Tuesday Morning Post: Singing the I'm not level 80 yet blues
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Nov 18th 2008 at 7:30AM
Yeah, it's true. While some people have already pretty much beaten Wrath -- Yes, and I mean all of it -- Some of us haven't quite made it to 80 yet. But really, that's fine. There's a lot of awesome stuff to see in Northrend, and I don't mind stopping to smell the roses and whatnot. As it is, we HAVE to stop now, what with that 5 AM - 11 AM downtime this morning. But I'm not too bummed about the break in leveling. If I wasn't waiting through downtime, I'd be waiting for the queue to clear up, right? Besides, this is a perfect opportunity to sit back and absorb the information overload from the past week. Here's a selection of some of hottest news from the past week, including quite a few leveling, gearing, and profession guides to give you a head start in Northrend once the servers come back up.
Hot News and Features
- The Midnight release lines actually started pretty early, and more than one WoW Insider writer were in them. Check out our picture gallery of midnight events around the USA. Marvel at the people braving fatigue, cold, and malfunctioning credit card machines, including Dan O'Halloran, who managed to get an interview with Tom "Kalgan" Chilton while he was at it.
- Still haven't had a chance to upgrade to Wrath yourself? You can upgrade online right now.
- Hints and Portents from the WoW European site hint at big changes coming to our WoW accounts.
- If you're still working on getting your addons in order, check out our list of essentials for some help and inspiration.
- Ask a Beta Tester is Dead, but there's a replacement: The Queue! But hey, no reason we can't look back on the good times of AABT.
- The official consensus is that Nymh of Drek'thar-EU was the first 80. We have an interview with him.
- We've rounded up all the best of our Wrath news for your class on the site thus far. Be sure to check out the roundups for your favorite class, and maybe your second-favorite one while you're at it.
- If you're leveling up a Warrior to 80, we have a list of weapons to look out for.
- If you're leveling a Mage through Northrend, have we got a guide for you.
- We have a Priest leveling guide for 70 to 75 as well.
- For Paladins, we have a list of Starting Zone upgrades to look for.
- For Death Knights, we have a little tanking advice.
Other Tips, Guides, and How-tos
- Feeling stuck in the Fjord? Want to head to the Tundra? You can actually shuttle back and forth between the two.
- You might also like to check out our Alliance guide to flight paths in the starting zones of Northrend. We have a Horde version as well.
- We have picture guides of many of the new profession recipes in Wrath, as well as a roundup of many of our key profession posts.
- If you're wondering where the epic crafting stuff is, we have an overview of that too.
- Speaking of Professions, you'll need to find a trainer first, of course. If you're lost on that front, we can help.
- If you're working up the ranks of Inscription, we've been working on it right beside you. This week, we covered the drive from 200-305 skill.
- Looking to start achieving in Northrend? We have 10 easy ones for you to get under your belt.
- Interested in Wrath raiding? Let us Introduce you to the new raid game and help you prepare for it.
- If you haven't had a chance to check out Northrend as much as you'd like, why not try our pictures of the starting zones? We also have previews of Sholozar Basin and Zul'drak.
- If you're into WoW Maps, MapWoW seems to be well on the way to mapping out Northrend in all its glory.
Odds and Ends
- Lovers of Squirrels and other critters may want to check out this guide for getting that achievement.
- J. Allen Brack talked with the Detroit Free Press about the expansion earlier this week.
- If you're crazy enough to step into the deep end of the Forum pool, You might be interested in the new level 80 official forum avatars.
- Here's something that's especially cool for me, since my favorite toy back in the day was my giant tub full of castle legos: A Lego replica of Booty Bay.
- Blizzard is hinting more and more that paid character appearance changes may be coming to Azeroth soon.
- One nice thing about all this money Blizzard earns -- you can get some pretty cool toys that way.
- Speaking of stuff to do while the servers are down, there's always playing with the new WoW Minis.
