Breakfast Topic: Any other new 85s in the house?
by Kelly Martinez 
May 28th 2011 at 8:00AM
New troll here! Also new worgen, goblin, paladin, druid, shaman, dwarf ... It's been a great time to try new things since Cataclysm came out! I'm having a lot of fun trying classes I was hesitant about in the past, even giving a few classes I'd decided never to play again a second try.
I'm not having fun tracking down information about these classes. An overwhelming number of results I get by searching for information on "leveling X class" are about leveling from 80 to 85. Or it's old information that's no longer applicable. Then there's my paladin problem. I really enjoy questing as a holy paladin but keep finding information that assumes I'm leveling through the Dungeon Finder or tells me to level as retribution and then switch to holy later. I don't have heirlooms, and finding information on how to gear my new characters before they get to Northrend is just killing me!
I've also come across a few people in dungeons who were brand new players. I may not have a lot of experience with some of the classes I'm trying, but I'm running into people who have no experience with the game. One guy didn't know he could run back into the instance to get his body when we died in Shadowfang Keep. He rezzed at the Spirit Healer before going back in.
Now that we've made it through those first post-Cataclysm months and 4.1 is out, where have you been getting information on leveling alts? Are you still playing any of the alts you rolled up in those first weeks of Cataclysm? Are you a new player who just went through his first patch day with 4.1? Am I the only one who quests as a holy paladin?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
MusedMoose May 28th 2011 8:09AM
Let's see... It took me a while to find some alts that I liked enough to keep playing, aside from my night elf mage, whom I've been playing since 4.0 hit. ^_^ I thought I'd make a draenei hunter to start, but it turned out that I liked having a human one better. And it took me three tries to find a good class for a worgen - I really don't like the males' running animation, but I now have a female worgen rogue, because ninja werewolf.
As for being newly 85, the only new alt I've hit 85 with is my human hunter, though I need to get my NE mage there before it's time for the fire festival, in case she needs to be max level to get the achievements.
Zorlizzt May 28th 2011 8:17AM
It is pretty hard to find help with trimming out your 85. You either have to trust the quack you look up on armory or wing it. The gear upgrade thing on wowhead helps, but it would be nice to see more BiS lists or even a spec guide for my class. All the stuff I look up is old. :P
I play a disc priest and a blood dk
heals n tank of course.
Vorken May 28th 2011 9:14AM
Www.askmrrobot.com
It is my lifeline for all classes and specs
Karcharos May 28th 2011 2:03PM
Seconding http://www.askmrrobot.com.
Just be aware that it's set up for raiding based on Elitist Jerks theorycrafting. In my experience, as an 354iLvl 5-man warrior tank, I need to edit the stat weights for Expertise and Hit. You just do not have the vengeance to ignore threat in 5-mans.
I've found a weight of 58.5 on threat stats puts me in my comfort zone ~3.3% in each of hit and expertise. No threat problems whatsoever.
Noyou May 28th 2011 5:47PM
I like to use wowpopular and maxdps.com for ideas on gear/enchants/gemming/glyphs and roatation. Like I said it's only to use as an idea. Another thing you could do is whenever sitting around a city (or wherever you see people) check out someone's gear/talent tree who is playing the same (or spec you are interested). Feel free to chat with them as well. I have found people are very receptive and often give good advice if you use the friendly approach.
There really are a lot of friendly/cool people out there. Most of the time all it takes is a "Hi/hello/hey" to find them :) If you feel really adventurous try "/t Hey can you stand still I'm checking your spec out :p"
magicjamie May 28th 2011 8:29AM
I look up raiding advice and then scale it down, applying common sense where necessary. It's easy to find the information - not so easy to apply it. Works for me, though.
Anti May 28th 2011 9:15PM
I have to go with Magicjamie here. I usually play about 15-20 levels doing whatever. Then I put all of my talents on the bars to see what I have available and look up Elitist Jerks. I compare their specs and rotations with how I figured out how I like to play and modify the talents accordingly with helpful soloing skills. It makes it super comfortable to progress. Save the so-called top spec for raiding.
Lannden May 28th 2011 8:31AM
Just got my Worgen warrior too 85 yesterday afternoon. This actually my second warrior I have leveled, my other having been lost when my account was hacked. I love looking up info on how to get better at it, mmochamps and tank spots are two of my most visited sites.
Randolph Lee Jun 19th 2011 10:43AM
I have just taken a druid worgan to 85 and a little green stinker warlock to the same ( have run a BM hunter since the beginning and I have all the same concerns and you have I am on realms with no Heirlooms and not much gold (I create a Death knight and take him to 60 and use him to get herbs and ore to bankroll the new toons with needed Bags etc....
