Post by Discordiankitty on Jun 2, 2016 5:29:40 GMT -5
You're right, Trolls, Orcs and Undead are great, and Blood Elf is probably, as I said, the worst race. But hey, everyone has their freakish little personal challenge. Some people refuse to do dailies at all, others try levelling without a pet. I'm going for the first Blood Elf Ironman.
After almost dying in Stonetalon Mountains because of getting too close to some Alliance guards, and then dying anyway because I very cleverly walked off a cliff, I've decided to entirely abandon my fully explore other areas strategy. It wastes a lot of time for very little reward anyway. On the other hand, actively hunting rares in any given area really does pay off, especially early on.
At this point I've experimented enough to know what I consider to be the best route through vanilla zones, and I would recommend this to anyone playing Horde:
1-5: Whatever starting area you begin in.
5-12ish: Tristfal Glades
12ish-20+: Silverpine Forest. Be careful of the giant at the Forsaken Front (he's killable but dangerous) and of General Marstone who, if he decides to attack you instead of the NPCs that are supposed to be helping you, will kill you VERY quickly.
Early 20s to late 20s: Hillsbrad Foothills. DON'T GO NEAR THE YETI.
Late 20s to early 30s: Stonetalon Mountains. Don't fall. Don't try kill the big fish. Really don't fall.
Early 30s to mid 30s: The Hinterlands
(Make sure to pick up the OOX-09/HL Distress Beacon quest as it's tons of basically free XP, though you will get attacked by three mobs who hit quite hard so do be mindful of that. You may have to farm a little after questing, depending on your luck.)
Mid 30s to late 30s: Cape of Stranglethorn
(After you're done in the Cape of Stranglethorn, swing by Ferelas to pick up the OOX-22/FE Distress Beacon quest from the Feral Scar Yeti, who have an extremely high drop rate. As before it's tons of basically free XP.)
Late 30s to early 40s: Western Plaguelands. You could do Ferelas instead, but the next step basically has to be Eastern Plaguelands so sticking to the area just makes more sense to me. Just be careful - don't assume that Andorhal is a safe place to leave your character - I did that once and came back to find a Minuteman had killed me.
Early 40s to mid 40s: Eastern Plaguelands (I really do hate it, but trying to quest in Thousand Needles is a waste of time. The quests just aren't suited to an ironman.)
Mid 40s to late 40s: Tanaris
(Grab the OOX-17/TN Distress Beacon, you'll likely get it while questing unless you're VERY unlucky, and turn it in for XP and the pet, which you can put on the AH for quite a hefty sum to potentially solve any gold problems your ironman might have in the future. I have yet to sell one of these before dying, but hope springs eternal.)
Late 40s to early 50s: Felwood
Early 50s to mid 50s: Winterspring (it's right next to Felwood so might as well)
From here things aren't as set in stone. This is what I've been going with:
Mid 50s to late 50s: Swamp of Sorrows
Here's the issue. I've died in Un'Goro Crater twice now, both times because of some stupidly overpowered dinosaur that killed me before I had a chance to even play dead. The first time was fine, part of a quest that can easily be avoided, but the second time the dinosaur caught me ON the road on the way to the VERY FIRST little camp. That's insane, and has made me not want to go back to Un'Goro Crater until I'm at least level 61. So instead I'm considering either working Burning Steppes or Blasted Lands into my route. I haven't decided on which one yet - It will depend on my level when I reach the end of Winterspring.
So yeah. At the moment, I'm level 43 and heading into the Eastern Plaguelands. I'm still confident that I will be able to be around level 60 by the time the Darkmoon Faire opens up. Reeeeaaallllly hoping this will help me avoid Un'Goro Crater, but we'll see if I survive past 60 this time. There's always another cliff to fall off after all.
After almost dying in Stonetalon Mountains because of getting too close to some Alliance guards, and then dying anyway because I very cleverly walked off a cliff, I've decided to entirely abandon my fully explore other areas strategy. It wastes a lot of time for very little reward anyway. On the other hand, actively hunting rares in any given area really does pay off, especially early on.
