New to Twinking where is a good place to start?

[TheTrickster88]

Basically the title, I've never really twinked before but I've heard a bunch of different stuff about f2p, veteran, and just capping at specific brackets on a sub and Im not sure which is best to start with.

Thanks for taking time to read and possibly respond to this, cheers!

 

[Chops]

Basically the title, I've never really twinked before but I've heard a bunch of different stuff about f2p, veteran, and just capping at specific brackets on a sub and Im not sure which is best to start with.

Thanks for taking time to read and possibly respond to this, cheers!

If you're new to twinking, the best place to start is either with a F2P/Vet toon or an expansion capped 50 (IE, a 50 on an account that doesnt have Shadowlands)

Reason for this is pretty simple. Blizzard has separate pvp ques for people with xp-on and xp-off. Levelers, obviously, are in xp-on while the only people with with xp turned off are twinks. But the twinking population is quite small (among other things) so getting games that are strictly twink vs twink is very difficult and requires gobs of coordination.

But xp-on ques? Well now we're talking the whole population of the game, which means BGs pop quickly and regularly. And F2P/Vet accounts and expansion capped accounts can que for XP-on because we won't level due to our account status. This lets us maintain a twink and get easy "plug and play" games (to steal a line I really like from Bestworld)

I would very much recommend you dip your toe into twinking with a Veteran account. That is, start a separate world of warcraft account on your bnet client. Level a toon (or several toons) to 20, turn your xp off and start gearing, acquire consumables and stacks of enchant scrolls, etc and when you're ready, let the accounts subscription die. Make sure you turn your xp back on right before it ends, however. Then (and this is important) exit the game, exit the Bnet client, and go get dinner or watch a movie or something. There's an odd glitch where people who were playing when their subscription ended will end up leveling anyway. Give the system time to catch up to the status change.

Once thats done, you'll have a veteran account with a ready to go twink! Enjoy BGs.

Should you find that enjoyable and want a bit more of a challenge (and *I* think, more rewarding playstyle) you might dip your toes into pure F2P. That is, an account that never has game time. But that's a bit more involved.

Here's some helpful resources:

Starters Guides to 20s in SL - Very basic rundown of available classes, talents, abilities, initial gearing, etc.
F2P and Vet Armory - A collection of various toons of all specs so you can see what gearing looks like
SL Info dump - a hodge podge collection of various things we've found/learned. Check dates on these posts, a lot of this is no longer relevant but theres some good stuff in here.

 

[TheTrickster88]

If you're new to twinking, the best place to start is either with a F2P/Vet toon or an expansion capped 50 (IE, a 50 on an account that doesnt have Shadowlands)

Reason for this is pretty simple. Blizzard has separate pvp ques for people with xp-on and xp-off. Levelers, obviously, are in xp-on while the only people with with xp turned off are twinks. But the twinking population is quite small (among other things) so getting games that are strictly twink vs twink is very difficult and requires gobs of coordination.

But xp-on ques? Well now we're talking the whole population of the game, which means BGs pop quickly and regularly. And F2P/Vet accounts and expansion capped accounts can que for XP-on because we won't level due to our account status. This lets us maintain a twink and get easy "plug and play" games (to steal a line I really like from Bestworld)

I would very much recommend you dip your toe into twinking with a Veteran account. That is, start a separate world of warcraft account on your bnet client. Level a toon (or several toons) to 20, turn your xp off and start gearing, acquire consumables and stacks of enchant scrolls, etc and when you're ready, let the accounts subscription die. Make sure you turn your xp back on right before it ends, however. Then (and this is important) exit the game, exit the Bnet client, and go get dinner or watch a movie or something. There's an odd glitch where people who were playing when their subscription ended will end up leveling anyway. Give the system time to catch up to the status change.

Once thats done, you'll have a veteran account with a ready to go twink! Enjoy BGs.

Should you find that enjoyable and want a bit more of a challenge (and *I* think, more rewarding playstyle) you might dip your toes into pure F2P. That is, an account that never has game time. But that's a bit more involved.

Here's some helpful resources:

Starters Guides to 20s in SL - Very basic rundown of available classes, talents, abilities, initial gearing, etc.
F2P and Vet Armory - A collection of various toons of all specs so you can see what gearing looks like
SL Info dump - a hodge podge collection of various things we've found/learned. Check dates on these posts, a lot of this is no longer relevant but theres some good stuff in here.

thank you so much for showing me all of this, I think I want to start off with theory crafting some dungeon armor to get if I'm doing a veteran account (I've heard gem slot gear is the best to go with), how many classes do you think i should do to start with?

 

[Chops]

thank you so much for showing me all of this, I think I want to start off with theory crafting some dungeon armor to get if I'm doing a veteran account (I've heard gem slot gear is the best to go with), how many classes do you think i should do to start with?

