Ask WoW Insider: Far from home
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 28th 2007 at 4:30PM
eNorox sent along a great question to Ask WoW Insider for you readers to answer this week. He's thinking about starting up a Gnome rogue, but he's tired of leveling through old Azeroth yet again:I want to try something different so I decided to level from 1 in the Draenei starting area. The only thing is... How could I get there the fastest and what can I do about leveling a rogue in a place that has no rogue trainers?I think us alt-o-holics out there have all done this at some point-- I have fond memories of leveling my Orc Shaman through the Forsaken starting area (because I had never seen it before), and in that case, I got real familiar with the Zeppelin, going back and forth between UC and Orgrimmar. But what do you all think of putting a Gnome on Azuremyst Isle? How can he get out there, and once he does, what's the best way to ensure fast travel between the Rogue trainers and his leveling area? And what other weird leveling locations have you chosen, even though it cost you more travel time to the trainer?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Odds and ends, Ask WoW Insider, Leveling, Classes
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Hooper Sep 28th 2007 4:38PM
Death to the Alliance, play Horde.
That's my hard-worked-on advice.
Merric Sep 28th 2007 4:39PM
Purchase a mage portal to Shattrath, bind on the faction rise/tier of your choice, and use your hearthstone and portals to get around. Granted, as a rogue, you're going to have to train before you log so you can ride out the hearthstone cooldown while you sleep, but it's doable.
dan Sep 28th 2007 4:41PM
This doesn't seem that bad. All he has to do is walk his gnome from dwarf/gnome starting area to loch modan, through there to wetlands, get on a boat to darkshore at menethil harbor, take boat from darkshore to Azurmist. Then travel from Exodar to Darnarsus whenever he need rogue training.
Paul Sep 28th 2007 4:48PM
@1 A lot of horde alliance rivalries remind me of the old USC-UCLA rivalry. When I went to UCLA, USC students would come to Westwood, the little shopping and restaurant area near UCLA, decked out in USC gear after they would beat us at volleyball or football, or whatever.
I'm sure they thought they were rubbing their sports-superiority (and therefore school superiority of course) in our faces, but most UCLA students were too busy living their lives, studying, hanging out, etc to care about the made up rivalry, that the USC people just ended up looking ridiculous to us, putting their egos into something so trivial.
To a lesser extent, i get that old feeling when people (horde or alliance) derail the conversation by talking about how great one side is over the other, as if it was the most important thing in the world.
Great, now I've digressed worse than you have!
Perrins Sep 28th 2007 6:57PM
Lol I’ve actually done this before on a NE hunter in human starting area. What you would need to do is get a warlock and 2 buddies out to a major city (if your going rogue I suggest SW) have them summon you to SW, place your hearth there and then have them go to the starting area and summon you out there. Then just start leveling. The only restriction is that bc there are no trainers out there return to your hearth like every 4 levels until you can actually get better benefits from returning once a level. It’s pretty fun to do. I once went about 6 levels without going to a trainer. Have fun and good luck. To make it more fun for you have a friend start a draeni with you and lvl 2gether.
gegen Sep 28th 2007 4:54PM
Isn't there also that quest line that you can't complete unless you're draenei? I leveled a human rogue there and that was kind of a disappointment, unless I was doing something wrong.
Paul Sep 28th 2007 4:54PM
Dan pretty much has it: the trainer in Darn is probably closest, and is just 2 boat trips away. At least he doesn't have to go back to IF to train.
Paul Sep 28th 2007 5:03PM
i think that last quest (is it called ending their world?) is draenai only- i just discovered that with a human paladin i leveled up through that zone. but i think all the other quests are doable by anyone.
even with the hassle of going to Darnassus to train for a rogue, it's still completely worth going to azuremyst isle to level up an alt to 20. Westfall feels like molasses now compared to bloodmyst isle, as the quests there are just so much better connected.
i leveled up my paladin to 20 in roughly half the time i've leveled up alts in elwynn/westfall.
the questing in the draenai starter areas and outland are so much better than the old world, i'm really looking forward to even further improvements with WotLK
Greylen Sep 28th 2007 5:04PM
Doing this properly (in order to save time/money/sanity) will require some consideration. I would suggest setting your hearthstone to IF and buying a mage portal to Exodar. If you know a warlock and 2 friends, you might be lucky enought to get them to summon you directly to the Dreanei starting area.
When it is time to level up, hearth back to IF. You can train, buy supplies, etc, then buy another mage portal back to Exodar. It wont be cheap (1g + skill costs every 2 levels), but it can work.
The other issue that you encounter will be that the Dreanei quests will have rewards (specifically weapons) that will work for other Dreanei-specifc classes (hunters, mages, priests, warrior, shaman, pally) but not rogue, so finding a good dagger or a fast sword might be an issue. You might have to consider buying a good dagger on the AH, or find a blacksmith who can make one for you.
