Preparation for the Warlords of Draenor

Level 90 Character Boost
At BlizzCon 2013 it was announced that anyone purchasing the WoD expansion would be entitled to a single character upgrade to level 90. The stated purpose of this was so that new players would be able to experience the latest content without having to level a character from 1 to 90. To accomplish this, there will be a series of quests to help train a new player in the use of their character, much like the training zone that DKs go through.

Recently (1/16) it was announced that, if you pre-purchased either the standard digital edition of WoD (download only) or the Digital Deluxe version (which includes a physical Collector’s Edition), you would be able to get the level-90 character boost at the time of pre-purchase. This would allow you to get familiar with your new character before heading into the expansion. The character upgrade process is currently being tested in the PTR for 5.4.7 but it’s not currently working (2/1). It will be interesting to see what kind of gear is supplied to the new level 90. (Stay tuned).

So probably soon after the release of patch 5.4.7 you will be able to purchase the pre-release of WoD and get your character upgrade (if you want one). Whether the training zone will be available at that time remains to be seen.

Also with the January 16th announcement, Blizzard has indicated that they may allow players to purchase additional character upgrades directly (without purchasing multiple copies of WoD). There’s been a lot of feedback on the Forums about this; many thinking that this is a slippery slope to “pay to win”. That is, if this proves to be a major revenue source for Blizzard, how long would it be before they offer top-level gear and weapons for sale at the in-game store?

So, should you upgrade a character or start a new one and boost it to level 90? If you have a lower-level alt that you enjoy playing and don’t have the time to level it, upgrading the character to level 90 makes a lot of sense. Alternatively, if you’ve always wanted a healer or a tank but never had the time to level one, you can consider creating a new character and instantly boosting it to 90.

Or perhaps you wish you had a couple of more professions to expand your capabilities. It’s not clear yet whether a boosted character will come with level 600 professions or if you would be able to choose which professions you want. Currently in the PTR it looks like only "veteran" characters (level 60+) will get their primary professions and first aid boosted to 600. Leveling a new profession from 1 to 600 can be just as time-consuming as leveling a character from 1 to 90. And, leveling a profession while leveling a character has the advantage that you will be in the proper zones to acquire the materials you need for the profession. The only other choice is the auction house and the mats you need may not be available or may be too expensive.

Update (2/12): I finally had a 1-90 character boost go through on the PTR. My new mage was equipped with a complete set of 483 gear, 150 gold, four Embersilk bags, a hearth stone set to the Golden Lantern and a stack of food, but no professions. My old gear and any stuff that I had in my bags was mailed to me. I was also placed on the Timeless Isle where I guess I'm expected to begin to explore the Isle and to acquire the 496 Timeless Gear Tokens. So it looks like the training zone for the 5.4.7 patch will be the Timeless Isle. This would seem to make a fair amount of sense (except for the lack of professions) since it would allow you to get acquainted with a new character prior to release of WoD.

With 483 gear you will be able to queue for ToT LFRs and Heroic dungeons and scenarios. So things might be exciting when 5.4.7 is first released and there are a bunch of clueless players joining raids, etc.

Your new toon comes with a flight path between the Shrine and the Timeless Isle and Artisan Riding (280% flight speed), but not Master Riding (310% flight speed). And, of course, not enough gold (4750) to buy it.

Questing on the Timeless Isle won't be easy with 483 gear so, if you are considering boosting a character, I would start accumulating the appropriate BoA Timeless Gear Tokens prior to the patch release.

The Patch 5.4.7 PTR currently has a preview of the new PvP Season 15 gear. The new Honor gear will apparently be level 522 and the new Conquest gear will be level 550. The four Celestials will be dropping the 550 PvP gear.

Update (2/18): Well Patch 5.4.7 has now been released and the level 90 character boost is available for purchase from the in-game store for $60. Presumably you can boost as many characters as you want at $60 each. Yet to come is the free one-time character boost if you pre-order WoD. Here's the WoW Insider article. Humm, strange but after the restart the option is no longer there.

Update (2/23): I still don't know if the free character boost to 90 will include any professions once WoD is released. One thing you can do now, however, is to create a DK (there's no longer a 1/realm limit on DKs), get him started on the professions that you want, level him from 55 to 60 and then apply your free character boost. That should boost his professions to 600. Of course I would only do this if you don't have a better use for your free character boost (or if you don't mind spending the $60).

