Lithose

I think a lot of this has to do with the "sparkles" around quest objectives. As stupid as that sounds, its the first time a lot of us have had this mechanic in while actually leveling. I can ride in the direction given to me by the quest dialog and see the sparkles on the ground and instantly I know to stop. In contrast, during TBC, you could often times ride by the objects you were supposed to be collecting, until you went to Wowhead, or wherever, found the coordinates and sat right on top of it.

 

Kumar

Icecrown Questing Suggestion:

Start the Knights of the Ebon Blade questline from your Ship, It's All Fun and Games - Quest - World of Warcraft

The reason is it will eventually lead to the following quest:
The Bone Witch - Quest - World of Warcraft

She, will give you runes for turning in 15 Vrykul Bones which from what I have seen drop of every Vrykul mob in the area.

Reading the Bones - Quest - World of Warcraft

They seem to stack e.g. movement speed stacks with damage decrease. The downtime when using these runes is really reduced. I used the 2% heal on crit to greatly reduce the time I spent bandaging and eating.

 

Docjowles

I'm having a blast with my frost spec, haven't run into a group quest I couldn't solo yet (including the stone giants). Frost is just hilariously great for leveling, I'm loving it.

[Edit to add more content, thought this thread was in the Benefactor Bar...]

Regarding the "tab out for wowhead" comments, a couple thoughts. First, I agree that in general it's FAR less necessary than classic and a bit improved from TBC. Generally when I need to look up a quest, it's because it's been languishing in my log and I've forgotten where I got it in the first place. That said, I cannot recommend the addon team of LightHeaded, TomTom and DoubleWide enough for this purpose. LH is basically a dump of WoWhead that opens alongside your quest log. Click a quest in the log, and you get a window containing all of the WoWHead comments for that quest. If you have TomTom, clicking on coordinates in a comment will create a map waypoint. Finally, DoubleWide simply makes the quest log bigger so it's easier to read. With these three addons, you effectively have a web browser opened to WowHead within the game, and won't need to tab out for anything. It's been a godsend leveling up alts, and is still helpful as I work my main through Northrend.

 

Cosi

This is in response to the difficulty level of WoTLK. For some background this priest is newly minted, and hit 70 two days before WoTLK came out. I ran into Northrend with about 6k health, and 600 spell damage. Now I haven't been solo leveling, I've merely been following my leveling partner around who is a T6 ret paladin.

So far I've done two instances: The Nexus and Utgarde Keep. Both are actually pretty easy. I've done it with T5 geared people and blown through it. I've done it with a subpar tank and we still pulled it off. The only thing that was noticeable is the last boss of UK hits pretty hard if you're in greens and tanking him. In fact my friend who is a T6 ret paladin takes about as much damage as most tanks that are in greens. I've found that it is easier to deal with a subpar tank (as long as they keep it off me) then subpar DPS. My lasting power as a priest is behind because there isn't a ton of regen on the quest rewards. I haven't done any instances since level 73 because I haven't bothered with it.

For group quests we have duo ed every group quest we've come across so far. This includes Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord and the Dragonblight. They are easy for the most part. Out of all the group quests the quest Do Unto Others in the Dragonblight has had the mobs that hit the hardest. Oddly the big frost wyrm did less damage then this chick. Perhaps it was because he was tanking chick+5 guys. Still, easy stuff.

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm not a new player by any means. This is merely my experience with my newly minted priest in Northrend. I can kill things pretty easily by myself. In fact I could probably quest solo from the start in Outland greens at a decent rate if I was shadow. I haven't had many problems healing instances with this priest but I did heal with a different class up to Felmyst in TBC.

Short version: WoTLK is pretty easy even if you are undergeared.

edit: spelling

 

sickening

There are going to be a few quests that will bug out in the later stages of wotlk when other players fail them. The one i hated the most was Tirion's Gambit - Quest - World of Warcraft .

When a retards find a way to die on this encounter, it will bug and will not be accessible until the server reboots. Gm's haven't been able to fix it as far as I have seen.

