Level 80! ... Now What to Do First?
Posted by 
pixiestixy on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 33 Comments Tags: Achievements, cap, dailies, daily, first steps, icecrown, level 80, leveling, respec, so much to do, spontaneity, what next
pixiestixy on Tuesday, September 1, 2009 - 33 Comments Tags: Achievements, cap, dailies, daily, first steps, icecrown, level 80, leveling, respec, so much to do, spontaneity, what next
It was a completely magical, fulfilling moment. 
It was months in the making (actually, considerably longer than I had anticipated, and I did end up losing that bet I posted about a while back, but refuse to pull out my hair!), which made it all the more sweet. That wondrous, level 80 ding.
Here at Project Lore, we've followed the progress of several of our bloggers as we reach one of the pinnacle moments of our WoW careers, and cap out a character. For me, the moment came after a much-needed, much-delayed session of dailies in Icecrown. I pushed through the Shadow Vault, Jotunheim, Onslaught Harbor, Ymirheim and, of course, the Argent Tournament before realizing that I had finished my usual rounds and stood at 97 percent through level 79. I couldn't just leave it at that, so I sought out Keritose Bloodblade to finish up a questline I got a while back. I made a quick trip into the saronite quarry to complete An Undead's Best Friend, From Whence They Came and Honor is for the Weak, then alerted my guildies to watch the chat as I handed in each one and saw that lovely, level 80 achievement flash across my screen.
So now what? Well, first things first, I equipped my lone purple item from my last venture into the Crusaders' Coliseum. Then, after a quick hearth to Dalaran, I picked up my congratulatory loot in the mail, and took a portal out to Undercity. In the Rogues' Quarter, I got all my skills up to level, cleared my spec (have yet to rebuild it, leaving that for next login) and bought dual spec just for fun. Now, what to do next...?
Of course, finishing the respec process is an easy first choice. But beyond that, I still have more questing to complete, rep to grind, loot to find, achievements to earn, professions to level off, and definitely some good raiding to be had. So much to do before the world of Azeroth is changed in the Cataclysm! Level 80 is only the beginning. In the end, I think I'll just continue to take things as they come without any pre-set path. Spontaneity is just a good a plan as any. And I'll let you all know how it works out.
So to those of you who have already hit level 80, perhaps long ago, I pose a question: what were your first steps after that wondrous first level 80 ding? Would you choose differently for an alt?
It was months in the making (actually, considerably longer than I had anticipated, and I did end up losing that bet I posted about a while back, but refuse to pull out my hair!), which made it all the more sweet. That wondrous, level 80 ding.Here at Project Lore, we've followed the progress of several of our bloggers as we reach one of the pinnacle moments of our WoW careers, and cap out a character. For me, the moment came after a much-needed, much-delayed session of dailies in Icecrown. I pushed through the Shadow Vault, Jotunheim, Onslaught Harbor, Ymirheim and, of course, the Argent Tournament before realizing that I had finished my usual rounds and stood at 97 percent through level 79. I couldn't just leave it at that, so I sought out Keritose Bloodblade to finish up a questline I got a while back. I made a quick trip into the saronite quarry to complete An Undead's Best Friend, From Whence They Came and Honor is for the Weak, then alerted my guildies to watch the chat as I handed in each one and saw that lovely, level 80 achievement flash across my screen.
So now what? Well, first things first, I equipped my lone purple item from my last venture into the Crusaders' Coliseum. Then, after a quick hearth to Dalaran, I picked up my congratulatory loot in the mail, and took a portal out to Undercity. In the Rogues' Quarter, I got all my skills up to level, cleared my spec (have yet to rebuild it, leaving that for next login) and bought dual spec just for fun. Now, what to do next...?
Of course, finishing the respec process is an easy first choice. But beyond that, I still have more questing to complete, rep to grind, loot to find, achievements to earn, professions to level off, and definitely some good raiding to be had. So much to do before the world of Azeroth is changed in the Cataclysm! Level 80 is only the beginning. In the end, I think I'll just continue to take things as they come without any pre-set path. Spontaneity is just a good a plan as any. And I'll let you all know how it works out.
So to those of you who have already hit level 80, perhaps long ago, I pose a question: what were your first steps after that wondrous first level 80 ding? Would you choose differently for an alt?
Reader Comments (33)
grats on level 80, your now one of us! one of us!
to me hitting lvl 80 took a huge weight off. i was able to enjoy the game more because my goal changed from trying to get to 80 to doing what i wanted. i picked up pvp...which is what i do on my main when i'm not lvling my alts.
congrats, now get some heroics and raiding going, it will help
when i hit lvl 80...i ran UP normal and respecced ele (shammy)
on my alt (only 40) i would not fail the borean/fjord lvling as i did on my main, i would probably skip zul'drak for scholozar
i went into a heroic minutes after i hit 80....started grinding rep soon after...when those got topped off i finally started doing some raids....since that was close to launch and so much has changed since then id probably tell you to just run some heroics, get some emblems then get into some raids =)
grats btw
What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game!
