20s Guide Index and FAQ - Read Before Posting New Threads

Chops

Soccer Dad
As of 11/15/22, most of this guide is wildly out-of-date. I'll leave it up for reference but if you're looking for current F2P info... this aint it.

In an effort to try and consolidate the flow of excellent guides we currently have and help new members find relevant information quickly, we thought it best to create a single guide index and FAQ post. Otherwise, there's so many good guides that we'd eventually end up with a front page of nothing but pinned threads.

I will be extremely hard-assed about locking/deleting threads asking questions that are answered in the guides linked below or in the FAQ. So please take the time to read through this if you're relatively new to twinking at 20 or you've been gone from the game for a while.

Guides:
There is a lot of very good information in these guides and the discussion threads that follow them.

The Basics:
  • Starter Guide To Shadowlands 20s - The very basics of level 20 gameplay, including classes, ability run-downs, talents and a basic gearing guide
  • Baseline F2P Guide - Intended to help you quickly reach a "base line" from which to grow your F2P character
  • Enchant Scaling Spreadsheet - Local legend Swoops compiled all the available enchants and how they scale at various levels. Enjoy.
  • Race Base Stats Spreadsheet - All you min/maxers out there can find the race with the best base stats for your class, thanks to Pokspell
General Gearing:
  • F2P/Vet Armory List - "What gear is best for X class?" Well here's a list of what people are wearing
  • How Do I Get That - @CigNus has an excellent video series on how to get various things, from leg and shoulder enchants, to engi trinkets and beyond
  • TwinkDB - A very fancy list of available gear for 20s as well as short gearing guides and a stat calculator
  • Plenty'o'Bags Bag Guide - Vets can buy bags on the AH, but for the rest of us, here how to get some storage space.
  • A Massive List of Consumables - Let Mindmaster guide you through the almost incomprehensible amount of consumables available to 20s these days.
Farming:
Stat Guides/Discussions:
Class Guides:
Profession Guides:
Achievement Guides:
FAQ:
If you've recently returned to twinking or are new to 20s, please review these FAQs before starting a new thread to ask why you suddenly cant que BGs or what to do now that you accidently leveled to 21.

Account:

Players with their XP turned off are in a separate BG que than players with their XP turned on. Due to the small twinking population, this means players with XP-Off don't actually get games (yes, we're aware of how ironic this has made the site name). However, F2P and Vet accounts don't gain experience because of their account status, so their XP is still technically "on" allowing for casual BG ques.

F2P is shorthand for Free-To-Play or Starter Accounts or Trial Accounts and denotes a WoW account that has never had game time, ever. Vet is shorthand for Veteran Account and is a WoW account that has, at one point, had game time. You can see Starter Account restrictions here. Note that F2P accounts bank XP but Veteran accounts do not. The benefit of a Veteran account is that it lets you access the AH, join a guild, trade etc before you let the game time end. Its the cowards way out but it also means you arent spending months farming before you're geared and playing BGs.

Yes, Veteran accounts are technically free-to-play but we use the terms "F2P" and "Vet" to denote the difference.

F2P accounts will "bank" XP up to level 30. This is to entice new players to buy a sub. But it also means if your F2P account gets game time, all your F2P twinks will level. Bummer dude.

Vet accounts DO NOT BANK XP

Vet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XPVet accounts DO NOT BANK XP

So you made a vet twink, let your account time run out and holy shit, now you cant que BGs. Welp, thats because Veteran accounts (and F2P accounts) cant que BGs with XP turned off and you didnt turn your XP back on before your account wound down. You'll have to open a ticket and get a GM to turn it back on for you. Good luck!

I'm including the following script courtesy of Zwab from the XPOff discord that he recently used to get this problem resolved. It includes a link to a battle.net support article on this very topic. Feel free to use it when contacting GMs
Hi! My character, Frostiitute from the realm Stormscale, is unable to queue for battlegrounds. I've read the battle.net article found here: https://us.battle.net/support/en/article/20294 The article states the following: "Re-enable experience gains without adding game time by talking to Behsten in Stormwind or to Slahtz in Orgrimmar. If this doesn't re-enable experience gains for you, contact us." I have talked to Slahtz in Orgrimmar, however he took 10 gold from me and did not re-enable my experience gains. I am now contacting you regarding this issue as stated in the article, are you able to resolve my issue with experience gains? Thanks.

