Guild Wars 2

I want to just kill the monsters and explore on my own. I don’t want to be told to do certain tasks. It has been awhile but when I last tried just killing the monsters, the experience was too low to be a viable leveling tool.

I think there’s diminishing return when you kill certain type of monster over and over again.

I think it is actually possible to level that way. I actually just mine and grind monster over and over again when I start my first character. I did that mostly to get crafting material. And able to level that way.

But obviously, doing map completion is much much faster.

In short, what I believe you are saying, is that you want to explore – fighting whatever you find along the way, and just be free to roam and see the world.

But you want to gain experience and loot while you do this, because you want to be able to keep up, and not fall behind the power curve as you go?

Is that it, in a nutshell?

GW2 promised explorers a rewarding experience.

I’d say they did a very mediocre job of it.

laokoko.7403:

I think there’s diminishing return when you kill certain type of monster over and over again.

DR is based on character and on location and only impacts loot drops. Basically if you run around in a circle killing the same mobs over and over you’ll eventually only get trash.

I LOVE killing yellow mobs! They are almost always ignored so I’ll get triple XP from them. =)

And combine the less travelled path with a Birthday booster (if you have one) and/or a regular XP booster and the levels will fly by.
I did that on my second Ranger, combined with a little crafting every time I went to a city and I was 1-80 in no time.

Try Edge of the Mists. I hear it’s a quick way to level, and you get WvW experience.
Though, it never did make sense to me to get into an MMO’s world and, y’know, not want to be in it.
I brought a friend into the game and he was always a raider, high-end stuff. GW2 doesn’t have that, so rushing to endgame isn’t well advised. He was actually mad that he got the best XP from exploring (as in, walking) instead of making digital critters go extinct.

Now that I recall, there’s a centaur event somewhere in Gendarran/Harathi that spawns rather quickly. Eight waves of four-legged lootbags ripe for the XP. Me and a guildie found it, sat around laughing about it the first time be beat it, and then it spawned again. Stomped a second centaur mudhole, took a break to manage loot, …and they spawned again. After the third run, I decided I didn’t want to be there all night, but the loot bags sold for around a gold.

NoxInfernus.2361:

And combine the less travelled path with a Birthday booster (if you have one) and/or a regular XP booster and the levels will fly by.
I did that on my second Ranger, combined with a little crafting every time I went to a city and I was 1-80 in no time.

Ayup! Fastest way to get extra mob-grind XP is to go Cook and Huntsman/Artificer/Weaponsmith and build those consumables for an extra 20% XP.

You might also want to consider where you go to do your grinding. World events that involve killing the same monsters you want to kill is like getting paid to do what you like and are already doing.

One of my friends, whom I haven’t seen online in many months, likes to kill centaurs. There are a lot of areas with centaurs and events.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

i actually did this for an ENTIRE single level

the “yellow” creatures very quickly stopped giving experience of 212, Bonus 513 (very close to these amounts, maybe off a little bit) and just went back to normal droplets of exp of barely 100s (it was in a snowy region, on my way to story, but i wanted to level once before story, around mid level 30s i believe)

it DID work for a very short time, but after not too many kills, the lovely exp stopped

this idea was fun in the moment, but became extremely dull and almost sleep inducing

if anything, just sweep areas for map completion, going north to south, getting every single thing as you inch across the map, while killing everything on the way, events or not

that way, you kind of get a little bit of everything right?

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

What about white creatures? :/

With 15 character, and liking to explore, i know a lot of area’s, that players (even with megaservers) rarely touch. Just switch between them. Norn, grove, rata sum, all have low level area’s. Just switch between them And better combine it with heart/event farm. Like kill doe’s, near a kill risen event, that also boosts your heart quest. Once you killed it all your exp bar should hav gone up a lot. Then switch area’s. Either new heart, new cave, wathever That’s why it’s called exploration bonus.

Aetheldrake.6395:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

i actually did this for an ENTIRE single level

the “yellow” creatures very quickly stopped giving experience of 212, Bonus 513 (very close to these amounts, maybe off a little bit) and just went back to normal droplets of exp of barely 100s (it was in a snowy region, on my way to story, but i wanted to level once before story, around mid level 30s i believe)

it DID work for a very short time, but after not too many kills, the lovely exp stopped

this idea was fun in the moment, but became extremely dull and almost sleep inducing

if anything, just sweep areas for map completion, going north to south, getting every single thing as you inch across the map, while killing everything on the way, events or not

that way, you kind of get a little bit of everything right?

its not about them being yellow, basically you just want to keep killing new monsters, not recent respawns.
the longer the monster has been alive the more exp it gives, so if you want to level via monsters, its a good idea to pop a bunch of boosters, and keep killing new enemies in areas people dont go to very often.

