A year and a half ago I wrote a two post guide to get ready for Cataclysm, one from a point of what to do for existing characters and another for new characters. Catacylsm was a much different expansion than what Mists of Pandaria will be. As such, this time around I’m keeping my suggestions to a single post.
1. Clean Up Your Bank
Prior to an expansion is the best time to clean up your bank and bags. If you’re like me, you have at least one toon that has items in their bank that may you go “why is that there???” Using myself as an example, Saintvache had half a dozen mail pieces from Northrend in his main bank storage. I had hung on to it in order to disenchant when my skill was high enough, and then got so busy I forgot. Better to do it now than when Mists launched, and Void Storage is a godsend we didn’t have heading into the current expansion.
2. Don’t Respec
You can respec now, but as the expansion comes…don’t waste your time or gold on it. The talent *ahem* tree is vastly overhauled come Mists. Your talents are going to be reset because half of them are going to be gone.
3. Server Transfers
Some people like Feats of Strength and more importantly “server firsts.” If that matters to you, I’d suggest transferring to a low-population one to increase your chances. From a different approach, if you happen to be on a server where queue times exist just think how much worse they’re going to be when the expansion hits. Amidst all of the chaos you can be assured character transfers won’t be as high of a priority for Blizzard at that time.
4. Achievements
Much like Catalcysm, you can expect dungeons and achievements to change and even be removed. If there is something you really, really want…you might be best served to do it now (Scholomance and Scarlet Monastery come to mind)
5. Cha-chinga
Gold. I’ll talk about the Black Market Auction House at a later time, but the fact is there’s a bonafide money sink coming. And technically there could be lots of them. Hard to say. Plus, you never know what you’re going to want to buy, so taking the time to get the money now isn’t a bad idea.
6. What Do You Plan To Do At Launch?
This is a no-brainer to some people, but not everyone. Are you going full tilt into the questing? Perhaps a new Panda or even just a new Monk is what you’ll be signing on for. Or, you recognize the awesome return you get on raw materials when a new expansion arrives and you want to just farm farm farm for profit. Regardless, it doesn’t hurt to think it through now.
7. Bookmark Your Name(s)
Whether you plan to make a Monk from the existing races, or you’ve got plans for a fuzzy new Panda, if you have a name in mind then roll a character now and bookmark said name. I always use my Worgen Warrior as an example. The day Cataclysm was announced, I rolled a Draenei named Horrux and hung on to it with all my life.
8. Server Space
We’re getting a whole extra character slot with Mists of Pandaria, which could be enough for some and not even close to helpful for others. Determine where you fit in all that and whether you need to delete that level 3 Forsaken Rogue that you’ve not logged into since Wrath so that you can have a Panda Warrior and a new Monk on your main server.
9. How Will Your Character React?
This is for the roleplayers, for the most part. New lands and a new race means new opportunity. It doesn’t hurt to ponder the possibilities now.
10. Stop And Smell The Roses
As with every expansion, take the time to experience all the new things you do in Mists of Pandaria. Far too often we burn through the race to get to the finish line that we turn around after and go “I missed all that?” Perhaps not the whole time, but here and there just take in everything rather than having it as just a backdrop to 90.
Not exactly ten things I hate about you, but a convenient list of ten things to keep in mind as the expansion approaches. As I said heading into Cataclysm, a new expansion is like being the kid in a candy store and thinking about what might be the sweetest to try first isn’t necessarily a bad idea.
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Alongside #4, try to farm up anything that might be removed in Mists. I don’t believe this is quite as much as issue as it was going into Cata, since three-quarters of the game isn’t being revamped, but still something to think about.
Me? I’ve been farming Scholo for the Sawbones shirt and five-piece set – Cadavarous for my rogue – that drops there. I’ve avoided playing much of the beta; I’m not 100% sure whether those items are still on the loot tables, but figure better safe than sorry.
Very sound advice as well. Scholo and Scarlet Monastery are the only major changes I’m expecting…oh and as I posted many weeks back, Oggleflint will be gone from Ragefire Chasm so his Mace might have some value if it goes with him.
Just remembered, SM, Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade is on my list as well. For me at least, it’s drops as often as Rivendare’s mount, ie never.
I’ve got it on my Rogue, and that’s it. That was on her first trip in there, no less. Otherwise I think I’ve seen it one other time while going in as Alliance and twice Horde side. I wish you the best of luck!
