Anticipation of the Lich King
Posted: September 13, 2008
What to do in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King
With Wrath of the Lich King, the newest expansion for World of Warcraft, coming out in a few short months, it would be productive to make the most out of time spent in-game now rather than when there is new content to enjoy. This preparation guide includes a list of things that need doing, mostly generated to make the most out of the new achievements system that Blizzard is implementing. Additionally there is some information for those of you who are more interested in making a Death Knight than working with a main character, and also an Inscription preview if you are looking to follow that path. This guide is primarily intended to optimize a single, main character as it is recommended to experience all that Wrath of the Lich King has to offer in its entirety with one character before focusing on any alts.
To start it would be best to select your main character and make sure to level him to 70 after at least skimming the rest of the guide, as it may save you time later. Once your main has been chosen the place to start is with main professions; alchemy, blacksmithing, enchanting and the like. If you are planning on changing any of these professions come Wrath of the Lich King, now would be the time to do it. It is not recommended to level professions all the way to 375, as the new recipes will pick up as soon as you hit Northrend so long as you have leveled to approximately 350. Of course, some of this is not applicable if you want to be a Death Knight or practice Inscription.
"Delightful" little fishing bobber.Nearly as important, and generally more neglected, are the secondary professions of first aid, cooking, and fishing. Traditionally, most players have already raised first aid to 375 because what else are you going to do with cloth if you are not a tailor. It is simple enough to increase: go kill humanoids of the appropriate level for cloth and cut bandages. Cooking and fishing can go hand-in-hand together, as the fish you catch can be cooked. Yes, it is possible to fish from 1 to 375 at the little pond in Thunder Bluff, but that will not do much for your cooking skill. Begin catching fish in lower-level areas and cooking them. Once your cooking has been maxed out for that particular fish, pick up a new recipe from a vendor and move on to the next higher-level area to catch the appropriate fish. If executed in this fashion, you will not need to kill for or purchase any raw meats to level cooking.
There is now reason behind fully exploring areas besides knowing where everything is: achievements. The process behind becoming a world explorer is simple. Start by making a list of which zones you have not entirely uncovered, and it is best to check against maps online to make sure that you are not missing any areas. If you do have access to the current Beta you can see an exact listing of which areas you have and have not completed. Note that there are many “discoveries” that can be made that do not reveal any actual section of the map, but these you do not have to worry about as they are not counted. With your list, travel zone by zone over both the old and new continents and mark off the areas that you complete as you go through them. The more thorough you are now the less likely you will be frustrated later when you realize you missed a tiny spot in the bottom left hand corner of Silithus.
There are a set of achievements in Wrath of the Lich King that are based on how many quests you have completed for Outland and Northrend zones. That means it is time to go back and do all of those quests in Blade’s Edge Mountains and Shadowmoon Valley that you skipped after hitting level 70. The number of required quests varies per zone, so it is best to fly to each quest hub and check to make sure you have completed all quests available to you. Plus, if you are already level 70 you get gold for the experience you would have received for doing quests.
After completing all of those quests you should have plenty of gold on hand, enough to purchase your epic flying mount if you have yet to do so already. Then it is time to replace that dull-looking basic flying mount with something a little more extravagant, of which there are several options available. Running daily quests in Shadowmoon Valley will awardplayers with a Netherdrake mount, and Terorkkar Forest and Blade’s Edge Mountains have daily quests for a Nether Ray mount. The other
Born again from the ashes. reputation-based flying mount available in the game is a Cenarion WarHippogryph that players can purchase upon reaching exalted with the Cenarion Expedition. The only way to accomplish this is by runningdungeons and turning in Coilfang Armaments that drop; hope you saved up a bunch of those. Outside of reputation grinding there is but one flying mount available to everyone as a dungeon drop; the Ashes of Al’ar rideablephoenix that drops off of Kael’thas in The Eye. Good luck with that one.
There are several more land mounts available in The Burning Crusade content than flying mounts, meaning there is plenty for you to do. Grinding reputation with the Nagrand zone-based faction will reward you with the ability to purchase a Talbuk mount of which there are various colors. To obtain the black Talbuk however, you must fight against the other faction and kill multitudes of Nagrand mobs. White Hawkstriders are available as a drop from Kael’thas in Magisters’ Terrace on Heroic, Fiery Warhorses are from Attumen the Huntsman in Karazhan, Amani War Bears drop in Zul’Aman, and Raven Lords can be picked up in Sethekk Halls on Heroic. Amani War Bears are guaranteed to drop in Zul’Aman if the fourth animal boss is defeated within the given time limit, and Raven Lords drop only from the summoned boss for the Druid epic flight form quest. Also, you can always go buy Trading Card Game loot cards off of Ebay and pick up a couple extra mounts.
It is important to note that the Amani War Bear mount will not be available after Wrath of the Lich King comes out, as noted by a Blizzard representative. There are also two raid-related titles, the Hand of A'dal and Champion of the Naaru, that will be unavailable to players once the expansion arrives.