The kill streak bonus makes it pretty exciting (when you can kill fast) or with a small group.

you can get a ton of exp doing this, especially if you happen on some dynamic events in far out areas.

phys.7689:

Aetheldrake.6395:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

i actually did this for an ENTIRE single level

the “yellow” creatures very quickly stopped giving experience of 212, Bonus 513 (very close to these amounts, maybe off a little bit) and just went back to normal droplets of exp of barely 100s (it was in a snowy region, on my way to story, but i wanted to level once before story, around mid level 30s i believe)

it DID work for a very short time, but after not too many kills, the lovely exp stopped

this idea was fun in the moment, but became extremely dull and almost sleep inducing

if anything, just sweep areas for map completion, going north to south, getting every single thing as you inch across the map, while killing everything on the way, events or not

that way, you kind of get a little bit of everything right?

its not about them being yellow, basically you just want to keep killing new monsters, not recent respawns.
the longer the monster has been alive the more exp it gives, so if you want to level via monsters, its a good idea to pop a bunch of boosters, and keep killing new enemies in areas people dont go to very often.

The kill streak bonus makes it pretty exciting (when you can kill fast) or with a small group.

you can get a ton of exp doing this, especially if you happen on some dynamic events in far out areas.

ah, now that makes more sense

maybe monsters that arent killed in so long should turn into veterans, then elites, and even CHAMPIONS

but to troll, anything over veteran doesnt drop elite/champion loot cuz that’s just how things are

(im looking at you dry top events, all your elites and champions not dropping a single thing worth the effort, but that instakill minion next to you totally has rares and exotics FOR SOME UNGODLY REASON)

raethe.1903:

I LOVE killing yellow mobs! They are almost always ignored so I’ll get triple XP from them. =)

I love finding spots where people rarely go and farming dem sweet exp

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

They’re not moas.

They’re “poultry nodes.” Farm those nodes.

Rauderi.8706:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

They’re not moas.

They’re “poultry nodes.” Farm those nodes.

Buahahahaaha. I love it.

Rauderi.8706:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

They’re not moas.

They’re “poultry nodes.” Farm those nodes.

Oh god, the poor Moas, reduced to being called nodes

skullmount.1758:

Rauderi.8706:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

They’re not moas.

They’re “poultry nodes.” Farm those nodes.

Oh god, the poor Moas, reduced to being called nodes

In Guild Wars 3 the Moas will become isolationists because people used to farm them for exp in Guild Wars 2. They will build a wall, lock every entrance and keep outsiders out of their domain. Devs will think about making them a playable race, but they will postpone it, so people will fill the forums with threads like “We want Moas!”

Just get your wallet out and buy gems, convert to gold, and craft your way to 80. In the end, that’s really what ANet wants you to do, since exploration in this game provides practically zero rewards, heart quest rewards are worse than pathetic, and event rewards are even worse.

skullmount.1758:

Rauderi.8706:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Mmm… idk. I go out of my way to massacre moas whenever I get the opportunity >.>

I can’t be alone in this.

They’re not moas.

They’re “poultry nodes.” Farm those nodes.

Oh god, the poor Moas, reduced to being called nodes

/petpet
Don’t fret, I called the critters in Rift “leather nodes” too.

Hearts are basically the same as delivery quests, I always found them boring.

I did however hear a rumour that ANet was planning to ship the game without any hearts and just rely on dynamic events. It would’ve been a much better game that way, lots easier to complete and would made the game more unique in that way.

Of course, they would have to made some more event chains, but it would’ve been worth it.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

So, what you’re saying is, ‘Go kill 10 rats and bring their pelts back to me’?

@ Traveller the heart quests are optional. Every time you pass there and by coincidance kill a mob, the progress goes up. Quite easy. And there is no single way, that more dynamic events, would make you more happy. So far this is the best implementation i saw to ‘have a grind, that’s not a grind’. Cause all mmo’s have a grind. It’s how you present them, that makes the difference. If you want text balloon quests go TES online. If not, you won’t find much better then gw2 quest system.

ipan.4356:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

So, what you’re saying is, ‘Go kill 10 rats and bring their pelts back to me’?

like i said, its not about being yellow, its a bout not being killed recently, so head for hidden areas off the beaten paths.

