Guild Wars 2

I have math. Unless you’ve been playing 24/7 since release its simply not realistic to do that, short of abusing crafting leveling or the WvWvW escort before they nerfed it.

I’d reccommend just 2-4 hours in WvW. Should give you that 1-2 level edge you need. I’m level 46 after doing WvW for 2 days, and JUST, I mean JUST finished the 25-35 zone… almost 10 levels from WvW :P

Doing an event that coincides with a heart not only speeds up a heart, but gives more exp than just doing a heart by itself. I never try to do a heart unless there is a DE that is close by, or if there isn’t try to see if gathering kills/aggro next to it can make it complete faster so at least I can get exp on top of what a heart gives for finishing it (which gives exp for being some % of that map complete). Also finding areas not marked on the map such as caves and far off land marks not counting as PoIs also adds exp.

Dang, I must have done something wrong then to get to 80 with only 48% of the world map completed (and 400 armorsmithing, 210 leatherworking). I think I left my story quest hanging at the lvl 60 one…. I should do some of that tomorrow I think.
Never once hit up an instance until after 80 also…. but from what I’m now seeing of those the exp for completing a dungeon is flippin huge. One guy did the CoF exp mode with us 4 times and went from 75 to 80.

I think it’s all paced right. Y’all just have to get out there and check stuff out. The way I got to 80 so fast was by not even worrying about it.
I didn’t sit in front of the computer day and night, either. I have a full time job and a wife + 3 kids that (no matter WHAT she says) I take care of.

~Mewmewcachoo (warrior – CD)

Its mostly a problem in the low level zones because the 1-15 and 15-25 zones don’t have success based DE chains, only failure chains and on top of that, there just aren’t that many.

By 50 or even 40, its pretty easy to end up with no time to do hearts because you are so busy running between DEs.

How can you not get enough experience from a zone to move on to the next, when there is no end to the experience you can get out of any zone?

My opinion… Be grateful you are leveling slowly. I feel like I burn through levels so fast, sometimes I don’t even get to use some new recently acquired gear. To be honest, I wish xp gain was slower.

The proplem isn’t the experience gain in this game, the real issue is that some players think they have to rush through zones instead of enjoying the game.

Man I have found that leveling is way fast. I am sitting at 50 on my Ranger main. Ther are alot of hidden things to do in each zone that gives you alot of xp. From hidden(unadvertised) caves and plateus… to jumping puzzles etc. All have some type of nice xp reward and a chest.

Another thing… explore the underwater world. There is ALOT of hidden content. If you are not taking advantage of maping out every zone to include underwater. You are doing your self a huge disservice.

I am always way above level when i go to the next zone. I think you are not finding all the hidden things.

Feel sorry for you op. Don’t really know what to tell you because from what you said you’ve done everything I did. I explored, crafted, did everything on the map that you can do and I ended up being lvl 19 by the time I left the starting zone, 30 in the next zone, and then just following a similar trend from there. Right now I’m lvl 77 in a 50-60 zone. Since I didn’t play with you I can’t say for sure what we did differently but judging from what you said we did everything the same.

I am not sure what your doing wrong OP. Maybe your not exploring enough? Each zone I totally explore and I am over leveled. Slow down and play the game. Don’t race and you find your leveled fine.

im 55 and ive been doing lvls 3-10 above my own since day one due to the crapy xp gain per zone on this game..Im allways under lvl as i clear zones.

You’re not meant to be able gain sufficient experience in a single zone and out level the area. This encourages exploration of other areas of similar level ranges. You aren’t “moving backwards” – you still receive sufficient experience to level, and the ability to loot items of your current level.

I only read the title and here is my advice:

1. go craft
2. go to other area’s
3. gather mats
4. personal story

Maybe i’ve forgot something important but if you play this way you’ll never have lack of any xp.

kevin and razac are you 2 related?

In gaming standards zones are supposed to lvl you as you progress, exploring entire zone or not. doing the quests yes. This game no. You can explore all the points and do all the quests and still be under leveled for the next zone.

It’s amazing how many fanboys are here. Horrible. I love this game just as much as the fanboys, and I have to agree with the OP. I am having the exact same problem. Of course, when I brought it up in the map chat the other day I was immediately cursed out by the fanboys playing that told me I was “leveling wrong…” whatever that means.

