GW2 leveling is way too fast.
The leaderboard definitely needs to be touched. I like WvW and PvP leaderboards. I never look at AP leaderboard, although I don’t mind it being there. Guilds leaderboard is NEEDED, now. WvW rank/kill leaderboard is a MUST too. I hope Anet can award top ranked players (even though I will never be one) too, probably by giving some special effects when they are in the open world. Players who do not look at the leaderboard have no way to know a player is a top ranked player. Some cosmetic effects like a big floating crown on top players head (so everyone can notice) will be so cooool.
I enjoy GW2. I am just pointing out something I am not used to.
I agree the game would benefit from leaderboards, though I’m not sure what metrics would make for the best system. Best times for dungeons? Some kind of arcade point system? Number of kills? Kdr? Points scored for your world? I don’t know, but a more competitive angle would be good I think.
Not a big fan of speed run (actually hate it), so I have no comment on the best time thing. I think dungeon rankings are not necessary.
Number of kills and KDR are good, but how can Anet counter the problem of “kill farming”?
Points scored for your world ranking is needed NOW. WvW warriors need to be awarded.
Sigh. If it’s too fast then do like other MMO’s and kill monsters only. Find a spot with a bunch in your level range and then kill them repeatedly before moving to the next. The speed that you level at is determined by the player based on the options within the game.
I don’t know, my first campaign was Prophecies and I got my first character to level 20 just before leaving Kryta (in fact I think it was during the Divinity Coast mission). I still had the Maguuma Jungle, Crystal Desert, South Shiverpeaks and Ring of Fire to go, had barely started the ‘real’ storyline (I still thought it’d be all about the charr).
It wasn’t as fast as Factions or Nightfall, but still pretty quick compared to other games. Even in non-grindy single-player RPGs you usually won’t hit the max level until very close to the end of the game.
That does not sound very “normal”. Mobs outside of LA is lv11. Mobs outside of Sanctum Cay is lv17. Arriving at LA a character should be lv15 +/-2. If the level difference is more than 6 mobs give no experience. A 19 character would not have gotten any exp from the mobs in Divinity’s Coast. Completing the mission and bonus would have given 2k exp but you would have had to somehow get within 2k exp of leveling from even lower level mobs.
Going back on to the topic of the thread though. I have yet to see any reason given for the benefit of loitering about at lower level. “Too fast” implies there are reasons to not level. The only benefit I can think of is for opening champ bags and even that is only slightly useful.
The reason to not level is that the horrible downscaling system renders all pre-80 content childs play for a player with even a mediocre skill level. It completely ruins the fun of exploring the world, map completion, etc. because what is a serious threat to newbies turns into “kill 20 mobs at once with my whirl -sunglasses-”.
Fixing the scaling could help, but ultimately there is far too much pre-80 content in this game (most of it, in fact) to justify the current levelling speed.
And as I pointed out earlier, levelling is something that can provide alot of value to a game, despite how many people do not like it. When properly implemented, it encourages socializing, teamwork, and can even be relaxing.
ArenaNet clearly realized this with HoT, or we wouldn’t have masteries… :P
I’m pretty sure downscaling used to be more aggressive. I remember seeing a lot of people whine about how they couldn’t faceroll through low level content with their level 80 characters. My reaction was basically “if you can’t faceroll through the starting area, you’re bad at the game.” That was not received.
I’d be happy if they got rid of levels. It’s an archaic concept. Of course, some people are a bit reactionary in their game tastes and think an RPG isn’t an RPG without levels. (Hope they never see a whitewolf game. their brain might explode)
RPG isn’t an RPG without levels. No, based on your description, I am not going to see any whitewolf game in my life.
I think the leveling is just right in GW2. It’s not too slow, not too fast, and there’s always stuff to do at each level to keep you entertained. If you ask me I think you’ve gotten your money’s worth already OP, putting in around 60-80 hours to level 60 is pretty kitten good value for your dollar. That’s not even counting the various other activities you can try, like PvP, WvW, mini-games, Silverwastes, Fractals, Dungeons, etc.
Got my money’s worth? I have never thought of that while playing any game.
I do PvP everyday for daily quest. I do WvW everyday too because I find GW2 too peaceful (and thus, boring) and WvW is the only place that is not so peaceful (still, quite peaceful). I have done some jumping puzzles. Can’t go Silverwastes and Fractals yet. I ran AC a few times.