What is the best leveling path right now?

[bbj]

What is the best leveling path right now? for an example lets say boosted velf which comes to SW and gets hero's board for 3 zones - Duskwood; Stone blah blah. Please help me and advice.

[Nuba]

you want to rush stuff? I advice not leaving town until you're like 40(spam dungeons as heals), then go to Azuremyst isle (quickest leveling zone for alliance) or ghostlands for horde, then do the 10-60 zones like duskwood and the nelf one I forgot the name :v

[MechaCThun]

First get yourself some heirlooms. If not, no biggie, just will spend slightly more time per zone.

The tried and true method of questing in a zone while queueing up for dungeons always works. With the new leveling system you can finish off the whole zone, while doing multiple dungeons, and get a good 10 - 15 levels if not more.

I chose Hillsbrad Foothills and went from 20 - 37 simply from doing all the quest lines in the zone while also dungeon queueing.

Well, thinking about it now, it was a 2 day process so perhaps it wasn't the "fastest" but it was still pretty damn quick.

Even without heirlooms, you'll add maybe an extra 30 - 45 minutes on top of your time in the zone.

EDIT: Oh you were asking which specific zones? Shit if I know.

[Zubatron]

Optimizing leveling? Really?

What about just questing in the zones you like most?

You know, to have fun with the game.

Whoa how dare you suggest people have fun with the game!

But to answer OP, I think spamming dungeons until about level 40 or 50 and then doing questing/dungeons from there should be good. With the new changes to leveling pick any place you want.

[BicycleMafioso]

To be honest, pick a route and zones with as little travel time as possible. The old "second zones", zones designed to be played before level 20 in the old system have a layout that is efficient and close together because they expected you to not have a mount back then, so since they scale, you can go there after you've gotten said mount and do them quicker, and then move to the next one and do the same.

I am leveling my (orc, so from level 1) and it is at level 39 right now with 5 hours, 10 min /played (with heirlooms and heirloom mount), and at least 30 minutes of that was setting up macros and UI. All I've been doing is Durotar -> Azshara -> Barrens with queueing dungeons in-between.
Whilst I dislike going quick for going quick's sake, I also am quite meticulous and wish to do things properly and that means as quickly as possible. After this Warlock, I will be starting to move over to allied races, so I can have all 12 on horde side (...and 14 on alliance since I already have 12 :'D) by filling up the last two spots with a HM Druid and Nightborne Priest.

After 60, I prefer Boring Tundra, since I've done HFP sooo many times, and Howling Fjord is vast and requires so much travelling. Then whatever seems fun, usually Grizzly Hills, Nagrand or Zul'Drak. Queue Northrend in-between.
Then you hit 70 and go do Karazhan (the raid) trash farming without killing bosses, out and reset and go in again. 40 minutes from 70 to 80. There, Hyjal is my zone and Pandaria my dungeon queue.

[OreoLover]

I also am quite meticulous and wish to do things properly and that means as quickly as possible.

Disagree with that one portion of your sentence. At least, it looks funny, even in full context.

Download a leveling addon and queue dungeons.

[kamuimac]

Optimizing leveling? Really?

What about just questing in the zones you like most?

You know, to have fun with the game.

leveling 30th alt is not fun its a drag because blizzard cba to help altoholics to level faster instead this makes leveling unbearable boring and slow.

[OreoLover]

leveling 30th alt is not fun its a drag because blizzard cba to help altoholics to level faster instead this makes leveling unbearable boring and slow.

Could avoid leveling 30 times, if it's no fun.

Or just pull out all the tricks and endure it.

[BicycleMafioso]

Disagree with that one portion of your sentence. At least, it looks funny, even in full context.

Download a leveling addon and queue dungeons.

Yes, I changed my mind about what I meant to say half-way through; and you are right, it looks funny. I meant, "optimal", not "as quickly as possible".

- - - Updated - - -

leveling 30th alt is not fun its a drag because blizzard cba to help altoholics to level faster instead this makes leveling unbearable boring and slow.

Why do you have a 30th alt if you do not like the leveling experience to begin with? Personally, I think the change to scaling zones quickened things up a heck-ton.

[Katchii]

In general, the zones that were always intended to be for right after the starting zones, like Duskwood, Westfall, Northern Barrens, etc... will have the most dense and easy quest progression which makes them faster to level in that the later zones which are more spread out. And since they all scale to level 60, you can queue for dungeons as you do them, which make for great experience as well.

