Guild Wars 2

Hello GW2 community. I am brand new to this game, and I loved it for the 2 days I played free and bought it. Now I am cycling through characters figuring out the one I want to play the most. I am so far liking the Warrior and the Ranger the best. But anyway, I have a lvl 80 boost that I am saving until I get my 1st 80 the old fashion way, so I can learn the game better. So, my question would be what are some good “Entertaining” ways to level? So far I’ve just been running around where ever I felt like, and doing events and some hearts. I like the feel of exploring everywhere, the game is gorgeous on max graphics. I just want to make sure I am fully engaged through my leveling time. Any suggestions is appreciated, thank you.

You’re doing it right. You get either experience or straight up level-ups (from PvP and WvW) from doing literally everything. Just enjoy.

If you like exploring then that’s definitely a good choice for levelling up. My advice is just to remember that there are at least 2 maps available to you at any level, and down-levelling means you can play in any map below your level and still get XP and useful items. So if you ever get tired of the map you’re on (e.g. you’re in the Shiverpeaks and want a break from snow and ice) you can go somewhere else. You can use the PvP lobby and/or asura gates in cities to transfer without paying waypoint fees if you want to.

You can also do World vs. World and PvP at any level and you can switch between game modes at any time so those alternatives are available if you want a break from exploring.

Other than that I’d just recommend focusing on enjoying yourself. I find levelling actually seems to go quicker when I ‘take it slow’. If I can forget about XP and levels and just focus on what I’m doing, taking the time to talk to NPCs and listen to their dialogue, watch chains of events unfold (if you stick around after an event sometimes another one will start up afterwards, and put together they tell a story), try to climb into caves just because it looks like there might be something there etc. that’s when I find I’ve suddenly gained a level without even noticing. (I used to be able to get multiple levels without noticing, but then they added rewards for levelling up which made it harder to miss.)

Danikat.8537:

If you like exploring then that’s definitely a good choice for levelling up. My advice is just to remember that there are at least 2 maps available to you at any level, and down-levelling means you can play in any map below your level and still get XP and useful items. So if you ever get tired of the map you’re on (e.g. you’re in the Shiverpeaks and want a break from snow and ice) you can go somewhere else. You can use the PvP lobby and/or asura gates in cities to transfer without paying waypoint fees if you want to.

You can also do World vs. World and PvP at any level and you can switch between game modes at any time so those alternatives are available if you want a break from exploring.

Other than that I’d just recommend focusing on enjoying yourself. I find levelling actually seems to go quicker when I ‘take it slow’. If I can forget about XP and levels and just focus on what I’m doing, taking the time to talk to NPCs and listen to their dialogue, watch chains of events unfold (if you stick around after an event sometimes another one will start up afterwards, and put together they tell a story), try to climb into caves just because it looks like there might be something there etc. that’s when I find I’ve suddenly gained a level without even noticing. (I used to be able to get multiple levels without noticing, but then they added rewards for levelling up which made it harder to miss.)

I tried to do some WvW but I have to wait till I am lvl 31. I can do normal pvp though, tried it and was 2nd ion my team so.. i’m pretty much a pro… lol But I do want to try the large battles that WvW offers, but I am not high enough just yet. something I also have been enjoying is the crafting. Is that also a good way to get xp?

Hey!
I was exactly in your shoes 2 or 3 weeks back. Now my character is level 72 and I cant wait to hit 80 for all the fun stuff to do.

What GW2 excels at is rewarding you for just goofing off in the world. I sticked to doing some hearts, most events that I came by and getting vistas, waypoints and points of interest.

At some point I recommend you find a guild, if you haven’t already done that. I went to reddit guildrecruitment and read through some of the guild advertisments. Although I would advise from avoiding the normal reddit, this one is worth it imo.
Once you have a guild and reached lvl 35-X, you can hop into some dungeons for massive exp. Each dungeon has 1 story and 3 explorable paths and they all give good exp. Best thing, you can do them once per day and still get exp everytime.

I would recommend not getting into sPvP and WvW until you played a bit more. I did, and felt overwhelmed and confused because I a) didnt understand what to do except for buttonsmash whenever I saw some other coloured players and b) I didnt and still dont understand the whole potential of my class.

One last tip, play the class you want to play and avoid going with the meta. Many people advised me against ranger when I first started off, and I still enjoy it heaps. This game is very alt-friendly, so once you feel you need something different, create a second character.

