Hi, I’m Pike. I was there at the midnight release of Wrath of the Lich King. I installed it when I got home. I took Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off of work. I have been Wrath’ing it up on Tawyn– my main– for a whole week now. Oh, occasionally I will stop to heal an instance or two on the tree, and I’ve messed around on the Death Knight for a few hours, and sometimes I even stop to eat, sleep, go to work, read or watch House with the boyfriend. But for the most part I have been logged into Tawyn pretty consistently every day.
I am level 72.
75% to level 73, though.
I see lots of people who I cannot imagine play too much more than I do who have already hit 80. I am not one of those people. See, I am a notoriously slow leveler. Always have been. I get lost a lot. I spend 45 minutes looking for quest mobs. I’m super inefficient when it comes to quests. A lot of other people can look at their quest log and glean how to stack the quests together and do them in a certain order for maximum efficiency; me, I do ’em one (maaaaaaaybe two) at a time ’cause I’m easily confused and because my bagspace tends to fill up after about 30 minutes so I have to head back to town all the time.
To compound said matters, I do not use Quest-related addons. I really have no interest in QuestHelper, especially because I’m trying to lesson my overall addon usage in these buggy days, and I will admit that I did use Lightheaded for a week or two a while back before realizing that all it was really saving me was the five seconds that it takes to alt+tab and go to my WoWHead search bar in Firefox. I guess all those five seconds add up, but ehhh. I disabled it and don’t really miss it, though it’s always an option to return to.
On top of that, my guild is pretty dang laid-back about this type of thing, so any potential “guild pressure” is, literally, zero. People have been playing alts, playing Death Knights, or casually instancing their way up to 71 or 72.
You know what though? Other than a slight annoyance at myself for being kinda sucky at the whole questing thing, I don’t mind. I’m fine with being slow. I’m fine with being able to savor all the new content nice and slowly. I am super fine with being in a “we will raid! …eventually!” guild. I mean seriously, you all are talking to someone who didn’t step foot into Karazhan until like… March or April of this year. Someone who spent about four months doing the Karazhan key quest line. I’m happy with how things worked out… I’ve got no regrets. I knew a lot of ways I could’ve gotten into heavier raiding that summer, but I chose not to. So it’s not like the doors were all shut on me cause I was slow. I just decided there were other things I’d rather be doing (like, ya know, leveling a second hunter to 70).
Well, I’m off to work now. I’d like to think I’ll hit level 73 tonight. If not, that’s okay. =P
Good for you!! Take your time, and enjoy it.
I haven’t made 71 yet – and I got it midnight release with 5 days off.
I am enjoying the experience of Northrend. I played the immersive DK start. I enjoy exploring slowly. I feel more enjoyment when I do.
Glad to see I’m not the only one!
I’m right there with ya, Pike. I haven’t even begun to quest in Coldlands, but my newest hunter is up to 47!
I’m enjoying taking my time through it too, no shame in that! 🙂
Slow but steady wins the race Pike! I also got my copy at midnight on 11/13 but so far my hunter main Skarlarth is still 71 (80% to 72) and my prot pally Tolecnal, just dinged 71. I started a DK but have not done much, but there is plenty of time for such things… After all I still have 5 other 70s that I will need to level to 80, and now tha DK… oy vay!
I have promised myself to slow down and ejoy this expansion, I feel is missed too much in BC trying to “keep up with the Joneses”
Level up as slow as ya want so long as you’re enjoying it.
Slower it may be, but it’s more important to enjoy the game than play to any prescribed way of playing!
I’ve felt the exact same way. I’d rather enjoy the game then feel as if it needs to be played like there is an end to it. Let others get to 80 and wipe on buggy trash pulls.
http://www.isheepthings.com/blog/at-what-cost/
I’ve been leveling four toons, Tankadin main, Holy Priest, Hunter, and Mage a the same time… My main is about where you are 50% into 72. Taking my time and enjoying the ride.
