I believe pretty much any class can handle stuff 20 levels or more under them with varying degrees of ease, but tank and pet classes have it the easiest, especially for Outlands content.
As for reasons, well, achievements for one. I got Classic Dungeonmaster for all the old 5-mans, and I could probably get Outland Dungeonmaster if I tried. Raids are much harder to solo because the mechanics necessary to defeat the bosses usually assume that you have multiple people covering all roles available, while 5-mans are much more straightforward and can be steamrolled if your DPS and health are high enough. Baron Rivendare, for example, only has 46,620 health, which is only 4x the amount of health a level 80 non-elite has, and he doesn’t have the armor or damage potential the level 80s do.
Mounts and other rare drops that have value beyond levels are also extremely useful, and in some ways it’s easier to get them when you don’t have to share the spoils with others. My Druid can solo Anzu the Raven God in Heroic Sethekk Halls, which is a level 70 instance, which meant that getting the Reins of the Raven God was pretty easy. Of course, it helps that Druids can both stealth and tank, which removes a lot of obstacles. A lot of people still continuously run Stratholme in hopes that Baron Rivendare’s horse will drop, too.
There’s also rep grinding, as well as farming green and blue drops for DE mats. Lastly, there’s just seeing the old content. It would have been extremely hard for me, who signed up just after Lich King launched, to get a group together for the level 60 5-mans, but I could go back into them and explore at leisure at level 80. Now, of course, with the RDF, those old instances are getting more play, but you see what I mean. Also those parts of the world like Wintergrasp and Blasted Lands with level 60 elites roaming around that would have killed you at level are only mere nuisances at 80.
Regarding Pally buffs, I believe there are talents that provide improved versions of the Auras, so it usually behooves people to put up whatever they’re talented for. Other than that, there’s no real necessity for a Ret to provide Ret Aura.
This is where I got frustrated playing my shaman. As a paladin I’m accustomed to carrying my buffs around with me. The shaman method of dropping totems and then needing to stay within a certain distance of them drove me nuts, especially if the mobs were widely-spaced.
The ability to instantly place all your totems at 30 is a real gamechanger. …You just have to suffer through the first 30 levels first. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a Shammy because of that, although I’d like to try.
It does make a lot more sense in dungeons, though; since trash mobs are generally packed together in spawns, and boss fights take about a minute on average, dropping totems isn’t all that useless.
I generally don’t PvP, but I’ve found that trick also works (mage safe-fall + rocket boots) in Gundrak when you’re doing the ‘leap to the bridge’ portion. I announce it.
“For one night, and one night only! The FLYING GNOME!”
Then I launch myself to the bridge, never getting near the water. I’ve gotten a lot of laughs and applause in PuGs from that.
Starting to understand why people get into guilds with multiple nights of required raiding, et cetera. Joined a PuG doing ToTGC, and we sailed through the first boss (series of bosses) but totally stalled out on Jaraxxus - the first couple times, DPS didn’t switch to the portal/volcano fast enough; then the off tank wasn’t picking up the adds from the portal, so the dps were being picked off one at a time; then for some reason or another one of the tanks kept dying. 6 wipes and we gave up. But I got the pattern for the bejeweled bracers (DPS clothie bracers), so that was at least something.
I made 80! It was on my first run of Culling of Stratholme. I leveled right next to Arthas. Awesome. Now I have to save up for a dual-spec (I’m kind of gold-poor-ish) and run some Heroics and stuff. But. . .I’m 80! I can do things with my guildmates!
As for shammy leveling, I tend not to drop totems at all. If it’s a multiple mob pull, I might drop Magma Totem and do Fire Nova if it looks like the mobs are big enough to stand up to that. Otherwise I don’t bother because of the mobility issue, like you mentioned. I didn’t start going, “Hey, this is cool,” until I hit 40 and got Dual Wield/Stormstrike.
I’ve always stuck to FPS like Quake, BF42, Bioshock, etc. and loathed the idea of RPGs. But the girlfriend has a coworker who was into it for years and, to my amazement, not a nerd or alien or what have you. So I’ve been lurking here on the SD for years and remembered seeing this huge WoW thread countless times and figured I’d peruse it. And then I was hooked.
Luckily for me my conversion took place right when Frys was turning 25 years old and I got the battlechest for $20. But when I was sitting here watching the progress bar during the install I started doing the newbie ritual–Googling and reading up on everything I could find. And I stumbled across the Recruit a Friend. Sadly, none of my old clannies from the FPS days are still around and I don’t know a soul who plays the game. Would anyone here know of another ubernewb or have an alt they’d like to work on that could help a brother out?
I’ve no stipulations or requirements like I’ve seen posted on various fora. I won’t require you to pay for all my stuff and give me things for free or be my efriend.
I live in Texas and work a 8-6 regular job so I won’t be awake at midnight Pacific. I might play 10 hours a week and some more on the weekends but I won’t be doing many marathons. I’m pretty sure I’ll get stuck on a flower or rock more than a few times and be responsible for both our untimely deaths but if you’re game so am I. PM or email or respond here. If no response in a few hours I’ll just forgoe the triple xp and take the plunge all by my lonesome.
May I suggest that, when you do have it installed and updated and patched up, you begin a character on Horde side on the realm (server) Cairne? You can join up with the Burning Dog Legion (the Straight Dope guild) by putting /who Burning Dog Legion in your chat box. It should give you a list of people in BDL who are online. Just /w them asking for a guild invite. Let them know you’re cherry pez on the SDMB.
Would I be able to do the Recruit-a-Friend thing if I launch the game and tried to join BDL? Does any of that require activating an account? I’m utterly ignorant of all things WoW. Sorry.
“Unkown” (yes, the same unknown who sent me 5 g’s a week or so ago, I guess) has withdrawn 5 g’s about 4 different times. Guess I can create a ticket, right, won’t do much good to call 'em.
Also, is this thread getting a little “top-heavy”, y’all? It sure takes a long time to load and hangs up sometimes…
Joining a guild requires account activation, cherry_pez. Also my guild , “slightly demented” is a newbie-friendly Human Alliance guild. But the SDMB BDL guild is your best bet for game strategy, etc.
I think I’m buying too many potions, elixirs, food, etc. I have two action bars on the right and 2 on the bottom and they stay filled. Guess I’d better prioritize, huh? I checked the interface and there’s no adding anymore bars unless I’m missing something?
I’m guessing what happened is that the player withdrew that gold, sent it to his other toons, then deleted the toon that withdrew it. That’s why you get “Unknown” coming up.
I think I’m going to be coming on on my transferred toon soon, Quasi. I’ll /w you for an invite.
I’m finding I’m having a bit of trouble finding out what equipment I should be getting outside of weapons. Like, I mean, judging whether or not I should Need something. Do any of you guys know of any addons that tell you ‘you’re stupid if you don’t Need on this!’. Okay, I’m sure there aren’t any that spell it out in those terms But even one that compares the current item up for grabs with what you have equipped without having to hop onto your character sheet in the middle of a battle.
I tried looking through the AddOn Spotlight at wow.com and the top items at Curse but WoW addons are so plentiful I don’t know what’s the ‘classic’ must-haves.
But even one that compares the current item up for grabs with what you have equipped without having to hop onto your character sheet in the middle of a battle.