Deployed soldier looking to get back into WOW

[THERIDDLER]

As many of us know WOW is a gear based game. Depending on the guild i am in i would call myself a hardcore raider. I also do a bit of pvp although i am not very good.

I am currently in afghanistan and have been for about 6 months. I have about 6 months left and i cannot play wow here as the internet doesnt allow streaming. By the time i get back to the states and rebegin to play wow i will be a year behind. Some people understand that ive been fighting a war and will help, but most of these people belong to low end guilds that ill spend beating my head into a fence getting nowhere.

The question i ask of you is, what is the fastest way to gear up? Raiding? Whose going to let me raid with them. I stopped playing in the middle of BWD and those raids. I have full epics but the GS is way too low. Heroics? I am a tank and can queue instantly but how many heroics dealing with retards am i going to have to slit my wrists through to get a viable set of gear? Sorry if im being to harsh but I have only been in a few random heroics where the group was actually good. PVP? I can easily get pvp gear but most guilds/ pugs dont like seeing people in pvp gear in their raids. Back in the day of BWD i two healed it as my alt resto druid in full pvp gear with a geared shaman. most pugs struggle with three.

Guess all im really asking is how do i get back into the game in a matter that wont get me to start pulling out my hair? I am very good at what i do but i wont get noticed without the proper gear. I will need help.

[Deleted]

here I came in hoping they would deploy alliance / horde soldiers...

PS: Don't re-sub imo. The game is in a very bad state

[Flextt]

Your best possibilities to attain gear, apart from the basic stuff:
- Run Heroics and fill your valor point cap to get raid-tier adequate gear. Currently in FL, you can fill the majority of your slots with 378 Valor Point loot.
- Most random groups are nowadays able to clear Firelands non heroic, likewise with other raids
- use the raidfinder feature, which will be employed in 4.3 and continue to be expanded in MoP. This is probably your best way to gear up after you met the requirements.

[Deleted]

here I came in hoping they would deploy alliance / horde soldiers...

PS: Don't re-sub imo. The game is in a very bad state

Ignore that PS, The game isn't in a bad state. The final major patch is inc and LFR it deployed later in this year. With LFR you will be able to gear up and catch up just as easily with you fellow guildies, So tbh you are pretty safe considering you have been away for 6 months and another 6 months more. Semper Fi!

[Navoan]

Sadly the only 'real' way of getting yourself geared back up is to run shitloads of 'latest' heroics, so ZG/ZA atm, but the new Dragon Soul HCs when 4.3 is released etc. Do that and get the actual gear that drops, but also use the VP to buy the current VP epics. You can also use the JP you get to fill in everything you lack from the previous tiers' vendor for JP ofc. Once you've gotten yourself up a bit, simply showing that you DO have some skill, even if you lack current raids' experience, will help.

Best of luck!

Edit: As you said, you're a tank, so simply asking in trade for others who want a fast HC que will hopefully get you some non-retards. And LFR is indeed coming, though lets see how successful that is first

[Highlight]

The fastest way to gearing up is doing randoms and dailies, grinding through the Molten Front area gives quite a few rewards despite taking some time. I also recommend doing the Thrall quest chain at the base of Nordrassil in Hyjal as it gives a pretty decent cloak.

People also occasionally do Firelands trash runs. This can help with getting you rep, depending on your class you can also obtain quite a few nice trash drop items to help you gear out.

Lastly, if you have money or don't mind obtaining gold, I'd recommend checking the crafted weapons and armor from various professions. You can very easily get the "required" gearscore for Firelands by doing all or most of the above.

The best I can say is keep your patience and suffer through what bad groups you get via LFD. We only ever remember the bad groups, but they're usually so few and far between that realizing how many I get compared to good groups leaves me feeling a bit silly for only remembering the bad ones.

[Adhal-Blackrock]

Honestly it may suck at times but grinding out heroics for gear is the best way to get started, you can get a fairly decent set of gear without ever stepping foot in a raid atm. Best way to do it would be to find some DPSers who know how to play to tag along

I would recommend a high pop server as well, it will allow you more chances at raids, making the grind easier.

[Fenicks]

I had the same issue getting back into the game after I got out of the Army, best thing you can do is post on the official WoW forums for a guild. Eventually you'll find a group that fits your play style.

As for gear, at this point you can get easy welfare epics through heroics, even more so once 4.3 hits in a few weeks.

[Kaninchen]

It will take you 1 week to get the best gear you can (not counting heroic gear) just by pugging, and if you can prove that you are a good player despite your experience anyone will take you.

My advice: Don't bother re-subbing at all, by the time you are back SWTOR will be out. Buy that instead.

[Deleted]

Well, if you are an hardcore raider, surely you must know how to gear up?
It's not rocket science, really.

