What to expect. A short guide.
A short intro about myself. I got into this game very late into vanilla, precisely 2 weeks prior to the release of TBC. I started off as a casual and then got more and more serious about the game as it was like nothing I had ever before experienced. I did hardcore raiding and relatively high level PVP ( 2.5k ) mostly in WOTLK after which I decided to stick to PVP alone for the remaining expansions. A couple years ago, I started playing TBC again on a private server where I got a really good understanding of all of the classes, and went really in-depth on paladin/warlock/rogue/shaman/warrior/priest, on all of the specs of those classes.
I will try and make a guide on each of the aforementioned classes, going really in-depth about which professions to choose, which is the best gear for it both when you hit level cap, and later on into the new raids to come, talents/rotations/pvp aspects and so on, as soon as we have a confirmed release date for Outland.
If you're currently playing on Lordaeron/Icecrown/Frostwolf/Neltharion, f you're a newer player, or perhaps an older one that just never had the chance to experience The Burning Crusade. Here's a SHORT informational guide about what you can expect from the upcoming server.
Leveling:
I will not delve too deeply into it as it really isn't of much importance or concern, considering the experience is set at x5.
PVE:
If you're a player coming from Icecrown, or even the more hardcore Lordaeron, with its buffed content, nothing can seriously prepare you for what this expansion has to offer when it comes to Player versus Environment. The starting process and gearing up will be tougher than anything you've come to know on those 2 servers. To start with, once you've hit level cap you have a handful of level 68-70 normal dungeons to gain the much needed gear in order to enter heroic modes, and eventually raids. You have the Sethekk Halls, The Shadow Labyrinth, The Shattered Halls, The Black Morass, The Steamvault, Botanica, Arcatraz and Mechanar. One very important thing worth noting here is that these dungeons give the same gear in normal mode as they do in heroic, with the exception that in heroic mode the final bosses drop epic quality items as well, many of which are really bad in comparison to other same level rare items.
Another important aspect is attunements. They're a thing here. You can't enter the next tier of content until you've completed the attunement for it, which means killing the bosses on the previous tier. Karazhan attunement will take quite a while. TK/SSC attunement will require killing Magtheridon. BT/MH will require killing Kael'thas/Lady Vashj.
Also worth keeping in mind is that you have to farm reputation with more than half a dozen factions in order to gain access to gear that's not only fantastically good, but also to get the keys required for you to enter the heroic modes. It's a slower process than WOTLK was in terms of reputation gain, but you absolutely have to do them to unlock shoulders/helm enchants as well as recipes for different professions.
BADGE FARMING - there is only 1 type of emblem in this expansion and it's called Badge of Justice. There is a total of 54 badges you can get every single day ( at most ), 52 from the bosses in all the heroic dungeons and an additional 2 from your daily heroic. They will be needed throughout the span of this expansion as when new content is released, new higher-level gear will be released for badges. Starting badge gear is going to be 115 item level ( same as karazhan gear ) and its going to be either on par/better/BIS for the 1st tier content, once Zul'Aman comes out, the 2nd tier of badge level gear will come out, 128 item level ( same as TK / SSC gear ), and finally upon Sunwell's release, we'll have our 3rd tier of badge gear, 146 item level ( higher than BT/MH gear ). Depending on what class/spec you're going to choose to play, you will need upwards of 650 badges and possibly even higher than 1000 throughout the duration of progression.
ITEMS - bearing in mind that this was Blizzard's 1st expansion, a lot of the items available are very poorly optimized. There are very many cases in which blue items from heroic 5man dungeons ( particularly trinkets ) which are better than many items you can get in karazhan, in some cases even higher level content. To exemplify, trinkets like Quagmirran's Eye for casters, or Scarab of the Infinite Cycle for healers, will not need to be replaced until Black Temple/Mount Hyjal. Darkmoon trinkets, despite being extremely costly, are a must-have item for certain classes; if you plan on playing aprot pally, mage, holy priest or resto druid know that those trinkets will not need to be replaced for at least 1 - 1.5 years, so it is absolutely worth getting the gold and purchasing them.
