Guild Wars 2

Ok so I hit level 80 on my first character. Then I finished my personal story line. The experience bar reflects being full again,, but is not leveling me and the level ranking went from 80 to a gold 0. I finished with enough skill points to buy the rest of my core and specialization skills and about a third of my elite specialization. So my question…

Where do I go now? I played mostly solo and just did quests and open world events. But nothing directs me to new areas or what to do next. Am I forced now to team in order to complete earning enough points to pay off my elite sepc? Or is there someplace to go to now to keep earning skill points other then low level areas I didn’t go to? The only thing it has directed me to since hitting level 80 is the southsun(??) coast which the map doesn’t reflect it having any skill points. So what can I do solo at 80 to keep progressing and where?

Thanks in advance.

Once you’re level 80, the experience fills in your masteries, i.e. gliding, autoloot, and so on. Look at your hero panel and see how you can spend them (and earn them.)

Have you moved on to the HoT maps? If not, select the HoT story in your story journal, and you can begin playing the new content.

Ok found that thanks. So just wondering I need 155 more skill points to max out my elite specialization. That didn’t seem like a lot at first, but now thinking about it, a lot of what I had was being earned in dumps from leveling? But after getting a few “mastery” levels I have not earned any skill points. Is that 155 points going to have to be earned 1 at a time from the map challenges? For I game I liked because it wasn’t to grindy that seems like an awful sudden change? Is there a faster way to earn them I am missing?

Skill points (for your elite spec) are earned by doing hero challenges, not through masteries: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hero_challenge
You will have gained some from leveling, but most of them are earned through mini-events all over the map. Some are as simple as interacting with a ‘place of power,’ others involve challenging an npc to combat and defeating them.
Hero challenges in central Tyria give one point each, and are designed to be soloed.
Hero challenges in the HoT maps give ten points each, but usually require more than one player (unless you can solo champs).

Masteries are a completely different system. They are account bound, not character bound. After you’ve completed the HoT story chapter ‘Torn from the Sky,’ open your hero panel and find the mastery page (tab near the bottom). You’ll see two sections: Maguuma masteries and Central Tyria masteries. Open each and select a mastery to train (for HoT I’d recommend ‘Gliding,’ and for Central Tyria ‘Pact Commander’). This determines where your post-80 xp will go, and you can see your progress in the regular xp bar at the bottom of your screen. When you’re in Maguuma, the Maguuma mastery will be training, and when you’re anywhere else in Tyria, the Central Tyria mastery will train. Once you finish training a mastery (your xp bar is full), go back to the mastery panel and click ‘unlock.’ This will spend mastery points (only one for your first mastery), and unlock a new skill for all level 80 characters on your account. Mastery points are mostly gained through achievements (so you might not have any Central Tyria points yet), but they are also hidden in hard-to-reach spots in the HoT maps. The HoT story gives out a lot, too: you’ll have that first one you need to unlock gliding.

EDIT: Sorry, I guess I read your first post too fast. It seems you do understand the hero (aka skill) point system. The trick to getting them fast for your elite spec is to head to Maguuma and do the ten-point ones there. To really navigate, though, you’re going to need masteries, especially gliding (I’d recommend Itzel bouncing mushrooms after the first level gliding, then the second level gliding)
Oh, and I’m pretty sure you can also earn skill points in WvW, but I don’t know the details or if it’s any faster…

The best way to get enough points for your elite specialisation is to do hero challenges in the HoT maps, because those give 10 points each.