Pre-Searing has come a long way since the early days. There has never been a better time to stick around. With the introduction to Vanguard Quests, death leveling is no longer needed and many players stick around to gain the Legendary Defender of Ascalon and the challenging Survivor title. While farming Nicks Gifts on the side. This up to date Pre-Searing Leveling Guide will tell you all that you need to know in order to effectively farm and level up in Pre-Searing.
Starting Out: The Beginning
It has always been recommended to only hand in one quest. And that is the quest that gives you your first two primary skills. However that mindset has carried over from a time where exp was much harder to earn. Today, it only makes a marginal difference and you shouldn’t concern yourself too much with it.
Having said that, non-essential quests should be saved for a later time (leveling from 16-17), which is when you will receive the lowest amount of exp from killing mobs. Once level 17 has been reached, they then scale to match your exp needs. And any remaining quests can then be saved for once you’ve hit level 19, as the exp will drop once again if you’re focusing purely on grinding out the exp.
Leveling 1-4
After you have done the preliminaries begin farming the Skale outside of Ascalon near the lake. This will quickly get you from level 1-3. And can be farmed further if desired to reach level 4.
Once you have enough Skale Fins hand 5 to Brownlow (Collector) outside of Ascalon for a Pelt Pouch. Because you need to pickup as much items as possible and vendor them in order to have enough to purchase an Identification and Salvage Kit. Which helps you earn more money to obtain your Charr Bags.
Leveling 5-6
Once these have been obtained. And you have reached level 3-4 and feeling comfortable. You can begin the next farm that will get you to the level 5-6 depending on your own preference. The good thing with these farms are that they also get you collectible loot which will help you buy stronger armor or later on hand in to Nick for the Gifts of the Huntsmen.
Head on to Foible’s Far and kill enemies on this route, rinse & repeat until level 5-6. It really helps to have the Bonus Imp / Elementalist secondary from this part onwards for Fire Storm. A Hunter Pet is also a good option. Remember that you can only put points into your secondary profession attributes if you choose your secondary. So perhaps this is another quest worth completing.
Leveling 5-10
The Charr at the Gate quest is often recommended to repeat in order to get to level 10. But it is a very tedious process and there are only four level 5 Charr to kill in each run. Given that you can now open the gate solo. The best thing to do is obtain the Charr at the Gates quest. Kill the Charr with Rurick. Then take the quest Across the Wall and proceed to cross the Northern Walls.
At this point you will repeat the following run to farm Oakenhearts which at level 5, give you the same amount of exp as the Charr at the gate. Except that they are far more abundant and quicker to kill. The quest Across the Wall will also add a pack of Grawlers to your run for additional exp in the earlier levels.
Warhogs can also be killed for bonus exp. The great thing about this run is that it is repeatable. By simply re-entering the zone you can begin the run again. And you’re constantly gaining Unnatural Seeds and Grawler Necklaces in addition to 2-3 Iris Flowers per run. While gaining some solid exp. Overall it is a very safe run, the only danger you face is crossing the area patrolled by the Charr groups.
Basic Number Crunching:
On a very average short run – 848 xp
Extended run @ level 5 – 2,456 xp
Extended run @ level 8 – 1200 xp
Leveling 10 & Beyond
Once we’ve hit level 10 Vanguard Quests become available. At this point onward you have many options, you can choose to Charr hunt until level 14-15, while doing daily Vanguard Quests. You can grind certain Vanguard quests such as Farmer Hamnet, Footman Tate or Utini Wupwup for exp. Or you can simply spend a 10-15 mins a day doing the daily Vanguard Quests and gradually making your way to 20.
The standard is to pickup Farmer Hamnet and keep grinding the bandits. However, it is only lucrative in terms of levels for the first few and again becomes very tedious. Best levels to grind Farmer Hamnet or ther quests are 10-12 and level 17-18. Besides that it can become very slow and not recommended if you want to enjoy your experience. Simply doing the daily Vanguards and killing the mobs is enough to get you gradually to your goal of Defender of Ascalon.
BONUS: Vanguard Initiate – when a Vanguard quest is active in your quest log you gain the Vanguard Initiate effect, which enhances your armor rating depending on your level and class. Having this can assist with the process of both Charr hunting and when grinding out.
Additional Consideration
You need 140,600 exp to reach level 20 in GW1. Vanguard Quests give you 1,000 exp each and once you’ve made it to level 10-12. The journey for the additional level doesn’t seem so threatening. If you’re okay with taking your time this can be achieved fairly easily while enjoying those pre-vibes.
More Relevant Posts:
Why Guildwars 1 Is Still Worth Playing
Guildwars 1 – PvE Mastery Guide
The Best MMORPGS Guide