Some quick leveling notes:
I’m going to try and keep this short and sweet, for two reasons. A) I want to play moar Cataclysm, and B) you want to play moar Cataclysm, so neither of us want to be on this blog page long. (Unless you’re stuck at work, sorry!) I just figured I’d put up a few things to remember while you’re leveling:
A) Your items suck. Honestly, I get it: You spent all of Wrath of the Lich King workin’ hard for your purplez. You have deep, lasting, emotional connections with everything from your Heroic Sindragosa necklace to those boots from ToC that you were never able to upgrade. The idea of getting rid of them makes you sad, like you’re ditching your aging dog for a new puppy.
Get over it. I know that heroic Black Bruise is nice and you worked hard for it, but the Necrotic Touch proc has sucked since 4.0.1, and it sucks even more as a leveling item. Add into that the fact that there are blue weapons that require level 80 that have the same dps as H Black Bruise (that looks ten times better). The end result: Your weapons should be replaced by level 81, if you get lucky with drops. Stonecore (which you can queue for at 81 if you’ve found the portal), has two excellent Enhancement weapons: Heavy Geode Mace and Fist of Pained Senses. HGM has some lackluster leveling stats, but either hit or expertise can be reforged into mastery. Both of these weapons blow every weapon from WoTLK (from Pride to Heroic Havoc’s Call) out of the water. You’re hurting yourself by hanging on to your relics.
Did I mention how cool they look?
Armor is slightly less important to replace asap, but they’ll still be replaced soon. Elam just hit 83 and got Troggbane Chestguard to replace his 264 Tier10 Chest. It comes out to four more agility (counting two 20 agi gems), 60 more haste, 137 less crit rating, and a wopping 137 mastery. I’d exchange 137 crit for 137 mastery any day of the week. The only downside is losing my 4pct10, which means I won’t be equipping the Green quest reward until I can find another green that outpaces my tier gear.
Trinkets should be replaced fairly soon. Hyjal has Bileberry Smelling Salts, early Deepholm has Gear Detector. The base agility on these trinkets is huge, kicking the crap out of Herkuml War Token‘s haste, Tiny Abomination in a Jar‘s…everything, and Deathbringer’s Will‘s crit base. The haste procs are meh enough that Sharpened Twilight Scale might be worth hanging onto, though.
B) Enchant. Enchanting is your friend, and WILL make your life easier. This is a rule for both leveling and early heroic grinding- if it’s on you, you should enchant it and gem it. WoTLK enchanting mats are dirt cheap (I was buying Dream Shards at 50silver a piece last night. In total, berserking cost me 30 gold), and those enchants are still relevant. If you get an item in a heroic or five that you know will be replaced in a week, spend the thirty gold to enchant it with WoTLK enchants and blue or low-priced epic gems. No one will shame you for putting lesser-quality gems in lesser-quality items, and it’s so cheap to do now that there’s no excuse to lessen your performance by not doing it.
Now, back to leveling. See you all at 85!
Man, can’t wait. Unfortunately, I’ll have to. Until Saturday. Because the shitty management of the postal service company decided to underpay its employees and they’re now in strike. Sucks to be me.
On trinkets though, do you think (non-heroic) Death’s Verdict is worth hanging on to for a while? The only other worthwhile trinket I have at the moment is Herkuml War Token. I just so love that Death’s Verdict proc…
I’ve heard a lot of crappy mail system stories, but that one’s the worst so far. O_O
DV is a contender. It’s easily beat out by the static agility on the two green trinkets above, so the question becomes “is 1 agility more dps than 2.26 haste?” I’d guess that with the combined agility static bonus and the haste proc being so high, the greens would be better.
Oh it gets worse. If only I hadn’t ordered Cataclysm back on the 7th of August, but instead waited until the Collector’s Edition was available…
Then they would’ve sent it by packaged mail, which is run by a different company. Thus, I would’ve had Cataclysm already.
And now, I don’t even have the money to just go out and buy me a copy of Cataclysm (and then send back the copies I get through the mail, etc.) because I’ve been unemployed for a couple of months. Sigh.
The only good news, I guess, is that I got a new job for a decent salary.
Sorry, I whine too much about myself. Can you tell I’m depressed with anxiety to play?
I’m 81 currently, and Stonecore, you say, is in Deepholme. However, Deepholme isn’t accessible until level 82 (I think). If there is a way to get into Deepholme, how did you do it? I mean like, i know you go to Thrall in the maelstrom, but i’ve heard that you cant do it till 82… so did you just fly to the maelstrom or how did you get there?
Great post and guide you did there, my only complaint, Blog more often
can u post a pic of what u like look now at 85 pre heroic, im not a big fan of the cata armour skins
Positive reinforcement incoming! I’m stuck at work during the dead week of Christmas with nothing but a PB&J sandwich to keep me company (it’s amazing the difference a couple of hours makes on your estimation of the value of a few more minutes’ sleep vs. a decent lunch) and in a position to appreciate amusing people. Thank you for all your time put in to raise the knowledge of enhancement shaman and especially for sharing your sense of humor. I will have to keep an eye on this blog.