your shadowlands experience in week 1

[Revamp Man]

This is how your experience in shadowlands will go for intial set up into endgame and how it differs from recent years

1. Linear leveling.
for the first time since WoD you will have a linear path of leveling 50-60
intro: you do the intro scenario (not spoiling what happens) and you end up in oribos which will be your new capitol. You will be around 51 by the end dependant on rested exp and then you head into Bastion.

51-54 Bastion bracket and afaik the mobs wont scale up as a way to return the feeling of actual power progression and the cap for the campaign being 54 is very important as that is when you will be sent to the next zone however you might be able to out level this as the 54 cap is just the unlock requirement for the next chapter and as such is obtainable through simply doing the main storylines. It is suggested that you do the side content for any zone that you plan on joining the covenant of. An example of the side content is the steward fruit offering quests to unlock the bonus chests.

54-56 Maldraxxus bracket where again you simply quest and do the extra side content if you want to join the Necrolords for an easier time HOWEVER there are many reports where the experience here is nowhere near the same as Bastion so do all side content if possible so you don't hit the cut off at say level 55 and can't move forward.

56-58 Ardenweald bracket where there is a bit more experience but again do the side content just in case since ya know....covenant stuff and level requirement (plus the quests are interesting to say the least). This will be the first zone where in early days the choke point is gone and it wont be as filled as say Maldraxxus with the day 1 players that actually sleep.

58-60 Revendreth bracket and it is VERY important to remember that this is the first time where you might hit 60 relatively early depending on your previous performance HOWEVER that doesn't matter. Your level essentially stops mattering in this area as long as you hit the cap at some point because you must finish the campaign to move forward.

It is very important to know that your level is essentially just a prerequisite to move forward and doesn't matter unlike in BfA where you could hit cap before finishing the last zone and immediately go into the endgame quests and all that.


2. Covenant set up

choosing a covenant is your next task. There will be a room in oribos where you can test the abilities of each covenant and remind yourself of how each one feels...however it seems they removed the target dummies so make sure to have one of the toys that lets you summon a dummy for the abilities that require a target. You will get a preview of the armor and the mount that you gain through the renown system (you get a recolot through the campaign quests and if you wanna spend the time on it you can upgrade them to mythic 0 ilvl however it takes at least 7 weeks)

Going to your covenant to get the start set up is also very important and i believe (might be different because they keep changing everything on beta and i might be wrong) you will not get the soulbind until you go through the first campaign chapter and your first visit to the maw. To get to the maw jump through the middle spire of energy in Oribos READ THE QUEST. You will do basic stuff there then come back get the soulbind and your first conduit. You will then have callings which are the new emissaries.

Callings are relatively simple as each one will either require doing a specific "hard" WQ or just 4 in a zone possibly collect treasures and kill rares or do dungeons. They can provide gear however you will notice the WQ gear and the calling gear will be a certain ilvl until you reach higher renown. These are also where you get your conduits outside of dungeons.

Dungeon weekly is another fun returning quest. These dont give items or anything but instead give a decent chunk of rep for a faction of your choosing which is very helpful because the reps have leggo memories and conduit upgrades for you so you set out on your path there. You also get to start the dungeon grind but that isnt all.

Torghast is technically available in the fist week but you do not get the soul ash reward in the first week similar to you not getting the extra renown that week. The set up for torghast starts with a quest in oribos which doesnt pop up immediately or warn you about. You must clear Torghast about 8 times in order to get through the set up entirely and personally i am going to push through it all at once which takes a few hours but this means on reset you only do 2 runs. You should be able to get gear drops from the final boss on these runs.

Professions are very important this time around due to the fact that crafting gear can be made to be almost on the level of heroic dungeon gear day 1 with secondary stats taht you can determine. They are also relevant for legendary items as you need one base item and 2 scrolls from a scribe to determine the secondary stats (my scribe gets more money) so keep them ready.



THAT IS IT for your first week. It might feel like a ton of stuff when laid out in front of you but keep in mind thats mostly just set up and after the first reset you will have a much easier time with just callings and weekly quests as a requirement for upkeep.


