Class Specific Leveling Guides: Which Next?
Quick summary for those who've missed the latest news. I'll be releasing the following guides, in this order:
1. Death Knight Leveling Guide 55-60.5 (Alliance)
2. Death Knight Leveling Guide 55-60.5 (Horde)
3. Northrend Leveling Guide 70-75 (Alliance)
4. Northrend Leveling Guide 70-75 (Horde)
5. Northrend Leveling Guide 75-80 (Alliance)
6. Northrend Leveling Guide 75-80 (Horde)
7. Death Knight Leveling Guide 60.5-70 (Alliance)
8. Death Knight Leveling Guide 60.5-70 (Horde)
9. Death Knight Leveling Guide 70-80 (Alliance)
10. Death Knight Leveling Guide 70-80 (Horde)
This will take a while, as you can imagine. I'd say 3 months, hopefully 2. But after that, I'm not sure which class should be next. I will write a class specific guide for every class, I promised that to myself, but I really have no idea in which order to write them, so I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this.
Which class specific guide should I write next and why?
1. Death Knight Leveling Guide 55-60.5 (Alliance)
2. Death Knight Leveling Guide 55-60.5 (Horde)
3. Northrend Leveling Guide 70-75 (Alliance)
4. Northrend Leveling Guide 70-75 (Horde)
5. Northrend Leveling Guide 75-80 (Alliance)
6. Northrend Leveling Guide 75-80 (Horde)
7. Death Knight Leveling Guide 60.5-70 (Alliance)
8. Death Knight Leveling Guide 60.5-70 (Horde)
9. Death Knight Leveling Guide 70-80 (Alliance)
10. Death Knight Leveling Guide 70-80 (Horde)
This will take a while, as you can imagine. I'd say 3 months, hopefully 2. But after that, I'm not sure which class should be next. I will write a class specific guide for every class, I promised that to myself, but I really have no idea in which order to write them, so I'd like to hear everyone's opinion on this.
Which class specific guide should I write next and why?
Posts
With the all the changes, I'd say Warrior and/or Paladin guides
Something relatively easy to level; a rogue or a hunter, maybe.
Ziah wrote:
I would say the first 2 class guides should be rogue and then druid.
having leveled 2 rogues and 1 druid with the guides I was always behind due to the fact I could just stealth in to a place to take an item without having to kill any mobs.
The non stealthing characters cant get by so they get 10-20 kills woth of xp in addition to a quest item. sure stealthis can just kill mobs anyway but that takes the fun out of it Smiling
These 2 classes suffer for their special gift. Al the other classes can run the guides without much change but rogues and druids must always play "catch up"
Rob wrote:
"To make it fair, I think you should go in alphabetical order. I assume you have written the guide for Death Knight, so next would be Druid, after that, Mage, and so on."
There are a few ways to do it:
1. You can try it by the most confusing, or hardest to level, class, which I would say Druid.
2. You can try it by the most used class, which is probably warrior, paladin, rogue, mage, and so on.
3. You can try it by alphebetical order: Death Knight, Druid, Mage, and so on.
I would probably choose option 3 because it would also be option 1, because druid is right after death knight. So, basically, it's either 3 or 2.
Rather than the most common class, I would take the least played class and write a guide for it. Having a solid leveling guide may bring people to that class and further balance things out in the game.
Quite a few smart comments already, keep 'em coming please :)
Having leveled 2 classes with your guides, I personally feel like a class guide for every class is overkill. Death Knight I can understand because they're unique, but for all the other classes, anything more than a spec recommendation is unnecessary. In fact, finding the correct spell rotation is one of the more fun parts of the game. I would prefer you went back to making some of your superb instance guides. And maybe this is me being selfish, but I think some level 80 guides would be great. A guide for gearing up for Naxx, a guide for making gold, a guide for different factions, etc. The majority of players are 70 (and will be 80), so guides for level 80 will be used by more people, and better appreciated.
Of course, since you are making these guides for fun and releasing them for free, anything you release is great. As everyone says, your guides made my WoW experience 100x better.
Healer or Tank, it is what will most be wanted/asked for/needed in groups...
though with the DK there may be many tanks but still it is still something asked for when grouping.
The Reputation Guides or money guides I put abouve class guides...but Healers and Tanks would be good.
I would like Class guides Lv 1-21 and then missions needed for equipment or such that are nice, but please don't make it too much different then your 1-70~80 guide.
