Guild Wars 2

The starting areas do not provide enough to do to get you to the “cap” for that area. For example, on my Human ranger, I have completely mapped Queensdale, done every event I’ve encountered, and done every story mission up to my level, and done a bit of WvW (not much) and I am only level 14 when the area is supposed to get you to 17. The heart hubs only go up to 15, so tell me, how are we supposed to get those extra 2 levels? Run around waiting for events to pop, or grinding crafting/killing mobs?

It should not be a requirement to work on other races starting areas in order to hit the level requirement necessary to move on. I’ve also encountered similar issues with Charr and Sylvari characters.

So I propose the XP needs to be boosted slightly in starter areas to account for the level discrepancy.

Not true in my experience. I’m level 15 in Queensdale and haven’t completed the map yet but I’m close to it. I think I’ll hit 17 exactly when I complete it.

What I do is never use waypoints and when there’s an event nearby I always participate. Also I’m leveling my crafting disciplines (leatherworking and huntsman) to be compatible with my level.

Personally it never bothered me as by 14, I was in Kessex hills… I enjoyed the challenge of mobs that were higher level than I was.

There is more to do than going from heart to heart to level up.

Looking at Leveling Curve, a Journey Through Guild Wars 2.
http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/myth-busting-queensdale

They’re not supposed to. You’re supposed to sample the other zones, get around the world a bit, not have a linear pigeon holed route for your character.

Not saying the route should be linear, but the map should atleast allow me to get to the proper level to continue on to one of the numerous zones that come after the beginning. And I have been doing more than going heart to heart, as I said, I’ve mapped the zone, done some WvW, done every event thats popped near me. Done as much crafting as I could with leatherworking, but since the mats are all drops, I’ve been rather limited without farming mobs.

Where does it say the zone is supposed to get you to 17? It’s a 1-15 zone. At 14 you’re capable of leveling in the 15-25 zone. Move on.

I just started a human elementalist two days ago. She’s level 14, with still a quarter of the map to do (almost everything from Beetletun to the Godslost Swamp).

You’re doing something wrong.

Phy.2913:

Where does it say the zone is supposed to get you to 17? It’s a 1-15 zone. At 14 you’re capable of leveling in the 15-25 zone. Move on.

Perhaps he’s referring to the map overlay which says it’s appropriate for levels 1-17?

Tradewind.6913:

Phy.2913:

Where does it say the zone is supposed to get you to 17? It’s a 1-15 zone. At 14 you’re capable of leveling in the 15-25 zone. Move on.

Perhaps he’s referring to the map overlay which says it’s appropriate for levels 1-17?

I thought every starter said 1-15?

Are you gathering? Are you skipping too many mobs and ONLY exploring waypoints and doing events?

I’m consistently overleveled for every char in every zone I do.

Hearts aren’t all there is, and there are numerous maps for the lower level brackets. Plus there’s pvp too and if you choose to ignore a chunk of the game you can expect to lose out.

I play through the other low level maps while I’m soloing so that I can continue on my primary map with my brother when we are douing. With the level adjustment there’s no need to worry about being too high.

As I’ve said a couple times now, hearts are not all im doing. I’ve Participated in a broad range of activities, everything available really. I gather everything I come across, I use all available resources any time I go near a crafting station, I participate in events, I explore, I do personal story missions, I’ve done limited wvw due to queues and being relatively useless with 2 skills slots, lack of traits, and lowbie gear.

Now, something someone said did catch my eye, perhaps its a typo that the overlay says 1-17? Besides grinding mobs (which would be unbearable considering the xp they drop) and events it iskittennear impossible to hit that.

I ran into a lot of places where there were no events going on at the moment, i didnt have enough mats to craft, the hearts were done, and I still didnt have enough XP to move on.

What I ended up doing is just running two zones simultaneously from then on out. I would find at least one other zone that was in the same level range, and run them both. That usually got me enough to get through.

It would have been fine if there had been enough events to keep me working on something, but a lot of times there just aren’t.

Stuka.7165:

As I’ve said a couple times now, hearts are not all im doing. I’ve Participated in a broad range of activities, everything available really. I gather everything I come across, I use all available resources any time I go near a crafting station, I participate in events, I explore, I do personal story missions, I’ve done limited wvw due to queues and being relatively useless with 2 skills slots, lack of traits, and lowbie gear.

Each race has a city, and outside those cities is a low level zone.

You can easily access the other cities via Lion’s Arch (which can be accessed for free via Hearts of Mist in your character window). I advise getting 100% on all the cities and then if you still want more xp to exit a city and work through that 1-15 zone (again, doing hearts, dynamic events, crafting and map completion).

I have to say, though, the levelling curve is steeper early and eases up in the mid levels. I am not sure why Anet went this route, generally you want it quicker early with an exponential xp climb to the end.

