Thinking about just farming the hell out of SM from 30-40 instead of questing. There seem to be a lot of groups doing it all the time and I'm keen on getting hold of the entire https://classic.wowhead.com/item-set=16 ... et-crusade set if I get lucky with drops.



Want to know if you guys have any tips or cautions about the dungeon from a tanking perspective, and how long this could take me? Anyone else doing something similar?

Thanks again to @d3aths by the way for the list of all dungeon quests guide which I have been using a lot for reference.

I've done SM farming before, in TBC, did it around 50 times or so, but I was farming Silk Cloth. Didn't get the whole Scarlet item set though. The dungeon is very very long, a lot of trash, and it is kind of interesting too.

teebling wrote: ↑

4 years ago

Want to know if you guys have any tips or cautions about the dungeon from a tanking perspective, and how long this could take me? Anyone else doing something similar?

The myrmidons in the later half of armory enrage when they get low, and they do a good bit of damage. It's enough to catch your healer off guard if you go in with lower HP or if you get several enraged myrms at once.

Usually the struggle is finding a group of others who will do it. Most people will run it once and leave. So it seems like you'll spend a lot of time just finding more people unless you can assemble a squad of committed people.

I'm currently doing this.

You'll want to find a spellcleave group, you should be fine as most of them are running with tanks.

Spamming SM GY with a good group takes less than 10 mins per run, not reached Cath yet to test but probably not much longer.

By far the fastest way to level but be warned it will bore the shit out of you by the end.

They nerfed AoE threat from Demo shout so tanking as a warrior in a spell cleave group was insanely strong, and is now insanely impossible. If you decide to go the melee cleave route, you will want 2-3 warriors with arms build using sweeping strikes and then equip ravagers ASAP. We had a good thread about dungeon grinds earlier on pre release, cant find it right now tho.

You'll want to spend as little time in armory as possible. The mobs have way too much armor and the disarm sucks — library and cathedral will get you better xp/hour.

Once you get your ravager it might be worth putting a weapon chain on it immediately if your server's prices aren't too bad. You'll need one later in BRD anyway.

Did this as a healer about a week ago and want to point out one thing Stfuppercut said;

Stfuppercut wrote: ↑

4 years ago

They nerfed AoE threat from Demo shout so tanking as a warrior in a spell cleave group was insanely strong, and is now insanely impossible. If you decide to go the melee cleave route, you will want 2-3 warriors with arms build using sweeping strikes and then equip ravagers ASAP.

You can avoid this issue if you shield the tank, tank goes in and aggros quite a few mobs and pulls them into a big group, then you get a cone of cold, get the tank out before he dies and just have the mages slow/AOE them to death. This is how we did it even when the tank was the lowest level character in the group by far and we implemented a similar thing in Zul'farrak.

I would just add that if you want an easier time building a group, run all the wings. On kronos the problem I saw all the time is that tanks only wanted arms, casters only wanted lib, etc. May be a moot point since lower levels are super crowded right now, but it's definitely easier to get a diverse group when you hit all the wings and therefore ensure the is incentive for everyone.

Casp wrote: ↑

4 years ago

You can avoid this issue if you shield the tank, tank goes in and aggros quite a few mobs and pulls them into a big group, then you get a cone of cold, get the tank out before he dies and just have the mages slow/AOE them to death. This is how we did it even when the tank was the lowest level character in the group by far and we implemented a similar thing in Zul'farrak.

This would essentially be a spell cleave. In which case a tank is unnecessary for grinding.

I have the tabard and four pieces of the chain set. I hope to get the shield as well.



The big problem with most of the instances is that there's SOOOOOO MUCH TRASH and so few bosses, and the trash likes to use disarm and PW: Shield all the freaking time, so you spend a lot of time unable to do anything to them. Also, you have to pull them 1-2 at a time and then kite them 2 or 3 rooms back to prevent them from running away and chain-pulling when they get down to 20% health.

The Whitemane fight can devastate groups that are unprepared for it.

Black Monarch wrote: ↑

4 years ago

The Whitemane fight can devastate groups that are unprepared for it.

