Dungeon Leveling?

[Snith]

Hey fellows!

I was wondering what your opinions are about leveling in dungeons in the upcoming expansion? As a warrior, since the dawn of World of Warcraft, I've always found the path of protection the most suiting and to what many find odd, also within leveling. While I disagree with the arguments saying that AoE-leveling, also known as pulling and slaying large packs of mobs, over and over again, is the most efficient one, I do appreciate the possibility to do this as a protection warrior and finish off most mob-slaying-based quests rather quickly. Anyhow, I've found leveling as a protection warrior while doing quests and rounding it off with dungeons, to be the fastest way for me.

As a guild leader I'm trying to prepare and structure "my" guild for the upcoming release of Cataclysm. Now I know that some of you might consider it to be too early, based on the possibility that the information we've received might not be the final statement, but we're not really planing to implant this any time soon. However, I would like to form some kind of plan on how we're going to handle the new changes, for example whether will we continue doing 25-man raids or will we focus on the 10-man difficulty.

Back to the question, we're forming a 10-man team to spend the first few days dedicated to leveling to be able to participate and be among the first guilds on our realm to progress within the new instances. Now we're discussing the best way to do this. From my perspective, as we've been informed by blizzard that the new gear from dungeons might be required in order to progress within the new raid instances, leveling through dungeons might not be such a bad idea. I'm guessing however that it won't just require one or two runs through every instance available in order to obtain level 85, so by then we might just end up with several copies of the same items, which leads me to think that perhaps just doing them say once or twice would be enough. As none of us are big fans of AoE-leveling, the other alternative is that we just focus on doing quests, and perhaps that we first enter the dungeons once we've obtained the quests that are done within them. I believe this is the normal way to do it, and perhaps the most efficient one as well.

I would like to read your comments and how you are planning to spend the first couple of days after the release, based on the fact that you're going to spend them in-game of course, feel free to exclude anything else. Are you going to focus on doing quests? Are you going to quest alone or in groups? How many?

I look forward to reading your replies!
Best Regards,
Oliver

[MushroomBomb]

If you have a pre-planned group (which it sounds like you have), Dungeon-leveling might be the fastest thing. At the very least, it was fairly fast in WotLK, if not the fastest when people had great gear.

[Zao]

As Mushroom already said, it can be fairly fast. But 1-2 runs per instance is *very* optimistic. You need waaaay more runs to level up even from 70-80. I'm not sure if it's really faster than simple question though. But with all the PvP going on at the beginning of the expansion, it probably is easier.

[Held]

Dungeon grinding since the LFG changes were made has been very viable when compared to traditional mob killing/questing, especially on high population servers. I would not be surprised to see a large number of people bypassing the new leveling zones entirely and going straight into the LFG route of gaining XP, badges and items.

[tibben]

Dungeon grinding since the LFG changes were made has been very viable when compared to traditional mob killing/questing, especially on high population servers. I would not be surprised to see a large number of people bypassing the new leveling zones entirely and going straight into the LFG route of gaining XP, badges and items.

Can't completely bypass the new leveling zones since you actually have to find the dungeon entrances in order to enter them. So no sitting in the first zone you log into and just queuing up right away. You have to explore the new zones to find the dungeons before you can use the LFD tool. Of course, exploring the new zones doesn't necessarily mean that they will do the quests. I prefer to at least try to get the dungeon quests before I enter the dungeons since often you end up with some pretty good loot from those types of quests. Considering the fact that the new loot will have Mastery stats on it, I may have to replace my 264s and 277s earlier than I originally anticipated.

[Snith]

If you have a pre-planned group (which it sounds like you have), Dungeon-leveling might be the fastest thing. At the very least, it was fairly fast in WotLK, if not the fastest when people had great gear.

We do, it currently consists of two tanks, four healers and four dps. We've spread our class distribution in order to maximize the possibilities for raid-wide buffs. I do consider us to be well-geared so I hope it'll be enough to give us a smooth ride through the first couple of dungeons.

As Mushroom already said, it can be fairly fast. But 1-2 runs per instance is *very* optimistic. You need waaaay more runs to level up even from 70-80. I'm not sure if it's really faster than simple question though. But with all the PvP going on at the beginning of the expansion, it probably is easier.

That's something I haven't thought of yet, the PvP "factor", but thanks for brining it to light. I do recall that the questing on our realm within the few first hours of release of Wrath of the Lich King was rather complicated, with mob-tagging and actions alike and I bet it's much worse now since we had free character migrations from three or four of the major realms.

Dungeon grinding since the LFG changes were made has been very viable when compared to traditional mob killing/questing, especially on high population servers. I would not be surprised to see a large number of people bypassing the new leveling zones entirely and going straight into the LFG route of gaining XP, badges and items.

