It’s the end of the first week of leveling Misaka and I’m already level 42. It might seem quite fast, considering that most of the new characters in the guild are still around level 20-25, but actually it wasn’t, as I’ve spent quite a good bit of time leveling my professions, and doing quests instead of instances.
So, here’s a little overview of the first half of the leveling process – maybe you guys will find it useful.
PvP
I’ve done a few Warsong Gulch battles, because I was thinking that I could grab some marks and get some nice caster gear – but on the lowest level WSG is totally awful. In the 11-19 level bracket an elemental shaman is mostly just a free HK for the enemies, especially if you a) play the class seriously for the first time ever, or b) encounter a hunter (as they can kill just about everything). I’ve stopped doing that quite fast, and since then I’ve grabbed better items than I could get.
Maybe I’ll try doing some Arathi Basin this week, as it’s easier to win and the belt for the shamans is quite nice for that level with int and crit rating. Unfortunately most of the gear availaible through low level PvP is not worth trying to get, especially if you can get dungeon blues much more easily.
Instances
Low level LFG attracts just as much of foolish people as the level 80 does. I’ve had a Balance specced druid trying to tank in bear form, but with caster gear (both cloth and leather), a group where the tanking feral druid decided that he doesn’t like tanking, so we can let the hunter pet tank, a paladin chainpulling with his healer out of mana and behind two corners because “cmon it’s only sm lib”, a hunter needing on spellpower cloth items, a group with two paladins that didn’t learn their ressurection spell, or half of a group getting lost in Uldaman. Well, maybe the last one is not that unusual after all…
You can start using the LFG at level 15 and you should do most of your leveling that way from that point. Up to about level 30 a full instance run should grant you 1/3 or 1/2 a level worth of experience points – and if you spend some time collecting and turning in the dungeon quests, you can easily get the other half, as they grant a huge amount of extra experience and there can be a lot of them. Later on the instances get significantly longer, but you can still skip some annoying zones like Desolace or Barrens.
If you use the random dungeon, you’ll also get a Satchel of Helpful Goods, for completing that run. Or at least they are called helpful, because 99% of what I’ve got had strength on it. Must be just bad luck, as it’s supposed to be random. Still, getting a blue ring or a necklace is pretty nice if you happen to get something with the at least some of the right stats on it, and you don’t have anything better in that slot.
Quests
I’m doing quests mostly when I don’t feel like running yet another dungeon, or while waiting for the LFG tool to set up a group for me. An exception from these are the class quests, and I really recommend everyone to do them. For shamans they give new totems (and we’re pretty useless without them), and after you get all four of them on level 30, you can exchange them for an equippable relic for your relic slot. For paladins, the most important quest is probably the level 10 quest for Redemption – it’s really stupid when you see yet another paladin that is unable to ressurect someone.
Unfortunately, these quests can be somewhat tiring, because for most of the classes they are still in their original form from the classic WoW. Some have been changed and you don’t need to do them anymore, like the druid’s form ones or the paladin’s mount quest, but most haven’t.
Remember that you don’t have to do every quest in the zone. If it sends you to another continent, or somewhere completely out of your way, you can save a lot of time by just abandoning it and doing something else instead.
Professions
Have two of them. It does not matter much which ones you’ll pick (though usually mining/herbalism and skinning go well while leveling), as we will most likely change them when the moment we hit 80 anyway, but there is little excuse for not having them.
I’m also saving part of what I gather, especially the less popular or more expensive items, in my bank for easier leveling of raiding professions later – sure, we can use the AH to level them, but will there be enough materials (and cheap enough) there when more people hit 80?
Don’t forget to learn cooking as well. You don’t have to level it, but just having it gives you access to cooking quests – they are usually easy to finish, grant extra experience, and you can always sell the recipes you get from them. Also, don’t forget that the feasts used as raiding food also require someone to have 425 skill in cooking to set them up.
First aid is another obvious choice – some classes don’t have heals at all, and even for ones that do, sometimes using a bandage is better. If you’re using LFG to run dungeons, you’ll end up with tons of clothes, more than enough to easily level this secondary profession.
Remember the OOX Distress Beacons you can get from random mobs in Tanaris, Hinterlands and Feralas? Each one of them leads to an escort quest in that zone, and if you do them all, you can get a Mechanical Chicken pet.
This is Misaka, and I’ll be joining Zaeni on the epic quest of documenting our leveling process, and later on, the raiding. Misaka is my first shaman that passed the 10 levels mark, quite appropriate for the Undergeared project.