I get 100% map completion, do all Personal Story, do every event I come across, and craft. I always find myself 1 or 2 levels behind the area I am supposed to be. There is a simple fix to this problem, and ArenaNet REALLY needs to do that. Buff the XP gain per event and heart quest. Really simple. The ones already over-leveled won’t know the difference and the ones under-leveled will have a much better time.

Please, ArenaNet, make it happen.

No not related but i guess we share the same exprience.

I’m going to be honest and tell you that bumped my head against this problem aswell. I adapted in to going to other area’s and starting to craft. Combine this with personal story and i’d find it hard to believe you’re still underleveld.

Hearts are confusing since people think that if they complet them they will be on the level for the next set of heart quests, this is not true tho.

Look at what A-Net posted yesterday on there facebook i think it fits this forum topic greatly

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/myth-busting-queensdale/

How to level 101!

The lower levels are miserable. Once you get into the 30s and especially 40s the pace picks up a bit. Later the DEs that rapidly spawn make levelling so much better.

I don’t know what to do about the lower levels but in my mind it does need some attention. It was okay during the pre-release and first week when so many players were in those areas that DEs spawned frequently, but even then levelling was still slower than the mid-levels.

RaZaC.1963:

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/myth-busting-queensdale/

How to level 101!

That pretty much nails it. Also I do/did other maps in the same level range.

I logged in last night for 5 hours.
The first 3 of those hours i didnt engage in combat once. i gained 2 levels though.

My story quest is 15 lvls below me. Every time i go to the zone my story quest is in, Im a WAY lower level to be there, not that i mind.

ATM, im overleved by 15 levels ( in the current zone im fighting in ).

IMHO, turn of xp for crafting and discovering the zone in cities….

Xp gain is out of control. Theres xp gain on SO MANY ITEMS, i sell them all to the vendor.

I wish ithere was a slider to turn xp off truthfully.

Last words. Sounds like another wow player, nothing to see here…..

I’ll sadly agree with the OP

People play the game like they played mmorpg’s for so long. Though the game isn’t ment to play like one of your standard mmorpg’s = underleveled

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Another issue, I’m a night owl. I play at the times when barely anyone else is online. So there isn’t much in the way of knocking out Dynamic Events. So most of the time, I’m running solo cause barely anyone is around. And when you come across those elite events that require big groups, you just can’t do them. Or you come across areas that would have events, but they are on a constant farm that they never change.

Maybe that’s the problem right there. Maybe instead of increasing xp gain Anet needs to look at the frequency of dynamic events that happen outside of peak hours and the difficulty for one person or small groups.
That could explain why some are way overleveled while others are that far behind while doing all the suggested activities.

Would be interesting to know if the people that experience this are peaktime players.

you level so fast in this game it is not even worth looking for specific gear before you hit lvl 80. I have no idea what you are doing wrong, but I find it rather hard not to outlevel the area you are in rather quickly.

Leron.7204:

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Another issue, I’m a night owl. I play at the times when barely anyone else is online. So there isn’t much in the way of knocking out Dynamic Events. So most of the time, I’m running solo cause barely anyone is around. And when you come across those elite events that require big groups, you just can’t do them. Or you come across areas that would have events, but they are on a constant farm that they never change.

Maybe that’s the problem right there. Maybe instead of increasing xp gain Anet needs to look at the frequency of dynamic events that happen outside of peak hours and the difficulty for one person or small groups.
That could explain why some are way overleveled while others are that far behind while doing all the suggested activities.

Would be interesting to know if the people that experience this are peaktime players.

That might just be my problem for all I know.

According to everyone here, they are doing exactly what I am doing, yet I am struggling to keep up. Maybe it’s my gaming hours that cause my issues.

By the time I 100% a zone, I’ve done maybe 2-3 Dynamic Events the entire zone. This isn’t because I’m ignoring them, it is because they just aren’t showing up with barely anyone around. As well, most Dynamic Events I do come across, they require a group (which doesn’t help me when barely anyone is around). I’ll see a player here and there, but barely ever. Mostly solo the whole time.

Guess the game just doesn’t cater to my hours. Or I just need to find a new World that has people on during my hours of play time.

Most of the posters in this thread seem to be forgetting that Achievements also grant xp, making the first couple characters level with increased speed, but once you start leveling the 3rd and 4th characters, leveling becomes an unnecessary chore. It feels like you’re being punished for trying to level an alt, and that makes players (myself included) feel like I’m constantly pulling out my own hair just to level my alts.

