TBC: Buy boost or level up now?

[Tojara]

Lots of ways to look at it really. Right now you're only allowed one boost per account, so unless you want to buy multiple accounts you're stuck with a single character to boost when TBC comes out. We have no idea how long the pre-patch to TBC will be, meaning that if you're waiting for the XP reduction that takes place in the 2.0 patch, you still might be stressed leveling if that patch is only a few weeks long and you have limited playtime. IIRC the reduction is only like 20% overall reduction in leveling speed, which is still an enormous amount of time compared to todays standards.

Realistically I would ignore most of the comments in this thread concerning how leveling is how the game is meant to be played, or boosting a character you aren't familiar with will make you bad. There are plenty of resources out there that can help you play a character, and it's not like playing a class in WoW is hard, especially in PvE where some classes literally press one button. I've played with too many people over the years that level tons of characters and still can't locate the interrupt button in their spell book, or have any idea what a defensive button is. I wouldn't feel bad skimping out on leveling, because personally, most of us have done it a million times and if you really want the experience of leveling in Classic.. it's still going to be there.

Another thing to note is we have no idea when TBC is coming out, except for it landing sometime this year. If I had to guess I would probably say in August, but who knows. Without knowing you could casually start leveling now if you have nothing else to do and want multiple characters, and simply use the boost on another character that you want to play. Multiple people have stated it, but knowing that TBC is on the horizon has likely invigorated the player base from a leveling standpoint, and it's likely that the world is a bit more lively than it was in Classic months and months ago.

It really depends on how much time you have and how many characters you want, and what the cost of the boost actually is. If you really loathe leveling in Classic and don't mind spending some money, just wait for the boost. If you can play the game a lot and don't hate yourself for doing it, make it a project over the next couple months to just level a character the traditional way (and maybe save your boost for another character). Additionally, if you can play the game a lot and want to be efficient about it, just wait until the pre-patch and level with the XP reduction in.

[keelr]

Well if you have time to level i would suggest to wait till prepatch and level there since its way faster. If you don't have much time to level i would just wait for the boost since you can easily burn out in levelling while you don't enjoy it.

[Dazu]

One thing to note, T2+ gear can carry you a long way through leveling and even into normal dungeons. Especially if you are leveling a hybrid and working a different spec to what it was designed for in Vanilla but still want to say heal occasionally. My paladin was Prot in the end of Vanilla, so I replaced most of my gear quickly from vanilla due to it almost all being healing type. Then I still ended up healing some normals in the high 60s because a friend with a tank needed heals for a 5man and the best I had (due to taking quest upgrades for Prot) was a mix of t1/t2 and other bits and it was still perfectly fine for that stuff (I believe I healed Sethekk normal with bits of both Lawbringer and Judgement still on).

Class will matter too. Hybrids DPS/Tank abilities and talent trees get much more suitable for using and efficiency.

I would atleast start leveling now, even if something easy like a hunter as a farmer/gatherer etc to make gold. If you level efficiently, its something like 100 hours to max level of played time. Most will likely be something like 120-150 hours. If you do it slowly you get maximum rested bonus though. If you dont make it, atleast you should have some gold and crafting mats to sling to your boost to help out (especially to be ready to buy flying).

As for the attunements - You can get Kara Attunement done prior to 70 and enter it from I think it was 68. Work on getting as much done during leveling as possible. Also learn the shortcuts for rep farming as it can save alot of pain grinding dungeons (Plant parts, grinding hellfire mobs prior to dungeons/quests etc).

[TommiTMX]

I'm doing both, leveling another character now and will likely boost on release to have 3 characters to push to max level. If I get my Rogue to 60 and relatively geared before the 2.0 pre-patch, I might try and do a Shaman before the expansion too for fun.

[kranur]

Really depends on what your situation is ...
Do you want to enjoy the leveling experience? Then sure, go for it. Even if you don't have the time to reach 58 by tbc launch, you will either be close or will have an alt. Either way you enojyed it and it was worth it.

If you don't want to enjoy the leveling and want to rush (for whatever reason, beinng that you don't like it or you played the last 10 years on private servers and can't be assed to do it one more time) then just get the boost.

Now regarding the time constrains .. if you don't have time to level, you probably won't have time to raid either ... and unlile retail, not raiding in tbc will put a stop on your character progress rather fast ... unless you focus on arena pvp.

If you decide to do the leveling, there's really no reason to wait till pre-patch ... yes it maybe faster in the pre-patch but there's no harm in getting a head start right now and depending on huw much pre-patch lasts you may be under pressure to level.. pre-patch is at least 1 month away ... and 1 month can get you to level 30 if not more with minimal play time. And you may even get an old school pvp title in this time.

[ek0zu]

On a TBC private server I bought a boosted char at maximum lvl, not even 58, with an epic ground mount. It cost me 30 € and they were probably the worst money i have ever spent, they were the worst money ever spent because TBC and classic are hugely connected unlike how Retail Works, which is basically a reset.

Therefore, i had a lvl 70 char with very little gold, no gear at all, my gear was consisted of some awful greens, i was weaker than a lvl 60 char with good gear, i could not kill anything at my lvl and i was struggling to kill lvl60 mobs. All professions were 0 and i basically had to go back and lvl them again because AH was not an option, since i was poor as i said above and i did not want to spent more euros to buy gold, i had to start killing stuff, which i was awful at that due to my awful gear.

