Bosk's Guide to Hitting 70 in Style (15k/16k)
15k Health and 16k Armor 1 Hour After 70.
I rerolled from an Alliance raiding tankadin to a warrior when the time I had available to play WoW got dramatically curtailed due to work pressures. I figured I would do quests and PuGs, but I wanted to be able to have fun with buddies in Kara on quiet nights as soon as possible.
So I made a plan.
Professions: Mining and Engineering.
These two go hand-in-hand. Engineering is the single best profession for a tank, and contrary to popular belief, can be a nice money earner at high levels. I moved between quests on the less direct routes, taking opportunites to mine, without completely going out of my way. All the ore I smelted and sent to a dedicated Bank Alt I had created.
I used Jame's Horde Leveling Guide for the actual levelling.
I knew that I'd need plenty of cash for level 70, and for my two mounts, so I never went to the AH myself. I was levelling so hard and pulling in quest rewards that buying anything seemed inefficient. All green items that wouldn't auction easily, or that didn't vendor highly, were disenchanted for my by a friend. Mats sold pretty nicely and I got my quest rewards enchanted too.
Optional Step: Fishing.
As I said earlier I don't get as much time to play as I'd like. I do however get 20-30 mins to log in over my lunch most days. I levelled Fishing, which in turn let me level Cooking. These two are great earners. Cooked food sells really well, and fishing Pools of Pure Water is simply fishing up gold.
Levelling to 60.
I levelled mostly through quests. I bought my riding skill and mount at 40, and then a rare moment of weakness at the AH, i picked up Edgemaster's Handguards at a really good price. I wore them till 70 and they really helped my Fury spec at that time. Nonetheless my gold reserves were building well, and I knew Outland would help that. At 60 I picked up my epic mount.
Shopping List.
My bank alt had the job of scouting for bargains. There were certain purchases I knew I needed, and others which I'd happily take if I could get a bargain, so I watched the market and bought carefully. I list them all here.
Felsteel Helm
Felsteel Gloves
Felsteel Leggings
Cloak of Eternity
Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer - I got mine through a combination of begging and bartering.
And of course a small pile of Solid Star of Elune. As with the enchanting, I had a friend with Jewelcrafting assist with prospecting ores for me, although most of this was reserved until after I'd finished my engineering grind.
Optional items, depending on your AH and how long you have to pick and choose, include the following, which I bought at really good rates. I'd probably banked well over 4000G by my late 60s.
Band of Impenetrable Defenses - I paid 800G for this.
Darkmoon Card: Vengeance - assembling the cards individually I paid around 1000G for the whole deck.
Outland Quest Items.
There are some must have quest rewards you can get as you level to 70. I list the important rewards I targeted, by their level requirement.
L62 Fearless Girdle
L65 Mark of the Ravenguard
L66 Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves
L68 Grom'tor's Charge
L68 Wind Trader's Band
There is one important item not listed here, as it is not tanking gear, but was very important to my overall plan. Zapthrottle Mote Extractor is available as soon as you get to Outland. I suggest making one as soon as you leave HFP (as there are no motes there to collect). It was a big source of revenue for me as I levelled.
PvP Gear.
There is no sensible way to turn down PvP gear. The shield alone will turn an poorly geared tank into an above average one. The shoulders fill a really awkward slot. I started PvPing at 65, trying to grab the daily if possible, or maybe a single AV each day. Before I hit 70 i had ground the marks and honor (and had waiting in my bank) the following items:
Gladiator's Shield Wall
Gladiator's Plate Shoulders
Gladiator's Plate Chestpiece
Vindicator's Plate Bracers
Engineering.
I knew I'd want to make my Tankatronic Goggles as soon as a nether became a possibility (this was pre-2.4) but I ground engineering in order to make Goblin Rocket Launcher first; its an incredible stamina trinket. I actually made the various parts for the trinket and the goggles as I was levelling Engineering skill, so as not to waste mats.
Final Steps.
I made sure I hit Revered with the Keepers of Time, for the head enchant, and Honored with the Aldor, for the shoulder enchant.
Hitting 70.
