All,
After playing WoW religiously from release through the first expansion, I quit cold turkey just a few months prior to the launch of the second expansion. As of this morning and with some help from the friendly folks over in customer support, I logged back in for the first time in over a decade. I quickly realized I have no idea what I’m doing.
That said, I’m looking for some advice from the community here to help me get back in the groove after a long time away. I’m currently level 71 (Dorf Paladin) with the objective to level up at a slow-medium pace while re-learning the basic mechanics of the game. Questions for you:
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Which specialization (tank/heal/ret/hybrid) would make leveling up most comfortable? Any suggested guides or places I should invest my points? Can we still re-specialize for a small monetary cost?
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What locations are good starting areas for someone in their low 70’s?
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Are there items that I should grab to help me get going again? I currently only have a few random PvP armors from early battleground seasons and a Gnomish Discombobulation Ray
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Any recommendations on hot key set up?
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Any other general advice for someone who’s returning from a long hiatus?
Note: don’t be shy about explaining even the most basic of details to me. I’ve been gone so long and know so little now I even forgot there was a boat (until I saw it sail by).
Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give. I’m excited to re-learn the game after being gone for so long.
Yahsek
Ner’Zhul
Turn on war mode and don’t let me find you…j/k or maybe I’m not…glares at puny dwarf menacingly…
I too came back after years of not playing. It is not hard at all to get back into at all. Find yourself an active guild and community and have fun.
Check out icy-veins website for class “builds”. They do a decent job of providing information on skills, abilities, and rotations. All pretty easy to follow. You can “re-spec” for free anytime your in a safe area.
My personal opinion would be to level as Ret. It’s pretty straight forward while still providing tools to keep yourself alive.
Level 70 head to Northrend. I prefer Borean Tundra myself. Northrend is an amazing place, just start and the quests will help guide you.
Gear. Don’t stress to much over it. Keep questing and equip whatever is better. Nothing will make or break you at those levels.
Take your time! Your in a position where everything is new, that’s fantastic! You have a ton of content ahead, soak it in and enjoy! Feel free to add me, I’d be happy to answer and questions that pop up in-game. (Evol#1881)
You can respec at no cost at any time as long as you arent in battle. Open your talent window and choose the spec tab. Gear wise, heirlooms are worth it. Vendor is in the great library in ironforge and the guild vendor in stormwind.
I would go prot for lvling. Also when you left click o your character you can choose what spec you want loot for. Handy if you choose to lvl as one spec but run dungeons as another. Also the advantage of Prot is that you will pretty much insta queue for dungeons. Look for the “looking for group” menu. Ita easy to run dungeons now at any time.
Basically they made a kot of quality of life improvements since TBC. Welcome back.
Fellas, a belated thanks for your feedback. I’ve been slowly grinding away in Northrend spec’d as retribution (while also collecting bits and pieces of what will hopefully become a protection suit). I think once I can get my gear turned over once, I’ll try out a few dungeons/instances.
One more question: what dungeons should I be targeting around the level 85-95 range?
Again, appreciate your tips and it’s great to be back!
Yahsek
You should definitely just hop into dungeon finder as a ret at level 85 and just get familiar with the mechanics, and dungeons. Also all the way to 110 you should be using dungeon finder for the gold, exp, and gear award at the end of the dungeons. Do some questing in between during the WOD and Legion expansions, to set up your garrison, and order hall!
I would recommend after getting familiar with everything, continue to level and dungeon as a prot pally. It’s faster queue times! which means you can pump dungeons out fairly quick and whenever you want without waiting 15-20 minutes as a dps spec. (if you want to speed it up a bit)
But overall, welcome back and enjoy the game!!!