Breakfast Topic: The Man with a Plan
by Zach Yonzon 
Nov 21st 2008 at 8:00AM
I must confess, I'm not even 80 yet. I had expected to hit Level 80 within a few days, but I had to wait for my wife, with whom I leveled since Day One, to get her Collector's Edition key (eventually made possible only with some arm-twisting and name-taking by our very own Dan O'Halloran -- thanks, Dan!) before I could set foot in Northrend. When my wife finally got her key last Monday, she found my pace too frenetic because I would simply accept quests and do them as I remembered them from Beta. She, on the other hand, wanted to read and enjoy the quests and level up her professions at the same time. We ended up stopping at every Cobalt Node, slowing down our leveling pace considerably.
That kind of changed things. Instead, I eventually decided to level ahead of her on my own time and just accompany her through quests whenever she played. I also stopped rushing myself and didn't mind spending some time in Dalaran's Underbelly looking for elixirs. I guess I'll hit Level 80 eventually. It's not going the way I envisioned it, but I'm actually still enjoying myself. I guess I'm the Man with a Change of Plans. How about you? How has your first week in Northrend been?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Wrath of the Lich King, Expansions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Aubrecia Nov 21st 2008 8:09AM
Leveling's gone faster than I expected, honestly. I wasn't planning to hit 75, much less 80, for at least another week, but here I am at 74. It's good, I suppose, since I'm not going to play over Thanksgiving.
I'm mostly just grinding for gold right now. Professions are on hold -- well, one profession, anyway, since skinning was easy to level -- until I'm nice and rich and probably at 80. I'll still have plenty of time to level profs later. The gold will help me out now, so I can afford epic flight and cold weather flight. (I'm a latecomer, sue me.)
I've finished off both Tundra and Fjord and I'm headed into the Dragonblight now. Quests are going a lot faster than planned, which pleases me, after the long grind I remember as Outland. It's just a slow, constant gold grind for me right now. I'm upgrading my gear along the way, but that's secondary to the damn epic flight skill I didn't have a chance to earn before hitting Northrend.
Odyne Nov 21st 2008 8:10AM
Very nice actually.. I've been averaging 2 levels per day for the 4 days I played and now I am 4 bars into 78 and with an epic flyer I zip around and complete 5-6 quests in 15 minutes tops. But over all its nice cause I can actually read the quests and understand FULLY whats goin on.
Dotixi Nov 21st 2008 8:10AM
I had planned on lvling my Shaman (main) to 80 first but once I began playing a Death Knight I just couldn't bring myself to stop. Most of my guild is 75+ and I'm about to hit Northrend on my DK. I only play a few hours during the weekdays so my lvling is slow any way.
I don't mind, I am really enjoying the DK.
SlimPickinz96 Nov 21st 2008 10:18AM
Agreed.
Work limits my time in game, so im pretty much limited to trying to "do everything" over the weekend. Im loving WoTLK so far.
Better yet, WoW in general.
ski Nov 21st 2008 11:43AM
same thing with me, my priest and hunter are taking a backseat to my deathknight at this point
iheartdks Nov 21st 2008 1:02PM
it's funny how plans can change... i had originally thought "there's no way i will ever level a dk!" and planned on going on a hardcore gankfest against them in hellfire...
BUT, i absolutely LOVE playing my dk now :) it's quickly becoming my new main (my hunter is getting some nice resting xp while hanging out in VK at 70 1/2) and has already bypassed my 65 lock (who has been my main alt)
plus, with how quick it can be to go from 60-70, i'm having a hard time NOT playing him
Mumlock Nov 21st 2008 8:10AM
I didn't have no plan at all, not counting the enjoy-the-expansion-as-you-go plan.
Cheers!
Nick S Nov 21st 2008 9:40AM
“I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop."
Cheers, Mumlock.
Will Nov 21st 2008 8:10AM
My first priority coming into wotlk was also getting to level 80, but I found I am taking it at a much slower pace so that I can looking under every rock of wotlk and experience all that I can.