Normally i would be giving tips about collecting things like the 1 minute potions for leveling but blizzard has hammered potions so that wont really speed you up a bit and the only real tip is have a gathering profession and dont worry about speed leveling because week 1 is limited and a majority of the set up available is just gutted compared to the first reset week.

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oh and have your mount with either anti daze or the glider because water walking is pretty pointless

[irdsyd]

Just a few comments on this (things have changed quite a bit and might change again).

1. The level cap limitations of 54 (bastion) and 56 (maldraxxus) were removed. There is currently a new level 53 restriction in bastion which was re-introduced - and it kicks in before the last set of quests. It is messy though and will change.

2. The xp per level and xp gain from killing mobs have been significantly changed - so getting to 60 is not the issue it was earlier in terms of running out of quests.

3. Soulbinds have hugely changed - with the best soulbind talent now the one you get first rather than last after many weeks. These talents are quite good and may now factor into your covenant choice.

4. Journeys into and out of torghast are numerous in the early quest chains after hitting 60 and they have been regularly changing - if you have tailoring, leatherworking or blacksmithing (and jewelcrafting for neck and rings) you get access to legendary recipes via the runecrafter very early on in these chains. You need to have these professions maxed to get the legendary recipes - easy for leatherworking - a bit harder for blacksmithing and tailoring. You do want to get to the point where you can get soul ash as soon as possible - particularly if you are after higher ilvl legendaries which require multiple weeks of soul ash farming. The initial soul ash farming runs take quite some time - but in subsequent weeks you get credit from the floors you have previously cleared making the farming less time consuming.

5. There are currently four weekly dungeon quests - 2 per 2 dungeons - they are very good for rep.

6. Initial level 60 crafting are well below heroic level. You need to unlock an item that is gated behind reputation to be able to craft the ilvl gear close to heroic dungeons. The covenant campaigns reward some good ilvl gear.

7. Things keep changing.... so Id wait for guides close to launch.

[Revamp Man]

what i meant by unlocking a soulbind is that currently you unlock your first after the intro quest to Venari

soul ash wont be obtainable until after hte initial reset so for example if it launches on a monday you arent going to be missing out on any soul ash just missing out on the initial clear and set up which is about 8 runs 1 for each different layer

heres 1 thing not in guides right now: heirlooms and the secondary stats are great replacements for azerite gear in the early levels

[The Butt Witch]

1. Login queues
2. Lag.
3. Lag.
4. Lag.
5. Bugged quests.
6. Retards grouping up for trivial quest mobs and filling up all the tag slots.
Oh, there's probably gonna be a lot of lag too.

Be sure to thank Blizzard for making SL questing liniar and forcing all the players into the same area.

[Revamp Man]

1. Login queues
2. Lag.
3. Lag.
4. Lag.
5. Bugged quests.
6. Retards grouping up for trivial quest mobs and filling up all the tag slots.
Oh, there's probably gonna be a lot of lag too.

Be sure to thank Blizzard for making SL questing liniar and forcing all the players into the same area.

sharding should fix some issues

the initial lag bottleneck will be in the first two zones but just like TBC once you get past the first 2 zones

[Vrinara]

1. Login queues
2. Lag.
3. Lag.
4. Lag.
5. Bugged quests.
6. Retards grouping up for trivial quest mobs and filling up all the tag slots.
Oh, there's probably gonna be a lot of lag too.

Be sure to thank Blizzard for making SL questing liniar and forcing all the players into the same area.

Sounds like a personal problem. I've had no login que and I'm on the highest pop RP server. I have yet to find a bugged quest. Don't feel any lag outside of stormwind. and haven't seen retards grouping up to do that. So again. I think it's a personal problem.

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To start. I am avoiding Stormwind like the plague hit. To much lag specially on my server. I like the leveling. Feels like it flows better then grinding 120 levels on so many characters. But Heirlooms feel worthless as hell.

[Revamp Man]

Sounds like a personal problem. I've had no login que and I'm on the highest pop RP server. I have yet to find a bugged quest. Don't feel any lag outside of stormwind. and haven't seen retards grouping up to do that. So again. I think it's a personal problem.