- If you need a sign that Wrath's popular, here's one: Even Bat Boy is playing it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Liel Nov 18th 2008 7:37AM
With such long breaks between expansions I am in no rush this time to level up. I played my butt of this past weekend and got caught up in the mad rush with the crowd of players zerging through quests. People would get the quest and instead of looking it up themselves or even reading it would just ask for coordinates in General chat.
I stopped playing for a few days to let the zergers get ahead so I can take my time and enjoy seeing new zones for the first time.
Rash Nov 18th 2008 7:41AM
Don't worry you're not the only person singing the blues. Thanks to the current economy I haven't been able to get the expansion yet! I am salivating on hitting that new territory. Thankfully they started selling it over Blizzard store so atleast when I do there is no need to leave me home!
http://www.tampaartsexpo.com/wowfallenangelz/
cjshrader Nov 18th 2008 9:04AM
Tampa art sex PO? Sounds like good times
I'm sure you've never heard that one before.
Spiritoffire Nov 18th 2008 9:37AM
Pretty sure the link is about Tampa Arts" Expo
Rash Nov 18th 2008 12:13PM
LoL... go visit it... it is Tampa Arts Expo... he he he
Axolotl Nov 18th 2008 7:43AM
I've been working on skinning (extra crit) and mining (extra income) for my deathknight first, before leveling.
I'll just take it all relaxed, it's at least a year untill the next expansion, possibly even two ... by then I probably have leveled my Paladin, Death Knight and Druid to 80 (resp. 70 - 60 - 62 atm.)
My Death Knight will become my new main, far more fun and mobs actualy die fast
TonyMotorola Nov 18th 2008 7:55AM
Blues?!!?!
I'm sad that I'm enjoying the content and taking it in slowly?
I think 'sad' best defines the people that have no job, no scholastic obligations, no social life and even less concern for their physical and mental health and chose to play WoW for 50-100 straight hours without sleep so they can hit 80 and raid.
There's nothing sad about working a full time job, having a social life and mixing in a little leveling and WoW-fun in your free time. The game isn't a race.
Eisengel Nov 18th 2008 2:05PM
I entirely agree. I'm not one that has to be first, or even place for that matter, in getting content "done". I want to get there eventually.. but as long as there is progress, even slow progress, I'm fine with that. This expansion has to last me until the next... so I don't see much reason in plowing through it at full speed. All of my 70s... are still 70. My main is close to 71, but only because I ran Nexus with some guildies and quested a bit with one my friends in the guild. I've basically allocated each of my 70s to a friend of mine, and when they're on, we duo up and run quests. It's a fun and relaxed way to experience things.
When my duo-ing partners are offline, then I log on my DK and beat the everlasting crud out of everything in Outland. I guess my DK is feeding my frenetic leveling/grinding need and I get to actually play on my 70s.
SBKT Nov 18th 2008 8:00AM
I thought the only thing to smell was the outhouse in Grizzly hills.
Vongar Nov 18th 2008 8:04AM
I agree with the people that are going to take there time and soak up what the game has to offer. I brought wotlk on release day and installed it and have not stepped foot into the xpack yet. Still leveling alts giving the zergers and the DK invasion time to blow pass.
Charlie Nov 18th 2008 8:05AM
I'm really enjoying the content. You rarely get to experience brand new zones and leveling oportunities. Leveling in new content is my favorite thing to do in wow, its just unfortunate that its about 1 month in the 1-2 year expansion cycle =/.
But yeah. I am taking my time, well at least i will be after 71 (2 bars to go with 4 quests to turn in when the servers went down =( ). I'm a mage and i just really want to see Dalaran finally! I love the howling fjord, and am really enjoying my time playing the game.
Oh, and the DK starting are is absolutley awsome. They are also really fun to play. i'll prolly jump back into outland realm with my DK after a bit. He's just chillin in hellfire atm.
Bibaxa Nov 18th 2008 8:09AM
im sad that i got les flue/some other sickness on friday night and sleeped the whole saturday (16 hours of 24). i was really sad seeing that my raid leader and main tank had been up for 32 hours straight too, what misrable lifes they have :P
Juan C. Flores Nov 18th 2008 8:11AM
I'm gonna take my sweet time to lvl my pally and DK. Besides I haven't finished college yet and *hopefully* this is my last semester so I gotta give it all I got. So I have been playing but not much. When I'm done then I'll start playing more often.