And i thought i was the only one who farmed moas….

Protip: find moas in ascalon zones. Then you can also farm chili peppers at the same time

The whole problem is that progress is attained by farming at all.

Is this an adventure game, or is it Farmville?

The Manifesto promised that we wouldn’t have to farm to play.

But all of the end game rewards require the most hideous sort of farming – it doesn’t matter if you’re farming Orr, dungeons, fractals, or moas.

Farming is farming is farming.

Farming is not exploring.

It’s not defeating epic bosses.

It’s not defeating other players in combat.

It’s farming.

It’s repeating the same thing over and over and over to collect enough crumbs to get something.

I think that if an MMO makes you farm to get what you want – then it should be called Farmville.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Just get your wallet out and buy gems, convert to gold, and craft your way to 80. In the end, that’s really what ANet wants you to do, since exploration in this game provides practically zero rewards, heart quest rewards are worse than pathetic, and event rewards are even worse.

I enjoy exploring for the sake of exploring. Anyone who needs artificial rewards for exploration do not truly enjoy exploration. There are a lot of cool things and places to find in GW2.

Besides, this simply isn’t true to begin with. Map completion is required for legendaries, which is a pretty massive reward. There is also plenty of EXP gotten from exploration and completing maps, as well as items that help new players quite a bit with leveling up. Not to mention transmutation charges, which are nice for people who don’t want to spend gems on it.

Veltoss.9135:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Just get your wallet out and buy gems, convert to gold, and craft your way to 80. In the end, that’s really what ANet wants you to do, since exploration in this game provides practically zero rewards, heart quest rewards are worse than pathetic, and event rewards are even worse.

I enjoy exploring for the sake of exploring. Anyone who needs artificial rewards for exploration do not truly enjoy exploration. There are a lot of cool things and places to find in GW2.

Besides, this simply isn’t true to begin with. Map completion is required for legendaries, which is a pretty massive reward. There is also plenty of EXP gotten from exploration and completing maps, as well as items that help new players quite a bit with leveling up. Not to mention transmutation charges, which are nice for people who don’t want to spend gems on it.

Yes, yes, exploring, the first time is super fun in this game. However, when you’ve been to the same places 200 times, it is not longer fun in and of itself. Many people are leveling for the first time, and I agree they should go see the world and have fun, though XP is not given out enough, IMO, as it takes way too long to level. Anyway, for those leveling their alts, exploring is boring. Period. You can’t explore the same area over and over and over. That’s a conundrum right there, as exploration, by definition, means finding new areas. After one toon with world completion, there is no such thing as exploring.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Creatures gain an exploration XP bonus when they have not been killed recently. Try killing yellow creatures you find on the less traveled areas of the map; they don’t get killed very often.

Odd, I figured the exploration XP bonus would be account based, not global…

When looking at it, I suppose it’s to make players scatter from actively farmed areas.

But on other hand it could limit creature killing exploration, since some areas will be diminished of the exploration XP bonus…

You can…

+100% XP bonus from birthday booster, +50% XP bonus from XP booster, +100% XP from killstreak booster (when stacked to 10 stacks), food, go out and kill yellow mobs, but keep changing your area (bonus XP decreases if the mobs have been killed recently). No joke you will get a bar of XP in roughly 5 kills. Once I completed one full level before I even finished my Daily Kills and all I was doing was killing yellow mobs 2 levels above me.

This is the fastest form of leveling, even compared to EoTM.

Draknar.5748:

You can…

+100% XP bonus from birthday booster, +50% XP bonus from XP booster, +100% XP from killstreak booster (when stacked to 10 stacks), food, go out and kill yellow mobs, but keep changing your area (bonus XP decreases if the mobs have been killed recently). No joke you will get a bar of XP in roughly 5 kills. Once I completed one full level before I even finished my Daily Kills and all I was doing was killing yellow mobs 2 levels above me.

This is the fastest form of leveling, even compared to EoTM.

That’s pretty impressive! Tempted to see how it would work during an Ulgoth raid, hmm.