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To start. I am avoiding Stormwind like the plague hit. To much lag specially on my server. I like the leveling. Feels like it flows better then grinding 120 levels on so many characters. But Heirlooms feel worthless as hell.

shadowlands isnt out so you wont be hitting those issues....damn it this is the first launch i wont be working so i have to deal with it lol

heirlooms do hold value though

[Vrinara]

shadowlands isnt out so you wont be hitting those issues....damn it this is the first launch i wont be working so i have to deal with it lol

heirlooms do hold value though

I must of read the post wrong. Whoops!

[Megaman35]

me too

[Revamp Man]

I must of read the post wrong. Whoops!

its all good

quick not if you have a toon taht has done the MoP leggo quest line go to SoO and get a helm for the meta gem

[TickTickTick]

I'm wondering about the experience, but from a more technical angle.

Since prepatch, the game has been hella laggy. For some reason Ny'alotha is seeing lag spikes (the delay is sometimes +1 sec), but it's very inconsistent, happening in different places and to different people.

Then there's a starting zone. As you said, it's the first time since MoP that the leveling is fully linear and same pace for both factions. And let me tell you - it's bad news. Just make a new character and go level in Pandaria. It's a laggy HELL before you get lev 20 and are able to go warmode on. Can't imagine what it will be on release, with everyone being packed into the same places.

[Revamp Man]

I'm wondering about the experience, but from a more technical angle.

Since prepatch, the game has been hella laggy. For some reason Ny'alotha is seeing lag spikes (the delay is sometimes +1 sec), but it's very inconsistent, happening in different places and to different people.

Then there's a starting zone. As you said, it's the first time since MoP that the leveling is fully linear and same pace for both factions. And let me tell you - it's bad news. Just make a new character and go level in Pandaria. It's a laggy HELL before you get lev 20 and are able to go warmode on. Can't imagine what it will be on release, with everyone being packed into the same places.

im not as concerned over it due to the removal of all of the azerite procs once you hit SL buuuuut spell variance is going to have a bit of a thing but also aoe cap is going to have an effect

overall i think lag will be less but this is the first time im not playing 12 hours after launch due to my work schedule so ill be experiencing all the fun launch day stuff

[Mightytasty]

Are the "callings" weekly or daily? How long do they take to complete? I'm cool with Blizzard incentivizing weekly dungeon runs or 2 runs of torghast, but if I have to keep doing world quests/invasions/assaults then Shadowlands might not be for me.

[AidanJLowe]

Are the "callings" weekly or daily? How long do they take to complete? I'm cool with Blizzard incentivizing weekly dungeon runs or 2 runs of torghast, but if I have to keep doing world quests/invasions/assaults then Shadowlands might not be for me.

Callings are just a rename for what Battle for Azeroths Emissaries are, so you'll get a new one daily. Only difference being you'll have to accept them from your Covenant instead of simply going to the zone, doing x quests then the hand-in.

[GrinnersGrin]

Sounds like a personal problem. I've had no login que and I'm on the highest pop RP server. I have yet to find a bugged quest. Don't feel any lag outside of stormwind. and haven't seen retards grouping up to do that. So again. I think it's a personal problem.

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To start. I am avoiding Stormwind like the plague hit. To much lag specially on my server. I like the leveling. Feels like it flows better then grinding 120 levels on so many characters. But Heirlooms feel worthless as hell.

So we have a time traveller on our hands?

You are aware in this current timeline Shadowlands isn't out yet right?

[Vrinara]

So we have a time traveller on our hands?

You are aware in this current timeline Shadowlands isn't out yet right?

If you had read what I had said after someone mentioned something, that I misread the post. No need to be a dick. Honest mistake.

[Manhands]

As per Preach's advice, do the side quests in the area that will be your covenant.

[Revamp Man]

As per Preach's advice, do the side quests in the area that will be your covenant.

luckily as a WW thats going to be kyrian so i get to do the little altar quests

[Collected]

Me the week before launch: I'm all in. 24 hours at least on day 1. Max level end of day 1. Snacks. Wow. Redbull. LETS GO.
Me the night of launch: Level 53, woot. Alright, time for bed.

[Jeniffer]

Spent about 13 hours to level up from 50 till 60. I think that was in legion too.