Guild Wars 2 Player Reaches Level Cap Through Crafting

Greg Tito

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Sep 29, 2005
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Guild Wars 2 Player Reaches Level Cap Through Crafting



The President of ArenaNet confirms the feat of crafting to reach the level cap.

With any new MMO or expansion, there's always those players who race to earn experience points to be the first on their server or even in the whole region to reach the level cap. I suppose there's a certain amount of pride that can be had playing as efficiently and skillfully as possible. There's also alternative ways to play MMOs, with players choosing to level up without killing any monsters or other restrictions. It's rare when the two phenomenons intersect, but the President of ArenaNet himself confirmed the first player to reach the level cap of 80 in Guild Wars 2 did so through crafting player-made items.

The Charr Elementalist Surfeuze hit level 80 this weekend in the early start given to players who'd pre-ordered the game. Surfeuze plays in the French region, and he quickly consumed the 1-60 content normally before switching to craft items to level between 60 and 80. Crafting that many items takes a lot of in-game materials, and Surfeuze could only gather so many so quickly by having a support system of guildmates donating stuff to him.

At first, the President of ArenaNet Mike O'Brien cast aspersions on the quick leveling achieved by Surfeuze. "Level 80 is always something to celebrate, but be aware that this was not through normal leveling," he said on Reddit early Monday morning [http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yv1fp/first_level_80_french/c5z3gs6]. "A few users have made us aware of unusual ways to level very fast. We're fixing these issues as I type."

O'Brien later clarified his statement and offered congratulations to Surfeuze:

I'd like to apologize for writing an earlier comment that cast doubt on his accomplishment. At the same time Surfeuze was racing to level 80, we were tracking and talking with other players who were racing toward 80 as well, using a technique that really shouldn't be that lucrative and that we're making changes to fix. We believed one of those players would be first to 80, and when Surfeuze posted of his accomplishment, I mistakenly thought he was a player who had used that technique.

In fact he wasn't. Surfeuze played normal PvE content to level 60, although obviously racing past everything he could, and then leveled from 60 to 80 through crafting. His secret weapon was his strong team supplying him with crafting materials. That allowed him to jump ahead of everyone else in those last 20 levels.

So congratulations to Surfeuze, legitimately the first player to reach level 80.

Surfeuze accomplished the feat in 32 hours, and I have to tip my hat to how he got it done. The Guild Wars 2 server open up today to those who didn't pre-order the game. While you might not technically be the first to reach level 80, that doesn't mean you still can't try to race and beat Surfeuze record leveling time. Good luck!

Source: Reddit [http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/yy07z/congratulations_and_apologies_to_surfeuze_and_war/]

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Lvl 64 Klutz

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Some people and studios alike put way too much focus of an MMORPG on the Endgame. I will freely admit that having a solid endgame is the most important part of keeping folks playing your MMO, but at the same time people who just rush to the endgame are missing out on a lot, unless the developer didn't bother making the journey to the endgame engaging.

I'm not going to deny that people should be able to play how they want to play, but I think rushing to the endgame is the perfect way to quickly find yourself bored of the game and moving on to something else.
 

Aenir

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Lvl 64 Klutz said:
Some people and studios alike put way too much focus of an MMORPG on the Endgame. I will freely admit that having a solid endgame is the most important part of keeping folks playing your MMO, but at the same time people who just rush to the endgame are missing out on a lot, unless the developer didn't bother making the journey to the endgame engaging.

I'm not going to deny that people should be able to play how they want to play, but I think rushing to the endgame is the perfect way to quickly find yourself bored of the game and moving on to something else.
Have you ever heard of making more than 1 character?
 

Fappy

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What's the point of racing to max level in this game? I thought GW2's end game was kind of indistinguishable from normal content at the moment.
 

MisterColeman

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Fappy said:
What's the point of racing to max level in this game? I thought GW2's end game was kind of indistinguishable from normal content at the moment.
The point is to be awesome. Looking forward to someone beating 32 hours played.
 

Scarim Coral

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Oct 29, 2010
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Wow, that impressive and congratulate to him for doing so!

Now if only I can figure out how to gather the right ingredients to make use of the food crafting since I find it alot harder compare to the other crafting stuffs.
 

Fasckira

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Oct 22, 2009
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Never understood the point of racing to endgame content (or lack of).

Im reminded of the old story about the little boy who travels 20 miles on foot to get his teacher a certain flower. The teacher is impressed but asks why he travelled all that way just to get a flower and the boy replies that part of the gift was the journey.

Meh, I guess Im just one of these people who prefer to savour a game rather than rush through it. Each to their own and all that.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Wait, you can level up by not fighting? Like... do other things to level up?

...

Alright, now I'm interested.
 

Croaker42

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Irridium said:
Wait, you can level up by not fighting? Like... do other things to level up?

...

Alright, now I'm interested.
Yep for some reason this wonderful game properly rewards players for exploration and crafting.

OT; Good on him. Sounds like one hell of a content rush.
Now to go back and actually enjoy all of that content.
 

Lvl 64 Klutz

Crowsplosion!
Apr 8, 2008
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Irridium said:
Wait, you can level up by not fighting? Like... do other things to level up?