100% Birthday booster
100% Killstreak Booster
50% XP Booster, 100 when upgraded through Mystic Forge
30% XP Booster from Laurel XP Booster
20% from using Buff Food and Potions
10% from Guild Banner
5% Guild Bonus Boost for 24h
33% Outnumbered Bonus in WvW
Max 10% World bonus
Every 2500 AP +3% account Bount Exp more
Like 100% Bonus Exp from Killing Creatures, that haven’t been killed for an eternity

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

Theres more than enough way to boost your xp Gain extremely up in this game to make it child easy to gain massive amoutns of Exp from monster kills.
But even then it is alot faster to level in this game by exploring unexplored maps, doing events or following a big zerg in WvW thats clearing everything on sight around like a huge swarm of locusts as killing there something mostly all has to do with events which net you in alot faster exp, when quickly done one after another, especially when using also all those exp boosters there or when doing a Solo run, in an outnumbered map for the extra 33% more exp there from rarely killed yellow creatures (which are many)

Also you have the option to do PvP, there you can earn yourself those Scrolls, which can you level up instantly by 1 Level.
Otherwise I can also just recommend you to do with your Character Dungeon runs, as for every successful dungeon run, you get nearly a Level Up worth of Exp and from all the Exp you get there from enemy kills together with the exp rewarded at the end, its just a guaranteed level up each time plus you make tokens that you can use for exotic equipment, money/ectos and GOLD…. and that alot faster than farming somewhere.
Do that with guildies for example that can help you out with their 80ties and you have quickly an max level character too, alot more gold and an full exo character too …

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

@ Traveller the heart quests are optional. Every time you pass there and by coincidance kill a mob, the progress goes up. Quite easy. And there is no single way, that more dynamic events, would make you more happy. So far this is the best implementation i saw to ‘have a grind, that’s not a grind’. Cause all mmo’s have a grind. It’s how you present them, that makes the difference. If you want text balloon quests go TES online. If not, you won’t find much better then gw2 quest system.

I wish all of them were simple like that. Sure, many of them are. But when you do zone and world completion you’ll find lots annoying hearts meant purely for busywork.

My idea was already in my post, replace these tasks with events. Just gotta make the events more frequent and numerous.

And why is an old-fashioned quest such a curse word? In GW1 there were quests like Galrath’s villainy which spanned several zones and was a real feat back then to accomplish. Maybe it’s something that the trait system should’ve been, instead of a random “you get this trait for doing this” have a whole quest built around it with good rewards besides the trait and you’d actually see people teaming up for it.

I better stop before I fix the whole games’ problems at once.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

[snip]
Yes, yes, exploring, the first time is super fun in this game. However, when you’ve been to the same places 200 times, it is not longer fun in and of itself. Many people are leveling for the first time, and I agree they should go see the world and have fun, though XP is not given out enough, IMO, as it takes way too long to level. Anyway, for those leveling their alts, exploring is boring. Period. You can’t explore the same area over and over and over. That’s a conundrum right there, as exploration, by definition, means finding new areas. After one toon with world completion, there is no such thing as exploring.

Speak for yourself! I’ve done five 100% map completions and am on 90% for the sixth and I still enjoy the heck out of it. Even after all this time I still sometimes stumble on an event I’ve never seen before, or wander in some little hidden cranny, enjoy the sights, laugh at some random ambient NPC dialog (my favorite atm is the quaggan in the underwater tunner in Snowden that judges you very hard). Counts as exploring to me

jackaljag.8637:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

[snip]
Yes, yes, exploring, the first time is super fun in this game. However, when you’ve been to the same places 200 times, it is not longer fun in and of itself. Many people are leveling for the first time, and I agree they should go see the world and have fun, though XP is not given out enough, IMO, as it takes way too long to level. Anyway, for those leveling their alts, exploring is boring. Period. You can’t explore the same area over and over and over. That’s a conundrum right there, as exploration, by definition, means finding new areas. After one toon with world completion, there is no such thing as exploring.

Speak for yourself! I’ve done five 100% map completions and am on 90% for the sixth and I still enjoy the heck out of it. Even after all this time I still sometimes stumble on an event I’ve never seen before, or wander in some little hidden cranny, enjoy the sights, laugh at some random ambient NPC dialog (my favorite atm is the quaggan in the underwater tunner in Snowden that judges you very hard). Counts as exploring to me

You just explored wrong the first 5 times then

takingitslow.9604:

I want to just kill the monsters and explore on my own. I don’t want to be told to do certain tasks. It has been awhile but when I last tried just killing the monsters, the experience was too low to be a viable leveling tool.

Perhaps there is a detail missing in your post but I level the same way and it’s not a problem. Define “too low experience to be viable” and maybe this will be a useful discussion.