@Creslin: No this is not a stupid post born out of some weird disdain I might have for powerlevellers.
The fact is that you will miss out on a lot if you don't explore, if you don't talk to that NPC in the distance (because they might trigger an event). I'm not implying that this will be detrimental to your game experience... but if you're not going to do the content that there is, you shouldn't be allowed to say the game lacks content. (In that case, it simply lacks content you want)
Here's a post from another forum that I wholeheartedly agree with:
Leveling in Short Order: A Quick Guide for Leveling from 1-15 and beyond
There is a popular adage that you don't want to, "work hard, but work smart." The same is true for Guild Wars 2. I was able to reach level 30 in short order by applying a few quick and easy techniques from playing the game, and these very same techniques were something a casual player or hardcore player could easily apply:
1) Don't neglect the waypoints. Waypoints offer up to 300 experience per capture. They multiply your teleport options and increase the location options on death.
2) Points of Interest are points of interest for your experience bar. POIs grant upwards of 150 experience for each capture. They will also inevitably lead you to dynamic events as they tend to appear around points of interest on the map.
3) Dynamic Quests are dynamic for a reason. DEs can offer between 400-600 experience for each gold medal. A goal medal is typically awarded for being active and by dealing damage on quest-related foes. At present, gold medals do not account for reviving or offering boons to players, but hopefully this will be adjusted in the future. DEs also allow for the possibility of quest chaining, especially at higher levels.
4) Hearts heart you. The heart quests offer as much experience as a dynamic quest. They also typically come in two varieties, which I dub as the kind heart and the dark heart. Kind heart quests usually involve answering riddles, putting some resource in a receptacle, or fetching something for someone or something, old school mmo fetch stuff. Dark heart quests usually involve murder and mayhem.
5) The killing blow gets the gold. While exploring and questing you will of course be attacked by a host of different shit and you should respond in kind. Each kill should get you about 40 experience points. Higher level creatures offer a bonus as well as what I call good performance, though this has yet to be completely confirmed. Good performance is when you perform well in combat: not getting hit so often, and killing your enemy quickly and efficiently. You also get about 80 xp per revive, if I recall correctly.
6) Go sink the titanic. You aren't limited to ground combat or quests either. Be sure to explore the deep. There's lots of shit down there, not just on land.
7. Achievements for the completionist. If you complete the daily/weekly achievements of killing 7 different kinds of monsters, or any of the others located here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement, you could get anywhere from 300-600 per achievement. These obviously recycle depending on whether it's daily, etc.
8. You also get xp for crafting, this wasn't working the last go around, but ANet mentioned it will moving forward. As nothing feels like a grind, I could see the crafting xp to be considerable if you advance a bit in any skill or two.
If you want a laundry list to check off, then these steps are great. But ignoring whatever the game has to offer at level 10 because there is something better at level 80 is just wrong (there really isn't). There are other MMOs if you're looking for that.
"Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
I think there is a great gameplay decision made by Arenanet that is subtle: Because of the design of DE's you can't 'blow through' content as fast as you want, without having to grind. If you take your time you will level properly. If you rush you will miss something and have to grind. The videos I've seen about DE's show many are so subtle that only partial rewards are recieved because parts of the chains are missed. GW2 is about 'slow and steady', rather than 'run, rabbit, run'.
I actually think that the reality is that GW2 lets you level in either style. It is definitely possible to rush through the game if that's what you want.
Think about it...people that thought there weren't enough hearts task to level obviously did not try going to the other race's starting zones via portal.
I agree with you. However, there are SO many people complaining that 'DE's suck', 'there is very little in the game except traditional quests', and 'I had to grind to make level' that I pointed out that every section had plenty of points to level up in IF you played the game slowly rather than trying to speed level to 80. There are plenty of points in other parts of the game to recieve by playing, but in some people's eyes doesn't that mean grinding to level? Although, choice is good...doesn't making a choice to do this, force you to do things you might not like to do to gain levels (like grind)?
@Creslin: No this is not a stupid post born out of some weird disdain I might have for powerlevellers.
The fact is that you will miss out on a lot if you don't explore, if you don't talk to that NPC in the distance (because they might trigger an event). I'm not implying that this will be detrimental to your game experience... but if you're not going to do the content that there is, you shouldn't be allowed to say the game lacks content. (In that case, it simply lacks content you want)
Here's a post from another forum that I wholeheartedly agree with:
Leveling in Short Order: A Quick Guide for Leveling from 1-15 and beyond
There is a popular adage that you don't want to, "work hard, but work smart." The same is true for Guild Wars 2. I was able to reach level 30 in short order by applying a few quick and easy techniques from playing the game, and these very same techniques were something a casual player or hardcore player could easily apply:
1) Don't neglect the waypoints. Waypoints offer up to 300 experience per capture. They multiply your teleport options and increase the location options on death.
