WoW: Battle for Azeroth (8.3)

Thanks guys. Druid has never clicked for me unfortunately, and after some time with hunter I’m not sure I want to go that route either. Warlock sounds interesting especially if they’ve fixed affliction. I might also try arcane since I’m not digging fire or ice but I love the look and feel of my mage.

Yes, my confession is I leveled 3 characters to 20 this weekend. The Xp buff is just too good to ignore.

8/10 unlocked - down to just the Zandalari Trolls and the Vulpera!

I only need mecha gnomes, highmountain tauren and kul tirans. But those can wait for the prepatch that removes the rep requirment.

FYI the leveling in the prepatch will be even faster than the xp boost. It is still holding in beta that 1-50 (120) will take ~15 hours. So it will be easy to try out whatever spec you want or all of them if you want.

If you like mage, elemental shaman might work for you since you have a priest to offset your flimsiness. Another good thing about shamans in the prepatch is that I believe many (all?) of the shocks are available to all specs. I hope they do the same with some of the HoTs because that give elemental a boost that compensates for the other specs getting the shocks back.

I did not like my
Destruction warlock tonight
I went affliction

Destruction just isn't fun. It is very micro managey and repetitive with no big boom payoff.

mortalgroove wrote:

I did not like my
Destruction warlock tonight
I went affliction

You found The Warlock Headband

fangblackbone wrote:

Destruction just isn't fun. It is very micro managey and repetitive with no big boom payoff.

A Chaos Bolt crit is a thing of beauty, however.

I never run my Destrolock in dungeons so I can't say how he does in groups. But as a farmer, he's pretty damned efficient. Light em up, loot em all. If I had more interest in tailoring, I'd play him more.

If you're planning on dumping a bunch of old mats on the AH during the pre-patch, you might want to re-think that plan.

Spoiler:

ZOMBIES!!!!

anyn ews on when pre patch might be?

also this was crazy fun when they did it pre lich king i'm looking forward to it

thrawn82 wrote:

anyn ews on when pre patch might be?

also this was crazy fun when they did it pre lich king i'm looking forward to it

It’s on the PTR right now. I logged in during lunch and the new models look amazing! Didn’t have a lot of time to play around but you can test out the new builds.

BTW, is there any estimated time between when the PTR is updated to when the patch goes live? I’m interested to know if I have a month or several to finish leveling characters.

Since it is zombies, I was sort of thinking that confirms the pre-patch is going to be in October...

fangblackbone wrote:

Since it is zombies, I was sort of thinking that confirms the pre-patch is going to be in October...

I want to hope for that... but this year has taught me important lessons about hope.

Well the pre patch is on the ptr so I know what I am going to be doing for the next few days

jdzappa wrote:

BTW, is there any estimated time between when the PTR is updated to when the patch goes live? I’m interested to know if I have a month or several to finish leveling characters.

There's no Official Date (TM) yet. My guess is that we're still 2-3 months out.

If precedent is any guide, BFA pre-patch (8.0.1) came out July 17, 2018. Full BFA was released a month later -- August 14, 2018. If I'm reading this correctly, the BFA pre-patch was out in mid-June.

Blizzard likes to release WoW expansions about two years apart, but we're already on the outer edge of things. WoD came out 21 months after Pandaria, and Legion was out 22 months after Draenor. And here we are at 24. So that would suggest sooner than later, right?

But I suspect Covid threw a wrench in things. Plus it looks like retail is getting a pretty big overhaul -- the Covenant thing is brand new, and the new leveling system means Blizz has to go back and tinker with most everything they've built since 2004.

If you want to level, now's the time to do it. Don't wait too long!

If you want to level, now's the time to do it. Don't wait too long!

Meh. Leveling is pretty good now.
But, based on the PTR, leveling is even better in the pre-patch
My demon hunter started at 8 and hit 22 in an hour and a half.
That is the equivalent of going from ~19-53 in an hour and a half.
Also, Exiled Reach is quite good!

So I'd wager you'd have a better time leveling on the PTR to cap and then doing it again on pre-patch launch in the same time it takes you to level to 120 on live now.

edit: I don't know what the dates are for past PTRs, but I'd wager they are about a month. So I am thinking Sept 15th or so for the pre-patch.

