Heartless gamer delays dinging 70 as long as possible; writer sympathizes.
by Mark Crump 
Feb 19th 2008 at 11:00AM
Heartless Gamer sent in his (or hers) story of an intentional delay in dinging level 70 here. He says:
"Also, the auction house was full of bargains when I started. I easily replaced nearly every item on my character with a TBC green for just a few gold per slot. Due to the mudflation of items in TBC, I was far more powerful than most players that started TBC at it's (sic) launch. This made the first few levels relatively painless.
Unfortunately, there are a couple things that surfaced due to my late start: lack of groups and level 70 gankers."
As a recent level 70 dinger, I can certainly sympathize with taking the long route. Not as bad as college, though; I'm on the 20+ year plan there. I did a mad dash to 60 to do the TBC review (a pace that would have made Cartman proud), did the review, got burnt out and logged in again mid-summer and got to 65. Eventually the embarrassment of writing for a WoW website and not being 70 got to me and I ground it out.
"In the end, levels 60 through 69 came and went and 70 arrived. In reality, I am back at level 1. I'm just a baby 70, barely able to hold my own in dungeons five levels below me"
I feel that pain. I was a level 70 hunter in quest blues and greens, steadily holding the bottom spot in the DPS charts--I'm pretty sure the healer was ranked higher. After running some instances to get my Kara key things got a little better, but the saving grace for me was my first Kara run--the Loot Gods bestowed favor on me and I had a four-drop day in Kara, and then Murmur dropped the Sonic Spear that night. Now that I'm half-epiced, gemed and enchanted things are a lot better.
How about you? Any of you take the scenic route to 70? Will you take your time getting to 80 when Wrath launches or rush like there's no tomorrow?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, The Burning Crusade, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Epiny Feb 19th 2008 11:07AM
I will have to rush just to keep up with my friends. My play time is around 1/10 of theirs so I will need to push to even hit 80 with in 2 months of them.
Milktub Feb 19th 2008 11:11AM
Depends on a couple things:
1. When the release happens. If it's after September, I'll be back in school after quite a few years in the work-force, so I'll be taking the slow road if for no other reason than I'll only have a couple hours a week to play.
2. What the instances are like. I love tanking, so if the instances are enjoyable (say, like Mech or SV, not like Crypts or MT) I'll be doing most of my leveling there.
Adam Feb 19th 2008 11:13AM
I'm actually new to WoW and taking my sweet time to get to seventy. This is partly due to me being new and not knowing all the short cuts or with any other character to help out in the gold department but also my ADD translation to altitis. I have like 3 characters I'm trying to level up at once and obviously that means it will take longer. Oh and thats me holding back. I have a ton of alts I made that I'm not letting myself play for the sake of trying to get at least one character to end game.
Barish Feb 19th 2008 12:19PM
No rush to 80 this time, i was the guilds 4th lvl 70.
No this time i will for sure reroll DK.
maybe even RPG-wise sacrifice my main.
And i will take time, enjoy the new content.
Killer Feb 19th 2008 11:17AM
I've taked the scenic route on most of my toons, the majority went to the outlands at 50 to level up their training then waited till about 60-62 to officially move to the outlands. Quests and the such were a breeze at that point. It was particularly hard for my warrior to enter outlands questing at 58, but at 62 it was remarkably easier. I still grind old world reps too so it wasn't hard finding things to do in Azeroth.
Langerhans Feb 19th 2008 11:45AM
How the heck did you quest for almost a million XP in Azeroth to reach 62 BEFORE hitting Outland?
infection Feb 19th 2008 11:58AM
My lock is 61 and 1/2 and I still have plenty of quest to do in azeroth. I just said screw it because they started being here and there and it was beginning to be a hassle. I would have to say that it can be done with ease to hit 62.
I skipped near about ALL of sithilus, tons in eastern plaguelands, and special quest and instance quest? Huge amounts of xp I didnt touch.
This is also based on the fact of a casual gamer I assume though. Remember, just not playing for 2 days at a time and you get tons of blue built up. My lock hasn't seen the light of purple and normal xp yet.
Someone that plays maybe 1 hour a night? Man, they would never burn the blue off. So they are getting double xp for each creature they kill.
