dungeon-quests
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Using the Dungeon Finder to level in a flash
If you're exhausted of leveling through the same old zones, it may be time to head to the Dungeon Finder for some of World of Warcraft's speediest leveling. How speedy are we talking about? Last night I spent about an hour with a just level 15 -- the minimum level for dungeons -- priest dungeon running and walked away with five levels and sacks full of loot. Admittedly, I had a stock of rested XP and a few heirlooms, but even without either, you should find dungeon leveling to be pretty zippy -- and a nice change of pace from the daily questing grind. The downside? While you're here, you'll be playing in a group of five -- typically a tank, a healer, and three DPSers -- and you'll need to learn how to play well in a group, which can be a bit different than playing solo. Though dungeons -- especially low level dungeons -- are easier than ever, there are some tips that will help ease your way. So let's take a look at what you need to hit the dungeons so you're ready to take advantage of that sweet, sweet Dungeon Finder XP.
Low-level dungeon quest experience nerfed
A hotfix notice was posted to the forums not long ago warning of an impending change: level 1 to 60 dungeon quests will award significantly less XP. While few players will be fans of such a change, I do think it's a smart one. In the blue post below, Zarhym says that players were outpacing the questing progression because of these quests, and it is absolutely true. Using the dungeon finder and completing the quests in each dungeon threw off quest and zone progression completely. When my dwarf shaman finished all of the quests in the Wetlands, she already had Hero's Call quests from the board in Ironforge urging her to skip multiple zones ahead. Not what you would call a great leveling curve. Zarhym We are applying a hotfix today to all level 1-60 dungeon quests for Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms dungeons which will significantly reduce the amount of experience they award. While dungeons should remain integral to our evolving storylines, and great places to collect gear in cooperative environments, we need to make sure each player's questing progress remains relevant as dungeon quests are completed. In many cases we're seeing players enter dungeons to complete quests, only to come out ahead of the leveling curve for the zones they're in. This change should allow players the opportunity to reap the benefits of running dungeons, while not outpacing the leveling flow from levels 1-60. At this time there are no plans for making any adjustments to dungeon quest experience for Outland, Northrend, and level 80+ Cataclysm dungeons. You can find a list of all of the latest hotfixes here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/1232869 source
WoW Rookie: Dungeon and world travel tips for Cataclysm lowbies
New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide. Classic WoW might have been pretty revolutionary for its time in terms of ease of leveling, but looking back, it was kind of terrible. It was just a lot better than what we had at the time. Thankfully, Cataclysm has fixed a lot of the original game's leveling issues, and I can say from personal experience that bringing a character from 1 to 60 is more fun than anything I've ever done in WoW before. And that's with no heirlooms, no gold from my main, no auction house, no nothing. Let's talk ways to maximize your fun while leveling in Cataclysm.
Arcane Brilliance: Mage guide to quest rewards -- the early levels
It's time again for Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that proves each and every week that there's no such thing as too much warlock hate. You might think there's some kind of limit, that at some point a constant stream of warlock hate crosses the boundary of good taste -- but you'd be wrong. Each joke at the expense of a warlock, like each episode of Breaking Bad, is more satisfying than the one before it. On a related note, Bryan Cranston is a god. Nothing in the above paragraph can be disputed. I'm realizing something as I level the stinking warlock you guys thought it would be fun to have me create, and that's how incredibly fast the leveling process is these days. Gone are the days when your best bet was to pick a zone and then quest it out before moving on to the next one. I was over-leveled for the first quests in Ghostlands before I was even halfway done with Eversong Woods, and I wasn't even trying that hard. In fact, I was more actively engaged in finding new and creative ways to get myself killed than I was in questing efficiently. The fact is, you can now absolutely pick and choose while leveling. Which zone? Which quest? Do I want to just bag the whole thing and hit some random dungeons? If something is unsavory -- say, you find yourself shackled to a quest in which you need zhevra hooves, only it is becoming rapidly apparent that none of the zhevra you're killing actually have feet -- you can skip it with negligible consequences. You're just going to come back and do it later for your Loremaster achievements anyway, right? So today, and probably in the coming weeks (I have no idea if I'll attempt to bring these guides to you consecutively, but I might), I'm going to try to provide you with something of a sightseeing guide for your accelerated tour through Azeroth. But instead of pointing you toward destinations like Hoover Dam or the Louvre, I'm going to direct you toward a selection of particularly worthwhile quest rewards. If you do nothing else in these zones, do these quests. Today we'll focus on classic WoW, and hopefully tackle Burning Crusade and Wrath rewards in the coming weeks. So gather your robes about you, plant your staff firmly into the path ahead and bring lots of conjured water. Our destination today? Phat loot.
Patch 3.3: Teleporting in and out of instances
The most recent patch notes answered something I've been wondering about the "summon-from-anywhere" LFG system since I first heard about it: what happens if you get summoned into an instance and then you leave? The answer, apparently, is that you go not to the instance's entry portal, but instead you get sent right back out from whence you came. That's a bummer and a benefit -- unfortunately, you won't be able to use the feature to do any cross-world teleporting (leaving Violet Hold, for example, won't work as an extra hearthstone to Dalaran), but on the other hand, you won't have to stop what you're doing wherever you are. In fact, porting in and out of any instances you run may change your positioning in the game completely. Nibuca doesn't see any need any more to leave a hearthstone in Dalaran -- that was previously the most central location for collecting daily dungeon quests and flying out to meeting stones, but with neither of those things necessary any more, you can park your stone anywhere you want. It'll be very interesting to see how movement patterns change after the new system goes live. I doubt Dalaran will be a ghost town (if nothing else, there will be plenty of people there sitting in LFG chat), but certainly the LFG is mixing up the reasons that a lot of people are hanging around there. Patch 3.3 is the last major patch of Wrath of the Lich King. With the new Icecrown Citadel 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raid arriving soon, patch 3.3 will deal the final blow to the Arthas. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3 will keep you updated with all the latest patch news.
