My level is going down not up- Please help

I reached level 20 & was half way through that level but now my level is going down. I have been going on quests with people but the quest is not showing up when I press L. Do I have to get a quest before I join a group. If I have not got the quest & I get death penalties- does this mean that my death penalties are not removed. Will this decrease ruin my character forever?
Hope someone can help me before I make it worse.
Thanks

You sure you didn't do a quest, it dinged you a skill point, and that's why your bar is lower then it was? I've never, ever, heard of people "losing" XP. I'm sure this may be just a technical glitch or oversight on your part.

--The Shim

Thanks for answering. It is a mystery. I have not lost any skill points.
I have been helping my grandchildren with quests that I have already done. & my level is definitely going down. I will have to use a low level character to play with them so I dont do any more damge to my main one until I find out exactly what I am doing wrong.
Thanks
Nannaperry

Please, can you post me successive screenshots of your EXP depleting? Maybe then I can cure this technical problem with some cold hard knowledge <or a phone call to Customer support!>

--The Shim

I'm sure this is you're going up and then it seems to go back down again because you've just leveled up and got a skill point, not a new level. Once you reach level 20, the more you level up, you do not gain level but merely a skill point each time.

I think it unlikely someone's XP could randomly start going down

When you join a party to do a quest, yes you must have that quest if you want to complete it and get experience too.

Death penalty goes away, either when you go back into the outpost or the XP you gain from fighting slowly knocks it off.

Basically what I said Sym. It doens't make sense that you'd lose exp..just lose..I'm pretty sure..anyways.

--The Shim

Yes I was being silly. The red on my lev was just starting to go up again. I have never played online games before as I am a Morrowind fan so never came across this problem. I think you have the answer. & thanks for the Quest answer. All problems solved.
Thank you very much
nannaperry

OK he has died , he notices his health bar go down, he thinks this is perminant. thats all.

so no you cant go down as a character perminantly , it will go down every time you die untill you login your acct again, or go to a new town. this is called DP or death percentages, read your GW manuel or go to www.guildwars.com and look there to learn more about DP

shimus already got it to him b4 me... Dang

Actually, DP means Death Penalty

lol... duh me i was just doing alot of stuff using %'s and i got confused