10 days free trial NOT

[SF]

I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)
SF

[Urbin]

Post by SF
I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)

I just got that mail and am actually considering giving it a whirl just to
see what it's like. I wasn't going to spend the money to buy the expansion
only to play it briefly. But if those free 10 days include the game and the
game time, I might actually give it a go! Now I need to find a conference to
send the wife to ;-)

Cheers
Urbin

[SF]

Post by Urbin

Post by SF
I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)

I just got that mail and am actually considering giving it a whirl just to
see what it's like. I wasn't going to spend the money to buy the expansion
only to play it briefly. But if those free 10 days include the game and the
game time, I might actually give it a go! Now I need to find a conference to
send the wife to ;-)
Cheers
Urbin

yeh why not, risk free. Tell us what you think about it after your done
SF

[Catriona R]

Post by Urbin

Post by SF
I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)

I just got that mail and am actually considering giving it a whirl just to
see what it's like. I wasn't going to spend the money to buy the expansion
only to play it briefly. But if those free 10 days include the game and the
game time, I might actually give it a go! Now I need to find a conference to
send the wife to ;-)

Go for it! 10 days is plenty of time to see the levelling zones (which
are fantastic) and short enough that you won't get to spend much time
at 100 and get bored ;-)

[Urbin]

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin

Post by SF
I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)

I just got that mail and am actually considering giving it a whirl just to
see what it's like. I wasn't going to spend the money to buy the expansion
only to play it briefly. But if those free 10 days include the game and the
game time, I might actually give it a go! Now I need to find a conference to
send the wife to ;-)

Go for it! 10 days is plenty of time to see the levelling zones (which
are fantastic) and short enough that you won't get to spend much time
at 100 and get bored ;-)
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

So basically what I get is a chance to play my level 90 character for 10
days without getting above level 90. If I understood past conversations in
here correctly my garrison is greatly tied to levelling up and being stuck
at level 90 will limit me severely in building up my garrison (which seems
to be one of the major new parts of this expansion)? Also, I guess my stats
will remain tied at level 91 so I won't be able to visit more than a couple
of zones until I will be too low level to do anything?

I think I'll pass.

Cheers
Urbin

[Catriona R]

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin

Post by SF
I got a mail 10 days free trial. Since my card expired I was happy. Many
days I couldn't play after the release of WOD so I thought nice gesture.
But apparently its not for people who spend money on the game already,
it's only for people who did NOT buy WOD (let alone are paying now to
play it)

I just got that mail and am actually considering giving it a whirl just to
see what it's like. I wasn't going to spend the money to buy the expansion
only to play it briefly. But if those free 10 days include the game and the
game time, I might actually give it a go! Now I need to find a conference to
send the wife to ;-)

Go for it! 10 days is plenty of time to see the levelling zones (which
are fantastic) and short enough that you won't get to spend much time
at 100 and get bored ;-)
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

So basically what I get is a chance to play my level 90 character for 10
days without getting above level 90. If I understood past conversations in
here correctly my garrison is greatly tied to levelling up and being stuck
at level 90 will limit me severely in building up my garrison (which seems
to be one of the major new parts of this expansion)? Also, I guess my stats
will remain tied at level 91 so I won't be able to visit more than a couple
of zones until I will be too low level to do anything?
I think I'll pass.

Ahh, now that sucks, yes, your assumptions are all correct :-( You
could see the garrison, and the first zone, but that's about it, plus
of course if you did too much you'd then run the risk of struggling to
get enough quests to level up when you finally did buy the game.
That's a shame, I can kinda understand the point but still, it's not a
lot of use.

[Urbin]

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

So basically what I get is a chance to play my level 90 character for 10
days without getting above level 90. If I understood past conversations in
here correctly my garrison is greatly tied to levelling up and being stuck
at level 90 will limit me severely in building up my garrison?

Ahh, now that sucks, yes, your assumptions are all correct :-( You
could see the garrison, and the first zone, but that's about it, plus
of course if you did too much you'd then run the risk of struggling to
get enough quests to level up when you finally did buy the game.

Post by Urbin
I think I'll pass.

Well, of course I couldn't resist. I activated my free 10 days tonight and
just spent about 6 hours playing :-)

At the start I found the guided quest line to be a bit too guided for my
taste (the starter area) but once I had built my Garrison and actually got
to freely quest in SMV I quite enjoyed myself. After about 3 hours I hit the
XP cap (1 point below 91), but the console still tells me how much XP I'm
getting. So I'm wondering if this is counted but not awarded and if I might
end up turning 92 or something as soon as I bought the expansion...

