Leveling Up
in Forever

Why this chapter matters: Most leveling advice you remember is still right, because the experience curve did not change. Some of it is now wrong, because Blizzard moved experience from dungeon kills to quests and added new ways to earn bonus experience. Knowing which is which saves you more time than any route.

The curve is the same

Reaching level 60 still requires 4,084,700 experience, the same total as original World of Warcraft. Principal Game Designer Kris Zierhut said the curve from 1 to 60 is unchanged, and Blizzard denied a September report that Forever needs less experience per level.

Blizzard also shared a measurement from the beta. On the first World of Warcraft: Forever Podcast, Senior Game Designer Josh Greenfield and Lead Classic Designer Tim Jones said players were averaging 20.5 hours to reach level 20, compared with 20.4 hours in Classic. That figure covers only the first twenty levels, but it is the only official pace number that exists.

Beta testers reported similar early timings: about an hour to reach level 6 and about two hours to reach level 10 for an experienced player. Guide sites that quote 150 hours for a full run are estimating, not measuring. Nobody levelled past 30 before launch.

What moved

The design intent is clear. Zierhut told The Sun that experience from killing regular dungeon enemies was brought "way down" while dungeon quest rewards were made "much, much, much higher". Blizzard's stated rhythm is to gather dungeon quests in the world, form a group, clear the dungeon once, and return to the open world.

How sure we are

The beta ran from 17 September to 23 October. It capped levels at 20, then at 30 from 1 October. Everything in this guide about levels 1 to 30 was played by thousands of testers. Everything above 30 comes from Blizzard's announcements, the beta client's data files, and reasoning from Classic.

Blizzard's launch patch notes on 3 November say the team expects a large tuning pass once it has data from players levelling past 30. Numbers in this guide that come from the beta are marked beta. Treat them as the best available, not as final.

Remember: Forever did not make levelling faster. It made the fast methods different. Quests carry you, dungeons pay once, and bonus experience rewards players who plan their sessions.

Experience comes from four places: quests, kills, exploration, and bonuses that multiply kills. The rules below are Classic's rules unless marked otherwise. Forever kept most of them and adjusted a few.

Quests are the engine

A quest pays its full reward while your level is within five of the quest's level. After that, the reward falls quickly.

That table is the single most useful thing in this guide. Leaving a zone with unfinished quests is fine. Returning to it eight levels later is a waste of an evening. Repeatable quests usually give no experience.

Forever adds more than 1,000 quests across levels 1 to 60. In the beta, players counted over 200 new quests between levels 1 and 30, mostly in the starting zones and the Wetlands, while zones such as Duskwood, Ashenvale, and Hillsbrad looked mostly unchanged. Blizzard's own figure for the Riverglades alone is nearly 200 quests.

Kills are the fuel

A creature at your level pays its full value. Creatures become green a few levels below you and pay less, then gray and pay nothing. The gray threshold rises with level.

Beta testers reported that green creatures paid less in Forever than in Classic, while same-level creatures matched Classic. Blizzard has not published the formula. The practical rule is unchanged: fight orange and yellow creatures while questing, and do not grind green ones.

Elite creatures pay more per kill but take longer, so they rarely improve experience per hour outside a dungeon.

Groups

In a party, a creature's experience is multiplied by a group bonus and then divided among members by level. Two players together earn about what each would alone; larger groups gain a little. Quest experience is never divided.

Forever briefly broke this during the beta. From 8 October, Blizzard restored the Classic Era rule: each player's own level sets their penalty for low-level creatures. If one member is far above the creature's level, nobody in the party receives experience. Do not bring a level 60 friend to carry you through the Deadmines; you will finish it with no experience.

Rested experience

Rested experience doubles the experience from kills until the pool is spent. It does nothing for quest turn-ins or exploration.

A Leatherworker's Camp Tent raises your rested pool to 5 percent of a level on the spot, once per hour. The Legacy perk Well Rested makes the pool fill faster and raises the cap; beta values were 4 percent per rank, up to 20 percent at five ranks. Chapter 3 explains both.