It's a known bug and tends to happen when your impatient self is counting down the seconds till your game time is up and then you immediately que a BG. You win, you level, you cry. Luckily, most people seem to have some luck getting this reverted by GMs BUT that seems to be getting harder and harder to do. Your best bet is to let your game time run out, log out of the game, log out of bnet and give it an hour or two. Go get dinner, watch a movie or something. Then come back.

Gearing:

You don't. That was a "creative use of game mechanics" that got patched almost immediately in pre patch. Don't worry, it also got slapped with a req level of 40, so you didnt miss anything but the story.

Yes. They're a cool little item to have but are no longer BIS. Due to some shenanigans, Blizzard decided to treat them like heirlooms. Cool xmogs though!

Good news! There isnt one set of "best" gear. You can build any way you like! Check out the armory thread to see what other people are doing and make some educated calls of your own. Generally, though, Im gonna advise you to not look at Icy-Veins or other end game resources as a guide. Without our full toolkits and the way certain secondaries scale down here, we have different priorities. When in doubt, main stat > secondaries.

You farm it. If you're a vet, you can scour the AH and pick up pieces here and there (be prepared to pay a pretty penny for them) or you can make a lvl 24-25 farming toon and go to Legion zones and farm for them.

Side note: this gear will sometimes appear as "req level 24" or "req level 25" in the armory. It's a known display bug.

This thread isnt really a guide, but its a great discussion with lots of tips and tricks on where to farm.

This thread, however, is a guide. Use it wisely.

General Gameplay:

F2P accounts dont have access to Chromie Time (except some *very* old GFd accounts... dont ask) so you won't be able to use it. If you're a Vet account and cant access Chromie Time, chances are its because you dont have a main on your BNet thats hit level 50. Go do that.

Snag the breadcrumb quest from the hero board first, champ.

Well if you're F2P, its because you cant access Chromie Time and therefore cant que for anything but Battle For Azeroth dungeons. But if youre a vet and do have Chromie Time and find dungeons you have access to but cant que for its because... well... you cant que for every dungeon that you have access to. Some of them, you gotta walk in to manually like the olden days, when we used to trudge uphill (BOTH WAYS!) to Scarlet Monastery with a group of jackasses who had nothing better to do than LFG in Stormwind all day.
 
Gonna leave this thread open for a limited time to take FAQ suggestions. So submit some, please and thank you.

Change log:
1/5/21 - added ilvl 28 FAQ
1/16/21 - added engineering guide link
1/24/21 - added Tence HPal guide and Gobolords BOE farming guide
2/9/21 - added a "Vets dont bank XP" section so I can get mad at people for not reading it
3/2/21 - Added Dragynslayers solo dungeonmaster guide
3/14/21 - Added Zwab script for getting gametime bug fixed
4/24/21 - Added Pokespells base race stats spreadsheet and Swoops enchant spreadsheet
5/12/21 - Added Donovans Sahdowruby Band crafting guide.
6/24/21 - Added Bags guide
7/21/21 - Added Cignus "How Do I Get That" videos
8/17/21 - Added Enchanting guide
9/11/21 - Added Andre Demon Hunter Guide
9/22/21 - replaced wow 20 atlas with twink DB
11/15/21 - Added Rise Rsham guide
11/22/21 - Added Monkeyflips reputation guide
11/28/21 - Added Vyvenems MM hunter guide and edited some old FAQs
11/30/21 - Added Conzils mount guide
4/17/22 - Added Cheys feral guide, Bops Mastery thread, Glancelots Speed thread, and reorganized the guides section for more clarity
4/29/22 - Added Mirrorbenders weapon spreadsheet
7/20/22 - Added farming section with additional guides and mindmasters consumable guide
 
Why is versatility valued so highly?

Edit: but no really I see a lot of people with the gnomergan ring and scarlet halls necklace and I don't know what I don't get about Vers.
 
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Why is versatility valued so highly?

Edit: but no really I see a lot of people with the gnomergan ring and scarlet halls necklace and I don't know what I don't get about Vers.
Versatility makes your E-Peen smaller in PvP because it reduces damage taken.
 
