Lvl 80 boost - Hero Points and Mastery question

[Reihert.1509]

Returning player here.I stopped before HoTs so I have no idea what Mastery is, read some wiki pages but it still seems alien to me.Even though I had a lvl 80 Guardian, I decided to start over just to get re connect to my character again.However, I fear that I may be wasting precious exp through tradional leveling as, if I got it right, I could be progressing my mastery and earning more hero points if I just boost to 80 and re do lower level content.

Should I boost to 80, only for my exp bar be replaced by mastery track and go back to lower level content? If I dont do that, would I end up having less mastery progress or hero points than a tradional leveled character?

[Taygus.4571]

I think you should level traditionally and save the boost for alts.

Leveling will teach you a good bit about your class.

When I returned, I levelled a character to about 40 and was able to easily jump back in to level 80 content, after.

I wouldn't worry about masteries. Core Tyria masteries don't add much to your game.
And HoT and PoF don't start til 80, and can only be earned in their respective areas. So you're not wasting experience by levelling through core.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

First: I'll echo Taygus - don't worry about Masteries yet, level your new character the regular way, it'll help reaquaint you with the game!

Second: To clear up a confusionHero Points are completely unrelated to Masteries.HPs come from levelling up to 80 and from Hero Challenges. They are used to buy skills an traits.Masteries uses tracks that you first have to fill with XP, then spend Mastery Points in.MPs come from achievements (some easy, some hard).

[Ellegon Mcleod.5931]

Also just note that Hero Points need to be earned per char and are part of map completion so easiest to do them as you explore.Mastery points are once off and can also be earned as you explore. You can only earn them on a lvl 80 char but the results effect all your character eg once you unlock gliding all your characters can use it. So if you have a level 80 you can start learning these or wait till you get there naturally in your leveling. eg you want a mount - you can use your lvl 80 to unlock it by just focusing on that and then your lower lever character can do normal exploring with their mount to help them (assumes that you have the relevant expansion)

[Faaris.8013]

Use the boost and enjoy the game. You can do the low level content anyway, your level will be adjusted. You get exotic gear that is not that bad and 15 slot bags, and some other goodies. Nobody keeps you from starting the story after boosting. Levelling yourself will not teach you much about your class, you will probably change everything after getting the elite trait(s), you'll use a different weapon, different traits and different skills. What you learned about your class from 1 to 80 will be irrelevant.

I would go to HoT maps, join a hero point train, get my elite trait asap. I actually did that with my other account, and started the HoT story to get basic gliding. I now have the basic masteries, my elite and started the story. I play thief again on this account, and there is no way I would play that with daggers, and you need the elite to wield a staff.

Oh, and you also free up the shared inventory slot when you use the boost. It's there to get joy out of it, not to save it up for a time when you really don't need it anymore. I don't want to know how many people have 10+ characters at L80 and 500 tomes of knowledge in their bank and still have 1 or 2 booster occupying their shared slots, simply because they didn't want to "waste" the boost. The gear and bags you get are great for starters, but a 15 slot bag is meh when you have enough gold to simply buy ones with 18 or 20 slots.

[Goettel.4389]

I wouldn't worry about masteries. Core Tyria masteries don't add much to your game.

I strongly disagree, running any fast-paced events and loot-trains without the 'AoE' auto-loot mastery Pact Commander V (Advanced Logistics) is an absolute drag and takes away focus from combat. And depending on your interests, Legendary Crafting and Fractal Attunement have evident use.But yeah, don't worry too much about getting the mastery points, you will, and definitely save the level 80 boosts for future alting.

[Taygus.4571]

@Goettel.4389 said:

I wouldn't worry about masteries. Core Tyria masteries don't add much to your game.

I strongly disagree, running any fast-paced events and loot-trains without the 'AoE' auto-loot mastery Pact Commander V (Advanced Logistics) is an absolute drag and takes away focus from combat. And depending on your interests, Legendary Crafting and Fractal Attunement have evident use.But yeah, don't worry too much about getting the mastery points, you will, and definitely save the level 80 boosts for future alting.

Is it that hard for you to press F/loot regularly?

Neither of the other two, are likely to be important to someone who is at the moment re-learning the game.

[Goettel.4389]

Is it that hard for you to press F/loot regularly?

Nah, usually got my hands full saving kittens like you :)

[Urud.4925]

@"Faaris.8013" said:I don't want to know how many people have 10+ characters at L80 and 500 tomes of knowledge in their bank and still have 1 or 2 booster occupying their shared slots, simply because they didn't want to "waste" the boost.Well, I don't have 10 characters, but he's right here. I also ended up having some characters lv80, hundreds of tomes of knowledge and my second boost still in the shared inventory...Let's say that the value of that boost is mostly for the exotic gear/trinkets (but not always the stats are good for your profession). If you have a new toon, you still need the hero points for your skills (and the boost doesn't give them, so you still have to play here and there on the maps). Also unlocking the waypoints is useful, so it's better to play in any case.

I bought the game just before reaching lv80, because I didn't want to "waste" my exp, but in the end, when you complete all the masteries for a region (tyria/hot/pof), you'll gain spirit shards with your exp, and I honestly don't know what to do with them.I'd recommend to unlock the masteries because it gives an additional feeling of satisfaction, some close goal as you progress and do events on the maps. But it's not really a "waste" to unlock it later. The glider can be unlocked as first mastery in HoT, it's fast and useful in your adventure ;) And also the first mount is easy to gain.