Post by Aldrannath on Apr 1, 2010 18:23:55 GMT 1
We have a couple of people just about to ding 80, and a few more not very far off, so I thought it might be worth having an introductory thread for those new to the endgame.
First of all: yay! "Endgame" is a bit of a misnomer; this is actually where WoW gets really interesting. There's a lot less plotty questingness, but a lot more to DO, and the whole game gets more challenging and varied at this stage. And hey, you're in a RP guild, so you can have all the plots and quests you want anyway.
===Gear and PvE===
You'll have figured out by now that "Item level" is important; lvl80 gear starts at ilevel 187 and goes up to 277 (so far), and the difference between these extremes is not that much smaller than the difference between level 70 and level 80. If you haven't done so already, you'll want to turn on "display item level" in your interface options. Broadly speaking:
You can get a full set of ilvl187 blues crafted for you by your loving guildies. This will get replaced very quickly, so don't waste money on gems or enchants here.
Regular heroic dungeons and "Trial of the Champion-Normal" will get you your ilevel200 gear (blue and purple). We'll take you along to these as often as we can. If you pug them, warn your pugmates that your gear isn't that great; some people take it for granted that everyone has raid gear, which can lead to a nasty mess, especially if you're the healer. You can also get a couple of crafted items at this level from your loving guildies. Getting a piece of this in *every* slot should be your first gear priority. Don't worry about the extra-hard heroics; if your gear isn't good enough the system won't queue you for them.
Heroic bosses also get you emblems, which you can use to buy ilevel232 gear. Eventually all your gear will be at this level, but start by using your emblems to get stuff you want for RP, or to replace low-level stuff that you can't get drops for.
Once you've got a full set of ilevel200, you can attempt Trial of the Champion Heroic and the three Frozen Halls normal instances. These drop ilevel 219 gear. I recommend going with guildies the first time.
When most of your gear is better than ilevel200, you can attempt the Frozen Halls - Heroic instances. I recommend practicing these with guildies until you're comfortable with them. These drop ilevel232 gear - so you may want to plan your emblem purchases to cover the items that you won't be able to get from the Frozen Halls.
Your first daily random heroic gets you two Emblems of Frost; once every month or two this will get you a piece of ilevel264 gear. Choose your purchases carefully!
I also *strongly* recommend joining Wintergrasp battles at least a couple of times a week, to do the weekly quests, which give loads of honor. You can get some very nice ilevel264 pieces with honor points (and no, you don't need Arena rating) - the vendors are in the Champion's Hall in Stormwind. Some of these pieces may be your "best in slot" option for PvE, even though in theory they're PvP gear. Really good PvP gear is great for PvE, and gives you a nice starting boost towards your PvP set as well.
You can buy ilevel232 PvP gear with your emblems; this is good enough for heroics and a smart choice if you want to get into PvP - but the PvE gear is of course better for PvE.
For a detailed analysis of what stats you should prioritise for PvE, look up your class and spec on the forums at elitistjerks.com.
===Raids===
It's not always easy to get into a raid (or avoid getting booted) if your average gear level is much below 232. This is a pity, as the lower-end raids (Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum) are quite doable in a full set of heroic gear. If you'd like to try raiding, get your heroic set first, and then ask guildies for suggestions. Once we have enough people (with good enough gear) we might start using the easier lvl80 raids for RP (not to mention OOC guild raids), but that's still a couple of months away at least.
===PvP===
You should be prepared to lose horribly, and some people hate PvP anyway, but if you're prepared to practice and get a set of PvP gear, this can be lots of fun, even when you get pwnt. Wintergrasp is the best, most forgiving training ground, and gets you the most honor (for the vendors in Stormwind) and Wintergrasp marks (for the vendors in Wintergrasp, who also sell some nice gems, enchants and recipes for Stone Keeper's Shards). Careful that you don't waste your precious Shards, Marks or Honor points on gear below ilevel232.
Later on, if we have a bunch of people keen to try, I hope we can get a guild arena team together, and perhaps go to some battlegrounds as a group - we might even do IC Battlegrounds at some point. But if you're one of those people who just hates PvP, don't feel obliged.
===Reputation===
You'll want to get reputation with pretty much all the major factions, sooner or later. Doing all their quests is the first and best way to start; after that you can grind the dailies, or just wear the relevant tabard when you go to heroics. Sons of Hodir are notable as the only important faction that have no tabard, so you may want to prioritise their dailies as they sell the only shoulder enchants available. Other priorities will depend on exactly what gear or head enchantments you want to buy from each faction; all factions have a few nice bits of purple gear at ilevel200 which are an excellent way of plugging the gaps in your heroic set.
Note that the Alliance Vanguard faction rep serves no useful purpose (although you'll want to be exalted when you eventually buy your top-level flying skill, as this reduces the price), and the Kalu'ak are basically only for fishing. Both nice to have, but much less important than the others.
===Cash===
Don't waste cash buying epic gems for heroic gear. Blue patches and gems will do you fine unless and until you're thinking about top-end raiding. The difference in stats is pretty small, but the purple gems and patches are 4-10 times the price.
That being said, there's lots to spend your money on. People with loads of time get plenty of cash doing dailies, but you get more cash per hour by fishing, mining, skinning or gathering herbs. Crafting professions can turn a profit too, in theory, but prices fluctuate, so in practice this can be tricky, and it's quite possible to end up making a loss. Whatever you do for cash, it pays to do your homework (or just ask your guildies) in order to make the maximum profit.
===Hmm.===
That's all that springs to mind right now; I hope it was helpful! Just shout in /g if you have any questions at all, and post here if you have anything to add or correct.
Enjoy your endgame!
