HoT experience is HELL help me

[LaFurion.3167]

Going for Astralaria, and have to max out HoT masteries for the gifts. Fair enough but holy hell the exp grind is insane. Not to mention mastery points are getting harder and harder to come by as I get further into the tree (only have last line of exalted and itzel left).

How do you guys do it? I'm using birthday booster, celebration booster, food/utility. I seem to get chunks of exp from the Auric basin event and Dragons stand events, and ive done some night time bosses and most of every other event that I can find, but it seems to barely dent the exp bar. Like the DS meta event only gives like... what maybe 3/10 of the experience required for a full level, if that. After an entire day of playing in HoT, actively trying to level, I'll only be around 6/10 of the exp bar!

Bear in mind that I am actively trying to gain exp, and even with all that effort its just soooooooo grindy. You have to replay most events over and over due to how HoT events/day/night cycle work and as much as I LOVE HoT maps its really starting to get tedious. Really looking forward to going to PoF for my next legendary lol.

Can I please get some tips? Are there any grinding areas or specific events to go to? Or other methods that I am missing.

[Etria.3642]

I farmed for another set of trinkets between meta bosses. Each swing of the pick etc is more exp.

For example there is so much downtime in hot metas. Don't ever stand around go kill things or gather.

Good luck! The best thing is once it's done it's done. Made getting Chuka after Astralaria a walk in the park. Oh. Forgot to mention I also did a few more map completions and one more story too. I needed goals to aim for instead of just watching that bar crawl.

[LaFurion.3167]

@Etria.3642 said:I farmed for another set of trinkets between meta bosses. Each swing of the pick etc is more exp.

For example there is so much downtime in hot metas. Don't ever stand around go kill things or gather.

Good luck! The best thing is once it's done it's done. Made getting Chuka after Astralaria a walk in the park. Oh. Forgot to mention I also did a few more map completions and one more story too. I needed goals to aim for instead of just watching that bar crawl.

Good advice, thanks. Might think about getting map completion on another toon, at least it will give me something else to do... hmm.

I find it slightly difficult to just kill stuff because they are semi kind of slightly spread out... but I guess with mounts I should just try it more. Will give it a go :D thanks!

[Nick Malone.5641]

Ember Bay, the map for LWS3 EP2 is WONDERFUL for Exp grinding. Events are happening almost non-stop, and you can get to the entire map without getting the new set of Ancient Magic masteries that LWS3 introduced.

ALL of the LWS3 maps offer dailies that award large chunks of HoT experience as well. Plus all of them award more mastery points than needed for the new mastery line introduced in LWS3, and all experience earned in these maps counts as HoT experience even though the maps don't all count as part of the Heart of Maguma region.

I know this won't help if you don't have access to LWS3. But that season is a REALLY good one, worth getting for the story alone.

[Cyninja.2954]

• HoT Adventures, especially the 4-5 very easy ones, are great experience per day (easy 400-600k for some fast adventures)
• HoT metas with experience boosters are great experience and some can be combo-ed, for example TD into AB is something a lot of people do
• a full Dragon Stand with boosters will net around 1-1.3 million experience

Living World Season 3 maps, as mentioned by others, have a ton of things to do.

General advice: Astralaria will take you a LONG time. There is no reason to grind out the HoT masteries in 2-3 days. Take your time. Do multiple things.

[Rasimir.6239]

Map completion and story on alts, Season 3 maps (some of those have permanent experience boosters you can buy) and story, adventures, and just enjoying yourself without looking at the experience bar all the time. Sounds simple, but helps a ton :) .

[LaFurion.3167]

@Cyninja.2954 said:

• HoT Adventures, especially the 4-5 very easy ones, are great experience per day (easy 400-600k for some fast adventures)
• HoT metas with experience boosters are great experience and some can be combo-ed, for example TD into AB is something a lot of people do
• a full Dragon Stand with boosters will net around 1-1.3 million experience

Living World Season 3 maps, as mentioned by others, have a ton of things to do.

General advice: Astralaria will take you a LONG time. There is no reason to grind out the HoT masteries in 2-3 days. Take your time. Do multiple things.

Oh wow, the adventures give bonus exp daily?!?!?!?!?!? I will definitely do this. Thank you

@CaelestiaEmpyrea.2617 said:Ember Bay, the map for LWS3 EP2 is WONDERFUL for Exp grinding. Events are happening almost non-stop, and you can get to the entire map without getting the new set of Ancient Magic masteries that LWS3 introduced.

ALL of the LWS3 maps offer dailies that award large chunks of HoT experience as well. Plus all of them award more mastery points than needed for the new mastery line introduced in LWS3, and all experience earned in these maps counts as HoT experience even though the maps don't all count as part of the Heart of Maguma region.

I know this won't help if you don't have access to LWS3. But that season is a REALLY good one, worth getting for the story alone.

Awesome. Thanks guys for the living world season 3 advice I'll go check it out. Some easy mastery points I haven't even picked up there so worth it for sure.

