To power level means that a high-level character takes a low-level character out into a high-level explorable area and then proceed to kill monsters in that area with the intention of providing the low-level character with large amounts of experience. Power leveling is mostly needed by players who have been run to high-level areas in the game (instead of fighting and questing) and want to raise their level to the maximum of 20 or to a sufficiently high level that they can explore on their own. Using Insight Scrolls is also key as this reduces time needed to power-level.
A look at how experience points are calculated in the game shows that the difference between the slain monster's level and a player's character determines how much experience that character gets from the kill (along with the number of party members). Therefore, if a level 20 character takes a level 4 out with him to kill a level 24 monster, the level 20 player will get:
- XPLevel 20 = (100 + 4 x 16 + 4) / 2 = 84 xp
Meanwhile the level 4 player will get:
- XPLevel 4 = (100 + 20 x 16 + 4) / 2 = 212 xp
The number in red highlights the difference in level between slain monster and player.
A power leveler will often take the low-level character into an area they can solo farm easily. There they will begin to kill the monsters with the low-level player staying close behind but out of harm's way. Players do not get experience for kills if they are too far away from the action.
Power leveling is frowned upon by many experienced players as it does not teach the low-level player the game. Their character will be level 20 and have the best armor and items, but they will not be as skilled as someone who went through the game questing to achieve level 20. However, even experienced players who have played through the games multiple times may wish to forgo the tedium of leveling as they have sufficient experience already.
The most popular place to get power leveling services is Droknar's Forge because it is the destination of most players who are run from low level areas. The number one area to take these low-level players to power them up is the Mountain Troll cave located just west of Droknar's forge.