Do I have to gear up before lvl'ing to 85?

[DMac84]

Thanks for all the replies.

Im obviouslly going to run some heroics and stuff to get some gear, and will pug raid... but im not trying to get full sets of gear here. Im sure I will have all purples by the time Cata drops, but im happy if its all lvl 213 or 226 gear or w/e.

[Spellweaver]

I'm pretty sure you don't have gear up in any epic gear from WotLK raids, just to be able to jump into Vashj'ir or Hyjal at lvl 80. Something like that would just be silly, Blizz would want people to start enjoying the new zones right at lvl 80, even when you're just in Northrend questing greens.
OP, if you've got a bit of time before Cata releases, when you hit lvl 80, you could always just farm a couple of heroics and grab the iLvl 232 T9 or the iLvl 251 T10. (depending on how many heroics you wanna farm) Either of those should be helpful when levelling through Vashj'ir or Hyjal.

On a side note:

I don't believe so because people levelling fresh toons through Northrend might head to Vash'jir or whatever at 78. So they're not going to make you gear up in epics to keep pushing through. But having epics will just make everything smoother.

Hyjal and Vashir will both be level 78-81/82 or whatever, just like WotLK, the mobs may have a large amount of hp but they shouldnt be life threatening and youll just be getting better gear while leveling then you could get from raids.

Both wrong, Hyjal and Vashj'ir are lvl 80-82 zones, not 78-82. Blizz isn't doing the same as with TBC/WotLK

[Blacklabel]

My new toon was full lvl 251+264 gear only 1 week after dinging 80. Just farm a lot of random heroics and you'll be fine in cata.

[Ozbert]

My Paladin went into Beta with a mix of i251 and i264 ICC gear. I swapped out one or two pieces for quest blues in Hyjal and Vashj'ir, but didn't really start equipping quest greens until level 83, while in Deepholm. At 85 I'm still using my Bryntroll, but I've not been through any instances yet.

[DMac84]

My new toon was full lvl 251+264 gear only 1 week after dinging 80. Just farm a lot of random heroics and you'll be fine in cata.

lol... I could never achieve such a feat. So my hat is off to you sir. I work too much, and have a wife who hates when I play WoW, so that probably wont happen for me

[Zka]

Even 251 ilvl items will be much much better then Mount Hyjal / Vashji items , not to mention 277 ilvl weapons or higher.
So...gear up.

1) false
2) why would he gear up? He will get rid of all the LK stuff before the first 5man heroic anyway.

Gearing up for leveling is not needed. It would be a huge design flaw if it was needed.

[Enders]

My Paladin went into Beta with a mix of i251 and i264 ICC gear. I swapped out one or two pieces for quest blues in Hyjal and Vashj'ir, but didn't really start equipping quest greens until level 83, while in Deepholm. At 85 I'm still using my Bryntroll, but I've not been through any instances yet.

This, everyone saying you replace all your epic gear in the first few quests isn't in beta and doesn't have the slightest bit of a clue what they're talking about. Most (note I say MOST) quest rewards will not be better than 251 or higher epics in the first two zones, mainly when you take into account the fact that the epics will likely have sockets and be enchanted, and there may be set bonuses to think about. That being said, gearing up now would largely be a waste of time, so only do it if you want to. You will get comparable gear from the first few quests (not better), so you won't be at a huge disadvantage if you don't.

Edit: Just to elaborate on the items from the first two zones - note that while they ARE higher item-level than the epic items, they are generally itemized poorly and never have gem slots. This is intentional, to make sure that greens of a similar item-level are not better than end-tier epics.

[Kilpi]

Hyjal and Vashir will both be level 78-81/82 or whatever, just like WotLK, the mobs may have a large amount of hp but they shouldnt be life threatening and youll just be getting better gear while leveling then you could get from raids.

Though I think they changed the Cata zones to be started at level 80, not 78.

[pimpdaddy]

Its not worth it imo, Its so close to 12/7 only a month and 4 days. Im slightly working on my rogue since i havent played him much after icc came out. Im only going for the helm because I love rogue T10. But Im mostly farming old world mats for my new alts profession's in cata.

[randomone05]

i currently have 3 80's. dk at ilvl 251 if i remeber right, lock at ilvl 248 and druid at a lowly ilvl 225. i probly wont mess with the druid much now till dec 7th. but the other 2 i will continue to gear up mainly because the gear im getting now for both toons looks so damn good. lol. plus i have too much time on my hands anyways. unemployment ftw i guess...

[liyroot]

I hope questing greens means the full set of blues you get from quests and dungeons.

