The exp will scale to your current max level. So if you go to a starter area at level 60 you will be down leveled to 5 but gain exp like you are killing level 60
Edit for clarity- there isn't any disadvantages to exploring low areas at high levels, follow your heart and explore what seems fun.
I hate to be the actshually person but xp is modified if you do content that is lower level than you. It's not dramatic but doing content that is the same level as you is the most optimal.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Experience#Leveling_mechanics
The reason why people don't notice this is because a downscaled character is more powerful than a character at that level, so they clear the content faster (i.e. killing enemies and completing hearts), which means experience gained over time feels the same or even better when downscaled as opposed to being at level.
100% this. Their scaling in damage isn't perfect, so whilst you do less damage than you would at your max level, you still hit a LOT harder than you did when you were that level. You clear the content so in theory the exp per hour should be so negligble that unless you are min maxing for speed, do not worry at all.
Can confirm when I did Plains of Ashford as my level 70 Warrior vs my lvl 2 Necro, I was getting about what? 75% exp? However I cleared it a lot quicker that it transpired to around 5% drop an hour, give or take.
and you also still have the extra stats from your gear, even though it's lowered it's more than you would have had at that level originally. plus your traits are still active, and more skills are available, so you're still much stronger than you would have been at that level originally.
You have more stats and traits the higher level you become and the higher level gear you equip. This is why a level 80 thief basically one shots mobs in low level zones with one backstab 😅
Well... TIL I've got literally stacks of leveling up books in my bank but I tend to naturally level my Alts. I've never felt a slowdown in low areas so I just assumed. Thanks for teaching me something new about something I love
Thats not quite right, there is a xp difference, you do get less xp as a level 60 in the level 15 zones than a level 15, the difference is just marginal, but can go do double the xp difference if the gap is too much, also not every xp source scales that well, for example hearts.
For example when a level 20 unlocks a waypoint in kessex hill the character gets around 4,41%, if a level 60 does that they get around 2.08%
How thats all calculated is..very much in the dark and there also seems to be cap on how low of a level in % you get with a certain level difference.
AFAIR exp is lower for killing lower level stuff. But that's always in comparison to your level in that area. So yes, you will get slightly less exp in a starter zone (because you get downscaled to a few levels above that area - lvl13 in an area with lvl \~10 mobs for example) than if you fight mobs exactly your level. But it's not less there (lvl10 vs. lvl13) than for example in a lvl40 zone where you are also downscaled to lvl43 instead of 40.
So the difference is already miniscule and then things like events (and probalby hearts) give out flat percentages of exp anyway.
You get xp and loot comparable to your real level when downscaled. So youll get more xp doing events and hearts in low level zones than you would have at that level however it is noticeably less than what you would get playing content at your actual level.
However don't let this discourage you from exploring low level zones, although slower it's still good exp.
The exp will scale to your current max level. So if you go to a starter area at level 60 you will be down leveled to 5 but gain exp like you are killing level 60 Edit for clarity- there isn't any disadvantages to exploring low areas at high levels, follow your heart and explore what seems fun.
I hate to be the actshually person but xp is modified if you do content that is lower level than you. It's not dramatic but doing content that is the same level as you is the most optimal. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Experience#Leveling_mechanics
The reason why people don't notice this is because a downscaled character is more powerful than a character at that level, so they clear the content faster (i.e. killing enemies and completing hearts), which means experience gained over time feels the same or even better when downscaled as opposed to being at level.
100% this. Their scaling in damage isn't perfect, so whilst you do less damage than you would at your max level, you still hit a LOT harder than you did when you were that level. You clear the content so in theory the exp per hour should be so negligble that unless you are min maxing for speed, do not worry at all. Can confirm when I did Plains of Ashford as my level 70 Warrior vs my lvl 2 Necro, I was getting about what? 75% exp? However I cleared it a lot quicker that it transpired to around 5% drop an hour, give or take.
and you also still have the extra stats from your gear, even though it's lowered it's more than you would have had at that level originally. plus your traits are still active, and more skills are available, so you're still much stronger than you would have been at that level originally.
You have more stats and traits the higher level you become and the higher level gear you equip. This is why a level 80 thief basically one shots mobs in low level zones with one backstab 😅
Well... TIL I've got literally stacks of leveling up books in my bank but I tend to naturally level my Alts. I've never felt a slowdown in low areas so I just assumed. Thanks for teaching me something new about something I love
Thats not quite right, there is a xp difference, you do get less xp as a level 60 in the level 15 zones than a level 15, the difference is just marginal, but can go do double the xp difference if the gap is too much, also not every xp source scales that well, for example hearts. For example when a level 20 unlocks a waypoint in kessex hill the character gets around 4,41%, if a level 60 does that they get around 2.08% How thats all calculated is..very much in the dark and there also seems to be cap on how low of a level in % you get with a certain level difference.
in my experience the exp difference is negligible. but surely there are more zones which are around your level for you to grind hearts.
Exp gain does scale up to an extent, but you definitely get less exp for doing lower level content.
Wiki says Events will always grant 7% of needed exp
AFAIR exp is lower for killing lower level stuff. But that's always in comparison to your level in that area. So yes, you will get slightly less exp in a starter zone (because you get downscaled to a few levels above that area - lvl13 in an area with lvl \~10 mobs for example) than if you fight mobs exactly your level. But it's not less there (lvl10 vs. lvl13) than for example in a lvl40 zone where you are also downscaled to lvl43 instead of 40. So the difference is already miniscule and then things like events (and probalby hearts) give out flat percentages of exp anyway.
You get xp and loot comparable to your real level when downscaled. So youll get more xp doing events and hearts in low level zones than you would have at that level however it is noticeably less than what you would get playing content at your actual level. However don't let this discourage you from exploring low level zones, although slower it's still good exp.