I find this thread strange, I am always out leveling the zones. The level 1-15 areas, I am always leaving at least level 18, and as high as level 21. Some of my characters were level 34 when entering level 25+ areas for the first time.

In my observation, I have seen a crap ton of people who will do a dynamic event, and then leave immidiatly afterwards, instead of hanging around for a minute or 2 to join in on the the next dynamic event. Take Ashford for instance: there is a dynamic event where you need to collect devour eggs, once that event is over, I see most people just leaving, but if they stuck around then they would have seen the Devour Mother appear and it is another dynamic event. I also see lots of people just passing by NPCs that run up and yell “I need help” or something like that, if you actually talk to those NPC they actually show you on your map where a dynamic event is taking place.

This game rewards you for slowing down to smell the roses, stick around for a bit after a dynamic event, talk to NPCs that come running to you. Oh, and follow NPCs that are related to the dynamic event in some way, cause sometime they either lead you to a hidden chest they can only reveal (thinking of the Giant that gets kicked out of his cave because of Trolls, (Kessex Hills, or possibily Queensdale cant remember which) after you complete the dynamic event, he reveals a hidden chest, but you have to wait for him to walk to it, which takes about a minute or so), or sometimes they lead you to another dynamic event.

Pls anet if you decide to increase exp even more, can we have a slider? Im so stressed by the constant dinging while leveling up. Im always downleveled. I feel like I just have to look at a resource node: DING! Then walk one step and discover an entire continent: DING! DING!
I feel rushed, and the game is best while leveling…it doesnt add up.

Did you do city zone completion too? thats worth almost a level and you can pop over and do Lions arch as well.

Also in Queensdale there are lots of areas not on the “heart” list to explore and get exp. .. did you clear out the bandit cave behind the graveyard with the chest in it? .. or the grub cave with the small jumping puzzle? .. how about the cave where you have to /threaten the door for it to open with the Veteran Ettin inside? .. or the wolf cave with the chest?

Doing all those will get you a nice chunk of exp and loot from the chests to boot!

The amount of liars, and fanboys here is insane.
First I would like to point out that the people who say they’re are leaving zones 10 levels higher are completely full of crap. Either you’re abusing some type of system, or buying gems to buy crafting mats to level, even if then. You only get 10-15 levels at 400.

Second did anyone bother reading the whole thread before typing, or are you people really that ignorant? All of you fanboys are saying he’s leveling wrong, but he’s doing everything you are suggesting.

I came across this problem as well, and I made several human characters, and I always end up at 12-14 level at Queensdale All of them after exploring the map, mining nodes, and all the other stuff. I think the problem is they haven’t balanced out the XP, because everything gives you xp, and they expect you to do everything. Well maybe I don’t want to do everything? Maybe I want to save the cities last to explore, maybe I don’t want to crafting until I build up enough materials? Maybe the DE don’t spawn often enough for me to do them?

Going through queensdale I maybe do 2-3 DE per character. I don’t skip content, I don’t just bee line through the hearts. I only done the big shadow demon the swamp ONCE, and only did the champion oakheart ONCE. This is wrong out of 1-4 characters I only did those DE once. That’s sad.

I shouldn’t have to back track into other lower level areas just to catch up to move on the appropriate level. I don’t want to explore the Norn starting area. I want to save that for my Norn, not my human.

The major problems with this game is that DE don’t spawn often enough for some players, or they’re not next to them, because they’re on the other side of the map. This idea of everything you do gets you XP is a terrible one, because then players/Anet will expect you to DO EVERYTHING. This isn’t okay with me, because I don’t enjoy crafting I think it’s pointless. So there’s a big chunk of experience I am missing right there. The XP in this game is insanely inbalance, and requires you to do every little thing. This a wrong way to design a game.

this has always bothered me Why is there a Exp on kills Only boosters when killing stuff is so punishingly unrewarding heck make those boosters boost y our overall exp gain and then i might consider buying a few.

Strikerjolt.5910:

The amount of liars, and fanboys here is insane.
First I would like to point out that the people who say they’re are leaving zones 10 levels higher are completely full of crap. Either you’re abusing some type of system, or buying gems to buy crafting mats to level, even if then. You only get 10-15 levels at 400.

