Realistic Warlord/Marshall Grind Expectations w/ Expansion Incoming

TheRealJon · 09/18/06, 12:19 PM

I have a little PVP alt druid that I had been meaning to level and eventually PVP grind up to Warlord. Well I finally got around to leveling him (he's 59, but bg turnins are pretty much taking care of the getting to 60 factor) and have started the PVP grind on him. He's currently at rank 6, and will get 7 this week. The troubling thing to me, is that I know the whole honor system is going to be wiped and redone for the expansion, which could hit anywhere between November and December. Is it unreasonable to think I can attain Warlord before the expansion? I'd say at the least I have about 9 weeks, at the latest I'd assume maybe 11-12 weeks. Is it unreasonable to think I could hit Warlord or even possibly High Warlord in that timeframe from where I am today?

To open up the question on an even broader scale, at what rank would it almost be impossible to make a full grind at this point? I'm sure there are plenty of people who frequent here who have first hand experience making this grind. I just worry in case something takes me away for a week and I have to retain a level or so will that knock me too far back to meet the expected goal?

Kalince · 09/18/06, 12:24 PM

Shouldn't you just ask your server CP farming guild, I can't imagine there not being at least one per server.

Nurru · 09/18/06, 12:25 PM

This depends entirely on your server. On Tichondrius I know someone got 1,200,000 cp last week and wasn't even standing 1 for the week on horde.

But why do this on an alt when it would be easier just to get quest blues from 60-70 that are likely of similar quality?

Masq · 09/18/06, 12:29 PM

It all depends on your server, and more specifically your standing.

If you can snag standing 1 while youre 11-12 you'll hit warlord much quicker (although standing 1 isnt required for warlord). Personally, I wouldnt bother doing it until after expansion. I'm sure there will be new rewards.

• frmorrison · 09/18/06, 12:30 PM

I have never gone the grind, but I would recommend looking at a honor calculator. Wowikki has a good one there (it is pretty accurate). You input your current gain of CP and the number of people farming honor on your faction/realm and it gives you the time to get a certain rank. It really depends on your gain of CP vs other people on your faction.

I recall calculating that the fastest way to get rank 14 (from rank 1) was around 14 weeks, so you you have a chance to get there.

◊ Eej · 09/18/06, 12:30 PM

It depends entirely on the state of CP farming on your server. It takes a month to go from 11 to 13 with standing 1 every week (11-12 2 weeks, 12-13 2 weeks) and an additional 3 weeks for 13-14. That's already 7 weeks of grind right there and that's assuming you're standing 1 for every week. So yes, if you get standing 1 two weeks before that, you'll go 7-10, 10-11, I believe, which would put you on track for 9 weeks to HWL.

Or you could spend your time on something more productive instead of grinding for loot that will be quickly outdated.

Mendoza · 09/18/06, 1:00 PM

I think the main reason to go for the top PvP ranks at the moment is that you keep your highest rank forever once the new honour system comes in.

Camaris · 09/18/06, 1:15 PM

Originally Posted by Mendoza

I think the main reason to go for the top PvP ranks at the moment is that you keep your highest rank forever once the new honour system comes in.

Only as a vanity title tag, right?

spronk · 09/18/06, 3:26 PM

you could probably make it but given most servers now are insta-Q's you would have to grind out 700k+ honor per week basically ensuring you are in BGs 14-16 hours a day 7 days a week.

All for items that will be replaced as you hit level 64, 65 a week or two after the expansion hits.

imo you have to be pretty stupid to try and grind it out now. If you want the vanity title spend a few hundred bucks I guess and buy it a rank14 on ebay, although they haven't really said if the title will be the highest you ever made or your title on expansion release date.

• frmorrison · 09/18/06, 3:49 PM

The CMs did say you will get a vanity tag for the highest rank you have ever receieved (and you can turn it off if you want). It was about a week ago when a CM said it.

If it was the rank you had the week before the Expansion that would be silly, and an insult to those that already got a high rank but didn't maintain it.

Heartwarden · 09/18/06, 4:10 PM

I am pretty sure that the game will display the highest title you have ever earned. There are going to be new titles related to the arena system, as far as i know, so people should not bother so much with the current ones.

edit: beaten to it.

Zippy · 09/18/06, 5:01 PM

I don't know what your current rank is, but I worked out these numbers assuming you just made rank 6 last week (which is 20000RP). To make Warlord, you need 55000RP. The formula I used was <last week's RP> x 0.80 + <earned RP> = <current week's RP>. The 0.80 multiplier is for the 20% decay every week.