PROFESSIONS - My advice to you if you plan on being serious about the game is to consider leveling a druid, getting epic flight form, train mining/herbalism and use that character as your gold farming character. It's by far and a way the most consistent source of steady income.
Professions such as JC/Enchanting/Tailoring/Blacksmithing/Leatherworking will provide you with very nice stat bonuses and somewhat easily obtainable great upgrades.
Tailoring: the crafted shadow spell damage set ( chest, shoulders, boots ) combined with the spellstrike set ( helm, legs ) is without doubt best in slot until tier 6 for warlocks and shadowpriests. It will be extremely costly to get at the beginning but it is so much better when compared to tier 4 or tier 5 for those 2 classes that getting tailoring is a no-brainer.
Leatherworking : if you plan on raiding as hard as possible from the get-go, if you want realm 1sts and such, you must absolutely get leatherworking, irrespective of what class/spec you play. Drums of Battle will give all members in your party 80 haste rating for 30 seconds. If every member in every party group has leatherworking, you can essentially chain them and as a result have a mini-bloodlusted 25 man raid for the entire duration of the encounter.
Blacksmithing : this will provide you with weapons that are simply OP as hell. You really have to wonder what blizzard was thinking when they implemented, at the very start of the expansion mind you, weapons that will not need to be replaced for over a year. Yes, they're that good. Stormherald is the best choice you can make if you plan on PVP'ing. 3.8 weapon speed and chance to stun your target for 4 seconds, hits harder than almost all weapons you can get in game, you can start farming for it from the get go. Lionheart Executioner is amazing if you want to go arms warrior/retri paladin. Dragonstrike is fantastic for fury warrior/rogue/enhancement shaman. All these weapons will cost you an arm and a leg to obtain but they're so worth it.
Engineering: the go-to pvp spec. Crafted boots that have the same effect as the WOTLK nitro boots engineering enchant, effect lasts 3 seconds, you move about a billion times faster, usable in arena, nothing more to say.
Jewelcrafting: Not nearly as good as it is in WOTLK, still a very nice gold earner, and BIS craftable rings/necks to be obtained later in the game ( sunwell )
Enchanting: ring enchants equally good in quality to epic gems, one of the best ways to make gold in game. Keep in mind, however, the really sought after enchants ( mongoose/sunfire/soulfrost ) recipes are only obtainable from karazhan bosses. They have a pretty low drop chance and will take quite a bit of time to get.
Alchemy: All 3 specs ( transmutation,potion,elixir ) are excellent for gold making. Unlike WOTLK and beyond, potion use is longer limited to 2 per fight ( 1 prepot, 1 during the fight ), you can pot as many times during an encounter as the 2 minute cooldown allows it, which will come particularly handy for healers, as well as casters who will inevitably face mana issues. Also unlike WOTLK, for many classes, 2 elixirs will provide a bigger boost than a flask.
PVP - most fun times I've had in world pvp/ battlegrounds were during TBC. Arena is much less dynamic as a whole, but still extremely enjoyable. You will have tremendous amounts of fun PvP'ing almost irrespective of what class/spec you play. Item's will take a pretty substantial time to get, as they typically cost more arena points, while you get the same amount of points/rating as you do in WOTLK. Good news is season pvp items dont require 3v3/5v5 ratings, but can all be obtained via 2v2, which I imagine will be the most popular. Arena teams start from 1500 rating, so it's rather a short road up to 2k where you generally have enough rating to obtain all set items + weapons. Honor items will take a lot of farming to get. As an example, honor items in tbc will vary in cost from upwards of 10k, up to 20-25k, and you will typically gain 250-350 honor points from a win. This is in direct contrast with WOTLK where BG wins can easily award upwards of 3k + honor ( provided you're active and dont just afk around doing nothing ), with item cost being 30k-60k. On top of that you will also have emblems to farm for each of the battlegrounds, of which you'll obtain 3 for a win and 1 for a loss. Farming a bg with the prospect of losing all day long and only having a dozen or so emblems after hours upon hours of grinding can be pretty daunting, so be prepared for it.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this and if you have any questions about any aspect of the game I will try to the best of my abilities to answer them.
