Guild Wars 2

I’m pretty new to GW2 after playing WoW for years. Been playing for a couple of weeks now. And I have to ask if I’m doing something wrong in zones.

I am consistently lagging far behind in level by the time I 100% complete a zone. For instance, I just completed Dredgehaunt Cliffs last night, a 40-50 zone. I’ve done everything, gathering along the way and doing events, and I’m barely over 45 now. If there is a large level range in a zone, I often times run into areas of multiple enemies that are hard to get through becuase they outlevel me by a large margin. Got through some of it with a few friends, though.

So, if I’m on by myself, is the only solution to pack up and go to another zone to make up the difference rather than stay put and try to 100% complete in while I’m leveling? That kind of doesn’t make sense to me, but I don’t want to just sit around doing nothing but grinding mobs for levels either.

That is why there are multiple maps of the same level range, you are meant to complete sereval maps of the same level, in your case you can go to the Blazeridge Steppes (40~50), that is how the game was designed, you can also do some dungeons, crafting also help a lot with leveling.

EDIT: Oh, you can also join in WvW battles, Edge of the Mists is very friendly for lower level characters, look for a commander tag (the blue taco icon :P ) and follow it.

You should also be doing the Dynamic Events that pop up throughout the zones. Pay attention to /map chat and join others who are calling out group events.

Don’t forget about your personal story. That gives really good XP too.

Finally, dungeons. Once you hit certain level milestones, you’ll get in-game mail directing you to new dungeons. Each path of a dungeon will net you almost a full level.

GL

I am up to date on my personal story and I am doing every event I come across. Also, PvP isn’t my bread and butter, so not all that interested in it. The zones just don’t offer enough by themselves in PvE content. I guess you could say I’m being a stickler, but dropping everything in a zone because you’ve run out of appropriate stuff to do and needing to go elsewhere is a design flaw in my opinion. I shouldn’t have to go gather a bunch of copper ore and forge useless weapons or PvP to make up for the lack of in-zone content, but maybe that’s just me.

Suppose I just need to switch my brain off and suck it up. Not sure if it’s other MMOs clouding my judgment or if I’m legitimately unhappy with the setup in GW2.

I know you said you’re gathering but are you also crafting and keeping it level appropriate or just behind? The reason I ask is because I’d do a zone gathering materials. Go back and craft a load of stuff and it would bump up my levels so I could go into the next area. Also are you using consumables and boosters? These will be a big help as well.

I don’t understand sorry. Why are you staying in a zone if you are finished exploring it? There is nothing and I mean nothing stopping you from going to any zone within 5 levels above yours to any level below yours to get new leveling content.

GW2 is different from other MMOs. I didn’t start 100%ing zones until long after I hit max level. Your best bet is to make sure you fully explore zones first by uncovering the map, unlocking waypoints, and getting most of the POIs and vistas. Do EVERY dynamic event you come across always. (I’d ignore hearts, but that’s a personal preference.)

Beyond that, kill stuff as you run through and you should get plenty of levels, especially with the XP boosts that come with food and utility buffs.

But yes, you need to do this in all the zones, not just one of them. By now, using this method, you would have 60-70%ed all five main cities, all five starter zones, a few 15-25 zones (Kessex, Brisban, Snowden, Diessa), the 25-40ish zones (Lornar’s Pass, Harathi Hinterlands, Gendarran Fields, Fields of Ruin).

If you’ve done all that and still are only level 45, I’d be pretty surprised.

WvW =/= PvP
WvW you keep all your PvE gear/stats and fight as a group against another server, it gives a good amount of exp/karma and in the Edge of the Mists (not Heart of the Mists) you can get a lot of champion bags.
Also, the Personal story makes you go to different maps, you can complete the maps that your PS makes you go, that will make a bit more sense during leveling, also you’ll want to get 100% map completion eventually, complete maps while leveling makes it less “grindy”.