One thing that I found handy, and is making the process less time consuming is Jame’s Leveling guide. I’m at work, else I’d give you a link…. but you could easily google it. I like it because it does what the ingame mods do without having extra resourses running in game. He has a clear path of where to go and what order to do quests in to save time. Might help? I know I enjoy it.
Otherwise, enjoy the ride
There’s a discussion going on in my guild about using questing add-ons. There are those who live by it, and there are those (like myself) who swear against it. I guess I may be one of those people who can kinda see quests stacking up together.
In my opinion, doing quests in chunks before turning them in makes leveling seem faster because your jumps in XP received every turn-in will be higher. Another option is to finish quest chains first. They’re usually faster to finish than having to run around doing random things.
Slow and heavy swings the club.
Its good that your guild isn’t putting any pressure on you. I coulnt imagine that would be any fun. This is a game. Some enjoy the game, others enjoy being ‘the best’ at the game. The cool part is, we can all enjoy it at the same time in different ways.
Kudos and Godspeed 😉
I dislike questing addons, mainly because I feel they ruin the point of questing. I mean, common, read the text, do some basic reasoning, and do the bloody quest! I rolled my eyes when I noticed that a little gold tab appears on the minimap in the direction of a new town/place if you highlight the quest telling you to go there. Because “go north to X” isn’t obvious enough… >.<
Holy spam Matticus!
I’m going slow too, if you are just buzzing through it then you miss the story. I use to just zip through the quests never reading them (just tell me what to kill… er) but now I’m reading every quests which probably annoys my wife. I like the story in wrath. I don’t see the point in leveling to 80 in 3 days (but my life doesn’t allow me to anyway, can’t ignore the kids and stop going to work).
I’m running about along where you are. I have a druid and a hunter that I’m working up together and both are about 71.1 at the moment. Once school is out I might get in a bit more question time. I’ve been just running around looking at things. On the druid the other night I was diving off the coast and just looking around in the trenches off Borean.
i completely understand this. i’d be higher (i’m this close > < to 75) but i’ve been leveling my DK, who is now 69. many of my friends are already 80.
i feel some sort of odd pressure, though, and i’ve recognized that it comes solely from within – that ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ feeling.
i think it comes also from the fact that i was the first in the guild to get to 70 when BC came out… 🙂
so i’m doing my best to ignore that feeling and spending more time reading quests and trying to get a good feel for the lore!
I understand you very well. I didn’t hit 70 before April. And I’ve had the expansion since the 13th, and I’m 75% to level 72. The highest in my guild is 79, and I think I’ll end up behind again, where it’ll take a long time before I’ll start raiding. But I’m just enjoying myself. I’m slow, always have been, but I’m enjoying myself.
I have spent many hours fishing in Dalaran. I have carefully explored the Howling Fjord, loving the norse names of NPCs and places (and wondering how English-speaking people pronounce the names like Gjalerbron and Halgrind). For my part, Northrend is a lore-fest, and I love it. I can wait a year before I hit 80. ^^
I don’t see leveling as a huge deal, and I’ve always been on the slow side. Half the fun of the game is leveling up. That being said, I hit 73 today. :3 Course, I have two other characters to level as well, but my hunter is getting there first.
There is something amazingly attractive about a woman who admits she does things a certain way “cuz i’m easily confused”. Vulnerability in a WoW blog is sooooo rare. Keep it up! I like to play for 45 minutes at a time running as quickly through quest areas trying to get everything I need “serendipitously”, then hope for question marks to appear on my mini-map. THEN I sit in a safe place and read all the ones that didn’t come easily and try to figure them out without resorting to Thott or WowHead if I can. I did just get Questhelper, though, and the little ant-tracks telling me which way to go really help eliminate undue frustration. Sometimes a certain questline will just get my attention, though, and 2 hours will just fly by while i poke around trying to be a hero. LOVE this game.
