Returning M+ player, what do I NEED to do to be "competitive" in the M+ scene?

[Brociopath]

Hi
I ended Legion by pushing M+ keys to get my raider.io score/m+score as high as I could. Got to about 2,2k on my resto druid with pugs (no friends rip) and was pretty happy with that. The m+ score was for me something to stride for, and seeing that number go up was very motivating. Imo some sort of score for m+ should be implemented as default by Blizzard, like for PvP, but that is a topic for another day. Anyways, I like it

Started BfA trying to semi-hardcore raid, and did get CE in Uldir. Did also push keys on 3 different chars (prot pala, dps warrior and resto druid) in both season 1 (the ghuunies) and season 2 (reaping). Reaping was great fun, ghuunies not so much.

Then raiding burned me out and I quit.

Now in these quarantine times I got the urge to play m+ again. Haven't played since 8.2 (or whenever reaping was). How much stuff like cloak, essences, corruption gear etc. do I really NEED to do to push m+ keys on a semi-hardcore level (but probably in pugs, still no friends rip)?

Can I just log in, do all m0 to get some gear going and start pushing, and eventually with whatever drops in m+ and weekly cache will be able to do 15-20 keys, or is all the new stuff a must have?

If I do have to get some of it, what should I prioritize?

Also, do I have to do bunch of questlines to get the mechagon dungeon?

[Oblider]

All of it is a must have, you can't just complete the m+0 dungeons and then hop into m+

[vsb]

You must farm cloak and essences. You can start grinding low keys, of course, without it.

[Nevcairiel]

If you played in 8.2 and hopefully got the 8.2 essences, then thats really the worst of it already. 8.3 essences are relatively quick to get, and the cloak can be caught up on quickly now. To be really competitive, you'll need to get some corrupted gear - the weekly chest gives you guaranteed corruption, but its only one per week.

Assuming you had all the 8.2 stuff, then at the very least you need to do horrific visions for the cloak, and to do those you need to do assaults and for faster catch-up dailies.

[Zantera]

Get your cloak, get whatever essences are good for your class. Depending on class you might have some 'easy' ones (to obtain) as your best ones, but even if some of your best are annoying ones, you usually have some alternatives. As for Mechagon dungeon, you can do it without doing the unlocking part.

[Rucati]

How much time it'll take to be competitive will largely depend on what class you play.

Regardless of class though you'll need to get your cloak ranked up as fast as you can, and you should start getting some corrupted gear right away since the horrific vision gear will be guaranteed corrupted starting on Tuesday.

And of course you need gear, start in m0 and work your way up, it doesn't really take very long to gear honestly. Can get to 460+ in about a week I'd imagine if you do a lot of mythics.

Essences are the biggest time sink, because depending on the class you play it could take around a month to unlock the rank 3 essences you need. Certain classes require easier essences to get, whereas other classes require multiple essences locked behind dailies and reputation.

Overall though I think you can probably finish +15 keys in time at around 460 ilvl with a rank 12 cloak and a few good essences, which I'd imagine most classes can get in maybe 2 weeks? Less if you need easier essences and you have more time to play/grind mythics for gear.

[Hellobolis]

get some friends guild to boost you in heroic to get some fast azerite pieces and hopefully a weapon/trinket.

and do w/e you have to to get your neck to 75, should be doable in a week now.

[Marrilaife]

If you want to be "competitive" you need:
- leggo cloak with up to date upgrades
- lvl 75 neck at least (80 is better)
- BIS essences for your spec whatever that entails (and no, the catch up that comes next week is only for alts, if you don't have at least 1 char with specific essence you have to grind it the old way)
- BIS corruption for your spec for m+ whichever that happens to be, up to corruption cap you're comfortable with (39 or 59 are common breakpoints)
- up to date ilvl (up to 465 can be farmed from m+, after that it slows down)

Now if you want to be semi-casual and not bother with some of the above list, you can probably still farm keys just not at the top level. At least 75 neck with all 4 slots filled, and lvl 12 cloak for the stat proc is recommended. Corruptions are rng so hard to say how easy / hard is to get what you'd want.

[DeusX]

If you have some 1+ milion gold, to speed stuff up, buy an ilvl 460 item with "Twilight Devastation" @ 18% corruption from the AH . That is if you play DPS or Tank, I don't know about healers. Else your dps will be shit no matter what, compared to others.

[Brociopath]

Thanks for the replies and advice.
Bought a subscription and got going.
Sitting at 412 ilvl (on my warrior which I'm gonna get going first), 48 neck level, only one essence The Crucible Flame and no flying (only missing part 2 though).
Started the cloak quest, after that I'm gonna get flying, only need exploring then start on essences. Guess neck is gonna come pretty fast dude to catch up.