Second did anyone bother reading the whole thread before typing, or are you people really that ignorant? All of you fanboys are saying he’s leveling wrong, but he’s doing everything you are suggesting.

I came across this problem as well, and I made several human characters, and I always end up at 12-14 level at Queensdale All of them after exploring the map, mining nodes, and all the other stuff. I think the problem is they haven’t balanced out the XP, because everything gives you xp, and they expect you to do everything. Well maybe I don’t want to do everything? Maybe I want to save the cities last to explore, maybe I don’t want to crafting until I build up enough materials? Maybe the DE don’t spawn often enough for me to do them?

Going through queensdale I maybe do 2-3 DE per character. I don’t skip content, I don’t just bee line through the hearts. I only done the big shadow demon the swamp ONCE, and only did the champion oakheart ONCE. This is wrong out of 1-4 characters I only did those DE once. That’s sad.

I shouldn’t have to back track into other lower level areas just to catch up to move on the appropriate level. I don’t want to explore the Norn starting area. I want to save that for my Norn, not my human.

The major problems with this game is that DE don’t spawn often enough for some players, or they’re not next to them, because they’re on the other side of the map. This idea of everything you do gets you XP is a terrible one, because then players/Anet will expect you to DO EVERYTHING. This isn’t okay with me, because I don’t enjoy crafting I think it’s pointless. So there’s a big chunk of experience I am missing right there. The XP in this game is insanely inbalance, and requires you to do every little thing. This a wrong way to design a game.

totally agree it is extremely punishing specially for those focused on story mode i always end up having my quests 9-16 levels higher than i am wich forces me to back track and grind/wait 30 mins for whatever event to start just to get what a meager 10-15% exp maybe 30% if its one of those big events like maw wich is pretty much 5 events in one.
i just made a new Charr hes level 13 and my quest is at lvl 19 basically if a mob sneezes or a fly rests on my shoulder im dead since hes engineer wich is not the most defensive class around.

I’m overleveled ever since I started gathering. GATHER EVERYTHING. you gain exp quick. Oh and salvage and save up your materials in the bank. You can sell some of that stuff for good money

Rezzet.3614:

this has always bothered me Why is there a Exp on kills Only boosters when killing stuff is so punishingly unrewarding heck make those boosters boost y our overall exp gain and then i might consider buying a few.

Yeah, I don’t understand why they made boosters only kill experience.. It seems quite silly.

I’m working on leveling an alt. I completed 3 starter (level 1-15) areas without skipping past mobs/events/nodes/etc and got to level 20 by doing so. I’ll probably be level 26 by the time I finish two 15-25 maps, when I can get the next masterwork armor, which will help me into the higher level areas. So far that’s taken me 9 hours only, because I knew where to go and what to do.

That’s the hardest part of PVE leveling – getting to that point.

XP/Kill is much less in starter areas because there are more people killing things generally. The longer a mob lives, the higher the bonus xp, up to 2.5x bonus. So you’ll get faster xp via PVE in the level 25+ maps.

This is actually my 5th level 80 once I’m done. My plan was to get to 26 through the method I’ve done, get my level 26 masterwork armor/weapons, and into the next tier map(s). If I end up underleveled, I’ll master a craft.

That’s what I’ve done in the past. Mastered one craft at about level 30, and another around level 60-65.

The previous character I got to 80 I mastered 2 crafts with and did the rest through map completions. It took me a total of 46 hours according to /age to reach 80 that way. Playing 2 hours per day during the week, and 8 per day on weekends, that would be about 2 weeks to get a level 80 – longer of course if you’re new to maps or don’t have resources to master crafts. Regardless I think that’s a pretty short amount of time to get to max level compared to a lot of other MMOs I’ve played.

The biggest key I think is killing things people usually ignore and run past, for the bonus xp since those mobs have probably been alive longer – and events of course. XP/time for events is quite good.

If you don’t want to do multiple starting areas because you’d rather experience them later, you’ll run into the same problem. But you can do that just by event hopping and killing mostly creatures that will likely give bonus xp on a map you’ve already completed.

Xenth.2408:

I’m working on leveling an alt. I completed 3 starter (level 1-15) areas without skipping past mobs/events/nodes/etc and got to level 20 by doing so. I’ll probably be level 26 by the time I finish two 15-25 maps, when I can get the next masterwork armor, which will help me into the higher level areas. So far that’s taken me 9 hours only, because I knew where to go and what to do.

