The followers in World of Warcraft are a new feature that was introduced with Warlords of Draenor (WoD) and raises some questions. Which one should I take? How do they get stronger? Where can I get useful ones? Do they actually like me or are they gossiping about me behind my back? We will answer three of the four questions in this guide.
No question, a lot has been written about followers in World of Warcraft. But mostly it was only about where to find these guys. What to do with them once you have them, how they get stronger, how they gain power, and how all of this works is less frequently discussed.
The quality of followers: Green, blue, or purple – what’s going on?
There are three quality tiers for followers: common (green), rare (blue), and epic (purple). When you look in your follower display case, you can see what color the individual followers in World of Warcraft that you have not yet recruited have “at least”. However, they can also start “stronger”. This is – like so much – random. It is also not influenced by the war workshop or its alliance counterpart.
If you have gaps in your display case, don’t worry, many of the followers can only be obtained when you choose the respective other option for the outpost in that area. It is relatively costly to do this all the time. Ultimately, you only need 20 or a maximum of 25 followers. The rest would just be idle, like some ranged DPS in a raid.
Now some might say: This is unfair, I have a green one and my buddy has a blue one. This is not so bad: Green and blue followers can, when they are already at level 100, continue to gain experience points, and at the next “level-up” they do not become level 101, but jump up one quality level. However, this requires numerous missions.
What benefit does it give me if a follower is epic or rare?
Depending on their quality, followers have a specific number of abilities and traits. Abilities are direct “combat skills” that “counter” a specific trait of enemies encountered on missions. One must counter as many enemy strengths as possible to have a high probability of success.
Traits for followers in World of Warcraft cover everything else: crafting advantages, synergy effects, bodyguard, landscape advantages, other bonuses, for instance, if a mission takes less or more than eight hours.
- A green follower has one ability and one trait
- A blue follower has one ability and two traits
- An epic follower has two abilities and three traits
Therefore, it is advantageous to raise the followers to the highest quality levels possible.
Important: What traits and abilities the followers have is largely random. For most, only one ability is fixed, a few others have a trait (usually then for crafting). Whether one can be a bodyguard or not is also predetermined – one cannot change that for bodyguards. Other traits can be relearned or rolled again with special items. The rule is: If a new trait is learned, an old one “randomly” disappears. So be careful whom you teach dancing or Hearthstone playing in World of Warcraft.
How do followers gain experience points?
The followers gain experience points by sending them on missions. The base value is always there, and for successful missions, there are often “bonus” exp.
Important: They only receive full experience points if their level is the same as or higher than the mission. If they are up to 3 levels below the mission level, it is displayed as “orange” and the followers only receive 50% of the experience.
If they are very low, they only receive 10% of the normal experience, which is displayed as “red”.
Low-level followers also do not count as “counters” for traits.
How long do I see low-level missions displayed?
Low-level missions from 90 to 94 are offered as long as there is still one “active” follower below level 95. This also counts for followers who are working in the buildings, but not for deactivated followers. The missions from 95 to 99 are available until all 20 or (with fully upgraded barracks, 25 active followers are at level 100.
By what criteria should I select my followers in World of Warcraft?
The most important thing is, to spread out across the “counters” as much as possible. It’s of no use if you have five followers in your roster who all counter “time constraint,” if you don’t have anyone who can jump over a void zone. Therefore, it is advisable to select followers so that you can counter each of the nine opposing skills at least once, preferably twice. It is significantly easier if the followers are epic later on.
Also important: You should find a follower with the right crafting trait for each building you want to occupy. It is set up so that there is at least one “common” follower for each building who can handle it. However, other followers can randomly receive this trait too. Followers in buildings then act as your “non-combat troops”, and if you want to send one out, that’s no problem, you just need to take them out of the respective building.
The quality level of the followers in the buildings probably doesn’t matter, but their level does. With a level 90 follower, there is a 50% chance that an additional item will drop from a work order. With a level 100 follower, there is a 100% chance, so it always happens.
In terms of “traits” in World of Warcraft, there are some extremely useful outputs that you should keep an eye on. Especially “Epic Mount” is great, as it halves the duration of missions and works even if the follower who has it is not in level range. Additionally, there is a talent that guarantees a significantly increased garrison resources yield. If you manage to get such a follower, you can consider yourself lucky. Customized ones are available from the inn.
What happens if I have more than 20 followers?
That’s not a problem. When you recruit the 21st follower, you can only not hand in new missions until you have deactivated one. This is done through a right-click in the follower list. You can reactivate one follower per day, which costs 250 gold.
Where can I find new followers in World of Warcraft? Are there any that aren’t on the list?
If you have upgraded your inn to at least level 2, you can recruit a new follower every week and even make “wishes” here. This is ideal for filling gaps in your roster in World of Warcraft.
Which garrison buildings help me make my followers even stronger?
The key to this is certainly the “Recycling Center“, a small building. You should definitely build this and then upgrade it to level 2 as quickly as possible. Then, you will receive “green boxes” (containers with salvage) from missions, which you can open at the recycling center. These often contain weapons and armor with which you can further strengthen your followers. Depending on item level, it goes up another 3 “levels”. Item levels 615, 630, and 645 are then additional “milestones”. Stronger missions with even better rewards are expected to unlock here. Eventually, however, the oven will be out and it won’t go any higher. At least not yet.
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