Dungeons

Dungeon creatures pay far less than open-world creatures. Dungeon quests pay far more than open-world quests. Beta testers measured the Deadmines' final turn-in at 6,175 experience after the 1 October change, against 2,600 in Classic. The three Deadmines quests together paid 12,825, against 5,400 in Classic. Chapter 4 has the full beta table.

Exploration

Discovering a new area gives a small amount of experience. Flight paths are worth taking on the way past anything, since exploring the entire world map on one character is also a Legacy challenge.

Remember: Quest experience is fixed and plentiful. Kill experience is what your bonuses multiply. Plan sessions so rested experience is spent on kills and quests are turned in whenever convenient.

Forever's new bonuses are small individually. Together, kept running through a kill-heavy session, they are the difference between a good evening and a slow one. All values in this chapter are from the beta and can change.

The bonuses at a glance

Rested, food, the tent, and the bag all run at the same time. Two food buffs do not stack, and the tent does nothing if you already hold more than 5 percent of a level in rested experience.

Rested experience, used well

Classic players learned to log out in an inn. The rule still holds: 5 percent of a level every 8 hours in a rested area, a quarter of that elsewhere, up to 150 percent of a level. Logging out anywhere else is the most common mistake a returning player makes in the first week.

Spend it deliberately. Rested experience only affects kills, so use it on dungeon clears, quests that need many kills, and full-clear evenings. Turn in collected quests when the bar is blue and the pool is empty, since turn-ins do not use it.

Food

Most cooked food now carries a Well Fed experience boost of 5 percent on kills for 15 minutes. Plain recipes such as Herb Baked Egg work as well as elaborate ones, so Cooking is worth learning on the character you level first. Eat before every pull-heavy stretch and re-eat after dying, because death removes the buff.

Camping

Campfires are now a small system. A Basic Campfire Kit needs Simple Wood and Flint and Tinder, learned from any Cooking trainer, and burns for roughly ten to fifteen minutes. Sitting beside a lit fire for about a minute grants Camp Benefits, a buff containing every object placed at the fire. Each player can place one object; objects share a one-hour cooldown, and a Basic Campfire holds three of them.

The first object for each profession unlocks at skill 20, from the trainer or the Camping 101 quests that appear around level 5. These are the ones that matter while levelling.

Camp buffs are weaker copies of class buffs and do not stack with the real ones. Their value is that they last an hour and follow you into a dungeon. A group that sits at one fire before the Deadmines enters with the equivalent of five classes' worth of buffs.

Later objects need blueprints from dungeon bosses. The Journeyman Campfire blueprint, which holds five objects, drops in the Deadmines and the Wailing Caverns.

The Cozy Sleeping Bag

This is a hidden quest chain with no quest giver. It starts at level 14, and each faction begins in a different place.

After that the chain is shared: an abandoned camp northeast of Sun Rock Retreat in Stonetalon Mountains, a jump onto the carved heads at the Loch Modan dam, and a hanging bag on the Hillsbrad side of Thoradin's Wall. Alliance characters pass a Horde town in Stonetalon; Horde characters must reach a dam in Alliance territory. On a PvP ruleset, do the chain early in a session when the zones are quiet.

Rewards along the way include a 12-slot bag and Student Fodder. The bag itself grants 1 percent bonus experience per minute lying in it, up to 3 percent, on a one-hour cooldown. Beta guides disagree on whether the buff lasts one hour or two; it survives death. Lying in the bag also counts as resting, so a bag by a campfire is the cheapest rested experience in the game.

Legacy perks that feed into this

Well Rested adds 4 percent per rank to the rate and cap of rested experience, up to 20 percent. Field Guide shortens the one-hour camping cooldown. Permanence makes party, raid, and camp buffs last longer. Gourmand extends food buffs. Thrill of Adventure restores a little health and mana after each kill outside instances, which is downtime saved rather than experience gained. Chapter 11 covers how points are earned.

Remember: Before a kill-heavy session, eat, sit at a tent, and lie in the bag. Before logging out, be in an inn. Nothing else in this chapter matters if those habits are missing.

