Breakfast Topic: What drove you to reach the level cap for the first time?
by Josh Ehlers 
Sep 27th 2010 at 8:00AM
If there's one thing most WoW players have in common, it's a max-level character. It may have come at 60 before The Burning Crusade came out. Or maybe it came after that, at 70, or even at 80 with Wrath of the Lich King's release. The reason I say "most" instead of "everyone" is because like all things, there are exceptions -- though how many there are, I'm not entirely sure. What I do know is that up until a few weeks ago, I was one of those exceptions.
I've been playing WoW since it launched but never had any max-level characters until last month, when I dinged 80 for the first time. I won't go into details about how that sort of thing happens, mostly because I can't spare the word count, and will simply state that it was caused by server-hopping, altoholism and six-month-plus breaks from the game.
Seeing the game evolve from a constantly lower-than-max-level character was quite the experience. I never got to see what it was like raiding in T2 gear, not to mention never even getting dungeon 1 set. Sure, I experienced some cool world events like the two Scourge invasions, but all I ever saw when the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj were opened was a server message announcing the start of the event. Going through the Dark Portal for the first time to explore Outland? That happened when I re-subbed after one of those extended breaks this past June. I was faced with the challenge of getting from 58 to 80 before the next expansion released.
Of course, it went a lot faster than I expected, and now my account has its first 80. He's more than prepared for the upcoming Cataclysm. Having finally reached the level cap, I finally get to enjoy the next expansion's high-level content from the start, and I finally get to take advantage of WoW's endgame. Holiday quests that were nigh impossible for anyone under 80, the Argent Tournament, raids, heroic dungeons, and all of the other content now available to me. The driving force behind my journey to 80 over the last couple of months was Cataclysm's impending release, and I want to ask my fellow players: What was it that drove you to hit 80, 70 or 60 for the first time?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Cataclysm, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
C'tri Sep 27th 2010 8:06AM
For me, it was Avenging Wrath.
I just loved the concept of wings so much that it drove me to acquire it myself.
This was back in the BC days, ofc.
(And now in Cata, paladins get Angelic Guardians? motivation for 85 GET)
razion Sep 27th 2010 8:07AM
For me? The shiny, powerful abilities at the bottom of the talent tree. :)
Jinx Sep 27th 2010 9:12AM
You can get those at 61 ;D
...
In WotLK anyways :<
Deathknighty Sep 27th 2010 9:50AM
60, actually.
Mick Sep 27th 2010 8:19AM
I just wanna kill Arthas :). Apart from that i love leveling, I like doing big quest chains. last one I did was the Drakkari quest chain and i loved it. New lore, new zone and everything else keeps me going
Wjozw Sep 27th 2010 8:13AM
I was raicing with my friends to see who could get to lvl 60 the fastest. And then the curiosity for what's new in the expasion drove me to lvl to 70 and 80
Eternalmagic Sep 27th 2010 8:15AM
I started playing around halfway through BC. Flying mounts baby!
Eternalmagic Sep 27th 2010 8:16AM
The commenting system removes my heart :S (Less than three) < 3
JTS774 Sep 27th 2010 8:16AM
Watching my cousin in vanilla go to stratholme. The undead and living side looked like so much fun. I got to see Vinny open the door in living to be greeted by the patrol so he slammed the door shut again but it was too late they were pulled (The scene and screaming was hilareous)
Emprise Sep 27th 2010 9:43AM
Wait .... you have a cousin Vinny?
Masalar Sep 27th 2010 8:16AM
I'd played both FFXI and City of Heroes before starting WoW, and never got to more than mid level content. I'd been playing Wow for about 2 years already and hadn't managed a single max level character. I finally decided I needed to have at least 1. And that's why I leveled my hunter to 70.
Swifteye Sep 27th 2010 10:03AM
Same for me, though my MMO poison of choice was MapleStory (haw haw, I know).
Basically, the only thing that really drove me to the level cap was the mere fact that it seemed wholly accessible. In MapleStory I worked my BUTT off for MONTHS to get to level 70 and third job........ right around the same time as the level 120 fourth jobs were being announced and the level cap was set at 200.
Yeah. Talk about demoralizing and feeling insurmountable. It took me the same amount of time (slightly less, actually) as a WoW n00b to get my first toon from 1-80 as it took to get to 70 out of 200 in MapleStory, and it just felt like so much more of an accomplishment.
I keep churning out 80s, it keeps getting easier each time, and I've never looked back to my first MMO.
MusedMoose Sep 27th 2010 8:16AM
I didn't hit 80 with any character until about a year ago - I had a rogue named Moulin, and I wanted to be sure to hit the level cap before Winter Veil so that I could get the "Merrymaker" title.
Funny thing is, I pretty much stopped playing the character after that. *shrug*
The Dewd Sep 27th 2010 12:52PM
After getting lucky with the 2009 Love is in the Air candy bags on my Paladin alt, I played her almost exclusively (when not raiding on my main) just so I could get her to 80 and into Naxx for the meta. I saved up enough of the "Fool" target dummies and made it to 80 and into Naxx with about 30 minutes to spare before the last dummy expired. Between this year's holidays and last year's, she only has some of the Hallow's End achievements left for Long Strange Trip.
My main, however, I leveled to 60 because everyone else in my guild that played regularly was already 60 once I realized that was the level cap. I wanted to play with the "big kids". The *original* scourge invasion was the first time I got to do stuff with them and I never really looked back. :)
Josin Sep 27th 2010 8:17AM
Quests. In Vanilla, everything was new and shiny, the lore was fresh, and I was an eager sponge. In BC, it was a new frontier, an unexplored world. In Wrath, a race to face a powerful foe.
bui Sep 27th 2010 8:18AM
For me it just kinda happened, I kept stabbing things till I couldn't stab no more. And when I was done I found that I was 60 and BRD still was an all day event.
eyeball2452 Sep 27th 2010 1:30PM
Basically, the same. I was just happily leveling with little intention of getting into raiding. When I got to about 57, back in vanilla, I ground out the final 3 levels, over 2 days, so I could go raid with some friends that I had met in my early 50's.
Arcesius Sep 27th 2010 8:26AM
I've played since Oct 2005, but I never level capped till after Wrath as well, mainly due to changing character and taking breaks as well (mainly for military training). But the main reason I finally capped was probably because I wanted to see if I could do it. Plus many things help make it easier to cap now; Blizzard making it easier to level, add-ons such as questhelper, imo this makes it a lot easier than in the beginning.
Noyou Sep 27th 2010 8:25AM
I'm sure I would have some toons stuck on 30something if I didn't have to level my alts to maxout their professions :) I'm actually glad I had to do so or I may never leveled my paladin past 20. He's now my main. Of course saying he's my main with 5 other 80's (2 more planned for Cata) sounds a bit silly (at least to myself). Another reason to get to 80 was to see my character's potential was. Plus there was always that nasty ?? when opposing factions would come into town. Who wants to see that all the time :P
Moeru Sep 27th 2010 8:27AM
Most of my early level cap toons were attempts by me to catch up to a friend, or friends, who were max level and raiding, or leveling a toon to help out the guild in higher levels (tank).
While I don't regret leveling those toons (tank is now my main), I don't level toons expecting to raid/play with someone anymore, as some friendships in WoW can be as fleeting as they are anonymous, or you think you know someone but you really don't.
I find it's better now to just level toons for my own purpose and try to find people in guild and in general along the way that want to have fun with me rather than try to catch up to a group of friends who might disappear tomorrow.