Friday, December 3, 2010

My Pre-Cataclysm game plan

Time to chat about a game plan for Cataclysm, starting with preparations for the leveling rush on December 7!
  • Clear the work schedule.
    I have a bunch of vacation days that I should probably use anyways before the end of the year. Sure they carry over, but accumulating 10 a year, I could spare a few to get a head start on leveling! Just told the boss I was taking a few days off for my birthday, a kind of stay-cation. =]

  • Clear bags of anything I don't think I'll need while leveling.
    I typically carry around a bunch of extra gear including several different sets for PvP, Feral Cat, Feral Tank, and special items for specific tanking encounters (armor/survival compared to threat/avoidance). Most of this stuff can find a place in my bank, which leads to my next point...

  • Clean up my bank and make some room!
    Really my bank is a large extension from my bags because of my robot butler pal, so I don't mind not having every single item I might need sometime between 80-85 in my bank. I can also move most WotLK crafting materials, mats, non-soul bound items to my bank alt.

  • Consumables.
    I'll have a few stacks of Well Fed food as well as my Alchemy flask, it's nice to have that extra bit of oomph!

  • Leveling Spec.
    Since I'll be leveling with dual feral builds I'll have one specifically tailored for tanking (my current spec) and one tailored for kitty leveling.

    Tanking:
    I'll add points into Natural Shapeshifter/Master Shapeshifter, and then grab Perseverance as I level.

    DPS:
    Not sure if I'll for sure go with these particular glyphs, but I'll be able to switch them on the fly so it doesn't much matter. As far as points while leveling, I'll probably end up filling in Natural Shapeshifter/Master Shapeshifter and then Fury Swipes and then it won't matter much.

  • Full quest log.
    It's a great way to grab a quick little boost of experience the second you log in to start leveling. Think dailies!

    Wowhead does a great job of filtering dailies and experience gained (based on level): Sorted by reward, filtered to only WotLK and Daily

3 comments:

  1. My brain may still be stuck in Wrath, but I'm curious as to the lack of Natural / Master Shapeshifter in your specs, especially Cat. I seem to be changing forms often enough (granted, I've not dungeoned yet), and a flat 4% increase to either damage or crit isn't bad.

    Where is my brain missing the math (an easier thing to do than I'd like to admit, honestly)?

    Cheers!

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  2. It probably would have been worth it when the talents reset to include that and drop and "raid" type talents (like Blood in the Water), but I didn't remember that they reset talents at launch for some classes like Druids. So I was just going to add in points as I leveled.

    It would make more sense to use a spec like this at 80 when you start leveling up (aka you are right): http://www.wowhead.com/talent#0ZfrrfRzbzbczMc (if you just logged in and have 0 talents set), honestly it didn't matter at all for me because I ended up doing BRC until I was 82 because if you tagged the mobs Raz (the big guy that helps you kill stuff) was going to kill you got Rep and experience, which was just awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That makes sense.

    I'm nearing 85 and getting ready to start running dungeons (haven't done one yet), so I'm sure I'll need to respec again soon. My shotgun leveling talents are one thing, srsbzniss talents are something else.

    Looks like a good blog. I've got you added to my list. Keep up the good work, mate.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete