Leveling in 7.3.5

[SDBoxer]

No, I don't have any heirlooms. That's partly what baffles me about this patch. I don't see how anyone can finish these dungeons without heirlooms now. My team is in BoP blues - most within a level or two of my character level - and I cannot put out enough damage to kill bosses with a timer mechanic. There is a boss in Blackfathom Depths - Bathiel. I can't even come close to beating that boss. His self-heal phases come way too quickly for me to burn him down. I wiped on him until my gear broke, and never got him down to more than maybe 50%. I'm running a protection paladin, holy priest, and 3 BM hunters. Every gear slot is a BoP blue, as I've been level-locking and running instances until I got the drops I was after. Now, with this patch, I can't do anything.

I would honestly love to see a video of a group finishing that fight in greens. I don't think it's possible - but maybe I just suck that much.

[SDBoxer]

I can imagine higher-level characters may have it easier - possibly - just because they have more tools at their disposal. But I have no heirlooms (I have maybe 1500 gold total across 5 accounts) and am only level 43. And these instances are freaking brutal - and I can't just gain a level or two and then come back. If I do, they'll have scaled up and will be even harder than they were before. I don't see how new players can do these without being carried by someone else.

Any boss with a timer mechanic is almost unbeatable for me now - because I can't pump out enough damage with only 3 DPS.

[Pocahuntess]

I can imagine higher-level characters may have it easier - possibly - just because they have more tools at their disposal. But I have no heirlooms (I have maybe 1500 gold total across 5 accounts) and am only level 43. And these instances are freaking brutal - and I can't just gain a level or two and then come back. If I do, they'll have scaled up and will be even harder than they were before. I don't see how new players can do these without being carried by someone else.

Any boss with a timer mechanic is almost unbeatable for me now - because I can't pump out enough damage with only 3 DPS.

Why don't you just quest? Do you not like it?

If it's just the difficulty you're having with said boss, well that's part of the fun boxing!

[Boostab]

OK update now its 4 runs per dungeon they are now 86, I am just running Temple of the jade Serpent over and over ;D I also have all Heirlooms but the ring and no rested xp .


(Boosting 3 Dk's with a level 110 Dk )

[MiRai]

Another update without a /played (because I'm too lazy to log back in), but it's safe to assume that it was several hours for only 10 more levels. I would guess that I'm nearing the 20-hour /played mark, and I just hit level 57 earlier today.

I'll just mention a few things (in what has become a wall of text), some in response to other posts (no quotes)...

I forgot about the Bathiel fight in BFD, and next to Aku'mai (the final boss), he was sorta tough. Once I realized that the elementals were healing him, I was just running around blowing them up as I tried to heal my team. It was certainly hectic, but do-able with my comp/setup.

As for Dire Maul, I have been lucky enough to have completed all three of them, at this point.

Warpwood Quarter
Definitely the easiest wing, but none-the-less, slow and boring. The final boss (Alzzin) can do a bit of damage when he is in his wolf form, but other than that, it was just a tiring trek through long and empty passageways. The first pass through here is tolerable due to the 5 quests that are available.

Capital Gardens
In this wing of DM, I always felt that the final boss, Prince Tortheldrin, was one ofthe most difficult because he had a killer knockback and could hit like a truck, but now that boss fights take upwards of 90 seconds, I would say that he is now the easiest boss in there because he doesn't have any difficult mechanics.

Iliyana Ravenoak - She hit like a truck before these changes, and she still hits like a truck. She took me three attempts to get down, and I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do it.

Tendris Warpwood - He has a terrible AoE that hits everyone in melee range. Almost wiped, but survived. Also, you'll want to clear out the big trees before fighting him, since they all come running in after he dies, and you probably won't survive all of that.

Immol'thar - Not really a fun encounter since it relies heavily on RNG. He randomly picks someone in your party to teleport into the air and have them fall. When I killed him, it was only because my healer had not gotten hit with the teleport throughout that entire fight.