Cap Feb 19th 2008 12:20PM
Ya, I'm working on my 3rd toon now (he's currently 62), and when the new faster leveling was implemented, I was about 42. I skipped WPL, EPL, Burning Steppes, Searing Gorge, and Silithus entirely (not in that order, obviously).
I must say that since it was my third time to do all the same quests, I was quite pleased with the changes. I think if it was my first toon, however, I would have almost felt rushed.
RanWitScissorz Feb 19th 2008 11:17AM
70 is when the real game starts, why hang out in the 60s?
Killer Feb 19th 2008 11:28AM
The game is what you make it. Not everyone can be raiders and not everyone can be casuals. Its up to the player to decide what is important to them and their personal progression goals.
Jasperwind Feb 19th 2008 11:37AM
I tend to agree with Killer on this. For each his own. I think I had more fun getting to 70 than I have being 70 (excluding 55-59 of course).
Gareth Feb 20th 2008 10:28AM
Ah, but the BG's between level 40 and 69 are the best generally, not many twinks (fortunately) and people just there to enjoy. Hitting level 70 is like being back in WSG at level 10-19 - everyone else is a twink.
Bob Feb 19th 2008 12:59PM
I leveld a lock to 60, got tired of playing him and am now on a lvl 25 Druid. The game starts when you are having fun.
Jasperwind Feb 19th 2008 11:17AM
I dinged 70 about a year after TBC launched. So I feel the pain too. People telling me I suck in BG's sometimes is disheartening. But then I just think to myself, "They are wearing season 3 gear with expensive enchants, and I'm still wearing level 65-69 blues and even some greens."
Eldron Feb 19th 2008 11:29AM
I raced my first TBC character to 70 ASAP, ignoring things like reputation along the way.
I'm taking more time with my main alt. He didn;t reach OL until 60, and I've spent long periods of time working off rest by grinding rep items (Plant Parts, Ogre necklaces, Arakkoa Feathers (dear God, that one took forever). I'm on the cusp of 70, and have only just started the Telaar quests in Nagrand. I'm looking forward to the massive amounts of gold available to me from quests at 70, and am safe in the knowledge that my rep levels are as high as they can be.
Callandra Feb 19th 2008 11:33AM
It is extremely easy to ding 70 with a respectable set of gear, that should get you through any level 70 instance (main tanking & main healing being the hardest roles) by doing some out of game preparation.
Using a site like wowhead.com, look to see what you can farm for, pre-70. Frozen Shadoweave materials, aldor/scryer rep. By checking boss loot tables / researching quest rewards to find the 'best' pieces for you to have.
As an example, on my warrior I dinged 70 & was exalted with Aldor within or before 1 hour of dinging (leveled farming Marks of Sargeras) which made for a nice sword, ring, tanking chest piece. Not to mention enchants! On my hunter, I dinged 70 equipped Valanos' Long Bow, Gladiator Shoulders and Felstalker bracers - within an hour. No sweat.
Take some time to prepare, research quest rewards, maximize your leveling by doing some grinding. Get trade skills etc. It's not too hard.
sephirah Feb 19th 2008 11:38AM
Hmmm... can someone explain what this guy did?
He dinged 70 some day ago?
Don't many people do it every day, with no need to write things like "Unfortunately, there are a couple things that surfaced due to my late start: lack of groups and level 70 ganker"
Zumwalah Feb 19th 2008 11:41AM
ima try to be 80 in 2 weeks, cant start raiding till ur lvl 80
Smurk Feb 19th 2008 12:03PM
I started the Smurk character last April and played him steadily, then lost steam at 65. So I levelled a paladin to 54 before I realized I didn't want to be a healer (outside of BGs) or tank at 70 - and so realized that time was largely wasted, and got Smurk to 70, I think in December. So it did take me quite awhile.
(Postscript to this is that after grinding 3000 gold and 60k honor for Smurk I'm in another phase of not really wanting to play WoW. I've played like 3 hours in the last 2 weeks as a dwarf priest on a new realm [Emerald Dream]).
LFD Feb 19th 2008 11:48AM
lol @ the 20 year college plan. I feel ya, brother, I feel ya.