If you are going to do a self-reliant mission to hardcore max level, choice of professions will be very important, as you only have yourself (and the auction house) to provide the items you need. Of course, you should definitely max out cooking and first aid as you level; fishing is significantly less important.
Presented in ascending order of usefulness, based on starting a new toon on a new realm with the goal of going 1 to max level without dying, here are the professions you should consider.
8. Blacksmithing
All the good stuff for levelling is BOE. Blacksmithing is only useful for mail/plate classes and is a giant resource hog.
7. Tailoring
Spellthread comes too late to be really useful. Much like the other armor crafting professions, the good stuff for leveling is BOE, and frequently available on the AH.
6. Leatherworking
Most of the useful items are BOE; let someone else pick this profession, and buy their good stuff off the AH. Bracer enchants come so late in the leveling process as to be functionally irrelevant.
5. Insription
By the time you get to the level where Inscription really helps you (shoulder enchants, decks), you'll have access to similar or better items from the AH.
4. Jewelcrafting
There is still money available in JCing, but that will be at higher levels. Functionally useless tradeskill before level 60. The crafted items are almost all BOE, and are always available on the AH for decent prices.
3. Skinning
There is some money in Skinning, but if you are grabbing a gold-creating profession, you are much better served by picking herbalism or mining, as there are many more professions that need herbs and ore in large quantities. The passive crit bonus is nice, but is also outstripped by the self heal and stam bouns from herbing and mining.
2. Enchanting
AH markets on BOEs and their disenchant mats value is usually equalized by entrepreneurial enchanters, so the only real benefit is being able to disenchant soulbound items and enchant your rings. There are a lot of better ways to make a copper, but the ability to keep your gear enchanted at all levels can be extremely helpful.
(Tie) 1. Mining & Engineering
Yeah, fine, I'm cheating by combining 2 professions, but there are really only 2 profession choices for the 1 to max operartion. Mining/Engineering offer falling defense, item buffs, crafted trinkets, warstomp-like effects with craftable bombs, as well as the other convenience benefits that Engineering offers with regard to teleports and get-out-of-trouble effects. Most of the Engineering items require Engineering to use, so there is actually a benefit to having this profession as opposed to most other crafting professions which do not have similar restrictions. Additionally, there is a passive stamina bonus from mining, along with a golden goose of cash from selling excess ore/gems. Mining and Engineering are unmatched, except for the fact that they are matched by the next profession combo, and thus are not unmatched after all...
(Tie) 1. Herbalism & Alchemy
Lifeblood looks like a joke, but it is an AMAZING ability. Uninterruptable self-HoT is a boon to any class. Additionally, the herb market is second only to mining (and on many servers, BETTER than mining) to keep you flush with cash that you can use to grab stuff off the AH. Questing with an Elixir set always on you is functionally equivalent to being 2 or 3 levels higher than you actually are. Extra duration on Elixirs, good trinkets (at higher levels) and additional effect from healing potions are fantastic for both emergencies and regular questing. Haste potions are almost never available on the AH and are a GREAT escape button for bad pulls.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
I Choo-Choo-Choose You! Picking a Class (Part 3 - The Finalists)
What is up, dogs! Here are my conclusions on the viability of each class attempting the hardcore 80. This list is arranged from what I would think would be the hardest to hit hardcore 80 with, up to the easiest, as well as the class I decided to play.
3. Warlock
Finally, we get to classes with DC insurance. Even if you get kicked offline, the Warlock pet (especially if Demonology Specced for the Felguard) can usually clean up for you before pulled mobs smash your face. Keep your pet on defensive. High ranged DPS, a tank-like pet and the ability to heal both yourself and your pet make the Warlock a good choice for the hardcore 80. The Warlock has the unique ability to convert resources - Health to mana, mob mana/health to player mana/health, pet mana to player mana, et cetera. Judicious manipulation of the transfer of these resources makes the Warlock very tough to kill, as well as having virtually no down-time.
Difficulties with falling damage, cloth armor, and the unfortunate tendency to kill yourself are the downsides of a hardcore warlock. If you are patient with pulls, the Warlock is tough to beat.
2. Paladin
bladdybladdyblah
1. Hunter
Yackitysmackity
3. Warlock
Finally, we get to classes with DC insurance. Even if you get kicked offline, the Warlock pet (especially if Demonology Specced for the Felguard) can usually clean up for you before pulled mobs smash your face. Keep your pet on defensive. High ranged DPS, a tank-like pet and the ability to heal both yourself and your pet make the Warlock a good choice for the hardcore 80. The Warlock has the unique ability to convert resources - Health to mana, mob mana/health to player mana/health, pet mana to player mana, et cetera. Judicious manipulation of the transfer of these resources makes the Warlock very tough to kill, as well as having virtually no down-time.
