Instancing in TBC

[Wasabee]

Okay, I'm a little mixed up with the instances, gear and what you do for what. (for TBC)

So what is the instance order you "should" do. I understand that some are more preferable depending on class/build/etc. but I'm talking general plan here.

I read up on the Wiki for WoW and here is my uderstanding:

- You do the instances in the order that you level/Quest.

- The instances give you upgrades for previous gear....

- Dungeon Set 3 Falls off the level 66+ Instances.
Gear wise (for pre TBC WOW players):
Tier 2 < Dungeon Set 3 = Tier 2.5 < Tier 3 = Craftable Gear (level 375)

Here is where it gets fuzzy:

Heroics - what order "should" you do them?
- I know you have to be exalted to get the "key"...so run the highest level in that zone to get the rep needed and do turn-ins.

Is it worth it to go for your Dungeon set 3? (By the time some people get their pieces...they could do Heroics).

Where does Kara fit in? (I saw a posting for suggested stats and builds). Would going to Kara before getting heroic gear be like putting the cart before the horse?

Thanks in advance for your 2 cents.

[Schift]

Personally, I wouldn't bother going just for you dungeon 3 set. You will probably get a few pieces as you are running through, but depending on your class/spec you will be better off picking and choosing between random pieces. Often it's nice to get the 2 piece bonus or even the 4 piece bonus so you have to weigh that in as well.

As for order, I wouldn't worry about any of the regular 70 5-mans. They are all doable with nearly the same gear and therefore even though some are considered harder than others, you can do them all around the same time.

You can arguably split them up into 3 categories if you must:
Hard: Black Morass, Arcatraz, Shattered Halls
Medium: Shadow Lab, Botanica
Easy: Sethekk Halls, (Old Hillsbrad), Steamvault, Mechanaar
My list will be different than a lot of other peoples. I don't feel that some of these are accurate, but I'm just trying to put up a generic list from what I've compiled by reading what most people say.

Heroics and Kara can kind of come at the same time. Heroics are kind of like little 5 man "raids." As you might know, in the upcoming patch much of the gear is getting re-vamped and therefore it's currently quite difficult to compare all of the gear as it hasn't all been updated yet.

Instead of looking at what kind of gear you are going for (e.g. Yay! I have all 5-man blues I'm going to start Kara!) you may try and do some research for your class and spec to see around what stats you should be aiming for in order to start Kara and Heroics. Aim towards those stats and beyond any way that you can (crafting, quests, 5-mans, rep. rewards and even PvP). That's my look on it.

[Regrets]

Ok TBC instances are a lil more complicated than the previous edition. Just a little. I dont understand what u mean by Dungeon Set 3 , but I will give u a rough idea below.

Pre-TBC times..
Tier 0 set drops from various 5man-10man dungeon - UBRS/LBRS/Scholomance/Stratholme live & dead/Dire Maul etc.
Tier 1 set drops from Raid dungeon - Molten Core
Tier 2 set drops from Raid dungeon - Onyxia & Blackwing Lair
Tier 2.5 set drops from Raid dungeon - Ahn'Qiraji 40man
Tier 3 set drops from Raid dungeon - Naxx

On top of that, there's some ppl who recognise Zul'Gurub gear drops as Tier 0.5, & AQ20 gear drops as Tier 1.5 .

Now back to the main point.

When u entered outland, there are various dungeons for u according to level range. I dont know the exact lvl range so I will just list out from easiest - hardest.

Hellfire Rampart
Blood furnace
Slave Pens
Underbog
Auchenai Crypts
Sethekk Halls
Mana tombs
Old Hillsbrad (@ Tanaris, need to complete the whole instance to get keyed to lvl70 Black Morass instance)

Thats all for pre lvl70 gears you can get to enhance your levelling speed.

@ Lvl70, you will have access to all normal instance in TBC (provided you have bought ur flying mount).

Which is :-

Steamvault (known as SV)
Shadow Lab (known as SL)
Mechanar
The Botanica
Arcatraz
Black Morass
Shattered Halls

Those instance mentioned above drop ur blue tier gears. You can only do with 5man and not more than that.

Karazhan which u mentioned is considered a Raid dungeon & in many cases raid dungeon bosses needs strat to take them down & various of practice. They also dropped lovely epics :)

Ok and questions about heroic, yup definitely u gotta be "keyed" for heroic & to have that.. you must be revered with the reputation near the instance. There's a few areas ..

Thrallmar rept - Revered to be keyed with Heroic Hellfire Rampart, Blood furnace, Shattered Halls.

Cenarion Expedition rept - Revered to be keyed with Heroic Slave Pens, Underbog, Steamvault.

Lower city rept - Revered to be keyed with Heroic Mana tombs, Sethekk Halls, Auchenai Crypts & Shadow Lab.

Sha'tah rept - Revered to be keyed with Heroic Mechanar, Botanica & Arcatraz.

Keeper of the time rept - Revered to be keyed with Heroic Old Hillsbrad & Black Morass.

Heroic instances are usually the same fight where u do in normal instance but no mistakes can be made, because other than tanks, the other member cant afford to get hit more than once :D But well, its do-able with good lvl70 blue gears :)

[Fercil]

Gear wise (for pre TBC WOW players):
Tier 2 < Dungeon Set 3 = Tier 2.5 < Tier 3 = Craftable Gear (level 375)

...

Is it worth it to go for your Dungeon set 3? (By the time some people get their pieces...they could do Heroics).

You're greatly exaggerating the usefulness of pre-TBC gear. Dungeon Set 3 is for many (if not all, I don't know) classes better than Tier3. Heck, for some classes even tier 2.5 was better than tier 3. When you've ran good while in lvl 70 instances you really shouldn't have much left of the pre-TBC gear, no matter if it has dropped from Kel'Thuzad in Naxx.


Where does Kara fit in? (I saw a posting for suggested stats and builds). Would going to Kara before getting heroic gear be like putting the cart before the horse?

Heroics vary greatly in difficulty but in general I would say they're at same time as Kara. You'll learn it better by trying when you get there.

[Telmar]

You're greatly exaggerating the usefulness of pre-TBC gear. Dungeon Set 3 is for many (if not all, I don't know) classes better than Tier3. Heck, for some classes even tier 2.5 was better than tier 3.

Wish I could agree, still trying to get rid of my 4 piece Bonescythe :(

[Regrets]

Although kara aint that hard but heroics , unless u're saying heroic SH & such difficulty, maybe..but most of the heroics are easy like the normal one -.-" provided u got the right class ..

[Schift]

Heroics are much more class specific than regular 5 mans, that's for sure.

[moopy]

Heroics are much more class specific than regular 5 mans, that's for sure.

Yes and no. Idiots who look for a group made up of tank, healer and "randoms" deserve to die. You just need a balanced group with a little CC, strong tanking and healing. There are loads of variations within that. For example, you can take a feral druid as OT/DPS in the place of a CCing DPSser. As long as you have some CC, and good DPS on top of the tank and healer, you're all set.

Deliberately stupid choices, like taking a pally as "DPS" who isn't going to heal or offtank will nerf things, of course. However, essentially, a decently-balanced 5 person group with some CC will be able to tackle most things (though the tank and healer will need to be decently-geared).

Beware, the immunity to CC is different in heroics, so it often requires a little trial and error to discover what you can and can't do.

[Schift]

I suppose I should have been more specific. It is much more important to not have those "randoms" along in heroics. At this point, people are often overgeared for regular 5 mans and they become much less class specific. Heroics still require a team of 5 well balanced people who are paying attention and understand their character well.