Power leveling

Power leveling is the term used to describe the process of leveling a character as rapidly as possible with the least amount of play time. It can be used from any level up to the maximum level in the game which is currently 70. Contrary to what many believe efficient power leveling does not require endless hours of grinding. The best methods of power leveling involve doing many quests in an orderly fashion.

The goal of these guides is to help you level a character, whether your first on the server or not, to the level of your choice as quickly and efficiently as possible. At the same the quests will be ordered in such fashion to ensure you gain faction with each of the 3 major factions on either the Alliance or Horde side.

Common methods of power leveling include doing only those quests which are most efficient in terms of experience over time, and analyzing the quests in a given zone so as to do them in the most efficient order possible. Remember, the idea of power leveling is speed and efficiency--you may wish to obtain an addon that will show you how much experience per hour you are gaining to test your techniques. Additionally, ensure your character's talent build is crafted for maximum endurance. You want as little downtime (walking, drinking, eating, crafting, typing, etc.) as possible.

With regard to professions, an example would be for a tailor to farm or purchase large quantities of cloth, then identify and repeat the cheapest tailoring recipes so as to maximize skill point gain compared to cost.

Twinking is distinct from power leveling. A twink is usually intended to remain at its current level for an extended period of time, thus providing some justification for the large investment into its gear. A character being power leveled is often equipped with inexpensive gear, since the player will be planning on outleveling it quickly.

Also note that power leveling is sometimes used to refer to paying someone else to level your character to 70 as fast as possible (i.e. they power level for you); a distinction used by Blizzard is to refer to the paid leveling as "power leveling service." This behavior is against Blizzard's Terms of Service. Power leveling yourself, which this article covers, is perfectly acceptable.

Assumptions

• Use of an addon to show your coordinates.
• Use of an addon to know the value of item drops.
• You are familiar with your Class.
• You have planned out your talents (if not, refer to the Talent Builds Guide).
• You understand the basics of each tradeskill.

Generic tips

• Always end your session in a capital city or inn so that you remain rested.
• Always have a good supply of bandages through First Aid since bandaging is much faster (and more expensive) than eating. This is critical for non-healing classes.
• Always start out with at minimum one stack of food. This is not as critical for healing classes (since they can heal and drink)
• If your class relies on mana start out with at least two stacks of water.
• New food and water types are available at levels 5, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 60 and 65.
• Hunters should always have full ammo, other normal melee classes should have 1 stack.
• New ammo types are available at levels 10, 25, 40, 45, 55 and 65.
• Always have as many empty pack spaces as possible. The first thing you should do when you arrive at an auction house for the first time is fill your four vacant bag slots with the largest bags you can afford
• Learn how to auto loot (shift + right click)
• Be frugal at the auction house. You are practically guaranteed to have enough money for your first mount by level 30 this way.
• Max out your gear as much as you can afford. You should never have a piece of gear that is more than about 10 levels below you. If you are level 40 and you have a level 29 cloak, something is probably wrong.
• Plan ahead. Always search the auction house for gear that is about 10 levels beyond you. This is especially true at around level 50, when you should start stockpiling level 57 and 58 outland gear that will be a huge upgrade for you.
• Do not buy enchantments. One exception is melee classes should enchant there weapons with +damage when possible (+3 damage can be done relatively cheaply). Another exception is some BC enchantments are decent and really cheap (restore mana prime to your chest is dirt cheap)
• Usually it's best to avoid a lot of instance runs. It is too dificult to account for bad groups, and some instances are too far away with too few quests. Since the experience is very good, it's a good idea to clear nearby instances which have a lot of quests once (Gnomeregan, Deadmines for Alliance). Distant instances with few quests should be avoided (Deadmines for Horde). Low level instances can be cleared by paying or befriending a single high level character.
• Always, always put a temporary buff on your weapon (sharpening stones and weightstones for melee classes; mana oil for hunters; wizard oil for casters).
• If you can afford it, always have one guardian and one battle elixir active. This gets really expensive really fast, so it's only for those with deep pockets or alts who can farm them.
• If you can afford it, have a level 60+ character put clefthide or spellthread on a pair of BOE pants for you. It's expensive but you will die a lot less. It's the best 50g to 100g you will ever spend. Do it once when levelling gets slow (around level 10 or 20), and again at around level 40 (especially for classes that get armor upgrades at level 40)
• If you enjoy PVP, spend a few hours at level 29 in Arathi Basin and get 30 marks to buy a Talisman or Arathor (or Horde equivalent). This trinket will likely endure until you get outland trinkets. The bubble will save you countless times for the next 30 levels.
• At higher levels (especially 40 and up), plan your traveling to avoid long flight paths and continent jumps. For example, don't travel from Tanaris to the Hinterlands and back to complete a single quest - wait to return until you have several quests to return or new ones to acquire in Tanaris.
• Get the Questhelper addon

Tradeskills

With the goal of obtaining levels as quickly as possible it is recommended that if you decide to pursue tradeskills you choose those which will support the process.

