What happened to the leveling? Too fast!

[Cuks.8241]

On 9/23/2023 at 6:21 PM, klarra.7542 said:

My hubby and I just came back to game. we were newbies to begin with, but something is DIFFERENT. Leveling together has been so fast we are missing out on everything. We are already in the level 20 story and did not even complete the first section of the first map! We never learned how to do crafting, we didnt get armor or items from quests (we did get some from leveling but not much) its just flew by. So me now I cant even complete my story because I think i need to go back and gear up or something. I don't know. but our level 10 story started, and we were almost 15 when we got out of it. We did ours together. Did a few quests and bam level 20! Is this from the latests patch?

Yeah lvling speed has been greatly increased some time ago. Which is not a problem if it doesn't bother you. The game just gives you more options, faster. You can stay in the first zone for as long as you like, you can easily reach lvl 80 there and it won't be any different. So if you like slow exploring and getting things done when you reach them naturally, just play like that. Yeah, it's a bit counterintuitive compared to most rpg games where usually xp and lvls are limiting you. 

The game really steps up in expansion maps. And developers want to give players options to reach those areas fast so they don't get bored in 11 years old content and never really experience how the game is today. Even today if you look at youtube videos of content creators that just tried gw2, mostly they dabble in vanilla maps and thats it. And while those maps are not bad, they are not representative of how good the game is today.

[Mistwraithe.3106]

It's mostly down to the Character Achievement Guide. It boosts your leveling massively. We (friends and family) were around level 50 when it was introduced and it spoiled our enjoyment of the remainder of leveling up to level 80 because it happened so fast. We were having fun exploring zones (usually zones a bit over our level to make it a challenge) and slowly leveling up while doing the story, then wham, bam, we're level 80 and are now over-leveled for all the zones we were exploring instead of under-leveled. It was quite a kick in the guts at the time and a couple of us stopped playing for a few months as a result (one still hasn't come back really).

I have no idea why Anet didn't make the CAG a toggle that you could turn off. WoW has toggles for turning off event experience boosts even when they are only 50% boosts, the CAG boosted things by way more than 50% and there was no way around it.

[Vayne.8563]

10 hours ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

It's mostly down to the Character Achievement Guide. It boosts your leveling massively. We (friends and family) were around level 50 when it was introduced and it spoiled our enjoyment of the remainder of leveling up to level 80 because it happened so fast. We were having fun exploring zones (usually zones a bit over our level to make it a challenge) and slowly leveling up while doing the story, then wham, bam, we're level 80 and are now over-leveled for all the zones we were exploring instead of under-leveled. It was quite a kick in the guts at the time and a couple of us stopped playing for a few months as a result (one still hasn't come back really).

I have no idea why Anet didn't make the CAG a toggle that you could turn off. WoW has toggles for turning off event experience boosts even when they are only 50% boosts, the CAG boosted things by way more than 50% and there was no way around it.

WoW is a different game because you can't go back. I find myself in older zones quite frequently in Guild Wars 2. The fact that people still think that experience is part of the game is strange to me, because, for a lot of us, it's the worst most outdated part of the game. I would wager a l.ot more people walked from this game because they were leveling too slow and bored than those that left the game because they leveled too fast.

[Danikat.8537]

20 hours ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

It's mostly down to the Character Achievement Guide. It boosts your leveling massively. We (friends and family) were around level 50 when it was introduced and it spoiled our enjoyment of the remainder of leveling up to level 80 because it happened so fast. We were having fun exploring zones (usually zones a bit over our level to make it a challenge) and slowly leveling up while doing the story, then wham, bam, we're level 80 and are now over-leveled for all the zones we were exploring instead of under-leveled. It was quite a kick in the guts at the time and a couple of us stopped playing for a few months as a result (one still hasn't come back really).

I have no idea why Anet didn't make the CAG a toggle that you could turn off. WoW has toggles for turning off event experience boosts even when they are only 50% boosts, the CAG boosted things by way more than 50% and there was no way around it.

I've found it has much more impact on characters who existed before the achievements were added than new ones. Existing characters often got a lot of the achievements in one go, or in several 'chunks' as they may have only needed to do 1 or 2 things to unlock the next tier (for example using a waypoint and using an emote to complete tier 1) whereas new characters go through them more slowly.

Levelling is faster now even on new characters, but going from level 1 - 10 I'd say is now consistently comparable to how it was if you got very lucky with events and were able to do a lot of them while completing hearts at the same time. It's harder for me to compare it later on because I haven't done it as consistently (I've levelled a lot of characters without tomes/scrolls or boosters, but using different methods and without keeping track of how long it took).

