Well I knew I would eventually be doing this. In this article I hope to write a guide involving only generic tips. These are tips that I think might be helpful but aren’t meaningful enough to resemble a theme for a full article.
- Don’t level as a tank or healer: I don’t know how many people do this and they always think of some stupid logic to it. Some people suggest that by being a healer they never need to drink or eat. By playing a tank they feel the damage they reduce leads them with less down time. It just ends up being a lot of bollocks. Always go as the max DPS spec or a PvP spec with high burst. The server first in any game is always a DPS, it’s not a coincidence.
- Be aware: Your DPS rotation is probably something stupidly simple, so being aware will pay off more than focusing on killing something. While you are doing something your next thought should always be “what’s next.” First is check your health/mana to make sure you don’t need to drink up (or use a CD to the same effect). After that you should be looking around for your next objective.
- Know thy class: In every MMO there is generally a multi-class system. So before you start leveling make sure to know what your race is about. I mean it’s really cool to be the ranged warrior or the melee hunter but that’s not really what those classes are about. Every class will have a description. If you play within that description you will do well. The game designer will constantly redesign that class to fit its original intent so as long as you are playing within that description you will be better off. Now if you want to check out websites and forums, that will help to.
- Use Cooldowns: Every single DPS class and spec in every single game is balanced around being roughly equal to each other. It is presumed in the PvE fights they are balanced around that you will use every single cooldown on cooldown, so why not do the same while leveling? If you don’t use your cooldowns on cooldown, don’t save them because you need them for an emergency. It is always going to be better to one-shot something than two shot.
- Don’t Hoard Supplies: This is similar to using cooldowns. Don’t hoard on to raid supplies. That level 50 healing potion is not going to seem as valuable to you at level 60, that Level 9 healing potion is especially not going to be valuable at Level 60. I used to pop potions just so I wouldn’t have downtime from drinking, it’s a good idea, especially if you are a mana user.
- Don’t Level PvPing: No matter how game developers make games they never make PvP into a viable way of leveling. The problem with PvP is that it is entirely group performance based leveling and there are almost always going to be people sitting there doing nothing at all. Even when you get a premade you will always have a moocher who is less willing to level in this way.
- Only Group Level in Dungeons: Dungeons are a pretty good way to level because you are constantly killing a bunch of mobs with greater and greater efficiency and on top of that they’re always supposed to be comparable to quests. If you have a full group of people, level in dungeons. You guys will upgrade your gear together and will stay dedicated to running 100 9-minute dungeon runs for fast XP. In the Wrath of the Lich King expansion I leveled four levels in Utgarde Keep (9 minute runs) and three levels in Draketheron Keep (12 minute runs). If we didn’t have a full guild group of friends this would not have been possible. If you are leveling alone only do dungeons if you have quests, otherwise they will just slow down your progression.
- Just Frigging Kill It: Mobs give experience. Kill mobs. One of the things that bothers me are the quest Nazis who feel that if they don’t kill something they are being slowed down massively. If you have something in your way, dismount and kill it (unless It doesn’t give XP). This rule is of course exempt in the World of Warcraft since you just fly everywhere. But for every single MMO don’t be afraid to get a little bit of extra XP from killing a mob.