RE: artifacts > something else.
1. "very very rare, niche cases..." So, I only know of one thing, for Ferals. (Ugh: my drop rate has been way lower than reported on wowhead. Anyone else like that?). Is there a discussion of these non-artifact but arguably BIS Weapons? Couldn't find any threads, but also know that people may not talk openly about some.

2. If you have one of these BIS non-artifacts, would it be better to NOT do the Broken Shore intro, but keep the buff bots from the prep phase, to use for questing/dungeons/farming, etc.? (that triple buff got removed when entering BGs. :( )

I realize the answers will depend on the bracket: 10s, 19s, and 20s.
 
Is there a discussion of these non-artifact but arguably BIS Weapons? Couldn't find any threads, but also know that people may not talk openly about some.
There's xanx pretty excellent discussion thread on theorycrafting weapon procs. But I was thinking specifically about HPals using sword/board and fury warriors using SMF here. I was intentionally vague not to try and gatekeep SuperSecrets but rather because I dont want to be specific and have to re-write this shit every three weeks.

If you have one of these BIS non-artifacts, would it be better to NOT do the Broken Shore intro, but keep the buff bots from the prep phase, to use for questing/dungeons/farming, etc.?
I mean, buff is better than not-buff

I realize the answers will depend on the bracket: 10s, 19s, and 20s.
20s specific thread is in the 20s specific forum
 
I'll look again at Xanx's thread.
I mean, buff is better than not-buff
But giving up on the quest reward proc-improvement chance, and all the handy Legion stuff... Dalaran/class hall port, not the least.
20s specific thread is in the 20s specific forum
Rather than make 3 posts in three difft brackets where folks are focused on the artifact, I figure this one covers all three.
 
Veteran accounts (and F2P accounts) cant que BGs with XP turned off and you didnt turn your XP back on before your account wound down.

If I turn XP back on on a lvl 20 Vet before sub expires, isn`t there a risk that the toon will level instantly beyond lvl 20? Let`s assume the experience bar had already been at max at lvl 20 before XP was turned off and played without a sub.
In other words:
1. I play without sub and XP on, reach lvl 20, experience bar at max, and some extra experience might accumulate.
2. I turn XP off before I sub.
3. I sub so I can gear up faster.
4. I still have active sub but turn XP back on so I can queue for BG after sub expires. Won`t my toon level at this point instantly because of some previously accumulated experience?

If I remember correctly, in BFA when I logged into a lvl 20 toon with XP on and active sub it instantly gained around 10 levels, went from 20 to 30. (Experience had been accumulating before I subbed, and when I subbed and logged in all that experience was "used" instantly to gain 10 levels.)

Another question:
Can a F2P character receive mail from a subbed account on the same server? I`m sure they can`t send but can they receive gems, enchants or BoE gear?

Many thanks for this index, extremely helpful!
 
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If I turn XP back on on a lvl 20 Vet before sub expires, won`t the toon level instantly beyond lvl 20? Let`s assume the experience bar is already at max at lvl 20.
If I remember correctly, in BFA when I logged into a lvl 20 toon with XP on and active sub it instantly gained around 10 levels, went from 20 to 30. (Experience had been accumulating before I subbed, and when I subbed and logged in all that experience was "used" instantly to gain 10 levels.)

Many thanks for this index, extremely helpful!
vet accounts dont bank XP, F2P accounts do
 
vet accounts dont bank XP, F2P accounts do
Simple as that, thank you! I was certain you would know the answer!

Sorry, I didn`t expect you would answer so quickly and I edited my question after you answered. Please can you respond to this part as well:

“Can a F2P character receive mail from a subbed account on the same server? I`m sure they can`t send but can they receive gems, enchants or BoE gear?”
 
If i get time one of the days ill try to compile some info on how ive noticed items scale. So that people have their info on that. Also which level you need to be in order for them to drop. When i post it i hope people will fill in on their finds aswell.
 
So I looked high and low and cant find a guide for which enchants work and dont work beyond @Swoops spreadsheet.

link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Zqdg4xLaszpxjr2gfAMt7XZBs/edit#gid=1984333250

My question was about naga hide, I see a lot of chatter about it last year but not when it got nerfed (doesnt work at 20 in or out of BG). Was curious if there's any mass info on level 20 enchants beyond his sheet or if I'm just dumb.
Swoops sheet is still the definitive guide, though the atlas has some similar information.
 
