So what's the fastest leveling path now?

[zeoos]

The optimal path seems to be:

20-58

Sequentially quest the zones (as Alliance) Loch Modan, Westfall, Redridge, Darkshore and Bloodmyst Isle - These are all "starter" questing zones with tightly packed together easy quests which have you generally doing very little for quest completion.

At the same time you should exclusively queue for Ragefire Chasm and Stormwind Stockades. These are two of the quickest completed dungeons and the completion xp alone is a solid addition to your leveling. If you are a leveling healer or tanking class this will be a sizable portion of your leveling, and you'll be getting to know these two instances well.

58-73

Do either Northrend or Burning Crusade questing while queuing for both Utgarde Keep, Ramparts and Blood Furnace.

74-81

This is the rocket fuel segment of your leveling. Switch your settings to do heroic dungeons, and go and sequentially solo every single Burning Crusade Heroic Dungeon. They give outstanding xp/gold and you will be one-shotting your way through the dungeons.

81-82

Most of the Heroic Burning Crusade Dungeons will stop giving you xp at this point, so go and do some of the raids. Serpentshire Cavern has level 72 10 mob pulls which you can AoE in seconds and give massive amounts of xp.

83-87

Unfortunately this is back to questing and queuing yourself for dungeons. These levels can seem like a bit of a grind after coming off the rocket fuel of 74-82. At 84-87 you can solo heroic Northrend dunegons, but I'm unconvinced that this is faster xp than questing. It is however a very good moneymaker.

88-90

Heroic Zul'Gurub is your friend. Solo the dungeon in a big circle avoiding all the bosses and killing all mini-bosses. Get back to the start, exit, reset, and do again. 5 circles and resets should be enough xp to go from 88-90.

90-110

Exactly the same as prior to 7.3.5



All of the above is obviously class and spec dependent in terms of how easy it is to do. Certainly if your class has a tanking spec or healing spec, particularly a tanking spec, you'll see a lot of the insides of stockades and ragefire the first 40 or so levels, but blast through the completion xp.

Whether the above is fun is a different question entirely.

I leveled my shaman from 70-81 pretty fast using heroic bc dungeons, they are undertuned or we are overtuned for them.
From 70-75 i just used the Dungeon finder to join Heroic BC Dungeons while leveling.
The next day, I went on as Enhancement and soloed some dungeons until I hit 81. I used full looms.
Here is the XP i gained from completing some dungeons. I will update the chart when I run my DK through them.
Notice that the time taken was from the start of the instace until I exited. I killed every mob, i gathered as many as posible and killed them grouped.
Also, the chart doesn't count the XP gained from quests which at that level, was about 17k xp per quest.

[pancardstatusuti]

You can ask your friends to boost you in dungeons.

[Bugg]

Got looms but no friends or gold (new server).
I've reached level 40 now, after 15 hours of gameplay (4 real life days) by doing quests and a few dungeons. Dungeon quest XP is really low... I remember it being higher.
I'm leveling a toon that can tank, heal and dps. Tank queue is the fastest if I want to run a dungeon.

What's the wisest way to continue from here?
Are all the guides that I find on youtube from November '17 - January '18 up to date, or did the leveling process received more changes after those dates?

[Kyphael]

On alliance, Duskwood/Darkshire will normally take me all the way from 20-30. Duskwood is my favorite lowbie zone so it's the first I do on allied races or other lowbies who ding 20. Then I normally go to Redridge for 30-35 or so. At that point I start doing more dungeons in between quests because I get bored of the other zones until I can go to Plaguelands which I love as well. From Plaguelands I push it to 60 with misc. questing, dungeons, and even pet battle trainers. At 60, the game feels more grown up so I quest/dungeon in Outland/Northrend to 80 naturally, and so forth.

Horde is even less of a plan since I was originally an alliance only player. For horde I like to go to Silverpine forest since I like Eastern Kingdoms more. Even if I'm leveling an orc or tauren, I'll go to Silverpine and quest, but beyond Silverpine, I don't have a plan, I mostly dungeon and quest here and there or do holiday bosses which grant a lot of xp.

The most boring push is from 40-60 since I already did my favorite zones and it starts taking even longer.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

If you are looking for the most boring but a very quick way without throwing money at it then method zero is way up there.

Just looking for a quick but normal kind of experience than just hit up all the starting zones and first zones after for 1-60 getting going a lot quicker. These zones are small and require little speed or movement and if you have a mount you can knock them all out really quick. I usually can get to 26-30 in almost a blink of an eye between the 3 starting zones in the alliance with looms, maps, and mount. Its not very immersive but its pretty quick jump start because once you get around there you have enough abilities to kill shit efficiently.

Outside of that its just the tried and true just move though zones, do quests, que while doing it, and just push push push. It isnt as slow as a lot of people like to claim it is.

[SirCowdog]

Woah necro. I learned a lot about leveling between then and now. XD

[chiddie]

Woah necro. I learned a lot about leveling between then and now. XD

Some major changes in the meantime?

