Filling the Gap Between Expansions
Now that we're waiting for Warlords of Draenor, what is there to do to pass the time?
World of Warcraft is currently in an awkward place at the moment, with players wondering how to pass the time while waiting for the next expansion. With a December release of Warlords of Draenor looking more and more likely, I'm here to share some of things that are keeping me interested in the game.
Considering that Patch 5.4's Siege of Orgrimmar has been out for some time now, PvE progression is not something a lot of players have left to do. I never thought I would consider myself to be lucky in that my guild still has Garrosh Hellscream to kill on normal difficulty, but with the long wait ahead, I do. Once he's downed – and he will be soon – we'll still have heroic modes to try and plenty of time to work through them. For the 14/14 heroic playerbase, what else is there?
It's times like these where I look to PvP. As a rule I dislike battlegrounds, but Arena is an area I find myself legitimately enjoying. Farming Justice Points to convert to Honor in order to purchase a set of PvP gear got me back into Heroic 5-mans, and with friends to boot. Another friend accompanies me in 2v2 matches while several more of my guild-mates suddenly find themselves afflicted with the PvP bug too. All in all, it's an avenue worth exploring if you're predominantly a PvE player. Who knows, you might like it! This, of course, works vice versa for PvP players too. Why not try out some PvE progression?
Another option (and a personal favorite of mine) is to go back to old raids and get those achievements you missed out on the first time around. Some of them you can solo, but if you're in a guild or have a few friends that are also interested, it makes for an enjoyable time. Places like Icecrown Citadel, Eye of Eternity, Karazhan and Firelands have mounts that may drop along with the mounts you'll be rewarded with if you complete the achievements within, and there are pets to collect in such places as Molten Core, Ahn'Qiraj and Serpentshrine Cavern.
Old School achievements can also award titles for your character, such as 'Starcaller' earned in Ulduar, or 'of the Nightfall' from the Obsidium Sanctum. There are plenty more mounts, pets and titles to collect, but these are just some examples.
I'm trying to stay from the obvious suggestion to level an alt, but actually this is a good time to dust off a character you haven't played for a while or even start a new one. With the level 90 items available on the Timeless Isle and the ease of both LFR and Flex, it won't take long to catch up with your friends for some raiding, especially with the ability to purchase Valor Points with Timeless Coins. Did you know you can now upgrade your gear four times? If only the weekly VP cap wasn't so low...
Last but not least, go kill some rares! Get yourself an addon called NPCScan and start hunting. Some of the rare monsters in Pandaria drop mounts, such as the Zandalari Warbringers, and there's always Huolon on the Timeless Isle.
If you're really desperate, there's always the legendary cloak quest chain (ugh). I'm in the middle of doing this right now, having previously ignored the grind. Some increases to the rep gain for Wrathion have been datamined recently but they're not yet in-game, and we don't know if they will make it live, but I hope so.
So there you go. If you've already done all of the above, I salute you. If you haven't, why not consider some of these suggestions?
Have fun in game!
Follow me on Twitter: @QelricDK
