Having Leveling problems? Read on to level quickly and effectively.
To level quickly, you need to understand a few things about GW2s various progression systems. You will need to understand how combos work with other players to deal the maximum DPS possible.
So lets start off by discussing combos.
A) Some abilities have an attribute, "Combo Field: Poison" for example. See here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chilblains. This is a spell that you place on the ground and people can stand in it or shoot through with a combo finisher to trigger the "Poison" effect. You will know a combo field on the ground when you see one, because there is a light aura that looks like a bunch of puzzle pieces put together to form a ring around the Area of Effect.
B) Some abilities have and attribute, "Combo Finisher: Projectile" see here: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Necrotic_Grasp. This is an ability that will allow you to benifit from a combo field.
C) Remember, not all wep combos, have combo fields and finishers. You may be using a combo that has neither, so you might need to pick one up from your utility skills. And remember only combo finishers can trigger combo field effects, So dont be alarmed if your abilities do nothing when shooting in or around a combo field.
D) So a typical Necro combo would be, use chilibans on the ground, wait for an enemy to trigger the trap, once he does, shoot a Necrotic Grasp through the poison cloud it leaves behind ~ and it will grant the projectile the poison attribute. This will up your dps on the target. And remember, your friends can shoot threir own combo finishers through the cloud too and gain the buff. Communication with your team is super important if you want that edge in DPS, especially in sPvP or Turbo leveling.
Hearts and Public Quests/Events ~ Progression Systems
A) Its important to know the difference between public events and hearts. Hearts are quest hubs where the "middle man" has been removed. In WoW, you go to a new quest hub, you talk to 2 NPCs and they give you 5 quests total. One is to kill 5 monsters and a couple is to collect and bring back tacos. In GW2, they remove the NPCs and place a heart on the map, so you know when you get there, that you will be killing the monsters in the area and picking up anything that twinkles. Doing these things will fill up the heart quest bar, once its full, you can move on to the next heart. The beauty of hearts is that, if you dont like picking up twinkly items, you can steady kill mobs and skip that kind of questing, and still complete the heart. In GW2, your never forced to pick up items and bring them back ~ If you dont want to. Questing in GW2 is on your own terms.
B) Some public events (Dynamic Events) are random, some are single stage and some are multi stage. You will know a public event when you see it, there will be either a bright orange:
Monster Skull (Boss Fight)
Shield (escort quest)
Flag (gaurd/defend a spot)
Bucket with an Arrow pointing into it (collection quests)
Circle with white star inside (Client Initiated PQs. These are PQs activated by a user that kick off one of the event types described above)
Now that we understand Combos, PQ's n Hearts, we can talk about power leveling your hero to level 80 in just a few easy steps.
Lets say your in your 20s and your leveling in Kessex Hills. Upon arrival, you will want to travel the entire map and pick up each and every way point. Skip the PQs and Hearts for now.
Once you pick up all the way points, its time to start farming PQs. You will need to pick a way point and travel to it, then look for an open PQ on your map, travel to the PQ and complete the objectives. Once your finished, work on the heart in that area, occasionally looking at your map for a new PQ, when you see one pop up, immediately stop what you are doing, and travel there, complete the PQ and go back to working on your heart. Once your done with the heart, move to the next heart and rinse and repeat.
Once you have completed all the hearts in a zone, you can bounce around way points looking for PQs (you cant see all the active PQs on a map because the search range is kind of crappy, so you will need to bounce around WPs to find open PQs).
This may seem like something you are already doing, but in reality your not. Most people travel to a heart and focus on that heart until its complete. What you dont understand is that PQs will, 90% of the time, drag you into heart areas and will help you complete the hearts as you complete the PQs. Remember, its ok to leave a heart at 50%, because you know you will be back to complete it while PQ farming.
I was able to go from 20 to 30, in Kessex Hills in about 2.5 hours. That is pretty fast. I was able to go from 50 to 60 in about 3 hours. This will work on every map/zone. Its all about quickly farming PQs. You get such a large reward for completing, that its a bad idea to miss any PQs in the zone. You will get to the point where your downing 2 to 4 PQs every 10 minutes and leveling like a Chinese Farmer.
Remember to stick those combo fields and get that extra DPS. Its important to maximize your damage, so look for friendly AoEs on the ground and try to get atleast one finisher out before it goes away. If you play with a group of friends on Mumble, coordinate with them and make builds with each other that will boost your dps as high as possible.
I hope this helps some people who are stuck leveling in their 20s, because thats when leveling really starts to slow down. Good luck.