@Bristal
You know, my first reaction to your post was “aim your attractions away from my girlfriend! >.>” but after that bit of testosterone induced bluster, I considered your comment further, and I gotta say I agree with you.
Pike manages to speak with authority, without avoiding discussing her flaws or appearing the slightest bit arrogant.
It’s something I could certainly learn from her, and attempt to emulate in my own writing.
Props to you Bristal.
I almost wrote a 2 page long comment on this…
To put it simply, I’m also a slow leveler, and always have been. It took me 3-4 years RL time to get my warrior to 70, and I’m speeding up a bit for Wrath. While you shouldn’t rush too much, you should try and stay at the same pace as your friends. This way you’re never alone for something such as a group quest.
It’s nice to know I’m not the only slow leveller around. 🙂
I really don’t have much problem being slower than almost everyone else, but sometimes other people make jokes at my levelling speed or want me to rush so I can catch up to where they are which can end up leaving me feeling frustrated. Luckily though my closest friends are used to my pace and accept that it’s just how I play.
yeah im lvl 73 with my druid, and instead of feeling slow i actually feel sometimes im going TO fast. With only 7 more lvls till the gear grind comes
(not a bad thing) i somethimes just mull over the fact that once i get him to 80 thats going to be it for quite some time. If i directly parallel to BC it seemed to me i only got in a few zones before i was 70 and now i have all these low lvl quest in places i havent been, sure i want to go there…but the only factor would be to see some lava land or nether land (which i did end up doing some things later on)
Simply put i plan on doing every quest i can find, explore every nook and cranny i can and be complacent and lazy as i was lvling to 60 (anyone else try and “swim around the world” just to see if it could be done..i mean cmon ppl SWIMMING lmao i loved those times)
then when ive had my fun and games ill go and have more fun and games trying to get three (purple as possible) outfits for my DPS cat, Tank and healer
(guess technically to a casual like me healing gear could be balance or “caster” gear as well)
2 thumbs up BTW i think what you do with your time is 100% more interesting then a specific class (such as a lock) being healed by a person not in his party tagging mobs and getting “MAD EXP” (yawn..oo such an accomplishment)
😀 lol <- look happy stuff so that comment didnt look mean or bitter
Hmm… we have a bot spamming this thread, I think
@ Steadfast – no worries, I got WoWInsider’d so I’m getting all the trackback links.
I have my NE boomkin to lvl 72 (hopefully 73 tonight), my tauren druid is almost 71, & havent even started my other 70s yet. I am leveling painfully slow right now, but the thing is, I am enjoying the game. While my guildies are racing each other to 80 & talking about heroics & raids already, I am sight-seeing, leveling my proffs, & yes, reading all the quest text. I may even take a break to play my lvl 40 hunter some more 😉
The point of the game should be to play your style & have fun, not rush thru everything so fast that you can’t remember the journey.
Wow, you guys are something else. Dedicated doesn’t even begin to describe it!
/embrace
I’m right there with you Pike. I’ve always been a slow leveler but I’ve seen more of the zones because of all my running around.
Blizzard has really outdone themselves this time and since I’ve dinged 71 I’ve found it so hard to leave Howling Fjord (I’m so into the wintery Braveheart feel of the place) so that’s my excuse and that’s what I’m sticky to =)
P.S I didn’t even know there was a Karazhan key quest line LOL!
I’m glad to learn I’m not the only slow leveler around!
Games are meant to be enjoyed, and if one spends all their time in that mad dash to get to 80 without, say, stopping to smell the goldclover, once one gets to 80 what is there? So yay on slow leveling 🙂
I’m taking my time leveling my priest if I was going at the momentum I had been I would have already been at level 80 but I’m in no rush. 🙂
I didn’t start using Questhelper until I was well in my 40’s with my first toon and now I cannot imagine not using it. It’s my personal GPS in WOW. 🙂