 

Malleus

As would I - now. On release it was much faster to head into Dragonblight ASAP so as to get the zones to yourself, but the initial burst of enthusiastic but not overly dedicated levellers that you were trying to avoid are now in Dragonblight themselves. However, I wouldn't skip Dragonblight if you're starting from 70 now; I'd make my plans to skip Sholazar or Zul'Drak instead. By the time you're ready for the 'blight, the main wave should have moved out and into those two zones - probably Sholazar, as it's where Nesingwary is and all the casuals love Hemet.

Each level takes an average 1.6m XP and each significant quest is worth slightly over 20k. Taking it to require 80 quests per level, by clearing a zone skipping only the hardest quests you should gain levels as following:

BT+HF - 3 levels
Dragonblight - 1.5 levels
Grizzly Hills - 1 level
Sholazar - 1 level (only 75 Qs, but most of them are kill Qs)
Zul'Drak - 1 level
Storm Peaks - 1 level

You should also gain 1.5-2 levels from kill XP, depending how much rested XP you had. A full circuit should therefore see you ding 80 towards the end of Storm Peaks without any grinding or instance runs, leaving you the 140 quests in Icecrown as a money-maker.

 

erragal

I really don't reccommend skipping sholazar ever, it's the one zone that's just a pure experience burst. I believe it will remain sparsely populated even as the average curve rises: there is no lore/story impetus to go there and it's a bit far away from Dragonblight/Grizzly Hills. As you mentioned it's virtually all kill quests in a very small region. If you can wait till 77 to hit Sholazar you can also do the Freya questline which is mostly quick aside from the last step.

For 79 I suggest doing the Vyrkul quests in the northwest of Icecrown that start in Shadow Vault. Kumar mentioned the runes you get access too, but there's also lots of quick and easy experience as well. One huge note: even if you skip Zuldrak make a stop to do the new Ring of Blood quest line for very efficient experience and decent rewards.

 

andastra

I dinged 77 after only completing Borean, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight and roughly half of Grizzly Hills. I circled Storm Peaks, Icecrown and Sholazar Basin flying pretty low and trying to hit as many landmarks as possible. I got around 250k per hour experience and got roughly 300k total experience. It's a pretty nice boost of experience while saving quests for gold after getting to level 80.

Oh, and if you have a good group, hit up the leveling instances once and complete the quests there. The combination of kill xp + quest xp is almost as fast as leveling outside the instances and you'll be able to save a lot of quests for money making at level 80.

 

Lucinde

I first completed the whole of Borean including the Nexus quests and then moved on to Dragonblight. Also cleared that zone entirely and hit 75 by the time I got the Might of the Dragonblight achievement. I then moved to Grizzly Hills and did every quest in there, including the instance ones. I left the zone about 50% on my way to level 77.

Yesterday and today, I did ~80 quests in Zul'Drak and ran the instances I hadn't done yet to get the Northrend Dungeon Master with their quests as the became available and dinged 79 from turning the Daily dungeon quest that happend to be on the way.

That means I still have some 20 quests to finish in Zul'Drak, have Shazolar Basin, Storm Peaks, Icecrown and Howling Fjord almost completely untouched and only 1.6 million to go to level 80.

 

Anthraxx

Will be happy to discuss if you don't agree with any of the above statements.

 

• typobox

The only major omission is that Sons of Hodir is definitely not lower priority, as it offers the new shoulder enchants.

 

Anthraxx

Good point, I skipped Storm Peaks, thus the error. Thanks typobox.

 

◊ Melbuframa

I agree with your assessment of starting zones and where the zerg of players will be. However I think your levels are off.


BT+HF took me from 70-74 with one run in each Nexus, UtK and AZ
Grizzly Hills took me from 74-76 – With No instances done in this time period
Dragonblight took me from 75-77.9 – I hit 78 doing the Ring of blood like event in Zul'Drak
Finishing out the rest of ZD should being me to 80 if not very close

From what I have done you basically get 2 levels per zone if you do all the quests available in the zone.