[kaminaris]

Thanks for the replies and advice.
Bought a subscription and got going.
Sitting at 412 ilvl (on my warrior which I'm gonna get going first), 48 neck level, only one essence The Crucible Flame and no flying (only missing part 2 though).
Started the cloak quest, after that I'm gonna get flying, only need exploring then start on essences. Guess neck is gonna come pretty fast dude to catch up.

If you are going warrior then the only competetive opion you have is prot.
If you wanna go dps -> DH or rogue outlaw.

As for what you want to hit per essences/azerite/trinkets you have 2 resources:
https://bloodmallet.com/index.html#w..._view=essences

bloodmallet
and raider.io (check what other players have and for now go for easier options)
https://raider.io/mythic-plus-spec-r...ior/protection

[Nnyco]

If you played in 8.2 and hopefully got the 8.2 essences, then thats really the worst of it already. 8.3 essences are relatively quick to get, and the cloak can be caught up on quickly now. To be really competitive, you'll need to get some corrupted gear - the weekly chest gives you guaranteed corruption, but its only one per week.

Assuming you had all the 8.2 stuff, then at the very least you need to do horrific visions for the cloak, and to do those you need to do assaults and for faster catch-up dailies.

Starting from next week the vision items will also be guranteed corrupted, so thats another way to get 2-3 pieces extra.

[Rogue Karl]

For a 15 not much to be honest. A 75 neck rank 3 of your good essences and decent corruptions.

[melodramocracy]

A large active guild so you can skip the shitbags that generally comprise the M+ pug scene.

[ZazuuPriest]

find the fotm class and spam your AoE buttons on cd

[Brociopath]

If you are going warrior then the only competetive opion you have is prot.
If you wanna go dps -> DH or rogue outlaw.

As for what you want to hit per essences/azerite/trinkets you have 2 resources:
...

bloodmallet
and raider.io (check what other players have and for now go for easier options)
...

Starting on my warrior since that have been my main and is the completion-char who got the most done with reps and achievements. Rather use that one to unlock rank 3 essences and buy it for my alts. But yeah, prot warrior tank is fun too

- - - Updated - - -

48 neck level? don't you get 50 from doing the nazjatar intro?

Hadn't finished that when I posted. Done that and gotten my leggo cloak, so now my neck is 56 or something. Quick catch up so far

[Djuntas]

Buy a boost for +10...A good way to get some easy gear, just saying...Prices already down to 80k for 1 run, maybe even with leather/plate stack?

[kaminaris]

Starting on my warrior since that have been my main and is the completion-char who got the most done with reps and achievements. Rather use that one to unlock rank 3 essences and buy it for my alts. But yeah, prot warrior tank is fun too

Then its gon be ez. If you make a group while being a tank people gonna list.
Just put "chill run" in title until you are comfortable with ilvl and rio score.

[D3athsting]

You need a group of friends or will pugs will decline you even for a +2 because of r.io

[Trend]

Hi
I ended Legion by pushing M+ keys to get my raider.io score/m+score as high as I could. Got to about 2,2k on my resto druid with pugs (no friends rip) and was pretty happy with that. The m+ score was for me something to stride for, and seeing that number go up was very motivating. Imo some sort of score for m+ should be implemented as default by Blizzard, like for PvP, but that is a topic for another day. Anyways, I like it

Started BfA trying to semi-hardcore raid, and did get CE in Uldir. Did also push keys on 3 different chars (prot pala, dps warrior and resto druid) in both season 1 (the ghuunies) and season 2 (reaping). Reaping was great fun, ghuunies not so much.

Then raiding burned me out and I quit.

Now in these quarantine times I got the urge to play m+ again. Haven't played since 8.2 (or whenever reaping was). How much stuff like cloak, essences, corruption gear etc. do I really NEED to do to push m+ keys on a semi-hardcore level (but probably in pugs, still no friends rip)?

Can I just log in, do all m0 to get some gear going and start pushing, and eventually with whatever drops in m+ and weekly cache will be able to do 15-20 keys, or is all the new stuff a must have?

If I do have to get some of it, what should I prioritize?

Also, do I have to do bunch of questlines to get the mechagon dungeon?

IMO spend a little bit of time finding a guild that fits how you want to play the game and the kind of people you want to spend time with and you'll have a much better time with it. There are a lot of people who could be CE every tier but don't want to play that much or don't want to be tied down to that kind of obligation. There are tons of guilds looking for people, especially if you tank or heal. You can slog through PUG's but why?