I have a shiny new gnome mage that I started a little over a week ago up to 32. I was really impressed by the new gnome starter area. I also like the fact that zones and quests lead right into each other. Previously you would run out of quests somewhere in the Wetlands and be forced to go to the area of Stormwind to continue leveling. So far I'm about halfway through the the Hinterlands and have never come close to running out of content. To me completely separate leveling tracks is a good thing, because it means replayability. I still have the entire Westfall -> Redrock -> ect. quest chain series in front of me untouched whenever I decide to roll my next alt.
I also leveled a tailor to 20 to support my mage. She will now be able to make gear that is relevant for him into the low 40s at least, and has sent around silk bags to all of my characters that needed them. I could make some very nice blue boots, save that spider's silk is going for berserk prices on the auction house. I refuse to spend 40+ gold to make one pair of boots for a level 30ish character.
Said tailor is also my first Drainei to hit 20. While the zones are very pretty, and the capstone quest in the 10-20 area feels utterly epic, I can't say I enjoyed leveling through there nearly as much as the dwarf/ gnome areas. There is too much running back and forth to the same spots from a central hub, and the whole "kindly space demons stranded in Azeroth" storyline has never really clicked with me.
The Drainei zones are quite pretty.
However...
Said Drainei is also my first priest to hit 20. The fact that I was able to immediately see a DPS boost from going Shadow spec at ten really helped me out a lot. Before my priests always stalled out in the low teens when I got tired of wanding things to death (easily the best low level DPS for the old priest). The class is still a bit painful to solo with (at least compared to my mage, which can take down most foes in the time it takes to cast Pryoblast and Fireball), but much improved from what I remember.
I also decided to bite the bullet and join a PuG flagged as a healer. It was actually a heck of a lot of fun, everyone was really nice. I was able to keep everyone maxed out for most of the instance, even the mage who had a tendency to over-pull. I did however cause a wipe by not paying enough attention to my health bar. Surprisingly no-one gave me any grief about it. The reaction was "No worries" and on we went.
Future plans include getting my mage up to 40 so he can buy his rocket chicken, and maybe doing a few instances to improve his gear. Green gear from quests is starting to catch up to my blue gear, a sure sign I need to hit the dungeon finder.
Rocket chicken, how I covet thee!
I'll also be installing Cataclysm some time in the next week. I'm debating whether to start a Goblin, start a Worgen, or simply to keep leveling my Gnome. I'm curious to see whether BC content is more fun now that you can get a flying mount at 60, which of course has nothing to do with Cataclysm. The main content I'm looking forward to in Cataclysm is actually the new Archaeology system.
Yeah I need to make a list like this. I have plans to get my druid from 80-85, my new NE mage will need to be leveled a bit, and my husband and I just started a pair of worgens that will need our attention too. That's only in the short term...in the long term, I want to start a goblin, get some of my other characters to 85, etc. etc. There's going to be plenty to keep me busy in the months to come, I never really planned to try race through any of my goals as soon as possible. That's what led to my burn out the first time around, I think, so lesson learned.
ReplyDeleteAbout the Draenei area and the running back and forth...I think it's because those TBC starting zones came out of the cataclysmic changes rather untouched. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think they did anything major to the quests there, which makes sense I guess since they did say only much of vanilla WoW and Azeroth is going to get the facelift.
@Mmmogamerchick: if they have changed anything I didn't notice it. However I'm not sure because that's the first character I've taken all the way through that zone.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to pace myself, but the rocket chicken is calling to me. I hit 35 last night after I made this post.