You feel normal
by John Himes 
Nov 30th 2007 at 6:30PM
I've leveled up my share of alts in the past and I tend to be fairly strategic about doing so. The most important rule was to only play them when they had rest XP accumulated. Sometimes I'd enjoy a certain class so much that I'd occasionally break this rule, but I usually stuck to it. I know I'm not the only one that has done this. In all the various guilds I've called home over the last few years, I've often seen messages like "Well, time to switch over. Out of rest experience on this character."The last patch dramatically increased the rate of character progression between levels twenty and sixty. Over the last week or so, I've popped over to my Shaman alt to check out some of the new content for lower levels. Running around, completing mostly green quests, I got carried away and now find myself at level fifty. I progressed ten levels over the span of a few days with hardly breaking a sweat. This quick leveling has become addicting, but now my rest experience has run dry. I'm tempted to keep playing, but a voice in the back of head is nagging me to log off in an inn and to go play another character for a few days.
What have your experiences with the new experience rate been like? Are you a rest XP fanatic, like me? Or do you just keep plugging away, regardless of your rested state?
Filed under: Odds and ends, Leveling, Alts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
PDKM Nov 30th 2007 6:40PM
When 2.3 went live, my Warrior was level 28. He just dinged 58 this morning and will be moving on to Outlands this weekend. Time to break the rested xp habit of ages past, John. It's dead technology. Join the world of power levelling. Rested xp saves you nothing in this new world and will only cost you gold as you shop the AH for replacement gear at level 32 while you wait for your rested to build up.
jr Nov 30th 2007 6:43PM
/agreed
plus if you are enjoying yourself, why stop you pay the fee for fun not rest xp. just my $0.02.
SweetPoison Nov 30th 2007 6:46PM
Hah, while others in my guild were waiting for their rested to jump back up i gained around 10 levels. I look at it as a bonus, not a requirement for leveling.
Paul Nov 30th 2007 6:51PM
This faster leveling has only convinced me to roll a third alt. I'll probably get my first two alts to 70 at the same rate as before 2.3 now!
But it is pretty great, i ran something like 7 quests last night in an hour and a half and got my druid from 45 to 46. 4 more levels to get 375 max jewelcrafting!
Ryan Nov 30th 2007 6:52PM
1-62 on my druid so far since the patch.
flatrabbit Nov 30th 2007 7:14PM
I've been leveling my BE Prot pally pretty much since the patch hit and it's been amazing...I feel like I should be working on my main to get him raid ready but it's hard when leveling is so easy. I went from 22-39 in less than a week and I don't play nearly as much as I used to.
Bibble Nov 30th 2007 7:18PM
I used to only play characters that had rested experience. However, since 2.3 was launched, the amount of experience you gain on quest turn-ins has really been buffed. Since experience gained from quests have no bearing on your rested exp, I'm starting to play more without rest.
I would say that if you prefer to grind or do instances over questing then you should try and accumulate some rested experience where you can. You can't beat the quest experience though.
--Bibble
RaidOrg - http://raidorg.com - Helping World of Warcraft Guilds Manage Raids
Arka Nov 30th 2007 7:33PM
Coming from a person who's highest level is .. 33 now ;) I found the patch really helpfull .. from a guy who's main before the patch was 28.
Great patch .. has kept me playing :)
Sam Nov 30th 2007 7:38PM
I'm 2boxing a rogue and a mage (the mage being the level 70).
Taking it casually so far but the rogue is level 30 and he hasn't touched a mob, and has 0 dagger and 0 sword skill.
I imagine i may be one of the first level 60 (or maybe 70) rogues without any weapon skills :P
I really doubt i'll run out of quests doing it this way as well...in fact i think i've got more quests available to me than the last time i rolled an alt. I dont seem to be scraping to find the next level. I'm doing yellow+orange quests only (no reds) and the pace works out fine.
I'd reccomend it to anybody that has a mage spare and a little bit of alt+tab + /follow skills :P
tkc Nov 30th 2007 8:10PM
I used to try to stick to rested leveling but not any more.
I took my priest from 33 to 44 and my mage from 37 to 42 in seven days. Rested just isn't needed for fast leveling anymore. Especially in the mid 30 range with the new Dustwallow Marsh quests. Even STV is not so bad with the Rebel Camp FP. Now you can get to it without the long walk.
btw... if you're going to power level then mining will help with the gold problem.
Kiros Nov 30th 2007 8:26PM
My Shaman is 41 now, he was 32 when the patch was released, I'm loving the xp boost. Considering I only play about an hour every other night it's pretty damn good.