 

Kumar

It is also important to note that a lot of good gear (that can replace many outland gear) is available starting from honored with various factions. Something to keep in mind during questing for gear upgrades.

Actually, his assesment is pretty much on the mark for me. Thats how my levelling went, htting 80 when doing the Iron Colossus quest chain in Storm Peaks. Hit 77 in Zul'Drak (BT to HF to DB to Grizzly to Zul'Drak). This is with only one UK run and only 4 group quests in Dragonblight.

Grizzly Hills has only 75 quests (per achievment) + a few more group quests gaining 2 levels there must mean some excellent kill XP.

 

Andeh

I stopped by him last night after hitting 80, hoping to skill up daggers. He didn't appear to be in his bubble when he respawned, and I killed him quickly. Is this because I did the quest, and am now "flagged to kill him"?

 

zoombini

sorry, wrong thread

 

Evalara

Interesting that there aren't many complaints in this thread. I've gone Howling Fjord -> Borean Tundra -> Dragonblight, and just now starting Grizzly Hills. I have to say the quest design is catastrophically awful. Gone are the days of arriving in a quest hub and picking up 8 quests, some of which overlap. Gone are the days of riding 30 seconds up the road to the next quest hub and picking up 10 more, some of which overlap with the first set. Quest hubs are titanic distances from each other and from their quest objectives. Absolutely no lessons regarding respawn rates, particularly of single named mobs, were learned from BC, as if no one from Blizzard actually levelled in Zangarmarsh the first week. It's like Blizzard deliberately threw away all the advances in quest design they made in BC, and returned to their philosophy from vanilla, or even worse in some places.

I'm extremely disappointed. There were definitely times, such as the 8th trip back from Gjalerbron to Westguard to complete one more quest, when I pondered just giving up. My wife, who is much less patient, exclaimed at one point that she'd just return the damned game if she could.

On the upside, it's very pretty, and some of the quests are quite fun and/or funny. I've only done 3 of the 5mans so far but they are quite well executed art-wise and play-wise.

 

songster

You're doing it wrong. I've completed Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra, and am just starting Dragonblight. EVERY. SINGLE hub has done the following.

1) Initial quest ( or two-quest chain) to "open" the hub. Completing this activates the rest of the hub quests.

2) One or more sets of quests which can be picked up at the same time and completed together. Pick up three quests, go to location X and complete all three, return. Go to location Y, do three other quests, and return.

3) One or more "breadcrumb" quests leading on to later hubs.

Furthermore, I have never had to wait longer than 3-4 minutes for any named mob to spawn.

 

chrisb3

Erm.. it is quite obvious that they have put effort into changing how quest hubs work (and improving them in my opinion). You will get 2-5 quests for a single area, and unlock the next set of quests once most of them are complete. They stack the quests up for you.

Now if you do one quest at a time you are going to be running back and forth very often.
From what I remember of Gjalerbron, you get sent there twice. I don't know how you managed to pick up one quest at a time when you do about two on the first trip and four on the second.
It isn't even that far away anyway.

While the quest hubs are far from each other, I don't see how it can possibly be an issue when there is zero overlap.
If you goto each hub, get 25 quests and complete them all you will be dissapointed with alot of running around, what you are supposed to do it one quest hub at a time.

 

Prinsesa

I actually prefer WOTLK's quest stacking to TBC's. Instead of filling up your quest log with 5-10 different quests that send you every which way, you only get one or two quests at a time, but all of them are follow-ups or parts of chains that always keep things moving.

I think I understand where Evalara is coming from, though. Since the quests are so fragmented*, it can be difficult to find a convenient place to just stop playing (this is actually a big deal for me), difficult to pick your game back up if you've forgotten just what you were doing, and difficult to look for quests if you missed them the first time through.

It's definitely a change from what TBC tried to do, but it's also an acquired taste, especially after several months of Quel'danas as basically one massive quest hub.