...

Alright, now I'm interested.
From my experience, battling is actually the least lucrative way to amass experience points.
 

airwolfe591

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I've been playing the same weekend yet only have three levels seven characters lol, but I'm trying not to rush. I have had a problem with crashing and burning in MMOs and want to avoid that with GW2. Anyways, congrats are in order for Surfeuze!
 

Icehearted

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This is my problem with MMOs. It's really all math and equations, statistical data and efficiency, percentages and raw numeric data. I don't see the fun in that.
 

General Twinkletoes

Suppository of Wisdom
Jan 24, 2011
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Irridium said:
Wait, you can level up by not fighting? Like... do other things to level up?

...

Alright, now I'm interested.
You level up a lot quicker by crafting and exploring than just killing mobs.
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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Icehearted said:
This is my problem with MMOs. It's really all math and equations, statistical data and efficiency, percentages and raw numeric data. I don't see the fun in that.
>.> a lot of games are like that if you want to start breaking them down

still, 32 hours to the cap in a new games is worthy of praise, maybe now he'll actually PLAY the fucking game instead of steam rolling it
 

Icehearted

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Lunar Templar said:
Icehearted said:
This is my problem with MMOs. It's really all math and equations, statistical data and efficiency, percentages and raw numeric data. I don't see the fun in that.
>.> a lot of games are like that if you want to start breaking them down

still, 32 hours to the cap in a new games is worthy of praise, maybe now he'll actually PLAY the fucking game instead of steam rolling it
MMOs, sure, which is where the fun dies. A good role playing game can also be about strategy, narrative, immersion, and characters. Other genres are more skill based such as puzzle games, platforming, action, shooters, flight, sports (like Tony Hawk), light gun games (I moss those immensely), and adventure games.

It's easy to forget that not all games rely on pure statistics, and cannot ergo be so easily broken down to fun-stifling mathematical equations. Math didn't make me an excellent driver in GTA4 or a skilled marksman in Unreal Tournament, that was skill, if you pardon my braggartry (I so made up that word).
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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Icehearted said:
MMOs, sure, which is where the fun dies. A good role playing game can also be about strategy, narrative, immersion, and characters. Other genres are more skill based such as puzzle games, platforming, action, shooters, flight, sports (like Tony Hawk), light gun games (I moss those immensely), and adventure games.

It's easy to forget that not all games rely on pure statistics, and cannot ergo be so easily broken down to fun-stifling mathematical equations. Math didn't make me an excellent driver in GTA4 or a skilled marksman in Unreal Tournament, that was skill, if you pardon my braggartry (I so made up that word).
given 2/3 MMOs i play rely more on skill then stats, your argument (with me anyway) is kinda invalid, not only that, GW2 is also to my understanding a more skill based game, when played normally, which this person did not.
 

DugMachine

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Apr 5, 2010
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Congrats to the guy. Was always fun seeing who would get to the lvl cap first in WoW. I never tried it cause I like to soak up the environments and quests but always amazed me how fast some people reached it. I think some guy got to 80 during wrath in 24 hours or so, maybe a little more.
 

Icehearted

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Jul 14, 2009
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Lunar Templar said:
Icehearted said:
MMOs, sure, which is where the fun dies. A good role playing game can also be about strategy, narrative, immersion, and characters. Other genres are more skill based such as puzzle games, platforming, action, shooters, flight, sports (like Tony Hawk), light gun games (I moss those immensely), and adventure games.

It's easy to forget that not all games rely on pure statistics, and cannot ergo be so easily broken down to fun-stifling mathematical equations. Math didn't make me an excellent driver in GTA4 or a skilled marksman in Unreal Tournament, that was skill, if you pardon my braggartry (I so made up that word).
given 2/3 MMOs i play rely more on skill then stats, your argument (with me anyway) is kinda invalid, not only that, GW2 is also to my understanding a more skill based game, when played normally, which this person did not.
Math skills? I would agree. Anything other than math? Such as? Racing games require reflexes, observation, timing, not really math except in the loosest possible sense. Shooters require reflexes, eye-hand whatchamacallit, reflexes, even a keen eye. Puzzles, depends, often fast thinking, fast reflexes, foresight. Strategy games require strategic thinking (duh), problem solving, little math is necessary in many cases, but that depends on one's play style.

MMOs, those funny little games, take stats. You don't really need skill, you just need that .2% crit bonus, or those buffs that reduce DOTs enough to give that edge, in some cases range is a factor, all of this is math. I'm sure activating macros and selecting the right actions takes skill, but only in the same sense as microwaving a burrito takes skill. Ultimately, percentages, subtraction, etc, all numbers, no requirements beyond mathematical finesse.

And really, 2/3 of what you play? Please list them if you wouldn't mind, I'm really dying to know which of these MMOs are more skill based than math based. I'm not even being sarcastic. Had I known such gems existed my whole outlook on the genre would be a drastic departure from where it stands now.

Comparatively, as far as I know the very way in which these games are executed prohibits them from being more than math games with a miniscule sprinkle of speed (irrelevant if one can overtake one's objective with superior numeric value).

Anxiously awaiting enlightenment.