How Many Leveling Guides Have You Tried?

It’s a simple question and one that I’ve heard a few times myself. I write about these things all the time and yet I don’t know that I’ve ever actually counted the number of leveling guides I’ve tried out. I would imagine the number is between 5 and 8 though I know for a fact I’ve only ever completed an alt with two of those guides – the other ones were not very good. Which brings me to the point – a new guide I’ve recently discovered that I thought my fellow players might be interested in – Extreme Leveling.

The New Kid on the Block

It’s a new guide for sure, but I’ve been hearing about Extreme Leveling for some time now. Whether it is the owners hyping their product or real buzz circulating the net, it’s always hard to tell, but I do know that it has been building and I had heard some very interesting things, especially from the guide’s creator, gamer Shawn Woods. Back a few weeks ago when I first talked to Shawn, I asked him what the guide would entail and he told me “a completely new method for leveling”. I thought it was just hype again because how many different ways can there actually be to level a character in World of Warcraft.

The Guide in Action

Fast forward a few weeks and the guide is now in my hands. Let me just say I’m incredibly shocked – Shawn actually managed to pull through with this promise and provide a completely new means of leveling and it works – it downright works.

First of all, this is a guide that tosses many of the conventions you’re used to in leveling guides. It starts from scratch, using Shawn’s own expertise and builds from there. It continues to grow and by the time you reach the end of the guide, I’d be shocked if you haven’t beat your own record for leveling time.

You’re going to get in-game mods, detailed maps, both factions, and unlimited updates for Extreme Leveling your guide, but that’s not really what this guide is all about. This guide is about you getting the best for your money and in terms of what Shawn provides in versus what other writers provide in their leveling guides, you are not going to get any better. I’m leveling my alts with this guide from here on out – you can count on that.

Get Extreme Leveling Here

Fishing in World of Warcraft

This picture reminds me of fishing in World of Warcraft, you never know what you are going to get or what is going to come out of the water and try to kill you. I think I have been attacked by just about everything that lives in the water while I was fishing at one time or another. Even the bobber looks like a WoW bobber.

Patch 3.2.0 8/4/09

They are installing the new patch today, I downloaded it, 397megs, but Blizzard is still working on their servers so I can't get on. It didn't take long to download at all, usually I get a message I am behind a firewall and it takes forever but not today, I guess I finally got that problem straightened out. They did a lot in this patch. Here are a couple things I copied right from Blizzards site:

Items: General

• Agility: The amount of agility required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This change required recalibrating the amount of dodge a player has with 0 agility by a slight amount as well, so all players will see their dodge percentage vary a small amount.
• Block Value: The amount of bonus block value on all items has been doubled. This does not affect the base block value on shields or block value derived from strength.
• On-Use Block Value Items: All items and set bonuses that trigger temporary increases to block value have been modified. Instead of increasing their block value amount by 100% like other items, they have all had their effect durations doubled. This applies to Glyph of Deflection, Gnomeregan Autoblocker, Coren's Lucky Coin, Lavanthor's Talisman, Libram of Obstruction, Tome of the Lightbringer, Libram of the Sacred Shield, the tier-8 paladin Shield of Righteousness bonus, the tier-5 paladin Holy Shield bonus, and the tier-5 warrior Shield Block bonus.
• Dodge Rating: The amount of dodge rating required per percentage of dodge has been increased by 15%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply.
• Item Buy Back Feature Revised
  • The Item Buy Back time will now expire if the player enchants or sockets an item. Players will see a confirmation dialog box now when they attempt to enchant or add gems to an item giving them a last chance to reconsider.
• Items with Triggered Effects: These items generally have cooldowns on how often they can be triggered. Those cooldowns are now triggered each time the item is equipped (example: A trinket has a 45-second cooldown on an effect triggered by player attacks; when a player equips that item, the effect will be unable to be triggered for the first 45 seconds it is worn).
• Mounts
  • The cast time for summoning any ground mount is now 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
  • Apprentice Riding (Skill 75): Can now be learned at level 20 for 4 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 20 directing them to the riding trainer.
  • Journeyman Riding (Skill 150): Can now be learned at level 40 for 50 gold. Mail will be sent to players who reach level 40 directing them back to the riding trainer.
  • Expert Riding (Skill 225): Can now be learned at level 60 for 600 gold from trainers in Honor Hold or Thrallmar. Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold for Alliance; Thrallmar for Horde). Flight speed at this skill level has been increased to 150% of run speed, up from 60%.
  • Artisan Riding (Skill 300): Faction discounts now apply (Honor Hold or Valiance Expedition for Alliance; Thrallmar or Warsong Offensive for Horde).
  • In order to further equalize the number of purchasable mounts available to each race, a new 60% speed ground mount has been added for night elves, and a new 100% speed ground mount has been added for the undead.
  • Flying over Dalaran and Wintergrasp is now possible so long as players keep a healthy distance above the ground.
• Mana Regeneration: All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.
• Parry Rating: The amount of parry rating required per percentage of parry has been reduced by 8%. This is before diminishing returns. Combined with other changes, this makes dodge rating and parry rating equally potent before diminishing returns apply. Parry still diminishes more quickly than dodge.
• Resilience: No longer reduces the amount of damage done by damage-over-time spells, but instead reduces the amount of all damage done by players by the same proportion. In addition, the amount of resilience needed to reduce critical strike chance, critical strike damage and overall damage has been increased by 15%.

Dungeons and Raids

• Dungeon and Raid ID Extensions
  • In order to allow for parties and raids to progress through instances at their own pace, players can now extend an instance ID on an individual basis.
  • Existing or recently expired IDs can be extended via the Social tab under Raid by clicking on Raid Info.
  • The ID of any instance to which a player is saved can be extended. Doing so will extend the instance lock period by the same amount of time as the original lock (i.e. extending an Ulduar instance ID will add 7 days, a Heroic: Halls of Lightning instance ID will add 24 hours, and a Zul'Gurub instance ID will add 3 days to the instance lock time).
  • An ID can be extended more than once.
  • An extension can be reversed on an individual basis provided the player does not do anything in the instance during the extended instance lock period that would save that player to the instance.
• Emblem System Changes
  • Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders' Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph.
  • Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism.
  • The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Conquest.
  • New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any combination of emblems.
• 25-player raids will no longer be referred to as Heroic versions of a raid, as there is a new distinction between normal and Heroic modes for both 10 and 25 player versions of the Crusaders' Coliseum.
• The Nexus: The Oculus & The Eye of Eternity
  • Drakes used by players in these instances will now scale in health and damage according to the rider's average item level.
• Ulduar
  • Players can now use Blink, Shadowstep, and Demonic Teleport while participating in the illusion events in the Yogg-Saron encounter.
  • Ominous Clouds in the Yogg-Saron encounter are now more vocal about touching players and should no longer sometimes appear to be in the wrong place for certain players.
  • An Immortal Guardian targeted for Empowering Shadows in the Yogg-Saron encounter will now become a 'Marked Immortal Guardian' while targeted.
  • Crusher Tentacles in the Yogg-Saron encounter spawn a little slower in 25-player mode allowing a bit more time for players to clear out the Illusion room.
  • Empowering Shadows in the Yogg-Saron encounter now targets a maximum of three Immortal Guardians in 25-player mode.
  • Yogg-Saron's health has been reduced by 20% in the final stage of his 25-player mode.
  • Winter Jormungars will no longer put everyone in the zone in combat when they emerge from a Snow Mound. Additionally, Snow Mounds will now disappear when all their jormungars have emerged.

You can get all the patch notes here Patch 3.2.0