Post by zador on Aug 6, 2017 7:05:01 GMT -5
Got my first iron (Ironzadora-KulTiras) to 110 today 
I chose a Paladin as its a class I enjoy playing and seemed to have plently of survivability. Ideally I would have chosen Night elf but that's not an option so I went for Dwarf. Stoneform helped me out a few times with removing bleeds and other debuffs but overall I didn't use it much. It seems Dwarf and Paladin are not very popular choices for irons.
I learned through my first 4 deaths to avoid horde camps, keybind cooldowns near movement keys and use those cooldowns on named mobs. Ix'lar in EPL in particular was the first mob to kill me with special attacks I wasn't ready for.
I decided after this and a disconnect-on-pull death to switch to Protection spec as I thought that might just let me survive a dc. I didn't find that this really slowed me down at all and the additional health and armour seemed more than worth it so I stuck with it from then on.
Having read some forum guides about levelling, I think my approach was quite aggressive. On my penultimate attempt (died at 83) I learned that it really was not that much of an issue for me moving up to current content at level 60, 70, 80. I tested the water for the start of each expansion content and didn't find it that hard so moved on up. The first three zones in Outland plus start of Blade's Edge got me to 70. Borean Tundra, Fjord, Dragonblight and a bit of Zul'drak got to 80. Hyjal and Vash'jir to 85. The very last quest in Hyjal, Magma Monster, killed me at level 83 on that try, the elite mob that the turtle is supposed to tank turned on me and one-shot me from full health.
In particular I never went to Icecrown and the Argent Tournament. Pandaria was the first place I lingered as I really didn't want to face the opening Draenor scenario at 90. The Halfhill dailies and Dread Wastes quests still gave good experience until level 93 so I stayed there.
At this point I had to make a decision about flying. I managed to earn enough gold from selling BoEs and cloth to pay for flying up to 310 speed and cold weather/Pandaria flying etc. In Draenor and Legion you just get it automatically on an alt if you've earned it on your main. Although allowed in the rules I felt I had not earned it so decided I would not fly in Draenor until I hit level 100, and not fly in Legion at all.
I got through the Draenor intro at level 93 and from there proceeded through Shadowmoon Valley while continuing Pandaria dailies until 97 when the XP dropped. I moved on to Gorgrond and Talador until level 100. At that point I discovered what would be a significant source of XP for the last 10 levels - the apexis shards you can farm in Tanaan Jungle (Ruins of Kra'nak in particular). At level 100 with rested XP each one was giving me 22000 XP! At that level you
have to be very careful not to aggro mobs but the XP was worth it. The amount quickly drops from that point until at level 109 they give just 750 XP but its a very safe and reliable source.
I stayed in Draenor until 102, when pretty much all quest XP was nerfed, and started Legion quests. There's a huge jump in health between these levels - I had 73K at level 100 and 227K at 102 so at that point I felt safer questing in Legion. I followed advice on the forum to quest for the first half of each level as the mobs are one level lower but it still took ages to kill ordinary mobs and named mobs were like boss fights.
I managed to complete the Val'sharah questline to get the Tear of Elune, although I did not manage to complete "The Nightmare Lord" as the mob's stacking bleed was just too much for me to cope with. Fortunately that's not a gate for the overall questline. There were a few touch-and-go moments, mostly with named mobs or multi-mob pulls, Arkethrax being one that very nearly got me.
During the 100+ climb I also started doing the Winterspring Cub, Fjord Seal and Dwarven Bunker dailies, and at 108 started the Stables quests which brought a lot of experience. Overall I didn't do that many dailies though - 104 vs 2832 regular quests.
I had one wobble at around 50 where I equipped a soulbound quest green when I thought I was vendoring it. I realised immediately and removed it.
After checking the website it appears you are allowed this one mistake so I decided to continue as I had not gained anything from using the item but that remains one slight blot on my Iron reputation :s
Elapsed time: 31 days month; Played time: 4 days 6 hours.
Now to complete levelling my 49 pacifist, Peaceable.