So far I've built the barracks and found myself three followers that I have
sent on a few mission. I cannot upgrade my town hall (there is a level
requirement of 93 and some quest requirements on it). For anything else I
lack the plans. Will those be awared based on quest progress? Or are these
drops?

Also, I've had random drops that tought me level 700 Herbalism, First Aid,
Cooking and Archeology. I've raised my herbalism to about 635 and my Arch to
about 625, First Aid just to 604 (cloth drops are rare as always) and
haven't tried cooking yet. I guess I'll get the drop for fishing when I get
around to throw my hook :-)

How do I learn level 700 Alchemy? I haven't seen any trainers yet. Shall
just craft yellow/orange pandaria recipes to hope for a random profession
drop again? Or are there trainers somewhere and if so, where?

I've found and killed about four rares, they drop nice blues, however those
(and the blues from some of the treasures I find) have +Int on them half of
the time despite being labelled as "appropriate for my spec (survival)".
They look more like Shammy gear to my eyes. Is this a bug or intended?

I've got a few green drops that require 91, as well as the bandages and a
quest item drop, so those will probably be of little use to me.

I love how the lumbarjacks at the start of the Garrison quest say "Ready for
work" exactly with the voices from the early (non-wow) Warcraft games ;-)

I have completed the quest achievments for 3 or 4 subzones in SMV and
explored it all (though that caused my one and only death when I walked up
Socretar's Rise to get the FP. Oops, all mobs are "boss" mobs to me :-)

Anyway, I had fun and plan to enjoy the next 9 days, too.

I planned to not buy the expansion but am now debating if it is worth it
just so I can level up during those 10 days (hoping not to loose the free
game time if I do buy). If I don't I guess I'll just quest as far as I can
go at 90.99999 and once I hit a zone that is too high level I'll just resort
to (re-)visiting old content. I'll sleep on it and see.

Cheers
Urbin

[Catriona R]

Post by Urbin
Well, of course I couldn't resist. I activated my free 10 days tonight and
just spent about 6 hours playing :-)

Hehehe :-D

Post by Urbin
At the start I found the guided quest line to be a bit too guided for my
taste (the starter area) but once I had built my Garrison and actually got
to freely quest in SMV I quite enjoyed myself. After about 3 hours I hit the
XP cap (1 point below 91), but the console still tells me how much XP I'm
getting. So I'm wondering if this is counted but not awarded and if I might
end up turning 92 or something as soon as I bought the expansion...

Hmm, that is a good question! Possibly not, but it might, I'm afraid I
don't know. Would be quite handy if it did, as then your completed
quests would count for something and you won't be trying to level
having already done half the quests ;-)

Post by Urbin
So far I've built the barracks and found myself three followers that I have
sent on a few mission. I cannot upgrade my town hall (there is a level
requirement of 93 and some quest requirements on it). For anything else I
lack the plans. Will those be awared based on quest progress? Or are these
drops?

They come from a quest which starts from a random drop, which usually
comes at a particular point in the main questline. I'm afraid I don't
know when, as they changed that system after I did SMV on beta and
I've only levelled Horde characters since; I know exactly when it
drops for them! You'll also be able to upgrade the town hall earlier
than 93, if you reach the right part of the questline; I upgraded at
92 on my warlock alt, for example. Again, I can't tell you which part
that is, they changed it after I last levelled an alliance character
:-)

Post by Urbin
Also, I've had random drops that tought me level 700 Herbalism, First Aid,
Cooking and Archeology. I've raised my herbalism to about 635 and my Arch to
about 625, First Aid just to 604 (cloth drops are rare as always) and
haven't tried cooking yet. I guess I'll get the drop for fishing when I get
around to throw my hook :-)
How do I learn level 700 Alchemy? I haven't seen any trainers yet. Shall
just craft yellow/orange pandaria recipes to hope for a random profession
drop again? Or are there trainers somewhere and if so, where?