Even if you do everything in a map, it’s much slower to go from 10-20 than 50-60. The climb from 50-60 felt about right, a bit slow but steady and constant. 10-20 is just a pita, for me it didn’t really start to clear up until some time in the mid 30s. By the 40s it was clicking and improving slightly.

Jestunhi.7429:

Stuka.7165:

As I’ve said a couple times now, hearts are not all im doing. I’ve Participated in a broad range of activities, everything available really. I gather everything I come across, I use all available resources any time I go near a crafting station, I participate in events, I explore, I do personal story missions, I’ve done limited wvw due to queues and being relatively useless with 2 skills slots, lack of traits, and lowbie gear.

Each race has a city, and outside those cities is a low level zone.

You can easily access the other cities via Lion’s Arch (which can be accessed for free via Hearts of Mist in your character window). I advise getting 100% on all the cities and then if you still want more xp to exit a city and work through that 1-15 zone (again, doing hearts, dynamic events, crafting and map completion).

I’ve tried the city mapping route and found it terrible. The cities are giant mazes that are frustrating to navigate even when not trying to find POIs, WPs, and vistas. That will be something saved for when I’m going for 100% map completion

Stuka.7165:

As I’ve said a couple times now, hearts are not all im doing. I’ve Participated in a broad range of activities, everything available really. I gather everything I come across, I use all available resources any time I go near a crafting station, I participate in events, I explore, I do personal story missions, I’ve done limited wvw due to queues and being relatively useless with 2 skills slots, lack of traits, and lowbie gear.

This is where I fail to believe you.

I’m doing less than you, and EVERY time I’m overleveled.

I skip wvw/crafting and even personal story and I can be overleveled. Just gathering and killing mobs as I 0-100% the zone and do DE’s.

The only advice I can give you, if you plan on 100%’ing the zones, just go finish another 1-15 area.

1) events which pop up are good exp; just do them

2) go to another race’s starting zone; you can get good exp there even if you’re past the level range

Ang.2157:

There is more to do than going from heart to heart to level up.

Looking at Leveling Curve, a Journey Through Guild Wars 2.
http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/myth-busting-queensdale

Thanks Ang. This is a really interesting article. I’ve been totally stuck in the mindset of using Waypoints and going directly to the hearts.

I have been doing lots of other stuff, too, but it was just starting to dawn on me that the hearts don’t really give you anywhere near enough XP and that I was missing something.

This is not your typical MMO and you are simply not supposed to play it like other MMOs and go from quest to quest. You are meant to wander around a bit and explore and experience.

If I am reading this article correctly, it’s basically saying that the REAL xp in this game comes from the Events that you just wander into accidentally. So it pays to just spend time meandering – which in most games is boring, but in GW2 is filled with interesting adventures.

When I get home tonight and play, I think I will have a whole different perspective.

Knote.2904:

Stuka.7165:

As I’ve said a couple times now, hearts are not all im doing. I’ve Participated in a broad range of activities, everything available really. I gather everything I come across, I use all available resources any time I go near a crafting station, I participate in events, I explore, I do personal story missions, I’ve done limited wvw due to queues and being relatively useless with 2 skills slots, lack of traits, and lowbie gear.

This is where I fail to believe you.

I’m doing less than you, and EVERY time I’m overleveled.

I skip wvw/crafting and even personal story and I can be overleveled. Just gathering and killing mobs as I 0-100% the zone and do DE’s.

The only advice I can give you, if you plan on 100%’ing the zones, just go finish another 1-15 area.

Then you spend ALOT of time gathering and grinding mobs. Considering the tiny amount of xp from kills/gathering (though it does add up over time) even in the 1-15 zones when you need the least amount of experience to level then that simply won’t do it. As the video above outlined, heart quests give only a fraction of the xp needed to hit 15. Sure, if you spend 3 days on the same map running around grinding mobs and gatherables you will hit the same DEs over and over and eventually get to where you want to be.

I do not, however, believe your claim that you were able to reach the correct level without doing any personal story considering the massive amount of xp that every mission gives you. These account for a huge portion of the experience in any given level range.

People misunderstand, I do not wish for this to be the standard MMO fare of going from quest to quest, not by a long shot. There’s a reason I haven’t stuck with an MMO for any amount of time since SWG, because the traditional formula is just terrible. I do not however think it should operate in such a manor that when a map is completed that I either have to wander around a finished map looking for DEs that I’ve already done before, or to go to another area intended for the same level range just to advance to the next area. Visiting/completing concurrent areas should be entirely optional, not a requirement to advance.

Not to mention telling people to WvW for leveling purposes is simply a bad suggestion. WvW xp only comes if your server happens to be doing good and even then is mediocre at best, unless you are in a massive zergfest systematically capping every point on the map. Also, PvP isn’t for everyone. While I enjoy it, a large number of players abstain from it, and they should be catered to just as much as those who partake.