Guild Wars 2

I have a 35 Elementalist that I want to get to 80 asap. Last night I loaded up on foods, xp boosters, birthday boosters, etc, and tried both EOTM and zone exploration. In EOTM I ran with the zerg, and because I don’t WVW I gained 7 levels last night, meaning 7 tomes of knowledge. Then I took my 30 Elementalist through one zone, killing all the “non-aggressive” animals I could find, and getting waypoints and a couple hearts, and went up 5 levels in a couple hours.

Have you “vets” determined which way is faster? My concern with EOTM, besides getting VERY boring after a while, is that the level ups will take longer and longer. Is this correct? But in Tyria exploration I can hope to zone for zone for variety, and also harder enemies as I complete zones means the zones are leveling up with me, if that makes sense.

What are your thoughts on the fastest way to 80?

It used to be pve until 20 then eotm or just craft to max. But, I think they nerfed eotm experience gain.

You also have to account for the tomes in the reward tracks in WvW, so Edge should still be faster unless you know how to “speed clear” map completions and the personal story. Even then, I still think Edge/WvW is slightly faster with all XP boosters.

XP was nerfed in Edge but crafting XP was also nerfed slightly too.

For reasons beyond my notice, I generate an insane amount of tombs of experience. Whenever I roll a new character I tend to hit level 80 before I exit the racial intro quest.

Tyria exploration – mainly because if you want to get somewhere in PvE later on after levelling via other means, you could have done it anyway whilst levelling and gained XP. And karma and stuff too.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tyria exploration – mainly because if you want to get somewhere in PvE later on after levelling via other means, you could have done it anyway whilst levelling and gained XP. And karma and stuff too.

In my opinion this is the best way. You’ll get the waypoints, which will help when you need to get around, and you’ll get karma, gold, new equipment via karma vendors, and access to farming areas. Sure, the karma and gold might not be comparable to EotM, but it’s there.

I have 6 max characters and an additional 300 tomes of knowledge in the bank from WvW. I get way more of those than I need just from running around and having fun.
They seem to come pretty easy to me.

MrWubzy.3587:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Tyria exploration – mainly because if you want to get somewhere in PvE later on after levelling via other means, you could have done it anyway whilst levelling and gained XP. And karma and stuff too.

In my opinion this is the best way. You’ll get the waypoints, which will help when you need to get around, and you’ll get karma, gold, new equipment via karma vendors, and access to farming areas. Sure, the karma and gold might not be comparable to EotM, but it’s there.

This! Two birds, one stone really. Also helpful if you want elite specs. If you want to be efficient when exploring, try this: http://www.postcount.net/index.php?pageid=tdwindex
Some maps haven’t been updated for a very long time but the majority are still valid. I have used this site a few times and what I usually do is grab all the waypoints and then come back to do the tasks. I’ll stay for events that contibute to a task though, that sort of makes sense. I’ll also gather along the way, you’ll earn quite a bit that way too.

Fastest is still probably crafting, but that’s only viable if you have hundreds/thousands of gold to pour into materials. The most efficient crafting is using a crafting guide, and I find that so regimented and mind-numbing.

This is all dependant on what you want to do though.

Sure, mapping is two birds with one stone if you play PvE for the majority of your time. (One player got all relevant Waypoints for world bosses and dungeons in less than an hour, so it’s neither here nor there)
However, with this “two birds with one stone” arguement, WvW tracks also give other loot rewards ontop of the tomes of knowledge, you can get a full set of Exotic gear ready for your new character while you level in Edge/WvW.

Crafting 0-400 gets you roughly 7 levels. 400-500 gets you an additional 3 levels. Be sure to use crafting boosters for the additional XP.

There’s nothing saying you should solely do the one thing either. But there’s enough suggestions here to get you to “End game” really quickly.

Just a tip, you don’t actually gain XP in WvW/EotM anylonger, so probably don’t need all the boosters, except for whatever increases WXP specifically (the wvw booster, and celebration/birthday I think). It’s just the tomes now.

Personally I start at west (metrica), run through each map to get all HeroPoints, half the WP’s, and whatever else I run across and ignore the rest. The Exploration bonus alone typically means I’m level 80 before I get around to the last few maps, no boosters really needed. It’s dull as heck, but it also nets you all the hero-points that you might want for the Spez afterwards (189 hero points specifically).

My fastest leveling was the Labyrinth in halloween, food+util+guild tonic+xp booster with killstreak+birthday booster = +285% xp iirc, mostly on kills. Leveled from 32 to 80 in a 5-6 hour sitting iirc. (Then decided that the character was probably more fun as an ele than a thief, and deleted it and made it anew!)

OP here. Yes the Lab in Halloween would have been perfect

As a follow up I did some Tyria Map Completion and wildlife killing last night. 17 levels in 5 hours! This was with food + utility, + birthday boost, + exp boost, + guild boost. No kill streak booster. The amazing thing is that this was just completing THREE 1-15 starter zones! Went from 35-52.

The key here are the “docile” wildlife that doesn’t attack you. Dolyaks, Deer, Rams, Sheep, Fireflies, Moas, Moose, Boars, etc. Just the level 13 enemies, if they’ve been sitting there a long time, would give 200 xp +900 bonus xp! And this is for an auto-attack kill that takes less than 3 seconds each. And they’re usually clumped in groups too. This gives MUCH faster XP than hearts do.

I like the idea above of going through and just getting waypoints and skill challenges, to make the specialization faster to get in HOT. Anyway, should be level 80 within 24-48 hours with this method. Thanks again for the suggestions.

World/map completion is the quickest way to level without spamming consumables or crafting. If you follow the map completion maps, you can generally have world completion done in about 30 hours; much less depending on how skilled you are. You’ll hit level 80 before you finish world completion.

As mentioned, it doesn’t hurt to kill the mobs with the yellow text as they are often ignored by everyone else and yield greater bonus experience as a result.

One last question. I’m still in level 39 rare berzerker gear right now. Will I run into trouble in the higher level zones using just level 39 gear? I assume I will want to upgrade at some point. I’m not keen on buying an exotic set pre-80, and funds are tight right now

fourhim.3584:

One last question. I’m still in level 39 rare berzerker gear right now. Will I run into trouble in the higher level zones using just level 39 gear? I assume I will want to upgrade at some point. I’m not keen on buying an exotic set pre-80, and funds are tight right now

I typically upgrade weapons every five levels and armor every ten levels. Trinkets can be done every fifteen or twenty levels. I wouldn’t bother paying the premium for rare quality gear as greens are just fine.

Yeah I tend to upgrade every 10 levels, look at tp before hand at which level gear is cheapest. Usually most expensive at 20-30-40 etc, often cheaper at 21-31-41 etc. Weapons best upgrade if splurging like to get at least masterwork

Crafting to max is the fastest way. Garanteed 15 levels per profession.
20 minutes to level each profession to max using only XP booster (500).

fourhim.3584:

One last question. I’m still in level 39 rare berzerker gear right now. Will I run into trouble in the higher level zones using just level 39 gear?

Shouldn’t be a problem. Personally, I always play like that, only equipping whatever zerker gear the journey provided. I usually hit 80 with a mix of level 50-70 gear for example, then play through the story for level 70-80 rare weapons/armor (no accessories or upgrades), and continue all the way through HoT. It is of course faster to level while geared out, but if you find that you can’t handle leveling like that, be prepared to die in HoT, especially as a zerker elementalist where some enemies will nearly 1 shot you.