I do have one character who is 'stuck' on 13 of 16 tier 1 achievements and so never unlocked tier 2 and never got most of the bonus XP, but that's because she's a perma-death challenge character who isn't allowed to do a lot of stuff, including using waypoints. She also hasn't spoken to any of the scouts in the starter maps, so as long as I don't use emotes on her she'll stay on 13/16 and never complete tier 1. I don't think it would be practical to do that on a normal character because it would be very hard to avoid all the tier 1 achievements. (Since she's on my main account so XP after level 80 will just go to spirit shards my plan is if I can get her to level 80 without dying I'll use /cheer to celebrate and see how many achievements she gets.)

[starlinvf.1358]

On 9/23/2023 at 8:56 PM, ShadowCatz.8437 said:

If you know the "secret" how to teach players anything by using in game assets even when they don't want to learn something that are useful (and avoid to give away free reward like gaining some XP), then you are free to suggest ArenaNet how to improve on this matter.

 

Have a rival dodger come out and attack them at random times, yelling “dodge, dodge, dodge”.     aAnd you can’t hurt your rival because they are good at dodging. And if they fail any of the 10 dodges they have to do in a row, they get one shot and sent back to the starter city in a special corralled of are that serves as dodging camp.  And to leave they have to pass all the dodging tests.  

They’ll have no choice but to either learn,  or be haunted forever by the fact a game beat them so badly, they quit out of shame and frustration.  With trauma so bad, they’ll rage quit the moment they encounter dodges in any other game.   

And occasionally they get sent a email reminder that  they forgot to finish dodge camp, and now is a great time to finish and try out the new expansion.  

 

And if you still try to avoid it, Scarlet comes to your house to ask if you’re Ok.   And so begins your villain arc to get revenge against all the dodges.  

[Vayne.8563]

19 hours ago, starlinvf.1358 said:

Have a rival dodger come out and attack them at random times, yelling “dodge, dodge, dodge”.     aAnd you can’t hurt your rival because they are good at dodging. And if they fail any of the 10 dodges they have to do in a row, they get one shot and sent back to the starter city in a special corralled of are that serves as dodging camp.  And to leave they have to pass all the dodging tests.  

They’ll have no choice but to either learn,  or be haunted forever by the fact a game beat them so badly, they quit out of shame and frustration.  With trauma so bad, they’ll rage quit the moment they encounter dodges in any other game.   

And occasionally they get sent a email reminder that  they forgot to finish dodge camp, and now is a great time to finish and try out the new expansion.  

 

And if you still try to avoid it, Scarlet comes to your house to ask if you’re Ok.   And so begins your villain arc to get revenge against all the dodges.  

Okay I love this idea. I mean it's overdone, and it would annoy a lot of people, but if I were a new player, it would make me laugh. I think I'd rather have it that you can never beat that NPC, but he leaves you alone after you successfully dodge him five times in a row or something, but yeah. That's fun.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Vayne.8563
wrong wor

[Luthan.5236]

This was requested - and they tested things. (First making the faster leveling only available to a few new accounts.) A lot of people complained that leveling was too slow. (Though it is faster than in any other MMORPG I know ... do not know much though lol ... mainly WoW at the original release.)

The main content nowadays 'starts' at level 80 - and you can consider the levels 1-80 and the core personal story kind of as a tutorial. For learning I'd suggest to just (if you like it slower paced) stay in the maps the core personal story sends you to (and not visit just the points needed for the story but to a full map completion every now and then) ... trying to use the stuff you unlock a bit slower maybe. (First try one skill a bit. Then try the next one. And then look for what you might like the most - with really making "optimized" builds and maybe using premade builds from websites ... only when you are at level 80.) You need to upgrade the gear faster though - keeping that one at a lower level will be problematic cause of the scaling

[Mistwraithe.3106]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:35 PM, Vayne.8563 said:

WoW is a different game because you can't go back. I find myself in older zones quite frequently in Guild Wars 2. The fact that people still think that experience is part of the game is strange to me, because, for a lot of us, it's the worst most outdated part of the game. I would wager a l.ot more people walked from this game because they were leveling too slow and bored than those that left the game because they leveled too fast.

Fair enough. I disagree but I know quite a few agree with you and wanted faster leveling. I also saw quite a few similar complaints to mine when they introduced CAG.

You know what would make everyone happy? If there was a toggle to turn it off. Like I said in my first post...

[Vayne.8563]

1 minute ago, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

Fair enough. I disagree but I know quite a few agree with you and wanted faster leveling. I also saw quite a few similar complaints to mine when they introduced CAG.

You know what would make everyone happy? If there was a toggle to turn it off. Like I said in my first post...

I'm not saying no one complained about the leveling being too fast. I am saying it's an outlier though.  People come into games like this with the mindset that leveling is what you do to get to the game, for better for for worse. They sell a level 80 boost in the gem store so people don't have to level. They don't sell a level debuff in the gem store. Maybe they should, but I strongly suspect many wouldn't buy it.

[Padrion.7382]

You basically get new abilities faster than you can try them out. You get bombarded with leveling pop-ups like you were surfing the internet in the 90s. Pacing is completely off. It is very overwhelming and anxiety inducing for new players. And yet they clutter your inventory with completely unnecessary XP-boosts as "rewards". Game design 2023...