That’s the hardest part of PVE leveling – getting to that point.

XP/Kill is much less in starter areas because there are more people killing things generally. The longer a mob lives, the higher the bonus xp, up to 2.5x bonus. So you’ll get faster xp via PVE in the level 25+ maps.

This is actually my 5th level 80 once I’m done. My plan was to get to 26 through the method I’ve done, get my level 26 masterwork armor/weapons, and into the next tier map(s). If I end up underleveled, I’ll master a craft.

That’s what I’ve done in the past. Mastered one craft at about level 30, and another around level 60-65.

The previous character I got to 80 I mastered 2 crafts with and did the rest through map completions. It took me a total of 46 hours according to /age to reach 80 that way. Playing 2 hours per day during the week, and 8 per day on weekends, that would be about 2 weeks to get a level 80 – longer of course if you’re new to maps or don’t have resources to master crafts. Regardless I think that’s a pretty short amount of time to get to max level compared to a lot of other MMOs I’ve played.

The biggest key I think is killing things people usually ignore and run past, for the bonus xp since those mobs have probably been alive longer – and events of course. XP/time for events is quite good.

If you don’t want to do multiple starting areas because you’d rather experience them later, you’ll run into the same problem. But you can do that just by event hopping and killing mostly creatures that will likely give bonus xp on a map you’ve already completed.

Are you suggesting killing mobs to get XP?
Lol. Even with the bonus you still have to sit there, and kill dozens.
What a silly idea.

And why does everyone need to bring up crafting?
Crafting is down right pointless in this game, and it’s not fun at all.
I make more money by selling mats, and buying my items than I do by crafting.
Lol, how pathetic an entire game mechanic that’s useless. It’s like diablo 3 all over.

I know people will say.. “BUT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR ARMOR FOR FREE!”
Yeah, but the time, and effort to gather materials vs selling them on the AH.

When I hit 80 I was at about 40% map completion, and I’ve only done WvW a couple of times, no dungeons, and 275 in one craft, 75 in the other. Most of my play time is in the wee hours of the morning for North America, so I’m on when populations are at a low.

It’s like the OP is playing a completely different game than me.

I don’t understand or believe that what the OP stated is even possible. If you rush through the zone, don’t harvest nodes, don’t craft, never repeat a DE you’ve done before, don’t do your personal story and only kill things that are part of a DE or Heart, then you can end up with the need to travel to another starting zone. (Well, not really “need”, since you can also stick around in a starting zone, killing things, harvesting things, repeating DEs, etc… and gain a lot more than 15 levels).

However, the OP claims they did the other things and still came up short. Sorry, it just isn’t possible. I have 5 human characters, all leveled up initially through Queensdale and I’ve never had this issue when I have not just rushed through the zone doing the bare minimum.

Now, maybe Arenanet would be well served increasing the frequency of DEs in some of the starting zones, to minimize the chances that someone who skips sources of XP they may not be aware of, like harvesting, crafting, exploration, etc… will “run out of things to do” short of the level requirement for the next zones over, but I don’t think they need to make the 1-15 leveling process quicker than it already is.

To be clear, I know that some new players to the game can indeed miss a lot of sources of XP, not realize how easy it is to journey to other starting zones and feel like they’ve hit an impasse. However, the OP claims they did all those other things and only hit level 12 and I just don’t believe it for one second.

The last game I played a MMO was WoW and now that was a grind to obtain higher lvl’s. That only had 2 diff starting areas, last time I played in 07. I feel as though in this game and yes I have been lvling in diff races areas, I lvl really freaking quick. Most people in WoW when I played on had one lvl 60 character.

Tassy.5891:

it is impossible to be under leveled to be honest, an yes I know you will ignore my post or respond with some abuse. But the facts are plain. Having done 4 chrs so far I can say with 100% cert that without playing alt racial zones I leveled perfectly every time. I was doing my storylines 2-3-4 levels above my level, an didn’t once need to redo other zones to catch up.

This^^^

was my experience too but after my 2nd toon it just gets old running behind on levels as everything is so much harder and slower. I started a 3rd and just could not do the hearts anymore so i got him to 20 and got 30 more levels crafting 3 profs up to 400. I am going to do it the rest of the way in WVW.

