I don’t remember if you can level through the BGs in Classic? I have a buddy who’s playing more lately and the BGs are really the only way I’m going level.
U can’t even play the BGs due to premades. what makes u think we can level? Lol
Ok so it’s going to suck, but you can do it?
Yeah, kinda. At the end of every BG you get 1 or 3 tokens (“marks”), which you can turn in to an npc in sets of 3 for xp, honor, and reputation. You can hold up to 20 of each type (WSG, AB, AV) plus whatever is temporarily stored in your mailbox.
The problem with levelling solely from battlegrounds is that there will be chunks of time when you’re 40, 41, etc, and perhaps not able to contribute much, so it’s probably rough going at those points.
Doing PvE for the first part of a bracket (say 20-26) and then mostly BG’s for the second part (26-29) is a thing some people do, though. It’s not a great way to get honor, but it’s a good way to get reputation with the various factions and practice PvP while you level.
I’m pretty sure the only realistic leveling in BGs is in AV.
I remember doing most of my 51-60 grind in vanilla in AV killing wolves/rams/etc. I got exalted around the time I hit 60 so that I’d be able to buy the cheaper FW mount.
I guess to better answer your specific questions, I’ll say that you can technically start doing battlegrounds at level 10, I personally only played in the 40’s and 50’s and I had a lot of fun, and that healers are always in demand. The 40’s bracket was a gem.
I’d guess that the best class to level through battlegrounds would be a flagrunning druid or a mage. You’d want to get a lot of wins, and if you’re pugging you’ll find that you will often need to take matters into your own hands. A well-played priest, pally, or shaman can really make a huge impact. Also, engineering is generally considered a must-have.
Just be aware that you’ll be facing plenty of twinks that are maxxed-out and well-practiced, so in a sense you will always be at a disadvantage, but if you genuinely love battlegrounds and are up for a challenge, I’d say go for it.
Trying to level in the x0-x5 range is going to be rough. You only get XP from mark turn-ins, and if you’re in the lower half of the bracket level wise you’re going to be a detriment to your team and end up with a loss more often than not, so you’ll need to play three games before you can do a turn-in and get any XP.
As Eekamouse suggested, spending the first half of the bracket doing PvE and the second half PvP is more achievable. It also allows you to blow through the earlier PvE sections faster as you’ll have 150% rested xp and be able to green grind through quests and mobs. I’ll usually get two full levels before rested xp runs out, even more if you hang around at x9 for a little bit and stack your tokens to max before you ding (including letting the overflow build up in your mailbox on the final day).
Also note the lower the bracket, the rougher it’s going to be with geared twinks. 19 especially will be super hard going and you might consider skipping that completely.
Thanks a lot folks, this was very helpful. My only two remaining questions are:
I’ll likely go Shaman and heal. I assume Ghost Wolf is also good for flag running.
You will definitely be less of a hindrance as a healer. One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here, and forgive me if it was, is that the xp you gain from the mark turn ins is extremely low. If your goal is just to pvp and have fun and eventually level thats fine, but if not you will become frustrated fast.
Honestly if your pugging and planning to heal id go druid. Ghost wolf is dispellable, but druid can shift spam to get out of roots/slows, and still heal very well. Focus on +spell and stam gear and youre golden. Yes as x0-x5 as healer youre more usful than as dps, but youd still be on the low end of heals and hp, so id test it out and see
It will be extremely slow , the equivalent of completing 1 quest every 2 hours in the world with mob experience accounted for.
Heartbreaking. Ok, I guess it’s just a sprint to 60 sadly.