[SirCowdog]

Some major changes in the meantime?

Just 7.3.5, and some methods of leveling I wasn't aware of. Check my sig.

[Micronetic]

81-82

Most of the Heroic Burning Crusade Dungeons will stop giving you xp at this point, so go and do some of the raids. Serpentshire Cavern has level 72 10 mob pulls which you can AoE in seconds and give massive amounts of xp.

Doint Serpentshrine Cavern right now and a mob gives me 863 - 998 (from the few big ones) xp (I am level 81), don't know if I would call this a "massvie amount"

1 trash run gave me 42% of a level, is this okay?

[SirCowdog]

Doint Serpentshrine Cavern right now and a mob gives me 863 - 998 (from the few big ones) xp (I am level 81), don't know if I would call this a "massvie amount"

1 trash run gave me 42% of a level, is this okay?

It depends on how long it took you. IMHO anything over 30 minutes per level is slow. My fastest leveling speed so far is using purely Method 0, at an average of 18 minutes per level.

The last time I did a leveling run on my druid, I didn't use serpentshrine at all. I just stayed in Kara trash til 82 IIRC, since it felt faster to me in absolute terms. Less travel time. Many of the mobs greyed out, but enough were worth EXP to make the run worthwhile. It still ended up being faster than questing. But I had to REALLY focus and be efficient. At that level it was around 30 minutes per level, but at 83 you can solo Normal Ramparts and jump that time up quite a bit for a few levels.

[Powerogue]

Pick the zones you enjoy the most. It's not about raw speed, it's about how long it feels like you've been questing. I went through Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills at level 60 and went "aw man, 80 already? Dang."

Instances are alright too, randomly queuing every once in a while so you're guaranteed both the bonus xp/gear bag and the xp from the dungeon quests makes them worth doing.

Don't forget to enchant any heirlooms you have, it helps. Even things that don't have stat enchants nowadays like shoulders and chestpieces used to so you can at least use those up to whatever expansion they were in, as they're scaled down.

[Aeriedk]

The laziness of some people never ceases to amaze me.

I’m never really shocked anymore. Different types of people in this world and there is a large group of people that believe once you have leveled a toon once then you have done it 1000 times.

I disagree though. I have several max toons and each experience was pretty unique.

[SirCowdog]

Pick the zones you enjoy the most. It's not about raw speed, it's about how long it feels like you've been questing. I went through Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills at level 60 and went "aw man, 80 already? Dang."

There's some merit to that. But there's also a lot to be said for really checking the raw, unfiltered numbers.

When I first started leveling toons after 7.3.5, I was going to TBC zones because I was more familiar with them, and thought that they'd be faster. Imagine my surprise when, after actually timing each level, I discovered that due to their older design philosophy, levels take almost TWICE as long as they do by questing in WotLK.

So when you're talking about the "fastest" leveling methods and paths, it's definitely worthwhile to really sit down and ask yourself what you're more interested in: Having fun while leveling up, or just getting it done quickly. The two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive(since there's a lot of enjoyment to be had in doing something well), but they can VERY easily interfere with each other.

Instances are alright too, randomly queuing every once in a while so you're guaranteed both the bonus xp/gear bag and the xp from the dungeon quests makes them worth doing.

Early on in the 1-60 range this is true. Later levels not so much. Honestly if you're looking for raw speed, you'll stop doing random queues after about level 35 or so. Target Stockades and RFC exclusively. Places like Wailing Caverns, Mauradon, Uldaman, and especially Dire Maul are complete and total wastes of time. And you might as well give up on speed entirely if you go to BRD or UBRS with a random group.

Don't forget to enchant any heirlooms you have, it helps. Even things that don't have stat enchants nowadays like shoulders and chestpieces used to so you can at least use those up to whatever expansion they were in, as they're scaled down.

Shoulder and leg enchants don't go into effect until level 85, and generally speaking stop working around lvl 100. There are a few exceptions at the lower end, but they're usually REALLY expensive on the AH. But if you're really interested in every little thing you can do to speed up just a tiny bit, then get those enchants.

But for chest, cloak, ring, neck, and weapon slots, definitely get that enchanting asap. They'll help from the moment you can reach a mailbox.

[Micronetic]

It depends on how long it took you. IMHO anything over 30 minutes per level is slow. My fastest leveling speed so far is using purely Method 0, at an average of 18 minutes per level.

The last time I did a leveling run on my druid, I didn't use serpentshrine at all. I just stayed in Kara trash til 82 IIRC, since it felt faster to me in absolute terms. Less travel time. Many of the mobs greyed out, but enough were worth EXP to make the run worthwhile. It still ended up being faster than questing. But I had to REALLY focus and be efficient. At that level it was around 30 minutes per level, but at 83 you can solo Normal Ramparts and jump that time up quite a bit for a few levels.

I think I needed like 30 minutes in Serpentshrine for a level but am not sure but I did it only from 81-82 and went from there on to Normal Ramparts, wasnt that fast at 82 as like with 83 but it worked, now I am 84 and your guide says it's questing time in either MoP or Cata, or could I do more Ramparts till a specific level?

