What is the best leveling path right now? (BfA edition Guide)

[Pickynerd]

Off topic: Didn't Blizzard have some news for today, did it happen already?

On topic: Sometimes its better to wait on blizzard to back peddle on their design choices.

[ramayana1423]

I've been leveling 3 monks (Void Elf, Nightborne and Maghar) by doing the Monk daily quest once a day. Can't get much more efficient than that!

[Temp name]

Wait does that mean a warmode 30% buff is useless with a 50% exp buff with the heirlooms?

No, that still stacks. You just can't stack RAF and Heirlooms for stupid amounts of XP (and also so you don't have to not wear heirlooms while you play with your friend)

[Appelgren]

Im guessing full looms, RAF and warmode on. Then queue dungeons as a tank/healer while doing quests and bonus quests.

Faster way is lvl 110-boost. Thats what ive been doing since i leveling my 9th char from 1 to max. CBA suffering through that boring BS ever again

[SirCowdog]

The inconsistency with Legion treasures is that they only give XP to the first person to open them after a reset (or after a shard is created).

Is THAT what it is? How bizarre. So...after maintenance on monday night/tue morning the shard resets? I admit I don't know much abou that aspect of the game.

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Wait does that mean a warmode 30% buff is useless with a 50% exp buff with the heirlooms?

No. It's just RAF that doesn't stack with anything AFAIK. Heirlooms stack with war mode, exp pots, and the DMF buff.

Although I guess RAF and War mode would work. Keep in mind hanf the speed granted by heirloom armor is not ever having to pay much attention to upgrades. Fully enchanted heirlooms scale with you always. So you'd want to wear them even if using RAF.

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I've been leveling 3 monks (Void Elf, Nightborne and Maghar) by doing the Monk daily quest once a day. Can't get much more efficient than that!

That's definitely the fastest method in absolute time /played. My times are centered around nolifing on vacation or holidays. XD

[Shaltinak]

Is THAT what it is? How bizarre. So...after maintenance on monday night/tue morning the shard resets? I admit I don't know much abou that aspect of the game.

Correct on both counts. It is bizarre and the shards reset with maintenance or any other server restart. You can also get new shards if there is sufficient load on a zone I believe but a reset is the only reliable time you are likely to be put in a fresh one.

[Micronetic]

Just found this today, maybe you know already but if not here you go

https://www.wowhead.com/item=166751/...t-of-ten-lands

[shadowmouse]

This is the week for the pet battle bonus. I hadn't gotten around to leveling some of the new pets, and checking around I got reminded that the family battlers are repeatable fights. One was up in Dalaran, Bhodi the Belf surfer dude, so I thought I'd give it a try. What I saw was a stack of low level characters grinding away, so I switched to the level 106 Nightborne alt I was leveling. Pet battles in Dalaran mean losing the war mode bonus because it is a sanctuary, but there are sites with strategies to burn through the fights while also leveling a carry pet. I was getting just a bit under 20,000 XP (19, 700 ish in heirlooms without the Pirate ring's 5%) while waiting for Invasions to come up, and a fight only took a couple of minutes. The stablemaster is just a short flight away, and if one were sitting on a pile of pet bandages it would go even faster. If you're actually leveling pets, during the pet battle bonus week you can go from 1-25 in two battles with just the safari hat.

[jaftica]

8.1 Update: Treasures are heavily nerfed past level 104. At level 101 they're only worth 16k, then drops by 4k each level, until being only worth 4k a pop at level 104.

Just leveling through here right now. Do not know if they did another nerf, but treasures are down again, 18k at 100, 14k at 101 and now 10k at 102. If the next drop is to 6k, they are not worth doing except as you fly over them.

[Weshuzan]

Fantastic guide that I've been using as a one-stop-shop resource. I wanted to add some input based on my personal experience, in case it may help anyone.

Some preliminary thoughts on the vanilla portion. Remember that during this period rares will be a substantial addition to your experience, and zones with many rares and/or good uptime may have an edge. Completing two sub-20 zones before moving on is a good way to preserve the efficiency of more meaningful options later on. My personal Alliance choice is Elwynn Forest + Dun Morogh. Unfortunately for Horde, nothing compares to Tirisfal Glades. Fully complete your starting area if you can, then move to Tirisfal. I have had a case where I did the racial intro up to 6 and left for Tirisfal immediately and was able to reach 20 with a few repeat rares.

Horde 1-62

• Silverpine Forest - Potentially difficult elite quests around 'The Battlefront' sub-zone.

• Hillsbrad Foothills - Potentially difficult elite quests in 'The Sludge Fields' + 'Durnholde Keep' + the yeti patrolling the lowlands of 'Corrahn's Dagger'.

• Northern Barrens - Very lucrative, particularly if you have a mount. Even a slow one.

