Cleanse your Character(s) ready for The War Within!
Today’s article delves into the actions you can take to cleanse your character, ready for the highly anticipated expansion: The War Within. It’s an opportune moment to remove unwanted characters and tidy up their inventory. This proactive step enhances your readiness for the new content and instills a sense of order in your gaming experience, preparing you for the exciting changes ahead.
Keep reading for some helpful tips!
Paid Character Transfer changes!
Blizzard has informed the community that on the release of The War Within pre-patch (on July 23rd), players with multiple World of Warcraft accounts will no longer be able to use a paid character transfer to transfer characters from one account to another.
This restriction does not affect players with one account.
Blizzard is likely attempting to prevent potential issues surrounding the new feature, Warband. So, if you’re like me and have multiple accounts and paid character transfers, now is the time to act! As this will likely affect many players, do expect an increased delay in character transfers.
Deleting Unwanted Characters:
With The War Within coming and the introduction of Warbands, a new feature that allows us to transfer currencies, share Bind on Pickup gear and reputations with alts, it’s never a better time to delete those unplayed characters, freeing up valuable space for new alts.
However, be cautious when considering character deletion. With Warbands, we can trade Timewarped Badges, etc. Only delete characters if there are no benefits. If you make an error, rest assured you can restore a deleted character.
Character Restoration:
To complete a character restoration, navigate to the character selection screen, and beside the option to create a new character; you will see a small box that resembles a refresh icon. Select this, and any characters that you’ve deleted will be available for restoration.
Be aware that Blizzard purged many unused names from deleted characters, which will become available to new players, so you may need to rename your character if it’s flagged for rename.
Remember, the character restoration option for restoring deleted characters is unavailable during the pre-patch of The War Within. Blizzard has advised players to restore any deleted character(s) before the pre-patch is released or wait till afterward!
Cleaning WTF Files:
Once you’ve decided to delete unwanted characters, you should remove unwanted character files from your WTF folder. To do so, navigate to the World of Warcraft folder where you’ve installed the game and open the WTF folder.
For me it’s C:/Program Files(x86)/WorldofWarcraft/_retail_/WTF/
Be sure to backup the WTF folder and locate it somewhere memorable; this method provides the following:
- A safety net.
- Ensuring that any accidental deletions can be easily rectified.
- Giving you peace of mind in your character management.
If you have transferred any characters from one realm to another in the past, it’s beneficial to remove their old data, too. If you use TSMAddon, Altoholic, or any other Add-on that collects data across characters/accounts, this data could be duplicated, giving you incorrect inventory data.
Cleaning Character Data within the TSMAddon:
Once you’ve removed the files of deleted characters, it’s imperative that you also remove unwanted character data from the TSMAddon. In-game, open the TSMAddon and navigate to the Settings tab. In General Settings, select the drop-down menu: Forget Character. Carefully select the character(s) you wish TSMAddon to forget!
Completing this will ensure that the data collected in the app is up to date and that the data within your inventory (when checking for items on alts, etc.) is correct. Use the same method if you have old data from transferred characters—otherwise, TSMAddon will collect duplicate information!
Dracthyr Level Squish in The War Within!
When The War Within releases, Dracthyr will no longer start at level 58 but at level 10, with the option of beginning their journey on Exile’s Reach. However, Dracthyr Evokers will start at level 10 within the Dragon Isles!
If you have ambitions for a Dracthyr alt in the future, create one today and save it for a later date! Doing so ensures that when you want to level the character, it’s from level 58, not level 10!
You may remember this scenario from the pre-patch of Shadowlands when level 98 Demon Hunters were scaled from level 98 to level 39 – and any new Demon Hunters post-Shadowlands started at level 10!
I used this method, which meant I had many level 39 Demon Hunters saved in the starting zone! If you’re in the same boat, check the next section when I use a Gear Update to relocate my level 39 Demon Hunter!
Relocating Hero Classes with Gear Update!
I’ve quickly scanned my character selection screen and noticed several Demon Hunters I created to bypass the level squish. These characters are sitting at level 39 (this number varies depending on when you created yours), and they’re located within the Demon Hunter starter zone, Mardum, the Shattered Abyss.
If you last logged in to your Demon Hunter over 60 days ago, you will have the option to choose the gear update option. This convenient feature allows you to receive gear based on your level and chosen spec, saving you the hassle of manually gearing up your character and allowing you to focus on the gameplay.
Once completed, your character is relocated from the starting zone to your Factions major city, Orgrimmar (Horde), or Stormwind (Alliance). Be aware this option benefits players like me who have already completed the starting zone and earned all the class-specific mounts and transmog available from completing this starting zone.
List of Hero classes.