In Classic, a good group could level by repeating one dungeon. Forever was built to stop that. Dungeon creatures pay a fraction of their old experience, dungeon quests pay a multiple of theirs, and the result is a rhythm: collect the quests, clear once, leave.

The beta numbers

The quest experience below was measured by beta testers after the 1 October change, when dungeon quests still paid roughly 2.2 times their Classic values. The 20 percent increase to creature experience on 8 October is not included. Treat every figure as beta.

For scale, level 20 to 21 needs 23,200 experience and level 30 to 31 needs 47,400. One well-prepared Ruins of Lordaeron clear is more than a full level for a Horde character in its teens. Dungeons above level 33 were not open in the beta, so no measured values exist for them.

The rules

Collect every quest before you enter. Many dungeon quests are given far from the entrance, and some need a prior quest. The beta also showed that some quest-starting items no longer share, so each player should pick them up.

Run each dungeon once, near the top of its range. Kill experience is low, so the clear is paid for by the turn-ins, and the turn-ins pay the same whether you are at the bottom or the top of the range. Entering late means a faster clear and fewer deaths.

Keep the group close in level. Since 8 October, the Classic Era rule applies: your own level decides your penalty on low-level creatures, and if any member is far above the creature's level, nobody receives experience. A friend at 60 cannot carry you for experience.

Sit at a campfire first. Camp buffs last an hour and follow you inside. A tent tops up rested experience for the kills.

Count the travel. There is no dungeon queue and no teleport. Forming a group, walking to the entrance, and clearing takes time that a quest hub would have paid for. That is why pure dungeon repetition is the slowest method in Forever, and questing with one clear of each dungeon is the fastest.

The nine new dungeons

The City of Dalaran attunement starts with "An Alarming Request" from Emissary Jacques in Southshore for the Alliance, and with "Key to the City" and "Prison Break-In" from Magus Wordeen Voidglare in Tarren Mill for the Horde. Do it while questing in Hillsbrad so the dungeon is ready at 28. Its four quests paid 37,600 experience to either faction in the beta, the largest single-dungeon figure measured.

The Classic dungeons

The old instances keep their Classic level ranges: Shadowfang Keep 22 to 30, Gnomeregan 29 to 38, Razorfen Kraul 29 to 38, the Scarlet Monastery wings from 30 to 46, Razorfen Downs 37 to 46, Uldaman 41 to 51, Zul'Farrak 44 to 54, Maraudon 46 to 55, the Sunken Temple 50 to 60, Blackrock Depths 52 to 60, Dire Maul 54 to 60, Lower Blackrock Spire 55 to 60, Scholomance and Stratholme 58 to 60. Their quests received the same treatment as the new dungeons, so the same rule applies: once, with everything in your log.

Why you might go back anyway

Three Legacy challenges reward the final boss of every dungeon in the 15 to 25, 26 to 45, and 46 to 60 ranges, one point each. Camp blueprints drop from dungeon bosses: Cookie in the Deadmines drops the feast, Razorclaw the Butcher in Shadowfang Keep drops the Tanning Rack, and the Ruins of Lordaeron drops the Fermenter. Those are reasons to clear, not reasons to repeat.

Remember: A dungeon's first clear with every quest is worth a level or more. Its second clear is worth loot. Plan the first and skip the second.

Levels 1 to 30 below were played in the beta. Levels 30 to 60 are a plan built from Blizzard's dungeon ranges, the beta client's zone data, and Classic's zone levels. Zone ranges are Wowhead's estimates where Blizzard gave none. Skyborne characters join this route at level 13; Chapter 7 covers their start.

1 to 10: your starting zone

Each starting zone gained new quests in Forever, and the beta patch notes on 3 November made starting-zone respawns the fastest in the world. Do every quest; there is no faster way through these levels.

Pick up Cooking, First Aid, and a gathering profession at the capital, and do the Camping 101 quests around level 5. Leatherworking on one character in your group means a Camp Tent for everyone.

10 to 20

Westfall is where the Cozy Sleeping Bag chain starts at level 14, at Alexston Farmstead. Humans will be there anyway; dwarves and gnomes should detour, since Westfall and Loch Modan share the same bracket. Night elves can reach the chain later or cross by the new boat.