Fang, how does leveling new toons work in PTR? I messed around with my old max level alliance warlock but haven’t even done Horde BFA. It sounds like Exiles Reach is fun but what happens after that?

This weekend leveled a new DK from 55 to 75 in just a few hours which was great. Wrath is a lot of fun to see from the Horde perspective which I now prefer to Alliance. Also did PVP for first time. After coming from Guild Wars where I rarely got a win, it was nice to actually be able to duel one on one and come out on top.

jdzappa wrote:

Fang, how does leveling new toons work in PTR? I messed around with my old max level alliance warlock but haven’t even done Horde BFA. It sounds like Exiles Reach is fun but what happens after that?

This weekend leveled a new DK from 55 to 75 in just a few hours which was great. Wrath is a lot of fun to see from the Horde perspective which I now prefer to Alliance. Also did PVP for first time. After coming from Guild Wars where I rarely got a win, it was nice to actually be able to duel one on one and come out on top.

Depends on race / class (allied vs core, DH vs others) but once you complete Exiles Reach you either go to BfA for leveling (if you are new to WoW) or you pick an expansion to level in.

(for new players if you haven't copied a character over to the PTR) If you complete exiles reach and hit level 10, future alts will start at level 10 in their embassy in either Orgrimmar or Stormwind. It also unlocks demon hunters and death knights.

As it stands right now, the demon hunter experience is the best and much better than the death knight and then the other starting areas (I've tried draenor, BFA, and westfall so far)

Level 10 newb experiences I feel are uneven at this point. The demon hunter and the death knight are the same starting experiences as BFA and in earlier expansions. What makes demon hunter's so great is that you level much faster and the quest design is modern. The leveling pace is 14 levels in 1.5 hours...

The death knight starter zones problems is that it is quest design from WotLK and you level much slower. (still around 5 levels an hour)

BFA at level 10 actually benefits from the changes. The pacing is the same ~5 levels per hour but it asks you to do much more and more sophisticated quests when you don't have all your abilities and talents. So you are even more involved.

The biggest loser are the vanilla newb zones. Part of their appeal is the close clustering of quests that you can leverage flying to complete in record times and gain levels incredibly quickly. Without flying, they take much longer and the pacing isn't any quicker than zones from later expansions. I have yet to try my flagship vanilla zone (redridge mountains) so I hold out some hope for vanilla. But so far, my initial plan to level alts to 50 in vanilla once the pre-patch launches is scrapped. (you get flying at level 30, so that may change things)

Blizzard is going to have to be battling perceptions once the pre-patch launches. Because while it seems aside from the blistering demon hunter newb area, the other areas are normalized in xp gain, but will be perceived as slow or slower based on how modern the quest design is.

And there are things like that I am having more fun leveling in BFA now than at BFA launch, but I do not look forward to completing the BFA campaign to get to 50.

Another note - heirlooms are mandatory for leveling new characters. The bonus xp is gone but gear rewards aren't plentiful so you will be constantly undergeared. I had to buy weapons from a town blacksmith which sounds cool but not every town has one that sells upgrades. I am wondering at what point Kharanos vendors would uplevel the gear they sell if at all? Will they still be selling level 6 items if you are questing there at level 41?

TLDR - the level squish and rapid level gain is working on the PTR. It has issues with being an uneven experience.

Another short take-

You will have fun if you are a duo looking to leveling in whatever zone suits your fancy.

You will find it just okay if you are looking for fast leveling romps through old known zones that encourages multiple alts and replays.

[quote="fangblackbone"]

But, based on the PTR, leveling is even better in the pre-patch

True, but I always get a case of the Pre-Patch Panics: OMG THERE'S SO MUCH I HAVEN'T DONE YET

You'd think after 25 WoW expansions I would have learned but nah

But of course then, we are all experienced enough that there is a difference between "right" and "right for you".

"Right" uses objective qualities to appeal more broadly but is subjective to the individual. "Right to you" is subjective to the masses but objective to you.

We will always have grass is always greener syndrome but know that we can enjoy either way by adjusting expectations

I like to think of that guy that levels to cap every expansion and remaining neutral because he just gathers herbs on the Pandaren newb zone.

