Interview: Jame of WoW-Pro (part 2)
What are your favorite zones to quest in, and why? (One each for classic, BC, and LK would be great)
Classic: Eastern / Western Plaguelands. While most people may be put off by those old zones full of undeads and plaguebats, I love it. There are so many quests, that if you do them the right way, you'll end up leveling much faster than in Hellfire or Zangarmarsh. This is even more true for Death Knights, because of the Death Gate abuse, you can cut down a whole lot of running. I just love the Plaguelands, it's great XP ;)
BC: I'd definitely have to go Netherstorm, I love the way the zone looks, it's jam-packed with quests and most NPCs give cash and drop cloth, which is great for funding your epic mount.
WotLK: Dragonblight, hands down. The fact alone that you can fly a Wyrmrest Red Drake throughout the whole zone even if you are not level 77, even if you don't have the epic riding skill (my guide explains how to do this). Now add to that all the cool quests involving all the Dragon Flight Aspects. And to top it off, you get that awesome quest chain leading to the opening of the Wrath Gate cinematic and an epic battle with your faction leaders.
What do you do once you're done leveling? Raid, PvP, dailies? Or do you just turn around and level a new character? ;) And kind of a similar question: do you have a "main", and if so, what class is it? Or if you prefer, what's your favorite class to play?
My main is a level 80 Orc Death Knight since WotLK, and it's definitely my favorite class to play.
Before that my main a Tauren Warrior, I was one of the MTs for my guild all the way from Molten Core until Naxxramas 40. I then mainchanged to Hunter during BC due to a hunter shortage in my guild (hard to believe eh?).
During normal times, when I'm done working on the guides, I log in and do a 10-man raid with my friends' "casual raiding guild", or I'd do a couple of 2v2 Arena games with one of my friends.
Sadly, I don't even have the time for that lately. I do my 5 Arena games a week and that's it. I just have too much on my plate right now with the Leveling Addon and I also still have to work on the last few guides for Northrend: Zul'Drak, Scholazar Basin, Storm Peaks and Icecrown.
The little free time I have left is spent with family and friends. That might sound crazy, but I kinda miss "playing" WoW lately, haha :)
What do you think of what we've seen so far of patch 3.1? Ulduar, dual spec, mana regeneration nerfs (not a problem for your DK, I guess)...what are you excited about, and what are you not looking forward to?
I'm very excited about the Dual Specs, and that's an understatement. It's a change I've been pushing for since early 2005. I actually made several long posts on the blizzard forums back then, trying to make re-specs less taxing on players, especially for tanks and healers. So I'm extremely happy to see it finally happening and I look forward to swap my DK from "raid mode" to "arena mode" at will. It's going to be fun!
I'm also very interested Ulduar of course. Unfortunately, I probably won't be seeing much of it in the near future, as I'm a very casual raider these days, and most of my free time spent on WoW is spent improving my leveling addon. But I can't wait to see how long it will take for the top raid guilds to defeat all the bosses in hard mode, I'd like to see some heated rivalry between the top guilds. It's something we haven't seen in quite a while sadly.
No comment on the mana regeneration nerf, I'll wait and see how it pans out on live servers.
My experience with the DK (I've got one at 80, and play it probably as much as my previous priest "main") has been that it's a really well-designed, really polished class. So much so, in fact, that it kind of makes the other classes look bad. Warriors and rogues especially feel a bit clunky by comparison. It seems like the devs applied all the lessons they learned about class design, and the DK is what came out.
So the question is: Do you think the DK plays better than the other classes? And if so, do you think the other classes are going to be brought up to DK level?
I do think that the DK plays better than most other classes. It's very easy and fun to level, and it's just very powerful. I do hope that Blizzard will make a few changes to other classes to make them less painful to level and give them more fun tools, especially in the lower levels, because that's where they are the most frustrating. Classes like the warrior and the rogue are just quite dull and difficult to level up until lvl 40+, and still remain relatively difficult in comparison to DKs all the way to level 80.
This is not the case for all classes though. Hunters, Druids, Paladins and Warlocks have it easy too. They may not all be as fun as Death Knights to level, but are still pretty close in terms of power. As far as the end game is concerned, I don't think blizzard will make any drastic changes to any class. They will just keep on making small adjustments until all classes are more or less balanced, but nothing that will alter gameplay much for the old classes. At least, that's what I believe.
