looking for help
There’s no need to get to 80 fast except maybe if you want all your traits unlocked for WvW. Otherwise leveling is just a sort of pat on the head for playing the game; the whole point is to play, not to finish.
If you do want to push fast though, 1) craft. You can get a bunch of levels raising a craft (doing discovery, not just making things you’ve learned).
2) Get to level 30 and start running dungeons (AC is the lowest one). You can get most of a level for each path you run (must be 35 to access the explorable paths).
3) Explore a zone that is in your level range thoroughly. Do events, do hearts, gather at every node, find every wp and poi and vista. Then go to the next zone.
Doing all that could have the effect of having you go “hey, I leveled” a few bars into the level, rather than staring at the little xp bar and trying to mentally force it along.
4) Don’t go too defensive.
I am not suggesting you make a glass cannon but how fast you can kill matters if you want to level quickly
5) get the cheapest food your character can use plus one of the sharpening stone/maintenance oil/tuning crystal. That will add 20% to the base exp you get per kill.
I have to agree with the posts above. I think the best way to level fast is to do a little of everything. 100% clearing maps will yield plenty of exp and good rewards, and crafting can actually give you a LOT of exp, so if you just want to level faster, invest in a crafting discipline or two. Gathering gives you exp too, anyway. Most of the time I level and hardly notice it, as I’m just playing – and I feel like I level quicker than I expect to.
On tip I can offer for when you’re just exploring is bonus exp. The longer something has been alive in the world (i.e. time since it spawned), the more bonus exp it will grant when killed. That means that mobs which are off the main paths, or things people don’t usually kill (e.g. moas, deer) can give you sizeable exp bonuses. Killing stuff in one area as it respawns, on the other hand, is much less lucrative than travelling around. That said, I don’t think that just killing mobs is a good way to level up in itself.
Map completion(which also gives exp) can also help with crafting since you get 40 crafting material or 20 cooking ingredients as one of the rewards.