Posted by iTZKooPA on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 - 47 Comments
Tags: Alt, fishing, grinding, instancing, leveling, main, questing, soloing, warcraft, wrath, xp per hour
Many moons ago, Bastosa and I discussed how and who we planned on getting to 80. Back then I figured I would simply keep healing my way up to level 80, pushing my priest as my main toon. While things started out that way initially, Solidsamm has returned to the forefront. After Mutilate’s “from behind” requirement was removed, I jumped at the chance to try the new dagger spec that would not force me to be behind my target at all times. The freshness that came with the conversion is exactly the reason I returned my angry Gnome to main status.
There are two reasons why I knew I was going to be hooked on World of Warcraft when it was released in late 2004. First off, I have loved the WarCraft universe since I first entered it via WarCraft II: Tides of Darkness. Secondly, and probably most important, was Blizzard’s reputation. The company should just make their tagline “We don’t make bad video games.” While a game can have the best story ever, it’ll still suck if the gameplay isn’t there to back it up, enter Wrath of the Lich King.
I had a pipedream that I would level mostly through instances, but without a close friend who’s main is a healer, that is pretty hard to accomplish these days. Lucky for me the quests in Wrath of the Lich King have diverse goals, interesting lore, and an attachment to the zones that keeps me interested. While grinding via quests may not be the best XP/hour (that still goes to good old fashioned grinding), it is incredibly less mind-numbing. I will save that process for leveling my fishing.
Now that many of you are well on your way, or already 80, who and how did you get there? Did you roll that Death Knight and start from level 55 or abandon that idea and go with one of your level 70s? While I have done some instances, I generally haven’t gone back to them after finishing their quests. How about you?
Related Posts: Soloing: Achievementology 10, Episode 17.2: Culling of Stratholme, Hunters, Do You Need More DPS? Shot Rotation Macro, Project Lore WotLK Beta 1.6 Wrap-Up, Project Lore WotLK Beta 1.12 Wrap Up,
By PatrickD on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:01 am
I still like the Starcraft universe better.
By Jasper on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I do level mostly through instances (77 now) because i do have a close friend who’s main is a healer
infact i was a healer myself but i respecced tank (and loving it) just so we could run instances together. You can hardly believe how great it is to ask her to go an instance and have a full group 2 mins later because you only needed 3 dps 
By Eric on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I have tried out several classes throughout my time in WOW. I’ve enjoyed playing a paladin, a warlock and even the death knight I rolled to try it out.
But no matter how much fun I have with others, I always come back to my gnome mage. He’s making his way slowing to 80, sitting at 74 right now. Man, I love that guy.
By David on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:53 am
i did not make it to 70 before wotlk, so i am still grinding leveling and questing. i rolled my DK and got it to 58 but have continued with my main which is now 67. I cant wait to get to northrend and have already heard great stories about the endgame content from a friend (teacher) who hit 80 yesterday
By knifymcswift on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:00 am
I rolled a dk than returned to my rogue a few days later. From my experience, unless you have quests for the instance and a group that can fly through it, questing yields a much better xp/hour. My friends and I are all 80 and rarely ran instances. Just turn on questhelper and some music and let her rip.
By Garviel on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:32 am
I hit 70 a mere 3-4 days before Wrath’s release, I leveled almost exclusively through quests and doing SSO dailies.
By Grushnarok on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:53 am
I have forsaken my 2 70’s which were a Troll Rogue and a Blood Efl Warlock and after I got Wrath I rolled an Orc Death Knight and I love him.He’s 74 now and the best thing about the Death Knight is that you only need to switch your gear to tank the talents are not that important in this case.and good luck in leveling your Short and Angry gnome iTZKooPA
Keep up the good work and good luck
By Rasmus on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I have mostly been played my main (a shammy) he is 79 atm , and should be 8 by friday. I have went all in on quests, and planning to complete the most of em in Northrend, mostly to make gold.