"We do want Sanctuary to be the tanking seal"

- Ghostcrawler

 

KamPa

Tundra definately feels better, with D.E.H.T.A camp right in the middle, gnomes offering bunch of quest at their hub, multiple quests in Coldarra... but after starting in Fjord, I was feeling similar to Evalara. My route was exacly the same, and at some point, I was simply started AOEing Shoveltusks with Holy Nova instead of questing, as it seemed to offer much better exp, without travelling huge distances for couple quests. Only in the pirate camp the pace picked up somewhat - though of course, bugged quests didn't help(at least 4 bugged quests in Fjord, although 2 of them did seem to "fix" themselves partially and flying machine Q"could" be completed if you got lucky). Northern camp was much better. Dragonblight west and south was terrible - again, 1-2 quests at best at the same time. East - great, tons of quest packed into single area, not to mention quite the lore for Alliance side, and the Wrath Gate chain. But, for those "2 quests all around the world" hubs, travel time adds up very fast and gets annoying. It's quite strange how varied can one map be, with half of it consisting of nicely concentrated quest hubs, the other half offering you constant mounting up and riding across the map for single quest.

For named spawns, it wasn't that bad, most people were nice enough to group up, be it kill quest or 'talk to X for 5 minute long scene'. Quite suprising, but in a good way. Doesn't mean that some quests weren't pita to complete, as 'get X items' doesn't work that way and still take ages with big crowd.

 

DeusEx

He's partly right. If you're Horde do the Venomspite Quests and try to count how often you have to ride into New Hearthglen yet again, to do yet another quest there, you could have done, when you have been to the place all the other times. It's not about the traveling time, because it's not far at all, but you have to go through all the Scarlet Onslaught Guards each time and you can't avoid them completely so you have always to kill the same mobs on the same way again and again. It's a stupid design really.

The zones look beautiful and there sure are some great quests, but overall way to much quests in some areas. Sometimes less is more.

I'm not an addict ... maybe that's a lie.

 

Arakan

I think you were lucky than.

It feels like every zone has a myriad of named mobs, the non-elite ones, which always seem to have a party, judging by the amount of players waiting for them.

On Darkspear EU it was a horror to join the line for every named mob. This will not be an issue when everyone is 80.. but I already am anyways. It just feels like there are a lot of this type of quests. Personal solution was spamming my arcane shot button so that I almost always ninja-ed the tag, but with 3-4 minute spawn times this got tedious and irritating over time.

The instances however were great fun, especially the higher level ones, which also give decent rewards to start heroics with.

My leveling curve was similar. I used Jame's guide to get a optimal quest circuit for Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, and Dragonblight. That combined with some instances got me to level 77 halfway to 78. A few instances and half of Zul'Drak later I hit 80 last Tuesday. Especially in the crowded areas it helped me a lot to know where to go with a lot of stacked quest, to quickly get ahead of the bulk without making night hours too much.

 

Linnet

The thing about new hearthglen is:
1. its just outside the horde camp so really not far to go
2. the reasons you keep going back are story related. You go there, discover something, take it back to camp, and the story progresses. You could streamline this by letting people contact the questgiver without actually travelling back to camp though.
3. you end up feeling as though you know the place very well. It is repetition but if you saw every camp just once and then moved on you wouldn't feel the same sense of 'yes I know that place!'.

I wouldn't want every questline to be like that but a few are fine.

Druid: Peace

 

Prinsesa

Yes! I've noticed a distinct lack of this mechanic throughout my questing so far.

This was used to great effect during the Death's Door and Path of Conquest chains, where you'd call a Flight Formed Druid or a Wyvern-rider to turn in your quests right where you stood so as not to break momentum by going back to town a 3rd or 4th time.

Besides a creative innovation in Howling Ford where a Taunka Warrior helps you fight in addition to being the quest giver, I never really saw it used again, despite that fact that there were several more instances that I feel would've benefitted greatly from it.

"We do want Sanctuary to be the tanking seal"

- Ghostcrawler