Observations on leveling

[pandalishus]

Thought I'd start a thread where we could add all the fun little things we've discovered while leveling to help others who follow. I'll try to keep this main post updated with the response (so if it's an in-depth response, please provide a "TL;DR").

My tip? Judging by Norn, full completion of the starter area + "My Story" is enough to get to 15, which is the level the next areas start at. The 15-25 areas do not appear, however, to have sufficient XP for a full 10 levels. I'm at ~90% map completion of the Norn 15-25 area, and only at 20 (and several of the things needed for completion are in lvl 25 areas).

• "Straight leveling" will likely require two 15-25 zones to hit 25. -Panda
  
• Visit other races' starting areas for more XP and levels -Trap [Tested last night, and at lvl 22, leaf-people starting area XP was still about 1/3 of lvl 24 quests (which is good). -Panda]
  
• Crafting gives solid XP (You get more EXP from crafting on-level items). -Vejuz
  
• Do all the dynamic events that pop up. -Vejuz
  
• The longer a monster lives, the more EXP it is worth, so doing content that no one is doing gets you better EXP. Explore! -Vejuz
  
• Exploring Lion's Arch [or other starter cities] at low levels will get you quite a few levels. -Vejuz
  

[trapsinger]

going back and doing lower level areas is also effective for getting more levels, and a good way to experience the stories for other races. when i was leveling in beta i would usually do two of the starter areas (1 to 15) and that was usually enough to finish my own races 15 to 25 area around the right level.

[Vejuz]

Have you been gathering and crafting? The amount of exp you get from this is not small.

[Keinermacht]

WvW is decent XP as well, as long as you actively take objectives (supply dumps/towers/keeps) or to a lesser extent, hold them and wait for defense ticks.

WvW is not good XP if you just run around in the open field zerging/ganking all day.

I gained 5 levels today (from 13 to 18) in about 7 hours of WvW. Got enough loot to replace every single equipment slot on my character too.

If anyone wants to stick their toe in the WvW waters later this week, just send me a tell on my thief, Svenja

[Vejuz]

There will definately be a time when I want to WvW, but not until I get to level 30 (all slots unlocked). That, and my internet is coming today.

More tips:

- Do all the dynamic events that pop up. They are the best EXP from a single activity, plus you get karma which allows you to, in later areas, buy Masterwork (green) quality items from karma vendors.

- You get more EXP from crafting on-level items (so a level 15 gets more EXP for crafting a level 15 item, than a level 25 one or a level 10 one)

- The longer a monster lives, the more EXP it is worth, so doing content that no one is doing gets you better EXP. Explore!

- Exploring Lion's Arch at low levels will get you quite a few levels.

[pandalishus]

I'm trying to figure out if I was getting a +200% XP bonus the other day because I was in a group. I would get "+15 XP" and then "+30 XP" right below it for kills. Or is that the monster that had been alive longer thing?

[Slurm]

I've honestly not cared one bit about how fast I'm getting XP. Seriously, truly, I'm just digging every moment. If I get bored of doing public events, I go back to my story. If I get bored with my story stuff, I go craft. If I get bored crafting (more like run out of mats) I jump into WvW.

There's never a dull moment!

[pandalishus]

And yet, everything you mentioned gives XP. Gotta love a game where even if you're not worrying about leveling up, you're leveling up. There's some good logic there.

[Slurm]

I know! I've dinged while crafting at least 3 times and I love it.

Oh, you made a pair of gloves? Congrats, you leveled!

[Ghlore "MacInnes"]

Yah this game has no real grind feel to it at all, very refreshing!

[Vejuz]

The amount of exP you get in low level areas as a high levels is surprisingly substantial.

[pandalishus]

Yeah. A "level 35" event will give me, say, 1500 XP for a gold medal. A "level 10" (I think) will give me 300-400. It's obviously lower, but it's proportional, which is entirely fair. As far as I can tell, you could imagine the XP at Level 1 and then just multiply by your level and that's what you'll get. It's not inflated, but neither is it deflated. I also don't see that's there's such a thing as a "grey mob." As far as I've been able to tell, even at 36, I'll get XP for killin something that's level 3. I don't get the sense that I get more than a level 3 would get (I could be wrong here), so it's like the level of the mob determines the amount of XP, not the level of the player. I like that. Granted, oter MMOs *sort of* work this way, but they have that artificial +/-5 level range.

I haven't checked to see if a lvl 5 finishing a lvl 20 event (say, in a group) will get the same XP the lvl 20 does. I do know that exploration XP respects the level of the zone, rather than the level of the toon.