Posted by pixiestixy on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 - 35 Comments
Tags: Achievements, cap, dailies, daily, first steps, icecrown, level 80, leveling, respec, so much to do, spontaneity, what next
It was a completely magical, fulfilling moment. 
It was months in the making (actually, considerably longer than I had anticipated, and I did end up losing that bet I posted about a while back, but refuse to pull out my hair!), which made it all the more sweet. That wondrous, level 80 ding.
Here at Project Lore, we’ve followed the progress of several of our bloggers as we reach one of the pinnacle moments of our WoW careers, and cap out a character. For me, the moment came after a much-needed, much-delayed session of dailies in Icecrown. I pushed through the Shadow Vault, Jotunheim, Onslaught Harbor, Ymirheim and, of course, the Argent Tournament before realizing that I had finished my usual rounds and stood at 97 percent through level 79. I couldn’t just leave it at that, so I sought out Keritose Bloodblade to finish up a questline I got a while back. I made a quick trip into the saronite quarry to complete An Undead’s Best Friend, From Whence They Came and Honor is for the Weak, then alerted my guildies to watch the chat as I handed in each one and saw that lovely, level 80 achievement flash across my screen.
So now what? Well, first things first, I equipped my lone purple item from my last venture into the Crusaders’ Coliseum. Then, after a quick hearth to Dalaran, I picked up my congratulatory loot in the mail, and took a portal out to Undercity. In the Rogues’ Quarter, I got all my skills up to level, cleared my spec (have yet to rebuild it, leaving that for next login) and bought dual spec just for fun. Now, what to do next…?
Of course, finishing the respec process is an easy first choice. But beyond that, I still have more questing to complete, rep to grind, loot to find, achievements to earn, professions to level off, and definitely some good raiding to be had. So much to do before the world of Azeroth is changed in the Cataclysm! Level 80 is only the beginning. In the end, I think I’ll just continue to take things as they come without any pre-set path. Spontaneity is just a good a plan as any. And I’ll let you all know how it works out.
So to those of you who have already hit level 80, perhaps long ago, I pose a question: what were your first steps after that wondrous first level 80 ding? Would you choose differently for an alt?
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By Rymla on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:08 am
grats on level 80, your now one of us! one of us!
By Moophobia on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:10 am
to me hitting lvl 80 took a huge weight off. i was able to enjoy the game more because my goal changed from trying to get to 80 to doing what i wanted. i picked up pvp…which is what i do on my main when i’m not lvling my alts.
By Salima on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:14 am
congrats, now get some heroics and raiding going, it will help
when i hit lvl 80…i ran UP normal and respecced ele (shammy)
on my alt (only 40) i would not fail the borean/fjord lvling as i did on my main, i would probably skip zul’drak for scholozar
By Littleraven on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:23 am
i went into a heroic minutes after i hit 80….started grinding rep soon after…when those got topped off i finally started doing some raids….since that was close to launch and so much has changed since then id probably tell you to just run some heroics, get some emblems then get into some raids =)
grats btw
By Jay Pompano on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:28 am
What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game!
I cried when I hit 80. Shut up…
By Dan on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:55 am
I hit 80 on my priest recently(hit 80 on my main about 2 weeks after the x-pac hit) and wanted to heal some heroics……little did I know it would be damn near impossible to find a group willing to put up with a fresh 80 healer…….
So now I just sit around on that toon farming herbs waiting for my guild to want to do heroics so I can get some gear. I’m geared for naxx10 now but don’t want to pug it since pugs expect everyone to be geared for ulduar+ content to run starter content.
By cozmus on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Grats. Get ready to start hating WoW.
By Sean on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:16 pm
When I dinged 80, it was all about removing my gear from my male, blue, troll (with orange dreads) and /dance ‘ing on the orgrimmar mailbox.
Awww yeah.
By Eventime on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’d say first thing you should do, even though initial 80 gear is more important for tanks/healers, is to get as many craftable 78-80 pieces as you can and then start grinding heroics. I can’t think how many times I’ve walked into a heroic (or raid for that matter) where some person is walking around in 50% greens. Especially with the emblem changes you can get a lot of good stuff with heroics, and don’t forget you can change emblems to valor or heroism if there’s stuff that can’t be filled through conquest.