A pre-patch tease via Wowhead:

* The usual class revamps
* The dreaded level squish (120s become 50s)
* New leveling experience (which means I need to see old Gilneas one last time - I'm guessing that's going away?)
* No more rep requirements to unlock allied races; looks like it's just war / zone / other campaigns that you should have done long ago
* Lots of new character customizations
* Scourge event 2.0
* Can no longer buy Long boi AH mount (which means I'm going to have to find somewhere to invest my 3.6M stash)

More details here. No ETA on 9.0.

Enix wrote:

* New leveling experience (which means I need to see old Gilneas one last time - I'm guessing that's going away?)

I might remember wrong, but I think it was said, that after you have more than 1 character on your account, you can choose your own path; both the starting lvl 1-10 area (or whatever the starting area lvls are), and the 10-50 expansion.

Yeah, you don't have to start a new character in exiled reach. You can level in the racial starter zones instead. (gilneas FTW!)

On fresh accounts, you will have to level 1 character through exiled reach and then subsequent characters have the option to level in racial starter zones. Fresh accounts do not have access to demon hunters or death knights until they have completed exiled reach. Allied races is the same but on a fresh account you won't have the campaign requirements (good suramaritan, you are now prepared, aint no mountain high enough, etc.) for the allied races at level 10 anyways.

FWIW, I still love the survival hunter. The affliction warlock is the bees knees. Plus enhancement shaman is less frustrating but the real shaman star spec is elemental! (actually, I haven't tried restoration on the PTR and I liked it the best in BFA)

Also one thing I found out is that in shadowlands you get flying @ 30 but in BFA you get it @ 60. 60 BFA translates to 26ish in shadowlands but if you have leveled to 60 to unlock flying in BFA, you have flying at level 26ish in shadowlands. So, if you have characters close to 60 BFA, it would be worth the effort to get them to 60 before prepatch to have flying from the start. I don't have pathfinder for BFA or draenor and I am not sure about legion. But I do have flying for Legion on the ptr but don't for BFA and I believe draenor so I will double check.

Looks like I have flying in Draenor too. It is just blocked when you are in the intro quest. As soon as you start to build your garrison, flying is unlocked.

fangblackbone wrote:

Yeah, you don't have to start a new character in exiled reach. You can level in the racial starter zones instead. (gilneas FTW!)

Assuming Gilneas isn't currently broken. Apparently that's a chronic problem.

I have found a groove with the pre-patch leveling.
I will say that rested xp makes a big difference if only that it makes killing mobs fun rather than the grind to get quest xp.
What that means is that the bonuses you get from heirlooms are not as trivial as streamers would have you believe. The new heirloom set bonuses double the rested xp you earn so that means your newb characters will be twice as fun and you should definitely park them at an inn.

Along those lines, it would be worth creating new alts and parking them at an inn to gain max rested xp before the pre-patch or do the same with your current alts. You could also hold off on this until we get a pre patch release date. That should be announced at least 2 weeks out which will give plenty of time to park characters at an inn for max rested xp.

Shadout wrote:
Enix wrote:

* New leveling experience (which means I need to see old Gilneas one last time - I'm guessing that's going away?)

I might remember wrong, but I think it was said, that after you have more than 1 character on your account, you can choose your own path; both the starting lvl 1-10 area (or whatever the starting area lvls are), and the 10-50 expansion.

That's good to know. I wasn't sure how much of the leveling experience was going to change.

The flip side, of course, means I'd have to level a worgen. The wolfmen always look weird in whatever armor you put 'em in.

Heh, you could always hide all the armor on your worgen

Pre-patch must be close. I'd wager Sept 15th based on the current state of the PTR.
They just patched in Chromie which was sorely lacking. You can now talk to her and go to the alternate timelines which really means "get the intro quest for the corresponding expansion".

Up until the latest patch, you could use the hero call board or adventure guide to essentially teleport to the different expansion starting points. But talking to chromie feels more like a guided intro. I chose Pandaria because before this patch I had tried leveling in Draenor, Legion, Vanilla and BFA a few times.

Oh and the changes to shadow priests are AMAZING!

Well they just announced the xpac drops October 27th, so i cannot imagine the prepatch coming later than the 22nd. I'm sure they are going to want a full month of live pre-parch.

a much earlier release date than i would have expected but i'm excited for it