Shadow Panther's Classic Rogue Site
Ready for SoD Phase 3
4/4/24
I've just finished last minute updates to my SoD Phase 3 Alliance Quest Prep Chart after receiving very short notice on the patch release date. I've added Burst of Experience values to all applicable quests and I've incorporated the 50% Discoverers Delight into the Total XP values at the bottom of my chart. I've also completed a dry run of the first five levels of turn-ins, which should take approximately 2.5 hours. If my calculations are correct, completing the entire route will get you all the way to level 48, and that doesn't include any XP from mobs along the route or in dungeons. Happy SoD Phase 3 Patch Day!
SoD Phase 3 Alliance Quest Prep Chart
3/18/24
Inspired by the experience of quest stacking in the previous phase to quickly reach level 40, I decided to spend several weeks creating my own SoD Phase 3 Alliance Quest Prep Chart to assist in the journey to level 50. This comprehensive chart identifies virtually every single Alliance quest chain you can prepare (including Zul'Farrak and Maraudon quests), and all the quest items you'll need to acquire ahead of time. Just follow the Phase 2 Quest Prep Route to get all of the quests ready, buy all additional quest items off the Phase 3 Shopping List, get your backpack/bank/mailbox ready using the provided checklists, then follow the detailed Phase 3 Quest Turn-In Route to maximize quest XP on SoD Phase 3 patch day.
SoD Phase 2 Chart Updates
2/24/24
I've updated my SoD Armor, SoD Weapons and BiS Lists charts with SoD Phase 2 items.
SoD Phase 2 Preparations
1/21/24
Over the past month, I've been questing ahead and updating my Alliance Rogue Quest Completionist Guide. I took this unique opportunity with XP turned off at level 25 to quest ahead and queue up a bunch of high XP quests for immediate completion on SoD Phase 2 patch day (2/8/23). I've completed all quests in my guide up through Level 35, while also finishing all other relevant questlines beyond that, specifically for the purposes of saving up 20 of the highest XP quests (as well as additional quest turn-ins) for a quick burst of XP on patch day (to help reach level 40 quicker).
A valuable resource I referenced throughout that journey was Joardee's SoD Phase 2 Prequest Stack Guide, which I highly recommend (the full guide requires a $5 Patreon subscription). It offers a detailed quest stack list (with alternative quests), route maps, item checklists, etc. for both Alliance and Horde.
SoD Updates
12/18/23
I've spent the past few weeks updating my Classic charts and resources for Season of Discovery. My SoD Armor, SoD Weapons and BiS Lists charts now have all newly released BFD gear added to them. I've also added all of those items to my original Twink Armor and Twink Weapons charts. But the resource I spent the most time and effort updating is my Alliance Rogue Quest Completionist Guide, which now has been revised with SoD content all the way up through level 25.
Rogue Tanking
11/28/23
For a brief period of time 15 years ago, I had a Rogue Avoidance Tank Armor Chart on my site to help players in TBC who wanted to use a mix of Agility, Defense, Dodge and Parry to achieve 100% avoidance from physical attacks in order to tank specific bosses like Mother Shahraz and Gruul. With Rogue Tanking making a comeback in Season of Discovery, I've decided to recreate a version of that chart for Classic, which ranks all high level armor by Tank Agility Equivalence Points (TAEP). I've also added a TAEP column to my pre-60 SoD Armor Chart to help players when planning out their gear in those lower level brackets.
Season of Discovery
11/12/23
I've added Classic Season of Discovery (SoD) charts to my site to give players an idea of the best gear available at each of the pre-60 level caps (25, 40 and 50).
Classic Complete
5/14/21
I've finally conquered Classic, and not a moment too soon. I didn't really have any concrete goals going into Classic, but after getting back into raiding, I realized that I still had some unfinished business from 15 years ago. My original Rogue from Vanilla, Zodar, had completed a full T2 set with CTS/Thunderfury. However, after my old guild fell apart, I never got to complete AQ or Naxx. So, this time, with much help from my new guild, WAKE, I was able to fully experience both of those raids, finishing up with a full T3 set + Gressil/Iblis. And that's just my main Rogue. I have two other Rogues, a Warrior and an entire guild of 36 Warlocks across 4 accounts that I've used to set up a summoning service to move all my characters around quickly.
Now it's time to focus on Burning Crusade Classic. I have a lot of work to do over the next few weeks, both in game and on my site. I've already stored 20 quests on all 8(!) of my level 60 characters to help me get a jump start on leveling to 70 and setting up summons in Outland. As far as my site is concerned, I've moved the current Classic files onto a Classic Era section of my site while the charts and articles in the main part of my site will transition to Burning Crusade Classic. It's certainly going to be a busy few weeks for me as we approach the release of that highly anticipated expansion.
ShadowPanther - TBC
4/13/20
In preparation for the possible expansion of Classic into The Burning Crusade, I've restored an archive of my entire site (warts and all) as it was at the end of TBC. Enjoy!