Ah and btw I am just doing the Twilight Highlands intro quests, thought it would be good xp because they are fast done and are on a little area, what do you think about it? Looks like it will give me almost a full level from 84 to 85.

[SirCowdog]

I think I needed like 30 minutes in Serpentshrine for a level but am not sure but I did it only from 81-82 and went from there on to Normal Ramparts, wasnt that fast at 82 as like with 83 but it worked, now I am 84 and your guide says it's questing time in either MoP or Cata, or could I do more Ramparts till a specific level?

Ah and btw I am just doing the Twilight Highlands intro quests, thought it would be good xp because they are fast done and are on a little area, what do you think about it? Looks like it will give me almost a full level from 84 to 85.

Technically you could keep doing Ramparts until the enemies grey out and become worthless. But from the perspective of raw speed it's going to be better exp/h to use questing.

I haven't gone to Twilight Highlands since Cata, so you're on your own there. I generally go to Mt Hyjal, since it's a known factor at ~1million exp/h for me. A lot of people go to Jade Forest in MoP, or even Vashj'ir.

BTW: I use titanpanel to track exp/h, in case you were wondering.

[Micronetic]

Technically you could keep doing Ramparts until the enemies grey out and become worthless. But from the perspective of raw speed it's going to be better exp/h to use questing.

I haven't gone to Twilight Highlands since Cata, so you're on your own there. I generally go to Mt Hyjal, since it's a known factor at ~1million exp/h for me. A lot of people go to Jade Forest in MoP, or even Vashj'ir.

BTW: I use titanpanel to track exp/h, in case you were wondering.

I started to level in Pandaria, took some treasures with me and then I saw you said Hyjal, since I am leveling a hunter Hyjal would be better when I want the fire Scorpion pet later in the quest story good that you said it!

Yeah I didn't level Highlands fully, just did the intro quests till you get the portal to Orgrimmar and it gave me almost 1 full level just from the few quests. And it was pretty fast because they are all in such a small area, only thing that was a bit slow was the flying to Highlands I mean the little "scenario" on the ship

[SirCowdog]

I started to level in Pandaria, took some treasures with me and then I saw you said Hyjal, since I am leveling a hunter Hyjal would be better when I want the fire Scorpion pet later in the quest story good that you said it!

Yeah I didn't level Highlands fully, just did the intro quests till you get the portal to Orgrimmar and it gave me almost 1 full level just from the few quests. And it was pretty fast because they are all in such a small area, only thing that was a bit slow was the flying to Highlands I mean the little "scenario" on the ship

With Hyjal I just know exactly where everything is. I don't have to think, I just go from point to point to point. It's super-focused, and especially with a hunter you'll be able to pull things quickly. But on top of that is how close together quests are, and how there are a lot of quick quests where you just click on things.

But here's the thing: If I was just as familiar with MoP zones and quests, I suspect that might actually be faster with treasures scattered around. Valley of the Four Winds especially, since there are very few cutscene quests there. Jade Forest is full of stupid "follow Loremaster Cho" type stuff. Uhg...

[Micronetic]

With Hyjal I just know exactly where everything is. I don't have to think, I just go from point to point to point. It's super-focused, and especially with a hunter you'll be able to pull things quickly. But on top of that is how close together quests are, and how there are a lot of quick quests where you just click on things.

But here's the thing: If I was just as familiar with MoP zones and quests, I suspect that might actually be faster with treasures scattered around. Valley of the Four Winds especially, since there are very few cutscene quests there. Jade Forest is full of stupid "follow Loremaster Cho" type stuff. Uhg...

I know Hyjal as well as Jade Forest so it doesn't matter which one I'll do

Yeah Hyjal is by far better what I'm seeing now with the new leveling and btw I can't stand the Jade Forest leveling anymore, gives me headache because I was there so often.

[SirCowdog]

I know Hyjal as well as Jade Forest so it doesn't matter which one I'll do

Yeah Hyjal is by far better what I'm seeing now with the new leveling and btw I can't stand the Jade Forest leveling anymore, gives me headache because I was there so often.

Hoenstly, I've been meaning to try Deepholme instead of Mt Hyjal. You want to talk about closely packed quests with very little cutscene nonsense, there it is. I always forget that I can do that due to zone scaling. At 82 you can skip straight to it. It'll be interesting to see if it's faster or not.

[Powerogue]

But for chest, cloak, ring, neck, and weapon slots, definitely get that enchanting asap. They'll help from the moment you can reach a mailbox.

Which I'll mention is all the more reason to unlock the mailbox toy from the hidden postmaster quest chain. Gilneas for example doesn't have any mailboxes until you finish the starting area. That I could find, at least.

Oh, and gunshoes and glider kits. How did I forget to mention those in the last post? Gunshoes being most useful before you have an epic mount, and glider kits before you've got flying to take time saving shortcuts. Or even after flying as a quick getaway since they can be cast in combat unlike a flying mount. I never level an alt without 'em.