Edited September 29, 2023 by Padrion.7382

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

On 9/25/2023 at 4:50 PM, Mistwraithe.3106 said:

It's mostly down to the Character Achievement Guide. It boosts your leveling massively. We (friends and family) were around level 50 when it was introduced and it spoiled our enjoyment of the remainder of leveling up to level 80 because it happened so fast. We were having fun exploring zones (usually zones a bit over our level to make it a challenge) and slowly leveling up while doing the story, then wham, bam, we're level 80 and are now over-leveled for all the zones we were exploring instead of under-leveled. It was quite a kick in the guts at the time and a couple of us stopped playing for a few months as a result (one still hasn't come back really).

I have no idea why Anet didn't make the CAG a toggle that you could turn off. WoW has toggles for turning off event experience boosts even when they are only 50% boosts, the CAG boosted things by way more than 50% and there was no way around it.

the game has downlevelling so you're not overlevelled for any area, you're free to go back and play it as you were before (though with some powercreep). in fact its required for many things including the crafting of legendary weapons, to complete the entire central tyrian continent.

 

groups of max-level players regularly do world bosses and other meta-events in the low-level zones.

 

the levelling is so fast in this game because level 80 is just a tutorial at best. there's far more lv80 maps (currently ~42, i think?) than non-lv80 maps, to say nothing of all the instanced content (dungeons, fractals, strike missions, raids, dragon response missions), and the massive amount of story that completely dwarfs the personal story in complexity and scope. this game uses horizontal progress which means you still have something like 500 levels to go, although they are account-wide.

 

your experience from 1-50 was probably less than 1% of the game.

Edited September 30, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[evilcat.6817]

Some thoughs about gearing when leveling:

If you are not dieying you are doing great, keep going.

Game downlevels you to area, so you can run low level if you want, especially if you are having fun in this area.

Levels 1-10 is exacly unlocking your basic skills, so new players dont get overload. Levels 10-30 go fast too.

Vendors and crafters update gear every 5 levels, so that is good time to check.

Fine weapons are worth +10 levels above whites, Master +15, Rare +20. So your full set of rares can serve really long.

Main hand weapon is very important as it defines dps. Coat and legs are more or less important since they have a lot of stats. The rest... go with the flow.

You get decent amount of gear from leveling as level rewards. So do not stress.

You also get decent gear from Story mode. Some late chapters have long missions, so maybe not most efficient. But you get gear and a lot of it. Story missions arent particulary hard. Story and level rewards are organized, so you will get mix of items.

Dungeons, shower with gear, and some are fast. It may be not gear for you, but can always sell and buy.

Every 5 levels can just check generic vendor for generic weapons/armours, maybe they have something better. Probably not. You get many rares from story. But it is useful for aquatic weapons, this one are easy to miss otherwise.

Trade post is very efficient. Just buying fine gear of your level will have good stats untill you drop something better.

Karma overkill: You can google "gw2 karma vendor geatsword" and search for karma hearth mission with your favorite gear. However before you get there and do the mission, you might level up, and it takes some time. So it is not quick method like trade post.

There is a cultureal armour and weapon, they are a bit expensive but god enought, and preatty. Maybe lv 30 could be worth it. So you can be done for a while with gear, and it is not that expensive.

Generally just buing from trade post fine, aquatic from generic vendor, and wait for story and general drops should make you good.

Edited October 4, 2023 by evilcat.6817

[klarra.7542]

On 9/23/2023 at 1:03 PM, thorrand.6548 said:

They introduced a character adventure guide that rewards you for doing things in the game such as dodging attacks, doing hearts, events etc that give you extra experience on top of what you would normally get. This resulted in a huge xp boost in the leveling process

How do I see this?

[klarra.7542]

On 9/23/2023 at 3:31 PM, Lucy.3728 said:

You seem to think level 20 is high. But it's still low.

What have you done to get to level 10? I explored the starter map a bit, did some hearts and events on the way.

Yes you level really fast, def. faster than 10 years ago, but the stories have stops in its progress. So you'll be forced to level by other means than just through story. Exploring and doing events on the way until you hit the level to continue the story is enough.

And you won't need crafting until you are max level and in need of armor beyond exotic anyway.
Crafting gives exp too, so better avoid it before max level. Maximizing it is expensive too. And you'll probably need your gold for your max. level equipment.
Avoid buffs that boost your exp.
Avoid the adventure guide, that really pushes your levels.

Take as many hps with you as you can find since the traits are more powerful than equipment on mid-level. Equip what you get from story rewards and heart vendors and drops.

The last time I leveled by simply playing +story, it took me 30h in 9 days to complete it (lvl 80 +personal story done).

Thank you

[DeanBB.4268]

33 minutes ago, klarra.7542 said:

How do I see this?

Hero panel > achievement > character adventure guide. You should be seeing pop upside for the achievements and can click on those.