Mr. Pinchy has a chance to summon a vicious crawdad or a tiny companion. Make a good wish.Yes, there are achievements for players who collect non-combat pets, and there are around 90 total companions available. This includes every color variation of any given non-combat pet, such as cats and snakes. One new purchasable companion was introduced in The Burning Crusade expansion for each the Horde (dragonhawks) and the Alliance (moths), available at the new respective race’s zone. Additional vendor pets are available including Brown Rabbits and Mana Wyrmlings. Four baby crocolisks are available from the newly introduced daily fishing quests, a Magical Crawdad is a rather rare fishing drop, Sporeggar has Tiny Spore Bats for players who are at exalted reputation, and the Sha’tari Skyguard who have the Nether Ray mount also offer a Nether Ray companion at exalted. If you are more interested in beating your head against a wall, Captured Fireflies have a drop rate of about 0.1% off of Boglare Needlers in Zangarmarsh, and Phoenix Hatchlings drop from Kael’thas in Magisters’ Terrace at a similar rate.
Feeling adventurous? Gain friendly reputation with the Bloodsail Buccaneers, and hated with Booty Bay. To accomplish this task, a player must kill Booty Bay guard NPCs over, and over, and over again. Your reward? An Admiral’s hat that summons a blood parrot companion, and even a unique achievement. It is possible to once again kill your way into a good reputation with the Steamwheedle Cartel, of course if you end up not reviving your damaged reputation you will never again be accepted in Goblin-run areas.
The most prominent way to gain reputation with Sporeggar is by exterminating the Naga presence in Zangarmarsh.
If you can not get enough of the reputation grinding action, then you can continue on and get exalted with all of the remaining reputations. It will not all be for naught, as there are achievements based on gaining exalted with as many factions as possible, especially those of your own faction. For players who are playing characters that they leveled to 60 before the reputation boost, this may be a more difficult task than for others who leveled once reputation was more readily distributed.
Time for some Spring inventory clearing; you are going to want inventory space and lots of it. There will be all new, expensive trash to loot and what are you going to do if you do not have space for it? Cry. Vendor all of that trash gear that you carry around because you think you might use it if your secondary set of gear breaks during a raid. You do not need it. Keep the nostalgic epics, but everything else can go. If you have yet to do so already, purchase all of your bank slots and have enough 18-slot bags made to fill all of the new spaces. Of course, make sure to use 18-slot bags on your bar bags as well, and try to do a Zul’Aman run to pick up a 20-slot bag from one of the initial quests.
All of the current high-level tradeskill items are going to become obsolete; this includes Primals and motes, ore, enchanting materials, leather, and gems. With the introduction of new recipes there will be new materials to collect and use. Now is the time to sell the stash of Primals you have been collecting from reputation and dungeon farming, as gold will always be useful in World of Warcraft.
The Lich King.In preparation for playing the new “Hero Class”, the Death Knight, there is not much that you can do. At the moment, there has been no release of information on how exactly players are going to unlock the ability to create a Death Knight besides a level requirement of 55 and a quest chain completion. It has been stated that players will not need to begin Northrend content to create a Death Knight, to prevent them from needing to experience content twice. Death Knights start with a full bar of 12-slot bags, meaning you can make at least 4 new 18-slot bags to be able to pick up all of the Burning Crusade loot as you level. If you are really that interested, you can “farm” bind-on-equip rare and epic plate items, but you will end up replacing it anyway. If you have an excess or easy access to gems and a jewelcrafter, you could easily stockpile gems that you can use in your Death Knight’s gear as he levels. Recommended stats are strength, agility, stamina, crit rating, hit rating, and parry rating.
The glyph interface. Every player is granted 3 minor and 3 major glyphs. Minor are supposedly more geared towards the cosmetic appearance of spells, whereas major will be affecting damage, duration, and other spell effects.Inscription is the new main profession of Wrath of the Lich King, much like how Jewelcrafting was introduced with The Burning Crusade expansion. Players will be able to create various scrolls and parchments, and more importantly glyphs that act as spell alterations based on character class. If this sounds like a blast, drop a current profession and pick up Herbalism, if you do not already have it. Level it all the way to 375, and keep every single herb you collect. It is also time to begin checking the Auction House for cheap bid and buyout herb packs. Depending on how much money you have, and how inflated your server’s herbs may be, you will have to determine the prices you are willing to pay in preparation for Inscription. Monitor the Auction House daily and pay attention to the fluctuation in prices to help save you money. It is best to collect as many herbs as you can now, as the more you have the better off you will be, and make sure to have a balance of all levels of herbs. There will be a preview of Inscription implemented into the game just before the expansion is released; that will be your cue for testing how well your preparation has paid off, and how much more you will need to do.
There is a lot to do before Wrath of the Lich King comes out, so you better get started now. If you do not, your guild mates may have more achievement points than you when the expansion comes out. We can not have that now, can we?
