Hello guys, how’s it going? My name is Librarian Husky. The War Within early access period has seen many players already hitting max level, if not on their first character, then perhaps on their second. Many more players are doing additional leveling even before the official launch of the War Within expansion.

Initial Weeks of Expansion

For the first two weeks of the expansion’s launch, there will be a massive leveling period, giving every player plenty of opportunity to catch up and get situated in the brand new zones. This period allows players to familiarize themselves with the new factions and decide which character to level or which professions to invest in.

Gearing Up During Early Weeks

During this time, there isn’t much opportunity for endgame gearing as Season 1 content does not begin immediately. However, there’s still plenty of opportunity to start gearing up early to ensure you’re ready for the Season 1 content, with players potentially being able to achieve up to a 590 item level within the first two weeks of the expansion.

Dragonflight Upgrade System

Before diving into how to gear up in War Within during Early Access and the official release, it’s important to note that the Dragonflight upgrade system has been integrated into the War Within expansion.

Dragonflight Upgrade System in War Within

If you played in Dragonflight Seasons 2, 3, and 4, you will be familiar with the Valor Stones, Flight Stones, and Crest system. It’s exactly the same, so no further explanation is needed. However, if you’re new to War Within or haven’t played the last few expansions, it’s an upgrade system that was introduced during Dragonflight with different currencies that allow you to upgrade gear beyond its initial level.

Understanding Valor Stones and Crests

You earn currencies such as Valor Stones from almost any activity in the game, which you’ll want to save for future upgrades. Crests are also necessary, with four types available depending on the difficulty level of the item you’re trying to upgrade.

Different Types of Crests

For example, Whelpling Crests are obtained from LFR raiding, heroic dungeons, and most open-world activities. Higher difficulty crests, known as Carved Crests, come from activities like normal raiding, Mythic zero dungeons, and plus-three keystones. These crests allow you to upgrade items to a new level, enhancing your gear significantly.

Practical Example of Gear Upgrade

To illustrate, consider a pair of shoulders that start at 584 item level. While this may not seem impressive initially, using the upgrade system, you can significantly enhance these items, improving their effectiveness and making them more competitive in higher-level content.

Upgrading Gear in War Within

If you have enough resources, you could potentially upgrade your items to a 606 item level, making them comparable to raid-quality gear. This upgrade system is particularly exciting as it allows you to elevate your gear to new heights. However, if you’re new to War Within, it’s generally advisable to save your Valor Stones and Crests until Season 1 when you can acquire higher-end gear.

Strategy for New Players

For the most part, I wouldn’t recommend spending this currency too early unless you know exactly what you’re doing. Banking your resources until you have access to better gear is a more prudent approach. Now that we’ve covered that, let’s discuss how to gear up during the early days of the War Within expansion, starting with basic activities like quests and world quests.

World Quests and Starter Gear

World quests, which you can clear out across the map, offer a decent bit of starter gear. Although it’s nothing extraordinary, this gear will help you get started once you reach max level. Additionally, this expansion has significantly enhanced open-world activities, providing new bonuses for completing world quests in specific zones.

Special Assignments in Open World

By completing world quests in certain zones, you unlock special assignments, which are large-scale open-world group activities. These tasks might involve defeating a group of rares with other players to summon and defeat a boss or participating in creative challenges like flying on a storm griffin to shoot down a massive Kaiju Mech.

Creative Open World Group Activities

In the open world, you might encounter creative group activities, such as trying to take down a massive mech to ensure that the Rock Titan wins a battle against it. These activities are available to anyone in the open world, but you must complete a few world quests to unlock them. These assignments offer a variety of rewards, including quality gear and keys for delves.

Special Events in Zones

Additionally, you’ll notice special events in certain zones, such as the Theater Troop in the Isle of Dorne, the Ring of Deeps in Awakening the Machine, and Spreading the Light in Hollow Fall. These events are designed to reward you with gear, materials to upgrade your gear, gold, and various other goodies.

Current State of Events in Early Access

In the Early Access version of War Within, these events may not be fully functional. However, by the time the game officially launches, there’s a good chance that these events will be operational. For now, they may not be worth your time, but it’s important to be aware of their existence so you can take advantage of them once they become functional.

Importance of Participating in Events

You should definitely participate in these events because the potential rewards could be substantial. The amount of items you can get from them might be huge, providing a significant boost to your character’s progression.

Rare Hunting in the Zones

Another activity you can start doing right now is rare hunting. By flying around in each zone, you’ll likely stumble upon a few rare creatures. While rares don’t always drop guaranteed gear, there’s a good chance they’ll have something useful for at least one of your characters. For example, I’ve collected a variety of warbound gear from rares that I’ve stored in my bank, ready for my alts to use.

Examples of Valuable Gear from Rares

I managed to obtain a massive sword that my Death Knight or Warrior will love once they reach max level. This weapon is one of the best available, ready for max-level content. Additionally, I found items like a pickaxe with a unique bonus effect and some decent items for cloth-wearing characters, making them ready for action as soon as they reach the appropriate level.

