Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
<3 quests do not equal DE's
observer
Member RarePosts: 3,685
I've been reading a lot of people reviewing the game, and confusing DE's with Heart quests. Heart quests aren't mandatory to do. You do not have to be on rails and go from quest to quest (sadly, the last decade has ingrained the genre with this mentality). You can just Explore and find random DE's.
Some will argue that heart quests are needed to level, but i disagree. I'll admit there might be a problem with level gaps though, and DE's with Exploration isn't enough for PvE leveling. This is where A-Net should work on and give a boost to xp increase. Will they do it though? I'm not sure. It is a problem though, since it's giving players the feeling of a "grind" and being "necessary" to level up.
Comments
also you NEVER have to do a heart quest just go to another races starting area and do DE's there if you want. nice new setting and experience.
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Heart quests are there for those who seek inspiration where to go, and also so you can know where you have already been. Nothing more, nothing less.
I have to say, though, that heart completion is not just tracked but very "in-your-face". It is displayed on loading screens, and on the map - not just buried in an achievements screen where non-achievement-hounds might ignore it. This kind of makes it feel like you're doing something "wrong" if you don't complete hearts in a zone.
Yea, well they made it that way because people were too ignorant to understand what to do if they weren't directed.
(Even with NPCs running around the map yelling out that X is under attack. I guess that shows the intelligence level of the average gamer. >.>)
Little forum boys with their polished cyber toys: whine whine, boo-hoo, talk talk.
I'm level 13 and I've done just over half of the 1-15 area for the charr. You get XP for killing mobs, discovering locations, discovering waypoints, rezzing players and NPCs, doing heart quests, doing DEs, completing skill challenges harvesting and crafting.
There is more than enough XP to be had if you explore and participate in more than just running from heart to heart.
You are doing something wrong if you don't complete hearts.
You are effectively gimping your character.
Heart quests were put in to better help the community adjust to a new playstyle since most players will be used to the quest hub style of play.
The best way to experience the game is to ingore the Hearts directly and "fill" them by participating in nearby Dynamic Events. If there aren't any, explore around and find another Dynamic Event (which will fill another Heart). Don't wait for the DEs to come to you, go to them instead
Block the trolls, don't answer them, so we can remove the garbage from these forums
Anet should have stuck to their vision instead of making it on rail quest type MMO with heart events. Yes there are plenty of other options and ways to gain xp but i bet players will follow heart events because it is easier and less cumbersome way to level.
Rift too had DE's, PVP, exploration etc to level outside of the questing hubs but still majority of players leveled through questing and then complained about linear nature of Rift.
You are effectively gimping your character.
How so?
i haven't seen anyone get it confused... just sayung..
My question is, since I haven't been able to get the time to get to higher levels yet: are the heart quests still abundantly present at mid and later levels?
I can see how in the starter areas of each race, there'll be many scouts and heart quests, to help new players transition to GW2's different mechanic of DE's, that's understandable especially if it's a problem for many MMO gamers that became apparent in beta testing.
But that should mean that in the areas after the starter area the scouts and heart quests will become significantly less, and the amount of real DE's start to take over the areas, since players will have become more and more accustomed to GW2's new style of questing and the heart quests and scouts would be needed less and less.
You get XP faster when you do heart quests in comparison to wandering around killing random mobs and doing dynamic events when they come up.
And from what I have seen, heart quests also get you XP faster than WvW.
It is more effective. If you do not do the heart quests you will be a lower level in the amount of time you play and therefore be less powerful.
Play as your fav retro characters: cnd-online.net. My site: www.lysle.net. Blog: creatingaworld.blogspot.com.
Not true. hearts are the most easyly skipped content. While you get ok Exp , there really is no reason to go from heart to heart and do them. The main function is to be able to use your karma , and for that you can easyly just doing heart quest when you feel your equipment gets a little outdated, and/or you karma pool gets a little fat.
i have leveled faster by skipping most hearts than by going for compleating all hearts.