This table assumes you get standing 1 and earn 13000RP every week:

9/12/2006	20000
9/19/2006	29000
9/26/2006	36200
10/3/2006	41960
10/10/2006	46568
10/17/2006	50254
10/24/2006	53203
10/31/2006	55562

This table assumes you earn 11520RP every week (which is approx. standing 20 on Tichondrius):

9/12/2006	20000
9/19/2006	27520
9/26/2006	33536
10/3/2006	38348
10/10/2006	42199
10/17/2006	45279
10/24/2006	47743
10/31/2006	49714
11/7/2006	51291
11/14/2006	52553
11/21/2006	53562
11/28/2006	54370
12/5/2006	55016

As for how much honor you'll need to get every week, that'll depend on what your standing 1 guy gets since it varies server to server on a weekly basis (e.g. standing 1 last week on Tichondrius was 1224178CP. This week it will probably be closer to 850-900k).

You'll want to hit level 60 as soon as possible though. If you're not level 60, you get about 9-10 less honor per tick in AB and WSG (AV you get the same amount of honor as level 60s) and that can start adding up quickly.

Also, I highly recommend downloading the Rankscore mod. It does an excellent job of tracking your current rank and predicting how long it will take you to hit a specific rank at your current standing. It needs two weeks worth of information to work; if you install it tonight you should be able to get last week's info and this week's info after weekly maintenance.

To open up the question on an even broader scale, at what rank would it almost be impossible to make a full grind at this point?

It takes a minimum of 12 weeks to go from Rank 1 to 14 if you get standing 1 all 12 weeks. So if we assume TBC comes out on Christmas, you would have to start grinding no later than 10/03/2006. This is the best case scenario though.

Elendril · 09/18/06, 5:21 PM

Originally Posted by Nezralix

Do you enjoy pain so much that you want to get Warlord gear (on a druid, no less)which will certainly be obsoleted shortly thereafter? Have you done anything like this before, or are you just speculating? I honestly can't imagine why *anyone* would consider starting the grind right now.

druids are actually the one class for whom PVP gear is absolutely irreplacable, because the speed bonus from the set can't be duplicated elsewhere. i got my horde druid alt to rank 13 for that reason.

Boevis · 09/18/06, 5:40 PM

It really depends on the server. On Lightbringer, due to the smaller CP pool, if you aren't in the top 5 standing you're getting less than 10k RP, making it a lot harder to rank up unless you're willing to push out the top 5 (which usually gets you blacklisted in any premade group)

aquacadet · 09/18/06, 5:51 PM

Originally Posted by Camaris

Originally Posted by Mendoza

I think the main reason to go for the top PvP ranks at the moment is that you keep your highest rank forever once the new honour system comes in.

Only as a vanity title tag, right?

Yes, and it's only kept until the end of the first PvP season when new titles are given.

malthrin · 09/18/06, 6:02 PM

If you plan to PvP in TBC I do recommend making an effort to get the Battle Standard now. It scales nicely and there's no telling if it'll be available in the BC Honor market at all.

◊ Lord BEEF · 09/18/06, 6:04 PM

Originally Posted by Elendril

Originally Posted by Nezralix

Do you enjoy pain so much that you want to get Warlord gear (on a druid, no less)which will certainly be obsoleted shortly thereafter? Have you done anything like this before, or are you just speculating? I honestly can't imagine why *anyone* would consider starting the grind right now.

druids are actually the one class for whom PVP gear is absolutely irreplacable, because the speed bonus from the set can't be duplicated elsewhere. i got my horde druid alt to rank 13 for that reason.

Yeah while I couldn't put forth the time to get rank 12, I keep my rank 8 blue gear on me at all times just for the speed bonus. It's great when gathering herbs or just running around town when you can't be bothered to mount up.

Ngita · 09/18/06, 8:52 PM

I would add the current rank 2-6 to your friends list , to see what sort of commitment they are currently putting in. I am ranking up a alt myself at the moment, just to see how hard it is and my guild has been running a organised group for a hour or two after raids makes it pretty easy and fun to pick up 5-10 wins in that timeframe. But its pretty obvious that some of the current top 10 just do not log off. Their kills for the day just keep climbing all week.

At rank 8 I have pretty much decided I will go for the battle standard and then cut myself back to guild runs only as I really dont have the time or inclination for the month of farming it would take to progress beyond 11 or so.