Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

Since Reddit seems to unanimously agree that Guild Wars 2’s community is like the Canada of games, I figured I’d come over here and ask for a little help. I will be using World of Warcraft as a reference, because that is the only other MMO I have ever played.

I have heard and read that hearts are quests, but they are not the main part of the progression system, like in World of Warcraft. In WoW, you go to a different zone for different levels, do a bunch of quests, and move on. Usually, though, one of those quests will take you to a new zone where it will start a whole chain of more quests. I guess what I am trying to say, in a very drawn-out sort of way, is: how do I know when to move on to the next area/zone in Guild Wars 2? Like, what are some examples of what you guys do?

Thanks!

You always know where to go next in your Storyline with the green star.

The Hearts (‘quests’) can be done in any order, or even partially completed and returned to later. They are just there to give you XP, world-completion percentage, and a warm fluffy feeling.
They need not be done in any kind of order. It’s completely up to you as to when and if you do them.
You can see on the world/area map all completed or partially completed hearts, and any you’ve come across but not attempted yet.

As for zones – you are free to wander into any zone you wish, when you wish. The only issue is to be aware of is that area’s recommended skill level range.

What’s great about GW2 is that you can decide when to move on. Are you a person with ADD that gets distracted by everything pretty and move on to explore new stuff? thats cool. Or you could be like me and have a compulsion to get everything on a map before moving on to the next map.

Although the hearts can get a bit stale so on your first time exploring I’d suggest you only do the hearts that grab you interest and just go for all the PoI’s, Vistas and WP’s. Those are less of a chore, sometimes quite interesting and offer awesome panoramas of the landscape. Once you have everything explored coming back and doing the hearts feels like a less daunting task (especially when you are going for world completion).

Also, if you find the combat is getting less exciting and more roflstomp faceroll like. Move on to the next level area, its how I progress on my alts. Because open world pve is very easy you can add challenges yourself like you only get a certain amout of deaths in open world before you have to face a consequence like no WPs or more severely like delete a character.

Example: Level 1-8 in any lvl 1-15 zone, lvl 8-20 in any 15-25 zone, lvl 20 -35 in a 25-40 zone….etc etc.

So, if I’m understanding this correctly, I can do pretty much anything in any order I want, as long as i don’t go into area too high for my current level?

That is correct! The only thing that goes sequentially is the Personal Story, which is available starting at level 10 and each 10 levels thereafter.

You can even leave a heart half done and come back any time later to fill it in.

roadrashh.5702:

So, if I’m understanding this correctly, I can do pretty much anything in any order I want, as long as i don’t go into area too high for my current level?

Mhm!

Generally when leveling I’ll finish an entire zone completely (you get a bonus reward for doing so, even exploring home cities!) Then I’ll move on, be that to a different zone or to a different game mode (Personal Story, Edge of the Mists, or even PvP, and possibly dungeon story modes).

Okay. Thanks a bunch, everybody! You have all helped clear up my confusion about the progression system in this game.

A good gauge of when you’re ready to tackle a new region in any given map is to look at the monster levels. If they’re at or below your level they’ll be white but if they’re above your level their level value is red. Also, hearts will have a level value indicating the expected level you should be at to take it on. If it’s red you might want to head off somewhere else for a bit and come back later. If it’s white, you should be able to handle it. In general, you should be able to take on, with a small amount of difficulty, monsters that are 1-2 levels above you. Anything above that, you’ll need to be careful that you don’t get mobbed.

Every map in the world has a level range. It gives you a general indication of roughly what level you should go into the area at and what you should be by the time you make it to the other side.

roadrashh.5702:

So, if I’m understanding this correctly, I can do pretty much anything in any order I want, as long as i don’t go into area too high for my current level?

Actually you can even go into areas way above your level if you feel like it. It’s probably not something to do on your first or second character, but later on it can become quite fun. For example, me and some friends once took a trio of lvl 20 asura down south from Hoelbrack to see how far we would get … we ended up opening waypoints and sneaking past enemies all the way down to Fort Trinity in the Straits of Devastation (which is a lvl 70-75 area). It was an interesting challenge (not the least because pretty much every enemy we would meet would one-shoot us ) and lots of fun.

So the game does not restrict you from going anywhere. Some game modes will even up-level you to level 80 (like WvW or the Fractals of the Mist instances) so you can already play them while leveling, although you will, due to lower rarity equipment, not be quite as powerful as a true, decently equiped level 80. Just pick a direction to go, and explore the world. You really can’t go wrong, the worst that can happen is that you’ll actually stumble upon enemies that feel too strong for you and you turn back and come back later.