At this point I've experimented enough to know what I consider to be the best route through vanilla zones, and I would recommend this to anyone playing Horde:
1-5: Whatever starting area you begin in.
5-12ish: Tristfal Glades
12ish-20+: Silverpine Forest. Be careful of the giant at the Forsaken Front (he's killable but dangerous) and of General Marstone who, if he decides to attack you instead of the NPCs that are supposed to be helping you, will kill you VERY quickly.
Early 20s to late 20s: Hillsbrad Foothills. DON'T GO NEAR THE YETI.
Late 20s to early 30s: Stonetalon Mountains. Don't fall. Don't try kill the big fish. Really don't fall.
Early 30s to mid 30s: The Hinterlands
(Make sure to pick up the OOX-09/HL Distress Beacon quest as it's tons of basically free XP, though you will get attacked by three mobs who hit quite hard so do be mindful of that. You may have to farm a little after questing, depending on your luck.)
Mid 30s to late 30s: Cape of Stranglethorn
(After you're done in the Cape of Stranglethorn, swing by Ferelas to pick up the OOX-22/FE Distress Beacon quest from the Feral Scar Yeti, who have an extremely high drop rate. As before it's tons of basically free XP.)
Late 30s to early 40s: Western Plaguelands. You could do Ferelas instead, but the next step basically has to be Eastern Plaguelands so sticking to the area just makes more sense to me. Just be careful - don't assume that Andorhal is a safe place to leave your character - I did that once and came back to find a Minuteman had killed me.
Early 40s to mid 40s: Eastern Plaguelands (I really do hate it, but trying to quest in Thousand Needles is a waste of time. The quests just aren't suited to an ironman.)
Mid 40s to late 40s: Tanaris
(Grab the OOX-17/TN Distress Beacon, you'll likely get it while questing unless you're VERY unlucky, and turn it in for XP and the pet, which you can put on the AH for quite a hefty sum to potentially solve any gold problems your ironman might have in the future. I have yet to sell one of these before dying, but hope springs eternal.)
Late 40s to early 50s: Felwood
Early 50s to mid 50s: Winterspring (it's right next to Felwood so might as well)
From here things aren't as set in stone. This is what I've been going with:
Mid 50s to late 50s: Swamp of Sorrows
- From Light's Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands, grab the flight the goblins want to put you on - a rocket that you will be tossed off if you log out while on it so DO NOT LOG OUT until the flight is over - to Fuselight by the sea in Badlands. From there, swim to Bogpaddle. It's a slow route, but it's infinitely safer than trying to run through Alliance territory like Duskwood.
- I went to Swamp of Sorrows the first time because I read that the Primed Musket, one of the only 2 weapons that are an improvement over the gun bought from a vendor at level 31, drop here. I picked up the other one, the Recurve Long Bow, instead. This time around I've been lucky enough to find and buy both off the Auction House already so I don't need to bother trying to farm them. But the questline is simple and there's no nasty dangerous surprises, so I'm keeping it in my route.
Here's the issue. I've died in Un'Goro Crater twice now, both times because of some stupidly overpowered dinosaur that killed me before I had a chance to even play dead. The first time was fine, part of a quest that can easily be avoided, but the second time the dinosaur caught me ON the road on the way to the VERY FIRST little camp. That's insane, and has made me not want to go back to Un'Goro Crater until I'm at least level 61. So instead I'm considering either working Burning Steppes or Blasted Lands into my route. I haven't decided on which one yet - It will depend on my level when I reach the end of Winterspring.
So yeah. At the moment, I'm level 43 and heading into the Eastern Plaguelands. I'm still confident that I will be able to be around level 60 by the time the Darkmoon Faire opens up. Reeeeaaallllly hoping this will help me avoid Un'Goro Crater, but we'll see if I survive past 60 this time. There's always another cliff to fall off after all.