Which class should I roll if I only have a few evenings a week?
Last night a friend who had been away from the game for a long while messaged me with a list of questions. He had come back for Midnight and wanted to start a new character. I answered on voice chat for an hour, then thought the answers might be useful to someone else, so here they are.
Pick the class you like looking at. That sounds childish, but you will stare at its back for hundreds of hours. A ranged class makes dungeon waits shorter in some groups and lets you pull gently, while a tank class tends to find groups fast. Neither is wrong. If you have only a few evenings, choose something with a forgiving rotation so each session feels productive rather than rusty.
What is the point of the level cap being 90 now?
Midnight raised the maximum level to 90, and the whole journey up is built around the new zones and their story. For someone returning, that means a lot of fresh ground to walk. You are not just climbing a ladder, you are being introduced to the setting of the expansion.
My friend asked if there was a way to skip the middle. There are a few ways to change the pace, and I will get to them. But I told him to try at least one zone the slow way before deciding. Players who rush the first stretch often wish they had looked around.
Do dungeons really help while leveling, or is that just advice people repeat?
They help, with a footnote. The group finder puts you in a short dungeon with a party and the run gives gear and experience together. If your queue is short, it is a good use of an evening. If the wait is long, keep questing while you sit in the line so the time is not lost.
The bonus nobody mentions is learning. A leveling dungeon is a gentle place to practice pulls, interrupts and positioning, and you get to do it in front of people who mostly forgive mistakes.
What are delves and are they worth my time?
Delves are short scenarios designed for one player or a small group, with a companion character that follows you around. They are a nice change from the usual quest loop, they are good when you only have forty-five minutes, and they give rewards for your trouble.
I would not tell anyone to level only through them, but a couple of delves a week sprinkled into your questing makes the process feel lighter. They are particularly good for coming back after a long absence because nothing about them demands that you remember your whole class.
Some people pay for a leveling service. Should I look into that?
He asked this in the same breath as all the other questions, which made me smile. It is something that comes up a lot. Players with a packed schedule, or those who already know the zones by heart, sometimes choose WoW Powerleveling so that a new character reaches the cap while they spend their time on other things.
I told him it was one route, not a verdict on how you play. Some people love the climb, some people love the destination, and many love both on different days. What matters is that you end up in the part of the game you enjoy. If that means taking help with the middle, fine. If it means walking every road, also fine.
Is rested experience something I should plan around?
Think of it as a gift, not a schedule. When your character logs out in an inn or another rest area, a bonus builds and pays off later when you come back. If you play in bursts, you will bump into it often. If you play every night, it will matter less.
He asked whether it was worth logging out on purpose to build it. I told him no. Log out when you are tired, not when a number tells you to.
One more small thing on delves: read the tooltips. They are written in plain language and tell you exactly what a given pick will do for the run, which is more than you can say for many other parts of the game.
When do professions start to matter?
Early, but gently. Gathering professions pay back almost immediately because you collect materials while you travel. A crafting profession is useful if you like making gear, and the crafting order system lets other players make items for you, which can patch a hole in your leveling gear without any effort on your part.
Do not worry about every specialization choice yet. Take the basics, and give the rest your attention once the character is closer to the top and you have a better sense of what you want.
What is waiting at the cap that I should care about?
Quite a lot. Patch 12.1 brought the eight-boss raid called Venomous Abyss, and Season 2 of Mythic+ and raiding is underway. There are weekly activities, a gear loop, and groups to find through the same group finder you used to level.
My friend sounded slightly overwhelmed, so I told him the secret: you do not need to understand all of it at once. Reach the cap, pick one thing, and add a second thing next week.
There is also the matter of gear. At the cap you will want to look at what the season offers, and you do not have to chase every piece. A steady pace through dungeons and the raid finder, if you want it, is enough to feel your character grow week by week. Make a short list of what you want first and work from that list.
Anything you would do differently if you started over?
Two things. I would take my time in the first zone, because the setting is the best part of the expansion and I rushed it. And I would join a casual guild earlier. A friendly channel makes dungeons shorter, makes delves less lonely and gives you someone to ask when your questions run out.
He also asked what to do if he got stuck on a boss or a quest. Ask in chat, watch a short guide, and try again after a break. Nobody has ever beaten a hard encounter by getting angrier at it, and a ten-minute walk around town resets the mind faster than another wipe. He said he would try both. I will let you know how it goes.
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