Get Ready for Season 1: 7 Things to Do at Max Level in The War Within
The release of a new World of Warcraft expansion always brings with it a variety of new things to do. New zones to quest through, dungeons to run, secrets to find, and much more. Many players may have a set in stone plan that they intend on following as soon as they get their hands on the new content. Other players may want some guidance on the best direction to take your character as you reach level 80. Today we're going to discuss some of the best things you can do once you reach level 80 in The War Within.
It's worth mentioning that Dragonflight's upgrade system carries over into The War Within. You'll be able to earn a new type of stones and a new type of crests to upgrade gear that is categorized on an upgrade track.
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1. World Quests
World quests received a minor rework and adjustment in The War Within. In previous World of Warcraft expansions, they were essentially random side quests that would spawn up in each zone and doing them was super fast and easy. They also didn't build up to anything and the rewards they offered were typically not useful at all and were mostly only done for reputation purposes.
In The War Within, doing world quests now builds towards assignments. Assignments are basically harder world quests that are done in a group. They become available after doing enough world quests in a specific zone. These world quests are great to do early in an expansion because they can be a great source of starter gear for fresh 80s.
The War Within also introduces another reason to want to do world quests, which are delves. We're going to talk more about delves in the next entry, but doing assignments will reward you with bountiful keys with are crucial to maximizing the effectiveness of delves.
2. Delves
Delves are an entirely new way of experiencing Warcraft that were introduced in The War Within. We have a whole guide breaking them down. Delves are going to be a crucial aspect of gameplay in this expansion. Blizzard has stated they intent on delves being an endgame pillar right alongside Mythic Plus dungeons and raiding.
Delves are a phenomenal thing to do at level 80 because they have a variety of difficulties to pick from, offer decent rewards for the amount of time they take to do, and are easily doable solo.
Delves have the chance to become empowered as bountiful delves. Doing this delves with a bountiful key will allow you to unlock higher tier rewards at the end of the delve by consuming the key.
This can be a great way to gear up and get ready for season 1. It can also be worth noting that the level of rewards you can get are capped until season 1 actually begins. This means if you're trying to 100% maximize the value of each individual bountiful key you get, it would likely be best to hoard them until season 1 actually begins and then use them on the uncapped rewards.
3. Zone specific objectives
upgrade materials, gold, and more
This is a quick entry. The zone specific objectives are basically just world quests uniquely themed around the zone they reside in. They are kind of similar to the Siege of Dragonbane Keep or the Tuskarr cooking events from Dragonflight.
When The War Within launched they were bugged, but they're supposed to give some gold, some upgrade materials, and random other things. They aren't worth going out of your way to farm, but are likely a decent source of upgrade materials which are very valuable. These zone specific objectives will likely be worth doing in most instances if you're just flying by and they happen to be active or if you notice they're going to start soon and you're not far away.
4. Rare hunting
Rare hunting is always a popular thing to do when new WoW content comes out. New rares mean new mounts and transmog. Getting into a group that's rare hunting as a fresh level 80 preparing for the first season of The War Within can be a useful way to get some materials, random Warband-bound gear and a chance at a few mounts.
5. Dungeon spamming
Dungeon spamming is a classic way to play World of Warcraft. Spamming dungeons is almost always the most effective way of doing something. In The War Within, it's nowhere near the most effective way to farm gear in preparation for season 1, since you can't queue for heroic dungeons until season 1 begins.
However, it isn't hard to do them or find groups for them. If you're someone who enjoys running dungeons and would rather do them over delves or open world content, dungeon spamming is your next best option.
Open world farming is the way to go for farming gear pre-season 1 launch, but that doesn't mean dungeons can't be useful.
6. Renown Rewards
Renown was introduced in Shadowlands and reiterated upon in Dragonflight as a replacement for traditional reputations. They are basically battle passes for factions.
If you're someone who likes questing and doing open world content, renown rewards can be a decent way of getting some solid gear pre-season 1. The reward tiers that offer this gear are also Warband wide and The War Within has account-wide reputations.
That means you can progress these reputations on any character on your account and all of your characters share that progress and the rewards.
7. Crafting Orders
The effectiveness of crafting orders is limited, especially if you can't craft your own gear. However, crafting orders can be a great way to fill in that last slot or two you're missing that just refuses to drop from the other content you're farming.
It's best to view crafting as a supplementary form of gearing rather than a primary means of obtaining each slot. If you can craft your own gear, you can get a few slows right away at level 80 easily. Of course, you'll need to either buy the materials or spend the time gathering them yourself for this to work.
BEN FITZSIMMONS