A Shifty World #1: First day of War Within & Esmëriel Level 80

The first day of "normal" World Within release was yesterday, and I found myself regretting having bought the expansion and not dodged the release like I did Legion. But still, I played most of the day... And reached level 80 on the Druid! Dinged by picking a herb, as is tradition.

State after day 1 was this:

Some thoughts on the leveling bit

• I spent about 10 hours from 70 to 80, which involved a longer dinner break and some chores.

• I attempted to just stick to the main quest to get all of it in one go and avoid Shadowlands-like leveling traps where you overlevel the quasi-scaled zones. I was 75 when I came to the last zone which started at 78, so I backtracked doing sidequests and delves to 76 and a bit - and ended the campaign at 78 and did more sidequests and delves. This was not a good idea. If I did it again, I'd pick up side quests near the main quest and avoid having to do the same mobs 2-3 times and cut 1-2 hours of leveling time.

• The main quest story was ok. I like the big bad and hope they flesh her out a lot during the next 6 years, and I am somewhat curious about where Alleria ends up in the end.

• The zones lived up to the expectations, high quality as usual. Hard to pick a favorite, but Ringing Deeps if I had to pick one at gunpoint.

• I leveled as Guardian, which worked well - bad dps never turned into a problem.