5 Things to Do After Hitting 85

Now that you have hit level 85, the question is what next, I have seen many folks asking or wondering what should be on their plate first?    Especially if you are in a raiding guild the below should put you on the right path to being raid ready.  Remember there are barriers to entry for heroics and raids with in-game gear requirements.  So maximizing your time is of the utmost importance.

Also as a member of a raiding guild its important to work together in order to assist each other to get the items you all need to be successful in Cataclysm.

Keep reading to find out the 5 things you should be doing right now if you hit 85.

1. Normal Dungeons

Start running 84-85 dungeons (Grim Batol, Lost City, Halls of Origination).  You need an average item level per Blizzard’s gear system of 329 in order to start heroics.  So while the idea of getting into a PUG may frighten many of you, it can be a necessary evil especially if your guild is not available to run when you are ready to.  Hey if its a bad PUG you get to learn what not to do at least and share that wisdom with your guild.  Its one of the reasons why I don’t mind running PUGs, I get to find out what works and doesn’t work ahead of time so when I do get to run with my guildmates, I can provide some guidance and we aren’t floundering.

2. Raise those Factions

If you are not friendly with all the factions, get there and get the tabards to get raise reputation while running level 85 dungeons and heroics.  Therazane rep should be high on your priority for the epic shoulder enchants.  After that get your helm glyph, identify your main and offspec needs, and go after your main spec first

Helm Glyphs by Spec

• Melee Plate DPS -  Wildhammer / Dragonmaw: +60 strength / +35 mastery rating
• Melee DPS – Ramkahen: +60 agility / +35 haste rating
• Casters – Guardians of Hyjal:  +60 intellect / +35 critical strike rating
• Tanks – The Earthen Ring: +90 stamina / +35 dodge rating

Shoulder Enchants

Therazane contains your shoulder enchants

• Melee Plate DPS – Lesser Inscription of Jagged Stone / Greater Inscription of Jagged Stone
• Melee DPS – Lesser Inscription of the Shattered Crystal / Greater Inscription of the Shattered Crystal
• Casters -  Lesser Inscription of the Charged Lodestone / Greater Inscription of the Charged Lodestone
• Tanks – Lesser Inscription of the Unbreakable Quartz / Greater Inscription of the Unbreakable Quartz

Of course these reps also give you access to tasty item level 346 blues, and item level 359 epics.  So also check out which factions provide you with the items you need to upgrade.

Don’t forget to check out the factions on Tol Barad, while there is no glyphs, there are some nice blues and epics

• Alliance: Baradin’s Wardens
• Horde: Hellscream’s Reach

3. Profession Leveling

You should level professions and some professions you need to pick and choose which recipes you get and when.  If that is the case focus on the recipes that will help you succeed.  Coordinate with other guildies with similar professions for example, if there are two jewelcrafters, one of you should go for spell casting gems, the other go for melee/tank gems, since most of the gems need to be purchased with a new jewelcrafting token you get from dailies.

Alchemists should coordinate with each other on who will make what flasks.  Also they should work with both Jewelcrafters and Blacksmiths with regard to transmute cooldowns in order to maximize materials that can be made in order to benefit the guild the most.

Cooking and Fishing dailies help you level both of these professions up, both should be leveled together as many recipes use fish to provide the stats needed by the guild.  Guild cooks should discuss which recipes they are buying to provide the best and largest array of food possible.

4. Guild Leveling and Achievements

You want to get some of the achievements as they provide some great benefits like new cooking recipes, guild herald, etc.

Psynister from Psynister’s Notebook posted up a great article detailing out guild leveling.  Make sure to keep hitting that daily experience cap in game for guild leveling in order to get all the goodies in the least amount of time possible.

Also make sure to look at the achievements that provide real value to the guild for the purposes of raid progression

• Guild Level 5 – Allows you to buy an 7th bank tab for your guild, allows you to store extra goodies you receive from raiding, or stockpile more items in order to constantly be prepared.
• Guild Level 10 – Unlocks the heirloom cloaks
• Guild Level 20 – Allows you to buy Heirloom helm, while this doesn’t help the current raid having someone level an alt faster that’s needed to fill a critical role makes this valuable.
• Set the Oven to “Cataclysmic” – Allows you to make the Broiled Dragon Feast, which will most likely be the first “feast” you make for your guild
• That’s A Lot of Bait – Allows you to make the Seafood Magnifique Feast, which is the next level up feast from the Broiled Dragon Feast.
• Stay Classy – Allows you to purchase the 8th guild bank tab

Here is the full list of guild achievements per WoWhead.com, to see the rewards look under the “Unlocks” column

5. Heroics

Do these over and over.  Heroics provide item level 346 blue heroics, justice points per boss kill.  The first random one up

on completion provides valor points which let you buy some tasty item level 359 epic items.  The

second random heroic provides you with bonus justice points, after that its just gold, and of course gear.  Heroics also provide increased reputation over normal level 85 dunge

ons, so you will want to make sure you are wearing the appropriate faction tabard.  Heroics also prepare you for raid fights with new fight mechanics which now include some crowd control.

Heroics in PUGs can be a rough experience, I highly recommend running them with guildies in order to get achievements and assist in leveling.  However if guildies are not ready or not available, queue up and get yourself some experience running these that way later you can share that experience with your guildmates.

Conclusion

With these 5 things you should be well on your way to be ready to handle later content of Cataclysm.  Because now that we aren’t decked out in awesome Tier 10, we need to work toward looking awesome again, because looking good in game is a why we do it, right?  Of course its only a visual perk, but in all honesty, being raid ready and ready to help your guild be raid ready are important by following the above items, you are doing just that.