Monday 12 November 2012

I Want You To Want Me



I want you to want me, this is not some desperate plea on my behalf, but is a reference to the current Reputation grind, that is making lot of people hot under the collar. Cataclysm was a big failure as an expansion and the overriding complaint was that there was not enough to do at max level.

MoP is the polar opposite, with more new features than ever before and a bucket load of dailies to accompany the long reputation grinds. Ultimately we have ended up with the game we all wanted to see, but this has confused many people who see everything as a challenge that must be completed.

  1. Level to 90
  2. Max out Primary Professions
  3. Max out Secondary Professions
  4. Achieve minimum of Revered with all Factions
  5. Obtain all the best gear and patterns from the Quartermasters
  6. Gem and Enchant your gear
  7. Transmog your gear so that it looks amazing again
  8. Keep your farm up-to-date for the Spirits of Harmony
  9. Complete the New Scenarios
  10. Complete all the 5 Man Heroics
  11. Plunder the LFR once a week for gear upgrades
  12. Start Normal Raiding
  13. Cap your Valor points for the week
  14. PvP for some high octane griefing
  15. Do Pet Battles for relaxation
  16. Obtain as many Achievement points as possible
  17. Purchase as many mounts and pets as possible
  18. Level the next alt
  19. Start the sequence again
In reality we should be concentrating on the parts of the game we enjoy, it is not a competition to see how quickly we can burnout. I am not stressed that I have not completed everything, I am still enjoying levelling my alts. The Godmother is not enjoying the alt levelling and the daunting rep grind for essential profession recipes. This is not the first expansion where important recipes have been gated, and in Cata I was unable/unwilling to do the Molten Front any more so that my engineer could craft some decent scopes. This time it looks like Tailoring bags might be a grind too far for many altoholics.

The Godmother has synthesised the alt levelling process, which The Grumpy Elf devised and I have tried to refine.

  1. Jade Forest main storyline (unless you want to the optional extra hubs)
  2. Skip Valley of the Four Winds and Krasarang Wilds
  3. Summit of Kun-Lai
  4. Townlong Steppes
  5. Dread Wastes at level 89 (Can be quite challenging at times)
After expansion 5.1 drops the alts should gain extra rep from Townlong Steppes and Dread Wastes providing your main is already revered.

An alternative to doing Dread Wastes at level 89 is waiting until you hit level 90, then buy a complete set of PvP gear and the whole process becomes so much easier. I have noticed a huge reduction in the time it takes to kill mobs, and my hunter struggles to get a Kill Shot off in time, now that mobs are committing Hara-Kiri.

The stat inflation on gear is as rampant as ever, and the quests have changed from quite challenging to the equivalent of skipping through the forest and picking wild flowers. Multiple mobs can be handled easily and Elites can soloed by my pet whilst I skin some beasts and complete the daily quest objective. Why do the gear stats need to grow so quickly and make the content superfluous?

On a lighter note, the Tillers now love me and so does Lorewalker Cho. I just need the rest of them to want me.

1 comment:

  1. Dread wastes at 89 can be brutal. It can also teach someone how to really play their class, all aspects of it. I just posted in my monday thoughts that I believe if people do not do dread waste at 89 they should not be allowed to ever queue for a dungeon. Or a raid for that matter.

    I was absolutely dreading dread wastes (no pun intended) on my priest and mage and had no problems with it. If anything I believe my time doing those made me better at both characters. Hunter and druid I was fair with to begin with so it was no issue, but the others, I really had to step up my game.

    In my opinion all leveling should be like leveling in dread wastes. I love that place and I love questing there and I get into it as soon as I can. To me, that is where the game is. It really puts you into the game because you can't just go running around like a chicken with your head cut off and expect to survive.

    As for the leveling, I still say go to Valley as soon as you hit 86. Better quest rewards, better experience per kill, better experience per quest, and you can start your farm which everyone should have even if all they ever do is plant songbell seeds for motes. To each their own, but if you are looking for speed of leveling, that is the way to go. Not to mention there are a few quests there that would be worthy of the dread wastes. My shaman, mage and priest all died on the same quest, multiple times. Love it.

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