Forever adds three Alliance ships: Stormwind to Auberdine, Menethil Harbor to Southshore, and Southshore to Auberdine. The Stormwind route ends the long Classic detour through Menethil for night elves heading east and humans heading west. Use it.

Dungeons in this bracket:

20 to 30

The Wetlands is the best Alliance zone of the twenties in Forever: beta players found it had the most new quests after the starting zones, and the Excavation Site dungeon, with seven quests paying 27,000, is inside it. Hillsbrad holds Emissary Jacques in Southshore, who starts "An Alarming Request", the Alliance attunement for the City of Dalaran.

Dungeons: The Stockade in Stormwind (24,650 from six quests), Blackfathom Deeps (22,850 from four), Excavation Site, and the City of Dalaran at 28 to 33 (37,600 from four).

30 to 40

The Riverglades is reached by a new fork on the road from Redridge to the Burning Steppes. Farholde Keep is the Alliance hub, with flights to Lakeshire, Morgan's Vigil, Thelsamar, and Powderfuse Port. Blizzard says the zone covers the mid-30s to mid-40s with nearly 200 quests, which makes it the spine of this bracket and the next.

Dungeons: Gnomeregan and Razorfen Kraul from 29, the Scarlet Monastery wings from 30, and the new Drowned City at 35 to 40 off the Stranglethorn coast west of Grom'gol, a Horde base; fly to Booty Bay and ride north.

At 40, learn riding. Blizzard moved the mount's price into the training, and beta prices were 100 gold for a 60 percent mount. Paladins get theirs from a class quest instead.

40 to 50

Dungeons: Uldaman 41 to 51, Zul'Farrak 44 to 54, Maraudon 46 to 55, and Alcaz Prison at 48 to 53 on Alcaz Island off Theramore, which is Alliance-friendly ground.

50 to 60

Dungeons: the Sunken Temple, Blackrock Depths, Dire Maul, Lower Blackrock Spire, Blackmaw Hold at 55 to 60 in Azshara, and Shaper's Terrace at 58 to 60 in Un'Goro, then Scholomance and Stratholme at the cap.

Remember: Finish each hub in one loop, take every flight master you pass, and make the Wetlands and the Riverglades the centre of your twenties and thirties.

As with the Alliance route, levels 1 to 30 were played in the beta and levels 30 to 60 are a plan from Blizzard's dungeon ranges, beta client data, and Classic's zones. Skyborne characters join at level 13; see Chapter 7.

1 to 10: your starting zone

Starting zones have new quests and the fastest respawns in the game since 3 November. Learn Cooking, First Aid, and a gathering skill in your capital, and do the Camping 101 quests around level 5. A Leatherworker in the group means a tent for everyone.

10 to 20

The Barrens is still the Horde's great leveling zone. It is also where the Cozy Sleeping Bag chain starts at level 14, in a burnt tower on the road south of Camp Taurajo. Undead characters should take the zeppelin from the Undercity to Orgrimmar once Silverpine runs dry and join the Barrens from Crossroads.

The best early dungeon on either faction is on your doorstep:

Undead characters should do the Ruins of Lordaeron before leaving Tirisfal. Orcs, trolls, and tauren can take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to the Undercity for it; the clear pays for the trip several times over.

20 to 30

Beta players found the twenties mostly unchanged from Classic for both factions, so this is the bracket to lean on dungeon quests. Shadowfang Keep in Silverpine paid 19,800 from three quests, Blackfathom Deeps paid 31,000 from six, and the Excavation Site in the Wetlands paid 15,850 from four. Magus Wordeen Voidglare in Tarren Mill gives "Key to the City" and "Prison Break-In", the Horde attunement for the City of Dalaran, whose four quests paid 37,600 at 28 to 33.

Hillsbrad's Tarren Mill is the Horde's gateway to the Eastern Kingdoms' middle levels. Keep the Undercity as your hearth from here.

30 to 40

The Drowned City at 35 to 40 lies off the Stranglethorn coast just west of Grom'gol, so the Horde has the easiest access to it. Rog'mar is the Horde hub in the Riverglades, with flights to Flame Crest, Hammerfall, Kargath, and Stonard, which connects the zone to everything you will quest in during the thirties and forties.

