Part 1 - Basics
Once you’re done with your race’s tutorial mission, you’ll be spit out into the open world. You’ll notice that you won’t be able to continue your personal story until level 10 and you’ll probably be asked to speak to a scout, who tells you a little bit about the surrounding area and how you can help people nearby (usually via what we call renown hearts). If you’re coming from other MMORPGs, you might be inclined to complete all of the hearts you see on the map. That is NOT the intent of the developers and you will find that some hearts are more fun than others to complete. Prior to the game’s release, hearts did not exist and players were expected to level through exploration and by completing dynamic events, which still exist today and are definitely some of the best parts of the game.
Here are the things to look out for in order to gain experience in the open world. If you’re on a new account, you’ll find that there are level requirements before some of these will show up on your map. Points of interest, waypoints, and vistas won’t show up until you have one character that is level 4. Hero challenges will unlock at level 11. If you’re in a rush, I recommend taking a look at this guide on reddit written by /u/Brawhalla_ At the moment, Apprentice Tuning Crystal and Bowl of Candy Corn Custard are the cheapest utility and food options for leveling. For builds, please check out Metabattle's new leveling builds section (closer to the bottom of the page).
Part 2 - Next steps
At first, you may be encouraged to 100% every map you come across. It’s not a bad thing, as map completion offers you some sweet rewards, but you may feel burnt out if that’s the way you’re approaching the content.
Every level range offers multiple maps that are level-appropriate, and even if you outlevel an area, the game will scale you down to a level suitable to the zone so it still remains somewhat challenging. This also encourages people to play with their friends who are lower level and makes it so that most zones remain relevant for everyone, including long-time veterans looking to complete a large-scale event or boss in lower level zones.
Every zone has its own story, complete with event chains aka meta events that happen whether you’re there or not. You might log out in the safety of a town and log back in the middle of a hostile takeover. For the curious explorer, there are nooks and crannies, hidden gems that most players have never seen, a ridiculous amount of ambient dialogue and information that lore junkies will enjoy. For instance, there’s a place in one of the cities that can only be found if you randomly decide to swim down a particular pond, or a jumping puzzle that traverses across the rooftops of another city, or a special club that’s only open at night that requires you to give the password to the bouncer, a hidden event that only triggers once you’ve knelt down at a particular statue, etc.
Every 10 levels, you’ll unlock another chapter of your personal story. I recommend doing that at the appropriate level since the rewards you get from it will not scale up. For example, if your personal story is meant for level 20, you will not receive a story reward that scales up to level 40. Also, the amount of experience you’ll get will be lessened. Dungeons offer additional story content. For more information, see the Dungeons section.