You'll learn that at the same time as you get the quest drop for the
building plans: you get a profession-specific drop, complete a short
chain, and get handed plans for the alchemy building plus an item
which teaches you up to 700 skill. You'll also learn some starter
recipes, the rest you can buy in your building (or in Stormshield, the
main alliance town), for tokens, which you can craft one per day (you
learn the recipe when you learn the 700 skill)

Post by Urbin
I've found and killed about four rares, they drop nice blues, however those
(and the blues from some of the treasures I find) have +Int on them half of
the time despite being labelled as "appropriate for my spec (survival)".
They look more like Shammy gear to my eyes. Is this a bug or intended?

Intended; rare drops aren't meant to be set to your spec, it's just
quest rewards and dungeon loot which do that. The loot from rares is
pre-set, always the same, except it can upgrade itself to a higher
quality if you're lucky. Of course as a priest, all my upgrades were
usually on strength gear!

Post by Urbin
I've got a few green drops that require 91, as well as the bandages and a
quest item drop, so those will probably be of little use to me.
I love how the lumbarjacks at the start of the Garrison quest say "Ready for
work" exactly with the voices from the early (non-wow) Warcraft games ;-)

Yep, the Horde peons use the old warcraft peon voices too, love it :-D

Post by Urbin
I have completed the quest achievments for 3 or 4 subzones in SMV and
explored it all (though that caused my one and only death when I walked up
Socretar's Rise to get the FP. Oops, all mobs are "boss" mobs to me :-)

You just found a lvl 100 questing area :-) I suggest you don't go and
find the island to the south of the zone either; it's another lvl 100
area (or, approach *carefully* and stay in the water, can probably
discover it on the map without aggroing stuff!)

Post by Urbin
Anyway, I had fun and plan to enjoy the next 9 days, too.
I planned to not buy the expansion but am now debating if it is worth it
just so I can level up during those 10 days (hoping not to loose the free
game time if I do buy). If I don't I guess I'll just quest as far as I can
go at 90.99999 and once I hit a zone that is too high level I'll just resort
to (re-)visiting old content. I'll sleep on it and see.

Whichever you choose, I'm sure you'll have fun, the levelling content
is absolutely brilliant, I loved it :-) So many familiar names and
faces around (you might not remember him, but Exarch Maladaar who
you've met a few times in Tanaan/SMV was in Auchenai Crypts, for
example :-)), it really brings back the memories, and the rares and
treasure made it very fun gaemplaywise as well.

[Urbin]

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
Well, of course I couldn't resist. I activated my free 10 days tonight and
just spent about 6 hours playing :-)

Hehehe :-D

Post by Urbin
At the start I found the guided quest line to be a bit too guided for my
taste (the starter area) but once I had built my Garrison and actually got
to freely quest in SMV I quite enjoyed myself. After about 3 hours I hit the
XP cap (1 point below 91), but the console still tells me how much XP I'm
getting. So I'm wondering if this is counted but not awarded and if I might
end up turning 92 or something as soon as I bought the expansion...

Hmm, that is a good question! Possibly not, but it might, I'm afraid I
don't know. Would be quite handy if it did, as then your completed
quests would count for something and you won't be trying to level
having already done half the quests ;-)

Ugh. I keep changing my mind about buying the expac or not. Since last night
I've gone back and forth about three times. Anyway, no time to play tonight
and tomorrow night. Might get in a little tomorrow during the day. So I'll
hold off on the decision until saturday :-)

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
So far I've built the barracks and found myself three followers that I have
sent on a few mission. I cannot upgrade my town hall (there is a level
requirement of 93 and some quest requirements on it). For anything else I
lack the plans. Will those be awared based on quest progress? Or are these
drops?

They come from a quest which starts from a random drop, which usually
comes at a particular point in the main questline. I'm afraid I don't
know when

No worries, I'll just quest on then. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't
missing something obvious.

Post by Catriona R
You'll also be able to upgrade the town hall earlier than 93, if you
reach the right part of the questline

Cool, I didn't realise it was OR, I read it as an AND requirement.

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
How do I learn level 700 Alchemy? I haven't seen any trainers yet. Shall
just craft yellow/orange pandaria recipes to hope for a random profession
drop again? Or are there trainers somewhere and if so, where?

You'll learn that at the same time as you get the quest drop for the
building plans: you get a profession-specific drop, complete a short
chain, and get handed plans for the alchemy building plus an item
which teaches you up to 700 skill. You'll also learn some starter
recipes, the rest you can buy in your building (or in Stormshield, the
main alliance town), for tokens, which you can craft one per day (you
learn the recipe when you learn the 700 skill)

Thanks. Another reason to quest on.

