Guild Wars 2

Beforehand, I’d like to point out that I’m a casual game lover. Not hardcore, not a grinder or a number cruncher, so the pace of this game really suits me in general.

The problem is that there’s a severe drop in the pace somewhere between levels 40 and 60. There’s a steady increase in levels, gear and diversity up until reaching level 40, then it turns into a bit of a grind that only lessens once you get half way into areas like Mount Maelstrom or Fireheart Rise.
As evidence, while leveling my characters, each of them spent a long time in the 40s and 50s. Then quickly reaching max level after 60. I’ve also helped a friend of mine level, and with that we’ve spent the most time in Bloodtide Coast, comapred to all other areas, going from level 45 to 50 for a higher level area. Another friend of mine got put off the game a bit also upon reaching this level area.

I know you’ve begun to add a lot of new stuff, most for the low level areas and the late game, but I hope you’ll take notice that right now level 40-60 areas need some attention. Nothing major, just enough to keep the pace consistent. I don’t really have suggestions for this, maybe add more interesting events, or re-balance hearts.

I’m not seeing it, my leveling actually sped up when I hit that level range. It took me about 2 weeks to get to 42, then about 1 week to hit 68, and I’ve gotten to 74 in about 5 days since then. I’m not “hardcore” as I have a job that keeps me quite busy as well.

I also didn’t see a pace drop in that range. I haven’t really done the 40-60 zones on my alts since I leveled my last 3 80’s off of dungeons for the most part after 35. But I’ve never seen a change in pace. The hearts maintain about the same difficulty and the zones takes just about as long to complete. Probably the main difference is the story going all over the place. Teleporting or walking someplace for your personal story can add on time that you may not want to deal with.

i play very erratically. my first 80, my thief, i leveled through exploration — i.e., i didn’t stick to her “level appropriate” zones, but rather did all the zones in order of their appearance in the portals in la. i.e., i went to wayfarer hills, then snowden … then to fields of ascalon, then diessa … then to caledon, then — hey, you get the picture, right? on subsequent characters (and understand i have four 80s now, and i play through about 10 characters regularly) i will follow my story. or i’ll just do events. or i’ll explore. or a combination thereof.

i’ve not seen anything but a very flat leveling curve, regardless of which playstyle i adopt — unless i decide to gather all day one day and not do events, etc.

Stryfer.3978:

Beforehand, I’d like to point out that I’m a casual game lover. Not hardcore, not a grinder or a number cruncher, so the pace of this game really suits me in general.

The problem is that there’s a severe drop in the pace somewhere between levels 40 and 60. There’s a steady increase in levels, gear and diversity up until reaching level 40, then it turns into a bit of a grind that only lessens once you get half way into areas like Mount Maelstrom or Fireheart Rise.
As evidence, while leveling my characters, each of them spent a long time in the 40s and 50s. Then quickly reaching max level after 60. I’ve also helped a friend of mine level, and with that we’ve spent the most time in Bloodtide Coast, comapred to all other areas, going from level 45 to 50 for a higher level area. Another friend of mine got put off the game a bit also upon reaching this level area.

I know you’ve begun to add a lot of new stuff, most for the low level areas and the late game, but I hope you’ll take notice that right now level 40-60 areas need some attention. Nothing major, just enough to keep the pace consistent. I don’t really have suggestions for this, maybe add more interesting events, or re-balance hearts.

When I hit level 40 I start crafting and usually get myself to 50 really easily ( costs a fair amount of money though) I find that it’s an amazing way to cut back and the slow boring levels.

Well it might be just me. It’s just that I’ve noticed the levels between 40-60 tend to last longer than 1-40 or 60-80.
Now I wasn’t taking into account dungeons or crafting. I’ll admit that was an oversight, but then again I haven’t done any dungeons before level 80, or any significant crafting.

Following the areas principle I think I may have found the reason why it feels slower.
Low level you have 5+4+3 areas to explore, mid level you have 2+3 and after you get 3+4. Then again, it may just be all the dredge in the snow area… Or maybe those areas are a bit lacking compared?
There’s several hearts dealing with the exact same problem in mid level areas, while having such similarity between hearts is scarce in others.
Dungeon wise, you have 1 low level, 2 dungeons that are around mid level and 5 higher level dungeons.
Also, there’s only one big boss in the mid level areas (2 counting the hydra queen, but I’ve heard some are having trouble making her appear), while both the lower and high level areas have at least twice that number I think.

Like I said, it may just be me. The thought crossed my mind when a friend felt the game was lacking and their character was level 40 something. Backtracking, I recalled where my characters got “stuck” and how a friend of mine is spending a long time in this level region, despite playing more often than before.

I don’t spend much more time leveling that it takes me to do the dailies. To me the big difference is that level range is a ghost land. People either hang out in the noob areas or the high level areas so events take much longer to complete since you are lucky if you have one other person helping you. Also, the higher levels the gap between quests is pretty tight so you can do one story quest after another. Those are all a decent fraction of a level.

Yea, then it’s the lack of other players that makes it harder to level area-wise. Sadly, the gap for quests doesn’t decrease until after 60, but by then you’re already back in the fast pace.

Well, in that case, I think it would be nice to add something to those areas to keep them popular too, like the low level places.

Several reasons. If you did crafting before lvl30 you get an unnatural boost which drops afterwards. Second, until you have your elite, there’s always something to go for which pushes you. With no unlocks pushing you, levelling becomes slow. Third, around 40 I started completing a few lower level zones on my main … they do give lower xp. After 60 you get the push to 80 which is enough to blast you through the last few levels. Lastly, at 40 the Trahearne story-arc starts which was rushed. Without a story to boost your XP big time, it’s only normal your levelling speed drops.

My advice …
- save up crafting until shortly after 30. You will want it.
- Start eating some XP food after lvl 40.
- Have a crafted set ready for every 5 levels so you have intermediary goals. My guardian was always slightly ahead with armorsmithing so at 55 his lvl 60 set is already in the bank. That gives enough drive to push.
- Map completion also gives intermediary goals resulting in big xp.

If that’s not enough, only start doing your personal story at 40. It gives a ton of XP and will blast you through several more boring levels.

You are completely right, but that’s my point. It’s tricks that you learn after having completed a character or too. Those who don’t know it will feel the pace drop. Especially new players.

Yes, there’s a way to get through it painlessly by managing your leveling, but that still means that there is a general pace drop. I think it can be fixed. I’m not thinking of myself, but new and less experienced players

My longest levels were 1-30ish on my main and 1-20 for chars there after.

My main took a little while longer to speed up as it took me that long to learn about stuff like food buffs, bonus exp kills and general leveling efficiency. After that, on my alts each getting to 20 before i began to click with my class more and exp, gear, karma etc rolled my way…. A little too fast to be quite honest.