Ok so I'm considering picking this up while it's on sale, but I have a few questions.
1. Is there still a good number of newer people on the server the NeoGAF guild is on to quest with at lower levels?
2. If I get it should I get the Heroic or Deluxe version?
3. Do Renown Hearts get more exciting at later levels? They seem kind of boring in the starting zones.
I am definitely not the best person to answer these questions, however I can give some help.
1. I just leveled up a new character and I didn't see too many people in the starting zones, however, keep in mind, everyone's down leveled to match the area they're in, so starting zones aren't as useless and empty as other games. Some areas, like Queensdale, the human starting zone, have a pretty high population thanks to the high amount of events that spawn there.
What's also nice is that you're very open to go explore other areas in this game. There's no hard lock to starting areas. I took my new character out to areas above her level and it provided an excellent, but not unbeatable challenge Also, you're free to go explore all the other race's starting zones right from the beginning. Game's pretty open about letting you go where you want and do what you want.
2. Not the person to answer this. I didn't see anything particularly attractive in either, though. I'd say go cheaper.
3. I was never a fan of the hearts. Dynamic events are really where I got most of my experience and most of the enjoyment out of the game. Higher level areas are fun because there's simply more dynamic events. Hearts are kind of like the filler in between dynamic events. However, it's completely possible to level up without doing many heart quests if you don't like them. On my second level up, I avoided hearts entirely. I just focused on exploration, (you can get a huge chunk of EXP from just finding points of interest and waypoints) crafting, and dynamic events. You can also flip over to WvW to get EXP at a decent rate, and you also get the benefit of being with a lot of people.
Ultimately, a lot of this comes down to the fact that this game eschews a lot of the standard "quest-to-exp" mechanics. In fact, when it does play that line, it's kind of boring. The game's greatest strength is that it gives you access to a lot of activities right from the start, and all of them give you a decent amount of character progression. Now's a good time to hop in too, since the halloween events are coming soon, and those are most likely not going to be level dependent.
It was a good run. For a bit there I was concerned that my charr would be running around naked lol.
