The Leveling Project

I am starting to think having one of each class at 80 on one server before Cataclysm is not something that is going to happen for a few reasons.  One, I do not really have enough time to do all that leveling and two, I am really starting to get burnt out on leveling.  I like to do it sometimes and in some areas but certain spots of leveling are pure hell to put it nicely. 

I think I have become a master at picking and choosing quests.  Things with bad drop rates do not get done, things that require a lot of running around do not get done, etc.  I streamline what I do to make for more effective leveling.  With that said, here is my updated list of characters and levels.

Hunter - Night Elf - Male - Level 80 - Herbalism & Alchemy
Druid - Night Elf - Female - Level 80 - Mining & Jewelcrafting
Priest - Human - Female - Level 80 - Tailoring & Enchanting
Death Knight - Human - Female - Level 80 - Enchanting & Inscription
Shaman - Draenei - Female - Level 76 - Mining & Blacksmith
Rogue - Night Elf - Male - Level 63 - Skinning & Leatherworking
Mage - Gnome - Male - Level 59 - Herbalism & Alchemy
Warrior - Dwarf - Male - Level 52 - Engineering & Undecided
Paladin - Draenei - Female - Level 40 - Skinning & Mining
Warlock - Human - Male - Level 22 - Tailoring & Herbalism (while leveling, will switch to Alchemy at 80)

A few notes now based on where I stand.

My Shaman is one good day questing away from 80.  Yes I know it is 76 but anyone that can not get from 76-80 in 6 hours or less is doing it wrong.  76 to 80 is my favorite leveling time because it really does not feel like leveling.  You do the Nessingwary quests and then do all the quests to open all the phased areas and by the time you are done you opened up everything you needed to and you are 80.  So it feels like you are accomplishing something other then just questing.  That is why I think 76-80 is the easiest questing in all the game outside of 1-5 in the starting area.  Not to mention all those quests are nicely packed together making for economic questing.

The next on my level list is my Rogue, basically half way into BC content at the moment and it will not really take that long to blow through that but I must say I hate, hate is even too nice of a word, leveling a Rogue.  My god whoever got a rogue to 80 without heirloom gear and before the random dungeon finder should get a freaking medal. 

It is like this, attack, attack, attack, wait, wait, attack, wait, wait, attack, wait wait, attack.  Now sit and eat, use a bandage or a potion and do it all over again.  They get beat on the whole time they are waiting on energy to actually do something.  Whoever designed these things really did not want anyone that is not into self abuse to play one.  I guess people who play Rogues are a bit Emo, they like to inflict pain on themselves.  How the hell I made it this far is beyond me. 

I'll finish it however, thank god for the random dungeon finder.  As much as I hate it I will have make liberal use of if while doing the easiest quests otherwise.  I'll let other people carry me to 80 basically.  I do hope it gets better at 80.  Heck, maybe if I read up more on it then it would not be so hard but I really do not find the class interesting either.

Mages are easy enough to level and I can do the dungeon finder with them as well to break the monotony of questing if need be but I will only really do that for gear once in a while.  It is just a matter of when I decide to work on it more for when I will actually start making some progress on it.

My Warrior will be 60 after next weekend, that is my goal.  Not much to it really being I am questing with my refer a friend and even without any bonuses like heirlooms or refer a friend, leveling a tank with an AoE god like a Mage is only a matter of grabbing tons of packs and grinding them down.  Leveling would be stupid easy either way.

Oh my dearest Paladin, one of my oldest characters that was created one night when I could not sleep.  It has went through so many changes at such a young age.  Respecs, talents dropped, picked up and dropped again only to be picked up once more.  I never knew what to make of my Paladin until I decided that it would be the perfect gatherer (next to a druid) so it finally ended up with skinning and mining.  Those where thought out too.  Grab tons of animals, grind them down, skin them.  Land on ore, stun whatever attacks me, mine, then kill.  That will keep those annoying people from stealing my titanium nodes all the time.  I hate when I land, something attacks me and they land behind me and take the node I am fighting for.  The Paladin would effectively stop that from happening.  That is why it is set to gather for those two things.  For herbs, Druids would be best.  No need to drop bird form to pick them.  Wow, that is gatherer over powered to the maximum extent.

Last but not least my baby Warlock.  My pet toting brother in arms. I find leveling a Lock to be quite interesting and I know that for a bit it will also be limited.  Once I hit 30 I am going to have my refer a friend grant him the 30 levels he will have to give to my Lock and make it to 60.  So that will help my quest to having all 80 by saving me 30 levels worth of time and even more so the time consuming 50s that always seem to take forever.

I am leveling my Warlock with Herbalism for the heal over time and to gather some herbs.  My intention is to make it an Alchemist and Tailor however leveling an Alchemist without Herbalism can turn out to be costly and I do not like to waste money.  Not to mention, at least until I get to Northrend so I can make never ending flasks the Herbalism actually helps me more.  I use the heal over time it offers for its huge benefit.  When I need mana, I trade life for mana, pop my heal over time and just keep plugging along.  That is one of the reasons I chose to get herbalism and to gather and collect all the herbs so I could easily level Alchemy later with the heal over time that will really help with leveling until Alchemy gets me the never ending flask.

So will I make it before Cataclysm comes out?  Highly unlikely.  Might have six 80s by then but not 10.

So what will I do once that is all said and done?  Well, I will need another account on that same server if I want to continue.  If anything I want to make another gathering character and a Worgen is perfect for it.  Gives me a chance to make the one race on alliance side I do not have already and being they can be Druids it makes for a perfect Herbalist and Enchanter as a gatherer and grinder. 

The enchanting part is for when I solo dungeons so I can disenchant everything for myself.  So with my Paladin gatherer the Druid would complete the professions I need to gather.  BTW, my other herbalists will be losing herbalism soon anyway so I need the Druid to replace them.  My Hunter will be dropping herbalism for Engineering and my Warlock will be dropping it for Alchemy.  That will leave my Mage as my only Herbalist until I can make the Worgen Druid.  I do hope the rumors are true that Blizzard is going to allow us to "buy" another spot on our servers should we be maxed out to allow us to add the new races.  That would be awesome.

When all is said and done I will have 2 Engineers, one for goblin and one for gnomish, 3 alchemists, a flask, a potion and a transmute master, 2 tailors, one is spellfire now and the other is too young to have decided.  My mage might become my third so I have all three there as well if I do get to add an 11th character to the server and make it an herbalist.  Leatherworking professions do not seem worth it to get all variations and neither do blacksmith so all I will need is one of each.  I planned this out long term a long time ago.  Glad to see it is finally coming closer to being a reality.

Who would have thought that when I started playing I wondered how the hell people had more then one 80 and now I am working on 10, even if only for the professions.  The times have changed for sure.  I am such a profession whore.