The difficulty is if I could level up in the human zone and do it all in a row then I’d never explore anywhere else. So on my first character I did 3 or 4 of the starter zones and wouldn’t venture past level 15 areas. Then I moved onto harder parts and felt good that I’d changed scenery a bit and built myself up. I also repeated a lot of events which I ran across by accident and gathered/crafted everything I could.

If I got up to level 80 before I’d even left the human area then I’d be pretty disappointed. I got to level 80 on about 30% total map completion so I don’t really think there’s a lack in content.

There are many ways to get leveling xp in this game, in fact just about everything you do gives xp! Here’s the wiki article which lists the different ways along with xp modifiers you can use.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Experience

The game isn’t a linear exploration path. There are multiple zones for each level range and you should consider those as part of leveling.

Example, if you took full advantage of level appropriate content you would have done every starting zone before embarking to next tier.

The game eventually narrows at higher levels, but at low levels you should see the world. Each racially/regionally flavored zone is a unique experience, Karma reputation gear/stats are different, and Zone Completes are most valuable at Zone level generally.

The other issue ATM is overpopulation. It’s easy to finish a zone with minimum exp gain with a screaming horde of downleveled 80s mowing every npc and stage of events down in seconds. Example.. Maw. Doing Maw with say.. 15 mixed levels gives you a huge chance at Gold level and exp, per stage, EACH stage, and more mob exp from tagging/helping kill. As the event plays out now, a low level player is lucky to get exp and credit for anything but initial and final phase… and rarely gold. You need the hearts/exp from another zone to compensate.

depends how patient you are. A zone has way more content then its level range but because dynamic events arent content on demand you’ll miss a whole bunch of it if you dont do you own investigation (ie talking to NPCs to find out if they’re having any difficulties with anything) and wait around until they decide to do something about it.

I understand its not for everyone but if you’re willing to do it I generally find myself about 5 levels above a zone’s average so much so I am generally level 80 by the time I start on level 60 content.

If waiting around is not for you like others suggested you have other zones you can explorer and WvW, dungeons, crafting, dailies (gives nearly a single level by itself), achievements, etc..

I’m not sure if I’m getting my point across properly. I’m not asking about other methods of getting experience (many of which I don’t care for and shouldn’t HAVE to do in a game with a mantra where you can do anything you want). I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. What I’m saying is that, in a zone makred 40-50, there is not enough content in that zone to get you from 40-50 at all in the slightest.

From what I’m understanding, from what you guys are saying, is that the ranges don’t represent the content, only the appropriate level ranges for the zone. So, if you are somewhere from 40-50, you will find something there at your level. NOT that it will get you from 40-50 going through the zone.

Fair enough. I still think that’s a flaw, but I guess it doesn’t matter because there is no real zone-wide stories anyway. It’s just a long stretch of unrelated events and areas. I just hate the choppiness of leaving the snowy mountains helping the Priory to go do something unrelated with Charr in the grasslands simply because I’ve run out of stuff. It makes it all disjointed. But whatever.

theo.5214:

From what I’m understanding, from what you guys are saying, is that the ranges don’t represent the content, only the appropriate level ranges for the zone. So, if you are somewhere from 40-50, you will find something there at your level. NOT that it will get you from 40-50 going through the zone.

Exactly.

Also, there are times, using your example, a Priory person ask you to get the help of someone in the Ascalon or get information in Kryta, in those moments it would be a good time to complete the map.

theo.5214:

From what I’m understanding, from what you guys are saying, is that the ranges don’t represent the content, only the appropriate level ranges for the zone. So, if you are somewhere from 40-50, you will find something there at your level. NOT that it will get you from 40-50 going through the zone.

This is correct.

Have you done Blazeridge Steppes? Because thats another 40-50 area you can do.
Also have you done every map below lv40 100%? If you haven’t, thats another bunch of experience you can have.

The level range on maps are just guides on what level you should be in to do stuff there, its by no means a sign telling you to go there and nowhere else. (like if you are way below lv40, you shouldn’t go there, or if you are above lv50, you might not be as challenged as in higher level areas).