This is where we come up with a problem. Quests are quests no matter how you label them. People want to max out and games put such focus on either quests or raw mob grinding it gives so little option with what to do.
Then again, Rift had so many options to get you to level and people still complained there was nothing to do, so one can argue that really no matter what you do people always look down at facts and claim that you have to do certain things and will blindly lump two different things like heart quests and DEs as being the same and manditory thing to do.
e.g. you could certainly argue that not doing skill challenges gimps your character, because it results in you not having the range of skills available to you that you could have.
Heart quests give you good rewards and you will need to do them if you want to get better gear. Half of the stuff I'm wearing at the moment has come from a heart vendor.
Dynamic Events will generally occur in the same places as heart quests anyway, so you do those and you will usually kill the same stuff you need. In fact I can't recall the last time I've actually had to focus on the objectives of a heart quest, almost every one I've done today has been fulfilled by a dynamic event or two.
The Enlightened take things Lightly
I agree with others that heart quests give quite a lot of xp. Together with the reward for completing a map for which these heartquests are required, it felt mandatory for me.
EDIT: Does it also stay this way? That karma vendors in PVE are mainly from heart quests?
It's how you keep your gear up to date.
Crafting my friend.
Crafting.
I craft way better gear than you can get pretty much any other way.
An organized guild doing a proper job of setting up who crafts and whatnot will be rolling in some pretty pimp gear.
In fact, I've had level 30 gear ready since level 24.
You can't expect everyone to craft. In all these years of playing MMO i have noticed that a lot of players don't want to bother with crafting so unless the prices on these items are not inflated, heart events is the best bet for now.
No, you can't, but heart quests isn't the only way (Or best way) to keep your gear up to date.
IN FACT, by doing dynamic events, you'd get lots of karma, and karma vendors have better equipment than you can buy using cash.
Even if you did EVERY single heart on a map (You get no karma for this), found every single point of interest, every single waypoint, did every single skill challenge...
You get exactly 2 (Count them, 2) COMPLETELY RANDOM pieces of green rarity gear at the top level for the map.
So if you did every single thing in the 1-15 area, you get... 2 pieces of green equipment. Randomly. Odds are actually significantly AGAINST you getting good equipment that way.
Other than that, hearts give you a relatively small amount of cash... and I suppose they unlock karma vendors, but there's ALSO karma vendors that sell that you dont' need to unlock. :P
Personal story also gives you stuff suited for your level AND class.
... and honestly, random drops can be pretty damn good. You just need to work the auction house a bit to trade for the ones you can actually use.
I still maintain the best way is to either craft stuff yourself, or get a friend (Yes, it's an MMO, I'm suggesting being social) and give your crafting cruft to them and have them pimp you out in badass gear. That's the best way to get the perfect gear custom made to fit your needs, in 5 level intervals.
How much would that cost you? You couldn't afford to buy it. I've seen AH prices. I guess if you bought gems and sold them for gold.
Did you craft every piece? That would take forever. It is possible but be very inefficient compared to just doing hearts as you go along. I'm fooling around with Jeweler. I have wasted enormous amounts of time getting enough gems to level it.
It's not practical.
Sure you can win the lottery if you buy a ticket. Doesn't make it a good retirement plan.
I beg to differ.
I have great equpment from doing Hearts.
All green. Once you get to say 20+ every heart vendor offers green gear.
Yeah, at first I didn't take into account the fact they're karma vendors, but they're not the ONLY people selling karma gear. Cities have them too. :P ... and hardly any of them have a really broad selection, so technically you only need to do a couple well placed hearts.
ALSO, I've had no problems with crafting. I'm not sure why you have. Maybe I'm just really good at crafting? Honestly, with both jewelry and leatherworking, I'm crafting stuff ahead of my level and have just been holding onto it. In fact, I end up giving various rings and bags and shoulderpads AWAY. To my friends, obviously, but still. :P
It helps if you craft in an extremely efficient fashion. That's the key. You shouldn't really be having any problems with crafting if you do it well, ESPECIALLY if you can convince friends to give you materials (A well done guild should be rolling in gear, like I said)