2) Points of Interest are points of interest for your experience bar. POIs grant upwards of 150 experience for each capture. They will also inevitably lead you to dynamic events as they tend to appear around points of interest on the map.
3) Dynamic Quests are dynamic for a reason. DEs can offer between 400-600 experience for each gold medal. A goal medal is typically awarded for being active and by dealing damage on quest-related foes. At present, gold medals do not account for reviving or offering boons to players, but hopefully this will be adjusted in the future. DEs also allow for the possibility of quest chaining, especially at higher levels.
4) Hearts heart you. The heart quests offer as much experience as a dynamic quest. They also typically come in two varieties, which I dub as the kind heart and the dark heart. Kind heart quests usually involve answering riddles, putting some resource in a receptacle, or fetching something for someone or something, old school mmo fetch stuff. Dark heart quests usually involve murder and mayhem.
5) The killing blow gets the gold. While exploring and questing you will of course be attacked by a host of different shit and you should respond in kind. Each kill should get you about 40 experience points. Higher level creatures offer a bonus as well as what I call good performance, though this has yet to be completely confirmed. Good performance is when you perform well in combat: not getting hit so often, and killing your enemy quickly and efficiently. You also get about 80 xp per revive, if I recall correctly.
6) Go sink the titanic. You aren't limited to ground combat or quests either. Be sure to explore the deep. There's lots of shit down there, not just on land.
7. Achievements for the completionist. If you complete the daily/weekly achievements of killing 7 different kinds of monsters, or any of the others located here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement, you could get anywhere from 300-600 per achievement. These obviously recycle depending on whether it's daily, etc.
8. You also get xp for crafting, this wasn't working the last go around, but ANet mentioned it will moving forward. As nothing feels like a grind, I could see the crafting xp to be considerable if you advance a bit in any skill or two.
If you want a laundry list to check off, then these steps are great. But ignoring whatever the game has to offer at level 10 because there is something better at level 80 is just wrong (there really isn't). There are other MMOs if you're looking for that.
Hey thank you for the good hints!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
judging from the nature of the replies so far in the thread, i kind of wish that arenanet removed the hearts altogether and tied the map area unlock percentage as a buff/bonus to the amount of experience you would normally receive. for example, if you've unlock 4% of the world map, you get a 4% increase in the amount of experience. it would most likely require some adjustments to the normal experience numbers and i probably wouldn't apply it on top of any xp potions, but you get the idea. i just think the hearts main focus should be to get you to explore the game world, not hold you over or lead you to another area for the next nearby event. if you are out and about just exploring, you are going to stumble onto an event sooner or later anyway and wouldn't need the hearts in the first place. it makes about as much sense as saying a child can't find anything to do after being dropped off on a disney cruise ship/themepark.
I made the mistake of rushing to max level (90) in SWG and missed out on so many things along the way. I have vowed to never do that again. As a matter of fact, it took me 3 years to hit max level in WoW after that. I take my sweet time now and enjoy the content.
I agree with you. However, there are SO many people complaining that 'DE's suck', 'there is very little in the game except traditional quests', and 'I had to grind to make level' that I pointed out that every section had plenty of points to level up in IF you played the game slowly rather than trying to speed level to 80. There are plenty of points in other parts of the game to recieve by playing, but in some people's eyes doesn't that mean grinding to level? Although, choice is good...doesn't making a choice to do this, force you to do things you might not like to do to gain levels (like grind)?
In most cases of people complaining about lack of content. They were only doing 1 thing:
They were looking for hearts, and only hearts, and completing those exclusively. Some would do the personal story as well, but that's not really meant to be an exp suppliment. In addition to this, most of these players did not venture into the other race's zones, and they seemed to all be under the assumption that you shouldn't be taking on content that's higher lvl than yourself.
For those of us that have a more rounded understanding of the game, it's pretty clear how such an approach could lead to a disasterous conclusion. They are effectively ignoring 80-90% of the content, because in their minds they are following the shiniest objects on the map, and that's how MMOs are played, right?
You could also perhaps see why this would be considered a grind, as well. Instead of looking for adventures & tasks, they are following a checklist of 'this zone has these 5 things to do, that zone has these 5 things to do' and so on.