Heh now I can't wait to play again! :D so much to do! And yes I know astralaria will take forever XD I can feel it

[zealex.9410]

Id say you do the metas, metas the lomger you stay on them the better they get, xp amd rewards wise.

Theres some sites with timers for the various metas online so find one you want, look for a map and run the entirety of it.

[LaFurion.3167]

@zealex.9410 said:Id say you do the metas, metas the lomger you stay on them the better they get, xp amd rewards wise.

Theres some sites with timers for the various metas online so find one you want, look for a map and run the entirety of it.

Thanks! This is what I've mainly be doing but as mentioned above it's super repeaty and tiresome plus the exp provided isn't nearly what it should reward in my opinion ?

[gateless gate.8406]

Do it piece-meal. I got my HoT masteries by doing the TD/AB metas every day + parking an alt at VB matriarch. If you're trying to grind it within a couple days, of course you're going to get frustrated.

[Ayakaru.6583]

Somethng else i noticed is that collecting magic, unbound or volatile, gives massive exp per pickup as wellEmber bay has a leyline where gliding collects a lot of those

[phs.6089]

I used to hop on Bitterfrost for day flame of koda and night bosses between metas or when I was sick of them. Ember bay still my favorite maps, spend there alot of time.

[Trise.2865]

Ironically, one solution to avoid playing the content over and over again... is to play the content again! If you have any alts, run them through Heart of Thorns. It will go much faster than the first time, as you'll have the story-relevant Masteries already unlocked, and generates a LOT of XP.

[LaFurion.3167]

Definitely looking forward to ember bay ?

@Trise.2865 said:Ironically, one solution to avoid playing the content over and over again... is to play the content again! If you have any alts, run them through Heart of Thorns. It will go much faster than the first time, as you'll have the story-relevant Masteries already unlocked, and generates a LOT of XP.

You mean the hot story?? Might give this a go!

[Ayrilana.1396]

The escort for the Dragon’s Stand meta is the most efficient way to obtain HoT experience points. The best, by a large margin, would be doing the leather farm in Lake Doric. For both of these you will want to tag as many mobs as possible and of course use any available XP boosters.

For MP, I suggest doing the insights first along with the random ones that can be done solo. Most of the adventures can be done relatively painlessly for silver. Gold can be obtained effortlessly for a few as well.

[Haishao.6851]

The meta on each maps give a lot of exp. Especially Dragon Stand if you do it from the start. And since you'll need to do it a couple time to get crystalline ores, you might as well start collecting them while leveling your masteries. There are a lot of mastery points to get in that map too.

[Joraan Adenard.2061]

Just a general advice : it feels like you're saying you are playing specifically for grinding exp and masteries. However, when I crafted my first legendary (Nevermore), it felt like exp was just piling itself while I was working on everything else the legendary crafting needed me to work on.

Doing the HoT metas will get you money and mats, both of which are needed for legendaries.The legendary collections will require events and achievements to be done.Getting mastery points will require you to complete events, achievements, adventures, etc.Getting the gift of mastery will require complete exploration and currency which is gained by completing events.

And all of those things grant you....experience. What i'm trying to say is, don't focus on grinding exp. Do everything else and exp will be gained at the same time without you even trying. And trust me, you'll max out those masteries probably way before you get done with everything else, so nothing to stress about.

Also, just my personal advice, based on personal preferences : dont craft the gift of desert mastery, the jungle one is much less frustrating to craft !

Good luck on your journey, and remember the most important goal of all : have fun :)

[LaFurion.3167]

@Haishao.6851 said:The meta on each maps give a lot of exp. Especially Dragon Stand if you do it from the start. And since you'll need to do it a couple time to get crystalline ores, you might as well start collecting them while leveling your masteries. There are a lot of mastery points to get in that map too.

Yeah I did a little research and I'm glad i did; i hit every noxious pod during ds ? plus I go to try squeeze all those valuable masteries too!

Any1 else doing astralaria??

[Mushuchalaka.9437]

@LaFurion.3167 said:

@Haishao.6851 said:The meta on each maps give a lot of exp. Especially Dragon Stand if you do it from the start. And since you'll need to do it a couple time to get crystalline ores, you might as well start collecting them while leveling your masteries. There are a lot of mastery points to get in that map too.

Yeah I did a little research and I'm glad i did; i hit every noxious pod during ds ? plus I go to try squeeze all those valuable masteries too!

Any1 else doing astralaria??

I've just finished crafted Astralaria myself. Thought I'd never do another Gen 2 collection Leg after Hope , but here we are. Oddly I don't recall the exp bar being a grind when HOT came out but I do vividly recall Meta's were the best exp, doing em from start to finish as someone mentioned. You're going to have to do map completion and I nabbed some on the way doing em.

I don't know what step you're on but there were 2 blockers for the collection that took more time and planning.

