I don’t have prior GW2 experience.
I am currently leveling a thief.
Can you guys tell me how long it will take to reach to 80 (only solo playing via quests n stuff) ?
Its not like I wanna rush through the content and I will spending enough time in “smelling the roses” ..just want to get an objective estimate that it will take to level a thief class toon all the way to 80 just playing quests.
PS : Also would appreciate if someone can tell me which build/weapons is good for leveling a thief
Generally about an hour of active play (doing events etc) nets you a level. Any dungeon path gets you around 3/4 a level, I think, but that’s not solo content.
My estimate on time may be off since I don’t focus on my leveling rate, plus I have a lot of account bonuses from AP that tend to accelerate my XP. Looking back at old screenshots I see that my first 80 (a Thief) was 80 by early October 2012, and I began him Aug 25, 2012 and played quite a bit (I took the first week off work, then devoted my evenings and weekends to the shiny new game, doing all the rose smelling in the world as well as some RP sessions). I did have alts I was working on at the time.
I don’t seem to have a pic of turning 80 but here is one from Oct 2, 2012, with him at 80 (and dressed horribly), with my other alt levels showing to help you gauge the time it took.
you should always have a shortbow for when you’re gonna die and need to run away or you need to shoot something at range.
your other weapon can be anything really, weapons only matter a lot in dungeons for optimal dps on bosses. but when i played thief i went dagger pistol which was pretty good. dagger dagger is probably the best for single target damage while sword pistol is best for fighting multiple enemies
D/D Elementalist takes no skill but is good at everything in the game.
Mesmer is unfun to play against and does everything better than thieves.
Hoping those two get gutted with nerfs
I started the game in Oct 2012, took me roughly two weeks to level to 80 just by going from map to map roughly a few hours a day. I was taking my time and ensured I did every event I came across etc.
I recently started a new character. Got to Level 16 in 8 hours and Level 28 in 20 hours. Just map clearing and doing events as I stumble onto them. So 70 to 80 hours of wandering about.
It will vary a lot depending on the person. My first level 80 took me over 200 hours, but I spent a huge amount of time doing things that would get me no experience at all (like trying to break out of the map and chatting in LA).
It’s possible to do it in less than 24 hours (without resorting to tomes of knowledge) if you know what you’re doing.
The main thing to know is probably that dynamic events give more experience than hearts, so if you see any events going on around you then you should join in.
Also make sure you have gathering tools and take the time to use then. Each gathering node will only give you a little bit of XP but it adds up fast and it’s an easy thing to do while exploring.
Danielle Aurorel, Dear Dragon We Got Your Cookies [Nom], Desolation (EU).
Pretty much everything gives XP in this game —- rezzing someone, harvesting nodes, doing hearts, doing quests/events, hero points, map completion, etc. Don’t pass up anything, do everything. Events that you find happening are the ones that give you the most XP.
If you get bored of one area you can always go to your home city/town and then use the portal to go to Lion’s Arch and then from there you can hit the home cities for all the races and the starting area for those also.
My last took me a couple of weeks, by doing map completion and hearts. My first took me much longer, maybe a month, since I was doing a lot of exploring and general goofing around and wasn’t as focused on leveling.
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
I just leveled an engi to 80 and I have 36hrs played on it. This was with a boost to level 30 so the ~1hr per level estimate Donari gave seems about right; it may be a little less.
Also note that I played dress up for some of that time, didn’t do dungeons or any story missions, and at several times I went to zones that were under my level for map completion.
Ive been playing for about 2 weeks now, also a new player so im enjoying every new map and fully exploring it. Spending about 1-2hrs a day in game and im lv39 on my highest char so far. Ive got 4 more chars, every at about lv20. Tbh if thats your first char id suggest enjoying it to the fullest and exploring everything, it does not get boring no matter how long it takes to level hehe
After awhile you will learn enough to level fast: what events spawn regularly, various tips like if an event is near a heart if you do the event you do part of the heart, and so on. Plus after your first character is a year old you get a scroll that will jump you up to level 20.
Assuming gold is not a huge deal crafting is the fastest way to level. You can learn 2 crafts before paying a gold extra for each. Getting one craft to level 400 (which you can do in a day or so when taking a couple hours away from adventuring) if you follow guides on the net will net you 8 levels and is around 20 gold. If you do all 10 crafts there is 80 right there. If you just do the ‘free’ 2 that is 16 levels.
I recently worked out that with a 20 scroll, doing 2 crafts to 400, and grinding intelligently I could get a character to 80 in around 2 weeks if I wanted.
These are the weapons I often use:
(1) short bow (#5 for shadow step, smoke screen + #2 for stealth)
(2) Sword/pistol (#3 for cleaving mob + evade, #5 for blindness)
(3) Dagger/dagger (#5 stealth then go to back for backstabbing, #2 for large damage)
(4) Pistol/pistol (#3 unload is your range damage to go for should you need to range).
Thief is versatile and fun to play. You are loved for several dungeon paths as well.
I left out any comments on build/gear for leveling thief because I leveled my only thief in the first month of the game. Everything’s changed since then, though I just stuck with how I’d built him because it suited his RP. I’m the last one to tell you how to be efficient He was D/D // P/P for a long time, until Bonetti’s Rapier came out and I learned S/P and added Shortbow for event tagging and ranged work. I’ve always traited him for max initiative regen, given him a couple of stealth utilities, and he’s always been sadly ineffective in dungeons. When he goes Daredevil I’ll rework him substantially, methinks.
Meanwhile for leveling yeah, just do what feels fun. I do suggest Hide in Shadows and Shadow Refuge because they let you gallivant past all the aggro as you explore, at the cost of slotting more offensive abilities. Cycle through various weapon sets for five to ten levels at a time to get a feel for what works for you; that’s how I figured out my Guardian was most fun when I had scepter/focus on her, which I didn’t equip until her mid-30’s.
My very first character (thief) took me roughly 2 weeks to lvl up to 80. gw2 is my first mmo so back then I had no idea how mmos work and I was running in starting gear till like lvl 15 lol.
Get 2 daggers, sword, pistol and bow, and try all possible weapon sets to learn the class.
He was D/D // P/P for a long time, until Bonetti’s Rapier came out and I learned S/P and added Shortbow for event tagging and ranged work. I’ve always traited him for max initiative regen, given him a couple of stealth utilities, and he’s always been sadly ineffective in dungeons. When he goes Daredevil I’ll rework him substantially, methinks.