Difficulties with falling damage, cloth armor, and the unfortunate tendency to kill yourself are the downsides of a hardcore warlock. If you are patient with pulls, the Warlock is tough to beat.
2. Paladin
bladdybladdyblah
1. Hunter
Yackitysmackity
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I Choo-Choo-Choose You! Picking a Class (Part 2 - The Contenders)
What is up, dogs! Here are some continued thoughts on the viability of each class attempting the hardcore 80. This list is arranged from what I would think would be the hardest to hit hardcore 80 with, up to the easiest, as well as the class I decided to play.
6. Shaman
Hybrid-tastic. Totems and self-heal spells make the shaman very survivable in combat. The Shaman has several panic buttons, including slowing totems, summoning spells and, of course, FRAWSTSHAWK. Mail armor allows the shammy to take a few hits, but the lack of falling defense and DC resistance means that the shammy is a frequent victim of death by randomness. Elemental spells and earthbind totems are good panic buttons, but they delay rather than eliminate the threat.
If you can get your shaman to a middle/high level, Earth Shield is an excellent insurance policy, but getting to that level will be the trick.
5. Druid
Sum durids is bare, tehm whos bare durids, can B 4 tank, Seel is can fite, but is kind week, durid has can run fast form is TRAVEL FORM! The druid can do it all, but is limited by leather armor. Druids have several non-profession based panic buttons - cyclone and travel form is aces, but the druid has to get to a high level to get both of them. At lower levels, Nature's Grasp/Roots offers escapability, as well as simply just shifting to bear and doing some S-key tanking.
If you have a reliable connection, the druid is a great choice, even offering falling defense when flying form is available. The random DC weakness is still a problem, but a shapeshifted druid can take a few roundhouses before dropping.
4. Rogue
No falling defense. Minimal magic defense. Zero DC defense. So why is the rogue ranked this high? Primarily because he has a multitude of get-out-of-trouble free cards. Between vanish and sprint for bad pulls, and stealth and distract for controlled pulls, the rogue is fantastic at stand-up combat. Add in Sap and stunlock maneuvers for pulls that are sllightly above level, as well as kick and various stuns for caster mobs, and the rogue is a great combat weapon.
If your connection is 100% stable and you don't hang out on cliffs that are over 75 yards high, the rogue is a good choice for combat tricks and escapability.
6. Shaman
Hybrid-tastic. Totems and self-heal spells make the shaman very survivable in combat. The Shaman has several panic buttons, including slowing totems, summoning spells and, of course, FRAWSTSHAWK. Mail armor allows the shammy to take a few hits, but the lack of falling defense and DC resistance means that the shammy is a frequent victim of death by randomness. Elemental spells and earthbind totems are good panic buttons, but they delay rather than eliminate the threat.
If you can get your shaman to a middle/high level, Earth Shield is an excellent insurance policy, but getting to that level will be the trick.
5. Druid
Sum durids is bare, tehm whos bare durids, can B 4 tank, Seel is can fite, but is kind week, durid has can run fast form is TRAVEL FORM! The druid can do it all, but is limited by leather armor. Druids have several non-profession based panic buttons - cyclone and travel form is aces, but the druid has to get to a high level to get both of them. At lower levels, Nature's Grasp/Roots offers escapability, as well as simply just shifting to bear and doing some S-key tanking.
If you have a reliable connection, the druid is a great choice, even offering falling defense when flying form is available. The random DC weakness is still a problem, but a shapeshifted druid can take a few roundhouses before dropping.
4. Rogue
No falling defense. Minimal magic defense. Zero DC defense. So why is the rogue ranked this high? Primarily because he has a multitude of get-out-of-trouble free cards. Between vanish and sprint for bad pulls, and stealth and distract for controlled pulls, the rogue is fantastic at stand-up combat. Add in Sap and stunlock maneuvers for pulls that are sllightly above level, as well as kick and various stuns for caster mobs, and the rogue is a great combat weapon.
If your connection is 100% stable and you don't hang out on cliffs that are over 75 yards high, the rogue is a good choice for combat tricks and escapability.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
I Choo-Choo-Choose You! Picking a Class (Part 1 - The Pretenders)
What is up, dogs! After all the failures and hopefully learning a few things about reducing bad luck, it was time to take one final stab at a hardcore 80 toon. The first step was to pick a class. I considered them all (with the exception of a Death Knight, as the goal of this project was to make it as challenging as possible, and I wanted to gain 79 levels without dying, not 24). Here are some brief thoughts on the viability of each class attempting the hardcore 80, as well as what I ultimately picked (note: of course, I'm going to be making a lot of generalizations about class capabilities here). Over the next few posts, the classes will be presented in order from what I would think would be the hardest to hit hardcore 80 with, up to the easiest, as well as the class I decided on.
