lvling 80-85 specs, gear, and strategy

[Aesiir]

Thought I might run this by you guys first. Like many others, I'd like to participate in the Server First achievements for lvl 85 when Cata comes out. Although I feel I have good experience in this (was able to snag the Server First lvl 80 Orc Achievement), things have changed drastically since Wrath. Here are some of my thoughts;

Although all three specs are viable, it does look like Demon or Destruction is preferred. There was some discussion to leveling specs in some other threads here, a lot of credit to "Best warlock leveling spec for cata"(can't link thread because i'm a new member) , but none of which are solely dedicated to what we plan to do once Cata is live.

DEMON- Seems good for AoE'ing, but my only fear is that the mobs aren't going to remain pushovers forever, therefor we won't be AoEing packs down all the time. Especially not when we have 20+ other people trying to kill the same quests mobs. No self healing except for Fel Armor and Soul Harvest, which all builds have.

DESTR- Good for heavy single target, probably useful for those elite quests, and maybe dungeoning. I hear this gets pretty buff as you approach lvl 85, as well.

The last thing I'd like to propose is leveling strategy. A lot of things have been added in since wrath, a big thing being Dungeon Queue's. Will standard questing, trying to get ahead of the group, be a better option? Or will finding a solid group of hardcore players, including a tank, healer, and other DPS all going for the 85 achievement, be the best way to go?

I'm going to do some more research. Unfortunately I never got to play 80+ in Cata beta, so my knowledge is somewhat limited. I'd love to hear what beta testers have to say, or even people who have just developed an opinion.

[SpacelySprocket]

Just re-posting my thoughts fro the oter thread since they sum it all up pretty well...

What seems to be escaping people (or, rather they are unaware) is that the 80+ mobs in the new zones are nothing like the mobs they face until that point. In fact, not too long ago, Blizz doubled (I can't quite recall the exact numbers but it might be more) the damage of these mobs.

You do NOT want the 80+ mobs beating on you. They hit like trucks, and until you get deeper into leveling (82+) you'll be a bit lacking in the Stam department to take alot of hits. Pulling multiple mobs will likely get your pet and/or you killed faster that you'd expect.

With that in mind, I found Destro to be a great 80-85 leveling spec. Aftermath slow and Shadowfury kept mobs at a distance while Backdraft and Conflag output alot of damage very quickly. The mitigation of baseline (and glpyhed) Soul Link and Nether Ward/Prot
was great for when I was taking damage. And, liberal use of Soulburn CD's and Shadowburn to restock shards combined with potent healing from Soul Leech and Soul Harvest kept the downtime very minimal.

Demo was decent, but having weaker than Aff DoTs made chain pulling inefficient; and having slower than Destro nukes made it tedious as well. The Felguard's nice, but doesn't provide a substantial boost to the overall efficiency of the spec.

Aff is nowhere near as powerful with the SL changes. Like, I mentioned, having mobs beating on you is bad, and the ramp up time associated with Shadow's embrace means they'll hit you way more often as Aff than as either of the other 2. Again, combined with poor self-healing, this is not very optimal.

That all being said, play what you like. Each specc has ups and downs. I feel that Destro's up's outweighed those of Demo or Aff.

(Just as a background, I'm really trying to push for some sort of sever 1st, so my focus on the Beta has been levelng and what I can do to maximize it as best as possible. I've pushed each spec from 80 to 85 and these were my findings. Your mileage may vary )

[Apristia]

You can't really go wrong with any of specs, but I will be leveling up to 85 as destro. The burst factor alone is way too appealing.

[The Distortion]

I'll go for Demonology, I leveled with Demonology when i was a newb. I use Demonology now also for PvE for a long time already.
and will be using it while leveling again !

[Speaknoevil]

If you find everything involving fire and shadow cozy play destruction.

[:

[Aesiir]

Wowzers, I did just start playing with Destro for the first time since BC. My dps is finally in the 10k range. Did some pvp and it doesn't seem quite as solid (I have no idea why, same # of CC's for the most part) but it's probably just that I'm not familiar with destro yet.