I was in SMV when I finally hit 70. I finished off my quest and bought my flying mount. I flew happily back to Shatt'rath and into the bank and equipped the carefully stored gear, and applied my gems and other item buffs.
My final build was 15k health and just shy of 16k armor, avoidance about 38%, BV 174. Warcrafter Gear Link
I then went through Veneratio's fantastic The “I just hit 70″ Tanking Gear Guide to fill in gear slots for different sets, and to prepare me for Karazhan and Heroics. It had taken me about 3-4 months in real time, but only about 14 days in game time. I'd had a lot of fun, and made new friends, and was ready to get into action with some old friends.
I rerolled from an Alliance raiding tankadin to a warrior when the time I had available to play WoW got dramatically curtailed due to work pressures. I figured I would do quests and PuGs, but I wanted to be able to have fun with buddies in Kara on quiet nights as soon as possible.
So I made a plan.
Professions: Mining and Engineering.
These two go hand-in-hand. Engineering is the single best profession for a tank, and contrary to popular belief, can be a nice money earner at high levels. I moved between quests on the less direct routes, taking opportunites to mine, without completely going out of my way. All the ore I smelted and sent to a dedicated Bank Alt I had created.
I used Jame's Horde Leveling Guide for the actual levelling.
I knew that I'd need plenty of cash for level 70, and for my two mounts, so I never went to the AH myself. I was levelling so hard and pulling in quest rewards that buying anything seemed inefficient. All green items that wouldn't auction easily, or that didn't vendor highly, were disenchanted for my by a friend. Mats sold pretty nicely and I got my quest rewards enchanted too.
Optional Step: Fishing.
As I said earlier I don't get as much time to play as I'd like. I do however get 20-30 mins to log in over my lunch most days. I levelled Fishing, which in turn let me level Cooking. These two are great earners. Cooked food sells really well, and fishing Pools of Pure Water is simply fishing up gold.
Levelling to 60.
I levelled mostly through quests. I bought my riding skill and mount at 40, and then a rare moment of weakness at the AH, i picked up Edgemaster's Handguards at a really good price. I wore them till 70 and they really helped my Fury spec at that time. Nonetheless my gold reserves were building well, and I knew Outland would help that. At 60 I picked up my epic mount.
Shopping List.
My bank alt had the job of scouting for bargains. There were certain purchases I knew I needed, and others which I'd happily take if I could get a bargain, so I watched the market and bought carefully. I list them all here.
Felsteel Helm
Felsteel Gloves
Felsteel Leggings
Cloak of Eternity
Gyro-Balanced Khorium Destroyer - I got mine through a combination of begging and bartering.
And of course a small pile of Solid Star of Elune. As with the enchanting, I had a friend with Jewelcrafting assist with prospecting ores for me, although most of this was reserved until after I'd finished my engineering grind.
Optional items, depending on your AH and how long you have to pick and choose, include the following, which I bought at really good rates. I'd probably banked well over 4000G by my late 60s.
Band of Impenetrable Defenses - I paid 800G for this.
Darkmoon Card: Vengeance - assembling the cards individually I paid around 1000G for the whole deck.
Outland Quest Items.
There are some must have quest rewards you can get as you level to 70. I list the important rewards I targeted, by their level requirement.
L62 Fearless Girdle
L65 Mark of the Ravenguard
L66 Flesh Beast's Metal Greaves
L68 Grom'tor's Charge
L68 Wind Trader's Band
There is one important item not listed here, as it is not tanking gear, but was very important to my overall plan. Zapthrottle Mote Extractor is available as soon as you get to Outland. I suggest making one as soon as you leave HFP (as there are no motes there to collect). It was a big source of revenue for me as I levelled.
PvP Gear.
There is no sensible way to turn down PvP gear. The shield alone will turn an poorly geared tank into an above average one. The shoulders fill a really awkward slot. I started PvPing at 65, trying to grab the daily if possible, or maybe a single AV each day. Before I hit 70 i had ground the marks and honor (and had waiting in my bank) the following items:
Gladiator's Shield Wall
Gladiator's Plate Shoulders
Gladiator's Plate Chestpiece
Vindicator's Plate Bracers
Engineering.
