Leveling in Draenor is significantly different from leveling in past expansions. Blizzard has introduced several new ways to obtain EXP(bonus objectives, garrison abilities, collecting treasures, etc.), which makes the leveling experience more bearable for those of us who just want to reach 100. It’s actually quicker to reach level 100 from 90 than it was to reach 90 from 85, even though max level is now 10 levels away instead of just 5.
This guide takes advantage of a lot of the perks of being a druid as well as an engineer. However, it is still doable by other classes. Most players will not be able to simply stealth by enemies or speed through the water like I do, but there are still some tools that can help you(water walking mounts/potions, cracked talisman, etc.).
This route can be done in groups, but it was mainly created for individuals. Having more people means you can coordinate usages of guild banners and gain more EXP from treasures to make up for split EXP from monsters. Although, chances are that there will be a person in the group who is naturally faster than the rest of the group and they may get held back. Use your best judgment before getting into this situation.
Do not be disheartened if it takes you several more hours to reach level 100. In addition to the lag and other players hindering your progress, you will start dealing less damage as you level due to the nature of stat scaling while leveling. Also, keep in mind that I am a druid(naturally fast), have no lag and there is no one interfering with my progress in the video guide.
Hopefully, this guide can remove some of the unknowns from your leveling experience to make it more pleasant and fast paced. Enjoy!
Disclaimer:
This route is nowhere near optimal. I am not making the claim that it is optimal. I had limited time and knowledge for constructing this route. Not including the time it took to turn in quests, this route took me about 4 hours and 25 minutes to complete. This time was possible due to a lack of player interference, lag, and because I'm a druid and an engineer. I will include strategies to compensate for inabilities to stealth, move quickly through the water, and fly through the air. Annotating these videos will take me some time. I will also create a written guide of the route.
THIS ROUTE IS NOT FOR YOU IF:
1. You want to level slowly and experience the wonders of Draenor.
2. You want to focus on developing your garrison while leveling.
3. You have just started playing and you are undergeared.
4. You have a fear of spiders in a video game.
Required Items:
Cracked Talisman – This is for situations that get out of your control. It’s also useful for negating fall damage that would kill you.
Reins of the Azure Water Strider – Allows running across water. If you have another way to get across water quickly, then you don’t need this.
Battle Standard of Coordination, Standard of Unity, Banner of Cooperation – Increase EXP from treasures.
Excess Potion of Accelerated Learning – Increase EXP from treasures, monsters, quests, and bonus objectives by 20%.
Potion of Slow Fall – These are obtained from a treasure in Shadowmoon Valley. They are very useful
600 Archaeology – This is for one treasure only in Spires of Arak. There are other treasures that give you skill ups in archaeology, but I don't know if they have a required skill for archaeology. You can either get this treasure or one extra in Nagrand. Nagrand’s treasure might actually be faster.
Main EXP Sources:
Quests: There aren’t many quests completed in this route compared to previous expansions because of the alternative sources of EXP that tend to be faster. However, there are still quests that are worth completing.
Treasures: These are items that can be found on the ground and looted. They have a purple glowing outline around them. Most treasures give experience the equivalent of 80% of a quest completion. This route will avoid obtaining treasures that do not grant experience. Obtaining treasures can give you gear, usable items, pets, and vendor trash. Treasures can only be looted once. If another player loots a treasure you are about to loot, you will be able to loot it a second after they loot it. If you accidentally forget to loot the treasure after clicking it, it will disappear and give you the experience. The item will then be placed in your mailbox.
Bonus Objectives: This is an alternative to completing quests. You don’t accept bonus objectives or turn them in. You just show up to the bonus objective area (marked with two crossed swords on the map), complete the requirements, and get rewarded with experience and gold. Bonus objectives can only be completed once. Talador is a unique zone that gives you 1 of 2 bonus objectives depending on the garrison ability that you choose.
Strategies:
Potion of Accelerated Learning: Level 91 is required to use this potion. You can purchase it from your garrison innkeeper for 100 garrison resources. It will increase experience gains from bonus objectives, treasures, monsters, and quests by 20%. Get this as soon as possible and always have it active.
Guild Banners: Banners can be used to increase experience gains from monsters and bonus objectives. They gives 5%/10%/15% increased experience depending on which banner you use. Banners have a 10 minute cooldown when used and your other banners will be put on a 2 minute cooldown. They have a 100 yard range, but they can despawn with you still within that 100 yard range. The range for despawn depends on how populated the area is. If you get far enough from the banner for it to unload, then it will despawn. There are a couple of places where treasures are within 200 yards of each other and you can drop the banner between the two of them to greatly increase the experience you gain from obtaining them.
