Guild Wars 2

Okay so this is my first character on Guild Wars 2 and I’m currently at level 34. I’ve been generally completing each area I pass through or find (I went for Sylvari so I started in Caledon Forest, went to Brisban Wildlands and then Metrica Province and now I’m in Kessex Hills). So by the time I get to my next area I’m usually being downscaled to fit it and find that it’s far too easy and of course I’m collecting crafting materials that aren’t relevant to my level (copper/iron etc.)

Is it a bad strategy to complete all areas as you pass through or is it advised? Should I just go with my personal story which in turn take me to higher level areas then return and complete areas or should I just complete areas as I pass through them?

It definitely isn’t bad to overlevel. It’s how I ended up playing my game.
I would however suggest either going through same level group of zones one after the other because that eliminates issues with having the wrong gathering tools (in other words to all the 1-15 lvl zones first etc). Or alternatively following an area through it’s zones up to the higher levels (around a 50-60 zone is high enough) and then going back to do the other lower level areas.

Mix in your personal story on occassion etc just for variety.

I’m at a point where I’m level 80 without yet having stepped in a level 80 zone (except Southsun cove) but I have exotic gear so it isn’t as though I’ve missed out on anything yet.

Well, if you’re looking to complete areas in general, it is inevitable that you will be at a higher than recommended level for some of them – you’ll get to lvl80 before you clear all the zones. In the end, it’s up to you. I ran around doing all the low level areas first before moving on to the next tier, but when I wanted a bit more challenge, I went and played a zone where I was under-leveled.

It’s not advisable or inadvisable. Do what you like; I know some people save race-specific low level zones for their alts, so that they get a sense of discovery when they play, instead of just rerunning a zone they’ve already done.

If it feels too tedious to you, then do higher zones.

Depends on what you want. If you want to complete every map, then what you are doing is not a bad thing. The only drawback I see, is that you will collect a lot of worthless materials.

Theres another way to do it, though: level always on the toughest possible zone, and you will end up with more gold and karma, and you will be able to equip faster. You can then spend your free time completing the maps or whatever you feel like doing.

But, then again, this is supposed to be fun, so do whatever it is that amuses you the most.

Well, you’d probably be about the right level if you hadn’t headed to Metrica Province and just done Caledon/Brisban/Kessex.
Personally I complete every area I enter when I enter it.

there i no wrong way. The key is what do you want out of your time spent gaming.

If you want more challenge, certainly fighting higher level npcs will do that and npcs with uncommon rank (champion, veteran, etc). You can try pulling as many npc at once as possible for challenge too, but many have a relatively short leash and will snap back to their original location before they can be gathered in a mosh pit and beaten mercilessly.

It was said by Anet that the intention was that the entire game is the end game . You can always do all map completions any time. B4 listing motivations and tactics, what is it you want from the game? What is your current primary motivation? to reach 80 ASAP?

The game is non-linear – you can play it any way you like

There is so much content, I only had something like 60% map completion when I hit 80.

Zapan.7460:

there i no wrong way. The key is what do you want out of your time spent gaming.

If you want more challenge, certainly fighting higher level npcs will do that and npcs with uncommon rank (champion, veteran, etc). You can try pulling as many npc at once as possible for challenge too, but many have a relatively short leash and will snap back to their original location before they can be gathered in a mosh pit and beaten mercilessly.

It was said by Anet that the intention was that the entire game is the end game . You can always do all map completions any time. B4 listing motivations and tactics, what is it you want from the game? What is your current primary motivation? to reach 80 ASAP?

I’m not bothered about power-levelling to level 80 but more so just efficiency. My goal is to reach level 80 but I want to do it whilst gathering items that are useful and gaining sufficient XP at the level that I’m at.

gimmethegepgun.1284:

Well, you’d probably be about the right level if you hadn’t headed to Metrica Province and just done Caledon/Brisban/Kessex.
Personally I complete every area I enter when I enter it.

Yeah I’m not sure why I completed Metrica Province really; my friend took me there to show me some jumping puzzle and I thought I might as well complete the area now that I’d entered it.

Well, you get pretty good exp no matter where you play, so the location doesn’t matter a whole lot for that.
If you want reasonably useful materials you’ll want to try to keep up with your level.
HOWEVER, do note that you quite likely will not be able to supply yourself with the materials you need to actually level your crafting if you stick to content at your level, so lower level zones are still useful in that respect.

I don’t really get all the fuzz with the materials. For instance copper ore is more valuable in TP than iron, silver or platinum. There are not much of a difference with different types of wood either. Playing lower level areas earns you plenty of these materials which you can sell in case you don’t need them and exchange that money for higher tier materials which may very well be cheaper than the ones got on lower level areas.

As said there is no “good or bad” way to play the game in the objective sense. In the launch of the game I leveled with the goal of 100% every zone before moving to other zones, meaning I 100%:ed the main cities first, then zones 1-15, 15-25, 25-35 etc. I did this mainly because I knew I want to 100% the world with my character. With alts later on I moved to higher zones since they provide faster leveling. With my first character fast leveling wasn’t really important to me.

Advantages I see in “overleveling” way

- You get 100% as you go and not hit max-level as fast which I consider as an advantage on first character
- Each zone offers nice rewards with 100% completion, especially on higher levels
- More relaxed playing-experience with downscaling. You are self-sufficient but still able to find challenge with veterans and aggroing multiple mobs
- Those lower level crafting materials have still huge demand, thus giving you nice cash.

Thats a good tactic! I got to level 80 on my second account quite fast, and i had around 40% map completion. When i started on my legendary weapon i had to get 100%… Imagin how boring it was, being lvl 80 running around doing map completion -_-

You should do every zone possible while leveling, to make it more fun