I cried when I hit 80. Shut up...
I hit 80 on my priest recently(hit 80 on my main about 2 weeks after the x-pac hit) and wanted to heal some heroics......little did I know it would be damn near impossible to find a group willing to put up with a fresh 80 healer.......
So now I just sit around on that toon farming herbs waiting for my guild to want to do heroics so I can get some gear. I'm geared for naxx10 now but don't want to pug it since pugs expect everyone to be geared for ulduar+ content to run starter content. :(
Grats. Get ready to start hating WoW.
When I dinged 80, it was all about removing my gear from my male, blue, troll (with orange dreads) and /dance 'ing on the orgrimmar mailbox.
Awww yeah.
I'd say first thing you should do, even though initial 80 gear is more important for tanks/healers, is to get as many craftable 78-80 pieces as you can and then start grinding heroics. I can't think how many times I've walked into a heroic (or raid for that matter) where some person is walking around in 50% greens. Especially with the emblem changes you can get a lot of good stuff with heroics, and don't forget you can change emblems to valor or heroism if there's stuff that can't be filled through conquest.
Both reg and heroic ToC have lots of great gear, but I recommend being fairly well geared to do heroic, higher than you would be for other heroics.
Grats on 80!
This may sound strange but one of the things I did was go back to some of the NPC mobs that had given my toon fits as a youngster and kick their butts.
Hopefully you are in a guild that will carry you into heroics until you can gear up. Once geared you can do just about anything you want. Farm rep, go after new mounts, pets, achievements, titles, sell top tier crafted goods.The sky's the limit. Gratz.
First thing when i hitted 80 on my pally (tank) was to get some epics crafted and get defense capped! with my (sadly) 22000 hp unbuffed i started to take on the easy heroics with alot of help from my friendly guildies! Now I'm into Ulduar+ content and I spend most of my time getting achievements for fun or leveling alts :)
I try to do stuff at 80, I really do, I've done dailies and heroics and raids, but no matter how it goes I always end up focusing on a new character. Just got my 1st dk to 80 (out of about half a dozen made and replaced as I switch factions) and now I'm working on a shaman, something I've wanted to do for a while as the only melee class I haven't given a good try.
when i first hit 80 i literally just HS to my trainer respecced to healer from enhancement bought some epics from AH and farmed toc normal for a while with guildies
I think went to AH and bought 2 epics and went into pugging my way to naxx10 and that happen last night. My guild where pretty low on active level 80's to help gearing. And btw I'm the best geared person in the guild at the moment as far I know. cause the other level 80's don't talk in guild chat.
I hit 80 and just continued running around doing dailies. There was no one on in my guild when I hit and my friends were all busy. So I just ran off. Took a week before I ran a heroic.
the first thing i did when i hit 80 was go to dalaran and ride around in circles on my mammoth then went to org and road around in circles..then undercity and road around in circles lol...juss proud to be 80 wanted everybody to see me lol...and pretty much told everybody i kno that plays wow i was so proud lol
When I hit 80, one of the first things I did was get together with a few friends in IF and spend 4k gold getting my gear up to par for healing heroics. Even then I really struggled healing through H UK. Haha, now when I run heroics I encourage my tanks to overpull just so I'm not bored silly. I can't tell you how many times I've healed my group through High Mage Telestra (H Nexus) with 2 additional groups of adds. Now that is fun.
The first thing I did when I hit 80 was go straight into heroics and started gearing up my tank now im raiding ulduar so it worked out pretty well i guess.
It's only a dream for me. I am the poster boy for casual play and have NEVER been at a level cap...even though I've been playing since November 2004. I'm currently at level 65...but more interested in knocking off achievements than levels.
...although I'm running out of achievements that I can do at my level. (I have more achievement points than anyone else in my guild who isn't at level 80...and many that are.)
Gratz On 80!! I just got my druid to 80 last night with my hubbies DK right after. It was a good day for levels I guess :)
Good job!!!!
first thing i did when i hit 80 was change servers. haha
Congratulations Pixie!
Well, I'd start by doing the Daily Heroics. People are always looking for going there, so finding a group will not be that hard.
If I am not wrong, you said that your guild was rushing you to get level capped. Now you are, go run some heroics with them! They will definitely have more patience than PUGs :]
now that your lvl 80 btr get ready for lvl 85 lmao jp...Do heroics
Well my main is only 76 right now, I should have hit 80 about 8 months ago. >.> But! When I hit 70 when it was max, I felt fantastic. I had not a care in the World .... of Warcraft.
So I just hung out and did PvP for gear, it was jolly. Ran some stuff, y'know all that.
I reckon when I hit 80 I'll do bgs and eat faces of opponents as I do. :D
My guildies took me into naxx 10-man not 10 minutes after i dinged 80 with my DK. Easy run and lots and lots of epics.