More than likely Patch 5.2 will be released next week. Today, Blizzard released a new preview video of the upcoming patch and many articles in the past week have set the tone in getting our appetites wet for battle. Yet, the question is how one can prepare for the upcoming patch.
Most of the patch will be geared towards the new island, world bosses and raid content. So everything is going to be high end. With all of my alts on the sidelines, I decided to pursue leveling as opposed to dailies. Having two toons, one ranged and one melee, minimally geared for the upcoming LFR, I felt that I had room to focus on leveling. My paladin is mostly geared with just a weapon that needs a major upgrade while my hunter is someone that I’ve been struggling with in terms of finding a few more upgrades. At this point, I just felt it wasn’t worth spending more time than necessary doing dailies and just have them queue for LFRs to obtain whatever last minute items that they can.
In the meantime, I will focus on leveling the rest of my alts as much as I can prior to the patch. The idea is that I figured with the upcoming crafted PVP gear shifting to 458 ilvl, it might just be better to wait a little bit until the end game patch to really push into high gear (yes, pun intended). More than likely, a few more patches will introduce 1-2 more tiers of crafted PVP gear. Unless they make those purchasable via gold rather than Spirits of Harmony, I see no reason to spend any effort until the last patch is announced to gear my remaining guys via the crafted PVP gear (except through AH means). If the gear is cheap on AH, I may consider but more than likely it’ll be expensive initially.
But having 10 90s once again will provide numerous benefits. One, I’ll eventually be able to have all professions maxed out and covered. Two, I will be able to select and choose which alts can do LFRs for a given week. Three, I’ll have more farms available and more selections of materials overall. Next, I’ll have more people who can get into Sha of Anger raids. Every week that a toon does not participate is a loss in easy potential loot and gold. In addition, I want to get people potentially prepared for the next release. One thing that I do like about Mist of Pandaria was the addition of a useful vender in the Jade Forest which sells decent green gear. It’s unknown if Blizzard will implement a similar device for the next expansion. I wouldn’t count on it, so I think it’s better to go in with the expectation that you might need decent gear to survive. Lastly, I won’t have to make a desperate push at the end of the expansion and waste too much time on leveling and last minute gearing. It’s better to get everyone up asap than doing it late in the game.
One thing I’m discovering as I level is that the leveling process overall, while monotonous, has gotten a lot smoother. I still die on occasion but because the questing experience is fresh, I can zoom through each zone knowing what to expect. The other benefit is that I’m noticing where to spend my time. Some areas have optional quests. I realize that I can be a completionist in doing each section, but in the end, this can be a complete waste of time. The reason being that once you reach sufficient experience and gear, the next zone ends up providing more. For instance, in the Krasarang Wilds, the little island in the south eastern section is completely optional. I find that doing this island is unnecessary except for a minor experience boost. Same with the Hemet Nessingway safari (unless you’re a skinner). However, you’re really better off just moving to Kun-Lai Summit (in that situation) since the experience and gear is far better.
That isn’t to say to completely skip an entire questing hub once you hit a certain level. Some aspects might be required to complete so that you can access more of the high end zone stuff (such as doing most of the Dread Wastes). You can always go back to finish up the zone, but understanding what is important and what isn’t helps in the efficiency aspect. The main concept is to minimize wasting time.
One thing that I’m discovering is that you can probably hit 90 in roughly 5 days time with reasonable space in between. Once you get into a groove, it’s really not that hard to burst through each zone rapidly. Again, the key aspect is to avoid being a completionist and strive to push through. Set goals like achieving one level/day or completing a zone per day. When you do that, it makes the whole process a lot faster.
I probably won’t finish some zones like Dread Wastes nor Townlonge Steppes for all my toons. My reasoning is that I prefer to focus on getting most people to 90 asap. I want to have that flexibility in choosing which class to play and go with in any group. Lastly, if and when an expansion occurs, I won’t have to backtrack as much. Most certainly, there will be experience nerfs for older content to get people into the newer areas but it just doesn’t feel the same.