If youre dungeon spamming you probably shouldnt be doing bosses anyhow. I leveled in a melee cleave from level 16-50 and I can tell you that we rarely killed bosses. We started a 15-20 min timer, we cleared trash and then at 15-20 mins we went out and reset. This is the purpose of spamming dungeons. You will kill key bosses depending on your group comp. For example killing Herod to get Ravagers is important for melee cleave teams. As a pug, you should NOT be killing ANY bosses. You should be spamming trash to maximize your xp per hour. This is the entire purpose of dungeon grinding, xp per hour. You are not assigned to a dedicated team and therefore you have no investment in the longterm gearing of that group, so you should maximize your time and effort with them by ensuring you are focused on xp per hour and not bosses.

In SM Cath I believe we were pulling between 55-65k xp per hour (which is low in contrast to what can be earned). We were not killing bosses. This was as a 5 man, and at the same time you could run raids of 6-8 and increase your xp even higher which has since been nerfed.

Dungeon cleaving has the potential to be the quickest leveling route for some classes (warriors especially), but the way many people are using dungeon farming is entirely inefficient. If youre just inviting 4 other randoms and doing a normal dungeon run, you'd be better off questing. Much... MUCH better off.

I should mention that if you are netting the appropriate amount of xp per hour, most gear wont matter because you outlevel it too quickly anyhow. And if you arent netting enough xp per hour then you should cut your losses and go back to solo questing.

Man you really know how to tell people how not to play this game, lol

I am getting tired of a few dungeon runs already, can't imagine leveling from 30-40 non-stop the same dungeon. Good luck for those that can bare it!

Stfuppercut wrote: ↑

4 years ago

If youre dungeon spamming you probably shouldnt be doing bosses anyhow. I leveled in a melee cleave from level 16-50 and I can tell you that we rarely killed bosses. We started a 15-20 min timer, we cleared trash and then at 15-20 mins we went out and reset. This is the purpose of spamming dungeons. You will kill key bosses depending on your group comp. For example killing Herod to get Ravagers is important for melee cleave teams. As a pug, you should NOT be killing ANY bosses. You should be spamming trash to maximize your xp per hour. This is the entire purpose of dungeon grinding, xp per hour. You are not assigned to a dedicated team and therefore you have no investment in the longterm gearing of that group, so you should maximize your time and effort with them by ensuring you are focused on xp per hour and not bosses.

...

I should mention that if you are netting the appropriate amount of xp per hour, most gear wont matter because you outlevel it too quickly anyhow. And if you arent netting enough xp per hour then you should cut your losses and go back to solo questing.

An interesting perspective. However, you ignore two crucial facts:

1) it takes something like an hour to clear trash and about 2 minutes (AT MOST) to kill a boss

2) The Scarlet Commander's Aegis is awesome and I had to have it

3) Whitemane's hat is what all the cool kids are wearing this year, and it's safer than licking toads.

atkars wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I am getting tired of a few dungeon runs already, can't imagine leveling from 30-40 non-stop the same dungeon. Good luck for those that can bare it!

Well it's either that or grinding murlocs on the same couple of beaches for several days straight.

I just hit 34 this weekend and I plan to run SM more than a dozen times, but I'd like to complete https://classic.wowhead.com/quest=261/d ... arlet-path first so I can grab https://classic.wowhead.com/quest=1053/ ... -the-light. As I understand it, this quest is going to be quite annoying for a level 34 since the Undead Ravagers are 37-38.

Ultimately, I'd like to get my hands on https://www.wowhead.com/item=6830/bonebiter as soon as possible since I've been using https://classic.wowhead.com/item=6953/verigans-fist since the early 20s and it has worn out its welcome.

Black Monarch wrote: ↑

4 years ago

1) it takes something like an hour to clear trash and about 2 minutes (AT MOST) to kill a boss

For SM cath a good group should stick to the right side of the main outdoor area and clear the entire right side all the way up to the church doors, they should clear a handful of pulls inside the church, and at 7-9 mins should exit the church and begin pulling the left side of the dungeon all the way back to the entrance. You should clear about 80-90% of the trash within 15-20 mins if you are cleaving well. You can do this 5 times per hour.

The whitemane fight is a specific nuisance due to the RP nature of the event and the prolonged kill. We tested it and it put a significant dent in our xp per hour.

rijndael wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I just hit 34 this weekend and I plan to run SM more than a dozen times, but I'd like to complete https://classic.wowhead.com/quest=261/d ... arlet-path first so I can grab https://classic.wowhead.com/quest=1053/ ... -the-light. As I understand it, this quest is going to be quite annoying for a level 34 since the Undead Ravagers are 37-38.