You get experience from EVERYTHING, even doing a lv5-10 starting zone 100% would still give you a level or two, so go ahead and 100% every map below your level (unless you have done that, then i have no idea what to tell you.. thats what i usually do and it works just fine and ive never ran out of experience sources)

This game was designed in a way that no matter what you do, you get experience.

So don’t feel like you are forced to be on areas meant for certain levels. you are most certainly not meant to stay there.

What @Galen Grey said, zones are packed full of events you never saw because they just weren’t active at the time. I was still finding “new” events on my way to eighty with my sixth character.
Events also give nearly the same amount of XP as hearts do. Zone completion (all pois, waypoints, skill points and hearts) is keyed to give you about five levels, ideally you should also have done enough events to gain 2-5 more levels, if you actually explore the area.

You can map complete without actually exploring and miss quite a lot.

Now that I’ve defended the game a bit, I can also tell you that with 8 level 80’s, getting from 40-60 was the absolute worst, every, single, time. I spent around two weeks on each character and I would swear that 40-60 was 5-6 days of that time.

72 hours of gameplay was my fastest character (by only map completion, no cheating by crafting) I hit level 40 at around 25 hours, and was falling behind my goal of 1 hour per level by level 60, with 61 hours of gameplay. But then got to 80 with just over 10 hours of gameplay. So take from that what you will.

theo.5214:

I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. What I’m saying is that, in a zone makred 40-50, there is not enough content in that zone to get you from 40-50 at all in the slightest.

There’s definitely enough content per zone to get you through the stated level range. BUT you have to be willing to kill every red and yellow mob in front of you as you meander from heart to heart, POI to vista.

Taking the time to do so will also keep you in the zone long enough to see events pop, which can be followed as a chain, spawning even more mobs for kill xp along with the event bonus.

If one is just going to run past monsters and race from point to point, one will be missing out on the lion’s share of xp from kills and events, and I’m not surprised that one will find themselves underleveled as a result.

Jeromai.8203:

Taking the time to do so will also keep you in the zone long enough to see events pop, which can be followed as a chain,

Right, forgot to point out, Guild Wars 2 is actually trying to train you to forget “questing” all together.
Event Chains are the main form of gameplay in this PVE, heartquests and map completion are there to make sure that you run across events and event chains, because by the time you get to Orr that’s all there is. Event Chains.

Once you switch mindsets to realizing Event Chains are what this game was built around, you will not only level better and faster (you can level to 80 doing nothing but event chains in the lower level areas) but you will have a bit more fun in the maps.

They are boring if you missed all the event chains which tell the actual story of what’s happening in the map.

“I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. "

Most people here on the forum are not giving you a satisfactory answer since they haven’t come across the problem. Generally by doing the personal story and completing the zones the story goes through, you would finish above zone level. So they are not advising you to do anything different from what they have done themselves. You are in fact claiming that there is big problem of experience within the game, except that it isn’t a problem for anyone else.

To get more xp you can:

- Do dungeons
- Do low level fractals
- Do personal story
- Do living story (when it returns)
- Adventure in more zones, there are about 3 zones at every level range
- Use xp boosters and xp food
- Collect resources
- Craft
- Explore cities
- Explore WvW, and PvP maps
- Do dailies
- Do events
- Do activities
- Complete jumping puzzles
- Follow the living story
- Do guild missions
- Play WvW

That’s not by any means an exhaustive list since achievements and other stuff probably give xp too. There’s no point claiming there is nothing to do in game to get xp.

Even though you may think you have done all content in a particular zone (and even attained 100% map completion), you may not have done everything that zone offers. There is hidden content in many, if not all, the zones. Including, but not limited to: Jumping Puzzles, Mini-dungeons, hidden areas of the map to uncover, events, etc.

It is a bigger world than meets the eye. Welcome to Tyria, and good luck!

Monkey Fritz.9052:

Right, forgot to point out, Guild Wars 2 is actually trying to train you to forget “questing” all together.
Event Chains are the main form of gameplay in this PVE, heartquests and map completion are there to make sure that you run across events and event chains, because by the time you get to Orr that’s all there is. Event Chains.