Gordok Commons
Captain Kromcrush - FML, this guy was already a very difficult fight before any scaling, and now... There's no doubt that a party will need to be on point to kill this guy. He hits hard, has an AoE fear (I'm 4/5 melee), and calls in two Gordok Reavers to help him. The Reavers have Sunder Armor, which, at this level, drops your armor to zero, and they can do a mortal strike. I would say that CC is necessary, but I only have a single Hex on my Shaman. I almost got him down on my second attempt (38%?), but it was nothing short of wildly flailing around and luck that got me that far.

Luckily, there's a quest in there for an ogre suit that will allow you to bypass him, but if you do that then you do not get the dungeon completion experience at the end because you haven't "killed" that boss, and it shows as incomplete.

The final boss(es), King Gordok and his trusty sidekick Cho'Rush the Observer, were also fairly tough, but only because it seems that these guys do more damage at times than one can realistically heal through with a single healer spamming non-stop heals. If I wasn't a Paladin with a bubble, I'd have a lot more difficulty with some of these encounters.


After probably 2 hours of wrist-slitting Dire Maul dungeons, I got Zul'Farrak, which was a very pleasant experience. It was pretty much the complete opposite of any Dire Maul dungeon, and I was pulling non-stop from start to finish. Pulls obviously weren't as big as pre-7.3.5, but I was definitely pulling much more than I had in probably any previous dungeon up to this point.

The pleasantness of ZF was short-lived, however, as I was treated with Blackrock Depths: Detention Block afterwards. It wasn't as bad as DM, but the first boss, Interrogator Gerstahn, wiped me several times before I got smart and pulled her back into the first wide open room of that small area. She has an AoE fear that she's not afraid to use... repeatedly.

Then, before it was time to eat dinner and relax, I got Sunken Temple. In all honesty, it wasn't too bad outside of Jammal'an the Prophet, who was an absolute nightmare. Perhaps I just don't have a good strategy, or my 4/5 melee-heavy comp is terrible for this fight, but his mind control is absolutely fatal if you find yourself stuck in the grasp of his Earthgrab Totem. This is a fight where I was luckily able to pull it off after two attempts with the tank and healer still alive at the end, and one DPS hanging on by a thread. This was also one of the fights where I was able to use 2-minute cooldowns a second time after blowing them near the start... Not an exciting fight.


Tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be greeted with BRD: Upper City, LBRS, and perhaps something else before finally being able to move into TBC/Wrath content, although I expect to stick mostly to TBC since those dungeons are, on average, smaller and quicker, but it does depend on how unforgiving the mechanics may be. We'll see.

[Pocahuntess]

..Then, before it was time to eat dinner and relax...

Lol! I thought playing wow was relaxing? Thanks for the detailed write up!

[JohnGabriel]

Another update without a /played (because I'm too lazy to log back in), but it's safe to assume that it was several hours for only 10 more levels. I would guess that I'm nearing the 20-hour /played mark, and I just hit level 57 earlier today.

If you still have a team below 60, how about a video request?

Hogger. If he scales up he should put up a good fight.

[MiRai]

If you still have a team below 60, how about a video request?

Hogger. If he scales up he should put up a good fight.

I've been recording a few of the dungeons as I've been leveling, but some were cut short because of repeated wipes or because I thought they'd be long and boring runs (e.g. 40+ minutes of Stratholme live). I also didn't want to sift through a bunch of videos just to find some of the better content, and I also didn't want to saturate any upcoming video(s) with just pre-60 dungeons. I was hoping to get to TBC content today, but I didn't get a chance to play at all because I was working on something. Tomorrow, I should definitely reach TBC content and begin recording more.

[Fat Tire]

This whole change just to time gate unlocking allied races. Player base is currently guinea pigs while they test out leveling frustration in preparation for bfa.

[Pocahuntess]

This whole change just to time gate unlocking allied races. Player base is currently guinea pigs while they test out leveling frustration in preparation for bfa.

This is a very good point! For some reason, I'm not at all excited about allied races as most people seem to be.