I already, really appreciate XPOFF.

TYIA

Concerning level 20's...

1. Are there distinct battleground ques for FTP accounts?

2. Are there distinct battleground ques for inactive veteran accounts?

3. Are there distinct battleground ques for active XP off accounts?

4. If not, what crossovers occur?

5. Also. If you level to 20 on a FTP account, then turn off XP, then activate a subscription, twink, then turn on XP (but not gain XP), then allow the subscription to expire, would that account be considered FTP or inactive veteran?

EDIT:

6. How can you tell the difference between a FTP twink and a vet twink if they're both tweaked to the max, same class and spec, level 20, and so-forth?

7. How did some players manage to get grandfathered gear (such as Legion artifacts)?
 
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I already, really appreciate XPOFF.

TYIA

Concerning level 20's...

1. Are there distinct battleground ques for FTP accounts?

2. Are there distinct battleground ques for inactive veteran accounts?

3. Are there distinct battleground ques for active XP off accounts?

4. If not, what crossovers occur?

5. Also. If you level to 20 on a FTP account, then turn off XP, then activate a subscription, twink, then turn on XP (but not gain XP), then allow the subscription to expire, would that account be considered FTP or inactive veteran?

EDIT:

6. How can you tell the difference between a FTP twink and a vet twink if they're both tweaked to the max, same class and spec, level 20, and so-forth?

7. How did some players manage to get grandfathered gear (such as Legion artifacts)?
[Infos in OP on accounts answers these already, though oh-well]
[1, 2, 3, and maybe 4]: Both F2P and vet characters [no sub active, starter edition restrictions apply] are placed in the xp-on bracket for level 20-29 [and 10-19 if leveling through battlegrounds]. 20s with active sub [not yet vet], and are exp-locked, are placed in the xp-off 20-29 bracket. I don't know how often xp-off bgs pop [if at all], though xp-on bgs pop consistently.

5. That would count as a vet character. F2P means it was never subbed, at all (though, there's pure F2P, linked F2P, and Vet).
 
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[1, 2, 3, and maybe 4]: Both F2P and vet characters [no sub active, starter edition restrictions apply] are placed in the xp-on bracket for level 20-29 [and 10-19 if leveling through battlegrounds]. 20s with active sub [not yet vet], and are exp-locked, are placed in the xp-off 20-29 bracket. I don't know how often xp-off bgs pop [if at all], though xp-on bgs pop consistently.

5. That would count as a vet character. F2P means it was never subbed, at all (though, there's pure F2P, linked F2P, and Vet).
Thank you for the swift reply. I made an edit at some point that may have gone unnoticed. Can you answer them as well? TYIA
 
6. Main difference between a maxed Vet and F2P: Vet can reach ilvl 34 relic weapon [through two ilvl 28 BoE relics which grant +7 ilvls, farmed from world legion mobs with a level 24-25 character or bought from AH], and can get ilvl 28-socket-BoEs from legion zones [ilvl 28 BoEs in legion zones come from farming world mobs with a level 24-25 character].

F2Ps' only accessible ilvl-28-BoE-greens-which-can-proc-sockets come from mobs from level 25 BFA zones. [See OP]
And a F2P's best ilvl for their relic weapon is around ilvl 31-33 [not sure if 32 or 33 is max possible on a F2P]: ilvl 31 = two ilvl 25 blue relics. Higher than that requires at least one epic relic, which for F2Ps can only come from a quest-rewarded-relic which happened to proc epic. Blue relics from quest rewards count as the same as blue relics from legion dungeon drops, and no gears there can proc epic [until one's character level is 40+ or so].

[TLDR]: If a 20 has a ilvl 34 weapon, it's a vet.

7. During the first day of SL prepatch, the scaling of gears from legion dungeons were bugged at ilvl 44, though only very briefly. It was swiftly hotfixed less than 24 or 48 hours after that first SL prepatch day: dungeon gears were scaled correctly, while ilvl 44 relics socketed to weapons remain unscaled to this day, and are grandfathered.
 
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