LEVELS 10 TO 30 FOR HORDE: the dungeon-heavy route our testers ran in the beta, plus a community route for comparison.
CROSSROADS (Orc/Troll arrivals)
- Set your hearthstone at the Crossroads.
- Pick up The Forgotten Pools from the Tonga Runetotem at the south exit. You do not need to collect mushrooms: swim in the first pool and hand in. The second quest needs you to touch the fissure in the second pool (level 15 mobs there). The third is the kill quota on altered snapjaws, with a 100% drop rate on the item, doable at either southern pool. Rush this part, because it is contested and you need the group's total.
- Mushrooms: only gather them if they are easy; waiting for fungals to spawn is a waste.
- Observed XP: Forgotten Pools 340 to 675, Disrupt the Attacks 725, Fungal Spores 1,050.
- Then run to Thunder Bluff via Camp Taurajo, killing quest mobs and finding Mankrik's wife along the way, get the flight point and any quests at the camp.
THUNDER BLUFF
- Casters and hunters: train staves immediately (you need 10 silver).
- Pick up Traditions of the Bluff, the incense quest: about 420 XP and super fast.
- Hand in the timed spores quest if you did it.
- Pick up the RFC quests on the same rise as the final Wailing Caverns quest pickup. Share them with the guild if they have not been shared yet.
- Tailors pick up the 8-slot Red Linen Bag pattern from the big craft tent. Enchanters pick up Minor Wizard Oil.
RAGEFIRE CHASM, THEN UNDERCITY AND ROL
- Fly to Orgrimmar, run Skull Rock, hand in Margoz for weapons, do the Thrall quest shuffle, and run RFC (see the RFC guide).
- After the clear, hand in the quests and shuffle with Thrall again, then rush to the Undercity zeppelin.
- Pick up one ROL quest outside, to the left of the Undercity entrance. Rush into Undercity for the ROL quests and the flight point. Then go to Silverpine for the last ROL quest (and the flight point) unless it was shared with the guild.
- Run Ruins of Lordaeron: 4 quests outside, 2 inside. 30 to 35 minutes the easy way, and under 20 is possible when the group knows the quest pathing. See the ROL guide.
- Hand in the quests, hearth to the Crossroads.
WAILING CAVERNS
- The dungeon wipes after the final boss, so you can loot the respawned serpent bloom. There will be chests; give Enchanters the greens for disenchant.
- Tank warning from a beta run: a Fury warrior in two-hander gear got shredded by the raptors, and a Warlock using Hellfire most of the dungeon made it unhealable. Bring a shield tank and keep Hellfire off.
- Afterwards: hearth to the Crossroads, fly to Ratchet for the shard quest, fly back, run to the cave entrance, take the first ramp up to hand in the shard quest, turn in the WC quests, fly to Thunder Bluff for the WC quest weapons, train, and fly to Camp Taurajo.
- Observed XP: The Glowing Shard 5,150, Leaders of the Fang 4,300, Deviate Eradication 4,000, Serpentbloom 3,300.
CAMP TAURAJO
- There are hyperspawn mining nodes around this area: copper, tin and silver.
- Pick up all quests. Rush the new quest that opens at level 19 for more weapons (a 1h with spell damage for Shamans and a 1h axe for Warriors, since they took the 2h from the WC quests).
- Get the Dustwallow flight point and the First Aid book, then fly back.
- Grind the quilboar quests: you need the XP at this point. Finish every chain in the area.
- Run south for the Sleeping Bag quest and the Excavation Site quest on the road (a 3 int/spirit caster ring and a lot of easy XP). The quest drops in the second part of that chain are fast and plentiful, so do not overpull. Head to Thousand Needles after for the flight point and quests.
THOUSAND NEEDLES AND THE DEADMINES GEAR RUN
- Do not stay in Thousand Needles unless you are level 25 or higher. Go to Westfall for the second part of the Sleeping Bag quest and the Deadmines run.
- Fly to the Crossroads or Ratchet, hand in Mankrik's hatred quest and any others, fly to Orgrimmar, group up and take the Grom'gol zeppelin: jump after the load screen and swim north.
- Westfall: you can pick up the library book in Defias town. Rush to the Sleeping Bag quest, run back and do Deadmines. It is a gear run with no quests: tanking bracers, a tanking throwing weapon, a lavish ring, healing pants, a priest chest and a bunch of weapons. There is so much gear it may be worth doing twice. Hearth when done, then run to Ashenvale.
A COMMUNITY ROUTE TO COMPARE (member-tested semi-speedruns, dungeon names as posted)
1-13 starting zone, 13-16 Barrens, 16-17 Ragefire Chasm, 17-19 Barrens, 19-22 Wailing Caverns plus Ruins of Lordaeron, 22-23 Barrens, 23-24 Blackfathom Deeps, 24-25 Shadowfang Keep, 25-27 Hillsbrad. The same member warns that moving to a new zone at its minimum level is usually slower: not enough quests to carry you through a few levels, and tougher mobs mean slower kills, so finish a zone and return later.
A 26-60 OUTLINE (member proposal, untested): 26-27 Thousand Needles, 28-30 Hillsbrad (Dalaran chain and key), 30 Razorfen Kraul and the Dalaran quests, 30-35 Stranglethorn Vale, 35-45 Riverglades, 45-50 Tanaris, 50-55 Dustwallow, 55-60 Un'Goro and Hyjal. Another member questions starting Stranglethorn Vale at 30 for the minimum-level reason above.
HOW WE KNOW
Test runs by MinMax Life members in the WoW Forever beta, with AFK and chat time removed, cross-checked against RestedXP's Forever routes and public guides. XP figures marked 'observed' are quest turn-ins captured by our Atlas tracker. Items listed under 'to confirm' will be checked on launch day. Strategies change, so comment with what you find.
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