Leveling vs. Camping - Pros vs. Cons

[Idiosyncrasy]

I am currently at level 53 and I have been taking my time in order to grow my economy and build my stats. As a result, I am pretty happy with where I stand in comparison to my rivals, but my game is starting to feel stagnant.

I have decided to compile a list of pros and cons of leveling and camping. Feel free to add to the list, as I still don't know if I want to continue with a partial camp or just blast my way through the levels.

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Leveling

Pros:
- Allows enjoyment of regular gameplay.
- Working the storyline motivates players to purchase items, albeit with typically lower stats.
- Generates more skill points that can be allocated to enhance gameplay.
- Unlocks new maps, items, and buildings, which further enhance economy and stats.
- Allows for map farming.
- Allows for more goal completion, which could result in respect points and other motivating prizes.
- Upon the ultimate destination of level 200, one no longer has to feel anxious about leveling and can utilize all resources of the game without remorse.

Cons:
- Provides greater visibility to higher level players with higher stats. Player may eventually start losing more battles.
- After allocating all skill points, no more points can be attained. Player must be sure of his or her strategy before exhausting all skill points.
- Upon the ultimate destination of level 200, and during descent upon its grounds, player will find himself or herself in the shark pool, where the weak are eaten alive. Gameplay pleasure may become restricted if not prepared.

Camping

Pros:
- Allows time for building stats so you can win more battles, once you start to play.
- Allows time for focusing on economy, giving you greater potential to build with greater power when the time comes to level.
- Allows time to form a strategy, learn from other players and from the forum, and decide how to allocate skill points. Camping could eventually spawn the most powerful player of a particular level/bracket.
- Level remains low while attack proportion remains high. Becomes useful during epic boss events and the like.
- Player can focus on building a hood, rather than building a character, although duality will eventually occur. This allows for more of a "Sim City" type of gameplay.

Cons:
- Stagnates the game. Prohibits enjoyment of regular gameplay.
- Limited access to items, buildings, and maps. Player is limited to grow with what is accessible.
- Player must decide when to stop camping, which is an abstract goal at best.
- A secondary account may be required to fully enjoy this style of gameplay, which the majority of users do not utilize (generalization).

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I know I probably missed several points, so please feel free to add your input. I'll add constructive thoughts as they come. Obviously I am still in the lower levels, so I have not acquired the wisdom of the experienced and the higher levels. Thanks.

[Ins0mn1ac]

Have you thought of doing a hybrid of the two? My strategy for the last 20 or so levels (I'm lvl 56 right now) has been camping (only econ building) in between events. Almost all events will force you to gain xp which will eventually level you. Also add into that respect coin farming while looking for event boxes and the game is pretty enjoyable.

My 2 cents...


Cheers

[sister morphine]

I tend to agree with insomniac, but maybe that's because I don't have the patience to sit on a level for months like the real big time campers do.

So far as your putting the storyline in the pros for levelling, I'm not sure I'd agree with that. Players whose job count total is much higher than their fights or robs are precisely the ones who end up grossly underpowered for the level they're on unless they're big gold buyers. I tend to do jobs principally for farming the better items or at the beginning of an event. That might mean I'm missing out on skill points for now, but they'll still be there for later on.

[Sir Daniel]

OP, I think you ought to factor PVP into the Levelling / Pros section. Loot drops and R from PVP attacks make a massive difference to stats early and mid game, even for a moderate gold spender.

[Luciferianism]

I think lower tier items during events is a major negative about not being high level.

[mxz]

I think lower tier items during events is a major negative about not being high level.

You get more of them and have a higher rare drop rate, though. Between my two I think my camper has more Epic Boss loot stats (even taking away Chief's Cruiser, Tac Vest and Gun...which the HL had no shot at).

[Auxilium]

I think lower tier items during events is a major negative about not being high level.

Well, if you go on crawling mode you get more of these event items then anyone else of your level. Because you are stronger then the average player. If you get to the high levels you are just simply weak and probably get half of the event items.

*Edit MXZ said the same before i posted (watching my brother playing COD took a while to submit the answer).

[Ramshutu]

My strategy, now I am at level 32, is as follows:

1.) Begin by camping, the intention is to build your economy quickly, by regularl collection and upgrading.
2.) Buy crates and Gold items so that, at level 6, you have pretty neat stats.
3.) spend the next 30 levels engaged in non-stop raiding the level 7 lofts, movie theatres and night clubs of other campers.

Seriously, I got to about level 130 on my ios account, and saw a handful of stuff that was worth raiding. At level 3, every other joe-schmoe has an uncollected level 7 nightclub, with stats that were okay, but not exceptional.

Realistically, the issue with camping vs non camping, is a bit of a false dichotomy, they are both wrong.

This game is about optimisation of resources. Maximising stat gain, cash and RP whilst minimising XP earned. Leveling, while arguably more fun, does not necessarily do any of these things. Camping helps, but realistically only for a short while.


In general, there is a benefit to slowing down a little, and these are:

- Most low level buildings should be used to fund purchase of higher level buildings, and shouldn't be used for longer term economic gain. A level 4 upscale club earns a pretty large amount, and once you have it, your level 10 house looks pretty small and unappealing. Taking things slow allows you to immediately buy the higher level buildings the moment they are unlocked.

- Building a strong economy earlier, allows you to buy a lot of cash items, this means you do not have to spend RP on intermediate RP items, and can save it for the stuff you will keep for a while.

- With more cash items at lower levels, the rival list becomes a buffet, you can target the stuff that gives the most bang for your stamina, and target buildings that payout a lot of cash, but don't earn too much XP.

I started the slow haul up after I got my second loft to level 2, which took about 2 weeks from the start.

[kitzune]

in 20/20 hind sight I wish I had started crawling earlier. Camping except during events needed to attack or rob others to get event started.

but then I found the forums and some of the useful things on it even later.

[Tomatoneverdie]

On my main account(lv83). Camp when there is no event, attack only when necessary during events to prevent leveling too fast....My camper account (lv36), only participated the Boss Event.

Either account is doing relatively well. This forum provides enough knowledge and information to allow anyone to decide how they want to enjoy this game....