I may do my 4th all with crafting. I can look at these maps again and do all the same quests again.

The other thing is it is easier to do 2-3-4 levels above you with some profs but not others. Harder being Mesmer, Elementalist and much much easier being Guardian, Warrior, Necro. Lol i can do story line 5 levels above my necro where I would die alot at 2 levels above with my Ele.

Fiontar.4695:

I don’t understand or believe that what the OP stated is even possible. If you rush through the zone, don’t harvest nodes, don’t craft, never repeat a DE you’ve done before, don’t do your personal story and only kill things that are part of a DE or Heart, then you can end up with the need to travel to another starting zone. (Well, not really “need”, since you can also stick around in a starting zone, killing things, harvesting things, repeating DEs, etc… and gain a lot more than 15 levels).

However, the OP claims they did the other things and still came up short. Sorry, it just isn’t possible. I have 5 human characters, all leveled up initially through Queensdale and I’ve never had this issue when I have not just rushed through the zone doing the bare minimum.

Now, maybe Arenanet would be well served increasing the frequency of DEs in some of the starting zones, to minimize the chances that someone who skips sources of XP they may not be aware of, like harvesting, crafting, exploration, etc… will “run out of things to do” short of the level requirement for the next zones over, but I don’t think they need to make the 1-15 leveling process quicker than it already is.

To be clear, I know that some new players to the game can indeed miss a lot of sources of XP, not realize how easy it is to journey to other starting zones and feel like they’ve hit an impasse. However, the OP claims they did all those other things and only hit level 12 and I just don’t believe it for one second.

I believe it. I have done it and I wonder why there is such a difference between some of us. I did all hears in Queensdale and any DE’s I came across and had to go to Ascolonia and do most of it to get to level for Kessex Hills.

Are some of you guys using XP boosters?

Maybe it comes down to a difference in play style. For those players (like me) who take our time and enjoy the game and what it has to offer, there doesn’t seem to be a problem leveling.

Maybe others are just trying to push push push and level as fast as possible.

If you log in and just simply play what you feel like playing, crafting, harvesting, doing your daily achievement, personal story, exploring – you level far too fast.

My second character is level 65 and I’m only at 35% map complete, my personal story is still in the level 20’s, I’ve never done WvW (except to try and to the map vistas, poi’s etc., but I don’t do PvP).

I don’t know why there is such disparity, but GW2 is a game to be savored, not rushed and pushed through.

I’m having this same issue. Leveling from 1-30ish is incredibly tedious. Simply because you have to do the starter zones so much. I’ve currently got three 15s (and one 36) sitting around because while I really want to level them, I just don’t want to tackle the same zones again (I’ve seriously done Queensdale 5+ times now).

That said, once you hit 30 and dungeons open up I find it goes a lot faster. So much so that I skipped zones because I outleveled them so much.

Edit: Just to be clear, I do also fully explore maps. Along with doing whatever puzzles are there. I gather like no one’s business. The only thing I don’t do is crafting. As I find that thoroughly boring. For me the problem isn’t so much that I’m underleveled (though I tend to be), I just have done the starting zones so much that I really have no desire to do them again. I know once I hit 30ish it’ll speed up significantly, so I have no issue with the leveling after that. It’s the 1-30 part that is much more tedious.

GOSU.9574:

The lower levels are miserable. Once you get into the 30s and especially 40s the pace picks up a bit. Later the DEs that rapidly spawn make levelling so much better.

I don’t know what to do about the lower levels but in my mind it does need some attention. It was okay during the pre-release and first week when so many players were in those areas that DEs spawned frequently, but even then levelling was still slower than the mid-levels.

This is interesting. I read a thread in these forums yesterday stating the exact opposite of this. Players were complaining that they had no progression after they unlocked all of their weapon slots and utility/ultimate slots at level 30.

Personally, I have had no problem reaching the end of a zone around the desired level, I don’t craft so much on new characters but I do gather everything I see. Maybe chopping wood and mining ore is what keeps you down? I don’t have answers but I don’t have the issue so I can only guess

There are at least 2 zones for each lvl range.
It’s physically impossible to be underleveled if you complete both.

