Instance leveling to 80

[Claydon]

I had an idea of leveling in instances for at least the first few levels of wrath.

I'm on EU-Kazzak and it is packed with people, so I guessed that leveling would be a real pain.

I have 5 people that are willing to do this with me so getting a group will not be a time consumer.

Does anyone have any thoughts about this? will the XP gains in instances be comparable to XP gains attempting to do quests with the masses?

My goal is to level to 80 asap and get raiding. the guild I'm in want to try and get in the top5 guilds on Kazzak so quick leveling is going to be essential.

I was thinking it may be worth doing instances during the day and quests at night (yes I plan to only sleep for a couple of hours during the day!)

also regarding defence cap and leveling

i know at level 80 defence cap is 540 and at 70 its 490. this divides nicely into 5 points per level. is this correct? So if im level 72 i need 500 defence to avoide crits from level ?? bosses.

1 last thing. I have read that wearing tabard in instances will get you rep with the corresponding faction. Do these tabards have to be gained by a quest line or can you just buy them from the quatermaster.

Apologies if any of this has been covered, i did have a good look around the forums but couldnt find any specific info on what i have written.

[Ryuusuke]

Leveling through instances, especially within the first few levels while everyone is playing sure is the best thing to do.
Remember all those World-Server-Downs on TBC - most of the time Instance-Servers were fine...

The Tabard thing:
Most tabards are attainable at Friendly Reputation with the corresponding faction so you'll get them pretty early on.

For the defense thing you're partially correct
at 72 you need 500 Def to be uncrittable against lvl 75 mobs (BOSSES count as playerlvl +3) but ?? could also be +10 levels above you (82 in that case) and those would hurt you kinda bad xD

[Barathorn]

Its a good idea, especially if you can get the required tabards early. When you have finished leveling through the instances to 80, you then go back for the cash from the quests.

Having not played the beta or ptr, I am not sure how viable this is though with this expansion.

Barathorn

[Claydon]

Yeh sorry, i thought that might come up about the defence thing. I was trying to base it on bosses in the instances i will be doing while leveling.

but i have just had a thought that they will probably only be my level +2 if i enter them at the right level.

[Rehlachs-]

will the XP gains in instances be comparable to XP gains attempting to do quests with the masses?

world server will be lagging like hell. instance server should be fine.. no overfarmed quest mobs.. well..

My goal is to level to 80 asap and get raiding. the guild I'm in want to try and get in the top5 guilds on Kazzak so quick leveling is going to be essential.

quickly lvling != effective lvling

since you have to do those damned SoH questlines and at least some quests to gain friendly status at the given factions .. you will safe some time when you do this with your group on your way to lvl80.

I was thinking it may be worth doing instances during the day and quests at night (yes I plan to only sleep for a couple of hours during the day!)

about 36127842389 players will have the same idea.

i know at level 80 defence cap is 540 and at 70 its 490. this divides nicely into 5 points per level. is this correct? So if im level 72 i need 500 defence to avoide crits from level ?? bosses.

there won't be any ?? bosses in your 5man instances unless are stupid enough to do some instances with mobs with a much higher lvl. probably still doable with good gear, but not very efficient since it takes too much time and rewards less xp.

*edit*
actually that might happen if you choose to start lvling in Azjol'Nerub or The Nexus. but therefore your clvl will still be 70 and you will need your 490 defense to stay immune to crits.

1 last thing. I have read that wearing tabard in instances will get you rep with the corresponding faction. Do these tabards have to be gained by a quest line or can you just buy them from the quatermaster.

http://wotlkwiki.info/index.php/Championing

[Claydon]

http://wotlkwiki.info/index.php/Championing

QQ @ work firewall

[Rehlachs-]

Summary

"Championing" is a system for earning Faction reputation for certain Northrend-based Factions.

The system makes use of Tabards available from certain Factions at Friendly reputation. By wearing a Faction's Tabard, one gains the Champion buff for that specific Faction and can then gain reputation for kills in any level 80 Dungeon, regardless of the Dungeon's native reputation.

For example, if a player wears the Tabard of the Kirin Tor in Utgarde Pinnacle (or any other level 80 Dungeon), each kill will grant Kirin Tor rep.
Championable Factions

Currently only four major Neutral Factions in Northrend can be Championed:

* Kirin Tor: Wearing the Tabard of the Kirin Tor grants to Champion of the Kirin Tor buff.
* Knights of the Ebon Blade: Wearing the Tabard of the Ebon Blade grants to Ebon Champion buff.
* The Argent Crusade : Wearing the Tabard of the Argent Crusade grants to Argent Champion buff.
* The Wyrmrest Accord: Wearing the Tabard of the Wyrmrest Accord grants to Wyrmrest Champion buff.

[Claydon]

ahhh so you can only do this in lvl 80 dungeons =/

[Arcand]

By wearing a Faction's Tabard, one gains the Champion buff for that specific Faction and can then gain reputation for kills in any level 80 Dungeon, regardless of the Dungeon's native reputation.

Instead of the native rep, or in addition to it?

[Aldonza]

Pretty sure all the previous information aluded that the faction gains from tabards would be in addition to the regular faction normally gained.

[Rehlachs-]

Instead of the native rep, or in addition to it?

Killing a monster that yields reputation inside a level 80 dungeon on normal or heroic mode while wearing a particular faction's tabard will grant reputation with both the faction associated with the dungeon and the faction whose tabard the player is wearing.

http://www.wowwiki.com/Championing

[Belloc]

From personal experience in the beta, instance leveling is not a good idea in WotLK.

First of all, you don't get nearly as much XP in instances as you do from questing. Even with rested XP, XP in instances was really small. You would be much better off taking that 5-man group and tagging every mob in the area while questing. If the area is crowded, simply move to the next zone. These zones are all really big and there are plenty of quest hubs.

Second, you'll be missing out on some really awesome quests. Blizzard really outdid themselves here.

You'll do whatever you think is best, but I recommend not rushing it. A few world-server-downs is well worth the quest experience you'll be getting. Plus, it'll probably still be faster


Edit: Also, defense isn't much of an issue. I was using tier 5-ish gear + whatever WotLK upgrades I could get my hands on, and boss crits were not a problem until Utgarde Pinnacle and Culling of Stratholme (ie. level 80 instances). Even then, we still cleared those instances with little issue (one wipe in Stratholme, none in Pinnacle).

[EvilNuff]

From personal experience in the beta, instance leveling is not a good idea in WotLK.

First of all, you don't get nearly as much XP in instances as you do from questing. Even with rested XP, XP in instances was really small.
...
Second, you'll be missing out on some really awesome quests. Blizzard really outdid themselves here.
...

Agreed from beta I would avoid this big time. I was getting 10-15% of a level while rested clearing an instance at level appropriate times, at about an hour a clear that's 6-10 hours a level...questing I was getting 3-4 hours a level.

Honestly just re-read Belloc's post he's pretty much dead on. The quests really are fantastic too.

[daemonym]

personally i plan on doing the instances i need gear from in heroic mode on normal mode a few times to get the feel for the pulls and bosses, along with a quick jump start on rep for the tanky tanky rep items.

i agree that questing will always be the way to go unless it's so crowded/laggy that not much can be done. if that's the case just do an instance and check back at your respective quest area.

[Worldie]

From personal experience in the beta, instance leveling is not a good idea in WotLK.

First of all, you don't get nearly as much XP in instances as you do from questing. Even with rested XP, XP in instances was really small. You would be much better off taking that 5-man group and tagging every mob in the area while questing. If the area is crowded, simply move to the next zone. These zones are all really big and there are plenty of quest hubs.

You clearly don't play in a Full server with queues