Dungeons: Razorfen Kraul, the Scarlet Monastery wings, Gnomeregan if a group forms, and the Drowned City. At 40, learn riding; beta prices were 100 gold for a 60 percent mount, and Warlocks get theirs from a class quest.

40 to 50

Dungeons: Uldaman, Zul'Farrak, Maraudon, and Alcaz Prison at 48 to 53 on Alcaz Island off Dustwallow. The island sits nearer Theramore than Brackenwall, so swim or sail from the Horde side with a group assembled first.

50 to 60

Dungeons: the Sunken Temple, Blackrock Depths, Dire Maul, Lower Blackrock Spire, Blackmaw Hold in Azshara at 55 to 60, Shaper's Terrace in Un'Goro at 58 to 60, then Scholomance and Stratholme.

Remember: The Horde's advantage is proximity: Ragefire, the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Wailing Caverns, and the Drowned City all sit next to Horde hubs. Use them once each and let the Barrens and the Riverglades carry the rest.

The Skyborne are the only race whose first twelve levels are new to everyone. Their isle was fully playable in the beta, and the walkthrough below reflects it. Access requires the Skyborne Heroic Pack or a higher edition.

Before you create the character

You choose your faction at character creation. Windshaper Skyborne join the Horde and can be Druid, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, or Warrior. High Order Skyborne join the Alliance and can be Druid, Hunter, Mage, Rogue, or Warrior. The choice sets your fourth racial ability and where your skyship lands at the end of the isle.

Both groups share Walk on Air, a ten-second glide on a 90-second cooldown, Wind Blessed, 2 percent haste, and Elemental Insight, 5 percent more damage to elementals. Windshapers get Skysight, 15 percent movement speed for 15 seconds anywhere, or a one-hour Charged buff when used at an elemental convergence. High Order get Read Leyline, 50 percent faster health and mana regeneration for 15 seconds anywhere, or a one-hour Attuned buff at a ley line. Both hour-long buffs persist through death and are removed on entering a raid. Chapter 10 compares them with the other races.

The isle in order

Do everything. The isle is linear, the quests are dense, and there is nothing else for a Skyborne to do at these levels. You leave at 12 or 13.

Shen'dar Village and Valanaar have every profession trainer except Engineering, who is a hermit in Shadowgale Forest. Harvesting Windstones in Thendal Village gives a voucher for Herbalism, Mining, or Skinning, so pick your gathering skill early and let it pay for your first mount.

Leaving the isle

After the final battle you report to your faction leader, who sends you to the skyship dock at Valanaar. The beta client's transport data lists two routes: a skyship between Valanaar and Dalaran for both factions, and one between Valanaar and Skywatcher Plateau in Mulgore for the Horde. Blizzard has not published the official onward route, so what follows is the path beta guides recommend.

Both landings put you one zone from the Cozy Sleeping Bag start at level 14: Alexston Farmstead in Westfall for the Alliance, the burnt tower south of Camp Taurajo in the Barrens for the Horde. Do it as soon as you arrive. From there, follow Chapter 5 or Chapter 6 from the 10 to 20 bracket onward.

Two Skyborne habits worth keeping

Walk on Air turns cliffs into shortcuts; the Loch Modan dam jump in the sleeping bag chain and several Riverglades paths are easier with a glide. Skysight at a convergence or Read Leyline at a ley line costs nothing, lasts an hour, and survives death, so make it part of the pre-session routine from Chapter 3.

Remember: Zephras Isle is twelve fast, linear levels. The only decision that matters is the faction choice at creation, because it decides the whole route afterwards.

Forever adds four zones and quests to several old ones. Only Zephras Isle was fully tested before launch. For the rest, this chapter separates what Blizzard said from what the beta client's files suggest.

Riverglades

Blizzard's figures are the firmest of the new zones: roughly the size of Stranglethorn Vale, covering the mid-30s to mid-40s, with nearly 200 quests and separate Alliance and Horde storylines. It fills land on the Eastern Kingdoms' eastern shore that was always on the map but never built.

