A new expansion, even if it's an old one, still has all the exciting content that players remember from back in the day. World of Warcraft: Classic has re-released its most popular expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, and the 14-year-old content was popular enough to generate some impressive server wait times.
It can feel overwhelming when a character first steps off the zeppelin landing to arrive in the new continent of Northrend. It might be easier to have a list of things to avoid as opposed to a "To Do" list, so here are a few things not to do when it's time to sail into the frozen north.
7 Ignoring The Secondary Professions
Who wants to go fishing or slave over a hot cooking fire when there's adventuring to be done? It's tough to maintain the discipline to sit for a spell and make those bandages, but it's something every player needs to make time for.
Cooking, Fishing, and First Aid are the three Secondary Professions that every character in World of Warcraft knows, and all three have essential benefits that get overlooked too often. Characters that were maxed out in the last expansion will need training again, and it's easy to forget if it hasn't been done for a while.
6 Leveling Entirely Via Dungeons
This is fun, and that much easier now that there's an LFG finder in addition to Discord and the regular chat channels. The downside to leveling in this way is that players miss out on the lore, backstory, NPCs, and general aesthetic of Northrend if they never leave the Dungeon Finder.
In addition to the environment and surroundings, several quest chains start in the wilderness and end up in dungeons, which is a nice boost to the leveling process. There are also some decent quest rewards to be had out there, and it's also a good time to think about upgrading that old gear from The Burning Crusade.
5 Never Go Exploring
Avoid just following the quests or the flight paths. Everyone is trying to level as quickly as possible, but even if it's just for the achievement, make sure to go off the road and into the wild every so often.
Granted, some characters are waiting to do the real exploring once they hit level 77 and get that Cold Weather Flying training. That's one way to accomplish this, but then players miss out on the unique features that make Northrend so interesting, like the gondola and the turtle ferry.
4 Neglecting Your Addons
More of an oversight than a deliberate omission, this tends to happen because players might just turn their addons off for a day or two until the updates catch up with the game. The focus of most people turns to leveling as opposed to raiding, and it's easy to forget to turn them back on again in a timely manner.
There's also the issue of add-ons that won't work with the new expansion for a variety of reasons, and they might have to be replaced or uninstalled. Maintaining your addons is a quality-of-life issue, and running old ones, or even worse ones that don't work properly, can mess up the game at crucial times.
3 Skipping The Quest Chains
There are some serious quest chains in Northrend. There are so many that they might outnumber the standalone quests, and they aren't for everyone, especially when the focus is on leveling as opposed to the storyline.
On the other hand, chain quests are a great way to level, and the rewards often get better the longer the chain is and where it ends. There's also the issue of grinding reputation, which is even more important in Wrath of the Lich King than it was in The Burning Crusade.
2 Ignoring The Rep Grinds
Raiders who also played The Burning Crusade are less likely to make this mistake. The tradition of getting access to best-in-slot enchants and gear after making friends with certain factions continues in The Wrath of the Lich King expansion, and no class is an exception to the rule.
For new or returning players, it's easy to get carried away with all the cool new stuff to do, and hit level 79 or even 80 and realize that a character hasn't even been to half of Storm Peaks or Shalozar Basin. Healers, tanks, and damage dealers all need to grind rep with groups like the Sons of Hodir, Wyrmrest Accord, and the Kirin Tor if they hope to be raiders in the future.
1 Missing The Lore
When word hit the virtual street that Blizzard was planning a new expansion back in the day, plenty of loyal fans thought that Northrend would be next as opposed to Outland. Considering the last game in the RTS series, Warcraft III took place in both locations, it was a choice between the two, and Outland got to be first.
Players were always interested in the ultimate fate of Prince Arthas, and following his path to Northrend was a way to follow the same path from the Frozen Throne DLC that was so popular in the vintage strategy game. The drama continues not only with the human kingdoms trying to pick up the pieces of fallen Lordaeron, but also with the Windrunner saga, and Lady Sylvanas still has a score to settle.
World of Warcraft: Classic is currently available on PC.