Spyder, I understand that you want to save “exploring other zones” for your alts, but one possibility is that you could run through the other starting zones just enough to get a good collection of Waypoints and some harvesting, with maybe a bit of killing stuff when needed. The upside of this is that you will have the WPs in case a friend or guildmate needs a hand with their character, plus some of the dungeon entrances are in “other race’s” zones. This saves the “lore” of the other zones and associated DEs for your alts, and might make up the extra bit of XPs you need.

My only other suggestion is to make sure you do Lion’s Arch zone completion on each character, as that is reasonable for any race.

I found I was a bit short of XPs to move on to Kessex after completing Queensdale, but I actually wanted to get some WPs in every zone on every character since I have friends with severe alt-itis so I wander around a lot. I was able to pursue the course I suggest above to make up the difference.

You guys know this thread is like 4 months old right? I’m surprised someone actually necro’d it.

But I think my issue was (when I posted this), I was leveling an alt.

When you level your first character, you are earning tons of achievement experience. Achievements that can only be earned once that give a nice hefty amount of experience.

My first play through, my experience was good. I leveled fine. But once I started leveling alts, it was going a lot slower than what I experienced on my main. From a few posts above, someone mentioned that you no longer get that achievement experience anymore when level an alt (cause obviously your main already got all the achievements). I believe that is why I feel under leveled all the time. Plus counting the time (late night hours) that I play in, it is hard to find events, much less players on at the time to do events with.

But like I said in my OP, I still dislike the fact that we are expected to do everything in order to get enough experience to move to the next zone. So if you are not fond of something, you have to do it any ways or else you miss out on a large chunk of experience. I wish experience was equal all around so for those things you dislike doing, you don’t have to do them in order to make enough experience to progress on.

But again, this thread is 4 months old guys. Things have changed a bit since then.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Personally, I feel the xp gain is not enough. Everywhere I go, I am always underleveled. When I first left Queensdale, I was level 12. When I finished Kessex, I was level 20. I had to go back and do lower level content in order to get enough xp to continue on to the higher level areas.

This is after doing 100% map completion, working on crafting a bit, collecting every material I come across, doing my Personal Story when I can, even doing every Dynamic Event that spawned near me while I was out and about. Yet I wasn’t making barely enough xp to move onto the next area.

The issue I think is, nothing rewards sufficient amount of xp to progress. You are expected to do everything in order to progress. Otherwise you will always be underleveled if you miss anything. You are forced to be an explorer whether you like it or not, and forced into crafting for the extra xp, and forced to be a completionist whether you want to or not. There isn’t just one thing that will give you sufficient xp to help you along. You have to do it all.

I already have a level 80, working on leveling an alt at the moment. When I finally hit 80, I had over 60% map completion. Because I had to constantly go back and do lower level areas to get enough xp to proceed onto the next higher level area. Now, I am doing the exact same thing on my alt. Everything I did on my first 80, I have to do all over again.

There is no “go to new areas to get a new experience”, as I still have to do all those areas any ways like I did before in order to progress. I get told all the time to go do other race starter areas if I am underleveled. I thought the point of having different race areas was for a new experience with that race? Not much of a new experience if I have to do those areas on every character just to get the xp to progress.

Another issue, I’m a night owl. I play at the times when barely anyone else is online. So there isn’t much in the way of knocking out Dynamic Events. So most of the time, I’m running solo cause barely anyone is around. And when you come across those elite events that require big groups, you just can’t do them. Or you come across areas that would have events, but they are on a constant farm that they never change.

I just feel that the amount of xp you are rewarded for doing things, should be increased by a lot. I’m almost hesitant to say that it feels like a cash grab with xp being so low, because of the new xp boosters giving 50% xp now. No one should have to be forced to do everything just to barely make enough xp to progress. I mean, I had to clear 3 15-25 areas, just to move onto a 25-30 area. Because I wasn’t making enough xp per zone to continue onto the next area. It shouldn’t be like that. You should be able to clear a 15-25 zone, and then move right into a 25-30 zone with no problems.

the trick is, every time the story takes you to a new area, get 100% completion in that area before you move on with the story. i have done this and ill be level 80 in under 2 week of starting the game as a new player(as in i have never played gw2 before, this is my first character), and have never been under leveled so far when moving on with the story to a new area(im currently level 71). the only problem i have run into is that a lot of my gear is crap but that dont really matter until level 80 really.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

You guys know this thread is like 4 months old right? I’m surprised someone actually necro’d it.

