So if Aoe grinding is not possible, what will u do in WoTLK

[Peryl]

question is all about what you will do when the expansion comes out. just want to get the general feel of how people are approaching this coming expansion and what they are doing to repair for it. I know some people will make death knights and forget about our little consecrate characters, but if you think your taking your pally to 80, there are a few questions im sure myself and others are wondering.

to fellow my tankadins, how will you level? spec ret? or stay prot to tank instances as your leveling?

whatever the path you choose, what kind of gear are you farming? Ret dps gear? shockadin gear?

Myself, because i am alliance and we lack SoBlood, im thinking im going to stay prot, farm up shockadin gear and use SoR/JoR to level to 80. I am still torn tho because i always pick up 2-3 points of reckoning, would ret gear be better suited for me ? any suggestions would be much appreciated =D

Well, I expect WoTLK won't be THAT different than BC. I'll be AOE grinding, I still think it's quicker to round up a bunch and AOE 'em down. I can't see there will be that many casters.

Right now I'm AOE grinding for Aldor rep, I suppose there will be more of the same to get to 80 or for when you have to kill X quests. A little boring, but I'm getting marks, getting gold, getting items, and getting exp. When I don't have time to instance, it's nice just to run a few quests or do some AOE grinding.

I guess if I had thousands of gold, was at 70, had max professions, and exalted with everyone then I wouldn't see any need to do it.

But I certainly think you'll be able to grind AOE mobs in WoTLK if you want to...

[Iliria]

...Then i'll aoe grind mobs in outland til they no longer give exp ^^()

[mirkodeluxe]

I dont intend to switch spec - I will level with my brother (fellow tankadin) and/or my guildies, doing quests and instances together.
Also, with 800+ spelldmg in my grindinggear I might have downtime to drink, but ill have no problem killing mobs for the first few levels.

[Barathorn]

What else is there to do? You could spec ret, or you could learn the instances from the very first day... Which is what most, if not all, of us will be doing.

With my Hunter I practically lived in Hellfire Citadel for the first week of TBC launch. By the end of it, my pet was tanking groups of friends through it.

Now that I'm going into WotLK launch with a well-geared tank, I'll probably do the first zone quests, then just instance the rest of the way to 80 as a tank for mates.

This pretty much. Then when level 80 I will do all of the quests in each area for the gold and buy whatever is needed to level my professions. Speculation about changing game mechanics when none have even been hinted at is pretty pointless really in my opinion.

I am looking forward to it, whatever it brings.

Barathorn.

[Kelaan]

Prot spec doesn't make soloing impossible. You can still toss on ret-like gear, even, if you prefer. When stuff hits the fans, you can still bless Sanctuary, strap on your shield, and aoe things down, though.

As a bonus, you'll be able to tank any instance you want, easily. Most other tank classes will probably spec DPS, so you'll mainly be competing with feral druids. (:

[EvilNuff]

I'll still level prot. Ret even post buffs has gimped enough dps that its slower than prot for levelling w/ quests already I see no reason for that to change.

[Fridmarr]

I'll still level prot. Ret even post buffs has gimped enough dps that its slower than prot for levelling w/ quests already I see no reason for that to change.

Heh, not even close. I leveled as prot, and I probably will in WotLK as well, mostly because I'll be hitting up instances with my guildies, but that said, I kill stuff WAY faster as ret. A lot of mobs are dead on my second swing, and since I don't really bother judging, I can just use Rank 1 SoC and then my mana lasts too.

[Valorblade]

I've always been an instance whore so I always leveled up prot on Wow and BC live. In WoTLK I'm currently Ret but have been switching to Prot for the Nexus instance work.

With the state of dailies as it is, it shouldn't be that bad to swap out specs if you are smart about it and plan. In BC I remember doing quests / outdoor work outside of prime time, then burying myself in an instance during prime time to avoid crazy server pop / lag issues while pushing that xp bar.

[Lookit]

I'm staying prot and will be leveling almost entirely in instances. There are a ton of reasons:

- I enjoy tanking as prot. I do not enjoy grinding mobs as prot.
- I'll be familiarizing myself with all the instances so I'm ready for heroics
- I make plenty of gold doing instances, between shards and drops

As for all the quest content, I'll be doing that on my rogue, so I won't miss out on any of the cool questlines.

[Miyazaki]

Instances here too. The only thing I'm fearing is missing out on all the cool tank-quest rewards like those sweet pants one was able to pick up at lvl 59 or something. I used them 'till 69

[brimstoner]

Bear with me here, I know this is a kick in the teeth, but I will probably actually play through the quests and content. I know I know.. how very blase, but I might actually enjoy the content. I know that I did with BC. I didnt grind my way to anything, I enjoyed hellfire for the amazing landscape and crazy feel. I liked having a 70 elite 20 times my size stomp past me, it made my heart race and made me think I had to look around every corner. And I played through every quest and I enjoyed the feel and content. I liked collecting disgusting green eggs and ham, I liked learning all about Shattrath and remember just how lost I was and how big and different it was. Anyway I, for one, will be questing through it, visiting content, and enjoying the stortyline. Once I hit a quest for a dungeon, I will do the dungeon. Eventually it all does lose its luster, I brought up my pally as a 70 and spent very little time on the content since I had already experienced it once. Once it loses its luster, Ill be back here asking questions and gearing for whatever Karazahn equivalent we get .

[Kellann]

Silly question - I"ll probably be 75 by the end of the first day with the dungeons I'll be begged for and the SMV terraces I'll grind between dungeons.

[Kelaan]

Silly question - I"ll probably be 75 by the end of the first day with the dungeons I'll be begged for and the SMV terraces I'll grind between dungeons.

That's an interesting point. Heroic dungeons, if we're able to run things like SH/Botanica/etc in heroic still at > 70 (and as long as they aren't retuned for level 80 heroics ), sound like a HUGE xp influx.

[Melathys]

I intend on doing netherwing rep after expansion hits. Lots of aoe goodness from doing those dailies.

[Mordinm]

Silly question - I"ll probably be 75 by the end of the first day with the dungeons I'll be begged for and the SMV terraces I'll grind between dungeons.

That's an interesting point. Heroic dungeons, if we're able to run things like SH/Botanica/etc in heroic still at > 70 (and as long as they aren't retuned for level 80 heroics ), sound like a HUGE xp influx.

There is a huge gap in experience between EPL/Silithus quests and mobs and Hellfire quests and mobs, even when they are the same level. If blizzard repeats this you will be wasting your time if you go back to out lands while leveling. I can't imagine being able to get a group to any 70 instance when leveling. Who would do Bot when you have the WotLK's Ramps to do instead. Unless you really want BT gems you won't need badges anymore either.