- The beautiful thing about GW2 is that it doesn't force you to play any one way. However, this is one of those cases where you are trying to force the game into something it's not. It would be like playing RIFT, only by doing daily's, only to turn around and complain that there are no quests.
judging from the nature of the replies so far in the thread, i kind of wish that arenanet removed the hearts altogether and tied the map area unlock percentage as a buff/bonus to the amount of experience you would normally receive. for example, if you've unlock 4% of the world map, you get a 4% increase in the amount of experience. it would most likely require some adjustments to the normal experience numbers and i probably wouldn't apply it on top of any xp potions, but you get the idea. i just think the hearts main focus should be to get you to explore the game world, not hold you over or lead you to another area for the next nearby event. if you are out and about just exploring, you are going to stumble onto an event sooner or later anyway and wouldn't need the hearts in the first place. it makes about as much sense as saying a child can't find anything to do after being dropped off on a disney cruise ship/themepark.
Personally, I agree. However, think about it from Anet's perspective.
They are trying to make a game that has a lot of freedom in it. In doing so, they have forced themselves to abandon certain good ideas in favor of keeping the whole design concept intact. If you put too many buffs into map completion, then soon enough map completion is the only way to lvl, and there goes all your freedom of choice.
What I would rather see them do, is revamp the starting experience. Introduce tutorial events for new players, and if they want to keep hearts, start phasing them out. If nothing else, remove them from the map, and give players the ability to make their own map markers (that persist through logout) so they can make their own notes / pins about what they've discovered in each zone.
I found that going from DE to DE was a very fast way to lvl. Some of the Des lasted for over an hour and where always alot of fun. I did some of the personal story stuf but mostly I wondered around and did DEs. I was lvl 18 before the BWE was over and only spent between 15-20 hours in thegame since i was also playing the early release for Tera that weekend also.
I really like the DE system since I have always really disliked doing quests. There isn't anything about the questing process that I like. With the DE i show up take part for as long as I want and leave when ever I want no muss no fuss just plain fun.
Bouncing from DE to DE is probably going to be the fastest way to lvl if you ask me. Best of all the DEs can be triggered by any player. Also you can look at the map to figure out where the DEs are ongoing.
AMD Phenum II x4 3.6Ghz 975 black edition 8 gig Ram Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
Comments
@Creslin: No this is not a stupid post born out of some weird disdain I might have for powerlevellers.
The fact is that you will miss out on a lot if you don't explore, if you don't talk to that NPC in the distance (because they might trigger an event). I'm not implying that this will be detrimental to your game experience... but if you're not going to do the content that there is, you shouldn't be allowed to say the game lacks content. (In that case, it simply lacks content you want)
Here's a post from another forum that I wholeheartedly agree with:
Leveling in Short Order: A Quick Guide for Leveling from 1-15 and beyond
There is a popular adage that you don't want to, "work hard, but work smart." The same is true for Guild Wars 2. I was able to reach level 30 in short order by applying a few quick and easy techniques from playing the game, and these very same techniques were something a casual player or hardcore player could easily apply:
1) Don't neglect the waypoints. Waypoints offer up to 300 experience per capture. They multiply your teleport options and increase the location options on death.
2) Points of Interest are points of interest for your experience bar. POIs grant upwards of 150 experience for each capture. They will also inevitably lead you to dynamic events as they tend to appear around points of interest on the map.
3) Dynamic Quests are dynamic for a reason. DEs can offer between 400-600 experience for each gold medal. A goal medal is typically awarded for being active and by dealing damage on quest-related foes. At present, gold medals do not account for reviving or offering boons to players, but hopefully this will be adjusted in the future. DEs also allow for the possibility of quest chaining, especially at higher levels.
4) Hearts heart you. The heart quests offer as much experience as a dynamic quest. They also typically come in two varieties, which I dub as the kind heart and the dark heart. Kind heart quests usually involve answering riddles, putting some resource in a receptacle, or fetching something for someone or something, old school mmo fetch stuff. Dark heart quests usually involve murder and mayhem.
5) The killing blow gets the gold. While exploring and questing you will of course be attacked by a host of different shit and you should respond in kind. Each kill should get you about 40 experience points. Higher level creatures offer a bonus as well as what I call good performance, though this has yet to be completely confirmed. Good performance is when you perform well in combat: not getting hit so often, and killing your enemy quickly and efficiently. You also get about 80 xp per revive, if I recall correctly.
