Today's post originates from a quest out of the Badlands: Scrounging. I believe that I've mentioned that I've been leveling a shaman, Zanderfin, with my wife, who's been playing a shadow priest. Being that there's two of us, the "kill x number of mobs" quests are quite easy while the "kill mobs to gather x" quests take at least twice as long. We had been doing a couple of the latter types of quests out in the Badlands such before we got to the Scrounging quest. Because I'm sure they all had the "worst drop rate in the game" for quest items, my wife's patience was wearing a bit thin.
It's really not a bad quest at all. All of the mobs you can kill at one time are all in one place. And the respawn is fast enough that you can keep killing and never stop. And the quest reward of the mail boots was a pretty big upgrade for me. And, like all items at this level, it will soon be replaced with something else.
I got to thinking about loot in general. Yes, the game is all about loot. But how important are items to you? Most leveling items are going to be replaced, so is it important to worry about getting that certain item? Should you go to the AH every time you gain a level to get the latest and greatest items?
You're just going to replace them later, but at the same time, they'll help you to get the next level and level of items faster. On a PVP server, it might mean the difference between getting ganked in STV or you being the one ganking.
Personally, I search for quests that will aid in that gearing up process. I might visit the AH every once and awhile for a new weapon, but usually not much more. (Since I just got dual wield at 40, that was one of the first things I did with my shaman.) I generally don't fixate on an item either. There's almost always an upgrade. Sure, the cloak off of Prince would be a nice upgrade, but there will always be something better. If not in the current game, at least in the expansion. lol. And you obviously need better gear in order to do certain things, like end-game progression, so that's kind of a different story. But what do you do in the leveling up process?
4 comments:
That was me above making correction.
I find loot is only important to me if its a piece of gear i can use to improve my character or make it easier to do my job tanking. When i'm doing quests its targeted at improving a specific gear slot pieces usually and then fun quest second.
That's because that makes sense to me in being efficient in doing quest that give a usable reward vs something i can't use in any way.
Otherwise when i instance i'm tanking and i'm never even first to touch the dead mob to see any loot. What i will always do is after mob been dead on ground a while to ALWAYS pick up all the trash or whatever remains on mob. I'm a Tank, and i never leave any loot on mobs because at the end of that run i always have to pay for my own repair bills and something has to make up for my declining gold reserve with massive repair bills all the time.
So while i don't have a big fixation on loot it pays the bills and pays for my ever spiraling upgrade costs. If i get a few greens or nice drop great. But i dont ever leave gray trash or anything on any mob as long as i have bag space.
When levelling characters I have noticed that up until level 55 or so you can always buy better gear off the AH than you can get from questing. Every 4-6 levels You can hit the AH and get a substantial upgrade over the previous best. It makes a big difference.
Once you hit mid-50's then you can ignore it all, at lvl 58 you can get super huge upgrades. before the expansion, you didn't usually get "keeper" stuff until the early 50's though.
Well... at least I can make a ton of good money (for my level) selling those Stranglethorn Pages in the Neutral Auction House. I think I got 20g one night from just the pages. Granted, that was a few nights' questing, but still... maybe I should visit the AH. :)
I just found your blog today via link from Matticus. Really fun style and content. Thanks for the posts.
For loot, I am very laid back while levelling. My main is level 65, and I'm just starting to get serious about loot. When I first started out, I didnt even know about AH or loot other than vendor gear. When I was in my mid 20's, a friend of mine introduced me to the armory, and then verbally abused me about the equipment I was wearing, as it was basically quest gear or vendor stuff, and for the most part, 10 levels below me.
After she introduced me to gathering profs for income, and AH for gear, I adopted a policy of visiting the AH every 5 levels, and getting whatever upgrades were available. So this still left me with outdated stuff, but not quite as bad. And the policy also saved me from spending too much on what is pretty much disposable gear while you level.
Now, as I approach 70, the gear is getting pretty good. Mostly upgrades via quest rewards. I do get the occasional greenie drop that is a direct upgrade so I equip it. And also the occasional boss drop in instances, but I really seem to have the worst luck when it comes to (A) hunter drops, and (B) hunter drops that I win a roll for.
Post a Comment