I cringe every time I hear somebody call a Heart a “quest.”

If you’re only doing the pve zones then you will probably have to do a couple of zones in your range, (not much different from when WoW first started and you needed to do a couple zones to get through your level range).

Also you can go back to lower zones and get decent exp from them, although a little less than you would from doing zones in your levels, it still helps. The zone dynamic events should be triggering more often again since megaserver tech is in. You can buy cheap food to get bonus exp from kills, and use boost potions.

Most people mix things up and do a bit of the other stuff, you can wvw for good exp if you get on the karma trains which usually are today. You can do dungeons, you can even do spvp now and get level tomes in there, I already got 12 tomes just from casual spvping for a week. Then there’s crafting which will get you around 7 levels each.

There’s a reason there are multiple zones for each level range. Check the wiki here to see all appropriate zones. Variety and exploration make the game more fun. Also, you may find you aren’t a fan of the area you started (eg – Kryta for human) and by venturing to the other side of the map for another starter zone, discover you love the Shiverpeaks. It’s done intentionally to get players to experience more than just a straight line from 1-80 but rather feel that you’re a legit adventurer.

Exploring the major cities is also very easy XP.

timmyf.1490:

Monkey Fritz.9052:

Right, forgot to point out, Guild Wars 2 is actually trying to train you to forget “questing” all together.
Event Chains are the main form of gameplay in this PVE, heartquests and map completion are there to make sure that you run across events and event chains, because by the time you get to Orr that’s all there is. Event Chains.

I cringe every time I hear somebody call a Heart a “quest.”

Cool story.

Hearts were developed and shoehorned into the game to replace traditional quests because early testers felt like there wasn’t enough direction for things to do without some kind of quest system in place.

The only difference between a guild wars 2 heart and a traditional quest is that you don’t have to talk to the “quest giver” before you can start completing it.

It’s the exact same content. “Random dude wants you to kill ten pigs.”

I call them “Heart Quests” because I think it’s funny anyone would think they are somehow not the same as any other quest system in any other mmo.

timmyf.1490:

Monkey Fritz.9052:

Right, forgot to point out, Guild Wars 2 is actually trying to train you to forget “questing” all together.
Event Chains are the main form of gameplay in this PVE, heartquests and map completion are there to make sure that you run across events and event chains, because by the time you get to Orr that’s all there is. Event Chains.

I cringe every time I hear somebody call a Heart a “quest.”

Why? They are usually nothing but Area triggered “Kill Ten Rats”. New label didn’t make it a new thing.

I follow the personal story to a new zone then clear the zone before starting the personal story steps for it. This means finishing the starter zone then doing the story steps then going to the next zone and doing the same. On all characters I seem to end up at 80 around the lv60 step. If there were not enough per zone then I should be falling behind not being 20 levels over.

One of the factors to consider is that many hearts have multiple ways to complete them. I almost always go with the combat route if it is available.

Stooperdale.3560:

“I’m asking why there isn’t enough in a zone to get you through the appropriate range in the zone. "

Most people here on the forum are not giving you a satisfactory answer since they haven’t come across the problem. Generally by doing the personal story and completing the zones the story goes through, you would finish above zone level. So they are not advising you to do anything different from what they have done themselves. You are in fact claiming that there is big problem of experience within the game, except that it isn’t a problem for anyone else.

To get more xp you can:

- Do dungeons
- Do low level fractals
- Do personal story
- Do living story (when it returns)
- Adventure in more zones, there are about 3 zones at every level range
- Use xp boosters and xp food
- Collect resources
- Craft
- Explore cities
- Explore WvW, and PvP maps
- Do dailies
- Do events
- Do activities
- Complete jumping puzzles
- Follow the living story
- Do guild missions
- Play WvW

That’s not by any means an exhaustive list since achievements and other stuff probably give xp too. There’s no point claiming there is nothing to do in game to get xp.

