Introduction and Overview

The release of Burning Crusade Anniversary is soon upon us, and today we’ll share final preparations for this upcoming expansion. With so many new quests to pick up in Outland, proper preparation will make your journey smoother and more efficient.

• This guide covers essential steps to maximize your efficiency when entering the new expansion;
• Focus on preparations that will save time and give you an advantage during launch week.

Quest Preparation and Inventory Management

There will be so many new quests to pick up in Outland, which is why you could abandon the different quests from classic content, as you will most likely not go back and do those.

Abandoning Classic Quests

Before heading into Outland, consider cleaning up your quest log by abandoning classic content quests you won’t complete. This frees up space for the numerous new quests you’ll encounter in the expansion zones.

Limited Items and Supplies

As of right now, we still have time to obtain the Tabard of the Protector, a limited item you obtain by slaying six demons in front of the Dark Portal. The moment this has been done, you can claim your new tabard. But like mentioned, it is a limited item only obtainable during the prep patch.

• Another important preparation is to clean up your inventory by buying more bank slots as those are a bit cheaper during the prep patch;
• The reason why you would like to clean up your bank and your bags is so you have made room for new items you find while questing and leveling up in Outland;
• In Caverns of Time in Tanaris, there’s a provisioner NPC selling water and ammo. As of this guide, it’s still possible to buy level 60 water and level 55 arrows and bullets. Hopefully, Blizzard don’t end up hot fixing it. If not, well, then you can enjoy these things the moment we head into Hellfire instead of having to go to an NPC to buy these;
• Remember to repair all your equipment or it might be the first thing you got to do after a death.

Talents and Specialization Setup

What I’ve done myself is to learn dual specialization and unlearn my different talents. I’ve made a talent build for the best solo leveling experience and one for dungeons.

• Dungeon leveling is going to be the quickest way to level up as you will be getting a lot of experience and reputation;
• Not to mention the fact that in the open world, there will just be so much competition during the launch week, which won’t be the case in dungeons.

PvP Preparation

No matter if you like to PvP or PvE, then I would recommend you to farm a total of 100 of each Battleground mark, or well, at least as much as possible, and at the same case with your honor.

• The reason being that in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and other capital cities, we can purchase different epic and rare items;
• And even though these are mainly for PvP, then they’re honestly not too bad as a fresh level 70 character that would like to head into dungeons or later on heroics.

UI and Add-ons Configuration

I’ve also spent time editing my UI with the new edit mode and updated and installed new add-ons I will use on my journey to max level. I don’t want to start leveling up in Outland to figure out I will now need to spend time updating my UI because it’s not working.

• This is something that should be done before the expansion is being released;
• Talking about add-ons, there are amazing leveling guides available that can help you navigate the expansion content more efficiently;
• These guides provide arrows guiding you in the direction you got to head to, shortened quest text for easier understanding, and numbers indicating in what order you got to do those quests;
• In addition to this, the numbers will be marked on your map so you can see where you got to go and exactly what you need to do;
• Not only does it work for both factions, but in fact for all races and classes in the game as well.

Quest Completion Strategy

No matter if you’re following a guide or not, then I would recommend you to prepare as many completed quests as possible so we can hand these in to get to 61 a bit quicker.

• During the launch day, there will be so many people in Hellfire. So, the quicker you can get to a new zone, well, the faster you’ll get ahead of the competition;
• It will of course not be as important if you’re planning to dungeon level, but for someone who will solo quest in the open world, it is going to be an important preparation;
• I would recommend you to focus on dungeon and raid quests as those are granting the most experience;
• Try to collect items starting a quest you can hand in instantly.

Weapon Skills and Defense Training

Moving on to another topic, weapon skills. Learn all the different weapon skills and level those to 300. So the moment you can choose a new upgrade in Outland, well then you don’t have to go to your weapon trainer or at least level up the weapon skill before you will be able to hit the different enemies.

Weapon Skills Preparation

Before entering Outland, ensure all your weapon skills are maxed out at 300. This prevents the frustrating situation where you find a great weapon upgrade but can’t use it effectively until you’ve trained the skill.

Defense Skill and Lockpicking

And beside leveling up your weapon skills, then you could be focusing on your defense. There’s an easy area to level up your defense skills in the southern part of Barrens or you could head into a low-level dungeon and pull many creatures at the same time.

