Should I level with Tomes of Knowledge?

Hello, all. I am coming back to play my non-main characters a bit more regularly and wonder if I should level them all to 80 using tomes rather than normal leveling.This would not be a question for me in most games since I do like the leveling process, but with the Central Tyria masteries it feels like standard leveling might be "wasting" xp that could be more useful elsewhere. That said, there is no lack of xp to get through daily events, bosses, etc, so it may not matter as much as I think.

So, what would you say? Use the tomes and get characters to 80 immediately, or hold them until a) I really need to boost a new character for some reason down the road or b) I need them for spirit shards?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

It's really up to you, some players like to explore tyria over and over, completing maps and doing quests. Others just get to level 80 as fast as possible. Tomes are for players who dislike standard xp gathering too much and have done it already multiple times. I don't think you actually gain or waste xp in either way.

I would personally use the tomes, then play through the personal story and maps, experimenting with your traits and all weapon sets to get a handle on how the class plays, the trait/skill synergies, how you like to play it and what damage type you'll focus on.

@FogLeg.9354 said:It's really up to you, some players like to explore tyria over and over, completing maps and doing quests. Others just get to level 80 as fast as possible. Tomes are for players who dislike standard xp gathering too much and have done it already multiple times. I don't think you actually gain or waste xp in either way.

Oh, I love the exploration part. I would still want to go through all the zones (the level scaling really helps, even if 'm max level). It is just a matter of whether xp gained while doing so goes to leveling or to completing mastery tracks.

@Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582 said:I would personally use the tomes, then play through the personal story and maps, experimenting with your traits and all weapon sets to get a handle on how the class plays, the trait/skill synergies, how you like to play it and what damage type you'll focus on.

Good point on being able to experiment with skills, traits, and weapon sets from the start. I'll put that in the pro-tome column.

Thank you both.

I do a mix. A few levels of roaming around (esp if a new character) then tomes to hopscotch some levels. Repeat as needed until you get to 80.

Before your character is level 80, your XP goes towards leveling. After level 80 your experience in core game goes towards Central Tyria mastery XP, Heart of Thorns XP goes towards Maguuma masteries, and Path of Fire XP goes towards mount masteries. Tyria XP/mastery points ONLY apply to the Central Tyria mastery lines, XP gained in HoT only applies towards HoT masteries, and PoF XP only applies towards PoF masteries.

@DebraKadabra.5278 said:Before your character is level 80, your XP goes towards leveling. After level 80 your experience in core game goes towards Central Tyria mastery XP, Heart of Thorns XP goes towards Maguuma masteries, and Path of Fire XP goes towards mount masteries. Tyria XP/mastery points ONLY apply to the Central Tyria mastery lines, XP gained in HoT only applies towards HoT masteries, and PoF XP only applies towards PoF masteries.

Thanks. I do know how the system works with the different masteries, but in this case I was focused on the Central Tyria area. By the time I get to Heart of Thorns, I'll be level 80 either way, so the question is whether I want the xp I gain in the core game on a new character to go to leveling or use the tomes instead and direct it to those Central Tyria masteries right off the bat.

I recommend leveling normally until you get the hang of the game. If you like the game, there's plenty of XP to earn and you'll gain masteries quickly. If you don't like the game (which can sometimes happen if you rush initial leveling), then it won't matter if you were efficient or leisurely.

@Tanek.5983 said:

@DebraKadabra.5278 said:Before your character is level 80, your XP goes towards leveling. After level 80 your experience in core game goes towards Central Tyria mastery XP, Heart of Thorns XP goes towards Maguuma masteries, and Path of Fire XP goes towards mount masteries. Tyria XP/mastery points ONLY apply to the Central Tyria mastery lines, XP gained in HoT only applies towards HoT masteries, and PoF XP only applies towards PoF masteries.

You're welcome. Unfortunately, until you're level 80 that XP strictly goes to leveling up.

Personal preference. I'm at the stage where I automatically boost any new characters to 80 via scrolls + tomes as I know the class thoroughly enough and what to expect from mobs/enemy players. I also dislike the levelling process in any game if I've already done it more than twice.

If you are unsure of class mechanics I highly suggest levelling the normal way to get that experience of how your class functions while exploring the maps. Impo you shouldn't worry too much about the XP going towards levelling up considering the sheer amount of events (post 80 in meta maps etc) that reward chunks of XP for simply tagging a few things and the upcoming XP/ToT bag farm labyrinth for Halloween. If you intend to gain central tyria mastery XP post level 80 I think there are people that still run CoF path XP farms? They should advertise that along with the Halloween stuff in the LFG panel.

I'd wager if you're short on spirit shards too, to save those tomes and level normally. Never know when you might need spirit shards. Here's another tip - each time you leve up your WvW rank you get a chest with a tome in it! So if you like playing that game mode you'll be swimming in them in no time.

Hope that helps.

@Zephyra.4709 said:Personal preference. I'm at the stage where I automatically boost any new characters to 80 via scrolls + tomes as I know the class thoroughly enough and what to expect from mobs/enemy players. I also dislike the levelling process in any game if I've already done it more than twice.

If you are unsure of class mechanics I highly suggest levelling the normal way to get that experience of how your class functions while exploring the maps. Impo you shouldn't worry too much about the XP going towards levelling up considering the sheer amount of events (post 80 in meta maps etc) that reward chunks of XP for simply tagging a few things and the upcoming XP/ToT bag farm labyrinth for Halloween. If you intend to gain central tyria mastery XP post level 80 I think there are people that still run CoF path XP farms? They should advertise that along with the Halloween stuff in the LFG panel.