There was a 44 Warrior and 37 Warlock in Desolace that needed https://classic.wowhead.com/quest=261/d ... arlet-path just as I logged on last night, so I got it done quickly, wrapped up some Desolace low 30s quests and dinged 35. I think I'm ready for SM!

I have a friend who I slightly out-leveled so he has been playing catchup and believe it or not he was saying he has been struggling to find a group even as a healer at times. I do think he is playing at extremely odd times, though. Anyways, yea what he has been doing is just doing SM over and over and over. :P

Stfuppercut wrote: ↑

4 years ago

This would essentially be a spell cleave. In which case a tank is unnecessary for grinding.

It's useful to have the tank though, since it allows for more outrageous pulls. Compared to some spellcleave groups I ran with its a lot safer/easier when you have a high HP tank thats able to take some damage after the shield fades compared to a squishy mage who will most likely get 1-hit by the mass of mobs that might be around him.

Casp wrote: ↑

4 years ago

It's useful to have the tank though, since it allows for more outrageous pulls. Compared to some spellcleave groups I ran with its a lot safer/easier when you have a high HP tank thats able to take some damage after the shield fades compared to a squishy mage who will most likely get 1-hit by the mass of mobs that might be around him.

No not really. The hp doesnt matter very much because the tank is kiting. So, initially have a warrior demo spam with piercing howl was the meta, until blizz nerfed Demo threat. Once demo threat was nerfed, warriors became useless in spellcleaves. You CAN run a feral. Once eye of killrog was nerfed, having a feral stealth behind a massive pack of mobs and moonfire and then dash forward to group things is really helpful. Outside of this, the druids job is basically to play outside of the cleave and to taunt enemies back into the aoe. A druids job in a spell cleave is to keep the pack tight while the casters AoE. A good spell cleave, wont need this feral and the feral wont add to xp per hour. Most people wont be capable of running a spell cleave without a feral though and most teams wont be very good. We saw this with methods attempt at spell cleaving. The feral adds to consistency and when spell cleaves begin to increase in difficulty at about level 35-45, ferals become very valuable. A very small portion of the game population will be able to consistently yield high xp per hour without a tank but doing so is what makes spell cleaves valuable.

In my opinion, a spell cleave team should form at about level 12 (horde side) or 16 (alliance side) and they should grind WITHOUT a tank until SM cath. At approx level 40 the cleave should split up and solo grind to 46. At 46 they should come back together for mara worm grind where they can cap out at 200k xp per hour. The should use this until 50 where they should end their cleave comp.

I ran nothing but SM from level 36 to 38. That was the fastest I've gained 2 levels in a while. Got myself a Bonebiter and Raging Berserker's Helm. I plan to continue running SM for at least the next 2 levels.

At what point does the XP gained from SM runs taper out such that you're better off heading elsewhere?

rijndael wrote: ↑

4 years ago

At what point does the XP gained from SM runs taper out such that you're better off heading elsewhere?

Here's a nice chart to help you out. Anything above your-level+4 will give the same as your-level+4
Open the image in a new tab to zoom in, I hope you can read it clearly.

rijndael wrote: ↑

4 years ago

I ran nothing but SM from level 36 to 38. That was the fastest I've gained 2 levels in a while. Got myself a Bonebiter and Raging Berserker's Helm. I plan to continue running SM for at least the next 2 levels.

At what point does the XP gained from SM runs taper out such that you're better off heading elsewhere?

Can second that, I also did 35-38 in SM Arms pretty fast, in like 10+ runs in 3 hours if I remember correctly.

That said, there are a couple of faction specific perks to consider, because Horde has WF and a shaman/priest/triple arms warrior lineup kills things so fast and with barely any downtime.

While @Stfuppercut is right on farming Cath and skipping bosses, try finding a armory group that skips Herod on horde side

My above mentioned lineup would need every item from him 4 times and even with perfect luck that's 16 runs.

The SM instances were my all time favorite dungeons! I can't wait to hit that level bracket on my characters! Only a couple levels away on my main but I'm thinking about switching my main to one of my alts which would put this further away :(