new player - what are the level 80 boons for?

[jalisco.4037]

I am just curious, since I want to enjoy the game in it's entirety from start to finish, I have a hard time seeing the benefits of the 80 level boosts?

Am I missing something? I guess maybe I can save them, and after I level up to 80, I can pop them then, on any other class I might want.

But, it just seems odd, as a new player to want to get instantly "caught up" to level 80, in a horizontal progressing game. Or, am i missing something??

I mean, i assume, the exploration of the world was the whole point? 😃

 

[Beast Sos.1457]

Some people don't like the level process. You can use it on a alt if you want to level your main the regular way. If you'd like a mount, you can use the 80 boost on a class you want as a alt then do the first story line of PoF to get a mount which you can then use on your main while leveling it. That will speed up the leveling process though. 

[Sobx.1758]

8 minutes ago, jalisco.4037 said:

I am just curious, since I want to enjoy the game in it's entirety from start to finish, I have a hard time seeing the benefits of the 80 level boosts?

Am I missing something? I guess maybe I can save them, and after I level up to 80, I can pop them then, on any other class I might want.

But, it just seems odd, as a new player to want to get instantly "caught up" to level 80, in a horizontal progressing game. Or, am i missing something??

I mean, i assume, the exploration of the world was the whole point? 😃

Yup, saving it for an alt is probably the best use for it. Skip early content and you'll have harder time learning the game step by step.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Leger.3724]

Keep in mind that many existing players like myself got these boosts as we purchased expansions. It was nice to just pop a character to 80 and have it in full decent-ish gear (celestial) along with inventory bags that were okay too.

 

And others might be interested in hitting 80 immediately to go WvW with decent gear or they might want to try out strikes and raids immediately after reading up and watching videos online.

 

While it was super fun at launch exploring the world with friends and progressing through leveling... that's not for everyone. Some people want go to straight to a specific piece of content and a boost allows for that.

 

In terms of you personally, I guess it depends on what you want to do. It's probably worth saving the boost and figuring out what you want to play first if you're brand new to Guild Wars. I wouldn't rush leveling, you'll get to 80 fast enough and you should have enough money to get a good set of starting gear.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

There are a few professions that are just awful to level. There is also an advantage to having access to all skills while you first play a class through the story and maps. You get to try everything and see what works.

[kettering.6823]

I would never ever advise a new player use one of the instant 80 boosts. I think leveling up and learning the game organically, at least for your first character, is really important.

But I have over 20 characters and at this point the level 80 boost is very welcome lol. Actually, I think I've used every single level 80 boost I've had on an engineer.... hate leveling engi. 

Edited August 26, 2022 by kettering.6823

[ASP.8093]

2 hours ago, jalisco.4037 said:

I am just curious, since I want to enjoy the game in it's entirety from start to finish, I have a hard time seeing the benefits of the 80 level boosts?

Am I missing something? I guess maybe I can save them, and after I level up to 80, I can pop them then, on any other class I might want.

But, it just seems odd, as a new player to want to get instantly "caught up" to level 80, in a horizontal progressing game. Or, am i missing something??

I mean, i assume, the exploration of the world was the whole point? 😃

 

You can speed-level to 80 and keep exploring, if you want. The level-scaling feature will ensure that your stats are "corrected" for lower-level areas — you'll still generally be more powerful than a low-level character, because you have access to more skills and traits, and the scaling still leaves you with stronger stats overall, but you won't literally one-shot everything like you might expect.

Another major reason you might want a level 80 character right away is to do group stuff, like instanced PvE or World vs. World. I have a few characters I speed-leveled for WvW, Raids, or Fractals (it's trivial if you keep getting Tomes of Knowledge from various activities) but that I just don't really like playing solo in open world.

[Jukhy.2431]

The purpose of the boosts that come with expansions is so you can make a new toon, boost it to max and start playing the lvl 80 expansion content right away. You can also test a class you might want to play with the boost since using it takes you to area called the Silverwastes as lvl 80 and gives you set of gear and skills. Trying to leave the area gives you a prompt to either accept or cancel using the boost. It's also sold in the gem store as convenience item for those feeling lazy or who don't like leveling, if they don't have tomes of knowledge.

I put few GW2 Wiki links in my reply cause it's very useful site to find any info you might want to know about stuff in the game.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Jukhy.2431

[Danikat.8537]

I think it was introduced partially because the general perception of MMOs (valid in some cases) is that if you start when it's a few years old you're facing dozens or hundreds of hours grinding XP in dead maps to catch up to what everyone else is doing. That's not at all the case in GW2 but it's easier for Anet to advertise a level 80 boost than persuade people to trust marketing which says their game is different.