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
I have completed the quest achievments for 3 or 4 subzones in SMV and
explored it all (though that caused my one and only death when I walked up
Socretar's Rise to get the FP. Oops, all mobs are "boss" mobs to me :-)

You just found a lvl 100 questing area :-)

So I thought :-)

Post by Catriona R
I suggest you don't go and find the island to the south of the zone
either; it's another lvl 100 area

Hm, I've been on two southern islands and only found level 90-91 mobs
there. I even killed a rare on each. I needed both of those islands for the
explorer achievment. Is there a third island that is lvl 100?

Post by Catriona R
Whichever you choose, I'm sure you'll have fun, the levelling content
is absolutely brilliant, I loved it :-)

Yeah. I wasn't so thrilled with the introductionary quest, but after that it
was great.

Post by Catriona R
So many familiar names and faces around

Yeah, I've kept stumbling over BC names, it really makes it fun to encounter
them again.

I'm not quite sure what the story of the whole expac is. I.e. how come we
have a way to go back into the past Draenor, somehow that seems to have
slipped by me. Not that I mind, though :-)

Anohter thing that amazes me is that I am playing using the vanilla UI,
something I could not have imagined during BC, Wrath or the Shattering.
This is really a testimony to the improved UI!

Cheers
Urbin

[Catriona R]

Post by Urbin
Ugh. I keep changing my mind about buying the expac or not. Since last night
I've gone back and forth about three times. Anyway, no time to play tonight
and tomorrow night. Might get in a little tomorrow during the day. So I'll
hold off on the decision until saturday :-)

Hehe, I'd say the levelling content is worth it, the lvl 100 content
less so, but as you'll not be playing much, that's less relevant to
you anyway, depends if you want to spend that much cash on levelling
content alone. It's very fun while you're still questing through the
zones anyway :-)

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R
You'll also be able to upgrade the town hall earlier than 93, if you
reach the right part of the questline

Cool, I didn't realise it was OR, I read it as an AND requirement.

Yeah, it's not clear in the tooltip at all!

Post by Urbin
Hm, I've been on two southern islands and only found level 90-91 mobs
there. I even killed a rare on each. I needed both of those islands for the
explorer achievment. Is there a third island that is lvl 100?

There is, yes, should be visible on the map as some way out to sea,
south of The Shimmer Moor, not close to an easy bit of the mainland -
I think I know the two islands you found, both are much nearer the
shore :-)

Post by Urbin
I'm not quite sure what the story of the whole expac is. I.e. how come we
have a way to go back into the past Draenor, somehow that seems to have
slipped by me. Not that I mind, though :-)

They failed badly at getting that bit of storyline across in the game,
anyone who didn't read both the book and the short story on the
website has no idea what actually happened. I'll try and give a short
version:

After Siege of Orgrimmar, Garrosh stood trial in Pandaria, however at
the end of the trial, Kairoz (a bronze dragon who we found powerful
stones for on Timeless Isle) built a device which allowed him to
transport Garrosh away to Draenor of the past. I'm not 100% sure of
the grand plan behind this, Wrathion had some involvement too, but
overall, whose idea it was is a bit unclear!

Garrosh then met up with his father, Grom, used a piece of Kairoz's
device to show him visions of what happened in our world, which
convinced him that it was a bad idea to drink the demon blood which
Gul'dan was trying to make everyone drink (to repeat the history of
what happened in our timeline!). The time after that isn't covered,
but it's clear that between them the Hellscreams built up the Iron
Horde, captured Gul'Dan and his lackeys and used them to power the
Dark Portal, which then hooked up to our timeline and they appeared in
the Blasted Lands, and so we reach the start of WoD.

By the way, according to story, there's a big time gap between us
doing the Tanaan intro and the rest of the levelling experience; in
Spires of Arak you can find the diary of a prominent Alliance
character, which states he's been in that location for over a month,
and given he wasn't in Tanaan with us, he presumably arrived later -
there's a few people around the world who are definitely from our
world, not Draenor, it's never quite explained how they got there.
Just assume the garrison took a month or so to build and a bunch of
people arrived through portals while that happened, I guess!

Post by Urbin
Anohter thing that amazes me is that I am playing using the vanilla UI,
something I could not have imagined during BC, Wrath or the Shattering.
This is really a testimony to the improved UI!

