Popchi World of Warcraft’s Battle for Azeroth has been one of the least alt-friendly expansions in the title’s history.
Gamers attempting to play more than one character have been faced with the same steep hill of grinding reputation and materials for the key “essences”
that plug into the Heart of Azeroth, BfA’s legendary neckpiece, as they did on their main characters.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to prep a new alt for Patch 8.3, the Visions of
N’Zoth content update, which is launching January 14.
There are some glimmers of hope on the horizon: [30 May 2022]
Blizzard Entertainment proved that cross-account essences are possible by making Rank 4 of the Memory of Lucid Dreams essence an account-wide unlock
when the new patch drops (unfortunately,
only if you’ve already earned Rank 3 on that character.) So it can be done;
here’s hoping that we’ll see more of that in the near future.
And reputation requirements for some essences are being reduced for 8.3.
How To Prepare A Main Character For World Of Warcraft Patch 8.3
The fastest way to get a new character to 120 is to pre-order the Heroic edition or better of the Shadowlands expansion. That’ll give you a level 120 character boost, which includes 390 item level gear and a decent Heart of Azeroth neck level, a really nice launch for a new character..
If you’re leveling up an existing character, this is a great time. Don’t forget to buy those heirloom upgrades! They work up to level 120 now.
Then jump into Korrak’s Revenge, the old-school Alterac Valley battleground that’s running as part of the Warcraft 15th anniversary event. Until January 7, when the event ends in North America, you’ll earn a passive experience boost for alts that run the battleground. It adds a bit from 100-110, but it extremely noticeable from 110-120; with full heirlooms and the Celebration Package 15th anniversary experience buff, you’ll get 1.5-2 levels per battle.
If you’re still 100-110, note that Legion invasions are still great XP.
Unlock Nazjatar and Mechagon
Assuming you’ve been playing on your main, you’ve probably completed the requirements to unlock Nazjatar on your alt. Make sure you’ve unlocked world quests on that new alt — typically it’s just a matter of completing those quests that pop up in your capitol city when you hit max level — and you should get the quest to head out and open up that new zone.
You’ll want to do that first, for two reasons:
Get that Heart of Azeroth leveled
Don’t skip this step! Doing this short questline buys you Heart of Azeroth level 35, which you’ll want BEFORE you start doing all those yummy Azerite world quests.
Build your item level
The single fastest way to build up your gear (solo, at any rate) is via Benthic armor in Nazjatar.
Unfortunately, with the close of the patch, Benthic armor won’t be as stunningly good as it is now, because the bonuses for being in the Eternal Palace raid won’t apply to the new Patch 8.3 raid content.
You should also try to get a group for a mythic (level 0) world tour, as this will drop more gear than mythic plus runs, to start, though the pieces only begin at item level 400. You can only do each dungeon once a week on mythic 0, so focus on getting each dungeon complete once. Folks in Looking for Group can be choosy even for mythic 0 runs, so definitely stock up on Benthic (see above) and Looking for Raid (see below) gear first if possible.
The Eternal Palace LFR difficulty dungeon requires overall item level 380 to enter, which is easy if you’re a Shadowlands boost. You’ll definitely want to do all wings here as well, though again, the loot here starts at item level 400.
Crafted gear scales up to item level 440, so it’s worth making if your character has the profession to wear it. You may just want to collect materials from Nazjatar and have another crafter make the armor, rather than waiting to progress through the questlines needed to upgrade your own skill, depending on how impatient you are.