Hmm, now I'm wondering :P
Well, I think I'll put up a poll on the site and see what people prefer first, class level guides, instance guides, level 80 money making guide, level 80 gearing up guide, etc.
Thanks everyone for your comments, they really helped.
What ever you do make the Hunter guide last... we don't need any more huntards who can't manage their pets. Make the least played class first.
However, I agree with the idea to make more 80's guides first. Maybe some rep guides ... would be super useful... best/fastest way to build rep with a given group or organization.
A gold/farming guide would be super sweet.
For class guides you should used your main guides as the backbone and then just have a "mage supplement". In the main guide just have note "Mages see supplement point #" then the mage goes to the supplement and the given number gives his class specific advice/info.
this would save you a ton of time and have the same end result.
--Bill
Hey Jame, this is a tricky decision.
It's SURE that everyone would like to see their favourite class' guide before others, so you will see tons of differnet posts. A poll is the most wise decision you could do but I suggest ya to make a own decision. You have leveled a quite huge number of classes, and you should know the different shapes of every class.
You can also do a kind of /roll for the class :P Or just pick the first and the last in alphabetical oder!
MY only hint is that you could publish 2 class specific guides at a time, in this way more users will be happy! You could also make a dps-class guide and a healer-class guide, such as rogue-priest and then mage-warlock ... To sum up, try to be fair!
Bye and good job!
In response to bill's comment about no huntard guide, perhaps that's what is needed. If more hunters learned how to properly play their class, maybe they wouldn't get such a bad rap.
I agree about hunters, they deserve to have a guide too.
@Jame: I have thought a lot about the question, and I came with one thing: more than class leveling guides, people often needs class mastering guides. By Mastering I mean guides where people learn to play their role at max level in dungeons or pvp. I.E. : priest healing guide, prot pala tanking guide and so on. I say this because since the dawn of time everyone used your guides without having problems, only a little. Maybe I don't remind but more than guides you can think about class "tips" to use during the guide, such as talent builds, tactics for encounters and spell rotations to max the dps!
Great suggestions guys. I'm taking notes and will take everything into account when I write guides in the future, so your feedback is much appreciated and will help us make wow-pro the place with the best guides around.
Keep those comments coming ;)
Okay, please not a hunter guide, after all there is already a well known one of them, and they are the easiest class to play.
I agree with previous comments a druid or rogue would be good as it is a completely different playstyle.
Forget about fair or most wanted :P
First off, I really have to disagree with anyone who has suggested a leveling guide for either healers or tanks simply because leveling is generally a solo grind where each class should be spec'ed for the greatest amount of DPS humanly possible. A leveling guide for healers or tanks would simply be refer to the instance guides and use each one to a specified level. Though, I would love to see some more of your instance guides...
Also, while each class is different to some degree, only classes that can level in different ways should be covered. e.g. AoE grinding for mages and (possibly) for paladins. A seperate guide for stealthies would also be good, but for most classes, a single guide should be all that is needed.
As to the comments about mastering guides, there are already multiple places on the internet devoted to the mechanics of each class that will bluntly tell you how to play your class. While this could be a good idea if you can make it even more painfully clear than the other sites do, I feel that it would be more like reinventing the wheel than adding anything to the collective WoW knowledge already available.
I would be most interested to see a guide that incorporates both gearing up and reputation grinding, since the act of gearing up intelligently can also yield a great amount of reputation in the process. This would be a rather painstaking process as some classes have 3 or even 4 different possible sets of gear to collect.
In any case, keep up the incredible work. I can't wait to see your new WotLK leveling guides.
Hey Jame
I think you do a really great job on your guides, however I do not think class guides are needed, the leveling guide alone is EASILY good enough.
What I think you should focus is on a wotlk guide.
If you don't have a beta key, I can provide you with one, if you wanted to start checking out the quests in order to write a review!
Thanks
Each Class has different challenges and strengths. For example my demon warlock who was breezing through before got to the Outlands with gear that ranged from Lv 32~Lv55, I kid you not, most of my stuff was under 40, it was instance gear but still 30s.
Neadless to say, getting there was a shock, and it took 2 levels till I had any confidence in anything in the guide…that changed within 3 levels.
Each class has it’s things, and I can see where it would be a good idea to use a different talent build for 10 levels or so, or what missions you need for gear.
But looking at a few of the changes on the public test server.
I have a different idea…
Guides based on location with ratings for Level, Class and Professions.