Hehe it is indeed, I had no trouble using it on beta at all. I've
always run only minor modifications to the UI, but it's a lot better
than it used to be, my addons are mainly information displays and the
like rather than functional (except VuhDo; I really can't heal without
an addon)

[Urbin]

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
Well, of course I couldn't resist. I activated my free 10 days tonight and
just spent about 6 hours playing :-)

Hehehe :-D

Post by Urbin
At the start I found the guided quest line to be a bit too guided for my
taste (the starter area) but once I had built my Garrison and actually got
to freely quest in SMV I quite enjoyed myself. After about 3 hours I hit the
XP cap (1 point below 91), but the console still tells me how much XP I'm
getting. So I'm wondering if this is counted but not awarded and if I might
end up turning 92 or something as soon as I bought the expansion...

Hmm, that is a good question! Possibly not, but it might, I'm afraid I
don't know. Would be quite handy if it did, as then your completed
quests would count for something and you won't be trying to level
having already done half the quests ;-)

Ugh. I keep changing my mind about buying the expac or not. Since last night
I've gone back and forth about three times. Anyway, no time to play tonight
and tomorrow night. Might get in a little tomorrow during the day. So I'll
hold off on the decision until saturday :-)

After reading all the answers in this thread and after questing on a bit it
became clear very quickly that without the ability to advance to level 91 I
would be stuck in SMV and my Garrison would be stuck as well. So I bit the
bullet and upgraded my account. The moment I logged back in I got the quests
for the alchemy drop and the flight to Stormshield.

So, I'll see the levelling content to 100. Yay!

Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

Cheers
Urbin

[Peter T.]

Post by Urbin
Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

I would go for hunter or lock. If you get addicted you prolly build a
barn and start farming lvl100 elites for savage bloods once youre
lvl100. Also you will be quite squishy if you arent geared with SoO hc
gear that lasts to lvl 96-98. So a pet will be a nice lifesaver while
leveling especially in Gorgrond and Spires of Arak.
Savaged bloods are used for upgrading your crafted epics
(ilvl630->640->655->665).

[Urbin]

Post by Peter T.

Post by Urbin
Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

I would go for hunter or lock.

My main is a hunter. And remember, I have quit WOW and am only back for a 10
day stint to try out the XPAC so gearing up is of absolutely no concern :-)
The only reason to even use it would be for a profession boost.

Cheers
Urbin

[Peter T.]

Post by Urbin
My main is a hunter. And remember, I have quit WOW and am only back for a 10
day stint to try out the XPAC so gearing up is of absolutely no concern :-)
The only reason to even use it would be for a profession boost.

Ah okay. I misunderstood you as I thought you had bought the exp and 1
month. :)

[Catriona R]

Post by Urbin
After reading all the answers in this thread and after questing on a bit it
became clear very quickly that without the ability to advance to level 91 I
would be stuck in SMV and my Garrison would be stuck as well. So I bit the
bullet and upgraded my account. The moment I logged back in I got the quests
for the alchemy drop and the flight to Stormshield.
So, I'll see the levelling content to 100. Yay!

Yay, I'm sure you'll enjoy that, they did a fantastic job on the
levelling zones this time out :-)

Post by Urbin
Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

You can always save it for next time you have some time to play WoW
anyway - I haven't used my boost yet and I've got two, seeing as I
have two accounts! One will be used on a rogue, seeing as blacksmiths
can't open lockbozes any more, and I'm getting a collection of boxes
in the banknow, but I first need to bite the bullet and actually
factionchange my existing 90 rogue (first main, who I never wanted to
change, but I hate his new model, so... :-( ), then I'll boost a
replacement rogue on alliance. Or if my model gets fixed, I'd leave
that rogue alone and boost my lowbie horde rogue instead... decisions!

[Urbin]

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

You can always save it for next time you have some time to play WoW
anyway - I haven't used my boost yet and I've got two, seeing as I
have two accounts! One will be used on a rogue

Yes, that's another thought I had today. From what I hear, having a maxed
out gathering profession is no longer vital, so I was thinking about my
rogue, because it seems there is no way to open lock boxes in garrisons.

Ah well, no rush.

Cheers
Urbin

[unknown]

Post by Urbin

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R

Post by Urbin
Well, of course I couldn't resist. I activated my free 10 days tonight and
just spent about 6 hours playing :-)

Hehehe :-D

Post by Urbin
At the start I found the guided quest line to be a bit too guided for my
taste (the starter area) but once I had built my Garrison and actually got
to freely quest in SMV I quite enjoyed myself. After about 3 hours I hit the
XP cap (1 point below 91), but the console still tells me how much XP I'm
getting. So I'm wondering if this is counted but not awarded and if I might
end up turning 92 or something as soon as I bought the expansion...

