Hi, I'm pretty new to the game and to mining, just reached Rank 20.

I've spent quite a bit of time mining points to get Rank 20 and was wondering, is that the only way to level? Other then the occasional guildleve, mining the 4 Grade 3 nodes for about 150xp per item is the best way? I've read up that I should go to the next grade when I can mine 3 or 4 times and have access to the skills to locate them, but with the amount of SP growing larger and larger it seems like a huge grind to level a gathering class.

I'm not wanting it to be easy or seem like I'm complaining it's too difficult, just wanting to make sure I'm not wasting my time and doing something wrong.