Not my experience, lvl 11 and for the first time I am more than one level below the story quest.

And.. grinding? Why don't you go do DE and all the other PVE content? Or explore? Or craft?

Those are all activities that give xp. Really, grind... bah

Strange, Im usually a few levels ahead, of course I go around exploring the zones (collecting all starter area skill points now), harvesting, doing all the DE that I come across.  I just finished my 1st 100% completion for exploring the charr starter zone.

Dont discount exploring and finding POI, Waypoints, hearts, vistas and skill point challenges, that experience adds up very quickly.  And getting 100% on a map area gives VERY nice rewards and money (10 silver 800 xp 2 lvl 26 greens and 3 transmog stones for charr starting area), though the main city rewards arent as good as the "questing" areas.

Im 19 now, havent touched any other zones besides the charr starting one (minus finding all skillpoints and some wp/poi in sylvari area)

Also, try some pvp and wvw, some decent xp and loot there.

If the story quest/mission is too high for you just level up and go back... what's the problem?

That's how the game works.

Also, if its to high, go do other stuff until you are higher?  you dont HAVE to do the story quests right away. 

You're not prevented from going to higher areas, or the other race's starter zones to level there, or anything like that.

Originally posted by GMan33
I played in beta and remember having a good time go up levels in the story. But now each mission I complete...I get more and more below level. Just at level 6 I was already thrown into level 12 missions. What's up with that. And I also do every dynamic that comes my ways. But still I'm always way behind the curve and I just can't complete my missions. Anyone else experience this? It's like your forced to go grind, get levels then come back and do story.

I had a simular experience with early levels, but I didn't really see it as a problem. Around level 5 as Human Mesmer, I was about a level or two behind my story line and was delivered a very sound thrashing from some centaurs. I didn't have any issues with my Gaurdian, but they really took the beating on my Mes to the next level...lol. 

Anyway, I just ran around and did some more exploring, de's and hearts until I leveled up. I didn't really feel like it was grinding, as I was still having fun. After the levels and some weapon changes, I went back and rocked the place..lol. 

So far  have to say that I'm really impressed and happy with the game. 

I agree, some of those personal story instances are hard as hell. I've died multiple times in one of the sylvari options and one of the Charr options was even more ridiculous.

But I finished them. And it honestly felt good to get through them. 

Originally posted by GMan33
I played in beta and remember having a good time go up levels in the story. But now each mission I complete...I get more and more below level. Just at level 6 I was already thrown into level 12 missions. What's up with that. And I also do every dynamic that comes my ways. But still I'm always way behind the curve and I just can't complete my missions. Anyone else experience this? It's like your forced to go grind, get levels then come back and do story.

My experience has been that I do at times end up behind the level once the hearts are complete.  And yeah, I do go after the DE's wherever I find them.

But I'm starting to understand why that is in a couple ways.  Unlike most MMO's, the quests, even DE's aren't the only significant means of gaining XP. 

Discovering landmarks, vistas, skill point challenges, harvesting resources, and crafting ALL give XP.  No, not some teeny little amount like WoW's "you've discovered a new area!  Here, have an amount of XP that wouldn't have moved your bar even at first level".  Doing any of those things will net you XP that will seriously move your bar.

Secondly, keep in mind that you don't have to stick to your starter area.  You could go to another race starter area, and the system will "downlevel" you to make those areas a decent challenge.  And the XP and money are still pretty good, and while vendor trash was low level, I was getting magic loot at my level when I did this.