Again, I am NOT asking about what other ways I can gain experience. I’m well aware I can do a bunch of stuff I don’t want to particularly do (like my complete lack of interest in WvW) to gain experience. Telling me to go do something I don’t have interest in is not exactly an answer. My question isn’t “What else can I do in general?” It’s “Why did I just 100% map complete a 40-50 zone and only end up at level 45?”

You said that “Generally by doing the personal story and completing the zones the story goes through, you would finish above zone level.” I have found the exact opposite. I have 100% completed every map I’ve done on the way to where I am, and I have consistently found I am very underleveled for the zone I just finished by the time I’m done with it.

I already found my answer. The answer lies in the fact that zones are completely and utterly different in this game. Sure, I can kill mobs all day to level from 40-50 in the zone, but that isn’t “content.” The zones are just poorly gated and the answer lies in having to do a smattering of a whole bunch of different places and going all over creation to progress if you like progressing through zones. I just have to retrain my brain and get used to the lack of cohesive, progressive gameplay.

I’m going to agree with several others that zones do tend to have enough content to get you through the recommended range (ie, 40 to 50), if you have some patience.

If you are playing the ‘traditional’ way that other MMOs have trained us, you’re liking running from heart to heart, collecting PoIs and Vistas, and gathering along the way. You’re killing mobs, and participating in the surface events you run across. However, that won’t cut it as you found out OP.

You may have 100% map completion by completing the superficial layer of content, but as other have pointed out there are usually several hidden elements, including jumping puzzles and mini dungeons. Beyond that, a lot of people simple dismiss events as one offs, when most of them tend to be chains. A sequence of events to follow to experience the world a little more in depth. Sometimes, those chains have to have something very specific done to kick them off.. like talking to an out of the way npc that 90% of people may miss because they don’t ‘explore.’ Instead, they play as mentioned above and completely bypass those rich little additions.

Hearts dwindle as the game progresses into the higher levels. They are…guideposts, to help you ‘event hunt’ so to speak. They are supposed to help train you to explore, to pay attention to the conversations around you so that you can find some of the hidden goodies.

Monkey, I think my problem with hearts comes from when I got the game. I am not a traditional MMO player but played with a lot of people who were. This is how they played the game.

1) Leave starter instance.
BEGIN LOOP
2a) Run to nearest incomplete heart.
2b) Complete heart.
END LOOP – REPEAT UNTIL COMPLETE
3) Complain there’s nothing to do and go back to Rift.

After they quit the game and I just ran around on my own on a second character, I started skipping hearts because I had done them before and didn’t care. Suddenly I realized that, not only was I having more fun, but I was leveling way faster as well.

Everything about the game improved when I basically began ignoring the existence of hearts on the map. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing them – in fact, I was still clearing them pretty regularly. I just wasn’t grinding them.

So in short you cannot compare the zones to WoW in a sense that there will be “enough” quest-XP to level up and move on. Dynamic events, exploration etc (all these “alternative” methods people are offering) are key.

Teofa Tsavo.9863:

timmyf.1490:

Monkey Fritz.9052:

Right, forgot to point out, Guild Wars 2 is actually trying to train you to forget “questing” all together.
Event Chains are the main form of gameplay in this PVE, heartquests and map completion are there to make sure that you run across events and event chains, because by the time you get to Orr that’s all there is. Event Chains.

I cringe every time I hear somebody call a Heart a “quest.”

Why? They are usually nothing but Area triggered “Kill Ten Rats”. New label didn’t make it a new thing.

Well they aren’t as horrible as many quests with the tendency to send you 10 maps over to the other side of the world and then you have to run through that 10 maps again to finish the quest. Then the follow quest has you going back to the same map and then you have to go back again.

timmyf.1490:

Monkey, I think my problem with hearts comes from when I got the game. I am not a traditional MMO player but played with a lot of people who were. This is how they played the game.

1) Leave starter instance.
BEGIN LOOP
2a) Run to nearest incomplete heart.
2b) Complete heart.
END LOOP – REPEAT UNTIL COMPLETE
3) Complain there’s nothing to do and go back to Rift.

