The latest expansion in Blizzard’s more than a decade old, all conquering MMORPG World of Warcraft is now out. Battle for Azeroth adds a lot to the game, bringing a significant amount of content to the table. There’s a lot to see and do here, and even for veterans, unpacking everything on offer can be a bit of a tall ask. That’s where we come in with our guide, which walks you through what Battle for Azeroth brings to the table. So without further ado, then…
GETTING STARTED WITH BATTLE FOR AZEROTH
Let’s start with the basics: you need to be at least Level 110 to be able to access the new content in the game, and you have to have completed the War of Thorns. Once this is done, go to Silithus to speak to Magni and collect your first quest.
If you are a new player to the game, you don’t actually have to level all the way up to 110- that’s stupidly daunting, and would make anyone quit long before they got there. No, you get one boost with the World of Warcraft bundle that you can use to level up one character to 110- use that to catch up (unless you actually want to play through the lower levels…)
LEVELING GUIDE
But what if you do want to play through those lower levels? Well, there are still ways to speed up the leveling process. Here are some handy tips you can use:
- Get the Insightful Rubellite. This gem gives you a 5% EXP boost, which can come in handy. You will either need to pick this up from the Auction House, or have a friend make it for you. Speaking of friends…
- Use the Recruit-A-Friend program. What is it? The recruit-a-friend program basically grants a 50% EXP bonus, as long as you and your friend are in the same party, and within 100 in game yards of each other. This works up to Level 90.
- Pick Demon Hunter or Death Knight Classes. These start at Level 98 and 55 respectively, so you’re already way ahead of the pack with these.
- Try getting Heirlooms. They can offer a 5% EXP bonus, and you can stack that for up to a 45% bonus.
Getting to Level 120
Battle for Azeroth increases the level cap in the game to a dizzying 120- which, you may think, is a struggle to get there, but it’s really not that bad. You can basically knock out a healthy chunk by just completing the campaign, and engaging in quests after that will be able to get you to 120 reasonably quickly. Make sure you do get to Level 120, though, because you need to be that to access the end game activities.
UNLOCKING WORLD QUESTS
World Quests, originally introduced in Legion, are basically rotating quests that are scattered all across the map; you want to do these because doing so gets you better gold, resources, loot, and artifact power, which means it’s a way to kit your character out in the strongest possible available gear.
Unlocking them can be a bit of a pain, however:
- Reach Level 120. I already warned you, you need to be Level 120 to access the end game content, that includes the World Quests.
- Reach “Friendly” Status With Your Faction’s Allies: Your rep needs to be “Friendly” with all three factions associated with the new areas you explore in Battle for Azeroth. If you are playing as an Alliance faction, that means you need to focus on Proudmoore Admiralty, Storm’s Wake, and the Order of Embers; for the Horde? Zandalari Empire, Talanji’s Expedition, and the Voldunai. The good news is that reaching “Friendly” doesn’t take too long- a few quests in each zone should be enough.
- Play through the War Campaign. The War Campaign is a secondary campaign you get, and you need to go through this to establish a foothold in each of the three new zones- which, in turn, is something you need to do to be able to unlock World Quests.
UNLOCK THE ALLIED RACES
Unlike in the past, where you got entirely new races, Battle for Azeroth introduces Allied Races, which are like existing races, but off-shoots. It’s easier for Blizzard to handle too, and I guess saves them from having to come up with entirely new quests and areas for entirely new races like they otherwise would have to.
Alliance
- Kul Tiras Humans
- Lightforged Draenei
- Dark Iron Dwarves
- Void Elves
Horde
- Nightborne
- Highmountain Tauren
- Zandalari Trolls
- Mag’har Orcs
To unlock an Allied Race, you need to keep an eye on three things:
- Reputation: Goes without saying, but you want your Rep to be as high as possible with the tribe representing Allied Race you want to play as
- Story: Complete these Race’s stories so you can recruit them
- Recruitment Quests: … I shouldn’t have to explain this one
END GAME CONTENT
Okay, so apart from unlocking the Allied Races, and the World Quests, what else is there to do? As it turns out, quite a bit…
Uldir Raid
- There are four Difficulty Levels for Uldir- LFR, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic. LFR is for anyone who just wants to see the Raid and the story- you don’t need to be well prepared for this, though it’s still harder than all the other content in the game so far, and the rewards you get aren’t as good
- Your average item level for Normal or higher difficulties should be at least 340.
- Completing the Raid on LFR difficulty is actually a very easy (and valid) way of getting gear that can take you up to average item level 340.
Arathi Highlands Warfront
The Arathi Highlands alternate between being under the Alliance or the Horde’s control. If your faction happens to have control of them, completing the 20-man Battle for Stromgarde and the other faction’s Azerite drop gives you Item Level 370 gear drops. Meanwhile, the World Quest to kill 20 of the opposing faction’s NPCs grants an Item Level 340 drop, as do (sometimes) random NPC spawns of the opposing factions.
Other Things To Do
- Do Heroic Dungeons- this helps you get better gear and some Azerite Power as Daily Rewards
- Do all available Follower Missions, for Rep and AP
- Do any available World Quests, especially since you went to the effort of unlocking the damn things
- Continue grinding to increase your Item Level
- Continue grinding for Rep with all factions
- Complete weekly island expeditions- these give you major AP. AP is Azerite Power, and this can be used to…
- Unlock all the traits in your Azerite Armor
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