WoW Forever Leveling Guide: 1–60 Tips for New and Returning Players

Questing: still the fastest way to 60

For most characters, quests are where the bulk of the experience comes from. WoW Forever adds more than 1,000 new quests across the old continents and four new zones, so there is more to do at every level than there was in Classic.

Carry more quests at once

On the beta the quest log holds 40 quests, double Classic’s 20. Use the room: take every quest you find, because many send you to other parts of the zone, or to another continent, where you may already be heading. Clear out grey quests now and then so the log stays useful. (On earlier beta builds, escort quests wouldn’t start with 25 or more quests in the log; that is fixed in the level 30 build.)

Quest in clusters

The biggest time-saver is planning. Pick a zone with plenty of quests for your level, then finish the ones that point to the same area together. Five or six quests done in one sweep beat the same five done one at a time with a walk back to the hub between each.

The same goes for long class quests, like the Shaman totem chains or the Druid’s aquatic form. They send you across the world, so pick up the regular quests in each area you pass through and do them on the way. The chain stops feeling like a detour.

Know where to go

Forever has a built-in quest tracker that shows where objectives are. Many players still prefer the Questie add-on, which marks where to pick up new quests on the map and shows their level, which helps a lot with the new quests nobody knows yet.

Group up when it’s crowded

In busy areas, or for quests full of tough or elite enemies, a group finishes much faster. You get less experience per kill, but quests are turned in sooner, and that is where the experience is. The level 30 beta build also sped up respawns in Hillsbrad Foothills, Ashenvale, the Wetlands, Duskwood and Thousand Needles, where quest targets were running short.

Don’t skip green quests

Quests a few levels below you (green in the log) still give most of their experience, and they go quickly because the enemies are easy. They are usually worth finishing before you leave a zone.

Dungeons while leveling

Forever adds nine new dungeons, starting with Hall of Thanes (13–18) and Ruins of Lordaeron (15–20), and keeps every original one. Our dungeon guide lists them all with their levels.

• Take every dungeon quest you can. Dungeon quests still pay well and give good items. On earlier beta builds some were worth a level or more on their own (the Ruins of Lordaeron quests came to around two levels), but in the level 30 build Blizzard cut the extra experience dungeon quests give beyond a normal quest by 50%, citing feedback on leveling speed. They are still among the better quests to do, just no longer a shortcut.
• Do the lead-up quests while you’re out questing. Many dungeon quests need a chain finished first, often in zones you’ll be passing anyway. Look them up before you go, or use a dungeon add-on to see them in game.
• Don’t farm dungeons for experience. On the beta, monsters inside dungeons give far less experience than in Classic. A run is worth it for its quests and loot; running the same one again for levels is not. Many players are unhappy about this on the forums. Blizzard hasn’t changed it, and with dungeon quests now halved too, a dungeon is no longer a fast way to level on its own.

Gear: weapons first, and spell power for casters

Your weapon is still your biggest upgrade. For melee it always was — an item like Whirlwind Axe changes how fast a Warrior levels — but with Forever’s changes to spell power and item stats, weapon upgrades matter a lot for casters too.

If you play a Mage, Warlock, Priest or another caster, look for spell power on your gear much earlier than you would have in Classic. Beta players say a caster with no spell power at all falls well behind.

Professions are worth it now

In Classic, most players left professions until 60 unless they played Hardcore. In Forever, crafted gear and consumables are strong enough to matter while leveling, especially from Leatherworking, Tailoring and Blacksmithing, which have new recipes from dungeons and new profession reputations on both factions. Pick up a gathering profession early, and level your professions as you go rather than all at the end.

First Aid and Cooking, on every class

• First Aid. Bandages heal without mana, and on the beta First Aid also makes health potions, which moved over from Alchemy. A must for Warriors, Rogues, Hunters and anyone else without their own healing.
• Cooking. On the beta the Well Fed buff adds 5% experience from monsters. It sounds small, but over the weeks of play it takes to reach 60 it saves hours. Cook your own food or buy it before heading out.

Camping

Camping replaces the old cooking fire. Set up a camp, or find another player’s, and sit at the fire for a minute to get its buffs. What a camp offers depends on the professions of the players at it, from extra stats to extra rested experience. On the beta, camp buffs don’t stack with class buffs like Arcane Intellect or Blessing of Kings, so check what you already have. If you pass a camp while questing, stop: it costs a minute.

Rested XP, your Hearthstone and the Sleeping Bag

• Always log out in an inn or a city. Rested experience builds up while you’re offline and doubles the experience from monster kills until it runs out. Do it every time and it adds up to many hours saved.
• Set your Hearthstone somewhere you’ll return to, not at whichever hub you just reached. A capital (Stormwind, Orgrimmar) has every trainer and vendor; a port town like Ratchet or Menethil Harbor puts you next to the boats and close to many questing zones.
• Get the Cozy Sleeping Bag. It comes from a quest chain for level 14 and up, gives a small experience bonus when you rest in it, and its rewards include items that add rested experience and a bag. The end of the chain also starts the Keystone Fragment hunt; see our Keystone Fragment guide.

Town visits and training

Before leaving town, do everything at once: empty your bags, restock food, drink, reagents and ammunition. A second trip back because you forgot something costs more than a few minutes of checking.

Train regularly. You get new spells or ranks every even level, and some are big: a new rank of Sinister Strike or Arcane Shot, or a new cooldown like Blink or Whirlwind. Try not to go more than about four levels without visiting your trainer.

You don’t need every rank of everything, though. Skip spells your spec never presses (a Combat Rogue has no use for Backstab) and utility ranks that barely change the effect (higher ranks of Gouge add a little damage, not a longer stun). The gold you save adds up, and you’ll want it for your mount at 40.

Legacy points

Legacy is Forever’s account-wide progression. You earn points for challenges in leveling, professions, dungeons and quests, and spend them on perks: extra talent points at low levels, more rested experience and more. Blizzard has said there are up to 65 points in total, with 16 spendable per character at launch. Because the points belong to your account, every character you level makes the next one faster.

Which class levels fastest?

Every class can reach 60 comfortably; they just get stronger at different times.

• Hunter is weak for the first few levels, then gets a pet at 10 and becomes what most players call the strongest leveling class, with high damage and the ability to solo many elite quests.
• Warrior is the opposite: slow early, because it depends so much on its weapon, gear and abilities, then picks up speed from around 30–40 and finishes as one of the strongest classes in the game.

Pick the class you’ll enjoy playing for weeks. Every class is good at something, and the one you like will get you to 60 faster than the one you push yourself through.