10 things to do once you hit level 90

So you've gotten a character to 90. Perhaps it's your first or perhaps it's one alt of many. But now you're left with a conundrum: what do you do now? The trip up to level 90 is fairly guided, with quests and bread crumb trails to lead you to the best places to level up and collect experience. But after you hit max level, you're on your own for what to do -- which is great if you know what you want, but problematic if you don't.

So for those of you just hitting level 90, read on for ten suggestions on where you can go from here.

Train flying for Pandaria. This will cost you 2,500 gold and will let you take to the Pandaran skies for easy transportation around the continent. It will also open access to additional content and daily quests -- but whether you're a fan of dailies or not, you'll probably want the convenience of being able to fly around. You can get flying from Skydancer Shun in Shrine of Two Moons (Horde) or Cloudrunner Leng in Shrine of Seven Stars (Alliance), both in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. If you haven't yet done the quest chain to open up the Vale -- like my monk -- you can take a careful leap off the Serpent's Spine and then make a run for your faction's Shrine.

Get a Timeless Isle tour guide. Timeless Isle is, hands-down, the best way to gear up a new level 90 character -- with spec-appropriate epics that that can be found in chests or bought for Timeless Coins -- for whatever you might want to do next. However, island's inhabitants will prove a challenge for new 90s, so we recommend finding a better-geared friend or getting a group to tour around the Timeless Isle. Start by checking out all of the treasure chests on the island and then check out the tricks to get the chests that respawn every week.

Rep it up! There are tons of reputations to work on in Pandaria with quests, dailies, and dungeons. All of these have gear that may be of interest to your character, and Order of the Cloud Serpent, Shado-Pan, Lorewalkers, Operation: Shieldwall (Alliance), and Dominance Offensive (Horde) have cool mounts at the end of the grind. As a side bonus, the dailies you'll do for these are a great way to make gold. You'll need Order of the Cloud Serpent reputation if you want to ride any of Pandaria's super cool serpent mounts -- and collecting eggs makes that grind a bit easier. Also, once you've picked up flying, it's really easy to get Lorewalkers to exalted -- it will only take you an hour or so.

Meet Wrathion. You've probably heard of this enigmatic character and the legendary quest chain he begins. The quest is very involved -- you definitely shouldn't expect to finish it immediately or even quickly -- but has lots of great rewards along the way. You can get started with the Stranger in a Strange Land quest -- or just go see Wrathion in the Tavern in the Mists in The Veiled Stair.

Get friendly with the Tillers and start your own farm. Maybe you didn't get into World of Warcraft for the farming... but the dailies involved in revamping Sunsong Ranch in Halfhill for Farmer Yoon are fun and a great source of material for cooking -- and other crafting, too. You wouldn't have intuitively thought you could grow Motes of Harmony by farming, but you can.

Farm honor in the Krasarang Wilds. Added in patch 5.1, there's PvP going on in Krasarang with three faction-related rares you can hunt and kill for honor, loot, and tokens you can turn in for more loot. If this sounds like a fun change of pace from battlegrounds, check out the details on WoW Rare Spawns.

Go solo with Troves of the Thunder King and Proving Grounds. If you're not into grouping, you may enjoy these totally solo gaming scenarios that will push your skills to the limit. In Troves, you'll have to find a key on the Isle of Thunder that will let you head in to loot the Thunder King's palace -- all on your own. Beyond being a lot of fun, it's a great way to get cash. Proving Grounds, on the other hand, pushes you to be the best you can be at your game role in a solo scenario that tests your DPS, healing, or tanking skills.

Do dungeons, scenarios, heroics, and raids. Though you'll have to gear up to do the latest raids, dungeons -- especially heroics -- are great places to find gear to do just that. And because most players have been 90 for a while now, heroics and LFR can be easier because the rest of the group is geared up already.

Solo old content for fun, transmog gear, achievements, pets, or mounts. Tearing through old content is loads of fun -- and a great way to get your hands on pets, mounts, good-looking gear, and achievements. At level 90, you should have little trouble with most pre-Mists content, which you can typically just overpower without much thought. However, raid encounters aren't easily soloable -- I'm looking at you, Razorgore -- because of the mechanics of the encounter. If you're having trouble, just hit up your favorite search engine and search for "<bossname> solo" to find tips from other players who have tackled the encounter on their own.

Work on achievements. There are a ton of achievements out there and you'll have to pick which ones matter to you. Interested in in-game lore? Perhaps you should finish up your Pandaria quest chains and get Loremaster of Pandaria. Love pet battles? Maybe you'll want to work towards Legendary Pet Battler or World Safari.

And if none of these fit your taste? Well, that's the wonder of being at max level: you get to decide what you want to do next, whatever that may be. So have fun choosing your own destiny!

Just because you're a newbie doesn't mean you can't bring your A-game to World of Warcraft! Visit the WoW Rookie Guide for links to everything you need to get started as a new player, from the seven things every newbie ought to know to how to get started as a healer or as a tank.