Questions regarding leveling and seals

[Meteor_VII]

This is my first fire emblem game and right now I am around the 25 hour mark and have only gotten to chapter 8 because I have been grinding. I read somewhere that if you promote when characters are at max level it is better in for them in the end stat-wise.

So I am curious is it worth it leveling to max level for each job? or is it only worth it to get the skills from each job and then switch?

Also when using seals for the first time (I have a couple master and second seals) should I go into a promotion job or switch over to another base class first?

Lastly are promotion jobs harder to level: I only ask because due to my grinding everyone is max level except for Donnel, Panne, Cordellia (level 15) and Frederick but with Frederick its not for a lack of trying. He just seems to gain xp so slowly.

[shadowofchaos]

This is my first fire emblem game and right now I am around the 25 hour mark and have only gotten to chapter 8 because I have been grinding. I read somewhere that if you promote when characters are at max level it is better in for them in the end stat-wise.

So I am curious is it worth it leveling to max level for each job? or is it only worth it to get the skills from each job and then switch?

I'm not one that's really that experienced with FE, because I'm pretty low level and not one who goes for beating it in the least amount of turns... but this Fire Emblem is quite different from the rest.

You can grind as much as you can and then second seal to reset your level to keep on getting levels.

The other ones had "you had 20 levels in base class", promote, and "20 levels to level up in your promoted class".

So most casual players give them as many chances to get stats as possible.

However, in this game, there's infinity for that, even if you get exp penalties from the internal level mechanic.

You really just get max stats as you go by getting the skills from different classes, so I'd say get the skills from each class then switch.

As you level up, the internal level mechanic keeps track of your previous level to a certain degree (someone else should help me out on this, I don't know the exact details) by adding your visible level/2 to your internal level count every time you use a second seal.

So at some point, the minimum 8 exp you get per kill will eventually make it so that it's the amount of kills you get for a character rather than killing a high level opponent to level up your character.

Edited February 19, 2013 by shadowofchaos

[CinderSkye]

Promoting ASAP will hurt you in the medium range because you will level up slower due to the promoted unit penalty (until you reclass, you take XP as a unit of your level+20, even if you promoted at 10), but benefits you in the short-term (immediate stat boost) and long-term (faster skill gain.) If you're able, I think the best thing to do is Second Seal before promoting IF you have another base class worth taking (Mercenary is usually worth taking, for example.) I generally prefer not to hurry my promotions in order to get the most stat gains, conventional wisdom is otherwise.

[Meteor_VII]

So if I read that right I should just go ahead and start promoting/reclassing people as soon as they get the skills from the jobs they currently are in because you will eventually max your stats anyway?

[CinderSkye]

That's the general thinking. Most characters won't max anything during normal gameplay in Hard, though...

[Meteor_VII]

Okay. Thanks for the help because I have been just hovering around grinding up cordellia to catch up with everyone.