[Dreamy]

I myself have quit at the start of FL. My Sub is still running but I CBA to start the game Having so much fun with my friends in other games, sadly we just quit our game so we're back to nothing and searching

To my point. With the start of 4.3 I will start playing again and run some LFR's etc, just to get into the game again. I have already settled my guild cause yh they always keep me social at points I really CBA to play When I return I will be back to raider and play Hardcore again.
I think that 4.3 will be awesome if you have seen the PTR vids etc its gonna be really nice.

[Deleted]

To my point. With the start of 4.3 I will start playing again and run some LFR's etc, just to get into the game again. I have already settled my guild cause yh they always keep me social at points I really CBA to play When I return I will be back to raider and play Hardcore again.
I think that 4.3 will be awesome if you have seen the PTR vids etc its gonna be really nice.

This is the dumbest possible idea one could have.

If you want to do hardcore raiding in 4.3, you need to start NOW and get carried to 6/7 HC so that you have as much 391 gear as possible when 4.3 hits live.

[THERIDDLER]

There are alot of good pugs out there. Just not on the realm im on.. I have been on Mal' Ganis before and had great runs. Everyonce in awhile ill head over there on my lvl 1 just to watch trade chat. Before i left i was half tempted to move my toons over there so when i came back i could hop right into raids.

Since i wasnt able to finish BWD, BOT, and TotFW, before i left i was hoping to be able to hop in there and finish up what i didnt get done. I have heard that raid has been nerfed into the ground so im not too worried about that one. Since i cant stream anything over here i havent followed FL tooo closely since i cant watch any videos. Ill be home for two weeks in november for mid tour leave and am hoping to get into a few good pugs.

I have worries about the LFR tool. The LFD tool was a great idea. I remember to get into a group for a dungeon you had to sit in a city, sometimes hours on end to pull a group together, than haveing to fly there using flight points and runnin the rest of the way. What a pain in the ass. The LFD tool has been amazing for me, esp since my mains a tank, insta queues ftw.

However, with every LFD group there are the lackies and pure lazy and idiotic people that come in just to get carried through the dungeon. Everyonce in awhile ill queue as dps jsut casue its fun and a break from tanking and ill end up just taking over probably right after the first boss. Gone on a tangent. Anyway, the LFR i fear, will be very similar to this. I realize the raids will be easier but it still doenst make people want it more. There are people who will join and expect to be carried, there will be people who join who know nothing about the raid, about their class, about their damn toon. These people ruin it for everyone else. Also the ones who cant accept a wipe here and there. Progression= wipes. The best guilds in the world wipe a ton before they down a good boss. Some people are just too damn lazy and lack the heart to be able to stay in it and see it to the end.

Pugs, some are great, some are terrible.. I maily stay away from pugs unless its mostly guild and a couple stragglers. My bets pug i was in had about 5 vodka alts in it and it was awesome. really opened my eyes to how terrible everyone else was. I believe i would be able to stand toon n toon with vodka and preform as they do right outta the gate, if i had the time to be able to focus on wow that much. My skills are not lacking. All it takes is a few hours to learn an entire raid. between all of the videos, info out there why not take an hour outta your day to watch videos.

Sorry about the rambling

[Deleted]

If you do come back, check out the Looking for raid, in about 6 Months god knows what happens. It could be the perfect way to get a foot in the door to raiding.

[glowpipe]

i would honestly just wait til MoP is out. Everything resets and everyone have the same gear

[Deleted]

If you haven't got any friends in-game that can "boost" you, you might struggle to gear up, but make sure you cap valor each week, and if you're lucky you might get into a Firelands normal raid. Just make sure you know tactics.

[Berri]

Don't you have some friends from back in the day when you played? Mine always let me into the guild and into alt raids of FL - it doesn't take much gear nowadays to clear the place.

Imo that's the best way of getting back into it quickly.

[Deleted]

the 4.3 heroics will award a ilvl 378 gear-"set" which will make you more than fit for the dragonsoul raid.

[Thedude]

I have about 6 months left

Could very well be on the verge of a new expac and gear reset by the time you get back

[THERIDDLER]

Don't you have some friends from back in the day when you played?.

Great question. Everyone has friends that they play with that could help and i do. There are certain people i could call on to help me out that acutally know their stuff. I said before i was in so called hardcore guild. And the people i played with are/were hardcore. However the guild i was in that was comprised of close friends broke up right before i left. We were in a 10m guild trying to conquer BWD and such and they all knew the 25m scene was alot easier to progress. The guild broke up and everyone went their own ways. Many quit, only about 5 or so remain playing wow. Some on different realms. So i have friends i can pull into for dungeon runs. Butnot anywhere near enough for raids.