- DeathKnights
- Demon Hunters
- Dracthyr (*)
(*) I’ve added Dracthyr, as I see no issue in the same method working for that hero class post The War Within.
Cleaning Character Inventory:
We must be more mindful about keeping our inventory clean in our bags and personal bank. Empty slots are limited, so we should use, sell, or delete items we no longer need.
Characters Bags:
Within your bags, you will have collected many items throughout Dragonflight, some of which you may not even use anymore, or, like me, hoarded items in fear something may become important later. As The War Within is in touching distance, it may be worth considering clearing those items, freeing up valuable space.
We will soon have access to a Warbands bank, which comes at a hefty price but will allow you to clear reagent bags and other items you can share with your Warband. To transfer these items, you must keep them until the pre-patch is released.
Personal Bank:
We’re all guilty of it: We want to keep something, but there’s no space in our bags, so we immediately dump all our excess items in the bank without considering their importance. The personal bank is great for storing materials, essential currencies, and miscellaneous items.
If you have stored gear, consider using it or selling it. Items from the new content will quickly fill any vacant spaces in your bank.
Guild Bank:
If your character uses a Guild bank to store items, it might be time to review your stock and look to offload items you don’t need anymore. With many players looking to unload their unwanted items, you may fall foul to a drop in valuation due to the increased supply outweighing the demand.
If you’re considering crafting items for Transmog, there’s an incentive to keep specific materials. When players level up to 70 in The War Within, they can level up in different continents, meaning there may be a decline in materials gathered from the Dragon Isles, which will dictate the value of materials in the future!
Mailbox:
Another method for storing items you can’t store in your personal bank or bags is via the mailbox. Sift through your mailbox and clear old, unwanted items. The only items you want to leave in your mailbox are expired auctions and transmog from raid farming (for clarity, check out SoulSoBreezy’s video).
Ideally, you want a clean mailbox with nothing unread; this ensures that when you receive new mail in The War Within, you’ll receive notifications informing you of new mail in your mailbox.
Items to consider:
Deciding on what items to keep and eliminate is very subjective, as we all have different motives and ambitions for the future. However, if you have stored a lot of gear (maybe you have off-spec gear), consider getting rid of gear you know you won’t need.
When the new expansion releases, the only benefit to your character is the item level of your gear! The higher the item level, the stronger you are against the new mobs.
However, it may be worth keeping some of that gear if you have early goals to play multiple specs: DPS/Healer/Tank (for Dungeons/Delves). However, this will negatively affect the space in your inventory – choose wisely!
Lastly, consider removing old currencies you no longer need, or you can store them on an alt. For example, I have sent all unwanted Bind on Account rep tokens to an alt, freeing up valuable inventory space.
Clear your Quest Log:
Throughout our adventure within the Dragon Isles, we have collected numerous quests, some of which are still pending. Now is the perfect time to either finish them or discard them. With a limitation on the number of quests within our Quest Log, there’s merit in ensuring it’s clean and tidy!
The War Within will introduce new chapters, quests, and storylines. The last thing you’ll want to do is be restricted from starting a new quest because your quest log is full. Taking precautions today will eliminate those possibilities!
Add-ons:
Add-ons are integral to World of Warcraft, whether you Raid, PvP, or play the Auction House. Ensure you manage your add-ons and update them regularly! Failure to do so will undoubtedly lead to errors and conflicts with other add-ons!
Unwanted Add-ons:
We all have add-ons on our game that we have yet to use. If this is familiar to you, consider removing them from your game. While most add-ons are small, they can hog many resources in-game, negatively affecting our gameplay.
Updating Add-ons:
If you have the Curse app, regularly scan your add-on folder to ensure your add-ons are up-to-date. Doing so limits potential issues and conflicts with other installed add-ons.
Most add-ons will be ready for The War Within, as most developers get early access to the alpha/beta testing phases. Outdated add-ons can cause issues; if the developer doesn’t update them for The War Within, consider removing them!
Characters from MoP Remix:
MoP Remix will end upon the expansion’s release: The War Within. Any characters you’ve leveled during this period will have their Mists of Pandaria restrictions removed. The characters will join the rest of the population in the realm selected.
Before the event finishes, ensure you’ve used up any Bronze earned; any unspent Bronze will expire with the event. Ensure you follow the advice given earlier to free up inventory ready for the transfer!
Lastly, check all the traders in your nearest Infinite Bazar to ensure you’ve purchased all the Mounts, Toys, and Transmog. Please obtain them now to avoid excessive farming in retail World of Warcraft.
Socials:
Don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms, where I post regular updates regarding gold-making in World of Warcraft.
Feedback:
Any feedback is greatly appreciated; please use the comment section below. If you need to contact me, use the contact me method. If you found this post helpful and believe it could be useful to someone else, please consider liking and sharing.
Thanks for reading!