level-90-boost
Latest
Patch 6.0.2: Blasted Lands quests now rewarding gear
If you completed the Iron Horde Incursion quests in Blasted Lands shortly after the patch went live on US servers, the only rewards you received were the Iron Starlette pet and the "of the Iron Vanguard" title. Now it appears these quests are rewarding some gear as well. More specifically, an item level 515 ring, amulet, and cloak plus a item level 520 trinket. As of now, this is not listed in the official hotfixes but I would suspect these were last minute additions since they were never present on the PTR. Level 90 boosted characters start right in the Blasted Lands in patch 6.0.2 and must complete these quests to unlock all of their abilities, so this gear likely aimed at them. The revamped Upper Blackrock Spire dungeon has an item level requirement of 510 and this will help those new characters reach the requirement. As for those of you who need this gear but already completed the quests, there's no word yet if it's going to be possible to reward it retroactively. Update: Blizzard is aware of the problem and working on a fix for those of you who did the quests early and didn't receive any gear rewards, but there is no ETA at this time. Any fix they implement will be global, so there's no need to submit a support ticket.
The Queue: Time warp
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. In my personal canon, every time a mage uses Time Warp, it creates a new timeline. We aren't even on our Azeroth anymore. Who knows where we are? Mages ruin everything. CRtheMighty asked: Who all from our Azeroth is going to this alt-Draenor? I know Garrosh, because it's his fault, and somewhere Thrall pops over. Anyone else?
Legendary quest boosts on the way?
Wowhead dug up some interesting new information this past week, largely in regards to the legendary quest chain offered by Wrathion. These changes are not for patch 6.0 -- they are for patch 5.4.8, which should be coming to the PTR soon. Two new spells of note have been added to the PTR -- one, called Gaze of the Black Prince, increases your reputation earned with the Black Prince by 100%, which might sound a little like the Grand Commendations for other Pandaria reputations that unlock bonus reputation for all characters on your account. But that doesn't seem to be the case with this particular spell. In fact, Gaze of the Black Prince also increases the chances of getting a Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Power, Sigil of Wisdom, or Titan Runestone from enemies. How much of a chance isn't directly stated, but frankly, gathering the needed drops is far more time-consuming than simply earning the required reputation with Wrathion, so that's fantastic, right? Well ... there's more.
How to get a legendary cloak on your boosted 90
I just finished getting my legendary cloak on a second level 90 this week. It wasn't really necessary -- after all, I've got the cloak on my main character and I don't really need it on a second -- but I wanted to complete the chain again. The first time I went through this extraordinary, expansion-long chain was as the expansion itself played out, waiting between patches for the next leg of the chain to be introduced. This time around, there was no waiting in between stages. I could simply barrel through the chain as quickly as possible, a fresh level 90 against whatever Wrathion chose to throw at me. And let's face it -- the chain has changed in parts along the way. It still takes some time to complete, so you're not going to have your cloak tomorrow if you start today. But the rewards are well worth the effort, and it's quite a bit easier than it used to be. So if you have a recently boosted level 90 and you're interested in getting a legendary of your own, here's how to get that cloak with minimal stress.
WoW Moviewatch: The Great Level 90 Boost
The Great Level 90 Boost is an interesting little video from Nex Manus. It's the story of an orc who boosts himself to 90 and then, presumably, finds himself surrounded by others who did the same. Hijinks ensure when they discover portals. It's a lighthearted little video and I appreciated the warm eye it lent to new players struggling to discover the endgame. The only real criticism of the video I want to share is that some of the choppy video took me out of the moment. It can be tough to get good video, depending on your system specs, but it was especially disconcerting since not all the footage jittered. The voice acting and music was perfect, though, and I liked the script. Here's hoping we see an Episode 2! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The math and the money of level 90 boosts
For $60, level 90 boosts definitely seem pricey -- costing more than the expansion itself -- but DisRuptive1 on Reddit has taken the time to break down the math on that $60. To do so, he's taken careful measure of the time it's taken him to get a new character to level 90, plus grinding up professions. And though your leveling speed may be better -- or worse -- than his, if you count up the hours of playtime it takes, you can see how a boosted 90 might be worth the pricetag... at least if you really want another alt. The short of it is that boosting from level 1 to level 90 will save you about 84 hours of playtime, while boosting from 60 to 90 and getting max-level professions will save you about 70 hours of playtime. If we take to the goblin philosophy that time is money, than that many hours certainly add up to a chunk of change -- though we'll leave you to do the math on what your own time is worth. So if you've spent enough time with leveling content that none of it is terribly new to you, then maybe spending $60 instead of spending 70 hours time isn't such a bad idea. For all of the nitty gritty details, head over to read DisRuptive1's full post on Reddit.