I tried a Death Knight just when i got my hands on Wrath, but only to try the last quest. They are nothing for me! Infact i really hate ‘em ..! But that is just me ^^
Sharmaax
Burning Steppes EU
By Darkeon on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Well I’ve attempted to level all my lvl 70s but I haven’t gotten hooked on the idea of leveling them yet. So I tried to level a DK and behold I’ve been hooked on it. My Blood elf Death Knight is now sitting halfway bettwen 78 and 79.
By Murthag on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I dinged 80 with my feral druid this last sunday and ever since I’ve been trying to get some good Balance gear. spent 1000 g on a pair of epic pants and another 1000 g on gloves, shoulders, boots, belt and off hand.
now I have 1255 spell power and Starfire crits for about 7000. going to aim to get about 1500 spell power and then I’m off looking for a raid guild.
if there is any raiding guld on the Balnazzar realm (Europe) on alliance side they can send a mail to Zoan
By Sid on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Lvl 80 Hunter as of early this morning. She is my main/only high lvl character (started playing in June) and after trying a DK decided to stick with my hunter. Ran a few instances, but lvl’d mostly through quests. Some areas were more interesting, and thus easier, than others. Since my friends are lvling their healer and tank now it’s time to hit the instances.
By Dave on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 11:56 am
i didn’t reach 70 before WotLK came out i only hit 50. i am leveling and when i get lvl 55 i will roll a DK and play that, i will still have my hunter as a main
By Kleenur on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Stayed with my main Hunter and have been questing to level. Only at 74 currently but, I have been taking my time and enjoying the new content. I have run a few instances but, only when guildies need a hand or I have quests there. The Zone achivements make questing more fun the XP for mobs and for quests are good, and since I have already gotten the Borean Tundra achievement for quests I am well geared for Howling Fjord so rewards almost all go to vendors which has netted me a good deal of golds. Also, since I am a 74 in a 68-71 area even the group quest go quick solo which is nice. Questhelper FTW!
By sonicsymphonia on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
I have a 70 troll shaman who is sitting in Howling Fjord collecting dust. I now have a level 75 Death Knight who is my new main and an aspiring tank, thank you very much.
By deldin on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I got wrath a few days after i dinged 70 and i am only 72 i don’t have much time to play
By techenforcer on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
My DK is halfway through 75 right now.. to begin with(when WotLK came out) I had a level 70 rogue, 68 shaman, and a 67 druid… i made a death knight decided it was more than likely going to be my new main because the class seemed to fit my style of gameplay and attitude so well. So the 68 and 67 were worked up to level 70 (by way of doing northrend quests at level 68 to 70). After that it was straight DK from level 60 to 75 where i am now. Mostly through quest grinding non-stop. Then I would run the instances as I got the quests and/or if anyone buddies needed to run any of them. So more than likely the other 3 70’s are going to stay 70 until the DK hits 80 which i hope to accomplish by the end of next week, and that means cutting out some sleep hours
By techenforcer on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
and one more thing UNHOLY DK FTW!
By penrose on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
1 71 shammy (who I started about a month ago after watching Goggins and Juggy).
1 71 feral druid - who was my main pre-WoTLK
1 65 DK
I don’t know who my main is. That is my problem. I am fickle.
By rebelrouser on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Pre Wrath I used a rogue as my main. Loved playing it and I thought i would never try leveling another class to 80. Now here I am with a DK tank as my main
Never would have thought things would have turned out this way but i was hooked on the DK the moment I started playing him. Gonna be awhile before I jump back to my rogue! Really enjoy the show and the daily blogs!
By Simon on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
My main was and still is my good ol’ lock, he dinged 80 tuesday last week (got expansion with a week delay tho
) through questing. Really enjoyed most of the zones, altough for some reason Dragonblight became pretty boring to me. Gonna keep on doing heroics and the starter raids with my guild now, and in some time i will start lvling my druid, who hit 70 2 days before WotLK ^^
GL to all of those who aren’t 80 yet xD
By Henry on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I leveled my shaman to 80 by questing like a mofo and running maybe 3 instances the whole time. Looking back, it didnt seem to take long if you just quest like a mofo.