• Those of you playing a rogue should consider leveling lockpicking so you can get into the different Outland dungeons;
• Else you’ll need to do quest chains to get the keys preventing you from entering the dungeon.

Profession Leveling

Moving on to professions. Level those to 300. Not just your main crafting but gathering as well as it allows you to collect the new herbs, ores, and leather.

• With leftover time, you could be working on first aid, cooking, and fishing;
• Get your tailoring profession to level 50 as it will be the minimum requirement to craft the new tailoring cooldowns;
• A great way to make gold in the beginning.

Gold Farming and Flying Skills

Talking about gold, gold will be important to prepare as you’ll need this for many different things. At least for the flying skill at level 70, normal flying is 800 gold and the epic flying skill is 5,000.

• Another thing to be aware of is that you’ll need to buy the epic riding skill to unlock normal flying;
• And the moment you have purchased both of these, you can buy the epic flying skill;
• Exactly why it’s important to farm gold during the prep patch.

Mount Collection

Those of you with a lot of leftover time could start working on your mounts. So farm these in dungeons or through the different factions available in the game, such as the faction specific mounts.

Gear Preparation

Earlier in the guide, we talked about preparing honor and battleground marks, but someone without great gear should be spending these on level 60 epics. They will have a huge impact on your leveling speed and will most likely not be replaced until around level 66.

PvP Gear for Leveling

If you’re starting fresh or don’t have raid gear, investing in PvP epics is a smart move. These items provide significant stat boosts that will make your leveling experience much smoother.

Raid Gear That Lasts to 70

If you wish to get gear that lasts all the way up to 70, then you should head into Ahn’Qiraj, Blackwing Lair, and Naxxramas. Naxxramas items will easily last up to 70, as those are usually as great, if not better, compared to some of the different level 70 rare items from dungeons or the open world.

• I believe you won’t replace them until you start doing heroics or tier 4 raids.

Shoulder Enchantments

If you’re currently farming Naxxramas every single week, then try to obtain the different Naxxramas shoulder enchants. These are great for level 70 as most of them are either as good if not better when we compare them to the Burning Crusade shoulder enchants available through the Scryers and Aldor.

Consumables and Buffs

I’ve spent a decent amount of gold on consumables. Proper preparation with the right consumables can significantly improve your leveling speed and survivability in Outland.

• For Melee DPS and Hunters: You’ll benefit from Elixir of Demon Slaying as there’s so many demons in Outland;
• For Spellcasters: You could be stacking up on Flask of Supreme Power;
• For All Classes: Free action potions are still amazing in this expansion;
• I like to use swiftness potions whenever I’m at a location where I can’t use my mount. For example, in a cave, or if I’m in combat and I need to get away quickly;
• Invisibility potions are amazing in many different situations. For example, if you need to get past a difficult area, if you wish to skip many creatures to quickly loot a quest item, or dungeons where we can skip creatures to move to a new boss a lot quicker;
• Purchase some Elixir of Water Breathing for quests and farming under the water;
• As spellcasters and healers, you could be buying the different oils. Yeah, the classic versions are as good, if not better, compared to the new Burning Crusade versions;
• Last but not least, farm demonic runes in Felwood or purchase dark runes on the auction house as these are amazing as you can convert a bit of health into mana.

Out-of-Game Preparation

In fact, there’s preparations you can do without being in game which will give you a lot of knowledge. For example, watching level 60 to 70 dungeon leveling videos, guides about important things to do before you reach max level, and videos about mistakes we got to avoid doing at any cost.

• These educational resources can significantly improve your understanding of the expansion content;
• Research dungeon strategies, quest chains, and leveling routes before launch day;
• Understanding the meta and optimal strategies will save you time and frustration during your journey.

Final Thoughts

I got to be honest, you don’t need to do all of these preparations. Enjoy the expansion the way you would like to without having to minmax every single thing.

• Yeah, those of you who would like to speed level to 70 or who has got plenty of characters you got to level up will of course be benefiting from these preparations;
• That being said, is it really that important to rush through the game? I mean, we don’t even know if Blizzard is ever going to release another Burning Crusade server. So maybe this might be the last time you will be able to enjoy this expansion;
• Exactly why I won’t be rushing through the entire game. But as a casual gamer, I got to be efficient whenever I can play. Which is why I am still following some of my different strategies.