Heirlooms

Ah heirlooms... That new class of items that can be traded between all your characters on the same account and faction. Heirloom items also are peculiar in being the only items that can be equipped from level 1 all the way to 80, with scaling stats.

Until recently, one could only buy heirlooms with badges from raids. I don't know exactly which ones and I don't care. I never considered heirlooms until a recent patch when they became purchasable with Champion's Seals.

Initially, shoulders and some weapons were available. In the patch that I mentioned, chest pieces were introduced and also a few more weapons, I believe. The beauty of the shoulders was that they offered 10% XP bonus while leveling. When chests were introduced, they also offered 10% XP bonus. People were asking if the two bonuses stack. The short answer is Yes! They do stack. More on that later.

Since my Hunter Main became exalted with the right factions recently, he was offered access to the heirloom vendor. I had about 170 Champion's Seals and I had several options of how to dispose of them.

• Regular items - not worth it, unless you're a fresh 80 and want to gear up quickly with some ilvl 200 items. In fact I got my Silvery Sylvan Stave a long time ago and I don't regret it.
• Vanity pets - I bought a single pet with Seals and afterward I regretted it. Why? Because these vanity pets can be "cheaply" bought at the Auction House. To me, gold is more easily made than the Champion's Seals.
• Argent Pony Bridle - this is one of those very expensive items (costing 150 Seals) that can add some great utility to your character. In this case, it gives you access to your bank, mailbox and a vendor, anywhere. Very nice but since I maxed out my Engineering I have enough gizmos that offer me the same utility.
• Heirlooms - now we're talking.

The problem with the heirloom shoulders and chest is that there are 4 types of armor (cloth, leather, mail and plate) and each have 2 types of items that give that coveted 10% experience. Getting enough Champion's Seals for all of them would have been a herculean task and so, I had to prioritize. It wasn't hard.

I plan to level a Worgen Mage in the next expansion and I'm also in the process of leveling a Priest (currently just level 15). Not only that, but my level 73 Warlock can also use those pieces. So I bought a Tattered Dreadmist Mantle and a Tattered Dreadmist Robe. That cost me 120 Champion's Seals.

When I get the next 120 Seals, I will use them to buy the leather pieces: Stained Shadowcraft Spaulders and Stained Shadowcraft Tunic. And that's because in Cataclysm I plan to level a Worgen Feral Druid and currently I'm leveling a 72 Rogue.

And that's my suggestion folks: if you've got excess Champion's Seals and the right reputation, give heirloom items a chance (if you haven't already). Try to plan in advance which of your current and future characters might be able to use them. The more that can use the same piece, the better. Heirlooms aren't just an item that you buy now and a few levels later replace with something better. The 2 pieces that give experience will actually help you level 20% faster! I won't even discuss the heirloom weapons. Those are very good also but I would rather buy all the armor I can, before spending any Seals on weapons.

Speaking of experience, the 10% from each armor piece does stack. I tested that on my priest by killing 3 level 14 mobs. 1st try I didn't wear any piece and got 210XP (rested). 2nd try I wore 1 piece, got 232XP. 3rd try I wore both pieces and got 252XP. 20% total baby! Level in style! As an added bonus, your crummy level 15 character might be mistaken by some for a level 80. You can tell them you're an 80 in disguise!

Quick Quest in Stranglethorn

This morning while I was brushing my teeth I suddenly remembered about this quest that I always make sure to complete whenever I'm leveling an alt through Stranglethorn. It's a quick and easy quest but often missed by players.

Here's a good map of Stranglethorn Vale that shows all the important areas:
http://wow.allakhazam.com/images/zones/MapStranglethorn.jpg

The quest is called Message in a Bottle and it has 2 parts. To start the first part, keep searching for green bottles at the water edge along Wild Shore, the beach on the southern and south-eastern tip of Stranglethorn. Using a bottle will give you a gray note sometimes but your goal is to obtain a Carefully Folded Note which starts the next part of the quest. Make sure to look for these bottles when you're on another quest in the area, don't go to that beach specifically for this quest. This will save you some time.

To get to the next part, cross the water towards the south-east until you hit that large island called Jaguero Isle. There you will find a hot Tauren chick who hands you the next part of the quest, Message in a Bottle. For this, you just need to kill King Kong... erm... Mukla who's a big gorilla on the other side of the island.

Kill him, get your reward and that's it. Quick and easy XP. In the old days of WoW classic, this gorilla was elite and pretty hard to solo at that level. Now, there's no excuse for skipping this quest if you are in the area.

Free XP at Level 77

In Wrath of the Lich King level 77 is a huge stepping stone for many players. The reason (which still pisses me off) is Cold Weather Flying. Since for me it is such a joy to be able to ride my epic flying mount, I usually celebrate this by flying around some of the zones. Inevitably I also gain some XP from exploration. So I figured since that XP will be lost if I become 80, why not discover all of Northrend's areas by just flying around?

Fly around I did. Now I admit, I could have probably made more XP just by questing, because it took me around 1 hour to discover all the areas that give the respective achievements but on the other hand it's a safe and free method to get some extra XP that you ain't gonna see anyway if you hit 80 and leave all these areas unexplored.

As an added bonus, if you discover all of Outland you get a nice Tabard of the Explorer in the mail.