Purchasing a World of Warcraft (WoW) character boost can save you dozens or even hundreds of hours leveling manually. But to get the full value from your boost, you need to optimize the experience.
Follow these 10 tips to maximize your enjoyment and avoid common pitfalls when boosting a new character in WoW:
1. Boost at Current Expansion Launch
Timing your boost to coincide with the launch of a new WoW expansion is ideal. This lets you immediately join all the other players exploring new zones and content. Boosting later into an expansion cycle means you’ll catch up alone and miss the initial excitement.
2. Research Classes First
Before boosting a class, thoroughly research it to ensure it suits your preferred playstyle. Watch gameplay videos, read new player guides, and study endgame class guides. Nothing is worse than instantly boosting a class you end up disliking. Take time to make an informed choice that matches your interests.
3. Gear Up With Timewalking
Once boosted, run Timewalking dungeons to quickly gear up your character. Timewalking offers epic item level drops for minimal effort. It will prepare you for harder max-level content.
4. Learn Your Rotations
Carefully read your spellbook and tooltips to understand your full toolkit. Then practice damage/healing rotations on training dummies. Memorize key ability cooldowns and ideal ability combos. Boosting levels you fast, but you need to learn to play well.
5. Complete Covenant Campaign
Immediately focus on progressing your Covenant’s campaign once boosted. This unlocks crucial soulbinds, abilities, conduits, and transport networks. Prioritize this over less critical content when freshly boosted.
6. Grab Treasures and Rares
Before jumping into structured group content, explore zones and grab beneficial overworld treasures, rares, and bonus objectives. They provide big XP gains to help close the gap to the cap if not the max level yet. Treasures also give gear and helpful items.
7. Upgrade Legendaries ASAP
Crafted legendaries are among the most powerful gear. Research ideal ones for your spec and begin acquiring the materials to craft and upgrade them quickly after boosting.
8. Build Key Stone Groups
Pushing higher Mythic+ keystone dungeons offers among the best endgame PvE rewards. Build a regular group with guildmates or community members to learn dungeons and speed through keystones.
9. Unlock Allied Races
If you boosted an allied race, complete the required quest chains on your main to unlock their Heritage Armor transmog set. This may require some reputation grinds. Make it a priority.
10. Install Helpful Addons
Addons can teach mechanics, optimize interfaces, and improve quality of life. Install ones like Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) before tackling harder group content. Take advantage of Addons to ease the learning curve.
Next Steps to Gear Up
The journey to mastering a new class and competing seriously at max level with an instant boost still requires diligent play. But following these tips will help you hit the ground running.
Here are some more specific practical steps to take immediately after boosting:
- Set your hearthstone to Oribos to centralize travel
- Prioritize unlocking flight paths for mobility
- Work through the latest expansion campaign
- Farm animals and currency to unlock creation catalyst
- Target tier set pieces from creation catalyst & zone rares
- Craft level 230+ epic belts, necks, rings, and legendaries
- Complete the weekly quest for a free piece of Mythic+ gear
Stay laser-focused on the tasks that offer the biggest gear and progression gains. Avoid getting distracted by less meaningful side content when fresh at max level.
Analyze what content you value most and optimize your gameplay accordingly when using a boost in WoW. Follow these tips diligently, and you’ll emerge hugely empowered. A well-utilized boost can launch you into exciting endgame WoW content and accelerate your progression.
Targets for Different WoW Content Types:
Gear Item Level Targets
Having clear item-level goals to work towards helps you know when your character is ready for certain content. Here are the recommended targets:
**Mythic+ Dungeons**
Mythic+ 4: Item Level 210
Mythic+ 7: Item Level 225
Mythic+ 10: Item Level 245
Mythic+ 15+: Item Level 260+
**Raiding**
LFR Raids: Item Level 230
Normal Raids: Item Level 250
Heroic Raids: Item Level 265
Mythic Raids: Item Level 280+
**PvP**
Unranked PvP: Item Level 220
Ranked PvP (1400): Item Level 240
Ranked PvP (1600): Item Level 250
Ranked PvP (1800+): Item Level 259+
Aim to be at or above the target for the highest tier of content you want to complete. This ensures you’ll have an appropriately powerful character to contribute meaningfully. Adjust targets slightly based on your spec and role.
Deciding Between Leveling and Boosting
As we’ve covered, purchasing a boost can maximize your access to endgame content. But is it better than leveling manually? In our guide comparing Leveling vs Boosting for Enjoyment in WoW, we dive deeper into the merits of each approach.
Leveling traditionally provides more immersion, accomplishment, and connection to your character. But it requires extensive playtime. Boosting delivers instant gratification and access to endgame activities.
Review that guide to weigh the pros and cons of leveling vs boosting based on your playstyle. Then use the tips here to optimize your chosen path for maximum fulfillment. With smart planning, you can find enjoyment in WoW whether you level manually or boost.
Key Takeaways
The key is having a plan in place to harness the full potential of your boost, rather than treating it as an instant power upgrade. Implement these tips diligently, and you’ll be a raid, dungeon, and PvP ready in no time.
Some core takeaways are researching thoroughly beforehand, efficiently gearing up, deeply learning your class, pursuing important progression like covenants, and installing beneficial Addons. With focus and effort, a boost can greatly amplify your WoW experience.