• Southern Barrens - I have not done this one recently, but I remember it being fairly efficient on Alliance ~1 year ago. Possibly worth your time if Horde side is comparable.

• Western Plaguelands - Nothing substantial to add, only that I can vouch for it being efficient.

• I would not recommend any other zones for Horde from 1-62.

Alliance 1-62

• Loch Modan - An absolute must. Very efficient with a fantastic economy of rares depending on your realm. Don't forget to grab the 6 Explorers' League Documents as you travel through here, probably a level worth on their own.

• Redridge Mountains - Efficient for sure but deceptively short.

• Westfall - I imagine this one is a complete let-down with anything lower than fast riding, as even with it I was somewhat disappointed with the results. There are easily worse zones to go through, however.

• Darkshore - It can feel rather drawn-out, but more fruitful than Westfall. DO NOT forget about the free panther ride NPCs in the Northern half if you are mount-challenged. (P.S. - Yes, the bear spirit really is the best choice)

• WPL/N STV/Searing Gorge - I have not personally tested these, but I have every reason to believe they are technically efficient choices.

• I would not recommend any other zones for Alliance from 1-62.

Some additional notes. I tended to end my final zone around 60.5-61.5 and opted to fly over SPF/Hillsbrad to top off with rares on Horde. Less viable on Alliance as your main choice is Loch Modan(Maybe WPL?). Reaching 62 before moving to the next expansion is definitely worth it, and if you'd rather not start a new zone then this is something to consider. My own preparation was minimal, only opting for full 50% bonus from looms and the heirloom mount, and I stayed OUT of Warmode. My average /played for 1-62 for both factions was ~16 hours, just something to give you a point of reference and show that you can do considerable damage if you decide to pull out all the stops, unlike me.

My input past this point will be more about my own choices and what I found to be the most efficient/satisfying. It is not a holistic assessment of the original post's suggestions.
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From here forward, rested experience should not be underestimated assuming you're forced into the stop-go approach. 10 days logged maxes you out at 1.5 extra levels that you will simply get for free as you kill. To give a shorthand of its usefulness, that's 15% for free every 24 hours. Also, rares are certainly not as lucrative as before, but they aren't useless yet. No need to seek them out, but if you happen across one you should net ~5% of a level which is relevant at this stage. Keep in mind that some may be noticeably more challenging. Consider using the BFA commendation XP potion, Draught of Ten Lands, for part or all of the 62-80 stretch.

General 62-80

Outland - Just don't.

Northrend

• Howling Fjord - Avoided this like the plague on Alliance as suggested and found it to also be a poor experience on Horde. Slow flying kills it entirely, half of it may be decent with fast flying but not so much so to justify it as a main choice.

• Borean Tundra - Leaps and bounds above everything else. On the high end I've managed 74 with a full quest clear, but I would expect 72.5-73.5 to be your average results. You should hit 70 during this zone at which point I would recommend finding a convenient stopping point in order to pick up fast flying. It's worth it for your sanity. At the very least, pick it up before committing to your next zone.

• Sholazar Basin - While proving to be less rewarding than Borean Tundra simply due to its size/length, I find this to be the second cleanest experience. Expect anywhere from 78.5-79.5 here depending on your preparations.

• Grizzly Hills - Obviously if you follow the advice above, you'll need to top off somewhere. Anywhere is technically a valid choice, but I find Grizzly Hills to be the quick and dirtiest for that last stretch. If you're practically on the brink of hitting 80, say 20% or less, the beginning quests of Icecrown are a potential choice. It can be a gamble as after the first few are complete you will be handed a somewhat slow vehicle quest.

• I cannot in good conscience suggest the entirety of other Northrend zones as there is simply too much travel time or otherwise lackluster quest flow.

My net /played for this stretch has been ~4 hours for Borean Tundra and ~3 hours for Sholazar Basin for a total of ~7 hours.
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This next stretch can very well be affected by personal preference. Cata rares are comparable to Wrath rares, but Mists rares are not worth your time. If you end up in Pandaria, keep an eye out for the treasures. I haven't practiced them consistently myself but their experience appears to be relevant.

General 80-91

Cataclysm

• Mount Hyjal - You're basically faced with choosing this or Jade Forest to begin, and I find this to be a very swift linear experience resulting in 86.5-87 consistently.

• Other Cata zones simply won't be on par, although the disparity between them and Hyjal is likely more acceptable than earlier zones. Uldum starts off well but has some considerable hiccups.

Pandaria

• Jade Forest - If you simply cannot stomach Hyjal then Jade Forest is a close second in XP/hr. Judging from light testing, doing the area in full will likely net your more total experience than Hyjal. If you decide to go here as your second choice you will barely complete half the chapters before reaching 91. I would be interested to hear how high this zone can net you starting from 80.

• I'm about to test shorter Pandaria zones post-87 to see if any can be completed and net 91 without real overkill. I will report of anything I find useful.

