Need advice upon return after... a long time

Guides Returning Player Help & Discussions
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I’ve played off and on since release, but found my last and longest stint during the era of the original TBC release through to the end of wraith and the booming arena scene of that time.

That was during college while I was finishing my CS degree… back in 2010 lol. I briefly picked the game up during legion to try a DH but the game was so different and all I did at the time was work anyhow. I’m coming back to my characters having done nothing other than wraith content and one level 60, the other 45.

This is overwhelming as heck and much harder than building from the ground up for me as there is so much new content. I like all aspects of the game and am simply looking to catch up and have a basis for a good start to DragonFlight with some PVP here and there - maybe more depending on how the game is after that. I haven’t done Shadowlands or BFA, I have a 45 and a 60 character. (one rogue/one DH)

I will play both chars but … where do I start if my goal is to maximize my time and get caught up to the baseline? I don’t care about the story and I dont think I’ve ever read a single line of text unless it was instructional in this or any other MMO. I just want to grind efficiently and get caught up so that I have maximum potential for play if the expansion turns out to be good.

DFA? Shadowlands? I heard the covs are going away for PVP… but wont I still need to grind it out for PVE? Any help would be MASSIVELY appreciated and I am so thankful to have my characters back… it was a long journey with support to find my old info. I just want to game again after 12+ years of nothing but soul sucking focus on work from the moment I graduated.

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After 12 years, you need to approach it as a new game. I’d recommend leveling a couple of class/specs you are interested in to 20 just to get a feel for new mechanics and philosophies behind the game.

Leveling goes quite fast, particularly at the moment with an xp buff in place for the upcoming Dragonflight release.

Wowhead.com is the go to for most game info, including quest hints. They also have class/spec guides but many prefer those offered on icy-veins.com.

Wiki’s are pretty much dead.

Curseforge is a popular site for Addons. Deadly Boss Mods or Bigwigs are almost required for dungeon/raid work as they will let you know what a boss is about to do.

The new UI is pretty buggy but additional ui changes are coming in the phase 2 pre-patch on the 15th and with the actual release of DF.

Udiza will likely pop in within the next day or two. She does a pretty thorough job with answering questions like yours. Worth checking back periodically for her posts.

I tend to play WoW because sometimes, I just want to stab someone in the face - :wink:

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Yeah, I noticed the familiar but also shockingly different talent trees and abilities that my rogue has. I spent almost all of my time in game focusing on my Rogue and PVP and whatever PVE/RAID was required to get the best gear at the time (unless that gear was already from PVP) however… I always found myself simply enjoying the combat and the day to day grind appealing in some way.

Luckily, or… unfortunately depending on how you look at it. I am not sure exactly why but…I just cant play anything other than a lawful rogue/assassin/thief type character in any mmo or RPG.

Dark Age of Camelot? Infiltrator / Nightshade (I believe this is where the curse was solidified)
Guild Wars 1? Assassin
Guild Wars 2? Thief
WoW? Rogue
ArcheAge? Shadowblade
Black Desert? Ninja
FF14… Ninja…

If I deviate from this I end up rerolling or not playing. I started WOW at release as a druid and hated it so much at the time that I missed all of the first few years of the game.

I hate full loot pvp games that force pvp through the criminal system too, because for whatever misguided reason… I dont want to be the bad guy or grief/kill another player unless its faction based or… if they are the one starting it/griefing another player.

I also almost always make them female and of a human like race… which is weird now that I think about all of these things at once. Small in stature, cloaked in the type armor one would expect, with some daggers… aesthetically fitting. A tauren Rogue? no

There is nothing better than PVP where the other person is the one being the instigator (whether its open world/griefing in a game like Mortal/Ultima or talking crap in a BG).

I think this is probably how I justify my own psychosis and desire to stab people from the shadows and then fade away with their pocketbook dignity online.

All kidding aside - I was hoping to pick up at a point with DFA or some thing like that where I could slow burn back into my spec or level my DH to break the ice.

I just dont want to miss out on the important things when I might be able to do them now. (legendary items or abilities maybe)

I know I mostly played arena 2’s with my college roommate who was a mage and we would get like 2200 for the gear and thats about it. Then raid/bgs and stuff. There were only a few legendary weapons then, no real borrowed power etc.

EDIT… Wow I am actually a boomer age male role playing as a female murderous assassin living out a version of the Johnny Depp case …only if the other party had found a more constructive way to deal with psychosis… wtf

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I’m in my 70’s so I can relate.
The default talent tree is fairly good for at least Outlaw rogues. It’ll give you a place to start as you learn your way around. It’s not terrible.

Outlaw has a cleave which helps a lot with multi-targets and is a good leveling spec and for raids with trash packs.

Sub is arguably preferred for PvP by most but it really doesn’t come into it’s own until late in the talent trees. IMHO.

Assassin has fewer fans for both PvP and Sub. I/t need some work.

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If your main goal is to be ready for Drangonflight, my focus would be on getting any characters you want to play to 60, and then on the 15th when the pre-patch event goes live, using that to gear them up.

If you’ve got any extra time after that, I’d probably spend it working on unlocking flying in Shadowlands and BfA. (Mostly to make things easier if you want to go back to that content for cosmetics/mounts/allied race unlocks.)

For Shadowlands, your boosted character will have a head start. (They basically get credit for all of the leveling zone quest content.) So, on that character do your Covenent Campaign quests and enough of the Shards of Domination (Korthia) questline to unlock flying in the main zones. Then head over to Zereth Mortis and work on the achievement to unlock Zereth Mortis flying. (You’ll also get some gear upgrades there.)

For BfA, I’d probably just run an new character from the start (if you start from Exile’s Reach, the tutorial will funnel you right to BfA) as you’ll need to do all of the leveling content anyhow for the flying unlock. You can even just make a second rogue to help get you acclimated to the new talent system to make your 60 feel a bit less overwhelming. Think of it as a side project, not something that has to be done before Dragonflight. Just something you can work on when you need a break from current content. Unlocking flying will also get you through most of the content needed to unlock the allied races for your faction.

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