Blizzard has given itself until the end of September to release World of Warcraft: Legion, the next expansion to the game and the one that is coming packed with new features, alterations in core game systems and much, much more. The problem is that that's still nine months away. Even the "bridging" content between Warlords of Draenor and Legion isn't likely until June or July, leaving a huge content drought looming in front of every player. There are things to do in the interim for those motivated to stay in the game until then.
I want to start this by saying that the population on my server is decent, though it's hard to be totally accurate with cross realms and the like, but there are people and they are doing a lot of the things listed below. It's a good sign that people want to stay involved with WoW and that they don't want to leave the game world they love. But even the die hard players are hard pressed these days to keep up the happy face. It's poor planning, in my opinion, that Blizzard consistently "provides" players with such long periods without any worthwhile current content in the end days of an expansion and that lists like this are a necessary evil every single time.
So enjoy the list below for what it is, knowing that these are the same choices (mostly) that have been presented to WoW players repeatedly over the years.
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To kick things off, I want to add a couple of suggestions that may help keep the "same old same old" more interesting over the next nine months:
- purchase a WoW token for guilt-free subscription - while someone had to spend real world dollars (and more than a subscription price too!), you will feel much less guilty for skipping days or even weeks if you've used in-game currency to keep the subscription running. Tokens on NA servers are currently around 35,000 gold; EU servers are about 60,000
- take a hiatus - nothing says players have to stick all the dry and repetitive months ahead before the launch of Legion. After all, there are a ton of other great games to play and this seems like a golden opportunity to do so
1. Garrisons
Garrisons, arguably a Facebook style mini-game, give players an opportunity to earn gold to pay for those tokens mentioned above. The secret lies in knowing your server's economy and capitalizing on certain aspects. Garrisons should be level 3 with an inn. Every week purchase a treasure hunter follower. These will exponentially increase the amount of gold earned per mission. In addition, farm that level 3 herb garden and mine to sell the resources. Depending on the number of characters on your account, you can make around 10k per week. Of course, buying new followers means raising them by sending them out on missions. They don't become full-fledged treasure hunters until level 100, but that doesn't require leaving the garrison either.
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If nothing else, amassing gold now while it can be since garrison table / gold missions will likely be nerfed for Legion, is a good idea. Things at the expansion's launch will be pricey and it will be worth the effort to have ready cash.
2. Pet battles & acquisition
There are tons of battle pets to collect, raise, make rare quality and so on. There are a boatload of achievements related to the system as well. If you enjoy Pokemon styled gaming (gotta get 'em all!), this is a great way to fill time. Pets are sprinkled throughout the game world, both in easily accessible areas and within dungeons and raids. Some pets are earned on garrison missions or through a rare world drop, etc.
If you're still looking for ways to earn gold, this is another viable option. Some pets sell at a premium and can be very lucrative to both collect and raise prior to selling on the auction house.
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3. Raise twinks
I know what you're thinking: "But I don't wannnnnnnna play through the old content again!" I hear you and agree. Unless there's a race / class you've always wanted to try, leveling "by hand" the old fashioned way isn't a lot of fun. That's the end of the game (Panda starting zone not included) where WoW really shows its age. The good news is that there are ways to level characters much, much faster. Use heirlooms (created from the new heirloom tab) to boost experience gains while running dungeons that offer big bonuses for completion in addition to quests inside. This is best done with a higher level friend to boost you through at a quick pace. Add in a Elixir of the Rapid Mind or Elixir of Ancient Knowledge for huge experience gains while active and you can level a toon to 100 in a matter of days, not weeks or months.
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But WAIT! There's more! Head to page 2 to get some more ideas!