• Herbalism can be used to support Alchemy or add to your gold through sales on the Auction House or to vendors
• Mining can be used to augment your income by selling the materials on the Auction House or to vendors.
• Alchemy when combined with Herbalism provides many methods of negating damage done by mobs, especially casters like Shamans who can be more easily handled if you have Nature Resistance potions available.
• Skinning is a good money maker as throughout your travels you will fight many beasts.
• Tailoring might be a good choice if you are a caster or you just want access to cheap bags. Otherwise the cloth is better used for First Aid.
• Blacksmithing is not recommended during the course of these guides as long term development is involved and costly.
• Leatherworking is not recommended during the course of these guides as long term development is involved and costly.
• Engineering is not recommended during the course of these guides as long term development is involved and costly.
  • EXCEPTION: If you have Mining and only use Engineering to craft ammunition (for a gun-using hunter) or explosives (dynamite and bombs), then this may be a useful tradeskill. However, it should only be used to assist the leveling process and should not be focused upon as a skill. In other words, only use it for supplying essentials for your leveling (mainly gun ammunition) and not for any other purpose.
• Enchanting is not recommended during the course of these guides as long term development is involved and costly.
• Jewelcrafting is not recommended during the course of these guides as long term development is involved and costly.
  • EXCEPTION: If you have Mining and only use Jewelcrafting to craft stone statues (for additional in-combat healing), then this may be a useful tradeskill. However, like Engineering above, it should not be a leveling focus and should only be used to assist with power leveling. Doing any more than this will become costly and should not be undertaken during the power-leveling process.
• First Aid should be trained no matter what class you are playing. It won't yield much money, but it is inexpensive to train and a great help to reduce downtime
• Cooking benefits all classes, especially melee and hunters (it is a free source of food). Until higher levels the benefits it provides are almost exclusively stamina buffs. While more stamina is always nice, cooking is not essential to leveling. Considering the time investment required, if you pick up skinning then cooking would absolutely be a wise skill to level prior to hitting your level cap, as beasts often drop meat useful for skilling up.
• Fishing requires much time and does not yield much profit until its later levels. Unless you enjoy it for its own sake, avoid fishing until your level limit.

The guides

• Alliance
  • 01-70 Users' Power-Levelling Guide for Alliance
  • 01-06 Coldridge Valley (Dwarf & Gnome)
  • 01-06 Northshire Valley (Human)
  • 01-06 Shadowglen (Night Elf)
  • 01-06 Ammen Vale (Draenei)
  • 06-10 Dun Morogh (Dwarf & Gnome)
  • 06-10 Teldrassil (Night Elf)
  • 06-10 Elwynn Forest (Human)
  • 06-10 Azuremyst Isle (Draenei)
  • 11-20 Loch Modan
  • 10-22 Westfall and Deadmines
  • 15-21 Redridge Mountains
  • 10-18 Darkshore
  • 13-20 Bloodmyst Isle
  • 50-55 Western Plaguelands (Alliance)

• Horde
  • 01-06 Valley of Trials (Orc & Troll)
  • 01-06 Red Cloud Mesa (Tauren)
  • 01-06 Sunstrider Isle (Blood Elf)
  • 06-10 Durotar (Orc & Troll)
  • 06-10 Mulgore (Tauren)
  • 01-10 Tirisfal Glades (Undead)
  • 06-10 Eversong Woods (Blood Elf)
  • 10-20 Ghostlands (Blood Elf)
  • 10-20 Silverpine Forest (Undead)
  • 51-55 Western Plaguelands (Horde)

• Professions
  • All Alliance and Horde 1-375 based on a guide by Highlander on EU-Terenas. Compiled by Elzix (aka Sixen on Battle.net) by Highlanders request.
  • Powerlevel fishing and cooking
  • Tailoring leveling guide

• Multiple Account Power Leveling
  • Character Towing

• Commercial Guides

There are some guides available which you can buy, the most known Joana's Horde Levelling Guide and Brian Kopps Alliance Guide. Whether these guides are more useful than the content you can find here or elsewhere on the web for free is left up to you.

Related comments from Blizzard

Some power levelers have hoped for a day when you could use real money to buy individual items in-game, some times called "micro-transactions." At a Game Developers Conference 2008, Rob Pardo gave a strong indication, Blizzard would not ever go this route with World of Warcraft.

Excerpt from   WoW Insider GDC08: Live from Rob Pardo talks about Blizzard's approach to MMOs:

Q: Have you considered micro-transactions in WoW?

A: We chose to go with the subscription-based model instead of that approach. We've taken the approach that we want players to feel like it's a level playing field once they're in WoW. Outside resources don't play into it -- no gold buying, etc. We take a hard line stance against it. What you get out of microtransactions is kind of the same thing and I think our player base would feel betrayed by it. I think that's something else you have to decide on up-front instead of implementing later.

Q: But it might make it easier for the casuals to catch up....

A: They aren't going to be the ones spending the money.

External links

Voodex Top 10 Power Leveling Tips

Power Leveling Sucks Website warning against for-profit powerleveling services

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