In essence a guide for the location.
They could have the circuits, with notes on what to buy from whom for what.
What would this do???
It would tell me this zone is 40-50 and 3 stars for leveling 2 stars for rouges…but 5 for mages and cloth work 1 star for skinning 1 star for cooking 2 for mining 4 for herbs…notable drops are this receipts and that. Circuits with best gear are X, and Y.
This would allow people to deviate from the main guide with an eye on specifics.
Anyway, I don’t know what is best or what interests you most…just thinking as I am writing.
Just a random idea that the more I think about the less sure I am about it…but I have not come up with a reason against it.
Leveling I think you have down pretty well...it is the other things that are missing, but lucky for me, and thanks to you, I can always catch up on other things cause it is easier to do at Lv 70 :-P
I get very frustrated when I work on leveling up a Nightelf druid because all the leveling guides focus more on Eastern Kingdom areas for levels 13 and up. I have found that combining Bloodmyst Isle with Darkshore & Ashenvale after leaving the starting zone is very beneficial to these druids. Having played a Tauren druid the Barrens and later Thousand Needles is a piece of cake by comparison. If you, Jame or one of your colleagues could suggest - or create - a good guide for all levels specific to Nightelf druids I would be oh, so happy!
Thanks everyone again for your comments.
@Zach You raise very good points, and I will probably postpone my class specific guides in favor of level 80 gearing up guides / reputation guides / instance guides.
@James "404"
I already have a beta account and already am working on wotlk leveling guides :P
Imho class specific leveling guides are not that important. While classes have different "omg, it's so easy" phases, the general levelling process is pretty much the same. And even in a levelling guide a little room for improvisation and choices should be left so people learn their classes.
I think alternate leveling paths would be more interesting. E.g. in Wotlk you have two different possible starting areas, so I'd like to have the option to choose one. In the old content many guides left out Hillsbrad Foothills, but I always did it because somehow I like the area.
Gear guides might also be helpful although they require pretty good class knowledge and often class-specific sites (like shadowpanther.net for rogues) are preferable. wow-loot.com should also not be forgotten. Guess you'll just have to see if the advantage the reader can have over those sites is worth the efford.
But your work is highly appreciated :)
When you do guides, please do not forget healing specs. In any dungeon/raid a healer is very important. It is really difficult to find a good guide for healers. In fact it is difficult to find healers.
I'd like to see a Healer or Tank levelling guide to be first cab off the rank. I find these the most slow/frustrating/boring classes to level, but are highly sought after in end-game. I also quite enjoy playing these classes in instances, but I've never had the patience to level one to the end.
I have to agree with the comment from Michael and Paxx. Doing other areas would be a good idea. Therefore you have an extra vote for the idea of doing area specific guides. Under each area you can have a guide for quests, a guide for professions, and more.
I'm not sure I understand why a tank/healer leveling guide would be useful.
I see no reason to level any class with a tank/healer spec, when you can simply spec DPS and then re-spec to your tank/healer spec when you reach max level.
For example, If I were to write a warrior leveling guide, I'd write it for an Arms/Fury spec. Once you reach level 80 you can respec to full protection if you please and there will be no problem with that. But leveling all the way as prot spec would be madness.
Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding, but if I'm not, there is no such thing as healer/tank leveling guides :P
If by healer/tank leveling guides you simply meant leveling guides for classes who can tank or heal at level 80 (Priest, Shaman, Druid, Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight), then ignore the above :P
James,
for tank/healer specific guides, I took it more to mean a "best way to play" type guide more then a leveling guide. i.e. what talents are best for a shaman healer. what gear is best. how to use various skills in combination for max effect. maybe even advice on useful macros.
Having said that that I can find tons of guides already on the web which cover all of these areas. many will be out of date with WotLK, but I'm sure dozens of people will be out to update the guides after the release of the update.
I would much rather see guides on:
1) leveling (getting to 80)
2) Instance guides
3) Reputation guides (best way to get rep with a given group)
4) advice on gold guides (farming, professions, etc...)
5) the achievement guides would also be great.
I get you now, makes perfect sense :)
I'm not talking about leveling the caracther. I also agree 100% about re-spec before/after a dungeon. However, when you recommend to do a dungeon it would be good to see a spec for healing (+ a few tips on healing at this level). In dungeons you will always have a different role. For example a Paladin/Shaman can tank/DPS/support/heal. It would be good to get tips on how to perform better in each of these.