmed him to full Ascendancy etc.
Then i re-speced to Virtue Aegis Shieldbreaker https://www.grimtools.com/calc/2d1WDn5V
Completely different gameplay and you feel like some middle ages Captain America
If you share what type of gameplay loop/skills etc you enjoy i can try to suggest some builds?
Funny timing. Just a couple days ago, I started playing an Elementalist in TQ+IT (not AE).
The first 50 levels, GD beats TQ easily and is honestly one of the best ARPG experiences out there. After that however, TQ takes the edge. For the simple reason that there is no diminishing returns on levels in Titan Quest. You can always look forward to those sweet, 3 skill point on the level up. That combined with the much lower Mastery caps of 32 instead of 50 also means you get much more to spend on skills, instead of pumping Mastery bars and just boring stats. Add tir that the generally much lower skill caps than in GD, and it means that every couple levels in late game TQ, you can add another skill to your arsenal. The levelling is slow, but impactful. The absolute inverse is true for GD, where skill points all but dry up as you progress. It is still the biggest sin of the game to this day - making gaining a new level unexciting and boring.
TQ with 75 levels provides the player with almost the same amount of skill points as level 100 in GD. Crate also seems to be strangely allergic to interesting quest rewards, especially attribute and skill points. What often kept me going all the way through Legendary in TQ was the quests that gave 2 skill points, permanent bonuses like stats etc. Over the 3 difficulty levels, you get up to 21 extra skill points just from quests. That is 7 levels worth of skill points.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t care less about levelling from 90 to 100 in GD. 50 to 90 already feels somewhat meh, but still bearable.
I’m confused about why you keep speed leveling if you don’t like it.
“process from 1 to about 75/80 is disfunctional”
“I have 40+ builds saved to my phone I want to play”
I think this might be the problem. Leveling builds and end-game builds are different in GD. Every class has an enjoyable leveling build. Figuring out how to level and have fun is part of the learning curve.