It's also a nice perk because it means you can instantly level a 2nd profession (you'll also get Tomes of Knowledge from login rewards and some other places which can be used for the same purpose) so for example existing players who bought Heart of Thorns could play the new expansion on a revenant without having to level them up first, and if you feel like a change it's quick to set up an alt character.

But I think what you're doing is absolutely the right way to go about it. You won't be locked out of anything due to being above the recommended level, but I think you'll get more out of it by levelling your first character yourself. And then you can always use the boost for a second profession. (You can also use it on a character who is already level 80 to get the items and to get it out of the shared inventory slot.)

[Parasite.5389]

8 hours ago, jalisco.4037 said:

I am just curious, since I want to enjoy the game in it's entirety from start to finish, I have a hard time seeing the benefits of the 80 level boosts?

Am I missing something? I guess maybe I can save them, and after I level up to 80, I can pop them then, on any other class I might want.

But, it just seems odd, as a new player to want to get instantly "caught up" to level 80, in a horizontal progressing game. Or, am i missing something??

I mean, i assume, the exploration of the world was the whole point? 😃

 

the general concensus on Level 80 boosst is to save them for after you reach the expansion content naturally, you can then use them on another character to boost a class you might be interested in trying out if that new content without having to replay the older content.

when you use a Boost for the first time you'll be taken to The Silverwastes with that character, given full gear and have all your core skills unlocked.  you can take your time to experiment with your build, try out the core class and see if you like it or not, if you use the boster again or leave the map you'll be given a choice to consume it as keep that character at level 80, or cancel, so you can try it on another character and repeat this testing process.

[SentriX.3209]

They're good if you want to skip the leveling process and get some good exotic gear and some goodies right off the bat. It doesn't really matter if you use it or not as you can always complete the personal story but it might make it easier since you'll have better gear and all of the skills unlocked.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

For PvE, I wouldn't use them. However, they're excellent for WvW, and they provide a really good experience for newer players who are joining the game just for its open-world PvP mode.

 

For a non-PvE player the leveling and gearing process is painful.

Edited August 26, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Ashantara.8731]

The level 80 boost is practical for any alts you want to create. That's all there is to it.

Experiencing the game without it the first time around is indeed the wiser choice for getting familiar with everything at your own pace. No need to rush things.

[jalisco.4037]

Thanks for replies. Ok, my logic sounds good. I want to level my first toon to 80 -- to see the world, which in turn will get me easily to 80.

 

[Mungrul.9358]

The other thing to consider is that while the story has a wide variety of threads starting out depending on choices you make during character creation, these threads all eventually coalesce in to one storyline for all characters.

This coalescence really becomes noticeable around the time you finish the Vigil / Durmand Priory / Order of Whispers storylines, and even those stories will follow a lot of the same beats while visiting the same areas.

 

So you may want to play your story up until you join one of those organisations, then use your boost if you've already played the story through on your first character.

[Swoo.5079]

Also before they unlocked the raptor at level 10, boosting to 80 and doing the first path of fire story instance would unlock the raptor account wide ( it still does). You can also do the first heart of thorns instance to unlock the glider mastery, and then you level the first mastery level and get account wide gliding.

 

Getting 5 gold, 20 slots bags and shared inventory slot is also a good account boost.

Edited August 27, 2022 by Swoo.5079

[casualkenny.9817]

for new players who aren't too bothered with minor spoilers and love QoLs, there is another option:

 

1) boost to 80

2) do HoT entry story to unlock gliding (splatting-resistance)

3) do PoF entry story and then unlock raptor 3rd mastery (horizontal mobility + pulling)

4) explore a bit (probably need a guide from your guild) to unlock the springer (vertical mobility) and skimmer (aqua mobility)

5) go back to your real toon and play the game with these awesome QoLs. GW2 mounts are to-die-for

 

 

this is just an option. you prefer the purist way, np at all, it's your game.

i'm just offering an option that someone like me would want to know as a new player. you can also delay it till you've reached around lvl20-30 or so. iirc you pick up most of the basics by then.

 

personally, i don't think there was much spoilers in those starting steps. if you don't pay attention to the npcs' talk, you will receive very little spoilers for those starting steps. i had a guild mate who finished all the story quest up to Vabbi and didn't know a single thing about the story.