Three things I wish someone had told me on my first character

Three Corners, early morning, and I remember just standing there on my very first character not knowing which way was forward, so here is what I wish someone had leaned over and told me before I wandered off.

First, do not be ashamed of going back to an old zone because you missed a quest hub tucked behind a hill, I still do this, I will be three zones ahead and suddenly realize there was a whole little questline waiting in Three Corners that I walked straight past because I was chasing one quest marker and ignored everything else glowing around it.

Second, pick up a gathering profession early even if you plan to switch later, because wandering slightly off the path to grab nodes teaches you the shape of a zone far better than following the quest arrow ever will, and you end up finding little pockets of the map nobody mentions.

Third, talk to the random stranger standing at the inn doing nothing, half my favorite memories are from someone answering a dumb question I asked in zone chat and then us just questing side by side for an hour with no guild, no plan, nothing.

I do not know anything about the fastest route or the best leveling build, I genuinely could not tell you, I just know what made the slow way enjoyable for me. What is the one thing you wish past-you had known before taking that very first step out of the starting area?

The third point about talking to the stranger at the inn is the one that actually matters for the long run, so let me add to it rather than past it.

That random questing-for-an-hour thing is, in a lot of cases, how pickup groups and eventually guilds get started. If that happens to you again, do not let it just end when you log off.

• Ask if they want to group up again at a set time instead of relying on bumping into each other
• Trade names or whatever contact method the game gives you so the next session is not left to chance
• If a few of these loose connections start forming naturally, that is usually the seed of a steady group, worth nurturing on purpose instead of leaving to luck

I cannot speak to zones or leveling routes, that is outside what I follow here, but on the group side: has anyone turned one of those random inn conversations into an actual standing group? Curious what times people settled on and how they kept it going past the first night.

Who else here started a regular group that way? Share how you kept people coming back.