First of all: yay! "Endgame" is a bit of a misnomer; this is actually where WoW gets really interesting. There's a lot less plotty questingness, but a lot more to DO, and the whole game gets more challenging and varied at this stage. And hey, you're in a RP guild, so you can have all the plots and quests you want anyway.
===Gear and PvE===
You'll have figured out by now that "Item level" is important; lvl80 gear starts at ilevel 187 and goes up to 277 (so far), and the difference between these extremes is not that much smaller than the difference between level 70 and level 80. If you haven't done so already, you'll want to turn on "display item level" in your interface options. Broadly speaking:
You can get a full set of ilvl187 blues crafted for you by your loving guildies. This will get replaced very quickly, so don't waste money on gems or enchants here.
Regular heroic dungeons and "Trial of the Champion-Normal" will get you your ilevel200 gear (blue and purple). We'll take you along to these as often as we can. If you pug them, warn your pugmates that your gear isn't that great; some people take it for granted that everyone has raid gear, which can lead to a nasty mess, especially if you're the healer. You can also get a couple of crafted items at this level from your loving guildies. Getting a piece of this in *every* slot should be your first gear priority. Don't worry about the extra-hard heroics; if your gear isn't good enough the system won't queue you for them.
Heroic bosses also get you emblems, which you can use to buy ilevel232 gear. Eventually all your gear will be at this level, but start by using your emblems to get stuff you want for RP, or to replace low-level stuff that you can't get drops for.
Once you've got a full set of ilevel200, you can attempt Trial of the Champion Heroic and the three Frozen Halls normal instances. These drop ilevel 219 gear. I recommend going with guildies the first time.
When most of your gear is better than ilevel200, you can attempt the Frozen Halls - Heroic instances. I recommend practicing these with guildies until you're comfortable with them. These drop ilevel232 gear - so you may want to plan your emblem purchases to cover the items that you won't be able to get from the Frozen Halls.
Your first daily random heroic gets you two Emblems of Frost; once every month or two this will get you a piece of ilevel264 gear. Choose your purchases carefully!
I also *strongly* recommend joining Wintergrasp battles at least a couple of times a week, to do the weekly quests, which give loads of honor. You can get some very nice ilevel264 pieces with honor points (and no, you don't need Arena rating) - the vendors are in the Champion's Hall in Stormwind. Some of these pieces may be your "best in slot" option for PvE, even though in theory they're PvP gear. Really good PvP gear is great for PvE, and gives you a nice starting boost towards your PvP set as well.
You can buy ilevel232 PvP gear with your emblems; this is good enough for heroics and a smart choice if you want to get into PvP - but the PvE gear is of course better for PvE.
For a detailed analysis of what stats you should prioritise for PvE, look up your class and spec on the forums at elitistjerks.com.
===Raids===
It's not always easy to get into a raid (or avoid getting booted) if your average gear level is much below 232. This is a pity, as the lower-end raids (Naxxramas and Obsidian Sanctum) are quite doable in a full set of heroic gear. If you'd like to try raiding, get your heroic set first, and then ask guildies for suggestions. Once we have enough people (with good enough gear) we might start using the easier lvl80 raids for RP (not to mention OOC guild raids), but that's still a couple of months away at least.
===PvP===
You should be prepared to lose horribly, and some people hate PvP anyway, but if you're prepared to practice and get a set of PvP gear, this can be lots of fun, even when you get pwnt. Wintergrasp is the best, most forgiving training ground, and gets you the most honor (for the vendors in Stormwind) and Wintergrasp marks (for the vendors in Wintergrasp, who also sell some nice gems, enchants and recipes for Stone Keeper's Shards). Careful that you don't waste your precious Shards, Marks or Honor points on gear below ilevel232.
Later on, if we have a bunch of people keen to try, I hope we can get a guild arena team together, and perhaps go to some battlegrounds as a group - we might even do IC Battlegrounds at some point. But if you're one of those people who just hates PvP, don't feel obliged.
===Reputation===
You'll want to get reputation with pretty much all the major factions, sooner or later. Doing all their quests is the first and best way to start; after that you can grind the dailies, or just wear the relevant tabard when you go to heroics. Sons of Hodir are notable as the only important faction that have no tabard, so you may want to prioritise their dailies as they sell the only shoulder enchants available. Other priorities will depend on exactly what gear or head enchantments you want to buy from each faction; all factions have a few nice bits of purple gear at ilevel200 which are an excellent way of plugging the gaps in your heroic set.
Note that the Alliance Vanguard faction rep serves no useful purpose (although you'll want to be exalted when you eventually buy your top-level flying skill, as this reduces the price), and the Kalu'ak are basically only for fishing. Both nice to have, but much less important than the others.
===Cash===
Don't waste cash buying epic gems for heroic gear. Blue patches and gems will do you fine unless and until you're thinking about top-end raiding. The difference in stats is pretty small, but the purple gems and patches are 4-10 times the price.
That being said, there's lots to spend your money on. People with loads of time get plenty of cash doing dailies, but you get more cash per hour by fishing, mining, skinning or gathering herbs. Crafting professions can turn a profit too, in theory, but prices fluctuate, so in practice this can be tricky, and it's quite possible to end up making a loss. Whatever you do for cash, it pays to do your homework (or just ask your guildies) in order to make the maximum profit.
===Hmm.===
That's all that springs to mind right now; I hope it was helpful! Just shout in /g if you have any questions at all, and post here if you have anything to add or correct.
Enjoy your endgame!
So.. Out of niceness to the guild and being kinda sad over missing alot of events... I'll gladly get uncut gems for guildies that needs them since my gear is fully gemmed and enchanted 
