Leveling and Gear ? Post BFA

Community General Discussion
1

I looked throughout some different forums on this subject and was a little unclear on something. When it comes to leveling in WoW after the pre-patch hits, how will gear drops during leveling compare with BFA drops?

My understanding is that, unless you have a brand new account, at 10, you pick which expansion of content you wish to level through, which included BFA. However, with BFA having the HoA and Azerite gear, won’t BFA grant the most player power compared to gear that drops while leveling in another expansion?

The notes with the pre patch indicated that Corruptions would be going away, and that the HoA/essences would stop working when no longer in a “region” associated with the HoA. I’m not sure if that necessarily means anything outside of BFA content or just Shadowlands.

So, once the pre-patch launches, if someone were to level a character in WoTLK, would they get comparable gear to whatever power gear that might drop in BFA (not saying it’d be azerite, but with stats that make up for the difference)?

Or would going through BFA just net better leveling gear due to Azerite? If that is the case, would said HoA/Essences and Azerite gear work outside of BFA content, including dungeons and BG’s?

I realize the end goal is 60, and that the road to 50 is just a means to that end. However, I would still like to know if it’s just a matter of the reward in leveling in a different expansion is just a change of scenery vs having better leveling gear in BFA.

2

I think it would only be better if players spent the time to level up their HoA to 80, while also getting highest level azerite armor so their azerite traits are best possible, while also getting their best essences to rank 3. And I doubt players are going to bother doing that in the short window that leveling to 50 has become, especially since azerite traits / essences will stop working the moment they move into Shadowlands.

3

Yeah, I’d imagine if someone put that kind of time in, the ceiling for player power would be much higher. I guess my main concern was if I would be handicapping myself player power wise, especially in BG’s/Dungeons, by not leveling in BFA.

For instance, you’re actually better off using the Azerite gear over BoA gear currently. With BoA gear being blue quality itemization, I just wonder if there will be that kind of differential between what drops in other expansions vs using Azerite gear in BFA.