Hmm, that is a good question! Possibly not, but it might, I'm afraid I
don't know. Would be quite handy if it did, as then your completed
quests would count for something and you won't be trying to level
having already done half the quests ;-)

Ugh. I keep changing my mind about buying the expac or not. Since last night
I've gone back and forth about three times. Anyway, no time to play tonight
and tomorrow night. Might get in a little tomorrow during the day. So I'll
hold off on the decision until saturday :-)

After reading all the answers in this thread and after questing on a bit it
became clear very quickly that without the ability to advance to level 91 I
would be stuck in SMV and my Garrison would be stuck as well. So I bit the
bullet and upgraded my account. The moment I logged back in I got the quests
for the alchemy drop and the flight to Stormshield.
So, I'll see the levelling content to 100. Yay!
Plus, I'll have to consider which of my characters to upgrade to 100...

90

Post by Urbin
Considering that I won't be playing after the 10 days, I'm not sure. Shall I
upgrade my Warlock so I can level her to 91 for the profession buildings
(tailoring & enchanting)? Or rather one of my low level characters? But if
so, which one? Ah well, there is no rush, I'll first level to 100 on my
main.

I had a boost expire after the subscription expired and account was left
dormant for quite a while. Forgot to use it , not available when I got back.
BUT a check to confirm

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/14507010673
blue post Vrakthris

says these won't expire.

Just in case I would suggest try and use it before the account shuts down.

Getting a char to 60 , assign 2 profs then boost, gives you the
professions boosted to 600 even if they were 1.
New boosts are supposed to run the quests in the start zone to get
abilities.
One way to do it but profs are much easier to level 1-700 in draenor anyway.
At least much less effort than grinding a character from e.g. 20-60 in
your limited time.

[unknown]

Post by Urbin
So far I've built the barracks and found myself three followers that I have
sent on a few mission. I cannot upgrade my town hall (there is a level
requirement of 93 and some quest requirements on it). For anything else I
lack the plans. Will those be awared based on quest progress? Or are these
drops?

Plans are usually quest drops and handins but fairly rigidly level
dependent.
The most efficient way, not the most entertaining or enjoyable, would be
to powerlevel to 100 and cherry pick the upgrade quest lines.
For the first character you wander around a zone doing quests, there is
usually a path but you don't know it.
For the rest , follow the main goal path , grab any skulls you find,
most of the extras reward lines and move on.
Most skulls are fairly easy with just basic timeless gear which is also
close to the free 90 gear. They do tend to have fairly fixed gear and
most is useless per class but do enough and you have gr and upgrades. A
very few really are 3-5 man or have mechanics, most are simple.

At 91 you get the main city with portals, bank, ah and the first gift
bodyguard if you were still on the rails.

Post by Urbin
Also, I've had random drops that tought me level 700 Herbalism, First Aid,
Cooking and Archeology. I've raised my herbalism to about 635 and my Arch to
about 625, First Aid just to 604 (cloth drops are rare as always) and
haven't tried cooking yet. I guess I'll get the drop for fishing when I get
around to throw my hook :-)

I got fishing first time on the first hook on the first character/
I didn't pay attention with the others since they don't fish but there
is a quest for garrison fishing hut that requires some fishing and they
all got it.

Most mats are quite common but garrison will flood them, spending more
than happy-grinding time stockpiling before garrison is top level is a
waste of time. With garrison mats so plentiful you end up ignoring most
mats in the world.

Post by Urbin
How do I learn level 700 Alchemy? I haven't seen any trainers yet. Shall
just craft yellow/orange pandaria recipes to hope for a random profession
drop again? Or are there trainers somewhere and if so, where?

Build an alchemy lab and buy the 'recipe', or get it from a vendor in
ashran, which you get a free flight via quest to at 91 (ish?)
http://www.icy-veins.com/wow/garrison-leveling-alchemy-in-warlords-of-draenor

Many of the lvl upgrade plans you get per 2 level quest line.
You get a chit take it to the vendor in ashran and select what level 2
plan you want. I was levelling 6 more or less in parralel so I wasted
most of the first ones on mines , not knowing the layout or how much
only a couple could provide.
Same thing for most lvl 2 facilities, they don't become really effective
until you have a lvl 100 follower to put in them and a lvl 3 town.