Working on a Paliden right now at 60 so he will be next to 85 I have been seeking out all the new content and I have taken one of each race to 20 to see the changes in the startup areas... main problem has been the nuts and bolts rotation for each block of levels and some concern about glyphs at lower levels as you say the 80 to 85 area is covered well right here on WOW but the full starting class guides need to be rewritten soon... The offical forums are still a mess but right now that seems to be where the info is some class forums are a lot better than others though
Jorn86 May 28th 2011 8:32AM
Levelling as holy is great. Here's some pointers: http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/11/07/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-the-return-of-the-shockadin/
exogenesis. May 28th 2011 8:36AM
I recently got another alt up to 85, which brings my total up to four.
Cataclysm has been great for levelling alts for me, I think - I somehow managed to level a goblin resto shaman from 1-85 in 7 days /played, which completely blew the lid off my previous levelling record. xD
Coopaloop May 28th 2011 8:37AM
it may be me, but i dont think it matters what gear you have before you hit northrend. you are gonna change it all anyways. so just upgrade when you can and don't search any gear out. and definitely dont spend any gold on the AH unless you are talkin a major deal or something.
Noyou May 28th 2011 5:41PM
I usually gear up a little depending on if I want to PvP or not. Around 35 I craft or hit the AH for some cheap greens to bolster my stats for the 35-40 pvp bracket. I do the same around 50-55 (A nice bracket to be in with no DK's ) I also like to do it to get more "outland ready" of course if you are rocking a couple BoA's you are ahead of the game. The next tier would be 65-70 (can get a lot of decent outland greens on AH or in drops). If you plan on doing any PvP at all during your 75-80 bracket you should check out the AH for lvl 77-78 cata greens. There will always be a handful of opp faction people who have 30k+ health looking to 2-shot you. The other nice thing is it makes the transition to Hyjal and Vashj'ir much friendlier too.
Moeru May 28th 2011 9:04AM
I don't believe in leveling guides. Like I was telling somewhat last night who was saving up for a server transfer, I'd rather reroll on another server, unless that toon has something special (legendary weapon, mounts, etc). It would be cheaper and more fun for me.
In the same sense, leveling 1-85 is easy and enjoyable, and the point is the learn your class. If you're speeding through it only doing what a guide tells you, you're limiting yourself to what that person already knows but won't share about the class. Sometimes best way to go about it is just to try things out.
Andostre May 28th 2011 9:13AM
What could you ever possibly need to look up while leveling? From 1 to 60, everything is spoon fed to you from your abilities, to which quests to move on to. And even following the suggested quest paths, you'll outlevel them pretty early on. Most of the quests will be green to you as you do them.
blackcatj13 May 28th 2011 9:26AM
Thanks for the tip. I really like that optimizer. nice :)
blackcatj13 May 28th 2011 9:31AM
Thanks for that. I really like the optimizer. nice
bradleymstokes May 28th 2011 9:34AM
You're not the only one who leveled a HPally. I ran through all the content on my Pally as Holy with little to no dungeoning. I enjoyed the experience. It took longer to get the kills but didn't really notice it too much until level 84. Still happy I did the run. I had fun. Now offspec'ed as tank and using that for my daily questing and I'm starting to run Heroics as tank because I'm having fun trying to learn new skills. It also gives you a better perspective on fights as you learn the mechanics in a different way. It's your call. Want to level as a HPally, totally doable!
Enjoy it, I did.
cirby May 28th 2011 9:37AM
I've leveled a Worgen mage from scratch to 85, and currently have other toons in the works (along with my old toons which I took from 80-85).
Leveling 1-80 in Cataclysm is EASY. Don't worry about gearing, don't sweat heirlooms too much (although they certainly speed things up). Just do quests and kill things, and queue for dungeons if you like them. If you're used to 85-level content, the lower level stuff is nice and simple.
Make sure to catch the new content, though - don't blow through the old zones that you know well and bypass the ones that have been rewritten. Hillsbrad Foothills for Hordies, for example - make really sure to do all of these, since they're hilarious. Start with the "Welcome to the Machine" quest-giving quest at level 19, and follow them from there.
Oreet May 28th 2011 9:37AM
Back in WoW Vanilla, before we had these fancy shmancy dual spec stuff, I levelled my priest from 1 (technically 10) to 60, then through Burning Crusade content up to 70 as a Holy Priest.
So while it's not a holy paladin, I did level holy.