WoW Wednesday: Stuff to Do Before Draenor .

With Warlords of Draenor looming over the horizon, Mists of Pandaria content is slowly and surely running out, albeit still plentiful. From the legendary cloak quest to heroic Garrosh kills, players of all walks of life are swarming the game to finish off every single, luscious bit of endgame. But there are those, like me, who have almost run dry of WoW’s expansive game. There are a lot of players who decided to quit and explore other games, deciding only to come back when the expansion goes live, and there are some, also like me, who stick with WoW and pass the time there. We fool ourselves when we think there isn’t anything else to do as endgame progression is not the be-all-end-all of MMO gaming, though it is a gigantic part of it, and there are much more things to be had in this titanic game.

Prove Yourself!

Oh, sure, you’re pretty much heroic geared with an average item level of 574, and you’ve pretty much downed normal/heroic Garrosh since day 1, but you ain’t no Proven Assailant! WoW’s Proving Grounds are a great way to test your mettle and to see if you really know your class. Completing thirty (30) waves of the Endless round will earn you the title of Proven Defender (Tank), Proven Assailant (DPS), and Proven Healer (…obviously, Healer).

Gonna see a lot of balls in the Proving Grounds.

No, your top-tier gear won’t do squat for you here; you get bumped down to a lower and more proper item level (463) for the content. You may even have to make a whole new set just for this challenge as the normal way of min/maxing does not apply. If this sounds easy to you, then prepare to have never been so wrong.

This is YOU after you’ve done 30 damned waves.

Challenge mode, as I’m sure most of you veterans are familiar with, is another of those bump-me-down-oh-god-i’m-going-to-fail modes, akin to the Proving grounds. Finishing on Gold for every available dungeon in this mode earns you a nifty achievement and a badass transmog set for the character you used. Not to mention that getting silver will enable you to obtain an Ancestral Phoenix Egg, which can then be traded for one of four Pandaren Phoenix mounts. You can obtain all the colors, but only by completing the silver achievement on four separate characters. So you mount collectors out there have a lot of work ahead of you if you haven’t started this yet.

Challenge mode and Proving grounds are two features in MoP that will either be tweaked for WoD or just completely cease to exist. They are both purely optional and are only a theme in the PvE prestige department, but you’d be kicking yourself hard if you don’t even try any of these. Best to get to it before they are gone.

Transmog and Mounts!

Speaking of mount collecting, WoW still teems with instances that reward or have a chance to reward great-looking mounts and other trinkets of interest. There may be some mounts that have gone under your radar like the reigns of the black war mammoth or the Twilight Harbinger. It may also be a good time to attempt for reputation grinds and mounts in Outland considering that WoD’s setting is in Draenor, the original form of the Outlands. A lot of players speculate that things will change in Outland, like how Azeroth was changed by Cataclysm, but no real confirmation on that. But, it’s better to be on the safe side, considering Blizzard’s track record in removing stuff from the game, yeah? Netherwing drakes, nether rays, talbuks, and a whole slew of content still await those that missed the prime of the Burning Crusade.

Hooray! Another place I’m never going to see! *sob*

Ranging from the wilds of Kalimdor, to the serene forests of Pandaria, there are a plethora of vanity items that you could find and enhance your playing further. You’d be surprised at the amount of items you can find that have hidden its existence from you for the longest time, especially in the transmog department. Whether you admit it or not, you, too, like to barbie up your toon just like the rest of us. I mean, let’s face it; you don’t want to look like crap as you face down Garrosh Hellscream. I’m sure you’d like to look great as he kills and buries you. Mods like Mogit can be quite helpful in your search for the best looking combination of threads this side of Azeroth has to offer.

WHERE ARE YOU, GLORIOUS BREASTPLATE!?

 

Mechanics! Stahp!

The Brawler’s Guild is another piece of content designed to challenge a player like the Proving Grounds or Challenge Mode. However, gear does not scale here, and even if you have the best gear Siege of Orgrimmar has to offer, you’ll still be in for the fights of your life.

I may have cheered at the wrong moment.

Gaining access to the Brawler’s guild is simple enough that you probably already have access to it. It boasts some of the hardest solo fights the game has ever had and will not only challenge your dps skills with your class, but also your presence of mind. It’s fairly straightforward at the beginning; fights comprise of simple burst-down and avoid. But as you progress through the ranks, you’ll start facing encounters like Hexos, who spawns death planes that collapse at the center of the room where you find yourself rooted, and facing one of these planes as they smash through will instantly kill you. It then becomes all about reflexes and a sharp mind to get you through. Finishing up to a certain rank will net you the Brawler title, a very prestigious title like the Proven titles, and access to the burly mushan beast mount. It hasn’t been stated as to what will happen to the Brawler’s Guild come WoD, but it might be better to assume that it may get removed. Missing out on this is going to be one big regret in your WoW career, pve-wise.

Get That Arena Rating!

A lot of things are changing in WoD and PvP is one of them. Classes, skills, and meta-games are all going to be reworked this coming expansion and, though I’m sure many of you are not strangers to change, this could be a very tedious for those who have honed their skills in PvP only to see them go to waste. Titles, achievements, and especially the mounts, are things you can look forward to in the current season. Due to the incoming changes, it may become much harder in WoD to obtain these things and is certainly the best way to waste your time in the game with. After all, PvP is the real endgame in most MMOs, and I’m sure a lot of you would agree with me on that.

I wanted to put in my own PvP image, but it’s just a mess of numbers and interface junk. This looks pretty. ^_^

For those that purely PvE, however, PvP isn’t something they enjoy right off the bat, but it may be a good time to try it out. It’s challenging, enjoyable, and just downright fun, all the while earning you a lot of neat things. True, battlegrounds are just a horrid mess of stun after stun after polymorph, but arenas may suit your taste more and it gets a lot better when playing with friends rather than pugs. It definitely still isn’t too late to get started and remember that gear doesn’t always equate to skill. Did I mention a lot of PvP gear look fantastic for transmog? In Pandaria’s twilight, PvP is definitely the best choice of all the pastime activities PvE players could choose from.

Prepare for Draenor!

This shouldn’t come as big news to people already making the most out of their lockouts, but you’d be surprised, like the earlier ones stated, at the sheer number of people who don’t know this in-game. Garrosh Hellscream, once defeated, has a chance to net you a bind-on-account (BOA) weapon that scales from level 90 to 100, obviously implying that it’ll be something that’ll keep you company for your leveling adventures in WoD. The BOA’s item level, indicating how powerful it is, is dictated by the Garrosh kill difficulty you got it from, meaning that a BOA from Heroic Garrosh is far stronger than one obtained from Flex.

My prized possession. In all fairness, I got carried by awesome people. WATCH OUT DRAENOR!

While it is not a sure drop, the first time you defeat the orange orc, there is a guarantee that the first BOA you get will be the one for your current loot specialization, and then will be random in your next attempts. So, if you’re one of those people who are all, “Pfft, I don’t need Aotc”, just think of it being an incidental occurrence in getting that normal BOA weapon. But a bit of a warning before you try any Garrosh kills; learn and be patient.

Still a Lot to Do! Enough Talking!

There’s still a lot on the plate and it’s always best to finish up (or at least take the best parts) before moving on to the next course. These things talked about are by no means the only things you can do before WoD by any stretch of the imagination. From achievements to community events, the possibilities are near endless, and only you are the only one capable of impeding that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a Pandaren phoenix to obtain.