I don't feel the need to "catch up" to all the players at level 80 as the majority of the server is still on the way.
http://www.wowconfidential.com
Jeni Nov 21st 2008 8:13AM
I hit 74 last night, but I will not be playing for about 2 weeks. Thanksgiving, out of town friends, a get together of several people in my guild for a moroccan 7 course meal... All of those things are more important than getting to 80. ^__^
Flashalas Nov 21st 2008 8:17AM
Level 74 - right on track in a comfort zone. LOVE Northrend, and LOVE the instances and questlines.
Cyanea Nov 21st 2008 8:18AM
"If you're like most players I know, you had a plan going into the expansion. Personal targets, maybe, or things you were looking forward to doing and achieving."
My biggest plan was to relax, have fun, see everything there is to see, do everything I can do, and not worry about how fast I'm levelling. So far, so good. I just dinged to 73 this morning, had a great night running around the Dragonblight with a guildmate doing all the quests for the different flights (I absolutely love the Dragonflight lore. I looked forward to Dragonblight and the Nexus War more than Arthas).
Get my Warlock up to eighty, and do every instance on the continent. I'm not getting left out of the endgame like I did with Burning Crusade because by the time I dinged to 70, everyone was already getting ready for Wrath. :P I'd also like to get my Paladin up there from Outland cause my guild has a critical shortage of tanks.
Absolutely LOVING the expansion so far. I giggled in glee when I saw the Wyrmrest Daily.
OnniHopeDream Nov 21st 2008 8:20AM
Got to 80 2 days ago, pretty much power leveled last three in one day lol. I thought I'd take it more casual, but felt like I should be among the first 80's on the server to get the first look at the new instances.
The only thing I really like is the fact that I'm in almost the same exact gear I started with! I mean, I know T5 is pretty good, but I replaced nothing but my trinkets.
Meh, I just feel silly walking into Naxx looking like I'm 70. Time for some heroics!!! :)
iraya Nov 21st 2008 8:21AM
hey zach. kamusta? yea, i havent been able to follow my plan too. hahaha. im still stuck at 73, 'cause when i get bored with a particular zone i simply move into another. and come back another time when i feel like it. but so far, my favorite zone is dragonblight, 'tis very rich in lore and the atmosphere is amazing. :D
Zach Nov 21st 2008 8:23AM
Well, due to being unfortunately unemployed, and then finding myself with a horrible case of Strep, I find myself at 80 before anyone else in my guild is even at 78. So now I spend most of time just doing PUGs, farming rep to get better tanking gear, and on occasion, getting a couple levels on my alts.
Sinanju Nov 21st 2008 8:24AM
The plan was to create Death Knights and leave them to get plenty of rest experience while we leveled our mains to 80. What happened was we got so involved with the Death Knight, we leveled them to early 70s, and our mains are getting plenty of rest experience. lol. The last couple of days, we have really started leveling professions.
Its great to go into some of the Outland dungeons with 4 DKs and a healer and just own it. More fun then we've had in quite a while. My group and I have been playing together for about 3 years now, and have quite a few alts. The Death Knights look to be co-mains from now on.
gesslar Nov 21st 2008 9:50AM
that poor healer!
great summation of exactly how i found being a healer in a group of 4 DK's.
http://egotisticalpriest.com/2008/11/wrath-week-1-thoughts/
not me, but perfectly reflects what happened in my group.
Tinwhisker Nov 21st 2008 8:25AM
I'm 76 now and slightly behind where I thought I'd be. This is probably because I've been making every effort to not miss the good quests in every zone. As a result I've gotten to 76 by only completing quests in two zones (Howling Fjord and Dragonblight).
When you've completed nearly all the quests in a zone and things start to run dry you're not able to complete them as quickly and/or group them up as well. So towards the end of a zone your pace slows down considerably.
I just moved in to Zul'Drak though so I should get another speed burst and then a slow down again as I get close to 80. I'll probably ding 80 sometime mid next week.
Ekimus Nov 21st 2008 8:25AM
I'm sitting at only 73 at the moment, and averaging about 4 hours per level. I've only been questing, and did one Nexus run. Honestly, I'm enjoying every quest and story element a bit too much!
I also ran a DK up to 60, and I'm seriously considering rolling another one just to do the end quest line again!
Cow Nov 21st 2008 8:28AM
My paladin is 74, but I'm taking a little break from the leveling grind in Northrend to level up my shaman, who is currently 42 and should be in Outland within a couple of days.