Good luck to all other iron challengers
I chose a Paladin as its a class I enjoy playing and seemed to have plently of survivability. Ideally I would have chosen Night elf but that's not an option so I went for Dwarf. Stoneform helped me out a few times with removing bleeds and other debuffs but overall I didn't use it much. It seems Dwarf and Paladin are not very popular choices for irons.
I learned through my first 4 deaths to avoid horde camps, keybind cooldowns near movement keys and use those cooldowns on named mobs. Ix'lar in EPL in particular was the first mob to kill me with special attacks I wasn't ready for.
I decided after this and a disconnect-on-pull death to switch to Protection spec as I thought that might just let me survive a dc. I didn't find that this really slowed me down at all and the additional health and armour seemed more than worth it so I stuck with it from then on.
Having read some forum guides about levelling, I think my approach was quite aggressive. On my penultimate attempt (died at 83) I learned that it really was not that much of an issue for me moving up to current content at level 60, 70, 80. I tested the water for the start of each expansion content and didn't find it that hard so moved on up. The first three zones in Outland plus start of Blade's Edge got me to 70. Borean Tundra, Fjord, Dragonblight and a bit of Zul'drak got to 80. Hyjal and Vash'jir to 85. The very last quest in Hyjal, Magma Monster, killed me at level 83 on that try, the elite mob that the turtle is supposed to tank turned on me and one-shot me from full health.
In particular I never went to Icecrown and the Argent Tournament. Pandaria was the first place I lingered as I really didn't want to face the opening Draenor scenario at 90. The Halfhill dailies and Dread Wastes quests still gave good experience until level 93 so I stayed there.
At this point I had to make a decision about flying. I managed to earn enough gold from selling BoEs and cloth to pay for flying up to 310 speed and cold weather/Pandaria flying etc. In Draenor and Legion you just get it automatically on an alt if you've earned it on your main. Although allowed in the rules I felt I had not earned it so decided I would not fly in Draenor until I hit level 100, and not fly in Legion at all.
I got through the Draenor intro at level 93 and from there proceeded through Shadowmoon Valley while continuing Pandaria dailies until 97 when the XP dropped. I moved on to Gorgrond and Talador until level 100. At that point I discovered what would be a significant source of XP for the last 10 levels - the apexis shards you can farm in Tanaan Jungle (Ruins of Kra'nak in particular). At level 100 with rested XP each one was giving me 22000 XP! At that level you
have to be very careful not to aggro mobs but the XP was worth it. The amount quickly drops from that point until at level 109 they give just 750 XP but its a very safe and reliable source.
I stayed in Draenor until 102, when pretty much all quest XP was nerfed, and started Legion quests. There's a huge jump in health between these levels - I had 73K at level 100 and 227K at 102 so at that point I felt safer questing in Legion. I followed advice on the forum to quest for the first half of each level as the mobs are one level lower but it still took ages to kill ordinary mobs and named mobs were like boss fights.
I managed to complete the Val'sharah questline to get the Tear of Elune, although I did not manage to complete "The Nightmare Lord" as the mob's stacking bleed was just too much for me to cope with. Fortunately that's not a gate for the overall questline. There were a few touch-and-go moments, mostly with named mobs or multi-mob pulls, Arkethrax being one that very nearly got me.
During the 100+ climb I also started doing the Winterspring Cub, Fjord Seal and Dwarven Bunker dailies, and at 108 started the Stables quests which brought a lot of experience. Overall I didn't do that many dailies though - 104 vs 2832 regular quests.
I had one wobble at around 50 where I equipped a soulbound quest green when I thought I was vendoring it. I realised immediately and removed it.
After checking the website it appears you are allowed this one mistake so I decided to continue as I had not gained anything from using the item but that remains one slight blot on my Iron reputation :s
Elapsed time: 31 days month; Played time: 4 days 6 hours.
Now to complete levelling my 49 pacifist, Peaceable.
Good luck to all other iron challengers
that is a cracking pace