Even casual World of Warcraft players will have at some point undertaken the arduous task of leveling an alt (alternate) character. Having more than one character on the same server can be rewarding, and give players a more diverse WoW experience. On the other hand, the task of reaching the max level cap for a second character is very time-consuming and can quickly become repetitive or outright boring.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for much more than a decade and often gave up on my alt characters long before they became useful. With Dragonflight’s combination of dragon riding, adventure mode, and a comprehensive new profession system, however, alt leveling has become a whole new experience. In this diary, I’ll give you an overview of my journey so far.
Dracthyr Evoker:
Every time WoW introduces a new race or class, I’ve tried it out only to quickly return back to my familiar arcane mage. Surprisingly, I got used to the Dracthyr Evoker (the new race and class combo) very fast. After having dealt with the fragility of a mage for years, the Evoker feels strong and resilient. Not only are its attacks powerful, but it can also wear mail armor AND heal itself. This combination has allowed me to navigate the Dragon Isles for the second time with relative ease.
The Evoker has its own starter area before heading toward your chosen Capital. It arrives at level 60 with some pretty low-level gear. It might be a good idea to buy some better gear from the Auction House, with a gold loan from your main character.
Dragon Riding:
Dragon riding is without a doubt my favorite part of the new expansion. Blizzard then caught me completely off-guard by making the dragon-riding mounts and talents unlock account wide!
This changed EVERYTHING!
Now, I could take my Evoker and fly like Toothless and Hiccup in “How To Train Your Dragon” through the Dragon Isles, leveling the way I wanted! And here comes the most interesting part of my alternate adventure… I’ve reached level 68 without doing a single quest from the main storylines! (Except for the prerequisite quests for the Artisan’s Consortium).
How do you ask?
Well, it takes some patience but it’s well worth the effort.
Adventure Mode:
Once you’ve completed the main storyline on one character, you automatically unlock “Adventure Mode”. This means that you can level an alt without having to do the main quests again. Instead, you can choose to do world/daily quests and bonus objectives to gain gold, gear, and XP.
Since the game now scales to your alt’s level, you can easily take down enemies in any of the four zones without issue. There are a few areas scattered in each zone that are level 70 by default, so better avoid these unless you are willing to risk it for the resources.
As with previous expansions, WoW: Dragonflight has plenty of rare enemies scattered across the Dragon Isles. You might still need help to take on the silver ones but yellow rares also scale and can be defeated with a bit of effort. They have a chance to drop useful resources, potions, as well as higher-level gear.
It is very likely that your main character has already unlocked a number of additional perks that your alt can take advantage of. At the very least, you’ll be able to find the Traveler’s Backpacks. They might not reward XP, but their contents can be very useful whilst leveling an alt.
Although you have access to all zones, they are not discovered on the map for your alt. Spending some quality time on your dragon to discover areas and flight masters will reward a significant amount of XP. If you combine this activity with a resource-gathering profession like mining or herb gathering, you’ll hardly feel like it’s a separate, or worse, repetitive task.
Lucrative Professions:
When choosing professions for my new character, my focus was making money and gaining XP. I settled on Mining and Jewelcrafting because both ore AND precious stones sell like hotcakes at the Auction House. Mining ore rewards upward of 1000 XP per node and even more for rare nodes. Moreover, mining rare nodes can yield valuable specialty items needed for all crafting professions, including jewel crafting.
For example, a titan-touched node rewards miners with a small quantity of “Rousing Order”, ten of which can be converted into “Awakened Order”. This particular item is popular and very valuable on the Auction House, as it is an essential ingredient for Dragon Riding mount modification manuscripts and more. If you decide to become a Jewelcrafter, you’ll need this item to make high-end gems.
With these two professions, I was able to pay back my main character the gold loan for gear in no time. I was also able to buy crafted and world-drop gear from the AH, as my character leveled. Considering that I wasn’t doing any of the main quests, I wasn’t getting any of the reward gear. Sometimes my Evoker struggled a bit before it could meet the level threshold for certain purchasable gear but as soon as it reaches level 70, this issue can easily be fixed with affordable crafting orders.
The Adventure Continues…
This is my journey so far. I realize that at some point, I will have to do the main storyline quests for the sake of faction reputation. However, I can now target exactly which one is useful for unlocking profession recipes or anything else I’d want to get my hands on.
In the meantime, I will continue to use the above-mentioned methods to reach level 70, gear up properly and mine & jewel craft my way to riches.
I hope that you are enjoying your experience in the Dragon Isles and please consider leveling an alt this time, it’s worth it. I can recommend using a playlist of chill background music as you soar through the skies with the wind blowing through your alt’s hair.
Have fun!