After they quit the game and I just ran around on my own on a second character, I started skipping hearts because I had done them before and didn’t care. Suddenly I realized that, not only was I having more fun, but I was leveling way faster as well.

Everything about the game improved when I basically began ignoring the existence of hearts on the map. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing them – in fact, I was still clearing them pretty regularly. I just wasn’t grinding them.

Exactly.
I am quite certain there was a post early on right after release that the devs had added heartquests because when people entered the game (from grindermmos like Rift) expecting them to “find” events and actually explore was too much. They added in these “very quest-like, but not really quests” Hearts to give those players something to start with.

The game is very much centered on Events. In fact completing an even is usually enough to fully complete the nearest heart as well. But events are meant to be found not lead to by the hand and told exactly what to do and how many times to do it.

Exactly, Monkey. And the reason I cringe when people call Hearts “quests?” It’s because players unaccustomed to GW2 then think that Hearts are the main leveling content. They are not. At all. Or at least shouldn’t be… Dynamic events are the main leveling content.

I still think zone overpopulation is a factor.
Escort the brewers Yak in Wayfarer. When I did that first leveling I would get the exp for the Escort, and for killing 8-10 svanir on the trip. Yesterday my little asura got credit for 2 kills total, as the herd ran ahead clearing the event path and camping the spawns with AOEs.

The lionguard fort siege there used to be a ton of kill exp. Yesterday it was a joke, stuff was obliterated by downlevels as it spawned. Exp for event, very little kill exp. Worms at the lodge, same same. Unless you have a char capable of maintaining AOE on a spawn point you are SOL for kill exp.

Did maw. Silver on Grawl. 0 on escort 0 kills. Bronze on Totem. 0 on Shamans 0 kill exp. 0 on portals 0 kill exp. Bronze on Champ Shaman. My exp for that event was gutted by the 50 some mostly uplevels there. I assume most new players get less.

Guess it is a fair trade. Events are far easier. Total exp is less. Shrug. go go MegaMerge.

timmyf.1490:

Monkey, I think my problem with hearts comes from when I got the game. I am not a traditional MMO player but played with a lot of people who were. This is how they played the game.

1) Leave starter instance.
BEGIN LOOP
2a) Run to nearest incomplete heart.
2b) Complete heart.
END LOOP – REPEAT UNTIL COMPLETE
3) Complain there’s nothing to do and go back to Rift.

After they quit the game and I just ran around on my own on a second character, I started skipping hearts because I had done them before and didn’t care. Suddenly I realized that, not only was I having more fun, but I was leveling way faster as well.

Everything about the game improved when I basically began ignoring the existence of hearts on the map. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing them – in fact, I was still clearing them pretty regularly. I just wasn’t grinding them.

This is kind of what I’m getting at but not entirely. I don’t run it like that per se. I talk to the scouts, and I kind of take the quest heart as just the general “backbone” of the area the scouts point out. Figure that whole region has other stuff, but as you generally do other stuff you will eventually fill up that heart on your way around. I see it as a guidepost, like someone else said.

I guess the main core of my problem is that I’m used to zone-wide narrative. I’m used to zone questing as a story device and not just merely a way to get experience. In other words, my preferred method of leveling in a game like this is to experience the story. I don’t see any of that in GW2. In fact, I still don’t even know what my overall purpose in the game is or who the “villains” even are, and I’m over halfway through my initial leveling experience.

As an aside, are jumping puzzles always associated with a Vista or POI? Again, maybe I’m just…too efficient? I know you are saying there is a bunch of hidden stuff, but I wander every cave and tunnel I come across and I’m not finding this plethora of hidden stuff. Unless leveling by “hidden stuff” you mean just gaining levels by killing the mobs you come across as you wander a random cave that has no other purpose other than housing said mobs.