For leveling, the Riverglades replaces the thin stretch of Classic's late thirties and early forties, where players used to bounce between Arathi, Stranglethorn, and the Badlands. Plan to arrive around 36 and leave around 44 with Krol'dok cleared once.

Mount Hyjal

Blizzard describes Hyjal as recovery after Archimonde's defeat, including Darkwhisper Gorge, and lists it last among the new places. The beta client's Group Finder lists its questing for levels 55 to 60, and its data holds two flight masters, Tainted Foothills and Summit of Eternity, with a route from Everlook in Winterspring. Blizzard has not published an entry level. Treat Hyjal as the closing zone of the route and a source of pre-raid gear, not as a shortcut.

Shen'dralas

Blizzard calls Shen'dralas a hidden area between Mulgore and Desolace, tied to the Shen'dralar of Dire Maul and the centaur tribes. It has published no level range, and community estimates run from the low 40s to the mid 50s. Beta footage reportedly showed level 43 enemies. The leveling route in Chapters 5 and 6 does not depend on it; when you reach Desolace or Feralas, check the in-game Group Finder's suggested level for the zone and slot it in where it fits.

Zephras Isle

The Skyborne start, levels 1 to 12. Other races cannot begin there, and there is no reason for them to visit for experience. Chapter 7 covers it.

Old zones with new quests

Blizzard says more than 1,000 quests were added across the whole journey. A beta tester's count found over 200 new quests between levels 1 and 30, most of them in the starting zones and the Wetlands, while Duskwood, Ashenvale, and Hillsbrad looked largely untouched. Several smaller changes affect the route:

Blizzard's 3 November notes say quest experience values were adjusted across the world and that a large tuning pass will follow once players level past 30. Expect zone ranges in guides, including this one, to shift a little after launch.

Remember: The Riverglades is the one new zone that changes the shape of the route. Hyjal ends it, Shen'dralas is a question mark, and the new quests in old zones are concentrated where you start.

Class choice changes your pace more than race or faction. Forever reworked every class, and most of the changes that matter for leveling arrive before level 25. The verdicts below are this guide's assessment, built on Blizzard's class deep dives and the beta; community tier lists agree on the top and bottom, and disagree in the middle.

The short version

A note on the gap: every class reaches 60 by the same quests. The difference between the fastest and slowest class is downtime between fights, not the number of fights.

What Forever changed, class by class

Hunter. Pets now take stats from the Hunter's gear and no longer need player buffs. Traps work in combat, Aimed Shot is baseline at 20, and foxes are a new pet family. Talent picks are automatic for pets. The first pet still arrives with Tame Beast at level 10, so levels 1 to 9 are the only slow part. The Orc racial Command adds 5 percent pet damage.

Warlock. Demons scale from the summoner's stats, Life Tap scales with Spirit, Drain Soul has a growing chance to grant a shard, and Curse of Agony and Curse of Doom become Banes, a category separate from curses. A Voidwalker at 10 and a free mount at 40 keep the whole journey cheap.

Mage. Frostfire Bolt arrives at 40, Mage Armor's mana regeneration is higher, and Comprehension is a new minor skill for reading dropped scrolls. Beta players reported that area-of-effect grinding is weaker than in Classic, so the Classic Mage trick of farming packs is less reliable; single-target Frost questing is still fast.

Druid. Nature's Grasp is baseline at 10 and works indoors and in forms, Revive arrives at 12, Omen of Clarity at 20, and cat-form speed works indoors. Shapeshifted Druids can now use potions, racials, and weapon procs. Cat form at 20 turns a slow start into one of the quickest mid-games.

Paladin. Holy Strike at 6, Seal of Fury at 10 with a taunting Judgement, Consecration baseline at 20, Lay on Hands on a 20-minute cooldown, and Pursuit of Justice at 15 percent speed. Undead can now be Paladins. The free mount quest at 40 remains. This is no longer the slow leveller it was in Classic.

Shaman. Call of the Elements at 20 places four preset totems in one press, Totemic Recall refunds mana, Lightning Bolt casts faster from rank 4, and Improved Ghost Wolf can be instant. Two-handed axes and maces are baseline. Dwarves can now be Shamans.