[Neotokyo]

only classses that seemed to have an issue lving on beta seem to be rogues and druids if there not geared. ferals in the begining and rogues in the end. why rogues? because it still doesnt feel like they have scaled well.

I only had issues levelling on the beta as boomkin because of the Balance bar, when I was levelling it was implemented but utter totally knackered. It never proc'd eclipse and my overall damage was crazy low. It was a completely different story on my hunter.

[kerwyn]

Though I think they changed the Cata zones to be started at level 80, not 78.

This is correct. You cannot start the Hyjal or Vashj'ir quests until level 80.

As for gearing up? Meh. It'll make a difference for the first few quests but anything below 264/277 probably won't make it to deepholme (except maybe a really good trinket). Not to say you shouldn't at least do something for the next month. If gearing up is what gets you to log in and have fun then by all means. Some gear going into those zones will make a bit of a difference.

e: If you start out right away doing dungeons, having some 251+ epics will defiantly help you.

[Deleted]

If you intend to do dungeons as a tank or healer you definitely want to have some gear to begin with. As a related question, if you intend to tank at 85 I strongly suggest you attempt to do some normal dungeons on your way up to prepare and gear up for the heroics, you can't quite run in with quest-greens there.

[kerwyn]

If you intend to do dungeons as a tank or healer you definitely want to have some gear to begin with. As a related question, if you intend to tank at 85 I strongly suggest you attempt to do some normal dungeons on your way up to prepare and gear up for the heroics, you can't quite run in with quest-greens there.

I'm going to go ahead and replace "strongly suggest" with: "Fucking do it"

Seriously, everything I've seen about these heroics indicates that they're balls hard and even blizzard has said if you die in there without at least mostly normal mode 5man gear it's your own damn fault.

[haxartus]

I started replacing Wrathful gear in Deepholm, but most of the gear was replaced in Uldum. The gear in Hyjal have a nice item level, but it don't have gem sockets and it's not enchanted.
You don't have to gear up for Hyjal tho. It's intended for people with Northrend greens\blues. With full wotlk ilvl 277 you will faceroll the whole zone.
Here is an example of an Uldum (83 lvl) green
http://cata.wowhead.com/item=65889

[Morte]

I wouldn't worry about gearing up anything special just for level 80+ questing in Cata. I'm not in beta, but this is just gut reaction based on the experience of playing the game pretty much since release mixed in with some common sense.

In Vanilla -> TBC , it was doable to quest @ 58 with just normal quest greens (of appropriate level of course -- this example doesn't work if you are level 58 going into Hellfire P. with level 45-50 items still) ...I did this with casters and it was well doable...

In TBC -> Wrath, it was doable to quest @ 68 with just whatever gear you had up until then and go right into Northrend.....again well doable.


So unless Blizzard DRASTICALLY changes the formula of the last two expansion transitions....I don't think anyone with some common sense and a little skill will have issues leveling.

Feedback and numerous beta reports I've read are saying yeah you might die a few times now if you are soloing (and are a clothie especially)...but seriously.....SO WHAT! The challenge is the fun!

But realize I'm different from the common trend I see these days --- everyone is so damn concerned with speeding through content...its the most important thing to many many players to get to max level as fast as humanly possible.....I don't prescribe to that style of play.

I'm the "I'll get there when I get there" type of player...enjoying the content taking my jolly old time with soaking it in.

[The Glitch]

I don't believe so because people levelling fresh toons through Northrend might head to Vash'jir or whatever at 78. So they're not going to make you gear up in epics to keep pushing through. But having epics will just make everything smoother.

As far as I know they changed the way the first zones in an expansion work for Cata, normally at 58 you could hop to outland, 68 you could hit up Northrend, Cata seemingly you have to be level 80 to beable to pick up quests in Vashj'ir and Hyjal. Think they said they want you to go through all the high level zones in Northrend this time around and get your 5 levels to 85 purely through Cataclysm new zones. Will look for a source. I may be wrong

Doh someone already mentioned it Thats what I get for not reading further

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Randominatór
Even 251 ilvl items will be much much better then Mount Hyjal / Vashji items , not to mention 277 ilvl weapons or higher.
So...gear up.

http://cata.wowhead.com/compare?items=55041;50729

wth are you talking about? so, so wrong.

This

[Monocerus]

lol. I think just me is crazy enought to level up a lock until cataclysm comes,.
I will just level up professions, and get some crafting gear to level up in cata, but nothing very expensive and special.
But is the question.
Right now he are in 48, and I have only the night 18:30pm to 01:30am to level up, you think i will can go to the 80, before cata comes? I have 20% heirloom, Staff and trinkets.