Clocking Tier 4 in under 300 hours? For most of us, that’s not just fast; it's warp speed. In this exclusive interview, we caught up with Xyj to find out how they blitzed through the tiers, what kept it fun, and tips for pulling it all off.

Gaardian: Hello Xyj! Thank you very much for speaking with us today on your ambitious goal and journey to reach T4 in under 300 hours.

Xyj: Hi. My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Gaardian: Before we begin, can I ask how do you pronounce your name? I've asked around and I've gotten responses from "Zidge" to "Zee-odge" and even "X Y J". Do you get that question a lot? Are you related to Xzx or Xyzzy?

Xyj: Ziiij (Ziii (dge)). Yes I have been asked before on how to pronounce the name. Nope, no relation to Xzx or Xyzzy. 

Gaardian: Thanks for clarifying that. To start things off, I wanted to say congratulations on accomplishing your goal of reaching T4 in under 300 hours! To put this in context, I tried to find folks who were even remotely close, but after checking out "swho 10" (sorted list of players by age), it seems most people with 300 hours were only on their second or third remort, and no one with comparable hours had finished T1 yet. So this is truly a remarkable achievement.

Xyj: Thank you so much. It took 281 hours. Primary class sorcerer. 

Gaardian: How did you come up with your goal of reaching T4 in 300 hours? How did you decide on the hours and the tier? Were there any main motivations for you when you set this goal?

Xyj: I have generally been a fan of speed levelling so I decided to see if it was possible to still have the newbie channel at T4. The decision on hours was based on the newbie channel. Once you reach 300 hours you lose the channel. Main motivation was just to have fun along the way. 

Gaardian: Having fun is certainly an important aspect to all of this. And maybe they will have to start capping the newbie channel based on levels after this!

Gaardian: I know you may be describing your setup in more detail on YouTube later on, but could you share with us a little bit of how you did it?

Xyj: Yes. It took about a year to achieve the goal. I'm going to put up a YouTube video as a summary. I was low on hard disk space due to high quality recordings, so only small parts of the achievement will be shown.

I can provide some tips on the setup. I believe anyone can achieve the goal with dedication and time. It is important they choose a combination that they feel is best to achieve their goal, for example Sprite mage or halfling ranger.

I started as a quickling sorcerer. I think quicklings were merged into Sprite around June 2024. My second class was psi and third class cleric. The rest after that can probably be random. 

Also do the academy. The fundraising leaflet will usually get you millions of gold so you can buy equipment and potions.

Gaardian: I can imagine you've become quite an efficient levelling machine. Did you find it difficult to start levelling in the earlier tiers/remorts without any Aarditems or other special gear?

Xyj: Donations were opened at the time as I recall. I decided it would be much easier to achieve the goal by donating. I think I waited till the quest points reward came through and bought Aardwolf breastplate, aura, boots, helm and amulet at level 1. T0 and T1 were easiest and then at T2 third class became more challenging due to the increased experience required to level. 

Gaardian: Is this your first time playing Aardwolf? How did you know where to find the best places to level most efficiently?

Xyj: I've I believe anyone can achieve the goal with dedication and time.been playing Aardwolf for quite some time, but don't have any oldbie active alts. To find places to level I use the mobdeaths command. For example mobdeaths 20 30 evil. I also have a text file that lists all the areas to level at certain range. 

Gaardian: Did you employ any clever strategies to help boost the amount of levels you completed in a short amount of time? (e.g. making sure to be here for hour double, for example?) Were there any learnings that resulted in you changing your approach to levelling?

Xyj: At first there weren't any clever tactics because the TNL wasn't so high and mage quickling would just plough through the levels. Then in the later tiers I realised I was low on time so I had to employ clever tactics such as logging in during double. My approach to levelling was to go for mobs that are about 20 levels higher as mages/spellcasters can afford this. Unfortunately for fighter classes, they will find it hard to hit the mobs that are much higher level due to the mechanics of Aardwolf. For those interested in achieving the goal they can perhaps start on New Year's Day when double exp runs quite frequently. 

Gaardian: I'm with you there — no better way to spend the holidays and New Year's than with double qps and double xp.

Gaardian: Is Tankotee your own YouTube channel? Is there anything you would like viewers to know about your content?

Xyj: Yes, I'm the content creator and owner. Tankotee channel is a variety channel with topics including technology, chess, gaming and more. There are also some videos about Aardwolf MUD and guidance on how to play. The channel has almost 32,000 subscribers at this stage. 

Gaardian: That is quite a sizeable number, indeed!

Gaardian: I noticed you have 0 deaths so far, which means you're placing in the top 5 on ranking 8. Was that one of your goals too (to have 0 deaths), or just a side consequence of trying to level as efficiently as possible?

Xyj: Thank you for noticing. Yes it is my goal to have 0 deaths. I'm delighted to be listed in the top 5 on rank 8. 

(Editor's note: Wondering what Trurien thinks about this since his goal is to get to the bottom of rank 8...)

Gaardian: I was able to participate in your celebratory trivia competition recently. That was a lot of fun - thank you for setting that up! Are you planning to host more trivias in the future?

Xyj: My pleasure. Thank you for participating. I'm happy to hear that you had fun. I believe every contestant online until the end won a prize or more. It is possible that I'll host more trivias. 

Gaardian: Now that you've accomplished your goal, can you describe what's next? Will you be setting another lofty milestone to achieve? Is T9 just around the corner for you, or do you plan to change the pace and take some time to stop and enjoy the Aylorian sunrise?

Xyj: My next goal is likely to be T9/R7 and then after that perhaps top 10 of rank 1.

Gaardian: Well then! Let's not keep you waiting — pretty sure you could have finished off another remort by now. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us!

Xyj: You're very welcome. Thank you for your time.

And there you have it folks — anything is possible with time, dedication and a bit of hustle (plus a lot of love for the grind). This humble reporter would also like to point out that there is no right or wrong way to play and live out our Aardwolf lives. There's absolutely nothing wrong with spending six months to level 12 times. Right?

Right?!

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