Blutende Klingen

Gear:

The gear reset for this expansion is a bit different from the previous two. Similar to LK, DPS stats on gear don’t grow rapidly. However, the stamina on Cata pieces is significantly higher. Ferals are one of the sturdier classes to begin with, so this doesn’t affect us as much as it would a cloth class, but it’s something to thing about. My recommendations:

* T9 (232) gear or worse: Upgrade immediately.
* T10 (251) : You’ll be okay for VJ/Hyjal; look to start upgrading in Deepholm.
* T10.25/Heroic T10 (264/277): You’ll be okay up to Uldum; you can probably make it to Twilight Highlands without upgrading, but you’ll be very squishy.

Rotation:

Unlike LK where bursting quest mobs down was easy (Manglex3, FB, repeat), you’ll need to employ your DoTs a bit more, as well as Ravage. Mob health is through the roof (yes, this is for normal mobs):

* Level 80 (WOTLK): 12k
* Level 80 (Cata): 30k
* Level 81: 37k
* Level 82: 44k
* Level 83: 53k
* Level 84: 70k
* Level 85: 85k

Not only is mob health going up, our combat ratings are dropping drastically. Details are here, but figure that we lose roughly 5% crit per level post-80(mastery is similar, hit/haste aren’t quite as bad off). The combat rating scaling is to such a degree that you can expect to do 20-30% LESS damage at level 85 (in the same gear) than you did at 80.

Leveling Tips:

Turn on the name option that shows you NPCs and Mob names based on quest status. This is on by default (Interface Options > Names > Dropdown Menu > Select “Quest NPCs”) and it makes it super awesome for questing because you are able to see the mobs you need to kill from far away without needing to mouseover or wait for a health bar.

If you’re directionally challenged like me, or just plain don’t want to read the quests, Blizzard’s quest interface is actually fairly good. Clicking on a number on your map will bring up the general area of where quests happen.

There will be no rested experience available on launch. It will all get reset.

If you can complete BRC in less than 20 minutes a run, it could yield better results when compared to Hyjal. Especially if your server is very populated. According to a few posts on EJ, the BRC option is really only good for 1 level. Experience pretty much gets gutted when you hit 81.

If you are able to quest in a small group (1-2 other people), I really recommend doing so. Mob XP is insignificant when you compare it to quest XP, and since mobs start to take a long time to kill past Hyjal(though there are a few mobs that take time to kill as well), the more fire power you have, the better. Plus, splitting up for kill x number of mob quests is fairly ideal when faced with competition.

Things to do before servers go down:

Clear your bags. If you can, get at least 20-slot bags.

If you like to get an experience lead, fill your quest logs with dailies (argent tourney and hodir) and turn them in before going to Hyjal or BRC. If you can, get quests like Algalon’s Reply Code Alpha, the Malygos Key quests (from Sapph – I think 10 and 25 are separate?) and the last part of the Battered Hilt chain(need to confirm that one), do so as those net a large chunk of XP. The faster you can get out of the starter zones, the better.

Set your Hearth to Stormwind. If you’re turning in Northrend quests, log out where those quests are. You can hearth to SW and pick up Hero’s Call: Hyjal

Plan of Attack:

Levels 80-82 – Hyjal
Levels 82-83 – Deepholm
Levels 83-84 – Uldum
Levels 84-85 – Twilight Highlands
Optional: Vash’jir 80-82
Optional: Blackrock Caverns Grinding

[B]As a note: Leveling times were estimated and done with little-to-no competition for mobs.

Hyjal (80-82) About 3 hours to complete

Hyjal will get you to 82. [...]
All of the quest zones have been greatly streamlined. Each hub gives you breadcrumbs to a new one. If you run out of quests, you missed a trail somewhere. Occasionally Ysera will appear before you to give you more options. One of the easier missed trails is just after you complete the quest The Bears Up There. You get a follow-up, but there is also a breadcrumb that appears from a mounted NPC standing just outside the Grove of Aessina that allows you to progress into the Shrine of Aviana quest hub.[...]

There is also a quest, very early on, that allows you to take a Mole Machine to the Blackrock Caverns instance portal. The NPC is right near Baron Geddon. You can take the machine there, discover it, take the machine back and continue questing. If you zone in and turn the quest in, you cannot use the mole machine to return to Hyjal. It disappears. That’s probably the best way to discover BRC to be able to queue for it.

Deepholm (82-83) About 4-4 1/2 hours to complete

Hearth to SW, train (Druid trainer is in a house by the lake north of the dwarven district. And a Worgen), and get the quests to lead into Deepholm. There are two. One to go to the Vortex, the other to scry and view what’s going on at the Vortex. Scry first. Trust me. You won’t be able to go to the Vortex otherwise. The entrance to Deepholm is nothing short of epic.

The quest lines are very straight forward and I only have a few things worth mentioning. Mobs started to hit a lot harder around here and you will either spend more time in bear or more time healing yourself.

Vash’jir (Optional) About 5-6 hours to complete

The reason Vash’jir is optional is because of the time it takes to complete the zone compared to the others. I only gained about a level and a half, which I would do in deepholm for an hour or so less time. The zone itself is huge(and beautiful), and being underwater makes it a bit more difficult to move around. However, you will have to complete Vash’jir at some point. Vash’jir houses the Earthen Ring quartermaster who appears about 1/3 of the way through.

Once you’re past the first quest hub, you are able to obtain a seahorse mount through a short series of quests. [...]

There are a few quests in the beginning two quest hubs that are hidden. You’ll forgive me if I don’t list the names right away. Kill any eel to unlock a quest to kill more eels. Kill a red crab (you kill yellow-skinned crabs for a quest) and loot to unlock a treasure chest quest. Kill a muckcrawler (the man-like crab things) and loot to get a quest. Kill a goblin treasure horder and loot to get a quest.

Vash’jir basically just keeps on going and going and going… The lore is quite good, but like I said if you want to level quickly, avoid this zone.

Uldum (83-84) – About 4 1/2 – 5 hr to complete (guessing)

Uldum is the second longest questing zone in Cata, so the sooner you get out of it into Twilight Highlands, the better. That said, Uldum is about the zone where you’ll start replacing your gear with greens and blues (few quests in Deepholm will do the same – I replaced my 284 weapon with a blue from there… and cried a little. It was very dramatic).

A lot of the quests in Uldum felt very grind-y to me. There were the usual kill x number quests, but there were also the lovely loot quests with a medium drop-rate on said items you need to loot… and what seemed to be a limited number of mobs.

Twilight Highlands (84-85) – About 4 hours (guessing – possibly less to hit 85)

TH is the end zone. You will be replacing all your gear with this zone, no questions. I was only about 1/3 of the way in when I got 85 (starting from 84 1/4 or so), but TH just plain hits hard. Pulling more than 1 mob at a time is dangerous. TH is one of those zones where it’s good to be in a group.

I will say this: Horde have the better entrance quests/event into TH. Much more epic than Alliance. Lucky bastards.[...]

TH also has its very own Ring of Blood, called The Crucible of Carnage. You can’t solo this and doing it with less than 5 people is rough. I’d most definitely have a full group for this. The quests reward 100k+ XP per quest, and it nets you a large chunk of a level. I have to say, the last quest for this is pretty damn well done. The fight is easily better than any Wrath heroic boss ever was.[...]
Even after you ding 85 in TH, I’d still complete it for the quest rewards. I’m not sure how soon after dinging you can do Heroics safely.

And that’s that. Cata leveling is fairly quick and, if you’re that kinda person, can be done in well under a day. I believe it took me about 16-17 hours or so.