From 60~73 I did Northrend, which I find far superior to TBC zones. From 73-80 I did Karazhan trash runs (pull all thr trash in the dungeon you can without killing any bosses, then reset and do it again), which were AMAZING due to scaling and the amount of xp you get per mob. I went from 73-80 in less than 4 hours. Went to Pandaria at 80 and just quested and did dungeons since the questing in Pandaria is very streamlined. Once you hit 90 it's just normal Draenor stuff, which is fairly easy as far as questing goes especially with the 20% xp potions from your garrison and the treasures and bonus objectives.

I use WoW-Pro for my leveling add-on which really helps just move you right along on the most optimal questing path for xp/hour.

[Buildapanda]

Just don't op, they nerfed the fun in leveling so much it's not even worth it. Just buy the $60 boost if you don't have that class already, you should by now anyway. I have a 110 hunter and tried leveling a hunter on another server and it doesn't matter if you're the best dps in the world with everything enchanted and the best rotations everyone does the exact same dps and everything dies at the same speed.

[Katchii]

Yes, I changed my mind about what I meant to say half-way through; and you are right, it looks funny. I meant, "optimal", not "as quickly as possible".

- - - Updated - - -



Why do you have a 30th alt if you do not like the leveling experience to begin with? Personally, I think the change to scaling zones quickened things up a heck-ton.

Actual time spent in game leveling is actually marginally slower now than before. I agree with you for some leveling ranges though, it does seem faster just due to simply enjoying the questing experience more, but there are some leveling ranges that still feel like giant slogs but that may be because I've just quested in those zones enough times to make it really boring now (specifically the first 1-3 expansion zones).

[Occam-OC]

Optimizing leveling? Really?

What about just questing in the zones you like most?

You know, to have fun with the game.

Because some people may enjoy endgame more than the leveling process but cannot afford a character boost. So, you know, they want to level fast to have fun with the game.

[BicycleMafioso]

Actual time spent in game leveling is actually marginally slower now than before. I agree with you for some leveling ranges though, it does seem faster just due to simply enjoying the questing experience more, but there are some leveling ranges that still feel like giant slogs but that may be because I've just quested in those zones enough times to make it really boring now (specifically the first 1-3 expansion zones).

You might be right - though the amount of travel time and "trying to work out where to go next" when you got an unexpected dungeon pop being cut out helps tremendously for at least me personally.
Abandoning fourteen quests because they suddenly turned grey, trying to find where to go and start next constantly was a) not enjoyable at all, b) didn't really feel like questing, c) tedious and d) time-consuming.
At least for me. And then doing it all again, because the dungeon popped just when you reached the new zone because it took you 20 minutes.
Now, dungeon queues feel shorter to me as well, because it can grab in tanks/healers/that last DPS you are waiting for from a much wider range of levels.

The only thing left to do there would be to allow simultaneous queueing in TBC+WotLK and Cata+Panda when you are in those level ranges. Not being able to feels like it will lead to half as many groups actually happening, and what if you pick the wrong one et c. Having to pick just one is.. odd.

[SirCowdog]

What is the best leveling path right now? for an example lets say boosted velf which comes to SW and gets hero's board for 3 zones - Duskwood; Stone blah blah. Please help me and advice.

EDIT FOR 8.0: Blizzard has severely nerfed most of the instance-based methods of this guide. Method-0 no longer works at all(the lower level character gets nothing). Scaling and balanced of old heroics prevents soloing. Scaling and balance of normal dungeons makes exp/h next to useless.

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The following guide assumes you have both WoD and Legion flying, as well as heirloom gear for bonus experience. If you don't have them your speed will be significantly impacted and you may have to clear additional zones or grind additional trash runs. Conversely, having enchants, food, flasks, and heirloom flight paths can speed up your runs significantly over the long term.

As of 8.0, War Mode will be available, providing that 10% extra exp and PVP talents for leveling characters(according to the recent Q&A). This will make raw questing potentially faster than dungeon spam. Requires testing.

As of 7.3.5 my fastest run from level 1 to 110 is 32.4 hours(although this involved mainly using Method-0 between 15-74)




20-58:

ALLIANCE: Loch Modan, Westfall, Redridge, Darkshore, and Bloodmyst Isle
HORDE: Azshara, Ghostlands, Silverpine, Hillsbrad, Dustwallow Marsh
BOTH: Shared zones such as WPL, STV, Blasted Lands, Searing Gorge, etc, are potentially very good, but often suffer from overpopulation. I would only go here during off hours, or if you need a little extra to push you to 60.

NOTE1: It appears that as of the recent buff to random queue exp, it's actually VERY worthwhile to do random dungeons while questing. I would still bail on longer dungeons like Diremaul, Wailing Caverns, and Uldaman. But that may just be my own personal preference.

