Alterac Valley
Since, I don’t know… a few patches ago, we’ve had the option to level up using PvP leveling… and since this is a leveling guide blog, I thought I’d share my experiences using PvP.
First up, I haven’t tested anything… I haven’t got the time to run one toon on only battlegrounds, and another only PvE & compare them in the latest build of WoW.
This is just my own personal experience.
I have a level 80 Shaman right now who I started leveling up in battlegrounds when he was level 14 (in WSG), and continued at pace all the way through to level 80. At a wild guess, 50% of my time was PvE, 50% questing.
My thoughts are, after doing so much pvp, that leveling in battlegrounds must be very close to, or faster than leveling via questing (unless you know exactly where to go and when).
I say this because having reached 80, I feel like I’ve missed half the game world.
In fact, when I’ve been doing quests like the headless horseman series and other quests, I’ve been finding it PAINFUL to find my way around because so many of my flight points… or should I say… so LITTLE of my flight points will take me where I need to go.
Half of Kalimdor? Unexplored.
Half of the Eastern Kingdoms? Unexplored.
Outland? I’ve only been to … uh… I’ve been to so few places there I forget the names of the zones.
But I did a lot of quests in Hellfire Peninsula, a few in Zangarmarsh (awwwwesome zone), and that’s about it. Blades Edge Mountains, and Netherstorm though? Never even been there.
The other great thing is that by the time you get to around 60 you can start buying nice PvP gear. Some people might tell you, hey – hold off till you hit 80 – but I’d disagree.
If you enjoy PvP & like using it to level, go nuts, buy equipment with your honor… you make so much you really don’t need to save it.
Don’t forget to follow this big tip though…
Play as many different battle grounds as possible… But focus on Alterac Valley.
I say this because while you’ll probably get the most honor just playing AV when you hit level 50, if you’ve played a lot of warsong gulch and alterac valley on your way to 50, then you’ll have a ton of marks of honor saved up.
You can complete a repeatable quest in Orgrimmar (or Dalaran or Stormwind for you Alliance players) whereby you hand in 4 different marks at once for bonus honor. You should definitely hold on to all these marks until you reach the max of 100 – then when you turn 70 (think its 70?) you can start doing a ton of Isle of Conquest and Strand of Honor battlegrounds.
Each turn in of all SIX marks of honor nets you around 1500 honor points, making it very, very worthwhile to save up for.
If you hit 100 though (the cap of marks of honor), you may as well either buy items from each BG vendor using your marks (I bought a few mounts using 30 marks of each battleground) or buy PvP items from the honor shop.
So take away points if you like to level using battlegrounds.
1. Make sure you throw in a bit of PvE with it – at time of writing you can’t JUST level using battlegrounds because your gear will just become woefully inadequate… Level at least 3 of every 10 as a rule of thumb.
2. Try and balance the amount of marks you accumulate so that you can hand in all 4 (or 6 later on) to your pvp daily quest giver for honor.
3. Start buying PvP gear from the honor shop as soon as you can, or use marks to buy stuff like spell penetration trinkets – if you like pvp you’ll have plenty of marks and honor all the way to 80.
4. Find AV premades if your battleground runs them. Spam trade chat & ask around for them. Chances are you’ll have them.
(note: “premades” are PvP games run by players who want to win every battleground by coordinating together, rather than mindlessly running around killing people (hello WSG). You’ll probably need Ventrilo.
Lastly, once you hit 75, start doing Wintergrasp for Stonekeepers shards and buckets of (relatively easy) honor. The WG marks are great for buying good gear too…
Got any PvP leveling tips of your own? Let us know in comments.
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Avarice
30 June 2010 at 9:47 pm
One point that was missed here were the weekly BGs, they net something like 2-3x the experience of the other BGs, every day for the week they’re up. so using those you’ll be cutting a fair percentage of time off your leveling, and i believe the XP bonus automatically saves for your first victory to insure netting the maximum amount of xp in the BG per day.
Additionally you need to make sure you loot as many bodies as possible, the extra money will allow you to cut down on your questing time by letting you grab new gear at the auction house, as well as insuring that you don’t run out of gold when it comes time to update your abilities.
also at lower levels 14- in a 10-19, you still net exp whether you personally kill people or not, so it’s alright to play carefully in those ranges, you may want to operate as more of a support unit in those stages, healing, distance attacking, and trying to snake finishing blows.
finally keep in mind racial abilities, the same abilities that were great for PvE leveling might not be in PvP; gnome, undead, tuaren, and human racials are pretty decent for PvP. just keep them in mind and try to figure out if that bonus to gathering or crafting is really gonna help you and if not will the secondary.
Avarice
30 June 2010 at 9:50 pm
p.s. it’s not unrealistic to pump out 3-6 levels per day via BGs, even at higher levels, especially if you get a team together and get consistent victories. consider getting some members of your main’s guild to assist you in leveling PvP style.