Looking for some efficiency advice. My buddy is starting to play for the first time ever, and I wanna help expedite him getting a character started. He’s got a 110 and 120 character boost available, so he’s gonna just jump in at either of those levels on a class.
As far as I know, main things to focus on is necklace level, essence grinding/farming, gearing up, getting Nazjatar/mechagon unlocked, and getting through the 8.3 cloak campaign so he can start grinding out cloak levels. It just seems like a ton of grinding/unlocking per character. Is there a way to help him get the most stuff as efficiently as possible?
Uh. Don’t make him do that.
This is an MMORPG… rpg.
Tell him not to use his boosts.
Create a toon that interests him.
Look at the xpac trailers- which 1 looks coolest?
Have him quest and READ the quests.
Let him learn about the story of WoW.
Let him appreciate the older dungeons.
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That’s what I originally suggested, but he’s got a lot of experience with MMOs and didn’t want to spend a ton of time level grinding. I’ll see if I can get him to come around to the idea of starting fresh though. Progression always feels nice, and I can earn some heritage sets on the side 
If he wants the end goal immediately, then.
Boost to 120 (I like BDK. Can solo everything).
Finish the campaign to unlock WQs.
Do enough of Naz to get that lvl 50(?) neck boost.
Start doing the N’zoth zones asap, everyday.
If he cares about flying- do every WQ (if limited time, do the kill 1x ones only) w/ a contract equipped (usually for Tortollan).
Do the weekly Island Expedition quest.
So: max lvl, neck boost, WQs unlocked and grinding rep, and IE quest done.
Then form a party w/ 1 tank/heal/2dps- preferably all the same armor type as him.
Run him through every M0 dungeon and he’ll basically insta-gear to 430.
From there on, I’d recommend he boost his gear/IO at the same time.
I.e., run every dungeon on a 2-4 in time. Then a 6 in time for every dungeon. Then all 9s. Then all 10s (to get used to pylons). Eventually farming 14-15s.
When he’s geared enough, take him into Normal/Heroic Nya for gear.
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wouldn’t be easier to just start in shadowlands.
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If using the boost for a character just to unlock account wide things: Go human for the rep boost.
I second the start at 1 approach, but nothing wrong with boosting a mule to make the leveling experience more enjoyable.
Your recommendation is to wait 8+ months to play the game?
If this is his first time playing WoW I would recommend strongly advising him against using those boosts. It’s better to level through the game naturally so that he can learn both it and the class he chooses.
If he just jumps into level 110 or 120 he’s going to have a whole bunch of buttons he’s gonna have no idea how to use properly.
Additionally, he’d be skipping 3/4 of the game’s content. For folks who’ve been there and done that countless times it makes sense. For someone going through it for the first time? I think that’d kill the experience.
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I appreciate the human recommendation, that would make getting flying much faster for him. And the many rep-locked essences too! Would be helpful as well if they ever decide to make essences account wide.
This is exactly how you drive someone away from the game dude.
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Big Important Recommendation
Have your friend use the 110 Class Trial system before he wastes a boost on a class he might find out he hates.
Also, has your friend played MMO’s before? Is he familiar with the holy trinity?
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Well, I’ve been talking up m+ and the new raid, and that it would be cool to get into that stuff together. And he’s watched me do a few warfronts and thought those were cool, but he didn’t exactly understand that it’s not something that you just do over and over again. Most of what he knows about the game is end-game stuff, but he would be more or less locked out of that entirely without being geared enough for it. Plus, as I said earlier, he has a lot of experience with other MMOs so he wouldn’t be having to start as someone who has no clue to how play games like this.
Answers my question well enough.
Does he know what class he wants to play? Is he the type of guy who’s down for research, or is he more of a figure-it-out-myself type?
Have him use up all his class trials to find the class he wants to play. The boosts are expensive, you dont want to waste on something you end up not liking.
Experience stuff, not just listen to other people’s opinions of stuff.
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for what wow right now is - yeah, pretty much.
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I rushed my cousin through wow’s leveling a long time ago. I tried to get him to cap ASAP and to hell with everything else. He got so burned out and bored he hates wow now and says it’s such a boring grind. He hasn’t played since.
That’s my biggest regret. However if you friend has lots of MMO experience then maybe rushing him to cap wouldn’t be as bad as it would for someone completely new to the genre.
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Just because he has a lot of experience in other mmos, doesn’t mean they play exactly the same. But if that’s the route he wants to take then that’s on him. But he’s probably gonna quit when he finds out the massive grind he’s gotta do at 120 in order to gear up.
Much of the skill developed comes from the leveling process and experimentation. Talents and builds and gear choices and professions. If you are brand new to WoW you need to learn the game. If you want to experience it to it’s fullest one should probably level up from what ever base level the game provides?
You can skip over the quests-chains that are no longer relevant for sure that can be a pointless grind since many of the pathfinders and reputation grinds become irrelevant. Have fun and maybe make an alt to grind along side him? Then they can make an alt that is boosted to 120 after you two compete the journey. Now he has two toons and is familiar with the game and can proceed with end game.
Thanks all for the replies and great ideas. I think I’ll have to try harder to convince him to start from scratch, that really is probably the best way to learn the game. The grind to cap will at least teach him how to play his class at a slow pace, and will leave room for him to experiment. Then at level cap he will know if it’s worth the grind to get the rest of the upgrades he will need to do competitive content, if that’s what he wants to do. Thanks!