I'm set on destro i believe, and I'm thinking I'll probably either level with 4 piece pvp and 1 pve out in the quest zones, or full pve in dungeons. Still haven't figured out which will accumulate more exp quicker.

[Peepo]

why wouldn't affliction be good for leveling and questing?... might also prove worthy in dungeons, remembering that dungeons in cata may be drastically different than lich king... affliction fell to the way side while running heroics in LK because things died too quick... i'm not sure that is going to be the case with cata... although, i haven't been on beta so i don't know first hand...

but still why isn't it viable for farming/questing?...

[Deleted]

Siphon Life got nerfed...

[Deleted]

I leveled from 80-85 with destro and affliction:

From 80-82 as aff and then i switched to destruction cus the mobs were hitting me for far more than I was getting healed = much downtime!
I then lvled from 82-84 as destruction and this was a faceroll, until they nerfed the healing gained from chaosbbolt and conflagration.

In the 82-84 range I changed alot of my ICC gear (should have done that before to gain more health and mastery from items) and suddently Aff was extremely effective as a leveling spec.

I will level as Aff when cata hits

[DotDotDot]

Leveling as affliction.
even with changes to siphon life, the self healing is more than enough.
and Dotting up 7-8 targets and looting as they die around you is just so fast. Dot one up, soul swap another, dot another 3-4 up, soul swap again to another.

massive self heals, zero down time, massive aoe grinding,
Dot's tagging mobs as soon as they land, not soon as they do damage is also a massive gain. jus spammin corruption + tab target to steal mobs from highly populated questing zones wil be invaluble.

[Deleted]

Leveling as affliction.
[...] Dotting up 7-8 targets and looting as they die around you is just so fast. Dot one up, soul swap another, dot another 3-4 up, soul swap again to another.

massive self heals, zero down time, massive aoe grinding,
Dot's tagging mobs as soon as they land, not soon as they do damage is also a massive gain. jus spammin corruption + tab target to steal mobs from highly populated questing zones wil be invaluble.

Other posts and beta testers have stated that having more than 2 mobs on you is generally a very bad thing if they get close to you.

Of course, the strategy is to have the mobs far enough away for them not to hit you, but that can be problematic in the long run. You might run into some aggro range from other mobs or the mobs may have a 20% "call help"-ability. They might also just start running away to the nearest ally not in combat.
Your dots might also not be enough to kill the mobs.

[gherkin]

More than 2 mobs on you once you get out of Hyjal and Vash'yr will get you killed. Fast. The main tank in my guild, at level 84 in Twilight Highlands, in full on tank gear he used to take down Heroic LK 25, died if he had more than 2 mobs on him. Think about what would happen to a clothie.

These are the talents you want to pick up that you might not already have, in order to ensure leveling is smooth
Affliction: Improved Howl of Terror, Curse of Exhaustion, Improved Fear (glyphed). Drop Pandemic and Shadow Embrace for these.
Demonology: Fel Synergy, Aura of Foreboding, Improved Health Funnel. Drop Molten Core, Master Summoner, and Demonic Rebirth for these.
Destruction: No change from raiding spec. Shadowburn > Shadowfury however. Backlash comes in handy later but you shouldn't be getting hit much as Destro.

[Noorac]

More than 2 mobs on you once you get out of Hyjal and Vash'yr will get you killed. Fast. The main tank in my guild, at level 84 in Twilight Highlands, in full on tank gear he used to take down Heroic LK 25, died if he had more than 2 mobs on him. Think about what would happen to a clothie.

From what I have seen in questing-videoes, there are certain mobs in every zone that do much more damage than other mobs on the same level, even though they are not elite, and I'm spesifically thinking of the flayers in the starterquest in deepholm. Is it a possibility that the situation your tank is reffering to is a fight with the equivalent mobs in twilight highlands? Or is he talking about having 2 of any of the mobs in highlands bashing him?

[gherkin]

2 of any mob. They had something like 100k hp too

[Noorac]

That doesn't sound to promising =S

[MacasanHunter]

Beast Mastery with a Spirit Beast, it got nice burst and i can heal myself every 30sec

[gherkin]

Might want to check the forum before posting class specific strategies.