60: level up or gear up?

[zenga]

So I dinged 60 with my 5x elemental shaman team by questing. Through RAF i got me a level 60 prot paladin, which I'm gonna use as my main to lead the group. The questing is in fact pretty repetitive (kill x mobs, click here, pick up this one, escort that one, ...) and I was never really in trouble with my shammies, most of the time it was a 1 hit kill. Most of the stuff they wear comes from those quest rewards, and I've also bought some gear on the AH if I could afford it and when t looked like a major upgrade (which turned out to be pretty dumb when I look back: due to the fast leveling with raf it's outdated before you know). So basically their gear is all green with here and there a blue part. For my paladin, I just bought some cheap stuff that looked fine in a merchant store.

As I've only done some brief instance testing (by joining one that was way below my level to take a look around), I'm in doubt what to do. Either keep questing to 80 or gear up first in the instances around my level. Thing is: i still 1 hit kill in outland quests and hardly run in trouble. So for the 'world pve' I don't think i really need the good gear.

But my major concern is: say I rush to 80 with the gear i find, won't I run in big trouble then when I start to instance then? So is it better to gear up now and level only through instances, i.e. keep my gear on par with my level? An other concern is that I have zero experience how to play in an instance ... meaning that i expect a huge & long learning curve when I hit 80.

An idea I had was to quest to 80, then start with the really low level instances and take on the next one each time. And as soon as I get a piece that is better than my gear earned by questing, replace it. Though i think this will be a long and tedious process.

So ... what is wise/smart? Any input appreciated. Oh yeah, in case you didn't notice yet, those are my first wow accounts, so my definition of better gear is not necessarily true.

Thanks in advance
Z

[Khatovar]

Personally, I'd say quest. Do instances once you clear the zone and get the quests for the instances, then move on. Outland gear is going to be very quickly replaced by Northrend gear, and anything that is lacking at 80 can be made up with crafted gear.

[Drommon]

Personally, I'd say quest. Do instances once you clear the zone and get the quests for the instances, then move on. Outland gear is going to be very quickly replaced by Northrend gear, and anything that is lacking at 80 can be made up with crafted gear.

Seconded^

Also when your team hits 80 you can unlock all those NR dailies that can net you a ton of gold.

Drommon

[Jubber]

Yeah quest till you get to northrend then you can mix up questing and instance runs to give you a variety. You can skip a ton of collection quests in outland and only do kill quests and still hit 70 easily. In northrend alot of the collection quests open up chains that you don't really want to miss.
The instance leveling in northrend will help to keep you from slashing your wrists at the number of collection quests there are out there. Northrend instance gear and quest gear will prepare you for the heroics well enough.

[thinus]

My experience with my 5 shaman in leveling from 60-80:

TBC - I quested and used quest green gear till I over-leveled instances by a level or two and then I would do the instances. Its nice as a change of pace and you get the instance quests done which nets you good gear and xp. TBC instances are pretty easy for the most part with the last boss in Ramps probably the most difficult in all the 60-69 instances at the correct level.
I made 70 before I even finished Nagrand I think, so thats Hellfire, Zangramarsh, Terrokar and Nagrand but I didn't skip quests.

WotLK - I found the first instance much harder than the TBC instances. The mobs just seemed to hit much much harder but this was at 71. I just decided to skip the instances and leveled with quests and AV. Made 80 halfway through Grizzly Hills without skipping any quests.

Yes, your gear is going to be crap at 80. If you have the gold you can get a pretty good crafted blue set and if you did all the quests you will have enough rep to buy a decent weapon and shield. Also, if you did a lot of AV then you should be able to afford at least one very good PvP item.

[zenga]

Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. And indeed there is actually a 60-70 part and a 70-80 part, I didn't fully realized/considered that. So gonna get my team to 70 with questing, focussing on getting used to/learn my pally and then gonna go for a quest/instance mix to 80. That seems indeed the best plan.

Getting used to my paladin and actually thinking about how i can use my dps in the best / most efficient way is my goal to 70, even if that takes a bit longer. That will be a nice change for the pretty dumb ranged Lightning bold / chain light kills i did so far.

Have spent the last 2 days with tweaking macro's, spells, UI, key bindings, etc. A boring tasks but i think it will be worth it. And when I end up at 70 I should be ready :P

Thanks again.

[zenga]

Another question: I've read that a resto shaman is a must have in instances. So I do plan to dual spec 1 shaman dps/heal. Given my rather limited skills, will that be enough or is it wise to dual spec a 2nd shaman for when I'm in deep trouble? Note that I don't want to bring in a 3rd class for a long time (like my dedicated 60 priest healer) because it will get too complicated.

[Clone]

1 resto shammy will be fine

[mikekim]

Tbh... I was having the same dilema when I was levelling up my toons. I was all for gearing them up to run content at both 60 and 70, but in the end decided just to keep levelling up to 80. From 60-70 you can pick or choose the quests you want, levelling is easy... 70-80 on the other hand is another proposition. I ran every quest, as this was the only way to ensure that you got the relevant quest chains. I managed to hit 80 with about 2 zones worth of quests left to complete (around 10,000g - spread over a team of 5). Now I'm concentrating on gearing them at 80, using professions to equip them to start on Heroic content. Bottom line... Stick with quest rewards until you get to 80.

[Ualaa]

I would say temporarily shelve the team.

And level additional teams from 1st to 60th.
You have the RAF now.
And 1-60th will be much faster now then later.
The 60-80 will be the same time now or later.

You can boost 4 toons from 1st to 60th, with a semi geared 5th toon in under a week.
Or with 5 toons all leveling together, it should not take you 2 weeks per team.

Having multiple teams at 60th is good...
You can level one group for a while, and then another.
And level up with rested the whole way.

One composition is different from another.
So it keeps the game a lot fresher.
A melee team plays a lot different then a caster team.
A mixed team is different from either.

More toons will get you more granted levels as well.
Even if you're not set on having several sets now.
It will open up doors to you later, when you'd like to try another combination.
Or perhaps add a <insert class> to your existing team.

Once RAF is over, I'd level to 80th, over gear at 60th.
There's likely nothing at 60th, you'd be wearing at 70th.
And nothing from level 70 that is worth having at 80th.
Aside from putting in the bank and remembering how hard something was to get.
Nostalgia is about the only value the level 60 stuff has.