NOTE2: Get an addon to track rare mobs! Each rare kill is worth ~50% of a normal quest turn-in during the 1-60 range, and makes tagging these guys along the way a very good bonus. Be aware that world scaling does weird things, and some rares may be super-difficult/

58-73:

Northrend quests while queuing for Utgarde Keep, Ramparts, and Blood Furnace. TBC quests, despite seeming nostalgic, are literally twice as slow as Northrend.

Alternatively, stay in "Vanilla" zones until 62. Flying and outleveling enemies will speed up your questing significantly, and more than offset the penalty for outleveling the content. This is especially good for people who despise TBC/Northrend.

74-81:(this no longer works. Gotta quest WotLK. )

Set your dungeon difficulty to heroic and proceed to solo every TBC dungeon. Alternatively, Karazhan trash clears(Kill all beast boss, Morose, Maiden trash, exit, reset. DO NOT KILL ANY BOSSES) serve the same purpose.

NOTE: Some people are saying it's possible to start kara trash as early as level 70. YMMV depending on class, spec, enchants, and such. If you can manage it, I'd recommend it. That trash is crazy exp/h.

81-82:

You could potentially continue doing Kara trash clears til 82, but you might be better off doing Serpentshrine trash clears instead.

82-84:

Set dungeon difficulty back to normal and solo ramparts. Some classes can start at 82, others at 83. YMMV

83-87:

Back to questing/queuing for dungeons. Pick Cata or MoP, whichever you're most familiar with. Speed will rely greatly on how focused you are. MoP has the advantage of treasures which can be grabbed along the way for a little boost. Personally I'd stick with questing, since the speed is based entirely on you, whereas a group is random, and you could suffer a lot of wasted time if you get a bad group. Also, scaling for cata dungeons is wonky, and MoP dungeons are pretty bad exp/h.

88-90: (Again, this no longer works due to 8.0 scaling changes)

Heroic Zul'Gurub. Clear the trash for a LOT of experience. Stick to the elites: Fish in the water, hydras, juggernauts, and other red-name trolls. Sub-bosses such as tiki-masks, bug queen, giant turtle, and chefs are ok, but do not kill any main bosses(Venoxis, Mandokir, Kilnara, Zanzil, or Jin'do) or their respective areas will stay cleared until the daily reset. You can also kill the neutral enemies, but the exp/h isn't as good as focusing on the elites.

Again, you might struggle a bit right at 88. A lot depends on familiarity and persistence.

90-98: Treasures > Bonus objectives.

Use the Timeless Isle portal to Gorgrond to skip the WoD intro scenario. Fly to your garrison and do the quests to set it up(if you don't have WoD flight your speed leveling ends here. Slog through the Dark Portal scenario). Buy exp pots and start doing bonus objectives and treasures. With flight the exp/h of Treasures is hands down faster than doing bonus objectives, although you might have to do some bonus objectives to be high enough level to grab treasures in each zone(92 for gorgrond, 94 for Talador, 96 for Spires of Arak).

Potentially buy a 630 weapon from the AH if it's available and not too expensive. This will be more powerful than your heirlooms. At level 96 go to Spires and set up the Inn for another 20% experience.

Note: Some people have expressed difficulty with WoD right at level 90 due to scaling and heirlooms not leveling up correctly. If this is a problem, grab some free gear from Timeless Isle, or simply wait to start WoD until 91.



98-102:

Go get your artifact weapon(this still applies in BfA. Weapons will still upgrade iLVL with relics, but traits will be turned off). Some classes will have an easier time passing the required quests. Go back to WoD and continue clearing treasures and bonus objectives on EZ mode because your weapon is OP.

It's worth noting that Bonus objectives and treasures still reward good exp/h at this level range, so it's worth pushing it to 102 unless you really hate WoD content.

100-110: (One player claims treasures continue to reward full exp until 105. Testing required)

Quest, queue for dungeons. Again, go to whatever zone you're most familiar with. Flying will help immensely. Invasions are technically the fastest, if you can do them.


This has all been tested pretty extensively by many people. There are ways to cheese the leveling process using something called "Method zero", but it's questionable whether or not it's against the ToS. Google it and do it at your own risk, and I expect Blizzard to nerf it somehow soon.(8.0 destroyed it. Called that one.)

[Daevied]

Get the 2 pvp heirlooms trinkets, and bg all the way to 110

[Stelio Kontos]

20-58:

Loch Modan, Westfall, Redridge, Darkshore, and Bloodmyst Isle while queuing for Ragefire Chasm and Stockades.

58-73:

Northrend quests while queuing for Utgarde Keep, Ramparts, and Blood Furnace.

