Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWhere to begin? (Poll)
by Amanda Dean 
Nov 4th 2008 at 8:30AM
Do you remember the night that Burning Crusade came out? I waited in the cold outside Game Stop with about 30 other people. We boasted about our accomplishments and I nearly came to blows with a decidedly orcish young woman who played a Gnome Warrior (with pink pig tails). I rushed home to install the expansion and couldn't wait to get in. First, I ran my character into Orgrimar to get the PvP version of the Hawkstrider. I was disappointed that it didn't exist so I bought a Skeletal Warhorse and trotted on to the Dark Portal. 
There was a raging PvP battle in Blasted Lands. The ground was covered in skeletons. I ran the gauntlet as quickly as I could, grabbed the quest and zoned in. Through the portal I found the worst monster I've ever encountered in WoW: lag. With everyone starting in Hellfire Peninsula it was like my character was swimming to sand. While there was an uneasy, unspoken truce between the factions quest mobs were hard to come by. It was reminded of Black Friday at Fry's. I still stayed up until seven the next morning.This time Blizzard is attempting to disperse the opening crowd. We will have the option of beginning in the Howling Fjord or the Borean Tundra. Horde and Alliance will approach from different places so that's another bottleneck out of the way. Some players will chose to roll a Death Knight character right away, which will also diminish the churn. There will be lag, but hopefully it'll be more bearable this time.
So my WoW Insider friends, let's make a plan. Let's try to spread out a bit. Lend us all a hand and participate in the following poll:
| Borean Tundra | |
|---|---|
| Howling Fjord | |
| Eastern Plaguelands | |
| I'm going to try to skip a zone or two | |
| I'll be waiting to get the expansion | |
| Who needs Wrath of the Lich King anyway? |
Filed under: Polls, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, Leveling, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Nick S Nov 4th 2008 9:34AM
It's a tough call... the Fjord's visual style is beautiful, but it's sure to be even more packed than Borean Tundra. I expect I'll be starting in the Tundra, trying to race through to (Dungeon) type quests so that I can level out of the starting area in the Nexus.
Vyndrian Nov 4th 2008 9:40AM
Since I'm a quest whore, I'm going to do both zones. I'll start in Howling Fjord, do all the quests there, then head over to Borean Tundra and do that side. From there, I'll work my way through Northrend from both the east and west sides. If one zone has tons of lag, I'll hop over to the other side.
Invisible Elf Nov 4th 2008 10:04AM
I will probably do the same, I also enjoy being a bit higher level than the zone I'm in so I won't die so much heh
Also I will have lot of quests to do at level 80 for cash
Kellhus Nov 6th 2008 10:19AM
I am definatly going to Fjord due to the instace that is in that zone that i will use to level :) looking for a quest mobs on the first few days or maybe a week is just painful but i got to level fast so i think at first i will hit the instaces.
Naix Nov 4th 2008 9:44AM
I have four geared out 70s right now. Having missed a lot of content because I was always working on an alt this time will be different. Having every played class that wears different armor, by chance, I wanted a plate wearing toon. I thought about rolling a Paladin/Warrior a 2 months but I really really wanted a Death Knight. So I held out because I want to go full on Death Knight as my new main. So here is my plan...
1. Park all my toons in Org
2. Roll a Death Knight
2a. Use Druid to play with friends if they want to level in Northrend.
3.Level Death Knight to 80 and run instances as tank/dps.
4. Level Druid to 80 to and run instances as Kitty dps/Heal
5. Level Warlock for fun and maybe run instances.
Death Knight = Plate wearing Tank/Melee DPS
Druid = Leather wearing Kitty DPS/Healer
Warlock = Cloth wearing ranged crit DPS
Cyanea Nov 4th 2008 9:49AM
I know nothing about either.
I'm probably going to level up my Mage and Paladin with a friend, cause the release date is right in the middle of my RaF days. That way I can level in peace when I get there.
I'm probably going to take my Warlock through whatever zone is more lore-aligned to Humans, and my Night Elf Hunter through whatever the other zone is.
Muse Nov 4th 2008 10:06AM
I had intended to grab one of my guildies and duo in Dragonblight right away, but during beta I realised you actually need to level up and get the lead-to quests in order to start out in the Dragonblight quest hubs. So that killed that idea.
What I probably am going to do is get said lead-to quests and go to the northern HF questhub right away instead of the starting one, get most of the level from there, do the instance for the rest.
Zul Nov 4th 2008 10:14AM
Borean Tundra is the place for me. Warsong Hold and my orc warrior... (-:
Bangarang Nov 4th 2008 10:24AM
as a resto sham, i suspect most of my time will be spent in instances..ill do the start quests and get the dungeon quests, but i suspect most of my time will be in instances.
d0cta ew Nov 4th 2008 10:19AM
I could barely read this article due to the grammatical errors. It is getting worse and worse on this site, step it up guys, for god's sake.
Naix Nov 4th 2008 10:56AM
I thought I was the only one who noticed that.
gundamxzero Nov 4th 2008 11:34AM
Coming from someone named "d0cta ew" its not saying much.
d0cta ew Nov 4th 2008 11:39AM
It is a play on my name, which is Drew. Thanks for trying to be an internet tool for no real reason at all.
Juneau Nov 4th 2008 10:22AM
Howling Fjord. I don't really like Borean Tundra.
Wulfkin Nov 4th 2008 10:27AM
I'll start in Borean Tundra with my Orc Shaman (hey theres a mahusive Orcish base there!) and Howling Fjord with my Death Knight when he gets there (as he'd be more likely to help out the Forsaken).
Xtofer Nov 4th 2008 10:31AM
In beta, i was able to play in both of the starting areas. I liked both Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord, but I prefer the Tundra to start in. It just had more of a fun-factor for me. Plus, the coldara is beautiful!
Shyara Nov 4th 2008 10:46AM
i'm going to instance a few levels, and hopefully get to 73 before i hit any of the new stuff...
we'll see.
Metaphyzxx Nov 4th 2008 10:51AM
In beta, I did borean tundra first, and it took me FOREVER to level. Went to HF, an got quests knocked out nearly instantly... levelling was faster in Fjord.
Balius Nov 4th 2008 10:58AM
Just want to say, lag wasn't the biggest problem BC brought to the table. With so many people in the zone, respawn timers were jacked up to instant. Coupled with the lag-related reaction time increase, it was incredibly easy to get locked in a perpetual fight that only ended when you died.
My plans for Wrath aren't terribly interesting. I won't even be getting the game until a week later. When I do, I'll level wherever people aren't (I tend to play at off-peak hours anyway, so with any luck I'll be able to avoid the crowds altogether and appreciate the landscape as more than a seething sea of bodies). I could roll a DK, I could pick the least popular starting zone, or I could just get one of the mages who ARE planning on leveling hard from day one to port me to Dalaran to fish until things calm down some if things are too terribly crazy (a gnome-sized rat pet? I'm SO there!). I can be flexible, but I mostly want to avoid the drama this time.
AlexW573 Nov 4th 2008 11:01AM
I'm actually not sure what I'll be doing next. I'll go whereever I feel like it, and start from there :) Then once I get temporarily bored with my Druid, I'll start up a DK, maybe powerlevel Tailoring and Blacksmithing (my guild needs both, and hopefully Blacksmithing will help with gear), and do some quests in OL after DK starting zone.