My buddy and I got our first key at around level 14; killed that King Croc with two handed stone swords. Took us nearly 40 minutes and a lot of sword repairs, but was pretty easy once we discovered that you can lure it to a base, then hit it through the walls from the inside with hardly any risk of taking damage. Strange that it didn’t seem to do any damage the sandstone house we had at the time either.
WHile everyone is being helpful on leveling to 60, just ignore all that advice and try to just enjoy your time playing the game. Eventually you will be 60 and not have any more levels to climb and you will start missing the joy of gaining new levels. So don’t rush it. The legendary weapons you get from chests aren’t that big of a deal. If you and your buddy just can’t wait to get legendary level weapons, go explore the Unnamed City or see if you can find Warmaker’s Dungeon. Warmaker will test your skills a bit more than UC, so probably best to dabble in UC first at your levels.
I’ve replayed many times now and at this point, I do everything I can in the replay to stretch out the leveling process. This run for me is all about exploration. Not using internet maps or chests, just my own exploration, to find as much lore as possible. Like Mikey(?) said earlier, the exp for exploration is way down, so after a week or so on my new character, I’ve only just hit 40 and loving it.
Edit: Yes, it is silly chests don’t open before 60. No reason at all.
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I think @Jaybopper’s original post is evidence that something would particularly improve. We’ve all been playing so long that we take the rush to level 60 for granted, but it’s something that has been bothering me for a while and I think @Shadoza was the one who started me thinking about that.
There’s so much content we completely skip over and disregard as useless. We see the weaker NPC factions only as a source of useful crafter thralls. And the progression from iron to star metal and obsidian is just an obstacle to skip as quickly as possible, instead of a natural progression to follow.
So when a newcomer with fresh perspective finds it disappointing that after overcoming a challenge – something we “veterans” complain is lacking in this game – their reward was locked behind an arbitrary, artificial gating mechanism, maybe we should listen to them 
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Save the key for when you are 60.
Now that youve killed your first boss hes on farm mode and you can get more keys.
Ive got 11 keys on a level 27 character. No, I did not kill the boss myself, just dragged him to a bunch of player thralls and they killed him for me.
Thats why you need to be 60 to loot it.
It’s not really about rushing. It’s psychology. Some people are more intrinsically motivated. For them, beating the boss is the reward in itself. Other people are more extrinsically motivated. For them, beating the boss should come hand in hand with a tangible reward.
Video games in general tend to condition players to be extrinsically motivated. Players expect a reward beyond just beating the boss. When that reward is a key you can’t use, it feels like a letdown.
Personally, I think that there’s only a handful of useful legendary items from chests and everything else is crap. I don’t find any of those useful items to be absolutely necessary. But I also don’t see any reason to lock them in chests that require a certain level to open.
So if I weigh the pros and cons, I would be neutral if it weren’t for the disappointment from the newcomers. As it is, I’m in favor of removing the restriction. If anything, it’ll motivate the players to keep exploring and leveling, because now that you have a legendary item before level 60, how do you repair it? You have to brave the Unnamed City to get the kits. It would be a new challenge, which could lead to more vibrant playerbase.
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Ah no you dont need to step one foot in the unamed city to get legendary kits,
A purge thrall can craft those kits and they drop from random loot.
Okay, now I’m curious. Why would it invalidate entire tiers of weapons? And what are “sandstone stair farms”?
Please, please don’t get me started on the Purge. I would totally agree with you if the Purge wasn’t an ongoing dumpster fire.
The easiest/cheapest way to kill most world bosses.
A level 1 could technically kill a boss for a key. And do it every 15 minutes.
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Because all it would take is one of the sandstone stair farms, and they would not even need recipes for weapons and shields. Just tools.
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I understand now. Forget I said anything. Forget I argued for unlocking legendary chests before level 60. 
“This is why we can’t have nice things” comes to mind, but that’s not really fair. People are going to optimize. It’s up to Funcom to prevent the worst forms of cheesing. Obviously, level-locking the chests is the cheapest way to prevent this particular strategy. Not that I like it, but I understand it.
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Or we could just make world bosses immune to lava and falling damage at the same time as thralls.
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Well tried to present a solution to you but you dont want to hear it, thats ok. ill go back to playing and you can can stew about it.
Not my problem if you cant figure it out.
Have a nice day!
Wo! Shiver me frickin timbers I wasn’t expecting so much actual humanity. You are all aware this is an internet forum, right? You’re supposed to just tell me I’m a ■■■■■■ and git gud…
I’m kidding of course, this might just be the best damn community on the web…
Thanks for all the replies and helpful suggestions.
I’m not going to rush to 60. I want to experience the game at my own pace. I posted here because holding a key in my hand and looking at the chest it belongs to and not being able to open it is disgusting. Especially when you’ve just fought a boss for privilege.
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Oh but that would be so much fun lol.
Oh now that is my favorite way to fix that issue. Yes please!!
imho they should level lock weapons throughout the iron → steel → hardsteel progression to match the legendary… meaning you can get the ones we get now that are level locked but in these chests you get the same ones or similar but small % better (which are classed as progressive legendaries) …as these would help your leveling progression to be more fun less “Best way to level 60 in an hour…craft skulls/bombs etc” which is really defeating the experience of the game.
This. Funcom should listen here. Blocking access to the chests until level 60 serves no rational purpose, from either a progression or overall design perspective. It’s arbitrary and nonsensical.
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As long as the bosses are subject to fall damage, restricting those chests to level 60 is the cheapest way to avoid breaking the progression completely.
I’m not saying things should stay the way they are. I would prefer it if anyone could unlock the chests, but that would require making bosses immune to fall damage.
On one hand… you can take out several of Bosses who drop Li gear… So lv60req is kinda mute.
not mention online, were you can drop spares.
Heck, I took out the Boss were-hyena…(who took 5 more arrows then normal ones) and drop the Maul. lv29 with a that thing. LOL.
And repair kits are easy to farm, even at lv1.
less and less reason for them to stay locked at 60. Maybe lv50, just to even it out.
By time I’m 60… I have few LI’s from bosses, and keys saved up. (why even make lv60 weapons anyway)
Thou, I’ve always felt we needed a softcap on levels. that way there extra 10 to work on, and sneak in LI with requirements. Lv50 should be final gear tier, 60 is final push for unlocks and getting those sweet sweet rare items.
Or knock it to 70, Keep 60 stat cap, But push Requirement for several items. Then theres always balance issue when lv70 comes a knocking on poor lv59. XD
So… I guess why bother with locked chests… balance balance balance… Or since most of Bosses can be killed at 30-40… make them unlock at 40ish.
I’m fairly certain that level-locking gear would cause a significant portion of the playerbase to immediately spasm and then begin setting their hair on fire as they screamed in agony at the top of their lungs.