Update (2/26): I created a new DK on the live game, picked up level 1 Tailoring and level 1 Inscription and then leveled him from 55 to 60. I then copied the character to the 5.4.7 PTR and applied the purchased character boost. And it worked! My new level 90 DK got level 600 Tailoring, 600 Inscription and 600 First Aid. What I didn't get was any new patterns. But you can visit the trainers in Stormwind or Pandaria and buy the patterns that you want. Also, unlike the pre-made characters in the PTR, I didn't get any mats for my professions. So, if you're planning on going this route, I would start stockpiling the mats for the patterns you expect to use.

Update (3/10): The paid character boost is back at $60 each.

Update (3/11): The pre-purchase of Warlords of Draenor is now available. $49.99 for the Standard edition or $69.99 for the Digital Deluxe edition which includes a Dread Raven Mount and Dread Hatchling Pet. The release date for WoD is shown as on or before 12/20/2014. Either purchase entitles you to the free one-time character boost to level 90. The character boost is available immediately upon purchase or you can choose to use it at a later time.

Update (4/28): If you're still considering using the character boost just to get two new professions, you might reconsider. Apparently the Garrisons in WoD will allow each of your characters to have access to as many as four additional professions. (See the twitter posts from Mumper).

Heirloom Weapons
The expansion is probably six months away (maybe this summer?). So, should you worry about gearing up for the expansion knowing that the gear that you get now will probably be made obsolete during the first week of leveling in WoD? Sure the better geared you are, the faster the leveling should be but it probably won’t matter that much since the starting zones in WoD will likely be tuned so that even the weakest level 90’s will be able to make progress from the start.

And how about the legendary cloak? I suppose it's still worth pursuing just because it is legendary, and there's still plenty of time to acquire it, but it's likely that you'll replace it while leveling in WoD (that's what happened to my legendary daggers soon after MoP came out). WoD will probably include new legendary quests but it's unlikely that they will build upon the current quest chain since they wouldn't want to force new players to go back to Pandaria.

What definitely is worth obtaining before the WoD release is heirloom weapons. These weapons have a chance of dropping from Garrosh Hellscream in SoO on Flex, Normal or Heroic difficulties (just not LFRs). These weapons, like Hellscream's Cleaver, are heirloom weapons meaning that their attributes will automatically scale as you level from 90 to 100. Also since these are BoA weapons, it makes sense to try for multiple Garrosh kills. Apparently the first of these weapons to drop for you will match your loot specialization. After that the drops will be random and they can perhaps be used by your alts.

Update (5/8): It's been announced that, with the arrival of Patch 6.0, the drop rate of heirloom weapons from Garrosh will increase significantly. In particular, if you haven't gotten an heirloom weapon yet, the drop rate will be 100% on normal difficulty or higher. I take that to mean flex or higher since the current flex difficulty will be called normal in 6.0. When will Patch 6.0 hit? My guess is mid-October to late November.

Update (5/25): Note that for Fury Warriors and Frost DKs, if you want a two-handed weapon, you are better off changing your loot spec to Arms and Unholy respectively. Otherwise you might get a one-handed weapon.

Proving Grounds
It's been announced that, in order to queue for a random heroic WoD dungeon, you will need a Silver Proving Grounds Medal for the specific role that you're queuing for. This would appear to be an effort to make sure that a random group of players is qualified to run the heroic content. Note that you won't need the Silver Medal if you form your own group and proceed directly to the dungeon. They also announced that there will be some changes to the proving grounds in WoD but, there's a chance at least, that you can get your Silver Medal prior to the release of the expansion and that it will be usable for the WoD heroic dungeon queue. Note too that the achievement is currently account wide so it may only be necessary to do it on one toon; however, you will still need a separate achievement for each role.

They've also proposed the elimination of valor points in WoD. If that turns out to be the case, then the primary reason for running the heroic dungeons will be for the better gear that drops and not a quick method of farming valor which is often the case today.

Item Upgrading
It's been announced that Item Upgrading is going away with the release of Patch 6.0 which is scheduled sometime prior to the expansion. So if you have any gear that still needs upgrading and you have the valor points available, do it before the patch release. Also the rumor is that Valor Points will be removed in Warlords of Draenor, so use 'em or lose 'em.

Update (5/4): From an interview with Ion Hazzikostas, it would appear that Valor isn't going away in WoD but rather, it will behave more like Justice Points. That is, there will be a Valor Vendor who will sell things like Heirloom gear. So there will be little point in grinding for 1000 valor each week (YEAH!). In the same interview, Ion mentioned that the equivalent of warforged seals will drop one at a time as quest rewards (limited to 3 per week).

Good point on Heirloom weapons. Hopefully we can get to Hellscream on Flex sooner rather than later, and knock him down on normal eventually.