Post by Urbin
I've found and killed about four rares, they drop nice blues, however those
(and the blues from some of the treasures I find) have +Int on them half of
the time despite being labelled as "appropriate for my spec (survival)".
They look more like Shammy gear to my eyes. Is this a bug or intended?
I've got a few green drops that require 91, as well as the bandages and a
quest item drop, so those will probably be of little use to me.
I love how the lumbarjacks at the start of the Garrison quest say "Ready for
work" exactly with the voices from the early (non-wow) Warcraft games ;-)
I have completed the quest achievments for 3 or 4 subzones in SMV and
explored it all (though that caused my one and only death when I walked up
Socretar's Rise to get the FP. Oops, all mobs are "boss" mobs to me :-)
Anyway, I had fun and plan to enjoy the next 9 days, too.
I planned to not buy the expansion but am now debating if it is worth it
just so I can level up during those 10 days (hoping not to loose the free
game time if I do buy). If I don't I guess I'll just quest as far as I can
go at 90.99999 and once I hit a zone that is too high level I'll just resort
to (re-)visiting old content. I'll sleep on it and see.

Well, it is supposed to be a teaser

Unlocking goodies at 91 is probably why they limit it.
That annoyed me a bit. When it says 'you are going to a new world and
cannot return for some time' I though it would be all Gate of Ivrel
trapped in Draenor until 100 or something. Nooooo lvl 91, you have
portal back.
The quest breadcrumbs even take you to a character sitting next to the
portal, amazing how many rocket 100's were asking how to get back to
Stormwind :-)

The rigid upgrade structure for garrisons also annoyed.
There isn't much sense of actually building an outpost.
Why can't I have two forges doing work orders if I want to do the grind
to feed them?
Oh, you are lvl 92, here is a quest, click here, now come back when you
are 94. Oh you missed out on that quest or chose poorly or just wanted
to try the options? sorry, next chance lvl 96 if you want to give up
something else. Or undo it at 100 for 10,000 gold.
May as well just go to 100 asap.

[Urbin]

Post by unknown
That annoyed me a bit. When it says 'you are going to a new world and
cannot return for some time' I though it would be all Gate of Ivrel
trapped in Draenor until 100 or something. Nooooo lvl 91, you have
portal back.

Yeah, that had me worried for a bit, too. I thought that in the worst case I
would be stuck in the expansion not being able to go above 91 minus 1 point,
too low level for anything left to do but not yet a way to get back to the
old world to spend the rest of my 10 days on old content.

As it turns out, as soon as I got the Garrison HS I was able to easily port
back and forth between old and new content using that and my normal HS.

Cheers
Urbin

[unknown]

Post by Urbin

Post by unknown
That annoyed me a bit. When it says 'you are going to a new world and
cannot return for some time' I though it would be all Gate of Ivrel
trapped in Draenor until 100 or something. Nooooo lvl 91, you have
portal back.

Yeah, that had me worried for a bit, too. I thought that in the worst case I
would be stuck in the expansion not being able to go above 91 minus 1 point,
too low level for anything left to do but not yet a way to get back to the
old world to spend the rest of my 10 days on old content.
As it turns out, as soon as I got the Garrison HS I was able to easily port
back and forth between old and new content using that and my normal HS.

I was actually hoping it was for a long time. Great endeavour and all
that :-)

If you were stuck there is always a mage portal.

Several times at xpac release everyone got booted back to sw and mass
panic ensued. You can get back to draenor at the SW portal island where
the cata portals are. It sends you to the beached ship near garrison.

Most set hs to ashran/stormshield when they get sent there at 91, then
the portal there to sw and of course garrison hs.
The 91 quest issued from garrison is take a free flight to stormshield,
go and speak to the innkeeper, go and speak to the faction vendor, go
and speak to someone standing next to the portals, get your (first)
follower.
During the intro quests I was just mass slaughtering everything that
moved in the instanced areas because I had a feeling afterwards it would
be just bedlam. Intro day and it took an hour to click a few trees, I
got credit for bird kills and only saw one live bird,I was 90.75 or so
by the time garrison was built, did the first quest outside the new
garrison, piled on for a few skulls along with 50 others, poor skulls
didn't know what hit them, checked out the nearest event area I stumbled
into, the crossed swords.
Ding, so much for stuck in the new world.