It’s hard to decide what to delete, first thing will be my pvp set, less belt as that tends to match a lot of things. I do like to take my time when levelling though, esp. exploring all the new areas. Even though I levelled through the first two areas of the beta, they’v made so many changes to the terrain, mobs, etc that it should still feel new enough when it goes live for me.
#6- I’ve found that the way I go into a new expansion have slowly changed over the years. lol, no two are alike. For now, I’m thinking my main will dig in with questing and farming. Then there’ll be yet another new alt to play with 🙂
Preperations: mostly farming many raw materials for day 1 AH. Must be ready for #5! Having done it myself in past expansions, I’ve seen a good amount of people changing professions and needing raw mats for quick leveling. So I hope to improve my coin sack this way.
As well you get the non-gathering profession people who want to try for server first and will pay through the nose for mats (plus they know they can make a mint by being the early ones to offer certain recipes to the masses.
#1) I really need to do that, but oh, dear, it’s going to be such a chore! I feel like I’ve been doing better about not being such a packrat IRL, but I’m still a terrible hoarder in-game.
#2) Heh, good point. At this point, it’s not worth the bother unless you’re still doing progression raiding and need to tweak your spec to get down the next hard mode.
#3) Working on that! I’ll probably get my alt guild to level 2 this week, and then I can server-transfer it as soon as mini-Kam hits 85.
#4) Sadly, my Warlock is too high level to queue for Scarlet Monastery: Library anymore, and not high enough to solo it… so she’s really hoping that the classic items of old SM boss loot — such as the Robe of Doan, Mantle of Doan, and Whitemane’s Chapeau — will still be available in new SM — perhaps as part of the loot table of the first couple of new bosses, the way the classic items of old SFK boss loot still drop from Baron Ashbury in new SFK?
#5) Will there be things on the Black Market that I want? Probably. Will I have enough money to spend on them? Probably not. Oh well.
#6) I’ve been thinking about this one. I’ll want to level to 90 with BTH, of course. That’s probably what I’ll do first. Then, I’ve been thinking that I’ll start my Tauren and Blood Elf Monks before I start my Pandaren Mage and Shaman because I expect that the crowds of new Monks in old world areas will be somewhat smaller than the crowds of new Pandaren on the Wandering Isle.
#7) I’ve had my Pandaren names bookmarked since the new expansion was announced. Even then, I couldn’t get the name I wanted for my mage — I wanted “kaolin”, the clay used to make porcelain, but that was already taken, so I had to use “Kaoling” instead. I’ve also had names bookmarked for my Monks, but I might end up changing my mind about them.
#8) But but but ALL my alts are valuable right now because they all contribute to my 2012 in 2012 progress! 😛 Well, that, and I already know that I have the server space I’ll need for new alts in Mists because of already having names bookmarked for them. 😉
#9) Okay, this one I really will need to take some time to think about. Some of my characters are still stuck at figuring out how they reacted to the Cataclysm!
#10) BTH and I took a whole week to level from 80 to 85, and I’m glad that we did. We’ll probably take it slow again going from 85 to 90. Still, I’m sure there will be areas, quests, etc that I’ll want to savor more carefully when I go through them again later with my alts.
Great thoughts on each point! Glad I got your juices flowing. As for the Monastery, I’m just afraid we’ll end up in a case like the Defias gear…where I don’t know if it’s GONE, but is’ definitely sparse now.
I can’t save a name for the Monk as I want it on the server with the most money and that’s full, and I don’t have anyone left I want to delete so I’ll just hope for luck! I guess I really should clean out all the junk in the bank but I always think I might need it. I’m much better at throwing out junk irl.
I think slowly leveling Cat and a Monk will be the first thing I’ll do. I have raced to level cap every other expansion, I don’t want to do that again.
Nothing is selling on Cat’s server now, I may have to resort to doing dailies!
I’ll probably do a post about the auction house before the week is up. It’s gotten…interesting.
Just create a free account (you can level to 20 free) and make a toon on your server with the name you want
Very excellent advice.
In other news, I also now have two Monks reserved (without using this idea…but would have)
The thought of spring cleaning before Mists makes me depressed. I hate throwing out stuff. And there are no slots for a panda – not that I’m fussed as I won’t be levelling one. I just want to get out there and quest!
Heh. Soon enough you’ll have your Panda, and new character slot. Again, I wish they would just give us 50 character slots to place where we see fit…