There's a lot to do on twinks this xpac and grinding for perfect, not-qualified, actual BIS will be an expansion long process. I recommend maybe goofing around on a couple classes at 20, getting a feel for rotations and skill sets and then pick just one to focus on.

 

[Warglave]

It takes a couple hours to ghetto-gear a level 20 f2play, I'd just do that on a new account connected to your own.

Play a few BG's, rinse repeat until you see first hand what you like and dont in those that play beside/against you.

If you decide you want to play veteran 20 you can just sub that account but DO NOT use your f2play you've made tho because they stockpile XP and once you log into them on an active subscription they'll level to that XP value... i think.

@Chops they dont level until you log into them, do they? Is it possible to keep your f2play on a veteran account "pure" f2play by never logging them in until you're back off the 30 day sub? So you could realistically have both in one?

edit- forgot a very big little word.... "not"

 

[TheTrickster88]

There's a lot to do on twinks this xpac and grinding for perfect, not-qualified, actual BIS will be an expansion long process. I recommend maybe goofing around on a couple classes at 20, getting a feel for rotations and skill sets and then pick just one to focus on.

I think I want to try hunters in the 20s bracket because I tried them a bit in PVE before blizz fixed the ilvl 50 gear on low lvl toons and it was pretty fun mowing through dungeons at a fast pace

 

[Chops]

I think I want to try hunters

I make an effort to be nice to new people and not be my usual grouchy self, and this is how they repay me.

(i kid, i kid, hunters are super strong and a worthy class to invest your time and attention in)

 

[TheTrickster88]

It takes a couple hours to ghetto-gear a level 20 f2play, I'd just do that on a new account connected to your own.

Play a few BG's, rinse repeat until you see first hand what you like and dont in those that play beside/against you.

If you decide you want to play veteran 20 you cant just sub that account and NOT use your f2play you've made tho because they stockpile XP and once you log into them on an active subscription they'll level to that XP value... i think.

@Chops they dont level until you log into them, do they? Is it possible to keep your f2play on a veteran account "pure" f2play by never logging them in until you're back off the 30 day sub? So you could realistically have both in one?

I think since I have an active subscription already I'll try to prep for veteran and then do f2p if I want to make any other characters beyond what i prep from veteran
[doublepost=1607979187,1607979023][/doublepost]

I make an effort to be nice to new people and not be my usual grouchy self, and this is how they repay me.

(i kid, i kid, hunters are super strong and a worthy class to invest your time and attention in)

Lol, hunters are the class I've been playing forever so I tend to gravitate towards them very frequently for just about everything

 

[Warglave]

The thing about veteran is that you need to have them on an inactive account to use them in the XP on battlegrounds, along side the f2play and normal levelers. So you cant make a veteran 20 on your main account and get into BG with them unless you let your subscription run out... and then of course you cant play anything over level 20.

If you make a vet on your main subbed account you'd be queueing with all the level 20-29 locked XP players.

Those games generally do not happen (most any bracket), so no BGs for that scenario.

 

[TheTrickster88]

The thing about veteran is that you need to have them on an inactive account to use them in the XP on battlegrounds, along side the f2play and normal levelers. So you cant make a veteran 20 on your main account and get into BG with them unless you let your subscription run out... and then of course you cant play anything over level 20.

If you make a vet on your main subbed account you'd be queueing with all the level 20-29 locked XP players.

Those games generally do not happen (most any bracket), so no BGs for that scenario.

So should i start with f2p and make that the veteran account?

 

[Kaxle]

So should i start with f2p and make that the veteran account?

No, F2P accounts bank experience so as soon as you login after add time your toon will level. Its possible to work around this but really not worth it because it would only take 1 slip up on your end to bunk a toon

 

[icehawk]

If u want to get a feel for 20’s, u could mess around on a F2P account. Get the feel for it. But note that when u sub up to make ur Vets, toons that u played on at 20 will likely jump up in level.

Then, once sub’d, make / gear ur 20’s. Ensure their XP is off while sub’d.

Then just before sub runs out, unlock ur XP again on ur Vet toons. This will allow u to bg when the sub ends.

Good to see another in whom the Hunter blood runs strong in......
Have fun!

 

[Warglave]

So should i start with f2p and make that the veteran account?

You cant BG locked at 20 on a subbed account, so if what @Kaxle has said is accurate then you should seemingly just make a third account for your veteran account. If you never sub your f2play account it's really not a bad thing at all.

You can have like 8 licenses (separate login 'accounts' like your normal one) linked per account without issue last i knew of. Linking accounts gets messy (at least it did for me) to get more than 8, unless that's changed. Not really an issue here tho.

Linking them to the same battle.net ID is nice as all will get access to the account-wide mounts, BoA gears, titles etc.

SO SHORT VERSION: having a third account to be your vet account is probably best. You can run all three at once if you want to as well which is handy. Take the month to gear your vet (make a few!) and keep PvPing on your f2play while you do.

