The Master Looter

Rerolling? Bored with your main and working on leveling a new toon? Here are a few ways to speed up the leveling process.

Heirloom Shoulders: These are bound to account, meaning you can share them with any of your same-faction alts.  For 40 Emblems of Heroism you can ship one of these to your brand spankin’ new alt to increase XP gained from killing mobs by 10%. For example, you can pick up a Tattered Dreadmist Mantle and use it for leveling a warlock, a priest, a mage, and even a druid or shaman. When combined with the next tip, this will speed up your leveling a substantial amount!

Rested XP Gains: For every 8 hours spent logged out or in an inn or capital city, you will gain one bubble of rested XP. When logged out at any other location, you will gain one bubble of rested XP every 32 hours. Up to one and a half levels of rested XP can be accumulated this way. Any XP you gain from killing mobs is doubled while you are rested. While taking breaks from leveling won’t level you faster in real time, it will certainly cut down the amount of /played time that you need to endure in order to make the grind to 80. If you are leveling multiple toons, switching between them after your XP bar turns purple can shave off a lot of leveling time.

Refer-A-Friend: Whether you are bringing someone new to the game, or simply using a second account that you are paying for, this is another way to level an alt faster. When you are questing together with your recruited toon, you will both gain triple XP up until level 60. You also get bonus levels you can grant for every two levels the recruited toon gains. You can also summon each other once per hour. For a list of program details and restrictions, visit Blizzard’s website.

Newbie Guides, Questing & Leveling

Wrath of the Lich King has been out for about six months now, and I still have no DPS toons at level 80. With two level 80 healer toons, and a smattering of 70ish DPS toons, I just didn’t feel like leveling any of them. So instead, I started leveling a warlock. Revisiting old areas can be fun. But I am definitely not looking forward to doing the Hellfire Peninsula quests yet again!

Here are some fun ways to break up your leveling grind:

Questing vs. Grinding. Some people swear by questing, and some attest that grinding is superior. I tend to do a balance of each. Find an area where you can do a number of quests, and kill all the mobs in the area several times. This way you can get XP and quest rewards from quests, while minimizing your need to travel. This is especially useful at the low levels before you get a mount.

Grouping. Be outgoing and offer those a hand who are questing where you are. You’ll all benefit from faster kills, fewer deaths and less downtime. It’s a great way to make friends, too.

Dungeons. If you can put together a good group, dungeons are a great way to break up the grind while gaining valuable experience playing your class. Depending on your server’s population, it might be difficult to get a group for a low level dungeon, but if you can it’s worth it.

Crafting. Crafting while leveling is a lot easier, and less expensive than power-leveling a crafting profession after you are at max level. Plus it’s a fun and profitable diversion once your XP bar turns purple.

Turn your computer off. This is the best advice of them all!

Newbie Guides, Questing & Leveling

A few hours before the server went down for maintenance, I finally finished my 730th Kalimdor quest to complete the Loremaster achievement! Last week I was at a standstill in the low 700’s with no more quests seemingly available. However, a little searching around led me to the final few quests to reach the grand total of 730:

I found a quest in Booty Bay that sent me back to the Mirage Raceway. I am not sure how I missed this while doing the long chain of quests from there, but it gave me a couple more quests toward the achievement.

I stopped in Tanaris and did the Tooga escort. I had a feeling I had missed this one, having discovered it for the first time when leveling my druid.

Blackmoss the Fetid in Teldrassil dropped an item that added two quests to my total.

I did the escort quest at the Master’s Glaive in Darkshore that I had missed earlier. Then, after farming hundreds of the Twilight cultists, a book finally dropped, giving me another quest to add to the tally.

After all that I was stuck at 723 quests. My only options left appeared to be the Tier 0.5 quest chain, or grinding rep with Brood of Nozdormu for the Scepter of the Shifting Sands quest chain. I decided on doing the former.

After many flights back and forth to Gadgetzan, many boat rides between Theramore and Menethil, and many Scholomance runs to get the Lightforge Bracers to drop (there were none on the auction house) I made it to 728 quests complete. Continuing the quest line led me to a Baron run in Stratholme, and then to Dire Maul. Turning in the quest at Dire Maul gave me number 729, and I expected the next part (turning in ogre warbeads) to be number 730 – but ended up with a surprise when freeing the NPC inside Dire Maul North gave me credit for the achievement.

The loremaster tabard is pretty cool – it has a giant exclamation point on it!

Today the 3.0.8 patch is supposed to go live, which reduces the number of quests required down to 700. As much fun as it was running all over the place to do that quest line, I do think it’s a smart move on Blizzard’s part in lowering the requirements. Perhaps they could even divide the quests by area as they have done with Outland and Northrend? Just my 2 cents.

Achievements, Questing & Leveling

Through your questing and leveling journey you will encounter a number of quests that require the aid of others to complete. Icecrown and Shadowmoon Valley are notorious for the large number of group quests they offer. Here are a few options for approaching these quests, in order of best to worst:

Try soloing the quest. This is possible for some quests and classes, but doesn’t work out too great for others. Sometimes waiting a level or two can make this possible. It’s usually worth a shot trying to solo a 2 or 3 man quest, depending on your level and class. The better your gear, the fewer people are required to do a group quest. As a general rule, most Northrend 2 man quests can be soloed, most 3 man quests can be duoed, and most 5 man quests can done with 3-4 people. Some higher level group quests demand a tank and a healer, while the lower level ones usually do not. Having a healer always helps though.

Asking in General Chat or Looking For Group. This is by far the best way to get these quests done. Especially if you are on during peak hours, there is often someone else also looking to do the same quest you’re on. Asking in the General chat of the area you’re in should always be the first step you take when trying to find someone to help you with a group quest. Looking For Group can sometimes work too. Your best bet is to ask in General upon entering the area, and then ask again every 10 minutes or so. Don’t spam, though; this won’t get you anywhere.

Ask in Guild Chat. While guildies can be a great source of assistance, this should be done sparingly. Don’t be that guy who asks for help with quests 5-10 times every day. First try and solo it, and ask in General or Looking For Group if soloing isn’t possible. Remember, your guildies have things they’d like to get done, too.

Ask in Trade Chat. Don’t ever do this. There’s enough spam in trade chat!

Newbie Guides, Questing & Leveling