6) Go sink the titanic. You aren't limited to ground combat or quests either. Be sure to explore the deep. There's lots of shit down there, not just on land.
7. Achievements for the completionist. If you complete the daily/weekly achievements of killing 7 different kinds of monsters, or any of the others located here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Achievement, you could get anywhere from 300-600 per achievement. These obviously recycle depending on whether it's daily, etc.
8. You also get xp for crafting, this wasn't working the last go around, but ANet mentioned it will moving forward. As nothing feels like a grind, I could see the crafting xp to be considerable if you advance a bit in any skill or two.
If you want a laundry list to check off, then these steps are great. But ignoring whatever the game has to offer at level 10 because there is something better at level 80 is just wrong (there really isn't). There are other MMOs if you're looking for that.
"Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
I need to take this advice more.
I agree with you. However, there are SO many people complaining that 'DE's suck', 'there is very little in the game except traditional quests', and 'I had to grind to make level' that I pointed out that every section had plenty of points to level up in IF you played the game slowly rather than trying to speed level to 80. There are plenty of points in other parts of the game to recieve by playing, but in some people's eyes doesn't that mean grinding to level? Although, choice is good...doesn't making a choice to do this, force you to do things you might not like to do to gain levels (like grind)?
Hey thank you for the good hints!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
judging from the nature of the replies so far in the thread, i kind of wish that arenanet removed the hearts altogether and tied the map area unlock percentage as a buff/bonus to the amount of experience you would normally receive. for example, if you've unlock 4% of the world map, you get a 4% increase in the amount of experience. it would most likely require some adjustments to the normal experience numbers and i probably wouldn't apply it on top of any xp potions, but you get the idea. i just think the hearts main focus should be to get you to explore the game world, not hold you over or lead you to another area for the next nearby event. if you are out and about just exploring, you are going to stumble onto an event sooner or later anyway and wouldn't need the hearts in the first place. it makes about as much sense as saying a child can't find anything to do after being dropped off on a disney cruise ship/themepark.
I made the mistake of rushing to max level (90) in SWG and missed out on so many things along the way. I have vowed to never do that again. As a matter of fact, it took me 3 years to hit max level in WoW after that. I take my sweet time now and enjoy the content.
In most cases of people complaining about lack of content. They were only doing 1 thing:
They were looking for hearts, and only hearts, and completing those exclusively. Some would do the personal story as well, but that's not really meant to be an exp suppliment. In addition to this, most of these players did not venture into the other race's zones, and they seemed to all be under the assumption that you shouldn't be taking on content that's higher lvl than yourself.
For those of us that have a more rounded understanding of the game, it's pretty clear how such an approach could lead to a disasterous conclusion. They are effectively ignoring 80-90% of the content, because in their minds they are following the shiniest objects on the map, and that's how MMOs are played, right?
You could also perhaps see why this would be considered a grind, as well. Instead of looking for adventures & tasks, they are following a checklist of 'this zone has these 5 things to do, that zone has these 5 things to do' and so on.
- The beautiful thing about GW2 is that it doesn't force you to play any one way. However, this is one of those cases where you are trying to force the game into something it's not. It would be like playing RIFT, only by doing daily's, only to turn around and complain that there are no quests.
Personally, I agree. However, think about it from Anet's perspective.
They are trying to make a game that has a lot of freedom in it. In doing so, they have forced themselves to abandon certain good ideas in favor of keeping the whole design concept intact. If you put too many buffs into map completion, then soon enough map completion is the only way to lvl, and there goes all your freedom of choice.
What I would rather see them do, is revamp the starting experience. Introduce tutorial events for new players, and if they want to keep hearts, start phasing them out. If nothing else, remove them from the map, and give players the ability to make their own map markers (that persist through logout) so they can make their own notes / pins about what they've discovered in each zone.
I found that going from DE to DE was a very fast way to lvl. Some of the Des lasted for over an hour and where always alot of fun. I did some of the personal story stuf but mostly I wondered around and did DEs. I was lvl 18 before the BWE was over and only spent between 15-20 hours in thegame since i was also playing the early release for Tera that weekend also.
I really like the DE system since I have always really disliked doing quests. There isn't anything about the questing process that I like. With the DE i show up take part for as long as I want and leave when ever I want no muss no fuss just plain fun.
Bouncing from DE to DE is probably going to be the fastest way to lvl if you ask me. Best of all the DEs can be triggered by any player. Also you can look at the map to figure out where the DEs are ongoing.
AMD Phenum II x4 3.6Ghz 975 black edition
8 gig Ram
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760