I'd wager if you're short on spirit shards too, to save those tomes and level normally. Never know when you might need spirit shards. Here's another tip - each time you leve up your WvW rank you get a chest with a tome in it! So if you like playing that game mode you'll be swimming in them in no time.

Hope that helps.

Thanks. At this point I am not sure what a reasonable number of spirit shards would be. Saving the tomes just in case was part of what I considered. Plus, I just saw that the tomes are used in some guild recipes. Don't know if I would ever need them for that, but it is another potential reason to keep them around.

I think I'll try leveling the old fashioned way for a little while and see how quickly it goes. I had not been much for WvW in the past before all the changes, so maybe that is something I should check out again, too.

I use the tomes to level up to 80 asap, main reason is so I get better loot

Use Tomes if you're a veteran MMO player and won't have issues adjusting. Level normally if you're new and/or coming back from a long hiatus. Tomes are good but not if they turn you into a terrible player at higher levels.

Personally, I use them because i hate leveling chars over and over. gw1 wasn't so bad, before one got half way through story you was level cap. But i prefer to tome new chars anymore and or birthday scrolls etc even 80 boosters if you come up with one (never bought them directly 1 came with hot 1 cam with pof) I've leveled 2 chars naturally by playing them. 2 I leveled with boosters and 3 so far been 80ed with birthday scrolls and tomes and 2 more currently doing with tomes. I prefer to get them 80 then learn them in HoT areas. That is the first place I go once they setup and geared up. So not easy on myself even if i got the levels easier than normal.

So ask yourself does that sound like what you are asking this for? Because that is pretty much how it will pan out, unless you don't have HoT. I'd recommend you do HoT before PoF lol. Just to get used to the huge difficulty increase that either expansion will provide you.I can't make a decision like this for you, it's really all about what you like playing, normal content or level 80 areas i prefer hard stuff to learn my chars you may not. But this is probably how it will play out for someone that gets level 80, they arnt gonna wanna stay in under-level areas all the time else be no point being level 80 correct?I know least 1 person I seen on forums he stated he liked level a char so far then delete char and restart, something about he loved lower level contents thats all fine and dandy I'm the opposite. So this is entirely up to you.

As others have said, it's really up to you and how and what you enjoy. Personally, I'd never ever want to level a character normally again, and I say that as someone who couldn't possibly care less about "efficiency" or "endgame" and the fastest path to the it, and in fact routinely disabled experience gain on my last WoW alts after that feature was implemented, just so I could play through the zones I wanted to without quickly outpacing them. It's just that I find the levelling system in this game unpleasant because so much is locked away for so long. It's worse than it was at launch (though at least you no longer have to pay to unlock trait tiers, thank goodness). Mesmers are said to be particularly disadvantaged by this because they are said to be extremely skill- and trait-dependent, and that matches my memories of getting mine to 80. She was the last I did it with, and it cemented my "never again" attitude.

I don't think you'd really miss anything by going down this path, though breezing through core zones with an instant-80 may make you feel a little overconfident before the difficulty spike in HoT, LS3 and PoF cut your confidence down a dozen notches. :p

I like to use Tomes to skip to 20 or 45 (or to jump closer to 71 when I'm close) for the trait line unlocks. Some classes are just insufferable without traits. That said, I don't like using tomes for Lv1-10 because those tend to be a lot quicker than later levels. And... I didn't know this until just now looking it up but according to the Wiki Lv1-15 rewards exp at an increased rate (Lv2 = 200%, Lv5 = 165%, Lv10 = 127%, Lv15 = 104%, chart at the bottom).

It's also worth noting that if you plan to mix tomes with leveling you should use Tomes directly after you level so you don't waste exp. Tomes will give you the exact amount needed for your current level. This means if you used it at Lv20 w/ 99% (10899 / 10900) you'd go to 10899 / 11400 (95.6%) then to 10899 / 12100 (90%) and so on. While you technically don't lose exp in a numerical sense, you do in relative terms had you used the tomes at 0/10900 and then gained 99% of a level.

i'm going to say both mainly to get the materials you don't have much of, if you've been playing long it also helps to have waypoints.

With the introduction of masteries ever bit of xp before level 80 is wasted. Imo, boost to 80 and then do the content to get the mastery xp.

When you still need to learn your profession, I would recommend to level normally for some time. Try out some different weapons / builds while you explore the world. This is a good way to learn the basics. When you found a build and find yourself comfortable using it, you can complete leveling by using times and skipping the rest to 80.

When you already master your class, just skip straight to level 80 using tomes or boosts if you want. Or not when you enjoy playing the lower level area's. It's totally up to you from there.

I leveled my main char, Aranimda the Elementalist to L80 manually and got all the other professions to L80 using tomes only. Just for the achievement points because I'm really a single-char player. While this gave me 9 L80 chars quickly, I only really master my main. To the others I'm still clueless mostly. But that's fine to me as I only play Elly.

I use them when I get them.

Just a quick note... if you have Tomes of Mentorship (Wiki Page), I'm pretty sure they don't award spirit shards at lvl 80. They're only valuable as a level up consumable. Obviously, you should use those up as part of the leveling journey, and you can save some or all of your Tomes of Knowledge for spirit shards, as desired.

@crashburntoo.7431 said:Just a quick note... if you have Tomes of Mentorship (Wiki Page), I'm pretty sure they don't award spirit shards at lvl 80. They're only valuable as a level up consumable. Obviously, you should use those up as part of the leveling journey, and you can save some or all of your Tomes of Knowledge for spirit shards, as desired.

Good point. I have only finished the story on one character, so I did not get too many of those. And speaking of items you can't use past a certain level, I wish I could do something with those level 20/30 boost scrolls other than hoard them in anticipation of having more characters one day.