Wednesday, January 30, 2013

9 things I wish I would've known going into MoP

While I was hoping for a nice round list of ten, it's not happening. Not today. Probably not ever. I have issues with lists of ten. Maybe someone will read this and give me the tenth. Or perhaps they'll see how crappy #3 is and I'll find myself two short of ten. For now, we have nine.

Either way, these bits are pieces of info I believe would be helpful for a player not necessarily new to the game, but new to Pandaria. In no particular order:

1. The importance of the Golden Lotus

I'm referring to the faction, of course. Why are they important? They forbid you access to Shado-Pan and August Celestial dailies until you hit Revered. While I knew this info going into the expansion, several of my guildies did not. There are items, mounts and profession patterns to be had, so it's good to know which factions you should be focusing on.

2. Start your farm at level 85

85 alts wasting away in Orgrimmar? Might as well park them at the farm in Halfhill. You'll be able to start the intro quests and gain access to four plots right away. I've personally found it useful to grow the vegetables my main needs for their +stat food, freeing up my main's plots for Songbell or Enigma seeds.

3. World PvP will happen on PvP servers

One word: Halfhill. Yes, this only applies to certain servers, meaning there are only eight tips for some of you. If you find this upsetting, please forward any complaints to my legal team.

4. Make friends with Gina Mudclaw first

Because once you become best friends with Gina, she'll put a mailbox on your farm. Meaning you no longer have to die trying to use the one in the heart of Halfhill (or you can save time by not having to travel to it if hostiles aren't a threat for you).

5. "Perfect" gem cut stats as good as rare cuts

Bold primordial rubies too expensive on your server? Check for perfect bold pandarian garnets instead. Perfect cuts have a chance to proc when cutting green gems, and the proc rate is close to one out of ten.

6. Profession patterns and the factions that hold them

Several, though not all professions have recipes gated behind faction rep. It's helpful to know who has what. 

Blacksmithing: Honored with the Klaxxi
Enchanting: Revered with the Shado-Pan
Jewelcrafting: Honored to Exalted with Order of the Cloud Serpent (note: for the various mount patterns).
Leatherworking: Honored with the Golden Lotus

7. Start the legendary quest line as soon as you can

For brevity's sake, there's a questline accessible at level 90 that will grant players access to progressively more powerful gear augmentations. Icy Veins has a great rundown. Some of the quest items drop from raid bosses (including LFR) and another leg of the questline has you earning 6000 Valor points. For those of you playing at home who realized, "By golly, that's going to take a minimum of six weeks!," hold up your left hand and hi-five it with your right. Well done, kid.

8. Portal to Pandaria from capital city opens as soon as you take the ride to Pandaria

I was dumb and worried about leaving Pandaria on launch night for fear of not being able to get back. Rest assured, soon as you get to Pandaria, a portal will open up in your capital to jettison you back at will. Locate the hot air balloon in either Orgrimmar or Stormwind and you'll find the portal directly underneath.

9. Buy 372+ greens from NPC vendors

There are vendors scattered throughout Pandaria who will sell green-quality gear with ilvls between 372 for 85s and 408 for 88s. Wowhead commenter Cipri created this handy little table listing the vendors, what gear they sell and their locations.

Anything you would add to the list?


2 comments:

  1. I would like to add about rare spawn hunting while leveling, the experience they give is insane, they drop materials to help with your professions in the little bag, and a nice blue item. Of course I didn't realise this straight away, so would have saved doing a few quests in the long run and got more materials.

    There's your number 10 :D?

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  2. Good point.

    Indeed, there's #10. :)

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