 

[TheTrickster88]

No, F2P accounts bank experience so as soon as you login after add time your toon will level. Its possible to work around this but really not worth it because it would only take 1 slip up on your end to bunk a toon

Is it possible to lvl cap a toon before activating air time or is the XP cutoff npc disabled on f2p?
[doublepost=1607986211,1607986027][/doublepost]

If u want to get a feel for 20’s, u could mess around on a F2P account. Get the feel for it. But note that when u sub up to make ur Vets, toons that u played on at 20 will likely jump up in level.

Then, once sub’d, make / gear ur 20’s. Ensure their XP is off while sub’d.

Then just before sub runs out, unlock ur XP again on ur Vet toons. This will allow u to bg when the sub ends.

Good to see another in whom the Hunter blood runs strong in......
Have fun!

How much experience is banked on f2p accounts? Is it like a set amount or does it stack based on time/amount played?
[doublepost=1607987180][/doublepost]

You cant BG locked at 20 on a subbed account, so if what @Kaxle has said is accurate then you should seemingly just make a third account for your veteran account. If you never sub your f2play account it's really not a bad thing at all.

You can have like 8 licenses (separate login 'accounts' like your normal one) linked per account without issue last i knew of. Linking accounts gets messy (at least it did for me) to get more than 8, unless that's changed. Not really an issue here tho.

Linking them to the same battle.net ID is nice as all will get access to the account-wide mounts, BoA gears, titles etc.

SO SHORT VERSION: having a third account to be your vet account is probably best. You can run all three at once if you want to as well which is handy. Take the month to gear your vet (make a few!) and keep PvPing on your f2play while you do.

So I think what I want to do is this:

Make an f2p and try that one first, get a feel of what current f2p is like

During the time I'm working on the f2p accounts I want to theory craft 5 or 6 classes to work on for a vet account then run the theory crafts by y'all to see if I can improve them and after that I want to make an account linked to my main and set up the final product of the theory crafts

And after setting up the vet account maybe get some more classes set up if I have time after the initial 5-6 classes

 

[Kaxle]

Is it possible to lvl cap a toon before activating air time or is the XP cutoff npc disabled on f2p?

Yeah you can hit 20 and AS SOON AS YOU LEVEL xplock your toon before adding time and you should be fine and not have to worry about banked xp but the longer you wait after hitting 20 to xp lock the more banked xp you will have. Should note you can't queue for BGs on a F2P account with your xp locked. I advised against just adding time to a f2p account to make it a vet because all xp you bank is with you forever (minus gm shenanigans) so having to rely on remembering to xplock everytime you want to add time is an unnecessary level of risk, plus one look at all the "forgot to unlock before gametime ran out" posts on the forums demonstrates how easy this kind of thing is to forget. Oh and theres the added fun of trying to unlock your xp after you time expires is buggy as hell and can require GM interference to get unfrozen. Its just too much of a headache to be worth it especially when the toon in question doesn't have any GFed gear or anything

How much experience is banked on f2p accounts? Is it like a set amount or does it stack based on time/amount played?

up to 10 levels

 

[TheTrickster88]

Yeah you can hit 20 and AS SOON AS YOU LEVEL xplock your toon before adding time and you should be fine and not have to worry about banked xp but the longer you wait after hitting 20 to xp lock the more banked xp you will have. Should note you can't queue for BGs on a F2P account with your xp locked. I advised against just adding time to a f2p account to make it a vet because all xp you bank is with you forever (minus gm shenanigans) so having to rely on remembering to xplock everytime you want to add time is an unnecessary level of risk, plus one look at all the "forgot to unlock before gametime ran out" posts on the forums demonstrates how easy this kind of thing is to forget. Oh and theres the added fun of trying to unlock your xp after you time expires is buggy as hell and can require GM interference to get unfrozen. Its just too much of a headache to be worth it especially when the toon in question doesn't have any GFed gear or anything


up to 10 levels

So it's better to have two separate accounts then

 

[Chops]

So it's better to have two separate accounts then

yes

The good news is, once you've got that second account its one month of game time and then its unsubbed, you can just xfer toons off your main account to your unpaid one. So you can make new twinks without have to re-sub and wait a month, so long as youre fine with the xfer cost.

 

[Warglave]

So it's better to have two separate accounts then

3 total. Or more if you run out of character space.... 50 goes so quick!

 

[TheTrickster88]

yes

The good news is, once you've got that second account its one month of game time and then its unsubbed, you can just xfer toons off your main account to your unpaid one. So you can make new twinks without have to re-sub and wait a month, so long as youre fine with the xfer cost.

I'd probably not transfer often but good to know that's an option should I want to make another twink

3 total. Or more if you run out of character space.... 50 goes so quick!

Lol