yes you dont have to get powerleveled. There were tons of guides pre-euro that had farming with no powerleveling involved. Ie the 9gap grind at the bandit den was the most popular, alot of people did this. It works well.
Post-euro, its more efficient to be powerfarmed. hour per hour powerfarming gains more sp then any 9gaper at the den ever could.
If you keep a 4 gap the whole game you will still be missing around 100k sp at cap. If this is your first character just grind with a 4 gap till cap then farm there were the drops are more valuable, or look for a guide on farming at the den, lvl 16 sun bows are not worth half what they were pre-euro since most people powerfarm at ongs, and a sun lvl 16 bow isnt needed there.
Hope that made any sense. lol