I sure hope that it'll be efficient. I've leveled three tank classes to 80 now and even though leveling through dungeons was perhaps more boring than ever, in comparison to doing so from level 60-70, it was rather smooth. I learned as a dps to really cherish the time given in between instances, the time you could spend doing your quests. As a tank I always felt pressured to enter instances, and once I did, it popped up immediately. I thought about the new points system that will replace the current badges and it sure would be great to collect those to be able to exchange it at level 80 to earn some better equipment. If we would all obtain a sack of helpful goods it would be even better, I just hope those would be bind on equip so we could all trade them around, since we'll be two groups doing this simultaneously.

Anyhow, thanks a lot for you replies, and please, keep'em coming!

[Held]

Can't completely bypass the new leveling zones since you actually have to find the dungeon entrances in order to enter them.

Ah, I did not know that. Well, perhaps then just minimal questing up until the point where they can open up LFG!

[Snith]

Can't completely bypass the new leveling zones since you actually have to find the dungeon entrances in order to enter them.

Are you sure about this? Because I never recall entering the Howling Fjord before entering the Utgarde Keep, in fact I doubt I've even entered Howling Fjord with my mage and I've still completed all the instances Utgarde Keep has to offer.

[implicationmmo]

With the curent system, it is quicker to do the first level 0f 70 to 80 by chain donjon, then by questing in scholozar.
But do remember that in WotLK, you were AOE tanking, whereas in Cata, once you hit 83/84, you shouldn't be ( I assume that you have ICC gear, hence that you will outgear the first donjons, so AOE tanking might still work ).

If the donjon DOES require CC and ordered dps focus, then I recon questing will be quicker.

And if they do as in WotLK, you can only get 2 emblem per day while leveling ( once you complete the forst donjon ), after you have done your "daily" donjon, it only rewards money.
So doing hain donjon for the emblem shouldn't work ( if all stays the same ).

Then, you might dislike questing, but that is personnal perference...

[joranjopie]

I've leveld both a healer and a tank using the LFG tool. Its pretty fast, you get good loot from it, and most of the time pretty fun. (maybe not in cata with new quests tho)
I dont know if there will be many dungeon quests with cata, we will have to wait for beta for that. But if there are some, try to get as many as possible before you go in. In my experience these quests give alot of xp, and nice loot. in wotlk you were able to choose between healing cast, dps cast, str melee dps, agi melee dps, and tank gear. So there is something for everyone!
Im planning to do something simular with my friends aswell, so ill keep an eye on this thread for tips

[evilgnomey]

you should only do the new instances for gear upgrades, instance quests and to see the new instances and their encounters. The benefits that come with questing are to great to ignore.

[Bubblykiss]

I plan on both grind questing and dungeon leveling with a little pvp thrown in as well.

Might as well experience the new material while it is new. God knows when we start leveling the rest of our alts up we will most likely just grind them in whatever is the most efficient manner possible.

[Snith]

This depends on what sort of experience or expectations your guild has of enjoying the content.

If you want to get to 85 as fast as possible, you'll want to plan ahead of time and organize into 5-man groups and schedule in your grind the same as you would a raid. You'll have to run dozens of dungeons, but, Blizzard may gate the first raids, making the rush unnecessary/moot.

There are a lot of benefits to questing:
1) Great way to efficiently make some gold.
2) Not as boring, and feels more like a journey.
3) Skill increase gathering professions at the same time.
4) Enjoy more lore.
5) Reputation attunements (there were in WotLK).

...

Personally, I hope to find a few players in guild that would like to do quests together that lead up to the dungeons. It may not be fastest but it's really enjoyable to get into the lore a bit and "share the journey" with friends.

I love the lore and I've done so since I began playing. I've always been the one to read the full quest log, even though it might be as irrelevant as one of the Children's Week quests. However, even though it probably will ruin the game experience as I level my first character, I think I'll save the lore part for my alternative characters. Above all else, I believe our priority will be to obtain level 85 to be able to participate and be among the first guilds to progress within the new content. I believe you agree with me when I say that doing dungeons also has a few advantages. First and foremost, I'm looking forward to the fact that we'll grow more and more familiar with each others game play. Even though we've been raiding together now for over six months, it's never been as intensive as it will be now. There is a possibility that we will swap classes with each other, and therefore the experience to grow in to your new class might be beneficial before entering the new raid instances. The gear will also benefit to our progress, and I also suspect that we will receive some kind of reputation while doing those, perhaps not as widely spread as it would be while questing, but still enough to gain access to items. Perhaps they'll do something alike as we have in the Wrath of the Lich King, as you gain full exalted with one faction, you begin gaining reputation with another. My guess is that the amount of gold obtained will be about the same, as we will gain multiple items which we will sell. The average quest might award 10-15 gold while the average rare item might sell for 5-15 gold.