Maolrubha Nov 18th 2008 8:14AM
Count me amongst those going slowly. The fact that I'm 72 bothers me quite a bit. (And that rested bar keeps moving! STOP!)
I *DID* go over into BT for that quest 2H, but other than that I've stuck exclusively to HF and about five instance runs. Lots of fishing (I did cheat a bit to get into Dalaran, of course) in the fountain and the sewers, lots of auction housing with my (increasingly rich) bank alt, just taking my time, savoring the quest test, and exploring like I did when I first downloaded vanilla 2 years ago.
I'm also slowly downgrading all of my gear. I had some epic mail legs and boots from Kara and ZA on my retadin, and I didn't hesitate to swap them out for green quest plate. Yeah, I lost a bit of AP and INT and Crit, but hey! Plate!
pringle Nov 18th 2008 8:24AM
I finally received my copy yesterday and didn't get a chance to install it until 9pm after the kids went to bed. By the time it installed, patched and got through the queue I had about 10 minutes to play before bed. I used my time to make my 3rd & 4th piece of shadowcloth. So I'm a bit anxious for the servers to come back up today. What did I do to pass the time besides hang out with the swarm of death knights? Leveled fishing from 150-350 in the barrens, farmed enough cloth to level tailoring 1-350, and gathered a load of mats for imbued netherweave bags to sell bags and mats on the ah for all the new DK alts. Guess what? I still had fun and now I have enough gold for my epic flying. It was nice to get some things done that I had been putting off on my first toon on a new server. Now get those servers up early so I can play during my lunch break!!
Allnighter Nov 18th 2008 8:26AM
Agree with the others I'm taking my time and since I haven't received my actual copy and the wait was just killing me so I just downloaded the WOTLK client *Thanks WoW insider for the info =)!!*
Why the rush besides the race to 80 and etc... I'm absorbing the artwork and the new hero class as well as the lore. I'm also loving the DK class * especially the death grip* alot better than my rogue.
I just barely leveled my Pally to 70 after 2 years since I don't have the luxury of time. Bills needs to be paid, gas in the car , dodging dramas, helping a friend in need and you get the point.
Smelling the roses isn't a bad thing, take a scenic walk or run when the mobs be chasing ya =P besides I would get burnt out playing WoW constantly. But that's just my play style.
Sinisterone Nov 18th 2008 8:34AM
I wouldnt say people playing the game for 32 hours have no life , id say its an addiction .. How many of us start doin a quest and just cant seem to get off the game when we intend to .. Theres no one on the game that can say they havent lost sleep or even missed a days work due to playing the game .. I love playing wow , and with the new content ill be busy for months .. I have multiple 70s and ive started a DK also , so i plan to take my time getting to 80
TonyMotorola Nov 18th 2008 8:52AM
I'd wager there are a LOT of people playing the game that haven't sacrificed work/school/social obligations to play.
Balius Nov 18th 2008 8:56AM
I'm almost 73, but I don't mind not being max level. I am excited for level 74 on my rogue, for the new skills, but I'm enjoying the setting and the art direction and the quests and the whole shebang. I'm happy to run the new instances rather than racing past them and into endgame, I'm happy to play only as long as I feel like instead of unpleasant gaming marathons.
I can look forward to having new content with each new level, instead of only keeping my eye on that last level. And when I reach it, even putting aside the 10 man raiding I hope to get into, I'll still have alts, and I can look at that content from a brand new perspective. And even if I get all of them to 80(and that's 9 characters), I still have a Deathknight I can create.
BillDoor Nov 18th 2008 9:05AM
I'm level 76, and still in Dragonblight (did both of the starting zones and some instances). Having a great time. I plan on hitting 80 this weekend so my guild can start at least naxx10 on Monday. I'm really enjoying the content though, and plan on finishing all of it.