I'm just not that into you, Character Boost
Look, it's not that you're not a great feature -- you totally are. I get that. It's just that you don't offer me anything I need. I don't have a legion of alts hanging out below max level right now - my shaman and four or five of my warriors are level 90, another couple are in the mid to high 80's. It wouldn't take me very long to get them to 90 if I cared, but I don't, and having another 90 warrior isn't going to get me interested in playing another one at max level. Frankly, I enjoy leveling warriors. Skipping that doesn't appeal to me. I've considered using you on my level 62 hunter. The thing is, I don't really enjoy playing him that much, and I can't imagine suddenly adding a boatload of spells and abilities is going to make that an experience I'd like more. In fact, if he did good DPS I'd probably get angry, since I know I'm not a particularly skilled hunter, and if he did poor DPS (which I'd expect given my low skill on the character and lack of experience with the last 30 levels he'd have just leapfrogged past) I'd get bored even faster. It's not terribly compelling. I've actually considered getting you just to boost one of my pallies to 90, but not because I want to play him - we could use another paladin for Devo Aura on heroic Thok, frankly. It's a much better cooldown than Demo Banner, and I could also BoP or HoP or whatever it's called now to a healer so he or she could keep on healing through the silences. But that's less about my wanting to play a paladin and more about the game having an incredibly annoying fight designed so that one class just breaks the encounter, and if anything it makes us all feel dirty. It's a case of a feature not being designed for me. I accept that. But it does kind of leave me with a problem - I'm getting it one way or another. Do I do anything with it?
Should level boosting become a default perk of new expansions?
I was one of many people who pre-ordered Warlords the moment it became available. Between the idea of running around on Draenor before it shattered into Outland, the appearance of old orc characters like Grom Hellscream, and the glut of new and hopefully incredibly entertaining draenei lore, there was no way I was going to give the next expansion a pass. On top of that, the new character models that we've seen so far have been so well done that I really can't wait to see all of them completed and implemented, giving the game a breath of fresh air its needed for quite some time. Yet I held off when it came to choosing a character to boost to level 90. To be perfectly honest, I froze at the character selection screen when immediately asked what to boost, because I have no idea what I want to use that boost for. Thankfully, it's still waiting there on the screen, an ominous golden button of opportunity waiting to be utilized when I deem it necessary. Having the option to boost a character to max level is certainly a brand-new perk, one we never really thought we'd see. But should it be a perk for every expansion?
What needs to change in the 90 boost process
We're all starting to get used to the level 90 boost process. Information is flying around the web and people are wrapping their heads around the quirks and tricks in the system. We've spoken already about a few issues, as well as some gearing tips, but let's think forward. In a few (or several) months, the target market for these boosts will not be the currently-subscribed seasoned WoW player. Instead, they'll be looking toward players who are returning after long breaks, players who might be interested in re-subbing to get a free 90 and level to 100 with their friends. So, the question is, what needs to change between now and then? Something missing We talked previously about the problems with boosting a level 60 or above character, getting the professions leveled, but then having to spend 1300+ gold on all the recipes. While this is not a huge deal for a practiced, current player, 1300 gold was a small fortune back in the Burning Crusade. While boosted 90s get a 150 gold stipend, if you have more than that in your bag you seem not to get that small chunk of gold. And the assumption would be, surely, that if you boost professions you'll actually be able to use them without having to pay a large amount of gold.
How to get started in LFR whether you're a new 90 or a boosted 90
If you've just gotten your first character -- or your second or third -- to level 90, you might be looking to check out the raiding game. Fortunately, the looking for raid (or LFR) tool makes it easier than ever to jump into raid content without a lot of complicated scheduling and planning... but that doesn't mean LFR is easy mode. It's true, LFR has simplified versions of boss fights compared to flex or heroic raids -- but when you're gathering up 25 random players who might not even speak the same language, simplifying things is a must if the group is going to progress. However, despite their relative ease, there's still some work to be done to do your best in LFR -- and in the process make the raiding experience easier on you and your group mates. We'll walk you through the game's LFRs and what you need to do to get there.