Out of curiosity, which zones have you been in? Caledon Forest has 3 jumping puzzles, for example. (Or is it 4?) Each has a chest reward and an achievement associated with it.

timmyf.1490:

Out of curiosity, which zones have you been in? Caledon Forest has 3 jumping puzzles, for example. (Or is it 4?) Each has a chest reward and an achievement associated with it.

I’ve 100% map completed Wayfarer Foothills, Snowden Drifts, Diessa Plateau, Lornar’s Pass, and now Dredgehaunt Cliffs.

theo.5214:

I guess the main core of my problem is that I’m used to zone-wide narrative. I’m used to zone questing as a story device and not just merely a way to get experience. In other words, my preferred method of leveling in a game like this is to experience the story. I don’t see any of that in GW2.

Ah, now that’s different. Each zone is pretty much a snapshot/narrative of a world as a world, and yes, we as player characters are not the center of it. We exist on the periphery, mostly, with whatever reason for getting involved on the onus of each player to concoct for themselves.

If you’re looking for a linear story experience, I would advise following the personal story and forgetting map completion. That is, do personal story up to the point you’re no longer within level for it, then just do neighboring hearts and map complete just enough of the map to get to where you can do personal story again.

You can also decide to forgo waypoints for a bit and physically travel to the next personal story location – doing hearts and events along the way, thus creating a more logical narrative than rounding each map in a completionist loop.

This is a common complaint I see with GW2 and most often I see it’s due to the simple fact that the player didn’t seem to run into a lot of good dynamic event chains. I don’t blame you as some of them are hard to find and it’s difficult to find which event will lead to a fun boss at the end and which ones will just be a collection quest which opens up some NPC which sells something useless but I can give you a few tips to find them easier.

My advice is ignore hearts complete if you can and focus your entire attention on finding a good event chain. Usually the best ones have a sort of yellow title card like “Battle for Wychmire Swamp” with a short description on what’s happening underneath it if events linked to it are happening the general area. If you run into one of these try to figure out what event the meta-event is tied in with and you’ll have a good event chain that should give you some good leveling content and you’ll probably fill out a couple hearts on the way.

In general you want to do as many dynamic events as possible and avoid hearts unless there’s nothing else going on. Hearts can wait, dynamic events will move on without you and that’s some EXP you won’t have another chance at getting for a while.

I’ve been saying this beta that hearts distract from the real core good leveling content in the game which is dynamic events and annoyed posts like this confirm it for me. The fastest and arguably the funnest way to level is to find a good event chain, run with it till it’s conclusion then hop to another one but due to their nature sometimes it’s hard to do this all the time especially if your new.

Events are where the leveling is. Hearts are basically there to guide you to events. Try to follow event chains, many of them might not be obvious but give great exp.

Belzebu.3912:

That is why there are multiple maps of the same level range, you are meant to complete sereval maps of the same level, in your case you can go to the Blazeridge Steppes (40~50), that is how the game was designed, you can also do some dungeons, crafting also help a lot with leveling.

EDIT: Oh, you can also join in WvW battles, Edge of the Mists is very friendly for lower level characters, look for a commander tag (the blue taco icon :P ) and follow it.

This is exactly what I had to do when I first started playing. I would complete a zone before reaching the max level for that zone, so I would have to hop to other zones of the same level range.

Well, I don’t “just do hearts.” I wouldn’t say they distract me as I don’t make it a point to just go heart to heart. You would think I’d come across enough events by searching for all of the vistas and POIs, but apparently you have to specifically set out to do events instead of them happening along the way?

And without knowing when they will happen, just wander aimlessly/talk to every NPkittenil one DOES happen? Or camp spots where they start?

EDIT: That’s funny. Putting NPC near the word until, even with a space between, sets the filters off.

Alright you know what, I decided to look around dedgehaunt and see if there was an easy to miss meta that you should go back and do and I found it, it’s called “In Pursuit of knowledge”, it’s basically a war with the dredge. If you push it to it’s end point there’s a boss fight at the end.