74-81:

Set your dungeon difficulty to heroic and proceed to solo every TBC dungeon. Alternatively, Karazhan trash clears serve the same purpose.

81-82:

You could potentially continue doing Kara trash clears til 82, but you might be better off doing Serpentshrine trash clears instead.

82-84:

Set dungeon difficulty back to normal and solo ramparts. Some classes can start at 82, others at 83. YMMV

83-87:

Back to questing/queuing for dungeons. Pick Cata or MoP, whichever you're most familiar with. Speed will rely greatly on how focused you are. MoP has the advantage of treasures which can be grabbed along the way for a little boost. Personally I'd stick with questing, since the speed is based entirely on you, whereas a group is random, and you could suffer a lot of wasted time if you get a bad group.

88-90:

Heroic Zul'Gurub. You can clear all the trash(and I do mean ALL the trash, including the fish and gators in the water) for a LOT of experience. Kill the sub-bosses, but do not kill any main bosses. Again, you might struggle a bit right at 88. A lot depends on familiarity and persistence.

90-98:

Use the Timeless Isle portal to Gorgrond to skip the WoD intro scenario. Fly to your garrison and do the quests to set it up. Buy exp pots and start doing bonus objectives and treasures. Potentially buy a 630 weapon from the AH if it's available and not too expensive. This will be more powerful than your heirlooms. At level 96 go to Spires and set up the Inn for another 20% experience.

Note: Some people have expressed difficulty with WoD right at level 90 due to scaling and heirlooms not leveling up correctly. If this is a problem, grab some free gear from Timeless Isle, or simply wait to start WoD until 91.

98-102:

Go get your artifact weapon. Some classes will have an easier time passing the required quests. Go back to WoD and continue clearing treasures and bonus objectives on EZ mode because your weapon is OP.

100-110:

Quest, queue for dungeons. Again, go to whatever zone you're most familiar with. Flying will help immensely. Invasions are technically the fastest, if you can do them.


This has all been tested pretty extensively by many people. There are ways to cheese the leveling process using something called "Method zero", but it's questionable whether or not it's against the ToS. Google it and do it at your own risk, and I expect Blizzard to nerf it somehow soon.

Thank you much, this should ease a little how awful they made leveling.

[Scottyjscizzle]

Whoa how dare you suggest people have fun with the game!

But to answer OP, I think spamming dungeons until about level 40 or 50 and then doing questing/dungeons from there should be good. With the new changes to leveling pick any place you want.

Thing is, if you hate leveling or are tired of it after years that part is no longer fun to you.

[BicycleMafioso]

<quote cut out because no one likes to see a post get quoted that is longer than the response>

Some thoughts of my own:
Queueing specific seems to be a poor idea right now, regardless of how quick the dungeons are. The brunt of experience in dungeons is from three things, bonus objectives, main objective (ie, killing all the main bosses) and the LFD bonus. I only did a brief testing of this, but this is my experience after the recent dungeon hotfix. Dungeon quests are basically = regular quests now, so there you aren't missing out much.

I could start soloing Karazhan as a Rogue at 71 already, with Leeching Poison (didn't try it without but I imagine it wouldn't have gone well) and FoK-spamming as Assassination. Just mentioning as a Rogue since I imagine it being the worst class at it and I could still do it. The experience immediately drops off once you hit 80, I wouldn't recommend doing it. Questing and LFD-as-dps was much, much quicker. For me. And as you say, YMMV.

Heroic Zul'Gurub is something I haven't tried, will have to. Thanks!

The Timeless Isle thingy and treasure/bonus objective thing is a great idea for many. I do not have flying so it is truly awful. Doing the actual intro-scenario (zzz) and a few quests and objectives to push you to 92 to go to Gorgrond and do the quests+objectives (with exp pots) until Spires is the way to go there. Boring and same-old, same-old after a few characters, but the time-investment for me to complete flying at this point? Will never be worth it.

I personally only level through invasions past 98, but I also make sure to have at least 2 characters to rotate through and then be stress free until the next one comes up. I often aim for at least 4. Swapping classes kills tedium for me.
Otherwise, dungeons and jump zones for objectives, then quests.

I doubt 'method zero' is going to break ToS since it has been known and used in smaller scales since Vanilla (I farmed weapons from Maraudon and SM et al with my higher levelled chars with it for instance), and although not endorsed by Blizzard, it was at least fine when it was more a forum thing than a widely-known by everyone thing.

[Enan1981]

No one should be answering this. OP is just another Blizzard employee trying to find more ways to squish any means necessary to make leveling quicker. STAHP FALLING FOR IT :3