Returning player - too late to catch up?

[bbj]

I bought BfA but I haven't played it at all -killed Argus in Legion.

Is it too late to come back and play casually - i will be so behind other players on so many areas including level, reputation, gear, knowledge of all the new stuff in BfA?

Just need some insights and advices whether its okay to come back or not...

[GrinnersGrin]

Wait for 9.2

[shise]

It is easy, here is a straight forward "mini-guide", then it is up to you.


If you have some gold, you can be on ilvl 385 in a week once you hit 120. Which is good enough to do the current raid in HC difficulty

Right now it takes about 12 to 14 hours to level from 110 to 120 through TW dungeons under rested xp (about a level every 45 minutes if you queue as healer or tank). Maybe you can do it faster.

I would encourage you to go with a healer/tank able class, then you will certainly have an easier time finding groups and so speeding the process.

You can get a 375ilvl weapon from pvp the very first day you hit level 120 as there are many conquest points awarded in unique one time quests as you hit 120. The next item is a 385 helm. No brawler this week tho, so it might be a bit slower getting those conquests.

Buy epics on the AH, you can find many mythic quality ones, the DK trinket, and run some dungeons, LFR. You should easily find some pug normal full clears, try to get into one as well.

[Uurdz]

I bought BfA but I haven't played it at all -killed Argus in Legion.

Is it too late to come back and play casually - i will be so behind other players on so many areas including level, reputation, gear, knowledge of all the new stuff in BfA?

Just need some insights and advices whether its okay to come back or not...

Not too late. The catch up mechanics have been there to allow for you to catch up for a while. 8.2 should be out in around 2 months, so you can level up to 120 and then start working on leveling your heart of Azeroth. Fortunately there isn’t much content in BfA but you should have enough to last at least 4 weeks but more likely 6-8 so you’ll be basically caught up by the time 8.2 launches.

[Gestopft]

Reputation will take a little while, but gear catch-up isn't bad at all- there's a variety of ways to get gear. There's universal artifact knowledge so leveling up your artifact doesn't take nearly as long as at the beginning of the expansion.

[Dracullus]

I bought BfA but I haven't played it at all -killed Argus in Legion.

Is it too late to come back and play casually - i will be so behind other players on so many areas including level, reputation, gear, knowledge of all the new stuff in BfA?

Just need some insights and advices whether its okay to come back or not...

If you played Legion, you should kinda know that it's never "too late" in modern WoW. BfA don't even have Legion legendaries, which was literally only advantage that someone playing from day 1. could have.

WoW expacs are right know divided by seasons. In BfA they consolidated raid tier, PVP season and introduced Mythic+ season with separate M+10 affix - now they all start and end at same time. Every season is soft reset, you can catch up to raid gear from previous season through easy content like world quests.

Right know we are in middle of season 2, that will end around June-July. It's easy to catch up, but bear in mind that for many people raid is already on farm (although small 2 boss raid is coming next week).

[Lahis]

It is WoW. All older than current patch content is always invalidated by huge catch up mechanics.

Currently we are in limbo, 8.1 catch up gives you low ilvl gear, and 8.2 isn't even on PTR yet. Most optimal time for return would be when 8.2 hits so you can get the highest possible catch up ilvl from Nazjatar when you ding 120.

[Ashina]

Not too late, especially with 8.2 being about 2 months away. It’s probably the ideal time to return if you want to.

[Elias01]

Classic is coming out in summer no reason to catch up in bfa.

[GreenJesus]

It's easy to catch up.
You know this. This 5th time you're asking the same question.

Last time you resubbed and asked for advice was in January (https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...2#post50778482).

Things haven't really changed that much in 3 months.

There's some guides for returning players here: https://www.wowhead.com/returning-player-guides

Oof. The OP got Sniped. But Seriously though. Just wait for 8.2 when world quests will give the same item level as what I have now as a mythic raider.

[Nnyco]

Dont forget to buy contracts from ah when you run world quest for bonus reputation.

[ablib]

This isn't Vanilla. You can come back any time and be caught up in a couple of weeks. Or less. It's been that way since Wrath, at least.

[munkeyinorbit]

I bought BfA but I haven't played it at all -killed Argus in Legion.

Is it too late to come back and play casually - i will be so behind other players on so many areas including level, reputation, gear, knowledge of all the new stuff in BfA?

Just need some insights and advices whether its okay to come back or not...

I have a paladin that is two weeks old at 120. She is ilvl 377. No raiding. No PvP. No Mythic/Mythic+ dungeons. Just WQ, Warfronts, World bosses, and Invasions. The neck is level 39. No islands. It is pretty disgusting how easy it is to get ready for normal raiding and if I had been raiding (i am in a guild) it would be over 385 by now and ready for Heroic.

[Kemsa]

Actually this week and the next ones that are coming are the best weeks to return. After the "pvp" one, comes Extra reputation if you need a little more for that Zandalari/kultiran then another Timewalking featuring Pandaria (really good trinkets) and then on may you have Mythic Dungeon with a Hero chest i believe, so yeah, also Darkshore warfront its up on Horde so if you are an alliance you can wait for it.

[THEORACLE64]

I bought BfA but I haven't played it at all -killed Argus in Legion.

Is it too late to come back and play casually - i will be so behind other players on so many areas including level, reputation, gear, knowledge of all the new stuff in BfA?

Just need some insights and advices whether its okay to come back or not...

It's never too late. Actually, for that matter, it's easier to catch up the longer into the expansion it is.

[Kisuke42]

Its never too late to go back to an MMO, except maybe after the last major patch and before the new expac launch.

Alot of players might tell you to wait for 8.2 but I say start now.

You still need to pick a class and cap , gear up a bit, find a guild...etc.

By the time 8.2 rolls out you gonna have a strong start to enjoy the content.

[Thelxi]

Not at all too late tbh. The reputations will take a long while to get to exalted, but there is no rush really since there will still be a grind to unlock flying once the next patch hits which gives plenty of room to work on the old reps.

As far as gear goes you can get to 400+ very very quickly through m+. Getting groups is not easy for all classes or specs, but if you are a druid for example you can very easily pug keys all day long as resto. You'd have to start with lower keys of course, but you could probably get to around 400ilvl within a single lockout just pugging +7s with the occasional +10.

[trapmaster]

I would honestly HOLD IT OFF till next xpac. I'm not still comfortable what will 8.2 offer us. It's your call m8, Ask around ur friends and guild/bsbsbsb the rest before you consider return to catch up.

[Waynhim]

The last week, up until yesterday was optimal for leveling/catching up. The combination of Darkmoon Faire for xp-buffs, Warfront Darkshore up for first 400+ ilv item, (Horde side), and Timewalking for insane leveling speed with xp buffs. I think 10 or so TW dungeons, with pretty fast queues, even for DPS, will see you from 110-120. Then do 5 more for TW quest for a 385+ ilv quest reward + some 365 ilv drops from the dungeon. Timewalking vendor offers 5 or so 350 ilv itemslots, so getting about ~ 350 ilv is a breeze-

Questing 110-120 with Azeroth Auto Pilot is like 10-15 hours pending on xp buffs, but you'll have shit gear starting out as 120, and will have to do the Normal->Heroic grind to be able to fit the ilv requirements for better gear.

[bbj]

Thanks all.