Guild Wars 2

So you complete your starter area 100% and go to Lions Arch and complete it to 100% too. You work your personal story until it sends you to a new zone. My question is this. Is there a mechanic that directs you to the next zone in your progression or do you just continue levelling in the starter area until you feel confident to find the next area yourself? Is it up to you where to go next? Should you go to one of the other starter areas and clear that as well?

Either way. The personal story you’re up to will have a level next to it, in parentheses. If you’re a high enough level, go for it (if you want). If you are a lower level, then continue to level in whatever zone you choose.

The world is very open, you move at your own pace wherever you wanna go. If you’re not high enough level to leave your starting area, then hop over to another starter area and play there for a bit until you feel safe. You aren’t really stuck on rails in this game.

You can also complete all the other cities, (besides Lion’s Arch), for added XP. Truly, there are no rules as to what order you explore the vast world that is Tyria. =)

Oh, and the world map does indicate the suggested level for each zone, so…you can use that as a guide, if you so desire.

Sooner or later the personal story will start sending you to other zones. At first it will be very minor – you’ll have to go into the level 15-25 zone next to your starter area and the personal story will be just a short way past the portal, later it will be deep within a new zone.

And as long as you’re making sure to do all the hearts and events, gather nodes, get POIs and vistas etc. as you’re going along to keep up your XP gain you can play that way and just keep following your personal story around the map.

It won’t send you everywhere but it will take you to all the zones in your races region (i.e. humans go to every zone in Kryta), to LA and down the coast to Orr.

Alternatively you can explore on your own. The world map has the levels for each zone marked on it and hearts have a recommended level next to them which also applies to all the other content in the area around them. So you can get an idea of which areas are safe for you to explore and visit them in any order you like. You can even go to another races starting zone and explore from there if you prefer it.

Once you’re level 80 you’ll be able to go anywhere on the map in any order you like.

I’m 80 and I haven’t completed my personal story yet. I just go wherever I felt like going as long as it didn’t outlevel me. I simply did all the cities and level 1-15 areas first and went from there.

Do hearts, don’t do hearts. Try to complete a map or not. Wander the countryside as a traveling hero helping out when you stumble upon an event. You don’t even have to complete the event, just help out for a while. Even though this isn’t a sandbox style MMO it feels like it at times because you aren’t dragged around by your nose. You can even just do level 1-15 content until you hit 80. But travel does broaden the mind and changes the scenery.