Furtive Father Winter Guest Post: An Ode to Leveling Alts

This year, Ababeko of Red Cow Rise hosted the Blog Azeroth Furtive Father Winter event, a secret santa guest posting event. Effy of Effraeti’s RP gifted me with this amazing guest post. Enjoy!

Happy Holidays to everyone, and especially to Windsoar, the recipient of this special Furtive Father Winter Event guest blog!  Also a big Thank You! to Red Cow of Red Cow Rise for organizing the FFW Event and to Blog Azeroth our home away from our blogs and the meeting place of minds to come up with all these wonderful events to keep us motivated.

For those of you who may not be familiar, I am Effy.  I write the blog Effraeti’s RP, which is a conglomeration of short stories, transmogging ideas, roleplaying thoughts, raiding adventures and any other thing that I come up with – usually relating to World of Warcraft, but not always.

I had to do some serious research on Jaded Alt to try and determine someplace where we might overlap in subject matter until I finally circled back to the obvious.  As you might hazard to guess from the title “Jaded Alt,” Windsoar has her very own collection of alts on WoW.

Bingo!  I have lots of alts too!

After reading her post Making a Buck While Leveling Alt No. 2349, I tried her technique myself.  I quickly realized that a heavy schedule of questing and collecting to level did not quite work for me.  (And selling everything?!  *gasp!*  How can I be a packrat without numerous bankalts loaded down with low level mats and gear I will probably never use??)  ><

Windsoar’s idea was great.  I just really wish I could level an alt and actually MAKE money that way, rather than barely breaking even.  Small jaunts of questing are about all I can manage, which probably sounds weird since I am such a lore geek.

So in a sister post to Windsoar’s, here is an Effy guide to leveling alts.  This technique has earned me entirely too many toons over the past six months or so and now it can for you too!

Preparation

The first step to making a new alt is sending them what they will need.  Obviously, this part of the process can be skipped if this toon is being started on a brand new server.

1. Bags – Send at least 4 bags to your new alt.  Being a packrat, I have a tendency to have Journeyman’s Backpacks and the sort hanging around.  These are perfect if you are starting a toon you are not sure you will keep, as they do not bind.  Sometimes you can even find them on the AH pretty cheap.  Otherwise, Netherweave Bags are cheap, and cheap to make if you have lots and lots of Netherweave Cloth hanging around like I always do.
2. Money – I like to start my alts off with about 100g.  Cash is usually slow at the start, even if you pick up and vendor just about everything while doing all the quests.  I always pick up everything, and I usually hit a point early on where I am short money to train a skill or two (especially on a Druid!).
3. Heirlooms – I have a full set of these for anything I might want to level – including two of each trinket, most of the weapons and the Kalu’ak Fishing Derby ring.  The more extra stats, damage, healing, health and experience you have the better.

Creating Your Character

This may seem obvious and unimportant, but I assure you it is not.  Character creation is one of the most important aspects of an alt.  It gives your toon identity and possibly even a story.

1. Pick a Race and Class – This is very important for step 2.  Say you want to level a Rogue.  The race of your Rogue will make a difference in the name you pick.  For this example, let’s make a Worgen Rogue.
2. Pick a Name – Sure, you can use the random name generator, but isn’t it more exciting to be able to give someone a real answer when they ask how you came up with your name?  I like the feeling that my toon’s name means something.  We will continue to use my Worgen Rogue as an example.  His name is Lycaohn, it comes from Greek mythology.  There was a King named Lycaon who was turned into a wolf by Zeus.  Well, Lycaon was unavailable, so I modified it some and have become fond of it in its modified form.
3. Personalize Your Character – This is also important.  Yes, you can change your look in the barber shop, but not everything.  Once you finish creating your character, you cannot change the way their face looks or their skin color.  (Worgens are the one exception – their fur/skin color can be changed at the barber shop, but not their face.)
4. Hit Accept! – Ahh, that satisfying feeling of creating a toon that has your personality added to it.  Even if that alt never logs into the game, at this point you can feel a small amount of accomplishment!

Entering the World of Azeroth

Now that you have a character and possibly some fancy duds and bags and a few gold, it is time to satisfy that young new adventurer’s wanderlust!