I knew I'd want to make my Tankatronic Goggles as soon as a nether became a possibility (this was pre-2.4) but I ground engineering in order to make Goblin Rocket Launcher first; its an incredible stamina trinket. I actually made the various parts for the trinket and the goggles as I was levelling Engineering skill, so as not to waste mats.
Final Steps.
I made sure I hit Revered with the Keepers of Time, for the head enchant, and Honored with the Aldor, for the shoulder enchant.
Hitting 70.
I was in SMV when I finally hit 70. I finished off my quest and bought my flying mount. I flew happily back to Shatt'rath and into the bank and equipped the carefully stored gear, and applied my gems and other item buffs.
My final build was 15k health and just shy of 16k armor, avoidance about 38%, BV 174. Warcrafter Gear Link
I then went through Veneratio's fantastic The “I just hit 70″ Tanking Gear Guide to fill in gear slots for different sets, and to prepare me for Karazhan and Heroics. It had taken me about 3-4 months in real time, but only about 14 days in game time. I'd had a lot of fun, and made new friends, and was ready to get into action with some old friends.
Total Comments 7
Comments
 | Great info here. No, wait, let me rephrase that, great info here... especially the part about parking a bank alt and watching the markets over the course of leveling from 1-70. |
Posted 04-24-2008 at 05:59 AM by Pasucon  |
| | I'm kind of amazed you were able to hit revered without getting 70 first, actually completing all those quests would have pushed me into 70, especially since I hit 70 in BEM on my warrior. (Ran a few instances leveling) I guess if you really wanted to spend the time to grab drops from instances before you got 70, you can enter Kara at 68. Im still kind of unsure if this is a "look what I can do" or "look what you can do", as its similar to a gear guide with a twink spin. |
| Posted 04-24-2008 at 08:33 AM by Bullwrinkle |
| |  I got KoT revered pretty easily actually, one Durnholde and 2x BM on the same day as far as I remember. I was just 'random dps whirlwind the portals' and we didn't have any real problems. Most of my problem with WoW is i get to spend more time thinking about it than playing it! Its also hard to get all the instances you want when you have limited time. |
| Posted 04-24-2008 at 08:41 AM by Bosk |
| | I thought it took at least 3 BM runs, I guess if you picked up a daily or two that'd do it. Yeah, I took my time on my warrior as he was an alt at the time too. Definately good snags off the AH, but with how easy it was to level in BC, I didnt really have the patience to wait around and try to snag all kinds of AH stuff. (The selection wasnt really there the first few months either) |
| Posted 04-24-2008 at 12:03 PM by Bullwrinkle |
| | OK HP/Armor wise that's just darn amazing. Espeically since I've been 70 for a LONG TIME and just barely hit those stats. (Of course S1 Gear didn't exist when I hit 70). The sandbox doesn't list it fully but are you uncritable with the low DEF and decent amount of Resil? |
| Posted 04-24-2008 at 12:22 PM by Trebora |
| | Yes the resilience makes up the shortfall, and tbh I actually felt the benefit on DoTs etc. as well. If my avoidance was craxy low I'd have worried, but around 40% is OK for content (Kara/Heroics). My threat is pretty good too with all the extra crit and hit the gear brought. |
| Posted 04-24-2008 at 02:40 PM by Bosk |
| | Interesting guide. I suffer from exactly what you mention. I spend more time planning and thinking than playing the game sometimes. Like I follow a strict regime of hitting 70 by Nagrand for every alt, so the remaining zones are gold for epic flying mount. Every toon's profession is designed to complement and fill in lacks so I never have to visit the AH. I wonder how different it would be if I decide to level a toon in an entirely different server without resources such as friends and ready cash to help me... |
| Posted 07-14-2008 at 08:19 PM by Elyvern |
Recent Blog Entries by Bosk
- Vendor Time for Old Friends (05-12-2008)
- Bosk's Guide to Hitting 70 in Style (15k/16k) (04-24-2008)
- Strides not Steps (04-22-2008)
- PW:S is badly maligned. (04-16-2008)
- Prince Down (04-15-2008)
