It has been a long time since a lot of us have been in leveling mode, and even those who have gone back and leveled alts up to 70 will notice that leveling 70+ is tougher without all those nice twink items to give you the upper hand.
Following the advice in this guide will ensure you are doing everything available to you to increase your efficiency and level the fastest possible on your way to level 80, and make it a little more fun as well.
However if you want to know the most efficient routes and easiest quests to get to 80 faster, Zygor’s Alliance and Horde guide is the best guide around, now updated for WOTLK with a total in-game user interface, so no more alt-tabbing to check website guides. I’ve had the opportunity to use both Zygor’s and Joana’s guide and I must say I have confidence recommending Zygor’s, its also cheaper as well.
Now, on with the article.
With so many great addons out there it is tough to figure out which ones are the most simplistic and straight to the point for just helping make leveling easier.
Quest Helper or Carbonite
These two are a must have for anyone leveling 1-80. When you enter a new zone pick up all the quests you can at each area then these addons will populate your map with markers and notes to show you exactly where to go and what you need to do there in point form. A good tip here is to complete quests in chunks that are all batched together and then when the other quests are too far away or you are done go back to town and get all the follow ups.
Cartographer (Carbonite has its own map)
Fantastic map that replaces the old one, a lot of customization available and it comes with battleground and instance maps as well. Compatible with gathermate (great for gatherers) and pretty much all other addons you have.
Tital Panel (Optional)
I am an efficiency kinda person, and this addon shows you statistics on your experience gains, but my
favourite is the “exp/hour” which shows how well you are doing. Grab a bunch of quests, go complete them, and after you turn them in take a look at this puppy and you will see the number shoot up to an average exp an hour which will also tell you how much time you have left to the next level.
Talent Builds
A pretty obvious tip. Go through your talents and respec into ones which increase your dps and lowers your downtime. Here’s a link to the best talent leveling builds for each class:
Death Knight (52/19/0)
Druid (54/0/7)
Hunter (51/10/0)
Mage (17/0/44) < my personal leveling build
Paladin (21/40/0)
Priest (14/0/57)
Rogue (49/17/5)
Shaman (47/14/0)
Warlock (14/52/5)
Warrior (4/3/54) < yes, protection is now a viable leveling spec
Inscriptions/Glyphs
You can increase the effectiveness of your character by a large amount with inscriptions! Many inscriptions were designed by blizzard for certain purposes so you will have your options of major glyphs which are suited for PVP, Raiding and Leveling! check the class forums to see what they are considering the best inscriptions for lowering downtime and raising dps.
Consumables
A lot of consumables have dropped in price considerably since the market for raids has been wiped out, you can buy flasks now that last for 2 hours, last through death and increase your dps by a large amount, these are a great investment if you can find them for a reasonable price if you aren’t too strapped for cash.
My favourite is buying the flask of undeath to give my frost mage. A good boost in dps, that’s +80spell dmg for 2 hours for about 20g.
Mana/Health pots are always a great idea to have on hand for tricky situations, they can give you a bit of help on that tough quest you are doing solo, and can save your skin from a death which would really lower your exp/hour
Stay away from battle/guardian elixirs, which go away on death, as there is a high chance if a mob doesn’t get you, you may get ganked if you are on a pvp server and will make you that much more frustrated.
Enchants
Stay away from costly enchants, period. Unless you end up getting a piece of gear from an instance that you know you’ll hold onto for a while I would stay clear from enchanting anything that will be replaced in 2-3 levels.
Gems
Cheap gems are available on the AH. Compare your new quest reward that has empty sockets to your current gear and if gemming them up with the new 70+ green gems is a considerable dps boost, don’t feel bad about spending money here as the cost isn’t too high.
That concludes this general overview of leveling tips. I will be focusing on each class later to fill in the best glyphs and alternative leveling specs.
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Feedback and opinions are always encouraged in the comments, thanks for reading. Remember to take a look at Zygor’s Alliance and Horde leveling guide to see what it’s all about.
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