Every Sunday, Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is now Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus. This week Matticus will provide some insight in the expansion leveling process for a Priest drawing from experiences in Burning Crusade.

There is no solid and definitive date for the expansion just yet, but that does not mean you cannot spend what extra time you have preparing yourself for the expansion. I've got a hunch that it will be a little easier this time around due to the minor changes that Blizzard has introduced.

I fully intend to get my Priest up to 80 as soon as I can. The sooner I can get to 80, the sooner I can tackle instances to get gear to go into raids to get better gear to get into harder instances to get better gear to kill Arthas. As one of the few players that leveled straight to 70 without taking the time to enjoy Burning Crusade when it came out, there's a few lessons that I I'd like to share with you to help give you that extra edge. Remember that I'm a career raider so I like to plan and think ahead as much as I can.1: It's going to be crowded

Hellfire Peninsula was jam packed full of players. Blizzard, the quick learners that they are, have created two entry level zones in Northrend because they recognized how difficult it would be for thousands of players trying to kill thousands of boars in a single area.

On a side note, expect to see a quest involving you to kill 20 Frost Boars or something. You heard it here first!

Work in teams: Party up with a few of your guildmates or friends. You'll have a higher chance of tagging mobs that everyone needs. The main source of experience will be turning in quests. The sooner you turn in the quest, the sooner you can move on to the next quest. The sooner you do that, the sooner you can get out of the zone and encounter less competition.

Shadow Word: Death is your friend here - it's instant-cast, and unlike Shadow Word: Pain, you don't have to wait for a DoT tick for the mob to be tagged as yours.

2: Don't worry about your professions

As an Enchanter and Tailor, I didn't worry too much about getting either of my professions to max skill level. My primary focus was to get to 70 as quick as possible and then focus on my professions. I'm going to adopt the same stance here for Wrath. If you're a gatherer, do stock pile on herbs and such to help accelerate your skill level. Be sure to keep some Netherbloom, Dreaming Glory and Mana Thistle handy to help provide a jump on leveling Alchemy.

3: Non-aggression pact on PvP servers

One of the things I noticed on my server is that ganking did not seem to be common at all. There appeared to be a mutual understanding that killing other players on a PvP server would come to a halt temporarily while everyone blitzed their way to 70. I think we'll definitely see something similar as we progress to 80 in Northrend.

However, if opposing faction units open fire on me I will definitely go weapons free (that is, military jargon for killing anyone not friendly) on my attackers. Another reason to apply lesson 1: level with friends.

4: Adjust your talents accordingly

Playing a Priest, I was able to spec myself in such a way where I did not completely handicap my ability to solo. On the other hand, you also want to choose a spec where you can still heal fairly well. Expect to see some players running instances to knock out their instance quests from their quest log. I did not run a lot of early dungeons myself as I chose to straight grind to 70 by questing. But every once in a while, I'll amass a huge backlog of quests asking you to step inside and kill certain bosses. The rewards tend to be well worth it. I expect to see a similar pattern in place on the road to 80.

Personally, I'll be picking my talents to help increase my survivability.

5: Sell off your raw inventory

All the stuff you're keeping in your bank right now is going to be useless. The only thing that will remain valuable at level 80 is hard currency. I'm probably going to engineer a gradual sell off of all the raw materials I have in the bank. Start selling off your Primals, some Enchanting stuff, herb stuff and all that. However, what I will do is keep a supply of shoulder enchants, leg patches and various other augments for level 80. I'm going to wager that the augments at Wrath of the Lich King end game will not be immediately accessible. Elune knows I'll probably have to grind reputation with Dalaran geezers, Alexstraza's dragons, frost Gnomes or something.

Don't sell off all of your Enchanting stuff, mind you. But I know as an Enchanter I have literally hundreds of Arcane Dust and Greater Planars. I doubt you will need that much.

If you have hundreds of Badges with nothing to spend them on, consider buying a few Nether Vortexes to sell. Also consider picking up some epic gems to keep handy for personal use.

6: Overload on consumables

I'm currently in the process of overloading on consumables. My personal guild bank tabs are being gradually used to store copious amounts of potions, mana oils, and flasks to help ease the leveling process.

7: Discipline yourself into dailies

I mentioned earlier that hard currency will be valuable going into the expansion. Try to save up as much gold as possible. I know I've stored about 5 digits worth of gold already in the bank. There's no telling how much the ability to unlock flying mounts will be in the later levels. Consider the jump from the cost of your epic riding mount to the cost of your epic flyer. I'm not sure the scale will stay the same, but no one ever complains about having too much gold on hand.

Last thing

Anyway, the bottom line here I want to get across is that if you've never participated in the leveling process when on an even playing field, you're going to be in for a treat. There's going to be a lot of competition. Expect to see lots of players looking for instance runs and as a Holy Priest you are going to be called upon quite often. I know for a lot of late bloomers it can be hard to find instance groups. Even on my alts, it still takes a while for me to find the appropriate group.

What's everyone else doing?

Coincidentally enough, preparing for Wrath of the Lich King is one of the latest shared topics in the Blog Azeroth community. Here's how a few of my other colleagues plan on preparing:

• Awlbiste's Thicket: Preparing for Wrath - Awlbiste suggested that if you wanted to reroll in anticipation for the expansion, now is not a bad time to do it.
  
• Destructive Reach: You are not prepared! - How this Warlock is prepping for Wrath.
  
• Flame Shock: Wrath Prep - For the Shamans among you!
• Cenarion Labs: What to Take to the Expansion from the Old World - Some items to keep in mind when going to the new world.
• Larisa Mage: Not Preparing for Wrath - Or you could be like Larisa and just go with the flow!
  

---

Want to find more great tips for carrying out your Priestly duties? Spiritual Guidance has you covered with all there is to know!And don't forget to check the WoW Insider Directory for more priestly info!

Filed under: Priest, Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Leveling, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance, Wrath of the Lich King