If you need more info on it, here’s all the dynamic events connected with it:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/In_Pursuit_of_Knowledge

You just need to find one and you should be able to ride along until the event ends up with a boss fight.

Dredgehaunt though is kinda barren for dynamic events though, probably why you’ve run into this wall.

Theo, a suggestion for you: run up to Harathi Hinterlands. There’s a pretty solid set of dynamic events that happen there which all tell a unified story in the north part of the zone. Keep an eye on the meta-event tracker on your screen, it’ll explain the current status and tell you were to go to pick up the events.

Make sure to hang around after events finish for a few minutes to catch the beginning of the next event.

guardian.6489:

Alright you know what, I decided to look around dedgehaunt and see if there was an easy to miss meta that you should go back and do and I found it, it’s called “In Pursuit of knowledge”, it’s basically a war with the dredge. If you push it to it’s end point there’s a boss fight at the end.

If you need more info on it, here’s all the dynamic events connected with it:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/In_Pursuit_of_Knowledge

You just need to find one and you should be able to ride along until the event ends up with a boss fight.

The entire time I’ve been in the zone, it’s been on the phase “The dredge have been pushed back to Tribulation Rift.” I’ve done bits and pieces of the rest. I gathered blueprints. I’ve seen the Commissar die (just missed joining in, he went down fast), and I defended the granite citadel. I had zero idea any of those were connected or chained together, other than the overarching sense that the Dredge are a problem in the zone. And that the Dredge in Tribulation Rift are kind of hard to take down in groups when they are 5 levels above you

I guess I just really need to rewire my brain and drop everything to follow these events. Although I wonder if I do that if I will be able to keep up. If I got from 40-45 getting 100% map completion, I don’t know if I could follow that chain and cover the 4 or 5 level span the chain covers.

I’ve always gotten to level 80 without even entering a level 50+ area. Simply do all the areas you can find within your level range instead of trying to push ahead; the “end-game” maps are terribad.
Remember to grab exp from whatever event you come across, do dailies, etc.
Crafting is also a nice option if you want to make your own gear. It’s more expensive and time-consuming than simply looting new gear or buying it off the TP, but you get 1-4% of your level for every crafting level you gain (depending on tier) if I’m not mistaken.

@OP: If you run with some food, guild buffs, banners, inherent WvW buff, and sharpening stone/crystal, etc you’ll get a lot more XP from doing your average open world content. You can pick up those things for super cheap, or craft them yourself, and gain an extra +20% and more XP for everything you kill. Really speeds up the leveling process and might keep you more in line with the concept of “1 zone per level range.”

Check out Nourishment here

theo.5214:

timmyf.1490:

Out of curiosity, which zones have you been in? Caledon Forest has 3 jumping puzzles, for example. (Or is it 4?) Each has a chest reward and an achievement associated with it.

I’ve 100% map completed Wayfarer Foothills, Snowden Drifts, Diessa Plateau, Lornar’s Pass, and now Dredgehaunt Cliffs.

Ah, I see your problem. You’ve skipped Caledon Forest, Metrica Province, Plains of Ashford, Queensdale, Brisban Wildlands, Diessa Plateau, Kessex Hills, Gendarran Fields, Fields of Ruin and Harathi Hinterlands.

The game is not linear, it does not lead you from zone to zone like old school MMOs do, it encourages exploration. You can talk to the Scouts in each zone (the NPCs with the telescope icon over their head) to get some of the story of the zone, playing through the dynamic events and event chains there gives you the rest.

I think most players only hit around 40% map completion by the time they are 80. There is plenty of leveling content

I’m starting to understand Theo.
From the maps he said he complete he picked a Norn, joined the Priory and decided to help the grawl, he completed all the maps the Personal Story sent him to.

Well, to help you get a bit more immerse and make the leveling have more sense, you probably received at least 2 mails, one saying that Rytlock is trying to save Eir in the Ascalon Catacombs (in the Plains of Ashford) and another to help Logan in the Caudecus’s Manor (in Queensdale), those are good reasons to complete those 2 maps and also do the story mode of both dungeons.