Now im debating on whether to get my 70 lock up or not. He’s just sitting in the inn at Bornea Tundra getting rest exp and getting all the cloth I gather and greens to DE.
My next project is the DK to get to 80 because I will then have a DK Tank and a Shaman Healer. I never am lacking runs now, especially now becuase im the only 80 healer in my guild and there are very few healers on our server right now. So i’m getting tells the second i log on asking to heal for this or that!
By bearshark2000 on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
I rolled a DK and love it. I thought blood spec was my style since the beta, and so far has proven me write. I am DPS and with blues on I can DPS around 1100. I also dueled a rogue friend of mine like 8 times and won 5 or 6 of them. I’ve heard blood inst the best spec for DPS and isn’t a tank spec at all… who cares. I make it work and that instance I DPS’d 1100’s range… well I was top for DMG and DPS… so who cares!!! M y advice to which toon you should lvl is… well find one that fits you and find the spec that fits you. don’t spec the way people tell you, all the time other DK’s tell me to go unholy… I simply reply that may work for you and you kick ass, but to me Blood is the only thing I want to play. I have played Frost and Unholy in the beta… they just weren’t my style. I need the DPS that Blood gives and I don’t like to use the AOE’s and stuff that unholy forces you to use. As far as my 70 goes… well I will never lvl that hunter up unless they make them good again. In my opinion I shouldn’t have to go BM to be good DPS. MM.. well it isn’t what i remember it to be. But I’m just not a hunter type of guy… I wanna get up in your face and DK’s do that.
By Josh on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I got to 70 on my bloodelf Warlock plenty of time before wrath and I was able to get myself geared.
But I found that I haven’t had alot of time to play at all. I usually can level pretty fast, but I’m only sitting at level 72. I am planning on questing my way to 80 during the winter break from school.
I did try the DK and I got him to 60. and I really don’t like them that much personally. I’m just not that kind of player, I have played my lock for so long that is the only type of class that I really enjoy playing, the tanking/ melee dps classes just arn’t my thing..
By Phoenix599 on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I entered WotLK with my 70 combat dagger rogue and hit 80 in a little over three weeks just by doing quests and a couple of instances (Utgarde Keep and Nexus)…all without setting foot in Storm Peaks and barely touching Zul’Drak. I’m questing in SP now, with ZD to follow, as I close out some quests, build rep, and improve equipment.
I created a DK just to reserve the name, but don’t intend to play that toon until I improve my rogue a bit more…guild comes first in this case.
I have a 70 Draenei Ret Pally that I haven’t touched since WotLK, and I’ll probably get that toon up to speed after I check out the DK.
Overall, I am greatly enjoying WotLK. Love the different type quests, phasing, improved graphics and…finally getting to fly again!
By TenteiKarite on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I’m working on getting my Blood Elf Fire Mage up to 80 (almost 76, as I type this) then I’ll be working on getting my Blood Spec’d Death Knight (also a Blood Elf) past level 60. Oh, then there’s my Troll Shaman, but he’s not even 20 yet.
-T/K
By jimi on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Got my DK up to 75 but am now thinking about going back to my 70 rogue. I like the rogue playstyle more but really hate seeing my kneecaps all the time! (undead rogue v. BE DK)
By Hobojim on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
My friend just got WoW so I’ve been lvling an alt with him. I do, in my off-time, level my druid though. He’s parked at 74. Hopefully my friend and I leveling a Warrior(me) and a Paladin(him) will make some good time. The idea when we get to higher content is to instance through, him as healer me as tank because it’s what I was born to do. We should be seeing Northrend, well him, in the next month-ish.
By Jeff on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I started playing WoW in late September and hit 58 mere hours before WOTLK came online. I am currently 72 and very much enjoying Northrend. I’m really interested in getting to 80 and raiding as I haven’t had the chance to take part in that because it’s been grinding up until now. Fortunately I have some good friends in my guild who have made my grinding slightly less agonizing.