Both reg and heroic ToC have lots of great gear, but I recommend being fairly well geared to do heroic, higher than you would be for other heroics.
Grats on 80!
By tess on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
This may sound strange but one of the things I did was go back to some of the NPC mobs that had given my toon fits as a youngster and kick their butts.
Hopefully you are in a guild that will carry you into heroics until you can gear up. Once geared you can do just about anything you want. Farm rep, go after new mounts, pets, achievements, titles, sell top tier crafted goods.The sky’s the limit. Gratz.
By Huckabees on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
First thing when i hitted 80 on my pally (tank) was to get some epics crafted and get defense capped! with my (sadly) 22000 hp unbuffed i started to take on the easy heroics with alot of help from my friendly guildies! Now I’m into Ulduar+ content and I spend most of my time getting achievements for fun or leveling alts
By Raethos on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I try to do stuff at 80, I really do, I’ve done dailies and heroics and raids, but no matter how it goes I always end up focusing on a new character. Just got my 1st dk to 80 (out of about half a dozen made and replaced as I switch factions) and now I’m working on a shaman, something I’ve wanted to do for a while as the only melee class I haven’t given a good try.
By Matt on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:40 pm
when i first hit 80 i literally just HS to my trainer respecced to healer from enhancement bought some epics from AH and farmed toc normal for a while with guildies
By 5thlive on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:48 pm
I think went to AH and bought 2 epics and went into pugging my way to naxx10 and that happen last night. My guild where pretty low on active level 80’s to help gearing. And btw I’m the best geared person in the guild at the moment as far I know. cause the other level 80’s don’t talk in guild chat.
By Hatell on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I hit 80 and just continued running around doing dailies. There was no one on in my guild when I hit and my friends were all busy. So I just ran off. Took a week before I ran a heroic.
By doomdozer on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 1:03 pm
the first thing i did when i hit 80 was go to dalaran and ride around in circles on my mammoth then went to org and road around in circles..then undercity and road around in circles lol…juss proud to be 80 wanted everybody to see me lol…and pretty much told everybody i kno that plays wow i was so proud lol
By Noric on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 1:09 pm
When I hit 80, one of the first things I did was get together with a few friends in IF and spend 4k gold getting my gear up to par for healing heroics. Even then I really struggled healing through H UK. Haha, now when I run heroics I encourage my tanks to overpull just so I’m not bored silly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve healed my group through High Mage Telestra (H Nexus) with 2 additional groups of adds. Now that is fun.
By Nalamin on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
The first thing I did when I hit 80 was go straight into heroics and started gearing up my tank now im raiding ulduar so it worked out pretty well i guess.
By PatrickD on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 1:58 pm
It’s only a dream for me. I am the poster boy for casual play and have NEVER been at a level cap…even though I’ve been playing since November 2004. I’m currently at level 65…but more interested in knocking off achievements than levels.
…although I’m running out of achievements that I can do at my level. (I have more achievement points than anyone else in my guild who isn’t at level 80…and many that are.)
By Redauroa on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Gratz On 80!! I just got my druid to 80 last night with my hubbies DK right after. It was a good day for levels I guess
Good job!!!!
By Talcoya on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
first thing i did when i hit 80 was change servers. haha
By Carlos aka Kershocker on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 2:05 pm
Congratulations Pixie!
Well, I’d start by doing the Daily Heroics. People are always looking for going there, so finding a group will not be that hard.
If I am not wrong, you said that your guild was rushing you to get level capped. Now you are, go run some heroics with them! They will definitely have more patience than PUGs :]
By Weeney on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
now that your lvl 80 btr get ready for lvl 85 lmao jp…Do heroics
By Mikhail on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Well my main is only 76 right now, I should have hit 80 about 8 months ago. >.> But! When I hit 70 when it was max, I felt fantastic. I had not a care in the World …. of Warcraft.
So I just hung out and did PvP for gear, it was jolly. Ran some stuff, y’know all that.