If you are going to proceed for alliance:

In gorgrond lvl 92-94 the best zone special is the lumber mill, the
slasher? you get is nice and lets you quickly do the nearby events.
Apart from one quest where it says to slash a barrier.
pop slasher, slash, slash ,slash...no effect..oh..'use your slasher' =
click on this barrier fortunately you don't need the slasher too soon.

In Talador the wrynn artillery tower is the best.
Seriously 'angel looking over me' feeling.
It was like having New Zealand artillery backing you up.
I am OZ, not NZ , but NZ arty is a bit of a legend in local circles and
had some resonance.
Nonetheless it is the one to go for, you can nuke -most- skulls in
seconds solo. I am getting crucified, please please , cooldown tick,
incoming .. whamwhamwham whamwham wham WHAM wham wham WHAM loot :-)
The garrison plan quest has a witch lordfight near the end.
Bugged, 'use your rocket boost now!', yeah,like the other 5 times and it
didn't work..oh something happened, you mean this is supposed to be
fairly easy and not a 10 minute slog ? :-)

In araak 96-98, go for the smugglers den, every 10 minutes an npc to buy
several powerful 1 hour buffs with a chance for unique 28 slot bag and
other goodies.

In nagrand the riding mount is best special, but a bit of a pain. It
just would not ride straight, always jumping off cliffs running into mob
packs and such, I really really dislike wolf packs, but at least you
could fight and try to ride away.

Throughout there are a lot of bugged quests, misleading text, maps not
quite right.

[unknown]

Post by Urbin
I have completed the quest achievments for 3 or 4 subzones in SMV and
explored it all (though that caused my one and only death when I walked up
Socretar's Rise to get the FP. Oops, all mobs are "boss" mobs to me :-)

The lvl 92 zone is far away by quest. You get a free flight from the
garrison, do some intro quests, then start an outpost to give the zone
special ability. Each outpost has a choice one of which is always
better, google will show which :-)
I think that is also when you get sent back at 92 to upgrade to lvl 2
town hall after doing the orc plant bombs/see the future quest*. A
messenger flies in and says go back to garrison, upgrade and go to next
zone.

It is now all turning into a blur so the net is probably the best

http://www.icy-veins.com/wow/garrison-how-to-unlock-all-buildings


One of the chains will give you the next garrison building upgrade
plans. Usually the one that is at the other end of the zone :-)


* spoiler
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
That also annoyed me. You see the future, have a battle, you are
supposed to be over run and click the NPC 'we are being over run' then
you get nuked.
The problem at first was that I didn't notice the NPC click, and we
weren't being over run. Not even heavily geared and it wasn't impossibly
hard to cut the attackers down until their spawn was less than the
defenders could handle. Surrender? why? Really annoyed, all 6 times.
That was fairly typical, some parts were interesting, really well done.
REALLY really well done.
Many parts were on very bad rails, highlighted because parts of
getting to the disappointing/shoddy part were interesting.

[Peter T.]

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

Wtf?! What an odd decision. Make the restriction to 99 or something.
But 1 point below 91??

Post by Urbin
I think I'll pass.

Understandable.

[SF]

Post by Peter T.

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

Wtf?! What an odd decision. Make the restriction to 99 or something.
But 1 point below 91??

Post by Urbin
I think I'll pass.

Understandable.

I'm dutch if I got time for free I would use it. Dutch people drive 40
minutes in circles to find a free parking spot even if there's a paid
one right in front of the door :)
SF

[Peter T.]

Post by SF

Post by Peter T.

Post by Urbin

Post by Catriona R
Character Restrictions
Your characters can gain experience until they are one experience point
below level 91. Experience gained during the trial will still be on your
character if you decide to upgrade your account.

Wtf?! What an odd decision. Make the restriction to 99 or something.
But 1 point below 91??

Post by Urbin
I think I'll pass.

Understandable.

I'm dutch if I got time for free I would use it. Dutch people drive 40
minutes in circles to find a free parking spot even if there's a paid
one right in front of the door :)

Same situation here in Copenhagen, Denmark. :)

[Polarhound]

Post by Peter T.
Wtf?! What an odd decision. Make the restriction to 99 or something.
But 1 point below 91??

Nothing odd about it. The whole point of the free days was to be a
sneak peek at the new content, not a 10-day levelpalooza.


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