Cheers
P

Delts.7580:

So far I’ve just been running around where ever I felt like, and doing events and some hearts. I like the feel of exploring everywhere, the game is gorgeous on max graphics. .

Sounds like you are already doing what I would recommend. Hitting 80 does not take very long so just enjoy the journey and try “everything”. I would recommend though doing your personal story as you level. This will help guide and introduce you to the world that is GW2 at a nice pace. Doing hearts and side quests on your current map to level and trigger each consecutive personal story is also a good way to experience the game without rush to the end. Doing so will also help your progress towards making a legendary weapon which requires map completion.

Another idea is to check out the Explorer Achievements. I personally found these achievements to be the most fun achievements in the game as they introduce you to lots of hidden or out-of-the-way areas that I would likely never have noticed on my own. Check out Dulfy’s website or YouTube for help with the achievements if need be.

Only hint I have besides just about everything in PvE gives XP is that critters that have spawned a while ago grant bonus XP. So go off the beaten path and hunt there.

What Behellagh said is a very good way to level. Crafting is a very quick way but can cost. Going off the beaten path killing critters that have been on the map longer will give more experience. Usually the ones to kill are passive critters, the yellow ones. Most people will skip past them so they have a tendency to have been on the map longer.

Another thing, there is dirt cheap food and utility consumable that will give 15% and 10% xp so always keep those up. If you are in a guild, you may want to check the guild hall, most likely they will have an npc you can talk to to get an additional percentage buff. Best of luck to you.

Jodeldihoo.3029, got it SPOT on, well said.

Something that can make your leveling experience good can be running the story mode dungeons for the first time. You will get quite a bit of xp, unlock the PvP and WvW reward tracks for the respective dungeons and unlock the explorable mode. Also, you can get 5 gold for completing 8 random dungeon paths and story counts into that.

Dungeons, your first story dungeon start at lvl 30. Story is the easier path in the dungeon that introduce you to it in a way that wont wreck you, but not too easy either. It give good loot and loads of xp.

Events and event chains. A lot of events start at one point but if you follow it, it will move to another event and to another and in the end you are suddenly at a huge world boss event. So keep on doing them. They give you karma and xp.

Worldboss/world event. All start areas except for the charrs have a world boss placed in them that spawns every third hour. You will get karma, xp and one time each day you get a reward chest as well. You can make the event as many times as you want and always getting xp and karma, but only one time a day you get the chest from each boss.
When you are levling up there will be more bosses out there so keep track on them. This timer is good to use for that. http://gw2timer.com/

Map and world completion. Each map can be completed by making the heart quests, finding all waypoints, vistas and points of interest. When you got it all in the region, you will get nice chunk of xp, good loot such as keys or transmutation charges and crafting material.

Gathering and crafting. When ever you move in the open world you will pass gathering nodes. Never pass them without gathering. Gathering give you xp, and it also give you crafting material. Crafting in this game give you xp. You can get 7 level out of each crafting profession.

PvP is something you can start doing at lvl 2. There are no gear grind or other requirements that you pick up along the way, so you as lvl 2 will have the same as me that played the game for years. What i will have that you don’t is more skills, because i learned my class and know what i need to do. This will be what you will need to focus on in pvp, learning how to defend your self whilst killing the other. Knowing when to get out and when to stay and so on. PvP is a great way to get to know your class. It also give you really nice loot through the reward tracks. You can level scrolls, you get exotic weapons and marks for gear and so on.

Jumping puzzles and mini dungeons. Well they can seem trivial, but the fact is at every jumping puzzle in the game there is a chest at the end that give you good loot.
The same goes for the mini dungeons, just small areas with a bit of a challange and a nice chest at the end. A list of them you find here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mini-dungeon

And then we have the personal story. This give you loads of xp, it tells you the story of the core game and whats going on. It give you keys, dyes, boosters, gear and what not. You should try and make the full story on at least one character.

All this and exploring the game is what gets you to lvl 80

Follow your personal story.

It will take you places and the stage rewards are pretty good. If you’re not high enough for the next stage just hang around in the appropriate area.

You can also get full exotics gear from some of the mega events at later stages if you have enough karma.

As you say you are new, a good tip is to use WvW to empty your bags and do crafting (own BL only). If you log out while in WvW you always re-login into where you were in pve – this saves a lot of costly travel.

Also note that right clicking and selecting on crafting items in your inventory will deposit the item in a crafting slot – I mention this as easy to miss. There is also a way to transfer all your looted crafting items from bag inventory with a couple of clicks – gear icon to the top right of inventory panel.