I reckon when I hit 80 I’ll do bgs and eat faces of opponents as I do.
By Michael on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
My guildies took me into naxx 10-man not 10 minutes after i dinged 80 with my DK. Easy run and lots and lots of epics.
By Honeydew on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I really don’t remember what I did. I think it was late at night and none of my guildies were on so I just went to bed. But I do know that I equiped my Titansteal Destroyer and got my skill up to 400. Did the same with Swords and unarmed.
I think maybe the only thing I would have done differently was stick with my Pally instead of going straight into DK. But its not a lost cause, I can still lvl my Pally but I’ve forgotten how to play her. And with all the changes to them, I still find it confusing. I might just have to go through trial and error to get the hang of things again.
By Dkgem on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
First grats on lvling 80! My first objective was to get raiding. I had started playing 4 or 5 months before WotLK was announced and did only a hand full of instenses through out the lvling process, and never did dailies. After hitting 80 i was invited by my fellow guildies to fill the very last spot of a 10 man Naxx raid. I am a hunter, Hit rating = 0, ap=2500, agi= 950 and i was BM specced… It was horrid. i dpsed 1500 with buffs. i died more times then anyone else did half of it was while pulling trash. After that i told everyone in the guild i will not be the one to hold them back. and i learned how to play. 5 heroics for gear and rep (rep for more gear and enchants) . today i can dps around 3500 in 5 mans. in short i learned not to be a huntard.
By athelias on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 6:44 pm
when i hit 80 i went straight to the AH and bought a titansteel destroyer and started with a few easy heroics, doing bout 1.5k dps, NOW however i do 3k+ and am doing ulduar 10 with guildies
By Bonedancer on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 am
GZ!
Got my 3rd char to 80 last night. Starting to eyeing my 4th alt to 80, level 32 hunter ^^
By Phanttas on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 2:45 am
Grats.
I am currently working on my second character. My first I got to 80 mostly by myself (not many boost or anything) since I knew hardly anything about the game. My mate who got me to start playing really wasn’t a help so when I reached 80 I was still fairly nooby- I didn’t know what soulbound meant until level 32ish. I also wasn’t in luck when I reached 80 because at about level 65, this ‘mate’ of mine asked me to lend him some gold for him master plan to sell some bars for more than he bought them for because they would be in higher demand after 3.1 hit. I let him borrow 4k gold (you can get a lot from leveling) which meant I wouldn’t be able to buy epic flying, but he promised me he that I would get it back. I got back 2k of it, but I still had ages to go on epic flying and since I really wanted that I didn’t go to the hunter trainer for several levels. I eventually got epic flying and was able to pay for training, but I’m still 2k down and he complains that it is hard to earn money in WoW, when he just bought DS on his Rogue alt!!!
Moral of this story: don’t lend out gold.
Woops got a little off track. Anyway, to keep it short now, the first thing I did was get into Naxx with a good guild (he got my an invite to that at least), which for someone who hadn’t been in any raids before was so awesome. I know you can’t experience that feeling of awesome again. but if you gear up, I’m sure you can feel the awesomeness and fun of doing hardmodes, which is what I’m doing atm. Just need Freya and Mimi, then Algalon is gonna get a but whooping =P
By Anthony on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
gratz, i hit 80 in june, and i still have only done OS and naxx, i did my first heroics the day after i hit 80 and got my first epic. i still have it equiped
By Kelly on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 at 7:48 am
I have been playing this game (on and off… i like my boyfriend more!!!) but i am still at lvl 13 and cant finish any of my quests AT ALL and i sucks … someone help me please
Email:
free2btrue@yahoo.com
By Zaygrapa on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 9:25 am
I just hit 80 today with my first toon, a ret Pally. Now what? Where do I start my dailies? My Blacksmithing, Mining, Cooking and First aid is at 450 and my fishing sucks. I just need a start in the right direction.
By Colaca on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 2:40 am
I got a full 80 40-man raid for Hogger….
We lost.
By Furyhunter on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
The most beautiful moment in my playing of WoW. I went to bed that night crying tears of joy that I had actually completed my goal, but the fun was only just beginning.