Guild Wars 2

Hello. I have this problem that is quite annoying. I am level 9 and have nothing to do. The next heart is level 11 and my next personal story quest is like the same. Now, people tell me crafting gives good exp, but i personally do not enjoy crafting. I just want to quest, but the hearts skip so many levels between.

So, what i am wondering: Do i have to craft to level? I will do it if it is required, but honestly it does not appeal to me.

Thanks in advance

You can pretty much get experience by doing almost anything in-game. You can gather materials, run around discovering Vistas, Waypoints and Points of Interest, you could go and do some World vs. World (PVP type of deal, just press B to open the panel and click Join).

There’s also random events that appear throughout the map, orange circles and icons in your map. Those give a good chunk of experience. You could potentially just kill mobs over and over in the same spot, but it’s really not that effective.

You can try your hand at the level 11 hearts, there’s nothing restricting you from doing them, and from 9 to 11 there’s not a whole lot of difference, so you should be able to handle the mobs.

There’s also jumping puzzles, crafting, reviving people. Pretty much everything gives you experience towards your level. You can even go back and do another lower level area and it will scale down your level to match the area’s level and give you appropriate experience for your level.

Hope that helps a bit.

Howdy,

I’d be surprised there isn’t a lvl 10 heart nearby that may jus not be discovered.

However if that is not the case I think there are a few options.

1. Go do that lvl 11 heart. Even at lvl 9 it shouldn’t be too hard and enemis of higher lvls drop better stuff more often.

2. Run some dynamic events to close the lvl gap. They happen often and award great xp for the lvl.

3. move to ankther starter zone and do hearts there.

4. Work on other parts of map compltion like poi’s and vistas if you havent ready.

I’m also sure there are plenty of other ways others will suggest

From my experience at lower levels doing a heart a few levels above isn’t that difficult. I’m not trying to be condescending, I think it is set up that way to allow for doing them at a lower level. Also some of the don’t require fighting anything as there are other options but these sometimes take longer.

Another option is to explore the main cities. City exploration gives really good xp for lower levels, especially if you complete the map and this does not require combat. Some of the vistas and points of interest can be a little tricky to get to but if you need it an online guid can walk you through.

You an also go to the starter maps for the other races and do the hearts there that match your level or are lower. This will still grant you exp. Also one thing you should be doing is keeping a set of harvesting tools. Harvest everything in your path. This does two things, it gives you something to craft with or sell and it gives a little exp. Along with that revive every NPC you find. This also awards some small exp and will help you make progress toward your combat healer title, 1000 revives.

So as you can see there are several ways to gain exp along the way even if they don’t provide a tone, taking 10 seconds to revive and NPC or to harvest some copper adds up after a while.

Good luck!

Try exploring more of the map and look for scout npcs who have telescope icons on the map. New hearts will only reveal themselves when you are in the area or by scout npcs. Even though hearts are like traditional quests in this game, their main purpose is to lead you to areas with events. You will notice that completing events nearby will usually also complete the objectives of the heart as well.

1. Eat food regularly as you are doing stuff. All food gives a +10xp bonus per kill. You can buy it for very cheap on the trading post, or just level Cooking a tiny bit and make your own.

2. Even if you don’t like crafting, invest in some gathering tools and stop to gather mats. This gives you a big chunk of XP (better than killing stuff) and is often part of the Daily. Then just use Deposit Collectibles to save the mats in your bank until such a time as you might use them for crafting, or sell them for the $$$$.

3. Do map completion as you level. Try to get every vista, poi, waypoint, and heart as you go through the map. This gives you a nice bonus chest at the end when you finish the map, lots of exploration XP, and once you’re level 80 you will be very close to completion.

4. Go to other starting areas besides your own for new content at your level. You can get to all the other starting areas by going to your Capital City and heading to Lion’s Arch through the asura portals. From Gatehub Plaza you will be able to use the asura gates to go to all the other Captial Cities.

5. You don’t like crafting, which is fine, but jusk leveling any craft from 0-400 is 10 levels of XP. Pretty significant amount of XP!

6. Try WvW or PvP if you haven’t. You might like it and both are available for all levels. In WvW make sure to stick with the zerg. Your level cap will be raised, but your gear stats are still level 9 and you won’t have all your traits yet. By virtue of doing all the WvW events though, you should get tons of XP.

Personally never really felt I had to craft to level in any of my chars. first thing that come into mind is to explore the map a little bit, there may be some level 9 or 10 hears you might have missed, or maybe just some lower level ones you might have missed as well. Remember that zones sometimes don’t progress linearly, there might be multiple areas with renown hearts for a specific level. Also, explore around. Events, POI’s, Vistas, all of them give XP. You can also head to lion’s arch from your main city, take a gate to another city and explore other areas as well.