Garrison Abilities: These are unique to the zone you are in. You can choose from 2 abilities in each zone(except for Shadowmoon Valley), which means there are a total of 9 abilities. This route requires that you get specific garrison abilities in all zones except for Nagrand. You can always change your garrison ability for a cost.
Autoturnin: This is a very nice addon. It lets you accept and turn in quests automatically after clicking the quest giver. Alternatively, it will take you a couple of seconds to turn in a quest manually. These seconds add up. This addon saves a lot of time and will make questing slightly less tedious.
AutoInteract: This is a built-in game feature that lets you right click the ground to move. This route requires some tightrope walking and toggling this feature makes it much easier. Here are two macros to turn it on and off:
Ropewalk On:
/console AutoInteract 1
Ropewalk Off:
/console AutoInteract 0
Daze: It is very common to get dazed and dismounted when running by an enemy that attacks you. The chance for this to happen is obnoxiously high and it isn’t reduced for tiny insignificant enemies either. The way to avoid getting dazed is to not allow enemies to hit your back. Strafing and hopping and turning in the air when an enemy is about to hit you can keep you from getting dazed. You can also get dazed while being dismounted and standing completely still. Any auto attack to the back can daze you.
Watch your EXP: Bonus Objectives are worth less experience when you are a higher level. If you are completing a bonus objective and you are very close to leveling, then you might want to avoid picking up treasures or using guild banners to increase your experience. Once you level, the bonus objective will be worth about 12k less experience. It may even be worth it to click off your accelerated learning potion and reapply it right before completing the objective. This will most likely happen right before you reach level 93 in Gorgrond.
Nitro Boosts(Engineers only): These are a quick way to get around. They seem to have a high failure rate though resulting in being launched into the air; rocket fuel leaks do not happen in Draenor. This will slow you down and it may even kill you. Half of the time a parachute will not deploy, so you should take precautions against this. The nitro boost tinker now shares a cooldown with potions, so a slow fall potion will not save you. I use a cracked talisman to give myself immunity from fall damage. Goblin glider and certain class abilities can also be used to save yourself. I sometimes use nitro boosts a few moments before I land after using goblin glider and this will give me the slow fall component of the glider, but not the forward velocity. You can also minimize the backfiring of nitro boosts by using them under an overhang.
Goblin Glider(Engineers only): Goblin Glider will never fail. It can be used to cover large distance without any obstacles blocking you if used from a high spot. It can be used to turn a nitro boost failure into something useful. If you do not take any precautions against nitro boost failure, then you should keep this off of cooldown. This route will not require the use of Goblin Glider to reach certain areas.
Preparing for WoD:
Gathering Dailies and turning them in when WoD goes live:
This route starts with a quest log filled with 24 dailies that can be turned in for 13.7k EXP each. These dailies come from Isle of Thunder, Shadow-Pan Garrison, Niuzao Temple(northwest of Shadow-Pan), and Klaxxi’vess in the Dread Wastes. You can stock up on dailies from the Isle of Thunder over the period of a few days. I am pretty sure that this is true for the other quest hubs as well. Just gather any 24 dailies that award 11 gold and 40 silver; they can be turned in for 13.7k EXP on the beta.
- Set Hearthstone to Klaxxi-vess.
- Start logged out in the middle of Isle of Thunder.
- Turn in quests in the middle of Isle of Thunder.
- Use Kirin Tor Beacon to teleport to the main quest hub on Isle of Thunder.
- Turn in quests at the main quest hub on Isle of Thunder.
- Take portal from Isle of Thunder to Shadow-Pan Garrison.
- Turn in quests at Shadow-Pan Garrison.
- Hearth to Klaxxi-vess.
- Turn in quests at Klaxxi-vess.
- Use Shroud of Cooperation to teleport to Stormwind.
- Take portal to Blasted Lands.
- Talk to Archmage Khadgar and begin route.
EXP buffs:
Some people suggested that it might be possible to log out with WHEE! from the Darkmoon Faire and use it to level through Shadowmoon Valley. I haven’t experimented with buffs like this at all. If you do manage to reach 92 early, go ahead and leave for Gorgrond.
Treasure Maps:
Shadowmoon ValleySpoiler:
GorgrondSpoiler:
TaladorSpoiler:
Spires of ArakSpoiler:
NagrandSpoiler:
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