Guild Wars 2

Hey, I got to lvl 80 fairly quickly and I just want to throw out a couple suggestions on lvling in GW2 that are 1. different from most MMO’s and 2. a lot of people don’t seem to realize.

• 1. Always do events you run by. Most events help with renown hearts nearby and allow you to get a good exp boost on top of completing the heart.

• 2. As you are going through a map and doing the hearts, visit any waypoints/vistas/points of interest you see when you are near them. I know some vistas (cough* sylvari) are really annoying JQ’s, but you’ll be happy when you wont have to scour a map for hours to get that last 1 before you complete the map.

• 3. Complete maps. You get exp and gear (usually upgrades in my experience) from completing maps, not to mention the fact that just exploring in general can level you up.

• 4. If you get stuck being underlvled in one zone, try going and doing zones that are your lvl in other races areas. This provides you with more exp from exploring as well as more hearts to complete. I believe if you finished all the lvl 10-20 zones starting at lvl 10, you would probably be about lvl 30-35 when you finished. as a side note, asura gates in lions arch get you to the other capitols

• *5. Crafting! GW2 is not like most other games where crafting takes for ever and gives you .02% of a lvl for 2 hours of work. Crafting in GW2 gives an awesome amount of exp for how simple it is, especially if you continuously gather as you are lvling up (do this! it gives exp and mats for crafting!). I got my weaponsmithing to 400, and getting from 350 to 400 alone got me 2 lvls in the 70-80 range.

• 6. WvW(vW). This is more of a side note than a universal tip, but if you get bored of the normal PvE grind, WvW gives a good amount of exp if you actually participate in the sieges/defenses. Each of these is an individual event that will give significantly more exp than the events in the PvE world, and scale to your lvl (like everything else).

• 7. Do your personal story quests. Many people already do these avidly, but they give insane amounts of exp, as well as good gear/items to have, and until higher lvls they are easily soloable and take little time (as another side note, you CAN bring other players in to your storymode quests, just have them in the same map, in a party, and go in, it will act like an instance entrance would for them).

• 8. It may seem minor, but do your daily achievement activities. Each time you go to a new tier, you get a good amount of experience points. As well as a decent reward at the end of the set.

Finally, as more of a general suggestion/advice, GW2 is not other MMOs. This game does not reward you for grinding in one area on one mob, in fact, it punishes you. In my little time on the forums it seems as if most of the players who complain about being underlvled are staying in one spot. GW2 wants you to explore its map, it wants you to try new things and rewards you very nicely for doing it. If you go in to the, which set of options gives the most exp for the least amount of mental effort, mentality you will fall behind, while your friend Jimmy who was never higher than lvl 20 in WoW will be far ahead of you because he decided to run around killing random things and clicking buttons while you were in Homelandville killing Bandit Outlaws in a pattern that the first would be up right as the last died. Speaking of this, did you ever notice you get less and less loot the longer you kill one type of mob? I have. I don’t know if its a real mechanic or just me being psycho, but it seems to be legit.

• The reason crafting is starred is because this is something that will be incredibly useful to you in other ways, because unlike other MMOs (a phrase it seems I’ve said 100 times) the gear in GW2 is equivalent at every lvl no matter what source it comes from. (Greens have similar stats as other greens and Rares have similar stats to other rares) Because of this you can make yourself upgrades with the mats you find that give you experience. When I hit lvl 80, I got a whole new set of weapons and armor without spending much money at all.

Thanks for reading and feel free to add additional tips if you want, this is by no means a comprehensive list.