The quests and quest lines in Northrend are much more invovling and I have at times found myself laughing out loud at the screen (example feeding the fish to the Reef Bull to get them to mate with the Reef Cows in HF).
I’ve done only one instance (UK) and am working on the others, although I am finding quest grinding to be the most profitable source of XP and gold.
I’m saving my cash for my epic flying skill and mount, my gear will come soon enough as the raiding will be my primary focus after dinging 80.
I haven’t started a DK yet and probably won’t for a while as I’m in love with caster classes. I must say though, that WoW is a really good game, possibly one of the best ever.
Helmarn, Orc Warlock
Bloodforged
The Venture Co. (US)
By Irishsnout on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
I switched mains for wotlk my shammy will hit 77 next time I log on. I’m hoping to heal for raid progression. My old main, a hunter is probably going to sit for a while until I can get a tanking class into northrend.
By Akantor on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Death Knight FTW!! hes still 72 but im enjoying the lore behind the zones.
By Untamedbeast on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I level by questing i got an 80 lock in about a week and a half with school and other things in my life. Iknow questing isnt the fastest way but it works for me.
By Backquak on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I didn’t get a Wrath until a week after it came out so during that time i started a Prot Pally. Once i got Wrath i rolled a DK and he is now my highest lvl at 73. Im working here and there on my main (Prot Warrior) but questing is way too slow on him so i think im gonna lvl the pally first. For those of you who think im an idoit for doing that id like to let you know that hes 45 atm. Im not exactly sure what spec i should go through Northrend on him though. I know that ret kills quicker but with Prot i can aoe pull and kill more faster. (any feedback would be nice). ill work on my warrior after that or maybe my shaman that i started a little while back.
By Holydos on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
My Fury Warrior is level 80… been awhile now.. I think I turned 80 like two days ago.
By Wuggy on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
My shaman was 61 when WotLK came out, so I had a quite way to got. I rumbled through outlands as fast as I could and entered Northrend. I dinged 80 last friday and I’m somewhat about that. Did that mostly by questing and few instances. I do still have my old 70 lvl gnome rogue that I should get to 80, but first I must get some epax on ma’ shaman.
By Skirnir on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Still running around waiting to get WotLK. Yes… it’s disappointing but I find it nice to know that when I get the game I’ll already have exalted with a few factions, thus increasing my reputation with Northrend will be easy and I will be able to save some gold while going back to those exalted areas (currently working on Ex. with TB and Org, less than 10k rep away).
Just looking at people who’ve crossed into Northrend I can tell it’s going to be fun, and Project Lore has let the mystery still kind of remain secret up until just recently with the Soloing videos.
I of course am going to run my 70 Warrior who runs DPS with Fury specs. Hoping he’ll fair well in the new world of Northrend, and then once I hit 80 I’m gonna tackle the Death Knight.
So yeah… I’m very excited to get this ball rolling.
By Rickroll on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 12:16 am
First, I got my 70 hunter onto a boat and got him to the Borean Tundra. I did the initial quests and thought I would roll a DK for a change of pace. 20 levels later on the DK and my hunter has barely moved in the Borean Tundra. Something about 5k crits in mainly quest greens as a level 75 just seems fun.
By Manovan on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 12:16 am
“While grinding via quests may not be the best XP/hour (that still goes to good old fashioned grinding)”
Wrong. The fastest way to level up is through planned quest circuits where you complete and turn in several quests at the time.
By teddy on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 12:49 am
well i rolled a dk, 71 as of last week…boring to level to be honest… but my prot warrior i leveled from 70 to 75 as prot just switched arms and buzzed through 2 1/2 levels in a week… really nice dps and dmg output. But sadly my fire mage isn’t getting much love from me… haven’t played him in about 2 weeks now…not sure why but really just boring to level…
guess that’s because blizz made mages a little less OP, and more PO… leveling not as bad as seeing trade chat blaze up when people want tanks, and then when i go to tank for them on my warrior… they want a damn tankadin… QQ
By Vrang on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 1:41 am
When Wrath came out, I was overjoyed at actually questing again with my main, Orc Warrior. I got him to 80 in a little over a week, questing like mad. On my server I have a full list of toons to play (I like diversity), most of which were 70 well before the WotLK release. But no matter how many 80s I’ll have in six months, my main has always been, and always will be, my Orc Warrior. Lok’Tar!