9. Warrior
The warrior can take a beating, but has extremely limited escapability and must rely on professions like herbalism to heal with, until significantly advanced in progression. Adds or pathers (or even simply too big of a pull) can lead to a death with very few escape options being available, especially at early levels. Even more than the mage and priest, the warrior is lacking a 'get out of jail free' card for overpulling, and the odds are very severely stacked against the warrior that he'll manage to make 20,000 consecutive pulls properly. No self heal, no falling defense, and no DC insurance makes it seem that a hardcore 80 warrior would be nearly impossible to pull off.
8. Mage
The main benefit would be slow fall to avert falling deaths, but surprise adds are bad news for a class that only has blink and a few shield spells to mitigate 3 mobs punching him in the face. A frost spec or arcane/slow spec would seem to be effective at controlled pulls, and the mage can hulk-smash pretty much anything on a controlled pull before the target gets into melee range. Counterspell combined with the mage's high single-target ranged DPS make caster mobs look as silly as Britney Spears attempting to read a book. The BIG downside is that a mage can get vaporized pretty quickly on an uncontrolled pull or from a surprise add. While frost nova and blink are good for getting away from trouble, they aren't that great at getting completely OUT of trouble. Primarily, lack of physical durability makes the mage, in my opinion, a poor choice for the hardcore 80.
7. Priest
Like the mage, levitate eliminates the nefarious effects of the gravity monster. Unfortunately, the priest is functionally wearing a paper hospital gown for armor. The weakness for the priest is similar to the mage, a lack of ability to take a boot to the head and come out with all their teeth in the original position. While lacking the escapability of the mage (psychic scream frequently delays the inevitable, and occasionally makes the eventual pummeling even more gory), the priest does have the benefit of being able to self-heal from the beginning of the game. Difficulty with straight-up combat and the fact that a DC with a mob on your aggro table means you're dead before you can log back makes me think you'd be safer trying to duplicate the Peacecraft achievement than trying to go 1 to 80 without dying.
9. Warrior
The warrior can take a beating, but has extremely limited escapability and must rely on professions like herbalism to heal with, until significantly advanced in progression. Adds or pathers (or even simply too big of a pull) can lead to a death with very few escape options being available, especially at early levels. Even more than the mage and priest, the warrior is lacking a 'get out of jail free' card for overpulling, and the odds are very severely stacked against the warrior that he'll manage to make 20,000 consecutive pulls properly. No self heal, no falling defense, and no DC insurance makes it seem that a hardcore 80 warrior would be nearly impossible to pull off.
8. Mage
The main benefit would be slow fall to avert falling deaths, but surprise adds are bad news for a class that only has blink and a few shield spells to mitigate 3 mobs punching him in the face. A frost spec or arcane/slow spec would seem to be effective at controlled pulls, and the mage can hulk-smash pretty much anything on a controlled pull before the target gets into melee range. Counterspell combined with the mage's high single-target ranged DPS make caster mobs look as silly as Britney Spears attempting to read a book. The BIG downside is that a mage can get vaporized pretty quickly on an uncontrolled pull or from a surprise add. While frost nova and blink are good for getting away from trouble, they aren't that great at getting completely OUT of trouble. Primarily, lack of physical durability makes the mage, in my opinion, a poor choice for the hardcore 80.
7. Priest
Like the mage, levitate eliminates the nefarious effects of the gravity monster. Unfortunately, the priest is functionally wearing a paper hospital gown for armor. The weakness for the priest is similar to the mage, a lack of ability to take a boot to the head and come out with all their teeth in the original position. While lacking the escapability of the mage (psychic scream frequently delays the inevitable, and occasionally makes the eventual pummeling even more gory), the priest does have the benefit of being able to self-heal from the beginning of the game. Difficulty with straight-up combat and the fact that a DC with a mob on your aggro table means you're dead before you can log back makes me think you'd be safer trying to duplicate the Peacecraft achievement than trying to go 1 to 80 without dying.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Lessons Learned
What is up, dogs! So far on this quest, I have learned several things that may be helpful for someone attempting to hardcore solo 1 to 80, and I will implement these suggestions for my next toon*. Please feel free to share suggestions of your own in the comments section.
Here are some of the more common incompetent/ignorant/random death vectors along with a few tips to make them more controllable:
*I'm kind of time-lording a few of these tips back through the series of tubes to this point on my blog. A lot of the stuff mentioned here will be encountered in your not too distant blog reading future, yet simultaneously in my current hardcore toon's not too distant past. Trippy, right?
- Don't get complacent. If a pull looks like it is on the dangerous end of your ability to control it, don't make that pull. Sure, you may think 'I've been soloing this instance for 2 hours, I wouldn't want to have to start over from the zone-in!'...then Dog, just type /played - that 2 hours is a sunk cost and not a valid reason for you to try to go into overachiever mode risking your 7+ days played.
