Preparing for 80
by Matthew Rossi 
Jun 16th 2008 at 3:00PM
Because I tank for the guilds I'm a part of, I feel obliged to get my tanks to 80 as fast as I can, which depending on how the game changes between now and the release of the expansion will probably mean respeccing to a DPS mode to make things easier. (I'd prefer to sit back and see the content, but I feel like I'm obliged to be ready for raiding as soon as I can be.) Similarly, both of my shamans will probably go enhancement, possibly speccing resto if enough people are on to run the new dungeons. I don't expect to roll in as much gold doing dailies once we're in expansion territory, so I'm trying to ensure I have enough gold stockpiled to respec at will to tank or heal instance runs and still go back to DPS mode for grinding quests.
Essentially, I'm busy making plans to manage getting four 70's to 80 as fast as possible. I know the first one I start will be at a disadvantage, as the others will all get rested XP, but I'm expecting to rotate between them to take the most advantage of rested I can. So, I ask you: what other suggestions do you have for me? What should I do to maximize my leveling productivity? Do you recommend instances over questing? Should I instead focus on one character at a time or rotate them? How did you make the jump to 70 and how are you planning to get to 80, fast or leisurely?
Filed under: Shaman, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, The Burning Crusade, Leveling, Alts, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
vlad Jun 16th 2008 3:07PM
your crazy. it will take 5 minutes and 10 gold to get your professions to the current max after LK is released. right now it will take 100's of g and lots more time. I completely stopped all progression on all my cars. (and cancelled the acct and uninstalled the game lol) untill LK comes out. However I did reinstall and set up a non public server so I could solo BT and SW (which i left the game before they were released.)
g8rCody Jun 16th 2008 3:13PM
your e-peen is HUGE!
SpaceDog Jun 16th 2008 3:15PM
Em, won't all the new recipes require 375 skill? I think all the BC ones needed 375. In which case, it wouldn't help.
I could be wrong.
Justin Jun 16th 2008 4:03PM
But I think the point the poster was making in his first couple of sentences was valid. The the cost of the mats for the 350-375 profession grind will drop dramatically, especially if you have two non-gathering professions.
Nick S Jun 16th 2008 4:28PM
a refugee of truth amid a wreckage of grammar, true, but i would like to point out that certain 1-300 materials have actually jumped in price since TBC.
wool cloth, for example, is one of my easier sources of cash at the moment, selling as it does for 8-10g per stack. illusion dust cost so much when i was leveling enchanting that 280-300 cost more than 300-340.
infection Jun 16th 2008 5:36PM
You are completely wrong if you think bc mats will drop in price. Think about it. No one playing there anymore? You have to go back to BC just to farm stuff to get it? Look at the large brilliant shards now... its insane. Unless you are on a server that is different than every server out there right now. I play on 2 different servers and they are exactly the same on the rpice for that stuff.
frank Jun 16th 2008 5:50PM
You're all right!
My prediction is this. At first, the mats will drop in price. This will be due to less alts leveling it (as more people will be playing their mains through the new content) and more people with 375 skill selling off their surplus (since some of it won't ever be needed again). After people are level 80 for a while, the mats prices will go back up, possibly higher than before. This seems to be about how it was pre-BC but I could be wrong.
vlad Jun 16th 2008 6:08PM
A wreckage of grammar? Not I. punctuation and capitalization yes. Grammar no. I have a Masters in English and American Literature and Language. OK, so I choose not to be ostentatious with my vocabulary and writing prowess. I do not want to alienate myself from the plebeian among us. Unfortunately that exposes me to the profundity of pseudo-intellectuals such as yourself :)
Ok I just made that all up.
FB Jun 18th 2008 11:58AM
And dropped the comma that should have followed "unfortunately".
vlad Jun 18th 2008 12:24PM
Guess you didnt read the part where I stated my lack of punctuation skills. good try though :)
vlad Jun 18th 2008 12:24PM
Guess you didnt read the part where I stated my lack of punctuation skills. good try though :)
Jack Spicer Jun 16th 2008 3:14PM
One suggestion I have is to not worry to much about preparing for the expansion. There are so many things that you could do like farming gold/ore/herbs/primals/leather, leveling toons/professions, gearing up that I would personally start tearing my hair out if I began making lists of all the stuff I needed to do to "prepare".
Besides the difference between 'prepared' and 'not prepared' will probably only be 1 or 2 weeks of post-expansion playtime.
If I'm online when the next expansion comes out, for the first two weeks after release I'm going to hide out in Azeroth avoiding lag and fighting for quests, waiting for groups to summon me to Northrend for 5-man instances only.
my2cents Jun 16th 2008 5:13PM
I agree with most of what you said, just not the last part. One of my favorite WoW memories is of the day TBC was released, all the chaos of so many people crammed into HFP and having absolutely no problem finding people for group quests. It was so alive. I really enjoyed it =)
vlad Jun 16th 2008 3:18PM
btw. when BC came out I leveled 4 60's to 70 the same you you plan to. sadly i missed out on alot of fun because while my guild was running kara,mag,grull i was stuck with 4 lvl 64-67'ish char's that could not participate.
yes i was the first guildy to have 4 70's (and they all dinged within a few days ) but the guild was starting ssc and the eye and i was stuck doing alt kara/grull/mag runs and only caught up midway through ssc/eye and was left behind for bt/hyjal and quit the game before SW even went live.
i learned my lesson and decided im going to level 1 char (a new main) to 80 and only after that will i level the other 2 (one im not going to level at all as i lost interest in the class after bc and regret wasting my time leveling it.)
dan Jun 16th 2008 4:49PM
Valuable lesson learned. Multiple alts only really become valuable later on anyway. You have a few weeks of spare time during early raid learning anyway.
Near as I can tell the best way to level quickly is split it. Do the first 5 levels via questing and then the last 5 via instances. Odds are you going to want to be prot for the latter half of that at least. Also do keep in mind that soloing/group quest play will go easier for tanks in the future. I wouldn't worry so much about respeccing is my point.
dwarfd Jun 27th 2008 4:10PM
"A wreckage of grammar? Not I."
Followed closely by:
"when BC came out I leveled 4 60's to 70 the same you you plan to."
and
"sadly i missed out on alot of fun"
While I'm impressed by your lexicon (read: "vocabulary"), and your "Masters in English and American Literature and Language", your inability to put a space between "a" and "lot" astounds me...
vlad Jun 27th 2008 4:30PM
astounded! fantastic! thanks alot :)
Danny Jun 16th 2008 3:19PM
Enjoy the game!! That's what I'm gonna do when the expansion is released, every bit of detail.
And yeah, I'm kinda worried about the mass invasion of players to Northrend when the exansion is released. Will probably have to play during the night.
makishima Jun 16th 2008 3:35PM
I'm right there with you. I don't want to be on the bleeding edge of raiding going for world 1st's etc. I want to take my time enjoying all there is to offer. And yeah I don't plan on even setting foot in Northrend till about 2-3 weeks after launch.
Renako Jun 16th 2008 3:19PM
One thing I plan on doing is trying to start an alt and take it to 70 with only herbalism. From what I've seen from the alpha, herbs are going to be needed for inscription, and I want to rush that up as soon as possible, so I plan on keeping a full bank of herbs for every level. Worst case is if it changes when the release comes I can just raise alchemy.
I always recommend quests over instances, but I love running instances so they always seem to squeeze in here and there.
My strategy for leveling is simply starting with the character best at tagging mobs... aka my huntard. We'll see what happens when it comes out though.