- Level an alt
- Of course, depending on how long you've been playing your game, you may not have room for any more alts. Or you've got everything max level already. Or maybe you're one of those weird people that only plays one character. Ever. For the whole history of the game. Running an alt up so you have some options when the expansion hits in the very likely event that your class is changed in some gameplay-screwing, desirability-tanking way is usually a good plan, but it's not for everyone. And anyway, alts are expensive little things, what with needing skills and mounts and gear and food and puppies...
- Work on your tradeskills
- Tradeskills suck. In some games, they suck less than others, and in some games they're more necessary than others. That said, it's an xp bar/skill bar, and if it's not maxed yet you may want to consider doing that before your xpack lands. Early expansion is the best time for crafters to make money, because people aren't getting dungeon gear yet, and even drops are less-than-plentiful. This goes doubly for harvesters, who can make enough money to support them through the entire rest of the expansion if they farm early and plentifully. Right out of the gate, tradeskillers pay a massive premium for the new materials that come along with an expansion. Wouldn't it be nice to be that guy making 100k Your Currency Here a day selling flowers and tattered demon buttwipes?
- Get achievements
- There are games that don't have achievements these days? Sure, they might be badges, or perks, or whatever the hell, but there's Stuff you can Get for Doing Things. Explore! Run old quests! Go solo that stuff you used to raid with twenty-four other people like five years ago. See if you can solo that stuff you threatened to set your guild leader's boyfriend on fire over earlier this year. You get another shiny number to show off, and sometimes you get cool stuff like mounts, costume armor, titles, tabards, cloaks, special powers... Everyone loves having new and interesting ways to show off, right? Right. Trust me. The random fluffy stuff makes you automatically better than everyone around you because you have them and they don't. It's a rule of MMORPG society.
- Farm
- Face it. When that expansion comes out you're going to have gear to upgrade, new skills to buy, tradeskills to level, stuff to do... You're going to want to be able to focus on blasting through the new content and getting yourself sorted for your raids or ERP circle jerks or whatever it is you do as soon as possible. Farming NOW means more time spent doing what you love later. It also means that in the tumultuous early days of the new stuff being available on the auction house/broker/whatever you can dumpster dive and sell whatever you find that is new, different, and exciting for a hundreds of gobzillions of currency mark-up. Wouldn't you rather be the guy destroying the economy than the one having to pay post-arbitrage prices? The more capital you have at your disposal when the patch hits, the better.
- Take some time off
- No really. You're allowed to take some time off, cut back your play time, and explore other interests and hobbies. Hell. Prepare for your expansion the way obsessive popular girls do for swimsuit season. Work out, get yourself into shape, lose some weight... Because you just know those long nights making love to a two liter of Dew and eating banana chips are coming. Get all of your family obligations and visitations out of the way, pre-write/address/stamp your Christmas and Easter cards, buy your birthday presents and Hannukah gifts, do your research into likely political candidtates for upcoming elections... Yes, I am saying that you may want to consider pre-living before your expansion comes. You may also want to stockpile sleep, and bank sick time at work. Just sayin'.
- Precruit
- Yes, I just invented a word. Precruiting is going out and scouting recruits for the upcoming expansion rather than current content. The trick to precruiting is that a lot of people opt to take time off at the end of an expansion, so guilds are slow. You can scavenge players during these lean times that you wouldn't be able to get during the thick of progression: core players, junior officers, class leaders, and so-on. Many of these fine folks will jump tags if they see that they can get their content fix with you here and now, and you plan to continue your activity into the next expansion. Be careful what you promise your precruits, because many will still be baited back to their old tags once the expansion lands. Also, don't push potential precruits too hard when you're feeling them out and getting to know them. Their guilds have gone inactive, but they are still loyal to those old connections. Nobody wants to feel pressured into jumping ship. I've found that if you're patient, and welcome potential precruits to join you for raids and groups while staying tagged with their old guild, eventually they'll decide that they want to join you anyway.
- Start a blog
- No really. People are going to be looking for new sources of game news, commentary, and all that good stuff when the expansion hits. Get yourself into the habit of writing blog posts, or streaming, or whatever well before that happens so you're ready to go when your audience opens up. No, this is not at all in any way, shape, or form what I'm planning to do. Nope. Not this girl. >.> Watch my livestream.
It's a good idea to keep in mind that the generally lower prices and more active alt scene make the end of an expansion a good time for new and returning players to hit up a game. If all else fails, adopt a newbie. ^.^
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