- Get used to asking yourself what would happen if for some reason you were to immediately be DC'd. Are you underwater when you DC? Dead. Are you Autorunning when you DC? Dead. Are you pulling a pack you can't handle without a pet cleaning up for you when you DC? Dead! Are you running at 3 frames per second in Hellfire Peninsula because you are downloading several gigs of files to a folder named 'Transformers pR0n' while running iTunes off a router attached to a cable jack in the kitchen when your drunk roommate wanders in at 4 am and wants to play some Counterstrike but trips over the RJ45 cable that you were too lazy to not leave just laying across the goddam hallway and it rips out of the back or your rig? Dead, dead, dead. Also: Perv. Also: Lazy.
- Don't be afraid to spend some golds. Max consumables, at all times. Food buff, a relevant scroll, and 2 elixirs (or 1 flask). Picking alchemist can help with the cost here, but let's be honest, with epic ground mounts costing like 20 Gold now, you'll have the pocket change to stay buffed at all times. Also, if you see a friendly buff class around your level, toss them a few silver to fort (or whatever) you up. You can also pick up a lot of class-appropriate BOE armor and scrolls of Enchant Face - Marginally Sexier on the AH for not a lot of gold as well.
- Talent for right now, not for killing Anub'Arak. If you are trying an endeavor like this, you probably have 1 or more max-level toons. Do not select talents/glyphs as if you are going to be raiding at max level or gunning for Gladiator - select talents and glyphs that will help you get to max level unmolested.
- Pull Smart. Pull S-Mart. You will have 20,000+ fights against mobs before you hit max level. Surprisingly, this will be the easiest thing to control. Don't make stupid pulls, and always have an escape route available. That seems basic, but making 1 good pull is easy. Making 20,000 consecutive good pulls is REALLY hard. Regardless, here is the salient point: With judicious use of potions and gold, you can spend your way out of death by mob. What you have to plan for and insure against are deaths by incompetence, deaths by ignorance, and deaths by randomness.
Here are some of the more common incompetent/ignorant/random death vectors along with a few tips to make them more controllable:
- Death by Drowning. Don't do ANY underwater quests without a 30-minute underwater breathing buff or potion. It's just that easy.
- Death by AFK to grab a drink. Just log out in a safe place. It'll take you 20 seconds to log out and another 15 to log back in, but the cost of a pathing elite sneaking up and packing your lunch while you are AFK is FAR greater. I'm looking at you here, Fel Reaver.
- Death by holy crap, that was a level Skull! Do your research on Wowhead before going into an unfamiliar zone, instance, or fighting an unfamiliar boss. One mind control can wreck you. So can aggroing a 54 spider from WPL while you're standing at The Bulwark in Tirisfal Glades at level 12. So can running into a 60 Elite dragon in the middle of Swamp of Sorrows. Call it the Fel Reaver Rule. Know what the insta-gib mobs are in a zone and plan for them (for example, toss a /tar son of arugal macro onto an easily spammable key when you are in Silverpine Forest just so you know if one is close)
- Death by Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee...splat. Be a Scryer, not an Aldor, as the fall off of the Scryer elevator is 100% less fatal. Avoid Thunder Bluff. Be careful on the Undercity elevators. Make sure you don't have auto-dismount enabled, and don't fly over opposing faction cities. Better yet, avoid getting a flying mount at all. If I make it to hardcore 77 and have to delete because I got keyboard catted and it hit my attack button somewhere over Storm Peaks, my computer and my (imaginary, used only as a rhetorical device) cat are going out the window.
- Death by WTB VC RUN 10G PLOX. Don't trust others. Even if you have an 80 Pally from /trade running you through Wailing Caverns, if he skips 2 mobs that aggro on you, you're gonna die and he won't notice. Game over. There is exactly one person you can rely on for a hardcore 80, and that person is you.
- Death by Terrible decisions before you hit Lvl 1. Can your character take a few punches to the face? Do you have at least 2 'Oh Crap!' buttons for when you overpull? Can you handle unexpected adds? Do you have an out if you find yourself falling from a great height? If not, consider a different class or profession.
- Death by inadvertently flagging PvP. Be aware of mobs and quests that flag you. PvP is the enemy of the hardcore 80. It doesn't cause durability damage, but it does increment your death meter up by an unacceptable amount (1).
- Death by BANZAI!!! This is the biggie. There is no way in hell I'm going to grind green mobs to 80, and that shouldn't be necessary for you either. If you choose to do level-appropriate content like I am, here is your golden rule: If a pull/quest looks hinky, DON'T DO IT.
*I'm kind of time-lording a few of these tips back through the series of tubes to this point on my blog. A lot of the stuff mentioned here will be encountered in your not too distant blog reading future, yet simultaneously in my current hardcore toon's not too distant past. Trippy, right?
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