The benifit here is that the Dreanei quest line is designed to get you from 1 to 20 a lot quicker than the other old world quest lines.
Dulcet Sep 29th 2007 5:04PM
I just ran up to level 5 the old-fashioned way with my gnome rogue, then made the run to Menethil... picking up the LM flight point on the way. The gators got me a couple of times, but that's okay. Then on to Darnassus, set your hearth there, then run off to the crash site. You don't get the starting quest, but getting a bit done in Thelsamar ahead of time helps offset that. Good luck!
baudkarma Sep 28th 2007 5:53PM
Buying a mage port every time sounds like a pain. I'd suggest a compromise. Buy a port to Exodar or Darn the first time. When it's time to head back to train, grab the flight path in Auberdine, ride the boat to Menethil, then fly from there back to IF. Once you have the Menethil FP, getting back and forth should be relatively easy. This method would bypass that long, lonely, dangerous run through the wetlands as a lvl 1.
Usually it's not too hard to get a low level character to another starting area. My worst experience was with a new BE that I decided to take to UC/Org to pick up new weapon skills. Trouble is, I hadn't found the orb in the city yet, so I was forced to exit the portal at the south end and then run my way through EPL and WPL. I died a bunch.
Fletch Sep 28th 2007 6:14PM
Training won't be too bad because you can just go to Darnassus. Be glad you're not planning on rolling a warlock.
Joseph Montes Sep 28th 2007 6:21PM
@9 That's hilarious! You poor soul. WPL? You must have aggro'd the whole zone.
Mervo Sep 28th 2007 6:26PM
I recently started a gnome warrior and pretty much did the walk of death through the wetlands. (who cares about gear damage when you have grey garbage anyway). Get to the little town (Goldshire equivalent) and set your hearthstone there. Level as you want, but know that you have to boat to Darnassus as many have said for training.
The trickiest one would be warlock, but instead of going to darnassus you have to boat over to Menethil and fly to IF and back) (by being a gnome you automatically start off with the IF flightpath).
Gnome warriors and mages have it super easy by comparison. And I only found a handful of exodar quests I couldn't do due to race. With a little cloth donations my 70 will be farming I should have that elek at 40 and be riding in style.
Angelus Sep 28th 2007 6:31PM
I've done this exact thing with my human rogue. I let her die near Stormwind, then I ran the whole way. Once I got to the Draeni starting area I found the spirit rez and rezzed right there. Sence I had zoned several times, it wasnt going to shoot me back to my starting GY.
The only real problem was, the closest trainer is in Darnasus, but that turned out to not be that big of deal, I actaually went there every 4 levels until level 12 then I went every two levels. Couple of boat rides, no sweat.
Kuipo Sep 28th 2007 6:58PM
As number 10 stated, at least you're not a warlock. I leveled with my girlfriend in the Draenei starting area on my shammy and she brought over her warlock. Basically before she went to bed for the night she ran back to Iron Forge and hearthed back. It's not that bad save for that first trip through the wetlands.
Inferno_str1ke Sep 28th 2007 7:01PM
I am looking forward to the levelling speed-up, will make trying out alts a lot easier from 20-60, and I can use this trick to get to 20.
Paul Sep 28th 2007 7:01PM
If you're anything like me, and busy most of the day even when you're home, i still log onto the game while i'm doing other things to do the traveling i need to do.
You could travel back an forth to Darnassus by sitting yourself at the docks, then anytime you pass by your computer screen, just glance to check if the boat happens to be there, If it is, hop on and then go back to doing other things. You may take a couple of boat trips back and forth, but eventually you'll pass by your comp when the boat is docked or near docking where you need to be.
This would be incredibly inefficient if you considered this gameplay time, but if you consider it cleaning the bathroom time, it's insanely efficient :)
Ashwin Sep 28th 2007 7:22PM
Starting in another area doesn't feel authentic for some reason, it's better to play a variety of races but that is not always possible, for example if you only play alliance and have rolled a human warrior and gnome mage then you can't roll a gnome warlock without playing the same starting area.
That said the same could also be said for races that share a same starting area, like orcs and trolls and gnomes and dwarves. Also trolls,orcs and
taurens basically share the same area (the barrens) to level to 10-20, for that matter even many forsaken prefer it. Only the Belfs have a competitive 10-20 leveling area. I wish blizzard would add more quests to silverpine.
If you really like questing and want to explore all areas, you really have to play both sides.
Andrew Sep 28th 2007 7:44PM
Questing from level 1 is impossible, isn't it? The starting quest-giver only talks to you if you're the same race. The earliest you can start is with the delivery quest to the second town (around level 5).
That was my experience, at least. I leveled a warrior in the Blood Elf starting zone (which also lack a warrior trainer!), and I simply could not get the quests on Sunstrider Isle.