Please leave your comments and thoughts about this as we explore the possibilities of the unknown!

[Zao]

One thing that is purely speculation on my side is that "discovering the dungeon entrance" might translate into:
"Do enough quests until you phased the zone enough to actually enter the instance"
They said that they wanted to use phasing even more heavily than in WotLK, and it' wouldn't be impossible to phase whole dungeon entrances.
But that just pure speculation.

[Jerigothiel]

im planning to rush my way to level 85 with quest mostly, (properly a few dundgeons when guildies are ready to rush with me). im planning to go for a realm first, so im also going to miss lore on my first char. );
i think i will be able to survive PVP and kill mobs fast with my ICC gear (its still 277 and should be enough for questiong until level 85)
not going in details on how i expect to do it tho ^^
1 think you need to remember is that the instances are new, and they will be hard you will properly need good people if you dont wat to wipe to much. its not WOTLK anymore you need to work for it. they told us that they intent to bring back CC for cata.
so perhaps questing is faster than farmning the new dundgeons with random people :P
but thats just my thoughts

[Snith]

Can't completely bypass the new leveling zones since you actually have to find the dungeon entrances in order to enter them.

I'm sorry for doubting you, for some reason I had managed to avoid reading that post from blizzard. Anyhow, it seems as if what you say is true, but I still doubt there'll be a problem, unless it's something alike to what Zao was speculating about, but otherwise I'm rather confident that it wouldn't take to much time to discover the entrances to these dungeons as we will probably, through beta-testing be aware of their position way before the release. I just hope that we won't be required to purchase a new ability in order to be able to fly within Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms as the new flight paths might need to be rediscovered.

[Phenetix]

I leveled my warrior in the same fashion. I accumulated some rested in between playing my main & the warrior. Had a lot of fun & became a great tank in the process.

[Shoridayo]

Hey fellows!

I was wondering what your opinions are about leveling in dungeons in the upcoming expansion? As a warrior, since the dawn of World of Warcraft, I've always found the path of protection the most suiting and to what many find odd, also within leveling. While I disagree with the arguments saying that AoE-leveling, also known as pulling and slaying large packs of mobs, over and over again, is the most efficient one, I do appreciate the possibility to do this as a protection warrior and finish off most mob-slaying-based quests rather quickly. Anyhow, I've found leveling as a protection warrior while doing quests and rounding it off with dungeons, to be the fastest way for me.

As a guild leader I'm trying to prepare and structure "my" guild for the upcoming release of Cataclysm. Now I know that some of you might consider it to be too early, based on the possibility that the information we've received might not be the final statement, but we're not really planing to implant this any time soon. However, I would like to form some kind of plan on how we're going to handle the new changes, for example whether will we continue doing 25-man raids or will we focus on the 10-man difficulty.

Back to the question, we're forming a 10-man team to spend the first few days dedicated to leveling to be able to participate and be among the first guilds on our realm to progress within the new instances. Now we're discussing the best way to do this. From my perspective, as we've been informed by blizzard that the new gear from dungeons might be required in order to progress within the new raid instances, leveling through dungeons might not be such a bad idea. I'm guessing however that it won't just require one or two runs through every instance available in order to obtain level 85, so by then we might just end up with several copies of the same items, which leads me to think that perhaps just doing them say once or twice would be enough. As none of us are big fans of AoE-leveling, the other alternative is that we just focus on doing quests, and perhaps that we first enter the dungeons once we've obtained the quests that are done within them. I believe this is the normal way to do it, and perhaps the most efficient one as well.

I would like to read your comments and how you are planning to spend the first couple of days after the release, based on the fact that you're going to spend them in-game of course, feel free to exclude anything else. Are you going to focus on doing quests? Are you going to quest alone or in groups? How many?

I look forward to reading your replies!
Best Regards,
Oliver

What an interesting novel.

And now you have 3 days to read an even more interesting one!

[Moonypoony]

I was thinking about leveling in dungeons as well. But if they are harder / need to be unlocked, isn't it easier to level in WotLK instances? Just farm 'old' heroics, and level very fast?
Any ideas on this?

[talitu]

i ground dungeons in BC and LK

BC- fast fun good for rep and gear- by far the best choice for me

LK- worked but gave up wasnt enough dungeons and they were all far far too small made it very repetitive.


so i guess for me it will depend on the volume of dungeon content