Fast way to level up?

[Solo Queue Kevin]

So my friends and I played this game A LOT before the Upgrade System update, we were all around lvl 500 and understand the devs wanted to change to level system to give something to grind for.. however, we came back to the game a week ago for Halloween and these tier 1 equipment feel awful to use compared to the equipment before the update.
I understand the equipment update was a while ago and most people probably don't have to deal with these anymore. Though I was wondering if there was a fast/cheesy way to level up? We really want to get back into the game, but this equipment just doesn't feel very good to use, especially on the bigger maps. We feel like we can only play the houses otherwise our sanity will be 0 before we find the ghost room.

Edit: We don't care about having sth to grind for, we play Phasmo for the gameplay loop and it's chill and spooky vibes

[Maya-Neko]

The fastest way is to set a 12,97x multiplier (everything as hard as possible, except for player and ghost speed) and then playing Camp Woodwind, get into the map to the tables on the left, wait for the hunt and try to figure out the ghost through its behavior. up to 14 ghosts can be identified that way. If you're correct you get tons of exp within like 2 minutes. If you can't identify the ghost, then leave anyway, because it's not worth staying around if the only thing you care about is leveling up.

If you want to take it more serious and don't just leave, when the ghost isn't identifiable, then you could also go for a difficulty where you start at like 50 % sanity, get a hunt and if you can't figure it out, take like 2 pills with 20 or 25 % sanity restoration and get back into safer sanity levels to do a normal investigation. Can get you up to like 7-10x multiplier somewhere, if you're capable of playing with a 1 second grace period and 1 evidence type. If you don't have sanity pills yet, then it might be better to just start at 100 % sanity and do the investigation part first and the hunt part after like finding the evidences

Otherwise, you could also just play normally. If you can identify the ghost on difficulties like professional or nightmare, then it should take you like 1-2 hours to get the full set of T1 items and 3-4 hours to get the most important items to T2, which should be doable within the next 2 weeks, if you start playing regularly again. Unlike before, the needed exp is scaling, so it's easy to go through the levels early on and only the later stages get harder.

[Super Moogle]

A lot of ghost mechanics have changed since then, so if you're having a hard time with 0 evidence runs I have two custom difficulty setups that allow faster leveling, one with 2 evidence and one with 0 evidence but with an option to regain your sanity.

5x payout "nightmare plus" custom setting

Plays almost exactly like nightmare, but you gain access to the sanity and activity monitors in exchange for slightly lower starting sanity, and the payout goes to 5x instead of 4x. This is my default game mode now when I play for fun because it provides the puzzle element of finding evidence with the challenge of facing earlier hunts.

75 starting sanity, 20% sanity pill restoration
200% sanity drain
sprinting on, player speed 100%
flashlights on, lose items and consumables on death

100% ghost speed, high roaming
change favourite room high
activity level medium
event frequency medium
0 grace period
medium hunt duration
kills extend hunts off (makes no difference to reward multiplier)
2 evidence
100% fingerprint chance, 60 second fingerprints

0 setup time
heavy rain
doors start open high
hiding spots low
sanity monitor on
activity monitor on
fuse box starts off
fuse box visible on map off
1 random cursed possession

9.07x payout '0 evidence with a safety net' custom settings

I'm not a big fan of the "1 hunt and go" playstyle so I made this custom to allow a better 0 evidence investigation experience. This starts off with 0 sanity 0 evidence, but sanity pills will regain 20% sanity each. If you can't identify the ghost after the first 1-2 hunts, you can pop 2 pills to get up to 40% sanity to rule out shade, and if the ghost hunts you can pop 1 more pill to get to 60% to check for mare/onryo/demon. I prefer to do this one on Willow street because you have 2 really good looping spots right beside the entrance, and you can observe the ghost through the closed glass kitchen doors from the living room without it spotting you in order to watch for oni/phantom blinking.

0 starting sanity, 20% sanity pill restoration
200% sanity drain speed
sprinting on, player speed 100%
flashlights on, lose items and consumables on

100% ghost speed
roaming high
change favourite room low
activity level medium
event frequency medium
0 grace period
medium hunt duration
0 evidence

0 setup time
windy weather
doors start open high
number of hiding places low
sanity monitor on, activity monitor on
fuse box starts on
fuse box is visible on map on
1 random cursed possession

[Solo Queue Kevin]

Thank you both for your answers! We're very casual, so we'll most likely never figure out the ghost personal traits.. but might have to practice, so we can level up!

Originally posted by Maya-Neko:

The fastest way is to set a 12,97x multiplier (everything as hard as possible, except for player and ghost speed) and then playing Camp Woodwind, get into the map to the tables on the left, wait for the hunt and try to figure out the ghost through its behavior. up to 14 ghosts can be identified that way. If you're correct you get tons of exp within like 2 minutes. If you can't identify the ghost, then leave anyway, because it's not worth staying around if the only thing you care about is leveling up.

If you want to take it more serious and don't just leave, when the ghost isn't identifiable, then you could also go for a difficulty where you start at like 50 % sanity, get a hunt and if you can't figure it out, take like 2 pills with 20 or 25 % sanity restoration and get back into safer sanity levels to do a normal investigation. Can get you up to like 7-10x multiplier somewhere, if you're capable of playing with a 1 second grace period and 1 evidence type. If you don't have sanity pills yet, then it might be better to just start at 100 % sanity and do the investigation part first and the hunt part after like finding the evidences

Otherwise, you could also just play normally. If you can identify the ghost on difficulties like professional or nightmare, then it should take you like 1-2 hours to get the full set of T1 items and 3-4 hours to get the most important items to T2, which should be doable within the next 2 weeks, if you start playing regularly again. Unlike before, the needed exp is scaling, so it's easy to go through the levels early on and only the later stages get harder.

Do you happen to have a video for your method? So I can follow it

[Decurio Cthulhus [ESP]]

a high difficulty to farm, and guess the ghost in a hunt. Do a objetive if possible

[Maya-Neko]

Originally posted by Solo Queue Kevin:

Do you happen to have a video for your method? So I can follow it

https://youtu.be/qPgizYuP8SM?si=PslMr2a0lit8Boih

The difficulty settings are in the video discription

That video is from right after the introduction of the tiered items, so the lighting system might be a littlebit different and you can now obviously just take the lighter in the 4th inventory slot and bring a 3rd smudge or a something else with you (though in a team it's usually best to have one smudging and the other one bringing items for additional tests, just to make sure that you don't accidentally double smudge).

The video also explains, how you can identify the ghosts from their behavior, which hasn't changed at all in the spirit of this strategy.

[Knee]

I have a custom difficulty (~4.5x multiplier)
0 setup time
long hunt
no hiding places
no cursed object
no activity screen
50 starting sanity
(other stuff I can’t remember)

The idea is you can go about your casual phas experience like normal but with the caveat that you’re planning on wrapping up the investigation before the ghost starts hunting (obviously you’re taking sanity meds right off the bat when starting at 50). Also this difficulty rewards best for small maps. I get $1,400 to $1,600 on average without trying too hard.