Rares as a Resource for Future Characters

Defeating rares provides a chance to acquire items that can be used by your current character or saved for an alt. This makes rare hunting a valuable activity for gearing up not just your main character, but also

for preparing your alts for future challenges.

Instant Content: Dungeons and Delves

We also have instant content such as dungeons, and right now, during Early Access, we only have access to normal dungeons. However, various difficulties will become available as we get closer to the Season 1 opening. Currently, normal dungeons don’t offer the greatest gear, with item levels around 554, but they are a good starting point, especially for earning Valor Stones.

Value of Dungeons

Dungeons are an excellent source of Valor Stones, making them worth doing on a fresh new character as soon as you hit level 80. Although the gear isn’t top-tier, the resources gained from dungeons will be valuable as you progress.

Exploring Delves

Another piece of content worth your time is the delves, scattered throughout the open world. Unlike dungeons, you have to fly directly to delves as they can’t be queued for. Delves are relatively easy to do solo and offer gear similar to what you’d get in a dungeon.

Bountiful Delves and Special Keys

Delves can randomly become Bountiful Delves, which are indicated by being lit up. For example, a delve like Skittering Breach may be marked as a Bountiful Delve, meaning that with a special key, you can unlock extra rewards. These Bountiful Keys are earned through various activities, primarily in the open world. When you enter a Bountiful Delve, especially at tier three, the items you can obtain can be very solid, particularly when combined with the upgrade system.

Optimizing Your Delve Keys

If you are trying to min-max this system or if you’re a solo player wanting to get the most out of these delves, it’s a good idea to hold onto your keys and not use them until seasonal content arrives. Once seasonal content is here, you can upgrade delves to a higher tier, which allows you to obtain better gear from those delves. To maximize your chances of getting high-item-level pieces, bank those keys and save them for when seasonal content is available. This is something you can start preparing for early in the War Within release.

Gearing Through the Renown Track

Another form of gearing you can work on right now is through the Renown track, which is essentially the reputation system for various factions in Caz Algar. These factions include the Council of Dagal, the Assembly in the Deeps, the Halari, and the Severed Threats. As you advance through these factions, you receive a variety of bonuses, from cosmetics like expeditionary capes to profession components and items that can enhance your gameplay.

Renown Rewards and Gear Upgrades

One of the significant benefits of the Renown system is that certain Renown tracks offer gear upgrades if you have enough reputation with specific factions. For example, by completing enough Renown with the Dagal faction, you can acquire gear upgrades, making the Renown track an essential part of your gearing strategy.

Acquiring Gear Through the Renown Track

You can obtain items such as Veteran Track shoulders, which are part of the upgrade system mentioned earlier. These items can be purchased with in-game currencies earned from various open-world activities. Each faction offers a few early items that can be easily acquired without significant investment into the Renown track. Completing a few world quests, world events, and side quests can provide enough reputation to access these rewards.

Leveling and Reputation Gain

If you’re leveling a new character through side quests instead of dungeons, you might find that the reputation gain from completing quest chains is substantial. This can help you progress through the Renown tracks quickly, allowing you to unlock gear upgrades as soon as you hit max level. These Renown tracks are similar to those in Dragonflight, but progression feels faster in this expansion.

Early Gear Upgrades for New Characters

By focusing on Renown tracks and maximizing your reputation gain, you can potentially purchase some of these items for early gear upgrades for a fresh new character. This method provides a quick way to gear up as soon as you reach max level, offering a strong start in the new content.

Gearing Through Professions

Another way to gear your character is through Professions. While you won’t be able to create high-quality (purple) gear immediately, Professions offer a steady path to crafting valuable items that can enhance your character’s power as you progress through the expansion.

Crafting and Upgrading Gear Through Professions

When it comes to Professions like leatherworking, blacksmithing, or tailoring, you won’t be able to craft top-tier items immediately. However, you can start by creating and upgrading decent starter blue items. These can be further enhanced if you are familiar with the profession track. For instance, when crafting a shoulder piece, you can specify the secondary stats you want if you have missives, though they might be expensive early in the expansion.

Enhancing Crafted Items

You can enhance all of your crafted items with additional reagents, though these might be hard to come by at this stage of the expansion. If you’re familiar with Dragonflight’s Crest system and crafting system, you should know that you can turn some of your Harbinger Whelpling Crests into Nassen Crests to create an Enchanted Whelpling Harbinger Crest. This item allows you to upgrade the quality of your basic blue crafted items to a higher quality, with item levels ranging from 577 to 590.

Proficiency and Item Quality

If the leatherworker, blacksmith, or tailor is proficient enough, they can craft items of higher quality. This is how I’ve managed to create a few items, like a rank four sword and a rank four dagger, providing me with haste-heavy weapons for my rogue. Crafting these items early on gives you a solid start, especially if you focus on the secondary stats that best suit your needs.

Managing Prof

essions and Crafting Gear

As you level up, you may notice a gradual loss of haste, which can be managed by investing a small amount of currency and materials to craft items that fill in gaps in your item level. Getting ahead in Professions, whether by managing multiple characters or focusing on a specific profession like skinning and leatherworking, can open up opportunities to create your own crafted gear early in the expansion.

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