By Davisu on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 3:23 am
I hit the instance’s and quest’s hard wen WOTLK came out with my healer and dps friend im a TanKadIN so we only need to dps after that we lvled up solo doing quests and we hit the instances to get gear and xp we have hit every instance in LK and got the achivement for it aswell we have just started raiding naxx now in our guild, the lvling was great was good to see the xp bar once again it wasnt as long as i thought it was going to be wen i sore the 1.5 mill to lvl, now im on the naxx/h.c line again so im feelign happy that im not so far away from where i was b4 the x-pan, wont be long nwo untill i can take a few hours out now and again to lvl my frost DK yes im going TanK again, I like DPS but i just dnt like to play DPS so i will lvl that guy up to 80 and get him to the end game stuff all in good time but from wat i have seen so far of the DK tanks there pritty good but they will never be a TanKadIN, weset the standard for all other TanK’sand we will carry on doing, and its good to hear every1 ealse is enjoying LK as much as i am
By El on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 5:18 am
I have brought my NE Rogue to lvl 80, did it almost only through quests. I would be doing maybe six quests at one time and then turning them in all at one time. That way it felt like I was accomplishing something rather then run here do one, turn in, run there do another, turn in. >> All that running back and forth is a waste of time imo.
Now I just run Heroics and dailies so I can get the rep and the gear.
By Rob on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I’ve got a level 77 priest as my main. Looking forward to him hitting 80 soon. Just got my epic flying skill and now leveling through questing is so much faster.
After I get him to 80, I’ll work on my DK. He’s level 64. I want to have a tank and a healer at level 80 in a couple of months. I know that’s slow but RL takes priority over WoW and RL is busy right now…
I love playing both the priest and the DK. They are both a lot of fun for me. Can’t decide which will be my main. guess I’ll figure that out after I hit 80 with both and raid a little bit.
By Ananun on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I have started lvling my 4th alt to 80 should be fun lol woot
By bullrog on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 2:59 am
I am currently 78 on my pally. i recently switched bak to holy after finding it hard to get a healer (there is only 4 on our server on ally) well as soon as it got out into my guild that id gone holy i got into oculus at 75 we wiped once and now ppl are all over me lvling by instance has to be the way to go yeh mayb it dusnt quite go as fast as questin but its sure as hell a lot more fun to do specially if u rape everythin in the place.
Bullrog (holy pally)
Karazhan EU
By Beyr on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 5:53 am
Tho I’m only 74,Fury War, Ive done about 3/1 questing over instance. There’s plenty of XP to be had instancing, but groups are hard to come by when I get off work at 12:30am…
To that note, after dieing on Ingvar about 5 times, we finally downed him with a mage still standing with about 200HP left. I laughed until I got my repair bill…
By Dayrius on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 9:25 am
im 80 right now and just workin on getting geared before i bring my healer up, im already geared to main tank all of the 10 mans except eye of eternity
By Alayea on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I hit 80 on my shaman main in about 15 days after Wrath came out, and pushed my hunter alt from 78 to 80 just yersterday. I did roll a Blood Elf DK, but she’s been sitting at 61 for quite awhile now due to my focus on”Alayea” and “Lithala”.
I was orinally going to do a lot of instancing in my sprint to 80, but… it simply didn’t pan out. Instead, I did almost nothing but solo-questing by doing all the quests in Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, Dragonblight, and The Storm Peaks.
Now that Lithala is at 80, I can go back to my main to start doing all the quests in the other zones that I skipped. Reputation dailies = FTW.