Well, that's about the size of it. Big thanks to Jame for putting the time in to do this interview, and thank you for reading. Readers, any further questions for the guide guru? Maybe we can entice him to come by the comments here.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zeplar Mar 5th 2009 7:17PM
*sigh* more death knights... I guess if you're one of the "best" levelers in the world, you do have access to whatever class is most powerful as your main.
niko Mar 5th 2009 7:51PM
I'm not sure that's how to read that part, Zeplar. What's wrong with a little state-of-the-union on quickest leveling classes? It sure used to be all about Hunters not too long ago, and wasn't Joanna's main character (the one it's named after) a hunter as well?
Jame's service to the WoW community has been huuuuuuge. If he has a comment about what he thinks is quickest/easiest/etc., when it comes to the game, I'm all ears. I'm glad to see that his experience with the DK class echoes my own experience. Nothing wrong with confirming my suspicions. :)
BTW, the TourGuide version of your guides is top-notch, Jame. I've been following the Northrend set on my warrior in Prot spec, and despite being slower to kill stuff than my Moonkin was on his tour to 80, I'm enjoying this run so much more. Thanks for the guides, and even in advance for the updates. You are truly an asset to the community.
Cahlbraun Mar 5th 2009 9:38PM
Hey Jame, I've been a big fan of your guides ever since Burning Crusade came out, I'm up to five Horde-side characters at 70 (two at 80) and I started working on an Alliance Dwarf when you released the leveling guide on the addon. I've also been following your adventures as Holyjame with some interest, as my first 70 during BC was a Paladin and man was that a world of pain to level.
Anyway, I'm interested in leveling yet another toon to 70 on the Horde (this time as a Warlock), but I'm wondering when you're thinking of starting work on the Horde side Tour Guide mods? I know you're having a friend take a look at them, but uh... isn't the Horde a little more important on a personal level? ;)
Comrade Mar 6th 2009 4:06AM
There is a Horde side addon guide.
And on topic the addon versions of the guides has made leveling a dream. I've got my new Paladin to level 14 in a fraction of the usual time.
Dabua Mar 6th 2009 4:03AM
on DKs:
I think nobody ever leveled a DK from 1 to 55 :)
So it's hard to compare that to other classes
on Jame's guides:
I love them. If you never used one so far, please go try. It is not just a comforable way to level an alt but it is a lot of FUN to see your char go *ding*..*ding*..*ding*
Culhag Mar 6th 2009 6:01AM
I never used a leveling guide, but maybe that's why I always get bored of my alts in the 30's...
Zim Mar 6th 2009 6:31AM
I must thank James for his Guides and this come not only from speed the leveling process but also from help discover new and great aspects of the wow.
It´s easy to by pass some good stuff while leveling, as the text ... 'Wrath Gate cinematic and an epic battle with your faction leaders', this part is huge! Everyone should try this quest-chain.
I still love when I fly over that region of the map (can´t remember the name now) and listen to people crying and check the Dragon queen set you at peace on that spot.
Its truly a good exploring guide, people should give a try at least on their alt.
James is doing a great job making wow players happy while leveling toons. I know I am.
Zim
Pope Jamal Mar 6th 2009 9:58AM
Jame's guides are the best I've ever seen. I've never purchased any guides, but I can't really imagine they'd be any better. Really, his guides are VERY well researched and written.
Having said that, I would NOT recommend them for first time players. In a way, a big part of the game is discovering zones, instances, and quests on your own. I've also found that it's easier to remember where things are if you discover them on your own, instead of being directed there by a guide.
You can't go wrong with Jame's written guides. I'm currently using the TourGuide version of his guide and if I hadn't already leveled 2 previous characters with his guide, I probably would have gotten lost in a few spots in the Tour Guide version. There seems to be a problem with TourGuide not being able to completely recognize some quests with duplicate names by they're ID number and so occasionally, they "bug out" in one way or another.
Of course that's not his fault, but it does hurt the "experience" some. If you give Jame's written guide an A+, then the TourGuide version would still be a B+ to an A-.
Thank You Jame!
tate Mar 6th 2009 12:42PM
I got an addon for ya...spellcheck. I'm not normally a grammar nazi but quite a few typos in this one.
Dan Mar 6th 2009 3:48PM
^What Tate said. Where are your copy editors, for goodness sake?
tano Mar 6th 2009 4:22PM
Best Wishes, Jame.
I've always impressed with your work, your expertise, and your attitude.
Jonesey42 Mar 7th 2009 7:49PM
Thanks very much for the article! St. Jame, please keep going!
Jame Mar 12th 2009 8:01AM
Thanks everyone for the kind words and thanks wow insider for the coverage :)
The more people try my guides and my leveling addon, the happier I am.
I'm currently doing a speed test of my leveling addon on the Alliance side, and it looks very promising so far (Only 19 hours /played at level 30, without rested xp bonus and without twinking )
You can follow the progress on my blog .
Thank you!