World of Warcraft Levelling

Sunday, 19 November 2006

Level 1 to 6 Horde

Depending on your race you will start in Durotar (Trolls and Orcs), Mulgore (Tauren) or Tirisfal Glades (Undead).

Each race has their own quests for the first 10 levels. If you are completely new to World of Warcraft, just right-click on the guys with the giant yellow (!) above their heads and they will give you a list of items to collect or a number of mobs to kill. Go kill and collect and the (!) will be replaced with a giant yellow (?). Right-click again and complete the quest. They will give you an item or some cash as well as a good amount of experience. It's worth doing these low level quests since they will make up the bulk of your experience, and hence levelling, for the first few levels.

As you search for mobs to complete the quests, kill everything and anything in your path that gives experience. This advice will serve you well right up to level 60. Don't waste time finding groups unless you are lonely, it will only slow you down.

As an example, I will describe the first few levels of the a Tauren Shaman.

Life starts at level one at Camp Narache in Mulgore. Your first quest will be right in front of you with Grull Hawkwind:

He wants you to bring him 7 Plainstrider feathers and 7 Plainstrider Meat. Head off to the North east and you will see a group of level 1 and 2 Plainstriders ready and waiting. Pull each mob with a lightning bolt, bash them with your trusty mace and gather whatever they drop.

Gather the 7 of each item and return to Grull. He will now have a (?) above his head:

Right-click on him again and complete the quest. You will receive 170 experience and a new leather belt. Equip the belt. Congratulations, you are now level 2.

Equip any upgraded item you have looted and sell the rest of the items to any vendor in the camp. Use the cash from the items to visit Meela Dawnstrider for further training.

Grull will now have two more quests for you – Rune Enscribed Note and The Hunt Continues. Go into the nearby hut and accept the quest A Humble Task from Chief Hawkwind. Completing these, and the subsequent quests from the Chief and Seer Graytongue, quests will take you to level 4 or close to it. Kill a few more of any mob to reach level 4 if you aren't there already.

Go back to Grull and accept The Battleboars quest, Break Sharptusk from Brave Windfeather and Call of Earth from Seer Ravenfeather, both standing nearby.

Completing the final Kodo Rock quests will take you to level 6. If not, killing a few more of the nearby Battleboar will get you there.

Go back to get final training from Mella Dawnstrider.

I know it's hard to leave the comfort and safety of Camp Narache, but you are level 6 now and it's time to move on and make your mark in the world. Make your way to Bloodhoof Village. Your final unfinished task, Rites of the Earthmother will lead you there. Pick up the delivery quest from Antur Fallow on the way. Head into the Inn in the village and make this your home location for now.

This is a good time to take a break from the game and go outside and enjoy the sunshine. Logging out while in an Inn will give you additional rest experience.

Saturday, 18 November 2006

Quest or Grind?

There is only one way to increase the level of your character in World of Warcraft and that is to gain experience. Experience itself can be gained in two ways. From completing quests or by killing mobs that give experience.

The only mobs that will give experience are those that are within a few levels below your current level and up. Attacking mobs several levels above you will be a quick trip to the local graveyard. The repeated killing of experience level mobs is know as grinding. Boring? Yes, it can be. Killing mobs about 2 levels below you is the fastest experience. They give slightly less experience than mobs your level but the downtime is less.

Completing quests is a lot more interesting, although it can involve a certain amount of grinding looking for rare items. With quests you complete errands for Non-Player Characters (NPCs). This may involve something as simple as taking a message to another NPC but usually involves... yes... killing mobs. One day some game designer will introduce a game where you gain experience for completing Good Deeds. “You helped an old lady across the road! You gain 150 experience!” Until then it's all about death and destruction.

Whether you gain your experience, and hence levels, by questing or grinding really comes down to a personal choice. Bored by grinding? Go quest. Need a quick level for the battlefields? Go grind it out.

My personal choice is to quest where I can. I play WoW for pleasure, not to gain levels faster than anybody else. Your mileage may differ.

Blizzard Warcraft Sweepstakes

To celebrate the second anniversary of the launch of World of Warcraft, Blizzard are launching a weekly sweepstake. Prizes include an 80GB iPod and a $100 Jinx gift certificate.

Read the rules

Excludes those under 18 and those living outside of the US or in Florida or Rhode Island for some reason.

Twink or not?

Twinking in WoW is where you use items or enchants that would not normally be available to a low level character. These can enable a level 10 character to take on mobs 3 or 4 levels higher with impunity and speed up the levelling process. Obviously if this is your first character you won't have the option, since it will cost you a pile of gold.

Assuming you have some spare gold, should you bother twinking?

Although it will level you faster, I generally don't bother:

1. It take time to gather items or request enchants. You can be up a couple of levels while you hang around waiting for an enchanter.

2. It costs gold and my higher levels are stingy bastards.

3. It takes away from the sense of achievement. You may as well employ a levelling service.

Two things that you might want to consider as a partial twink are first aid skill and engineering.

Warcraft First aid is fast to level – all you need are stacks of cloth. You can get to skill 150 at level 5 without wasting much time. Just buy masses of linen, wool and silk in the AH. You can then use Heavy Silk Bandage for a near-instant heal between fights.

Engineering enables you to equip some nice items that are otherwise unavailable. This will still be a useful skill at 60. For example you can't get a head item at low levels, but if you have engineering as a profession you can use Green Tinted Goggles right from level 5. These can then be upgraded to Master Engineer's Goggles at higher skill levels. You also get to make dynamite and bombs which are useful in dealing with adds.