Kassandra Dec 3rd 2007 9:47PM
I used to be the same way, and i'll offer the same advice as what's above. If you like grinding or doing instances over quests, rested XP is still excellent. If you quest, it's a nice bonus but you're not killing a ton of mobs so full rested will last you likely a good 2 1/2 maybe 3 levels now.
A guildie of mine is 2 boxing a ton of alts up that it's almost scary. Lots of instance running in that, but he has a 70 mage to do the killing. It's fun, I got my now-39 mage in on the action and it is fast.
Cowgomoo Nov 30th 2007 9:54PM
Im sitting on 5 70s at the moment 4 of which were pre xp bonus and let me tell you that grind 1-60 blew and i played the spinning wheel of rested xp just to get there in a semi quick manner. But since there shoot 1-60 in 4 days game play. non the less i used the rule of no less than 5 lvs a day, more if you can stay awake that long, but it seemed that 5-7lvs a day was a avg for me.
What i learned, throw half your old lving guides out, green quest still equal mad xp and rep...(feel like i lved a eckhuman with racial of diplomacy) and i skipped all the instances past 30. I love the new system Now granted what do you do with 5 70s? pick your flavor of the day and go with it....have 3 set on dailies not for the rep, for the gold to support my crafting, and the other two i play for fun or whatever needs to be done that day.
Ryven Nov 30th 2007 10:10PM
My shaman was 47 before patch 2.3 and he is now nearing 61 and barley has any rested left. The new xp boost from the patch is amazing. Rested XP is a thing of the past I will finally be able to have a 2nd farmer and that means for dailies :)
Stig Nov 30th 2007 10:36PM
I used to be just like you. I'd always save up 50% rest at least, grind some quests, then quit as soon as I'd eaten all the rest up. After 2.3, no more. My hunter was 21 when 2.3 hit, and I'm not just a few thousand shy of 44. And I only play late nights for a couple hours. I used up my rest xp by 22.5 and haven't had more than 14% or so since. There is no reason to save up rest xp anymore with the increase to quest XP and reduction in xp per level. That 150% still takes as long to accumulate, but gets eaten up a lot faster. If you take a week off from an alt its a nice bonus when you come back to it, but its not necessary in the slightest anymore. Just go for it! Unless you've got 5 alts your rotating through don't bother with rest xp :)
jaxson_bateman Nov 30th 2007 11:38PM
Hehe, the last comment by 14 is funnily close to home for me... I rerolled a BE pally when BC came out (previously human pally), and did so on an Aussie server as I used to be on a US server. A few months ago I decided I'd try and get alts up of every class on the server, so that I could experience every class at cap, and also to assist my main (mainly via professions). Since then, I have done the full rested XP method - that is, I won't play an alt unless it has full rested XP. As I'm raiding and working, this is rarely a problem.
Prior to 2.3, this method was fantastic - my playtimes were absolutely fantastic compared to like level players. Post 2.3, the advantage isn't as dramatic, but it's still there. Most play sessions I get a character up 3 or 4 levels before my rested is consumed (thanks to questing) - this was the case prior to 2.3, and is also post 2.3. It's only that now, my sessions are a lot quicker. =)
Doch Dec 1st 2007 12:47AM
I'm an altoholic and ran low on rested xp on my 65 lock so I decided to take my 39 hunter for a spin in Dustwallow to check out the new quests. He had 150% rested to start and I hit lvl 44 before he ran out of rested in about 5 hours of play in Dustwallow. I then ran Tanaris to get my LWing up from scorpid scales and got halfway to 45 before I started questing in Tanaris. Only problem I saw was that my pet seemed to be at least 1 level behind me from the accelerated leveling (I know they are working on this for the next patch I think). At this rate I should have my 29 mage to 40 in no time.
Baluki Dec 1st 2007 2:46AM
I'm really enjoying the change too. I got my paladin from 42 to 48 in just a couple days. And I too ran out my Rested bar, but fortunately I still have my other alts. I've mostly been playing my 32 mage, but a part of me really wants to just powerlevel my pally up to 70 so I can actually get into dungeons.
Jason Dec 1st 2007 9:21PM
When the patch launched my rogue was 33 and now he is 46. For me that is VERY fast leveling considering I had no rest bonus at all and play only a few days a week.
Gogey Dec 1st 2007 9:54AM
Im leveling too fast to get most of these quest improvements, so I just gain rest exp when I'm raiding or sleeping/at school, and actually try NOT to unless I really hate the level range Im in :(