Ready for Classic
8/26/19
It's been a long, busy year. I've put countless hours into restoring and improving my site in preparation for Classic. The past few months have been especially busy as I've thoroughly tested my Quest Completionist Guide through level 40 in the closed Beta. Unfortunately, I've proven that you cannot achieve Exalted with any faction by level 40. However my guide will get you most of the way there, minimizing the number of turn-ins required to finish up. Listed below are all of the projects and site improvements I've worked on over the last year:
Leveling Guides and Resources
- I spent 6+ months developing and testing a detailed Quest Completionist Guide to maximize Darnassus rep, spillover rep and Alliance rep in general.
- I devised a new Level 1-6 strategy for Rogues called The Gladius Grind.
- I wrote up an Alliance Exploration Leveling Guide in case starting zones are completely swamped on Day 1.
- I created a Main Hand Progression Chart to highlight weapons you can easily obtain while leveling.
- I made several improvements to my Leveling Tips page.
- I added quest rewards, vendor items and "of the Monkey" BoEs to my Twink Armor and Twink Weapons charts so they would be more useful for leveling purposes.
Site Improvements
- I added phase information to my charts to indicate which phases items would be available.
- I added several PVE and PVP BiS Lists to my Armor Sets chart for Phase 1 and Endgame.
- I added numerous consumables and buffs to my Rogue Buffs page.
- I restored and updated my Rogue Links page with current links to external Classic sites containing information useful to Rogues.
- I put together a picture montage of my very first Rogue, Zodar, detailing A Night Elf Mace Rogue's Path to Thunderfury.
Beta/Stress Testing
- I tested various game mechanics during the first Stress Test.
- I tested death travel mechanics in the Beta.
- I tested Brushwood Blade to see just how low your level can possibly be to wield a mighty sword that straps across your back (level 4).
- I performed Stress Testing of Stealth, MoD and Shadowmeld to see the in-game effects of those abilities.
I hope you've found this information to be useful and that it helps your own Rogue's journey through Classic. Happy Classic Day!
Classic Questing Guide for Alliance Rogues
3/11/19
Over the past six months since updating my site for Classic, I've put a lot of thought into how I would want to level a Rogue if I were to play again. I've decided that a quest completionist strategy would be my preference, and specifically maximizing Darnassus reputation to reach Exalted for the Nightsaber mounts (obviously).
So then the question is, how best to reach Exalted if playing a race other than Night Elf? Many would say to just complete all Darnassus reputation quests and you should eventually reach Exalted. But what if a player really wanted a Frostsaber as soon as they could ride a mount? Would it be possible to achieve Exalted by level 40? I believe it is achievable through a quest completionist approach, and not just Darnassus quests, but all Stormwind/Ironforge/Gnomeregan Exiles quests as well, with spillover reputation being the key.
Spillover rep is a side-effect of completing a quest with one of the four city factions, resulting in a cascade of 25% spillover rep to the other three factions. Not all private servers use spillover rep, but that capability was verified to be active on the Classic Demo released last year. I believe that getting maximum spillover rep, while completing all city faction quests before they turn gray, is the key to getting the most possible reputation. That way, you aren't forced to turn in a bunch of Runecloth and Un'Goro Soil/Morrowgrain later on to reach Exalted.
With that goal in mind, I set out to design a leveling guide that could remedy several pain points I had identified with the Classic leveling process:
- It's tricky completing all quests at the optimum level
- Rogue is often thought to be a difficult leveling class
- Gathering professions don't keep pace with leveling
- Melee classes suffer against many higher level mobs
- Most guides expect you to grind mobs to fill in gaps
To try and address all of those issues, I've started putting together a detailed leveling plan that methodically guides you back and forth through the three starting zones (Elwynn Forest/Dun Morogh/Teldrassil) and continues in the same deliberate fashion into the follow-up zones (Westfall/Loch Modan/Darkshore/Redridge Mountains). If you're interested in experiencing every single quest while dabbling in various professions along the way, then my Classic Questing Guide for Alliance Rogues is the guide for you (currently complete for levels 1-22 and up through The Deadmines).
ShadowPanther - Classic
9/26/18
Six years ago, I stepped away from ShadowPanther.net and World of Warcraft. For many players, this game was a time-consuming diversion, but for me it had become a second job. I simply couldn't keep up with the frenzied pace of changes from expansion to expansion and still have enough time to actually play the game. When it stopped being fun, I simply wasn't motivated to continue with my site or the game. And for me, the two were inexorably linked. I couldn't enjoy one without the other, so I felt like I had to give up both.
Since then, the game has passed me by and I've had no desire to return. However, players continued contacting me through my site, and the question I would get most frequently was - where could they find archives of my charts? It seems that many players had migrated to private servers to relive previous versions of WoW. Unfortunately, the charts and resources on my site had evolved many times over the eight years I'd played and weren't terribly useful for anyone playing a Rogue on a much earlier version of the game. So, I usually just pointed them to the WayBack Machine archives of my site in the hopes that it would meet their needs.
Then I received an email last November from a player named Ghostknife asking if I would be returning for "Vanilla WoW". I didn't know what he was talking about and frankly had little interest in finding out at the time, since I was pretty adamant about staying away from the game. So I never looked into it and almost another year passed by. Then, about a month ago, I received an email from M. Sylvester asking if I would release a 1.12 version of my site for Classic WoW. Well, after weeks of digging through backups, I've finally gathered and updated many of my old files and charts from late 2006, which can now be found in the links above. Enjoy!