To make long story short i managed to play for only two weeks after my initial purchase and installation of the game and i did not enjoy it at all.

I decided that if i am going to play TBC, provided that i have not played Classic myself as well, i would slowly lvl my desired char beforehand, lvl all my professions in parallel of the leveling, run various instances for some gear, if possible, but definitely farm gold, mats and the professions! Maybe even lvl a second char just for the heck of it, yes classic lvling is pain in the ass and i have done it a million times already but it is better to set up a character beforehand, provided that you have the time to do so. But imo, since you are already thinking to play a generally pretty time consuming game, investing some time on your char would not hurt that much.

[Sting]

I'm not paying that goblin a dime, already leveled 2 extra characters. Multiple profession cooldowns will be well worth the time and effort I've invested in them so far.

[shadowroguetbc]

On a TBC private server I bought a boosted char at maximum lvl, not even 58, with an epic ground mount. It cost me 30 € and they were probably the worst money i have ever spent, they were the worst money ever spent because TBC and classic are hugely connected unlike how Retail Works, which is basically a reset.

Therefore, i had a lvl 70 char with very little gold, no gear at all, my gear was consisted of some awful greens, i was weaker than a lvl 60 char with good gear, i could not kill anything at my lvl and i was struggling to kill lvl60 mobs. All professions were 0 and i basically had to go back and lvl them again because AH was not an option, since i was poor as i said above and i did not want to spent more euros to buy gold, i had to start killing stuff, which i was awful at that due to my awful gear.

To make long story short i managed to play for only two weeks after my initial purchase and installation of the game and i did not enjoy it at all.

I decided that if i am going to play TBC, provided that i have not played Classic myself as well, i would slowly lvl my desired char beforehand, lvl all my professions in parallel of the leveling, run various instances for some gear, if possible, but definitely farm gold, mats and the professions! Maybe even lvl a second char just for the heck of it, yes classic lvling is pain in the ass and i have done it a million times already but it is better to set up a character beforehand, provided that you have the time to do so. But imo, since you are already thinking to play a generally pretty time consuming game, investing some time on your char would not hurt that much.

I gotta say, this logic isn’t connecting with me at all lol. But to each their own!

[kamuimac]

I want to play TBC, but I haven't started a character in Classic.

Is it worth grinding up to lvl 60 now to take that char further in TBC? Or is it so little difference when paying for boost that I might as well wait?

there will be literal f.... ton of people leveling for very simple reason - bloodelves

i will be one of them leveling belf hunter

[Katchii]

There are plenty of guilds all full of folks leveling alts and trading "boosts" by running low level characters through low level dungeons with a much higher level character, typically level 60, for free to get their character xp easier and usually faster.

Now is as good a time as any. Once TBC starts, especially at the beginning I'd expect that to stop for a while since those folks will be engaging in TBC content.

If you want to play, now is a great time.

[Fkiolaris]

If you don't mind levelling and have a bit of time (10h per week max), there are quite a few people levelling right now and if you can get in a levelling guild you can have a good time. If you can wait for the prepatch, there will be TONs of people levelling plus the XP needed to 58 will be nerfed substantially. If you don't have time for any of these (or don't like levelling in Classic), just go for the boost

[kneehidude]

Do a /played and report back.

My main during launch took around 9 days and an alt i lvled in AQ patch got 60 in around 6 days.

4 Days, 5 hours (5 bars from level 42)

[Nubpwn]

Boost if you know the class already

Do not boost if you have never played it before

That's my plan at least. Leveling is still the best way to learn a class and I cannot support the practice of people boosting characters and quitting when they are overwhelmed by a class they have never played.

[msdos]

I don't wanna start til prepatch in case they start in a state with the riding skill cost reductions in place.

Also, in TBC, they don't just change the XP requirements, they actually fixed quests and added a crap ton to Dustwallow and other places. Most if not all of the group stuff becomes soloable, just the pacing its self is better, not just the numbers.

[Depakote]

I want to play TBC, but I haven't started a character in Classic.

Is it worth grinding up to lvl 60 now to take that char further in TBC? Or is it so little difference when paying for boost that I might as well wait?

It's always worth starting from lvl 1 even if you have to grind a bit to get to max level. It's just more fun that way.

[Nalam the Venom]

4 Days, 5 hours (5 bars from level 42)

that's pretty decent for level 42.

and there is no rush at all, just enjoy the game while it lasts, Max level is pretty boring compared to the 1-60, it's mostly just raid logging.

- - - Updated - - -

Does anyone know if there will be completely fresh TBC servers?

In other words everyone starts at lv1? I would much rather prefer this for many reasons

I don't think blizz will ever consider "Fresh" server

[czarek]

STart now or in prepatch. Prepatch = less XP TBC leveling speed.

[Nak88]

If you like the game, level up in prepatch. If you don't like the game, buy the boost. As simple as that.

[erifwodahs]

I want to start leveling on classic, but God damn the 1-30/40 slog is horrible.

[shise]

If you like the game, level up in prepatch. If you don't like the game, buy the boost. As simple as that.

Is not that simple. I like the game, but don´t have the time to level up and a boost would help.

But to be honest, you might as well level up in BC classic, as it goes quicker. If they are releasing with the last patch, then for sure the XP boost patch would be included. I remember that somewhere half way they reduced the XP or boosted how much you´d get leveling 1-58