1. Check the Mailbox – Once you have hit “Enter World” and have either watched or skipped the race-specific introduction, this should be your first stop.  (Well, you can pick up your first available quest or two.)  Get your bags, your gold and your BoAs.  Also, grab any account-bound non-combat pets you might have waiting there and use one as your mascot to start off!
2. Quest from Level 1 to 13 or 14 – While questing, kill anything that even sort of gets in your way and loot everything.  This is why you have bags!  J  Sell everything grey, mats and rep items either auction or send to a bank alt (cuz honestly, if you are working on toon No. 2350 you likely have a bank alt) and armor, use it if it is an upgrade or sell it.
3. At Level 13 or 14 queue for Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin – Yes, you can queue at Level 10, but I advise against it – especially if you are on a new server where you do not have BoAs.  Because you can almost guarantee 90% of your enemies will have BoAs.  So if you wait until the higher end of the battleground bracket (the brackets being 10-14, 15-19, 20-24, etc.) you will have more hit points and deal more damage, which will make a big difference in your survivability.
4. Pass Your Queue Time Wisely – While you are waiting in queues for BG’s, continue questing or pick up a gathering profession or two and do this while you wait.  Me, personally, while I am waiting in a queue, I am usually reading or writing blog posts or checking out new videos and Podcasts.  Just keep in mind that if you level while in a BG queue, it will remove you and you will have to requeue.
5. When you hit Level 15, queue for your first dungeon – No need to wait on this, the Dungeon Finder will put you in a level-appropriate dungeon.
6. While in the dungeon queue, refer back to Step 4.
7. Say “Hello!” – It may sound silly, but when you get into the dungeon, no matter what your position (Tank, Healer, DPS) give a friendly welcome to everyone.  I have noticed this usually brings a lighter mood to a dungeon and can make people more helpful and cooperative.  (Disclaimer: This is no guarantee, but hey, it is always worth a try!)
8. Pick up all the dungeon quests – Dungeon quests are great experience, and now Vanilla, Burning Crusade and Lich King dungeons all have their respective quests right at the start of the instance.  Convenient!  No more hunting around for the right quest givers and quest lines.
9. Turn in your quests – Once the dungeon and your quests are complete, remember to turn your quests in before you drop group!  This has gotten me too many times for me to not mention.
10. Do dungeons until about Level 17or 18.
11. Then, at Level 17 or 18, queue for BGs again.
12. At Level 20, switch back to dungeons.
13. Rinse and Repeat – Continue this process with each bracket of five levels until Level 80.  During this time it is a good idea to try and get a friend or two (or even random people nearby) to help you complete both the Ring of Blood and the Amphitheater of Anguish.  These are great experience for a small amount of time and effort.  Also, remember to train your riding and flying skills when they become available.
14. At Level 80, switch to questing – The normal Cataclysm dungeons have iLevel requirements.  So it will be quite unlikely that you will be able to jump into them at level 80.  Instead, head to Mount Hyjal and start questing.  You will want Hyjal nearly completed before you hit 85 anyway, so that you can start Molten Front dailies.  (Oh, boy!)  This should take you to about level 82.
15. Work on your Shoulder Inscription – After completing Hyjal, continue your questing journey in Deepholm.  This is another zone you will thank yourself for completing before 85, because you will be that much closer to the rep needed for your Therazane shoulder inscription.  Deepholm also rewards a good deal of Earthern Ring rep, to get you started there.  You should be about Level 84 when done with Deepholm.
16. Work on your Helm Arcanum – Depending on what faction sells your head enchant, see about at least getting to a point where you can wear their tabard in a dungeon.  Otherwise, head to Twilight Highlands.  Twilight Highlands questlines should take you past 85.
17. Crucible of Carnage – As early as you can get a group for it, do this event/quest chain.  As with the previous two, this is great experience, and you get a decent weapon.

Some Final Notes

• Once you are into Cataclysm content and you have the needed iLevel, be sure to queue for each of the dungeons at least once.  Try and pick up the quests (not all are at the entrances like with the older expansions).  Good gear drops there, and you will need it to start heroics at level 85.
• Also, questing will admittedly net you more gold than dungeons and BGs.  So questing from Level 80 to 85 should leave you with some money in your pockets to start gemming, enchanting and reforging your gear.
• At some point, getting Friendly and buying a faction tabard is a good idea for all of the Catacylsm reps.  They all have gear that will help out while leveling and while starting heroics.
• Another good addition to regular the experience-earning methods are holiday events, daily quests (like the fishing and cooking dailies in Stormwind) and taking advantage of your 7 random dungeons per week.

Lycaohn takes a moment’s pause from leveling to wait for Father Winter to bring him something special for Winter Veil.

I hope this Windsoar-inspired alt leveling guide was helpful.  Now you can get to leveling and fill Azeroth with lots of wee adventurers!  J

And a Happy Winter Veil to you all!

~ Effy