Other than 101, any benefit to a "1" toon at lower levels?

[moyo]

It seems to me that people who intend to do battlegrounds on their twinks choose a level that ends in "9" (19, 29, etc.). I guess that's both to have the maximum skills available and to leverage gear item level which, at 6-ish levels above your toon level, maximizes pvp template stats... is that correct?

The only exception I see to this 9's rule is 101's, which I gather is a thing because of the way gear scales from 101 on. This results in some pretty amazing world pvp performance, as well as scaling toons that can solo many dungeons that are impossible to solo at 110... is that correct, too?

So, assuming both are correct, here's what I'm wondering:

If I'm not trying to min/max my bg performance stats, is there any advantage to picking a "1" toon (outside of the 101 example) for lower level twinking? For example, I just hit 49 on my rogue. If I was going to bg in the 40's bracket, this would be the best level to do that. But, I'm more interested in world pvp performance so...

Now that the rest of the WoW zones also scale to our level, are there any benefits to be had by doing a "1" toon lower than 101? My rogue just hit 49 today. If I take him to 51, aside from the 2 item level difference, are there any 'scaling advantages' like we saw for 101's?

 

[AlisterCrow]

Closest thing I've found is the stat boost you see at level 15 now. Also, level 42 with book of the dead, postmaster's set and blade of eternal darkness; it's insane on a shadow priest. There's almost always skeletons spawning with 3 out at a time because Blizzard actually fixed the proc rate on the two aforementioned epics (The shadowbolt that comes from blade looks awesome btw). There's also the 2nd tier of the rune of perfection trinket at level 40 for a nice crit boost as well as an on use crit trinket from a quest; as shadow, that means a decent amount of shadowy apparitions...especially when mark of the frostwolf procs back to back. Farming trash at the entrance of stratholme as a level 42 is good for farming epics for 39 twinks because all of the old world drop epics drop from the trash in strat. Level 42 is the minimum level to enter I believe.

 

[Tonkks]

The reason and ONLY reason people twink at 101 is because of the required level 101 epics. These epics start at Ilvl 840 (sometimes are lower, but mostly 840), and can warforge/titanforge as well as have a socket and/or leech/speed/avoidance/indestructible.

If these items required level 102, people would twink at 102. This does not happen in any other bracket. These level 101 epics are so superior to final boss mythic gear from level 100 that the “scaling” you are thinking of is really just a massive amount of stats for that level.

Yes, it is true there used to be 10 twinks and other out of the ordinary level twinks- and it is also true this was due to scaling. A long time ago, you could enchant gear, gloves for instance, with 15 agility. This 15 agility would be more beneficial the lower level the toon was (for values of crit, haste, dodge, etc). Why level 10? 10 was the lowest level one could queue a BG. Level 10 rogues could get dodge ratings above 100%, making them unhittable from the front against other melee classes. Hunters could get an insane amount of haste rating that, coupled with a high amount of agility, yielded a fun to play glass cannon ranged class.

This scaling has since been nerfed , and these lower level twinks become less usable. Some people twinked/twink at level 16. Some classes, such as rogue, did not have much of a gear difference between level 16 and 19, making a 16 rogue similar in agility and stamina to a 19, but benefiting from the scaling you speak of. Much of this is no more in the current pvp meta. These lower level twinks needed to benefit so much from scaling to counteract the loss of hit rating, stamina, damage, and most importantly lost abilities.

 

[Blueballuh]

@AlisterCrow how has that farming worked out for you? Managed to get any 39 boes to drop?

 

[Conzil]

Saw some level 91 twink back in Wod cuz of the WoD crafting gear required level 91.

 

[moyo]

... level 42 with book of the dead, postmaster's set and blade of eternal darkness; it's insane on a shadow priest. There's almost always skeletons spawning with 3 out at a time because Blizzard actually fixed the proc rate on the two aforementioned epics (The shadowbolt that comes from blade looks awesome btw). There's also the 2nd tier of the rune of perfection trinket at level 40 for a nice crit boost as well as an on use crit trinket from a quest; as shadow, that means a decent amount of shadowy apparitions...especially when mark of the frostwolf procs back to back. ...

After reading your description, I'm damn close to rolling a shadow priest. I've always thought that they're terribly squishy and so I've never given them a fair trial. But I do like the idea of a caster twink and shadow is now on the table for me. Thanks for your reply!
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The reason and ONLY reason people twink at 101 is because of the required level 101 epics. ... the “scaling” you are thinking of is really just a massive amount of stats for that level.
...
This scaling has since been nerfed , and these lower level twinks become less usable. ... Much of this is no more in the current pvp meta.

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for your reply.

Is it that case, then, that twinking for battlegrounds is pretty much best done with a toon whose level ends in "9", for no other reason than to leverage the +6 item level drops, which are worth more as a 19 than as a 16?

Also, aside from battleground brackets, would you say that twinking for world pvp encounters is pretty much a level playing field where any character level one may prefer is as good as any other? What I mean is, I wanted my rogue to have "Vanish", which he got at level 48. So, if I'd stopped experience at 48 and started farming my best-in-slot gear, would I be missing anything major by not waiting until 49?

I'm not sure what I'm trying to ask here... ok, yes I am...

Before gear and zones began scaling, there were best-in-slot pieces that could only be had by a toon that met the minimum level require to equip it. So, certain gear demanded certain minimum character levels. But now, with scaling zones and gear, that's largely gone, right?

For example, I did the level 20 rogue quest but never turned it in. The dagger that's rewarded for that quest used to be a level 20 required to use. But now at 49, that quest is still sitting in my quest log, waiting to be turned in. And you know what? That dagger's tooltip shows that it's scaled to my level. What would have been a level 20 dagger without any chance of being anything else is now potentially a level 49 dagger. Or, if I level higher and hold onto this quest longer, it's likely to scale up to whatever level I may be when I actually turn in the quest. Doesn't this make finding 'best in slot' gear harder than it used to be?

For example, I queried wowhead's weapon database for daggers up to level 29, just to see what's available. My search results returned daggers that scale from level 1 to level 110! Now, it seems that every dagger in the game is potentially best-in-slot at some level, depending how the stats scale. Or am I missing something important about this 'everything might be best-in-slot' possibility?

 

[AlisterCrow]

@AlisterCrow how has that farming worked out for you? Managed to get any 39 boes to drop?

I did like a dozen runs with a 110 carry and no luck. I actually haven't been back because I have the old unscaled epic knife so I started farming Theadras to get the new one. I've kinda put that off in favor of warlock stuff lately.
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After reading your description, I'm damn close to rolling a shadow priest. I've always thought that they're terribly squishy and so I've never given them a fair trial. But I do like the idea of a caster twink and shadow is now on the table for me. Thanks for your reply!

Shadow can be a livelord you just have to be able to kite, which becomes easier with the level 30 set of talents. Shadow aoe is really god-like for dungeons tbh.