How to learn what you're doing on a boosted 90
Look, it's okay to admit that in some cases, players who've pre-ordered Warlords of Draenor or even bought the level 90 boost are on level 90 characters that they don't actually know how to play. In some cases, this isn't the case -- if I used the boost, for instance, I'd probably know how to play that 12th warrior I boosted to 90. But if I were to boost my hunter, there would suddenly be 29 levels of huntering to absorb and take in, and if I were to use the boost on a rogue I'd hate myself for it and quit playing in a storm of recriminations. Also, I would have zero idea what I was doing on a rogue for the ten seconds before I realized what I'd done. Now that I've had my fun, let's get serious - how would I play a rogue at 90? Or a mage, or a priest, or another class that I'd never played before? Well, there are resources out there -- WoW Insider has a rookie guide, for starters -- and there are other sites like Wowhead and Icy-Veins that can and do give you an overview of what your new class does. There's also a very useful resource built into the game itself. Your spellbook has a great deal of information for you about what your class can do and how to go about playing it, that can get you pointed in the right direction to begin play. We're assuming you're a returning player who has not played in a while or a new player just getting started with this article - established players starting a new alt may already know much of this.
Coping with the new raid realities of level 90 boosts
The above image is not remotely a reflection of what raiding in World of Warcraft is like, but wouldn't it be great if it were? The addition of the level 90 boost to WoW means that we're seeing a lot of players leaping to max level where they can jump immediately into raids. Their ilvl of 483 is high enough to let them into LFR raids for anything outside Siege of Orgrimmar -- and let me tell you, it's kind of a nightmare. No, I don't mean that the influx of new 90s in itself is a nightmare: it's the fact that now anything going wrong in LFR results in 10 minutes of bemoaning the boosted characters who are keeping everyone else from progressing. It's drama city out there. It's not that the moaning is entirely off-base: boosted players don't necessarily know how to play their boosted class at 90... but none of us were class experts as soon as we hit 90. And, come on, a random LFR group doesn't need boosted characters to mess things up and wipe. So what's a player to do with this new LFR annoyance?
Our Rookie Guide is here to help your newly boosted level 90
So you've just boosted a new character to level 90 and you're not sure where to go from here. How does this new class work? How should you gear them up? What should you do once you randomly land on the Timeless Isle with a class that you have no idea how to play? Don't worry, because our Rookie Guide is here to help you out, even at level 90. If you're not sure what this boosting rage is all about, check out the level boosting section to figure out how to get started -- and once you've gotten your new character to 90, read through the section on what to do at level 90. Have new-to-90 questions we haven't answered yet? Or maybe you're looking for something you can't find in the guide? Drop us a note and we'll look into covering it for a future WoW Rookie!
Boosting a level 90: Tips, tricks, and the PvP gearing method
Blizzard has put together a video, which is a fairly decent guide to the process of boosting your 90 from the in-game purchase or the pre-order free boosts. However, having done a couple of 90 boosts today, there are a few vital pieces of information, as well as general tips and tricks, that WoW Insider feels the general playerbase might not be aware of. You might be wondering what the PvP gearing method is, and it's explained in full below. Essentially, the fastest gear to get you to a higher ilvl as a new 90 is 522 honor gear. It's the best easily available gear for PvE in most cases, as well as PvP, and there's absolutely no need to PvP to get it. The boosting process - potential profession pitfalls This is relatively straightforward, and as described in the video above. However, there are some notable omissions if you have a level 60 character that you want to boost to gain the professions. We all know about the veteran bonus, that allows you to get maxed out, level 600 professions if you boost a level 60+ character. But if you have a level 60+ character you're planning to use that hasn't yet learned any professions, you'll need to ensure that you have the professions you want learned before you go through the boost process. Otherwise the system will pick your professions based on the type of armor you wear. Once the boost is complete, if you have the wrong professions you'll have to submit a ticket to get them changed. We're not sure whether GMs are able to do that or not.
Character boosts available for $60 in-game
The level 90 character boost is now available in-game for $60. The in-game UI is up and running and the price is correct. The 90 boost allows you to take any character from 1-90, and if you're leveling a character that is level 60 or above, you'll get the Veteran Bonus that allows you to max two professions along with the level 90 boost. The video above shows the full process, with instructions. One thing it doesn't note that WoW Insider has discovered on boosting their own characters is that the professions issued to level 60 and above characters need to be learned in-game prior to boosting. If the character has no professions learned, the boosted professions will be randomly allocated by the boost UI, and cannot be changed from within it. Lastly, if you're on a PvP server, there may well be players camping the boosted level 90 spawn point, either for world PvP, or, more likely, with the Censer of Eternal Agony. The guards have been buffed, but still cause no issues for a larger group. Fortunately your hearthstone takes you to the Shrine, so if you're encountering these issues you can use that to escape.