Hyjal tends to take ~3 hours and I have yet to settle on my go-to for 87-91. A total of ~6-7 hours is likely.
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The most important thing to note here is that treasure XP starts to take a hit AT 100. After hitting 100 from 99, treasures appear to face a 30% reduction PER LEVEL. As a result I find it best to incorporate these as you progress and settle on attaining 101 as bonus objectives are full value until then. It is best to do the intro quests for any given zone you decide to enter up to choosing an outpost, primarily to avoid any objective/treasure/etc. gating issues. Definitely follow the original post's guidelines on garrison XP potions.

General 91-101

Draenor

• Shadowmoon Valley/Frostfire Ridge - The starter zones are some of the more straight forward and easy to complete on all fronts. I recommend 100%-ing these in terms of treasures and bonus objectives.

• Gorgrond - Generally, I find this area to be miserable and unforgiving with current scaling tech and combat design. The bonus objectives here tend to take longer than most other zones. That said, there are very many of these bonus objectives and likewise many treasures after choosing an outpost. The 'Monster Hunter' quests are largely unsoloable and are generally not worth your time.

• Talador - This is the runner up in terms of efficiency/ease. Make sure to unlock your outpost as at least two bonus objectives are locked beforehand.

• Spires of Arak - The extra XP outpost may seem like an attractive option, but this zone has one of the longer intros and most difficult/annoying bonus objectives. There are 5 treasures here that each reward 5% rested xp below lvl 100 that are worth grabbing if you find yourself here. Otherwise, I would advise avoiding this area.

• Nagrand - This zone is just sort of awkward. Frankly on par with Talador in terms of ease, but it simply has less to offer. Fewer bonus objectives mainly.

My rule of thumb in this stretch is to 100% the starting area, then pick two follow ups. As stated above the follow up areas would have the outposts established, then clear out treasures/bonus objectives. You would more than likely hit 101 before completing the third zone. I don't have consistent data to report on this section, but following the original post's approach took a few extra hours compared to my subsequent runs, as it depended on preserving treasures which is no longer viable.
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The nerf to Draenor treasures makes Legion noticeably more involved. I appreciated the expansion, but the questing is nothing astounding. It's back to basics at this point outside of Invasions, which is both too slow and not rewarding enough for my taste(~1 lvl at best fully cleared). Treasures aren't worth any of your focus due to their poor experience reward design which generally results in no gain. Bonus objectives seem to reward less XP than Draenor's to begin with, but are an easy boost due to taking place during normal questing.

General 101-110

Legion

• Val'sharah - While not providing the most total experience, this is easily the fastest to 100%.

• Highmountain - This zone has slightly more density than the others and is on the higher end of total output.

• Azsuna/Stormheim - Bottom line, I do not enjoy these zones. Their efficiency may very well be at least comparable to the two above.

Outside of weaving in Invasions, your zone choice will very much be personal preference here. You should not need more than two, especially if Highmountain is one of them. Class Campaign experience is negligible below 110 and the vast majority is not available yet anyway. Completing Class Hall missions that reward player experience are a nice supplement, but they are in no way a game-changer. Another stretch without consistent data, but I would make an estimation of ~8 hours for the entire process, barring invasions. If you're looking at an 'extended' approach to Legion, consider Invasions and player experience missions daily, and supplement with bonus objectives where it makes sense to you.

As a side note, I don't invest any preparation into bags as I and many others have the vendor yak these days. I fill my bag slots from the starting zone rares and leave it alone from there, dumping trash at intervals. That said, 100-110 is where I take some time to pick up some freebies to upgrade. Namely Addie's Ink-Stained Satchel from Highmountain(26 slots), Grummlepack from Kun-Lai Summit(24 slots), and Tattered Hexcloth Bag from Zul'Aman(24 slots). The fourth bag can come from a number of older bosses, my repeat offenders being Onyxia/Magtheridon/Bronjham(Forge of Souls) with 20-22 slot bags. This used to be done earlier, but scaling changes have made some options less faceroll until this level bracket.
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I haven't leveled enough characters through BFA yet to provide any meaningful insights.

This is admittedly a more casual approach to the entire process. As the OP mentioned a few times, YMMV = Your Mileage May Vary. I hope this addendum helps some players plan the best way forward for themselves through the leveling slog. Please feel free to add your own findings and suggestions so that we might all benefit from different points of view.

[spleen1015]

@SirCowdog - Got any thoughts on where timewalking dungeons stack up with all of this?

[SirCowdog]

@SirCowdog - Got any thoughts on where timewalking dungeons stack up with all of this?

As always, if you have a good group it can be REALLY good experience/h. I'd actually recommend timewalking over anything else. The problem is if you get a bad group it can waste a LOT of time. Definitely a better gamble than battlegrounds, and absolutely worth it if you have a guild group that's running multiples.