Rogue. Poisons carry more charges and stack with temporary enchants, Sap no longer breaks stealth, and one-handed axes are usable. Still the best class at skipping fights and the best explorer, which matters for the exploration Legacy point.

Warrior. Tactical Mastery at 14 keeps 10 rage through stance changes, Victory Rush at 20 heals 10 percent after a kill, rage from damage ignores armour, and Bloodthirst gives 10 percent movement speed. Better than Classic, still the most gear-dependent solo class.

Priest. Fear Ward and Devouring Plague are available to every Priest at 20, Divine Spirit is baseline at 30, Shadow Word: Death at 32, and each race gets its own spells, with Gnomes joining the class. Shadow questing is solid; mana is the limit.

Group value

Forever's dungeon quests pay the same to every class, so the fastest route is the one where you can always find a group. Tanks and healers form groups instantly. Hunters and Mages wait. If you intend to clear each dungeon once as this guide suggests, a Warrior, Paladin, Druid, Shaman, or Priest trades solo speed for never waiting at the summoning stone that does not exist.

Talents and the Talented perk

Talent trees keep Classic's rows with milestones at 11, 21, and 31 points and a new one at 16. Respecs cost one silver in the beta, but Blizzard called that price temporary. The Legacy perk Talented grants talent points earlier, down to level 5 at full rank in beta data; it needs points in Well Rested first. For a second character, that is a noticeable early boost.

Remember: Pick Hunter or Warlock to level alone fastest, a tank or healer to level in groups fastest, and whichever you will enjoy at 60 if the two disagree.

No measurement shows one faction levelling faster in Forever. The routes share most zones after 30, both have one great early dungeon next to a capital, and both have a new zone hub in the Riverglades. What differs is geography, a handful of racial abilities, and where the risks sit.

Faction differences that affect the route

The three new Alliance boats are the biggest quality-of-life change for either faction. Classic's Alliance lost hours to the Menethil crossing; Forever lets a night elf reach Stormwind directly and lets anyone move between Southshore and the western continent without a capital stop.

Classic folklore held that the Horde levelled faster because the Barrens and Stonetalon are compact. That advantage is smaller now that the Riverglades gives both factions a dense mid-game zone, and it never applied past level 40. Choose by friends and race, not by speed.

Racial abilities after the final pre-launch pass

Blizzard reworked racials on 26 and 27 October. These are the final announced values; the ones that matter for leveling are marked.

Alliance

Horde

Picking for speed

If you want the fastest possible open-world pace, a Tauren on foot before 40 and a Night elf or Windshaper Skyborne with permanent or hour-long speed are the clearest gains. For a Hunter or Warlock, Orc is a straight damage bonus to the pet that does your killing. For casters, Human Spirit and Troll regeneration reduce drinking. Every other racial is a convenience, and the right race is still the one whose starting zone and capital you want to live in for two months.

Remember: Faction does not change your speed. Race changes it by a few percent. Class and habits change it by far more.

The Legacy System is Forever's answer to heirlooms: account-wide points, spent per character, on perks that are mostly about leveling faster or spending less. It opens for most players at level 25, so this chapter matters from the end of your first dungeon run onward.

How points work

Every Legacy Challenge completed earns one point for the whole Battle.net account. There are 65 at launch, and each character can spend up to 16 of them. A single character can earn 29 on its own, so alts are optional.

The first point usually comes at level 25. Reaching 150 in a crafting profession or exploring the entire map also opens the system. Total points earned, spent or not, unlock cosmetic rewards: a toy, a bear cub, a tabard, and a spectral bear mount.

Perks that speed up leveling

Perk values below are from the beta client; Blizzard's article names the perks but not the numbers.

A first character should take Well Rested as soon as it has points, then Thrill of Adventure or Talented depending on class. Resetting perks costs gold, and the price rises with repeated resets, so decide once.