BTW, checking the list of renown hearts on each area (SPOILER: you can see them here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Renown_heart click on the area you want to see in the sidebar) in all areas there’s at least one heart for every level (sometimes multiple for each level) except for wayfarer’s foothills that’s lacking a level 9 heart (but has two level 8’s)

The most important advise is to change area.

Exploration is an important way to get XP. I personally also hate to look out for where I’m going and if im not in a too high area, so I’ll try to be ahead of things.

This is how I level all my characters:

a: start your character and when you have to apropiate level do the personal story step.
b: Start by exploring the level 1-5 area in your starter map for your race. This is always an area with clear boundry’s making it easy to see.
- for humans, it is across the river, west from where you start, do not go north of the bandit cave and your ok.
- asura, the area around the lake up to the g.o.l.e.m. historical dig site.
- charr, do not go through the village of smokestead or through the flame legion cave and your ok.
- norn, the southern part of the mountains where your ion the grass and not the snow.
- silvari, the area up to morgan’s spiral.
c: once you have done this you go to your main town and explore that fully. then go to lion’s arch. explore that fully and then go to one of the other towns
d: explore the other town, and then go to that race starter area and do the level 1-5 area. repeat this step till you are level 15
e: now go back to your cultural starter area and explore this fully
f: repeat e for 2-3 other starter area’s. You will now be level 25
g: start doing level 15-25 area’s till you are level 25. Keep using this system when you level up.

The benefit is that you work on your world completion, but also that you never have to watch where you are going in a map.

While getting map completion progress done is a good source of XP, might it be advisable to hold off actually completing the map (save a Vista or two, perhaps) until you’re higher (near cap) level? That way, the items you get in the chest might be useful for more than a level or two. I know getting completion of a map also awards XP, but some items at 79 might be more useful than XP you can get so many other ways.

Chests rewards are based on the level of the map you completed. It does not good to wait.

^ That. Map completion rewards are from the map you complete, not your character level. A level 80 character completing Plains of Ashford will get level 14 items.

As for the issue of being underlevelled… I don’t think there’s any point where heart quests “skip” a level. There should be a level 10 quest somewhere.

A good way to get decent experience is to do lots of Dynamic Events any time you see one on the map. They’re a great way to supplement map completion experience and keep your level going up.

womble.2153:

While getting map completion progress done is a good source of XP, might it be advisable to hold off actually completing the map (save a Vista or two, perhaps) until you’re higher (near cap) level? That way, the items you get in the chest might be useful for more than a level or two. I know getting completion of a map also awards XP, but some items at 79 might be more useful than XP you can get so many other ways.

The completion rewards are based on the level of the map specifically to prevent people from doing that.

Edit: Just checked my map, there are in fact lv10 hearts for every race but some or them are not located near where you might be expected. For example in the Norn starter area the lv11 heart is much closer to the lv8 heart than the lv10 heart.

Wow, lots of replies. To answer your questions:
-I always explore stuff in areas for my level.
-I do gather mats, but i do not craft…i just do not enjoy it to be honest..sorry AN x)

And about doing high level quests…won’t that make me even more underleveled?

The main focus on the game is dynamic events. You don’t need to go to other starting areas to level up. Completing events near hearts will get you twice as much xp for doing the same thing. When I first started, all I did was move from heart to heart and the personal story. I avoided events and eventually hit a level gap around 20. Completing events and parts of the daily achievements(if possible) will net you the xp you need.

There is also no need to fight things that are ‘equal’ in level to you. Unless you are over 30(your real level not the downscaled level) levels above the enemy there any need to care about being around the same level. Even if you ARE 30 levels above the concern is mostly about loot rather than exp.

When I level an alt I have to split my time between two zones of equal level in order to find things to do at the right level. For example, Queensdale and the Plains of Ashford. Then Kessex Hills, Then Gendarran Fields and Lornar Pass, Then Hirathi Hinterlands and Dradgehaunt Cliffs etc..

You don’t have to do just your personal story. Just explore the zone. You get XP from everything in this game. Gather ore, XP. Rez an NPC or player, XP. Explore, XP. Hold off doing the personal story until you are that level or greater. Like everywhere else in this game when you are over level for the area, the game will scale you down.

Personally I only do my story if it’s a Daily option.

PrinceCola.5620:

Wow, lots of replies. To answer your questions:
-I always explore stuff in areas for my level.
-I do gather mats, but i do not craft…i just do not enjoy it to be honest..sorry AN x)

And about doing high level quests…won’t that make me even more underleveled?

But are you exploring the areas for races other than the race of your character as well? There you will find low level tasks as well and you might even find yourself downscaled in some of them which isn’t really a bad thing. So you will get the double bonus of doing hearts your level or lower and more map xp.

I can usually do things that are 5 levels above where I am. Just make sure your equipment is up to date (buy blues from the TP, then sell them back when you’re done).

You can always move to another starter area to do the heart quests there.