1. Mini Holographic Zinn ---> Get there and Park a character at Zinn's Print-o-Matic to buy this every reset.
2. After you get Celestial Cartographer's Gear to collect the star charts. Park characters you can spare at every spot(mostly jumping puzzles) that needs nightime for you to collect and if you have a shared inventory slot, put the Celestial Cartographer's Gear in there. Then when nightime comes, you can collect the ones already at that spot.
3. Make sure you make the time gated mats needed everyday, it's cheaper. Lump of Mithrillium, Spool of Thick Elonian Cord, and Glob of Elder Spirit Residue.

Another blocker may be Amalgamated Gemstones and doing metas net you that. Unless you have money to spare. When I did Hope somehow I had enough of em from running around, I didn't really need to buy any. Don't recall if anything changed but I did grind some while doing the collections part, but I skipped most of the grind for them for Shining Blade and Astralaria.

As everyone said most of all, don't treat is as a grind and don't burn yourself out. Just do a little bit everyday and what you feel like. The only part that frustrated me a bit was the Not so Secret Jumping puzzle, only because I sucked at JP, but that's considered one of the hardest. It took me 3 days, but someone eventually helped me while I was doing it. It was probably the guys alt and he was in some jumple puzzle guild. Nice fella.

[LaFurion.3167]

@Mushuchalaka.9437 said:

@LaFurion.3167 said:

@Haishao.6851 said:The meta on each maps give a lot of exp. Especially Dragon Stand if you do it from the start. And since you'll need to do it a couple time to get crystalline ores, you might as well start collecting them while leveling your masteries. There are a lot of mastery points to get in that map too.

Yeah I did a little research and I'm glad i did; i hit every noxious pod during ds ? plus I go to try squeeze all those valuable masteries too!

Any1 else doing astralaria??

I've just finished crafted Astralaria myself. Thought I'd never do another Gen 2 collection Leg after Hope , but here we are. Oddly I don't recall the exp bar being a grind when HOT came out but I do vividly recall Meta's were the best exp, doing em from start to finish as someone mentioned. You're going to have to do map completion and I nabbed some on the way doing em.

I don't know what step you're on but there were 2 blockers for the collection that took more time and planning.

1. Mini Holographic Zinn ---> Get there and Park a character at Zinn's Print-o-Matic to buy this every reset.
2. After you get Celestial Cartographer's Gear to collect the star charts. Park characters you can spare at every spot(mostly jumping puzzles) that needs nightime for you to collect and if you have a shared inventory slot, put the Celestial Cartographer's Gear in there. Then when nightime comes, you can collect the ones already at that spot.
3. Make sure you make the time gated mats needed everyday, it's cheaper. Lump of Mithrillium, Spool of Thick Elonian Cord, and Glob of Elder Spirit Residue.

Another blocker may be Amalgamated Gemstones and doing metas net you that. Unless you have money to spare. When I did Hope somehow I had enough of em from running around, I didn't really need to buy any. Don't recall if anything changed but I did grind some while doing the collections part, but I skipped most of the grind for them for Shining Blade and Astralaria.

As everyone said most of all, don't treat is as a grind and don't burn yourself out. Just do a little bit everyday and what you feel like. The only part that frustrated me a bit was the Not so Secret Jumping puzzle, only because I sucked at JP, but that's considered one of the hardest. It took me 3 days, but someone eventually helped me while I was doing it. It was probably the guys alt and he was in some jumple puzzle guild. Nice fella.

Sick thanks. The start chart tip helps; haven't gotten to it but I'll definitely do that when time comes.

Reason I am grinding mastery exp is because it's the key thing gating me currently so it doesn't feel like I'm grinding as much as I am beginning/working towards my Astralaria... still a pain though ?

[Tiviana.2650]

Start killing yellow mobs in out of the way places, bonus exp. And i think mastery bars went pretty fast, but then again i like AB.

[Ashantara.8731]

@LaFurion.3167 said:How do you guys do it?

Go to Bloodstone Fen, farm the floating magic globes.

[daisyk.4523]

ahh personally i didn't find it grindy at all

i found it fun & rewarding to hunt for mps, and the xp kinda just came thru doing meta events (td, ab, sometimes ds) along the way

((SOME OF THE ADVENTURES tho omg were rly annoying, esp the ones - like in verdant brink - where you could only access at specific times, and also that shooting gallery one that sometimes the mobs (outside the game) killed you mid-way thru. ofc you don't have to do each and every one, but stiiilll lmao))

[Teratus.2859]

I'm a bit of a completionist myself so I try to complete as much as I can so obtaining the vast majority of HoT acheivements along with map completion made getting enough Mastery points a non issue..The bigger issue was the EXP grind which when HoT first came out was a lot worse than it is now.I'd suggest doing daily HP runs, meta's runing alts through the HoT story and map completion, you should get lots of exp from doing that, more with boosters.

[Evil.1580]

Just try to enjoy the content, the meta events. Chak Garnet and Mordremoth boss fight are one of the best meta events, if not the best in the whole game. Who knows - with Chak Garnet you may be lucky and get the infusion which is pretty expensive.