Alts

Rested experience is the alt player's engine. Park each character in an inn and bring it out with a full pool for a kill-heavy session, ideally a dungeon clear with every quest. In the beta, a Leatherworker's tent topped up anyone nearby, and crafting to 150 required character level 10 while going past 150 required level 20, so a crafting alt earns its Legacy point early. With Well Rested and Talented at full rank, a second character is noticeably quicker through the levels that feel slow the first time.

Mounts

Blizzard moved the cost of the first mount into riding training: learn Apprentice Riding at level 40 and receive a mount of your race with it. Beta prices were 100 gold for 60 percent speed, with Journeyman Riding reported at 1,000 gold for 100 percent at level 60; Blizzard has not confirmed launch prices. Paladins and Warlocks still earn a mount through a class quest. Dual specialisation also unlocks at 40, at a price not yet announced.

The mount is the single largest speed upgrade on the route, so arriving at 40 with 100 gold is a leveling goal. A Tauren's Plainsrunning no longer applies while mounted, which is the one racial that gets weaker after 40.

Money without stopping

Gathering as you quest is enough. Herbs and ore sit along every quest path, Skinning turns the beasts you already kill into leather, and the Bartering perk trims the costs that remain. Sell everything green you will not wear, keep First Aid current so bandages replace food, and remember that camp objects let a group share buffs that would otherwise cost potions. Respecs cost one silver in the beta; Blizzard called that temporary, so do not plan around it.

Remember: Earn the first Legacy point at 25, put it into Well Rested, and reach 40 with riding money. Those three habits do more for your pace than any route choice after level 30.

Everything in this guide reduces to one plan: quest through dense hubs, clear each dungeon once with every quest, keep the bonuses running on kills, and never log out in a field. This chapter turns that into a routine.

The fastest practical plan

1. Create for the route, not the tooltip. Hunter or Warlock for solo pace, a tank or healer for instant groups. Pick a race whose capital you will enjoy; the racial gains are a few percent.
2. Learn Cooking, First Aid, and a gathering skill before level 10, and do the Camping 101 quests around 5. If you play with friends, one of you takes Leatherworking for the tent.
3. Finish each hub in one loop. Take every quest a town offers, do them together, turn them in together. Talk to every flight master you pass; the Explorer Legacy point is on the same road.
4. Start the Cozy Sleeping Bag chain at 14, Westfall or the Barrens. Skyborne land next to it.
5. Collect dungeon quests before each dungeon, clear once near the top of its range, then leave. The Ruins of Lordaeron, Deadmines, Excavation Site, and City of Dalaran are the big early payers.
6. Spend rested experience on kills. Eat, sit at a tent, lie in the bag, then do the kill-heavy work. Turn in quests when the pool is empty.
7. Take the first Legacy point at 25 into Well Rested.
8. Arrive at 40 with 100 gold and learn riding.
9. Make the Riverglades the spine of 36 to 44, Hyjal the end of 55 to 60, and check the Group Finder's suggested level for Shen'dralas when you pass Desolace.

Before every session

By bracket

How long it takes

Blizzard's only published figure is 20.5 hours to level 20, which is about 4 percent of the experience to 60. The remaining 96 percent goes faster per level than those first hours suggest, because mounts, better abilities, and denser zones all arrive later, but a first character should still expect the journey to take several times the time to 20. Guide sites quoting around 150 hours are estimating. A returning player with a fixed route, rested experience, and one clear of each dungeon will beat that; a player exploring every corner will not, and should not mind.

Things that are not experience routes

Battlegrounds. Darkspear Islands opens at level 30 and runs to 60, and its marks buy reputation that feeds a Legacy point. Classic's mark turn-in quests gave experience, but Forever has not confirmed any, so treat battlegrounds as a break, not a route. Raids unlock on 9 December 2026 and are endgame. Hardcore is not available at launch and will add its own challenges later.

What to re-check after launch

Blizzard's 3 November notes promise a large tuning pass once players level past 30. When it lands, re-check, in this order: dungeon quest experience values, the green-creature penalty, zone ranges for the Riverglades, Shen'dralas, and Hyjal, riding prices, and Legacy perk numbers. This guide will be updated as those become known.

Remember: Speed in Forever is a habit, not a secret. Quest in loops, clear once, spend rested on kills, sleep in inns.