New level 90 boost trailer pushes Warlords... with gnomes!
We knew level 90 boosts were coming, but in this new Warlords of Draenor trailer, Blizzard's pushing the boosts as a reason to buy. You can escape the endless leveling desert and finally play with your friends by buying Warlords -- which is all well and good, but it does strike us as a bit odd that Blizzard is promoting the game by suggesting that playing the game up to level 90 is something tedious and awful that you would not want to do. However, the obvious highlight of this trailer is gnomes making their cinematic debut. Finally, we see a gnome taking center-stage... as a level 61 wandering aimlessly through Tanaris. (That's why you haven't hit level 90 yet, Mr. Gnome -- you're in Tanaris. Maybe if you'd gone through Un'Goro and Silithus and then headed to the Dark Portal you'd have made some progress.) But now that this gnome is finally level 90, we can only assume that we'll be seeing more gnomes showing up in future, right Blizzard? [Thanks to many tipsters who sent this in!] Editor's note: Pre-purchase of Warlords is not available at this time -- no official announcements have been made about pre-ordering just yet.
The Queue: Garrosh, Gul'dan, and other madness
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. For a Sunday, you all sure were talkative yesterday! That's a good thing and I appreciate it. MasterX asked: I'm interested in why Garrosh didn't slaughter Gul'dan when he had the chance in WoD. He should know full well he's solely responsible for betraying the Orc, their culture, and later their entire race to the Burning Legion. Just because Garrosh stepped in, doesn't mean he won't betray again.
Next steps after boosting a paladin tank to 90, part 2
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 9 other people, obsessing over his hair, and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense. It's always weird coming to the end of an expansion and seeing the road before you suddenly much shorter than you remember it was the last time you gave it a serious look. Very soon things will radically change -- the gear that made us gods will be obsolete, health pools will be laid low, and the stats that we had come to loathe will be no more. As they say, all good things must come to an end. Pandaria is no different. This is a path we've walked before, in the twilight of every expansion. As the content winds down in its own interminable fashion, and we run that end raid for the umpteenth time, we find solace in trying new experiences through the prism of alts. As I discussed in last week's post, with the advent of the boosting feature, many folks will be trying out paladin tanks for the first time -- especially since they now have the advantage of skipping the (painful) journey of leveling a tank entirely. This guide is for them.
Things we know about the level 90 character boost
There's a lot of confusion about the upcoming level 90 character boost and how it's going to work. While we won't know the final form of the service until it's been rolled out, it's been active on the PTR for a while now, so we can draw some conclusions based on how it's working there. Of course, the usual caveats apply - none of this is set in stone, it's the PTR, things can change. You cannot apply the 90 boost to a level 90 (and presumably above) character. So don't worry about that happening. You can apply the boost to an existing character on your account, or you can create a new level 1 character at the time you apply the boost. If you boost an existing character who is at or above level 60, you get a Veteran's Bonus that boosts your professions to 600. You won't have to go back to level them, which is nice. You pick a specialization during the process, which informs the starter gear you get. You do not have to apply the boost immediately upon purchase. If it is not applied, there's an icon on your selection screen that tells you it's ready to be applied. Until the boost process is completed, you cannot log in that character. This seems common sense to me, but it's still worth mentioning. We still don't know how much it's going to cost, but recent statements during last week's press event make it seem likely that it will be at the $60 we saw briefly.
How to play a boosted level 90 hunter
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing how to get started with the hunter class. Do you still need convincing on why you should boost a hunter to 90? Go check out my 10 reasons why from last week. So you've got a fresh level 90 hunter in front of you -- what now? What are all these abilities? How do pets work? We've got answers for all that. Without the benefit of having abilities and mechanics slowly introduced while leveling, you might be a little confused when you first log in. Don't fret, you'll be turning monsters into pin cushions and taming an army of pets in no time. You can check out my previous getting started with hunters article for help in choosing a race and specialization for your hunter. Once you're past that step, we can dive into the meaty bits. We'll start with the absolute basics. What to do the moment you log in with a fresh 90 hunter. First, I want you to take a peek in your spellbook. Don't panic, we'll sort out what's important here.
