Guild Wars 2

So I was told to do all the events and map icons to level up. i did them all on the west side as you can see, and the first one on the east side is level 6. That’s a problem because I’m level 3, and I can’t kill them. Any tips? Thanks in advance.

http://i41.tinypic.com/1056xqu.jpg

I think this is in part a terminology issue.

There are 3 kinds of ‘quests’/events in GW2.

• Renown Hearts (aka Heart Quests) – the yellow heart icons on the map, these are the most like traditional quests from other MMOs and are put in pretty much to give people time to adjust to the GW2 system and to give you an idea of how to progress around each map as you level up.
• Personal Story Quests – these use green star shaped map markers and are instanced. They do give XP (and other rewards) but you can’t rely on them to level up.
• Dynamic Events – These show up in orange on the map and on the list on the top right of the screen. They replace most of the traditional quests and work quite differently – in particular they start and progress whether anyone is joining in or not and you can drop in and out whenever you like and get rewarded for your participation. They’re important because at higher levels Heart Quests are very rare and then non-existant and because they’re the best source of XP, gold, karma and loot in the open-world.

I suspect what you’ve been doing is completing the Heart Quests and ignoring the Dynamic Events. Go back over the area you’ve already explored and look for orange circles or icons and orange text appearing on the right side of the screen. Events start up fairly regularly and as soon as you see one you can join in. They will repeat and you can do them as many times as you like or need to, but it’s generally better to do them as you’re going along. (They often combine well with Heart Quests too as they require similar activities.)

You can also do the first few steps of your Personal Story if you haven’t already, and go to other races starting areas by using the pink portal in Divinities Reach to get to Lion’s Arch and then picking another portal from the ones around you. Or ask people to help you do some of the higher level Events and Heart Quests in Queensdale until your level catches up.

Frankly, I am surprised that you only leveled up to 3 doing those 4 hearts and all the accompanying exploration. Have you actively avoided all enemies?

Experience is very easy to earn, because nearly everything yields XP:
- Killing enemies/monsers;
- Reviving a downed/defeated player or NPC;
- Gathering crafting materials;
- Uncovering parts of the map (including cities);
- Performing daily achievements;
- Personal story;
- Participating in dynamic events;
- And more (like crafting, dungeons, etc.)

You have probably not participated in the dynamic events that can be going on in most areas. For example, in Queensdale the apple orchard you visited could be in harvest time, or the grain farm could be raided by bandits. Orange text appears in the top right of your screen to warn of any events in progress in your immediate vicinity. If you participate in any way, you will receive a decent reward (in coin, karma and XP) when the event is over. Most events can be done solo, and they are made so that any passer-by can freely join in. Grouping up for events is optional, and many people don’t bother.
(Only watch out for events that are marked “Group Event”. You typically need 5 or more players present for that.)

Have you started on your personal story yet? At level 3, you are ready for the next step (after the introductory sequence at character creation). You were required to fill up at least 2 hearts in Queensdale, but now that you have done so, you can follow the green star on your minimap to enter an instanced story area. Personal story steps are usually spaced around every other level, so that you have time to explore in between. Personal story is balanced for solo play, but you can invite friends to help if you want.
The personal story typically awards big chunks of XP (33% of a level or so), as well as basic items that may be slight upgrades from your current equipment.

When visiting a merchant, buy a mining pick, a harvesting sickle and a logging axe. (The cheapest ones are good enough for now.) Equip them in your tool slots (press H for the hero screen), and you can now interact with ores, saplings and various plants/herbs to harvest crafting materials. You can deposit these in your bank to use for crafting later, or sell them on the tradepost. Selling them to merchants is usually wasteful.

Have you visited the city of Divinity’s Reach yet? Divinity’s Reach is just north of Queensdale, and the zone portal is very close to your starting position on the map. It is a huge place, with many places to explore (and no enemies). Parts of the city are instanced areas, and one of those (called “Salma District”) is your “home instance”, where your personal story will lead you at some point.
The city is also a place to learn crafting, but that is not recommended until you are at least level 5. (However, crafting is a very fast way to gain experience, if you are actively gathering materials.)
Finally, Divinity’s Reach gives you access to the bank and tradepost.

I hope this helps.

