Hi all,
Having read the positive feedback from the first guide I figured it was time to
supply another. Once again, I'm alliance, so this is alliance. Sorry if you're
an Orc but this will be of limited value although there are some parts that may
be relevant.
We left our hunter freshly dinged at level 30 having done a few quests and an
awful lot of raptor hunting across various parts of the world.
There's is however, a very interesting development you can make use of upon
reaching level 30...
Gnomeregan.
This 30+ Instanced dungeon is an absolute gold mine, the drop rate alone for
items and silk make it well worth many, many trips in just to farm items to pay
for your spells. I love this place so much I still go well into my 40's.
In particular, you should try to get as many quests as you possibly can, you can
get a full break down of all the quests, where they start etc over at
www.thottbot.com
Once you're fully set up, just shout that you're LFG in Ironforge and hope there
are some like minded individuals who'd like to join you. You'll need a full
group to get anywhere worth while inside. There are some specific hot spots that
you will definitely want to make a point of visiting in addition to the quest
challenges:
1. Viscous Fallout - This is a "named" elemental that can be found shortly after
the "Clean Zone" area of the dungeon, he's a level 30 elite and commonly drops
one of three items. "Acidic Walkers" very nice cloth caster boots, the "Toxic
Revenger" an extremely nice Dagger and the awesome "Hydrocane" which no
adventurer should be without. This is a decent caster staff but additionally, it
allows effect: underwater breathing. Seeing the possibilities now? Well you'll
thank me later if you get this, many quests require lengthy times under water,
this cane works in conjunction with your ranged weapon and so effectively does
not impact on your DPS whilst giving you this great bonus. I visited the
elemental 2 times a day until I got this staff and it never leaves my backpack.
2. The Electrocutioner 6000 - A "named" robot boss found on the raised platform
in the first round hall area you come to, the area I believe is called the
"Landing Pad" and is at the bottom of the long ramp that leaves the elementals
chamber. You'll need a decent group to take this guy down but he almost always
drops an item called "Electorcutioners Lag Nut" which is a very nice blue magic
ring. It's unique so you can only have one but it's a very good item for the
level you're able to get it.
3. The Crowd Pummeller - Another "named" robot that can be found overlooking the
bottom of the pit, he stands in the engineering labs and as you reach the bottom
of the ramp from the landing pad he can be found two chambers to the right. He's
a tough robot but again drops a very nice item, the "Automatic Crowd Pummeller"
a 2h mace with great stats but an even better effect that gives a 50% attack
haster for 30s. This can only be used 3 times but is a very nice addition to
anyones raid kit. Whilst a hunter cannot train them, one thing I do know, is
that this baby sold to the vendor for damn near 1g on its own.
Those are the three main sub bosses you'll want to visit on your way to the
bottom to kill the main dungeon boss. I wont go into him as he's covered enough
on Thott as well as in Gnomeregan advice on here. He's a tough fight at 30 so
you'll probably want to be 32/33 before you take him on, he's a 34 elite for the
record tho.
OK So that's the joys of Gnomeregan, even if you have completed all of the
quests in there, this is my recommended place to level right up to about 34/35.
I was still going at 36 but more so for loot than experience. The later half of
the dungeon is filled with level 30/31 elites which give great experience even
at 34.
Once you've hit 34 you have another option available to you. Stranglethorn Vale.
I'll be honest with you, this place is absolutely deadly if you happen to be on
a PVP server as it has 2 major horde used cities in the one map.
The first thing to note about SV, is that as you go South, it gets more and more
dangerous. The alliance camps here are right at the very North where there is a
fairly trivial Rebel Outpost that has some missions, as well as at the very
bottom, in "Booty Bay" a major neutral city that houses both Horde and Alliance
factions. You'll want to be very careful to keep clear of the Wyvern master if
you visit, he'll kill you on site and at this level, you'll last about 4
seconds.
From the rebel outpost, there is a camp to the east called the "Kurzen Compound"
where a number of missions can be completed from the RO. These are important to
complete as they lead to a nice elite quest to bring in Kurzens head, this is a
great quest as the reward is a very nice magic rifle. "Shrapnel something or
other".
Also around this area is a camp named "Nesingwarys Expedition" which is the
start for a length series of hunting quests, set about killing panthers/raptors
and tigers in order to win various prizes. All of the items I got were quite
nice for a hunter though my leatherworking had supplied better in some cases.
If you're a leatherworker this zone is fantastic as you can get good xp hunting
the wildlife right from 28+ (though it's very dangerous at this lvl and GN is
more effective).
Again as you level, move south a bit and kill the next animal range up, if you
are the "Hardcore Grind" type of player, you can actually do nothing but kill
animals in this zone and level from 28/29 right up to 44. Seriously.
The variety of animals is such that you can always be killing even level animals
at a very high rate. Personally I opted for quests simply as these break up the
grind, give loot and generally provide a better playing experience imo.
The main quest lines you'll want to get hold of are:
The Kurzen quests - From the rebel outpost
The Hunting Mastery quests - From Nesingwarys expedition
If on the latter you find at any stage you can't handle the creatures you're
hunting, you can drop back to what you did last until you level, or you can hit
any number of other locations for more appropriate quests.
Between level 30 and 40 you can expect the quests to take significantly longer
to level you and the best outright option for those wanting to hit 40 in the
fastest time possible is to grind. If you want to go this way here's my
recommended mobs:
Level 30-32 Raptors in Arathi Highlands, these can be found all around the town
there called Refuge Pointe.
Level 32-34 Young Panthers/Tigers in Stranglethorn Vale
Level 34-36 Tigers/Panthers/Lashtail Raptors in SV
Level 36-38 Elder Tigers/Panthers in SV
Level 38-40 ShadowMaw Panthers/Elder Mistvale Gorillas
If you can stomach the grind, these creatures give an exceptional amount of
experience per kill per time required. You can take on the ones higher up the
line if you want a challenge and I have everytime found that I can still solo a
creature 3 levels higher than me without any problems. However, killing even
levels or creatures slightly below you is significantly quicker and therefore a
faster means of levelling.
Some additional quests you may want to try in your thirties are:
Arathi Highlands - Stromgarde Missions available from Refuge Pointe. (30-35)
Desolace - Nijels Peak missions (I found these quite tedious but the exp is
good) (30's in general)
Alterac Mountains - Missions from Southshore (34+ recommended)
I'm not going to go into spells, pvp or pve in this guide as it's covered in the
first and very little changes from there to here.
One thing I will cover is mounts.
At about level 35 you really do need to start thinking about not spending too
much money on junk you dont need. If you plan on having your mount at 40, in
addition to spell costs you'll need 18g to learn to ride it, and 72g to buy the
mount.
90g is a huge amount of money at this level. The mount is a good purchase as it
gives a 60% speed increase over aspect of the cheetahs 30%. Great for travelling
and looking cool but ulitmately very expensive.
If you go the grind route in SV you'll loot all manner of green items for sale
in the AH, you'll also raise a lot of cash completing the vast array of quests
in there. Things you can do to make money are:
Sell Leather - heavy/thick leather will fetch a decent price in the AH
Farm Gnomeregan - You can continue to visit here looting good amounts of
wool/silk cloth as well as good items which again, sell well at the AH.
The one tip I would give is dont hang around for it. If you hit 40 and you're
still short, get questing and levelling, no amount of farming gnomeregan or
wherever you choose to go is going to yield better results than getting up in
level and hunting in higher level places. OK so the rest of your group might get
there first but hell, you'll get there soon enough. Aspect of the cheetah makes
the wait for the mount a lot easier.
Happy hunting!
J.
|
