I noticed something that worries me. I had to go to Chromie and start the Mysts of Pandara section to get the quest to launch the expansions story because that NPC was no longer around in normal world.
What other expansions are now locked behind having to use Chromie to start their stories? I will need to crab all of those starting quests before hitting a level that I cannot use Chromie anymore on my crafting characters to make sure I can get them to all the zones and unlock each expansions content.
Outlands: I’m pretty sure you can start this one just by going to the Blasted Lands, asking Zidormi to set the zone back to the pre-Warlords version if necessary, and going through the portal. (Minimum zone level for Blasted Lands is 15.)
Wrath: You can take one of the boats (Alliance) or airships (Horde) & go to Northrend any time, no quest needed.
Cata: The NPCs are there but you probably have to be level 30 to pick up the quests.
Warlords: Similar to Outlands - just set Blasted Lands to the current version of the zone & then talk to Khadgar outside the portal.
Legion: I think you can start this from the Hero’s Call Board/Warchief’s Command Board.
BoA: The default option if you don’t pick something else.
Shadowlands: You should be able to start this one in Stormwind/Orgrimmar, but there might be phasing issues with getting to the required NPCs.
Guess I should have explained all my existing characters were level 32/33 from the level squish. Sorry.
From the look of it going by what you are saying, Shadowlands I clearly need to grab to make sure I have it, figure out how to start BoA since my characters are already created and also figure out how to get the board to show me Legion instead of just 3 random zone events.
Maybe I should go grab all the expac starting quests from Mysts onward just to make sure I have them before continuing.
Chromie Time isn’t required to start any expansion, but it can (as you’ve observed) help with getting the phasing right.
Without Chromie Time to help, what you usually need to do is complete any questlines that are superseding the phasing in the area of the quest. As BfA is the official leveling path to 60, it tends to have very high priority. Beyond that, newer content usually has priority in phasing over older content. So, it’s mostly an issue if you are trying to do expansions in order.
It’s also important to note that in some cases, just being eligible for a quest is enough to affect the phasing. So just abandoning quests doesn’t always “reset” your phase.
That is probably not a good idea. Starting expansion questlines will affect the phasing, and trying to have multiple going at once can really mess with things.
For the Hero’s Call/Warchief’s Command board, your current Chromie Time expansion will generally have priority for what it shows you. Outside of Chromie Time, it generally will have newer content first (assuming your character is the right level for it.) If you aren’t seeing what you want, first figure out if you can leverage Chromie to make it easier. After that, just start picking up quests until you get the one you want and abandon the extras once you’ve got what you need.
Locking your character level can help minimize issues as well. Level 59 lets you keep access to Chromie Time, and do most content through Legion. (I’m not sure about soloing the harder Legion raid difficulties at 59.) If you really want to be safe, lock at 49. (BfA levels are end game levels are weird, as most got bumped to 60, but some still sits at 50. So, as it tends to take phasing priority 49 should will protect you from any end game BfA phasing that’s still set with an end game level of 50.) At 49, you should be able solo anything in MoP, and probably WoD. (Legion group content will probably be an issue at 49, so that’s about the time to move up to 59.)
Yeah I had asked in my first post when coming back if there was a way to do that so I could use Chromie for all the expansions and not lose access (also to make it easier to actually do each one) and they said they did not know of a way. I actually found out this morning that XP can be turned off, which I will be doing after I gain a few more levels.
Thanks for the assist.
It can be a bit confusing because there are a couple of quirks with the XP off NPCs. You can only turn XP off up through level 59. Once you are 60 you lose access to it. Also, the XP off NPCs can also disappear due to phasing on some questlines, which has caused people to think they were removed.
Starting zone to Outland – goto Blasted Lands, see Zidormi to reset to pre-Cata, go through Dark Portal
To get to Lich King – portal in Orgrimmar to Dalaran
To Cataclysm – Orgrimmar’s Western Earthshrine and speak to Farseer Krogar
To Pandaria – should be able to get started in Grommash Hold in Orgrimmar (Gen Nazgrim? not sure)
To Warlords of Draenor – back to Blasted Lands, no Zidormi, just through Dark Portal
To Legion – a bit fuzzy on this one, but I think it starts outside of Orgrimmar’s main gate with some minor “qualifying” quests then Holgar Stormaxe to get you on your way
That’s all I can remember (other than the portals inside Orgrimmar’s main gate), and I’m not 100% sure of any of it. Been a while …