I did not do those events, I didn’t visit the city, and I didn’t do my story quests. Thank you for pointing those out!

keep in mind, nearly everything you do in the game gives exp! so explore, resurect, help out, events, gather, …

I had the same problem as you when I first started Guild wars 2 about a week ago. I did all of the hearts, vistas and Skill challenges in the area and yet still had problems with enemies such as the centaurs and Skelks. Just do EVERYTHING. That’s how I solved it. Remember, to gather, all you need do is visit a merchant (someone with the pile of coins icon over their head) and purchase a few gathering tools for a mere few copper. Every time you see a herb, rock, or tree icon on the mini map, head there and harvest it!
It’s great experience!

Some ways to level up without fighting:

gathering plants, wood and ore – you will need this stuff for crafting

crafting gives you XP for leveling – the faster you level up your crafting level the faster you get XP for leveling your character. Pick 2 crafts for your character. I would recommend the 2 needed for equipping yourself with armor and weapons. The best way to level up in crafting is through exploring recipes. Read up on crafting first to optimize the time and materials you need to spend. Crafting is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, way to level up.

100% an area to get a nice XP bonus. Try Divinity’s Reach first and get every vista, WP and POI. Then go for Lion’s Arch. If you are still not high enough 100% the other races’ cities.

In addition, be sure to eat food and use a utility consumable (such as a sharpening stone). Those will give you a stat boost and a boost to monster kill exp.

Lazuli.2098:

Some ways to level up without fighting:

gathering plants, wood and ore – you will need this stuff for crafting

crafting gives you XP for leveling – the faster you level up your crafting level the faster you get XP for leveling your character. Pick 2 crafts for your character. I would recommend the 2 needed for equipping yourself with armor and weapons. The best way to level up in crafting is through exploring recipes. Read up on crafting first to optimize the time and materials you need to spend. Crafting is one of the fastest, if not the fastest, way to level up.

100% an area to get a nice XP bonus. Try Divinity’s Reach first and get every vista, WP and POI. Then go for Lion’s Arch. If you are still not high enough 100% the other races’ cities.

Each use of a gathering tool also gives more exp than a kill of the same level (ignoring the exploration bonus).

Neutral mobs are also more likely to have a very large exploration bonus. Moas are especially nice since poultry meat sells for a decent amount.

1. Go back to your starter city and clear it (all Points of Interest, Vista’s & Waypoints).
2. Travel to Lions Arch (via Gate in Starter City) and do the same.
3. Travel to the other 4 starter cities (via Gates in LA) and do the same.

You should now be at least LVL 10 and should be ok in almost all the starter areas (sans the highest level areas of them).

Next, you may want to start clearing the 5 starter areas (just outside the starter cities). This takes much longer than the cities and adds Skill Point Challenges and the Renown Hearts to the list. Note that the Renown Hearts will yield the best Experience Point boosts to level you so you may want to pursue them first.

May want to visit the area outside the bank in LA to see if any helpful guild has put down any buff banners you can take advantage of as well (these mostly get put down during peak server times). As mentioned above, do not forget to gather at every node you see..

i got my necro in 4 days up to 57. here a few tips:

heart events do give xp, but not much. exploring,poi and wp give some nice xp. then also did story quest up to lvl 45 and ran 1 night karma train in wvw. plus crafted my tailoring up to 350.
also if u do have a scroll u can skip the first 20 lvls. but exploring alone and vistas and all that gives a ton of xp, plus there are events around the map u should join in. maybe ask in map chat if there is any events up and people that do champion trains will normally help u out.

Good advice from people. You won’t have a scroll, though, they come as part of a birthday present. If you’d played an alt for a year, you’d know all the tips above!

Here is a site that will help you find events on your map and server. http://www.gw2state.com

This site will be useful later when you start doing the bigger boss events and temples.
http://us.gw2stuff.com/en

Just chiming in to affirm the “DO EVERYTHING” method of leveling. Exploration and gathering give great XP, better than you’d think, so enjoy wandering the world and harvesting as you journey along. Visiting all of the major cities will net you quite a lot of XP as well as introducing you to the various world zones. You may begin exploring Hoelbrek for instance and realize you really like the snowy lands and decide that’s where you’d prefer to quest.