TWP: Part 1
Part 1: Stepping into Outland
Or, “Oooh look at all the pretty gear and there’s so much gold he–OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT HUGE ASS ROBOT? GET AWAY FROM ME!”
Here’s my first piece of advice. Don’t let the Fel Reaver step on you. If you can handle that, I’m pretty sure you can handle anything. If you can’t, well, cancel your subscription right now. Please.
Moving on.
I mentioned something about gear, and here’s what I have to say about it. Unless you have full BWL gear, and especially unless you have full Naxxramas gear, you’ll replace almost everything you’re wearing in your first level or two in Outland. If you’ve already taken a toon to Outland you probably know this and are most likely asking yourself why I’m even telling you this. I’m telling you this because some people become so needlessly attached to old gear that they cry themselves to sleep when they’re faced with the prospect of replacing any of it.
Don’t be that guy.
Seriously, when I started The Burning Crusade (TBC) I was decked out in my badass FULL VALOR SET and thought I was hot shit with my Draconian Deflector. The mobs in Outland laughed at me, then knocked me down, then pissed on my shield and also ate my helm. Those boars, they’re hungry.
I was also poor as a Stormwind orphan. I had 25g to my name. But I managed to make enough money in my first couple of levels to buy an epic mount. While we’re on that topic, here’s one very important piece of advice.
BUY YOUR EPIC MOUNT!
I was like, “Man, that’s a lot of money. I should just keep saving money so I have enough to buy my epic flying mount.” I was stupid and wrong.
You get so much money in Outland by doing quests, selling vendor trash, selling loot you can’t use, (There’s a lot of that by the way. Don’t be discouraged by all the pally loot you’ll see. They need it to make up for what they lack, you know, elsewhere.) and selling any other random crap you pick up along the way. Money is nothing. Spend it on respeccing. Spend it on an epic mount (you need epic mount skill to get your flying mount anyway, so just get it out of the way now). Spend it on mats to level your tradeskills.
DON’T spend it on gear at the AH. Seriously, there’s no need. You’ll find better gear everywhere you go. You’ll constantly be upgrading. Don’t even worry about it. (Note: Unless you want to buy and try out some gems. Though you may end up socketing something you’ll replace a level later, so just keep that in mind. You’d be better off finding a friend who is leveling Jewelcrafting.)
One of the most important things you need to do is run Hellfire Ramparts as soon as you can. Then move on to Blood Furnace as soon as you can. You need to do this for a few reasons. First reason is because at this point you’re probably more used to running 40 man and/or 20 man raid instances. You haven’t run Scholo or Dire Maul in a while, so you need to jump right back into 5 mans and shake off the noobsauce.
Another reason is because you’ll find a lot of nice upgrades in these first two instances. There are weapons like the Hellreaver and Warsong Howling Axe, as well as armor that might last you a while like the Ironsole Clompers and Ironblade Gauntlets. Not to mention all the exp you can get from running instances.
Let’s recap.
- Quests bring you upgrades.
- Quests bring you tons of gold.
- Run the new 5 man instances early to get back in the groove.
- Buy an epic mount if you don’t already have one.
- Don’t let the Fel Reaver step on you. Seriously.
So sharpen your blade, brush off your shield, drink your liquid courage (Nethergarde Bitter would be a good choice, hint hint.), and get your ass into the thick of it as soon as you can.
