I have no idea how to gain levels except for basically using EHSP all the time. But then.... the donating says that I ran out of the xp gaining so I stop that and sit around waiting for a new day. LOL any more suggestions?
Cooking seems to be your best bet. Make Proper Rice and Oatie whatever-they-are-calleds. Tasty Pastas are also great for levelling but more time consuming. If you try Pastas, you can donate some with EHSP, hit your max and still have enough left to sell and make currants.
I've heard that cooking xp was nerfed recently, but I haven't had a chance to test it...
Donating with EHSP as much as you can each game day is the vital part. I craft and donate Crystalmalizing Chambers myself. Not sure it's the most effect way, but its working for me.
Tend herb gardens. With Soil Appreciation V and Herbalism III, it doesn't cost anything to water herbs (strangely, the same isn't true with Croppery III)
Reflecting upon the icons of others also works. There are several people I know of with Icons chilling on their front lawn.
what's your rush? the game is about so much more than "I'm at level X, what are you?"
but, that being said:
reflecting on icon and (some action?) on emblems as well
go for the quoins (better ones in ancestral Lands)
imbibe essence of silvertongue
just Do Stuff.
Hm....I guess there isn't really a huge rush but I would like to get to higher levels. I am sure that we all do! But....I have been playing for so long and I am Level 35. Right now, level 40 seems so far away and I want to be that SO BAD!!! But of course, the grass is always greener on the other side! Oh well.... thanks! Still looking for more!
In the end I think it probably comes down to how much time you can spend in the game. I've been level 33 for months because I haven't really been playing. Then I've gained 5 levels in the past 7 days because I've been madly donating to take time off the new skills. I've been donating meat and awesome stews for which I've nibbled pigs, grown crops (have large Alakol garden) and harvested beans like there's no tomorrow. I've also visited the ancestral lands and maxed out on coins regularly (going for Numismatizer achievements) and I've been picking off all the Completist badges (you get around 80xp each time you visit a new location, although that wasn't why I was doing them!).
NB - Harvesting meat is good. You get 44xp for petting and nibbling a piggy twice and this is very quick to do. In some of the forest areas there are loads of piggies. You can also get 44xp by massaging and milking a butterfly twice but personally I find butterflies too fiddly to deal with.
I'm hoping to make L40 this week... although needless to say I haven't been making any currants.
i've been seasoning beans then donating them with ESHP, i used to cook the proper rice too - i didn't know the XP has been 'nerfed'? what does that mean?
i make fruit tree beans with spice and gas from the housing routes, however those are a bit tough atm. 40 beans is 2400 XP, and 2 donations gets me close to my daily max of around 20-22 K XP. i am typically gaining about 35K XP per game day. i'm sure there are other ways but that all takes a good hour of my time. make sure your mood is high when you donate or make stuff. use your focus ball while you are making things, you can do two things at once.
Something being "nerfed" means that it has somehow become less powerful (and more like a foam weapon). In this case, the experience for a number of recipes was reduced to be more in line with the difficulty of obtaining the ingredients.