TBC Classic Phase 1 Overview
It can, and will be very easy to make some pretty impactful mistakes, and in this article, we want to provide some crucial tips as players go through the dark portal once again, to hopefully prevent these mistakes from happening (some that maybe perhaps the author made back in 2021....)
Crucial Quest Rewards
Expertise is a new stat in TBC that wards Dodge/Parry reduction from the player's melee attacks. This is a very attractive stat to have for Physical DPS, but, unfortunately, this stat is not all too common on the gear provided. Luckily, there are a few items that have this that are awarded from quests! All players will end up going through the Arcatraz attunement quest chain, which will eventually take you to Special Delivery to Shattrath City. This will give players the option for the coveted Shattrath Leggings, which is arguably the most powerful quest reward in the game.
Make the right choice here....
This item is a must-have for nearly all Melee DPS, and should you be a Non-Human Retribution Paladin, this is something you'll hold onto until the FINAL patch of the game! Holy and Protection Paladins should also make sure they grab these, should they ever want to off-spec Ret! DO NOT pick the plate chest option, Chestplate of A'dal, as this is nowhere near as good as the leggings, and you CANNOT go back on your decision!
There is, luckily, a backup piece with very similar stats on it, being Clefthoof Hide Leggings from the Blades Edge Mountains quest, Showdown / Showdown, arguably even better than Shattrath Leggings for classes like Feral Druids. BUT, just like the previous quest mentioned, there is yet another bait chestpiece option for plate wearers with Blackened Chestplate (please don't pick this). And a final quest offering a very powerful piece of Expertise gear is The Flesh Lies... in Netherstorm, offering Flesh Handler's Gauntlets. These aren't as long-term as the leg options, since they get replaced by Grips of Deftness in Karazhan. But, yet again, just like the leg options, there is a bait plate option with Demolisher's Bracers. So, once again, don't pick the wrong item!
And finally, although not an Expertise item, there is the very powerful healer trinket, Oshu'gun Relic, from the quest Gava'xi in Nagrand. Healer trinkets are not as common as DPS and tank ones, so this is a very easy and strong trinket option for all healers to get as they're leveling in the Outland!
Free Monthly Gem Bags
The Consortium, a new reputation faction of Ethereals, has a unique benefit for gaining reputation with them.
The Consortium Reputation Guide
They will treat you as a member of their faction, and with that comes Membership Benefits. Your benefits will increase with each reputation gained, starting at Friendly.
Friendly: Membership Benefits rewards Gem-Stuffed Envelope
Honored: Membership Benefits rewards Unmarked Bag of Gems
Revered: Membership Benefits rewards Bulging Sack of Gems
Exalted: Membership Benefits rewards Bag of Premium Gems
As your reputation reward increases, so does the chance of getting gems such as Living Ruby, which will be very expensive, especially at the start of the expansion! If you already picked up, let's say Membership Benefits at Friendly and then in the same month moved up to Honored, you can still pick up the Honored quest in the same month!
A cheaper alternative for Alchemists
With the Mastery feature being added for Alchemists, allowing them to proc additional flasks and elixirs, potions, or transmutes when creating them. You can only pick one of three options, and to swap from one mastery to another, you have to abandon your current Mastery for 150 gold. Transmutation Master will be a popular one due to the expensive materials that it creates. However, unlocking this Mastery can be quite expensive on its own! The quest to unlock this, Master of Transmutation, requires turning in four Primal Might. According to this Reddit post back in 2021, one Primal Might at the start of the game was around 110 gold! However, there may be a cheaper alternative to obtaining this.
Forum post from 2021 TBC reflecting the prices of Primal Might
Players can pick Potion Master instead, as that only requires getting five of three potions: Super Healing Potion, Super Mana Potion, and Major Dreamless Sleep Potion. Once they do that, they can abandon this mastery at the price of 150 gold and go to Zarevhi and instantly learn Transmutation master without doing the quest! So if four Primal Mights total up to more than 150 gold on your server, opt into the cheaper option!
Vendor Gems
With TBC comes a new profession: Jewelcrafting. Jewelcrafters can make powerful gems that can give additional stats to gear with gem sockets on them. However, these gems can be pretty expensive. As you're leveling, however, you can actually find common-level gems from a vendor in your respective hub in Hellfire Peninsula.
Markus Scylan in Honor Hold and Reagan Mancuso in Thrallmar will sell gems such as Bold Tourmaline, Solid Zircon, and Brilliant Amber, which can greatly assist you on your leveling journey!
Scrolls in The Burning Crusade
Scrolls become more powerful as a standalone consumable in TBC Classic. In TBC, buff changes to Elixirs and Flasks prevent the ability to stack multiple like you could in Vanilla. However, you can still use Scrolls with the same stats along with your Flasks/Elixirs! TBC also gives us one more power level of these Scrolls to their fifth variant. There are, however, limited ways to obtain Scrolls outside of just lucky drops in the world.
Engineers can get scrolls whenever they need to drop their new Field Repair Bot 110G, as they'll have these available in their vendor (we would not recommend dropping these just for scrolls though!). Players can do a one-time quest in Zangarmarsh, Unfinished Business / A Job Undone, rewarding them with five Level 5 Scrolls of your choice!
Sahaak, Keeper of Scrolls
A couple of other options include gaining access to a secret Arakkoa vendor in Skettis by starting the quest chain, World of Shadows, in Terrokar Forest. Once players obtain Shabby Arakkoa Disguise, they gain access to Sahaak, a Scroll vendor! There is also a Darkmoon Faire vendor, Professor Thaddeus Paleo, who not only sells scrolls, but will also sell gems, motes, and potions! The Darkmoon Faire will also make its rounds in Terrokar Forest in TBC, and not just Mulgore and Elywnn!
Did you find any of these tips helpful? What else do you think could help players crossing over through the dark portal? Let us know in the comments!