But I think my issue was (when I posted this), I was leveling an alt.

When you level your first character, you are earning tons of achievement experience. Achievements that can only be earned once that give a nice hefty amount of experience.

My first play through, my experience was good. I leveled fine. But once I started leveling alts, it was going a lot slower than what I experienced on my main. From a few posts above, someone mentioned that you no longer get that achievement experience anymore when level an alt (cause obviously your main already got all the achievements). I believe that is why I feel under leveled all the time. Plus counting the time (late night hours) that I play in, it is hard to find events, much less players on at the time to do events with.

But like I said in my OP, I still dislike the fact that we are expected to do everything in order to get enough experience to move to the next zone. So if you are not fond of something, you have to do it any ways or else you miss out on a large chunk of experience. I wish experience was equal all around so for those things you dislike doing, you don’t have to do them in order to make enough experience to progress on.

But again, this thread is 4 months old guys. Things have changed a bit since then.

the trick with that seems to be leave a lot of the areas unexplored on your main(that are not needed for the story) and complete them on your alts. following the story takes you to only a fraction of the areas from what i have seen.

Strikerjolt.5910:

Xenth.2408:

I’m working on leveling an alt. I completed 3 starter (level 1-15) areas without skipping past mobs/events/nodes/etc and got to level 20 by doing so. I’ll probably be level 26 by the time I finish two 15-25 maps, when I can get the next masterwork armor, which will help me into the higher level areas. So far that’s taken me 9 hours only, because I knew where to go and what to do.

That’s the hardest part of PVE leveling – getting to that point.

XP/Kill is much less in starter areas because there are more people killing things generally. The longer a mob lives, the higher the bonus xp, up to 2.5x bonus. So you’ll get faster xp via PVE in the level 25+ maps.

This is actually my 5th level 80 once I’m done. My plan was to get to 26 through the method I’ve done, get my level 26 masterwork armor/weapons, and into the next tier map(s). If I end up underleveled, I’ll master a craft.

That’s what I’ve done in the past. Mastered one craft at about level 30, and another around level 60-65.

The previous character I got to 80 I mastered 2 crafts with and did the rest through map completions. It took me a total of 46 hours according to /age to reach 80 that way. Playing 2 hours per day during the week, and 8 per day on weekends, that would be about 2 weeks to get a level 80 – longer of course if you’re new to maps or don’t have resources to master crafts. Regardless I think that’s a pretty short amount of time to get to max level compared to a lot of other MMOs I’ve played.

The biggest key I think is killing things people usually ignore and run past, for the bonus xp since those mobs have probably been alive longer – and events of course. XP/time for events is quite good.

If you don’t want to do multiple starting areas because you’d rather experience them later, you’ll run into the same problem. But you can do that just by event hopping and killing mostly creatures that will likely give bonus xp on a map you’ve already completed.

Are you suggesting killing mobs to get XP?
Lol. Even with the bonus you still have to sit there, and kill dozens.
What a silly idea.

And why does everyone need to bring up crafting?
Crafting is down right pointless in this game, and it’s not fun at all.
I make more money by selling mats, and buying my items than I do by crafting.
Lol, how pathetic an entire game mechanic that’s useless. It’s like diablo 3 all over.

I know people will say.. “BUT YOU CAN MAKE YOUR ARMOR FOR FREE!”
Yeah, but the time, and effort to gather materials vs selling them on the AH.

haha. I assume your comment about killing things was sarcastic.

I agree that crafting is worthless. To people that say “but you can make your armor for free”; No, you can’t. There’s a cost to leveling a craft – either the cost of materials bought or the money lost by not selling materials you found. The resell value on most armors/weapons prior to level 80 is well under cost. So the money you’d save by making your own armor is already lost by getting crafting to 400. To me it’s a gold sink that levels me faster than killing/mapping when I just want some fast levels – for example when I hit high 20s/low 30s I’d rather just get to 35 asap so I can use my tokens to get my rare ascalon armor, then go back to doing PVE even faster.

I actually wish crafting was even more worthless. While I get that you can run dungeons to get your level 80 exotics, I wish more exotics dropped in the open world. As it stands ~95% of armor people use are crafted or bought with dungeon tokens (or a combination of both transmuted). The other ~5% are karma or cultural. Less than 1% of armors used are from actual loot if I had to guess.