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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: The leveling curve (and bending it)
by Mike Schramm 
May 29th 2008 at 8:00AM
This forum thread talks about a person who dinged 70 while still back in Nagrand, and while I didn't finish off the run to 70 that early (he probably did lots and lots of instances), it is possible to bend the leveling curve a little bit, especially in Outland, where there are so many quests to go around.So how far have you bent the leveling curve? Early on, it's pretty clear where to go to level up -- there are only a few areas you can go into at each level, and while there are definitely more quests than you need to do (especially in the newer Dustwallow Marsh content), things are pretty laid out for you. In Outland, though, things get a little squished -- Blizzard really went overboard with quests, and so it's possible now to hit the last level without ever seeing one or two of the zones.
Fortunately, any XP that you would have gotten at 70 is translated back into gold on a quest reward, so even if you've finished early, there's still lots of reason to go back and see what's out there (and there is some must-see stuff later in the game). But how off has your leveling been? Anyone hit 70 even before Nagrand?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Instances, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
Randal May 29th 2008 8:51AM
I dinged 70 in Old Hillsbrad. The only quests I did in outland were Hellfire quests. I instanced through Hellfire, Zangarmarsh, Auchindoun & Old Hillsbrad. Then I quested. Gold is good.
I pugged with some people in Ramps & BF that hit 70 when I was still 64, but I'd say I had way better rep, gear & gold a few weeks after I hit 70 than they did.
Rokokni May 29th 2008 8:51AM
14 days played to hit 70 with 3rd alt. I know not a record, but for a regular working guy that's 6 days off my previous attempt, so not bad. I started at 56 in HFP, and did all the big chains in ZM, TF, Nagrand and BEM before doing 1 quest to talk to someone in Netherstorm to hit 70.
Angus May 29th 2008 8:51AM
My tankadin is about to ding 64.
She's still in HFP and has not finished all the Thrallmar quests. She has the majority of the Falcon Watch quests left and hasn't touched the CE ones yet.
Now that she's honored with CE, Spore, and Thrallmar I can get working on those quests and see about just powering her way through HFP and Zanger. She should be High 60s when she walks into Terokkar. I'll then spend time in those god awful instances and get honored with lower city before doing those quests.
If I do it right all of Nagrand, BE, Nether, and SMV will be cash quests and I should have the money for an epic flier when I ding. (Already stashed 1K from my main doing dailies for my flier fund)
FYI: The Tankatronic helm is sick at level 62.
Callandra May 29th 2008 8:57AM
I've made it to Nagrand on one of my 3 70s. I go HFP, Zangar, Terrokar (and instances). Once I hit 66-67 I hit the high level zones like Netherstorm & SMV for the quest rewards.
I've never completed Blade's edge mountains, or even come close.
.breath May 29th 2008 9:01AM
dinged in terrokar, before nagrand (hell. pen. -> zang -> terrokar) done some istance but not a lot, not a lot of grinding either, just completing every quests in azeroth i went into the outland at around 62-63 (at lvl 59-60 i went to the outland cause if u do some quests u get some piece of gear that make u lvl rly fast in azeroth)...
Yxyz May 29th 2008 9:10AM
Curious. :].
I am level 67 now and am in Terokkar Forest I barely done any of the quests yet! I did do Nagrand's Ring of Blood. I haven't done many instances besides from 58 - 60 Hellfire instances non stop = fast levels. I am hoping to leave Terokkar at 68 - 69. I'm going to try my best to take up ANY instance offer given in CoT or Terokkar. Maybe slave pens hoping I get Lady Vashj's note drop to turn in a coilfang double. :]
I have 2850 gold right now a lot of people my level are amazed. =/. Heh, I just stayed away from the auction house. I followed advice given by some other people and I DON'T accept gold from others. Gear, enchants etc? Yeah I accept, but I tip or pay mostly.
After I ding 70 I plan on doing my SSO dailies I hear they're easy, then the Outlands one then continue questing. I am told to do Kirin Tor as soon as you ding 70 for fast gold. As soon as I get 5000 gold I'm buying epic flying (I'm a druid) then I will start working on my gear / professions wasting gold on them. I'd have to go to Heroic Seth. Also I'm thinking I might as well do the TK questline.
Gondolfin May 29th 2008 9:17AM
I dinged 70 about halfway through Nagrand - think I had just completed the safari quests. I worked my way through HFP, Zanga, and Terokkar first so not as fast as some. So I still had 3 and a half zones worth of quests to do when I hit 70. I also had enough gold for my normal flyer so I got to fly over a lot of the mob-heavy areas in those zones which is probably a bit of a shame. TBH, I still have a ton of quests in BEM, NS, and SMV that I can't be bothered to do - don't need the gold and the rewards are useless to me now, plus I hate NS and BEM as zones, NS in particular almost destroys WoW for me.
I bent the curve so much by waiting until 60 before going to Outland (enjoyed the EPL/WPL and Winterspring quests so much), and basically hitting every instance on my way up and doing every quest in a zone even if it was a group quest. I always had rested XP bonus too. I didn't just run instances over and over, in fact I think BF was the only one I ran more than once while levelling.
Kevo May 29th 2008 3:55PM
I must be doing something wrong! I went to HFP at 58 and did every quest I could find. I cleared Zangarmarsh, then Nagrand, then Terrokar, most of Blade's Edge and am working in Shadowmoon. The only zone I haven't been to is Netherstorm. I'm three bubbles away from 68. The worst thing is, I've been rested every step of the way! Guess its time to go revisit and see what I missed.
ryan May 29th 2008 9:45AM
I'm surprised to hear how many people stick around in Azeroth until 60 or even later at this point.
I hate the plaguelands, I skip them all together and head straight to Outland at 58.
Plus, in Outland you can run from 58 to 60 in literally just a few hours because the experience is so much higher.
William May 29th 2008 10:48AM
I did the rep grind in Plaguelands for Nax attunement. Then I found out that Nax was level 60 Raid gear and that it would be worthless at 70, so I went to outland. LOL.
prudychick May 29th 2008 9:43AM
My BE Lock is currently 65 and is just starting to quest in Terrokar. One thing I did with her and my Gnome Mage who's 64 and in Zangamarsh still was complete all quests before moving to the next zone. The only thing I haven't done on my lock is the instances simply cause I can't find a group. Questing this way seems to have caused me to level more quickly.
Ariyah May 29th 2008 9:46AM
My priest never made it to the Bone Wastes even until 70, I instance levelled her as everyone was always asking for healers. Half of Terrokar I had finished, all of Hellfire and Zangarmarsh and that was it.
I still haven't finished the zones yet on her, you try questing with a priest, fun times.
Kolo May 29th 2008 9:50AM
What add-on tells you your rep gains (like in that screenshot) or is it an in game option? Would appreciate if you could let me know guys :D
Argent May 29th 2008 9:51AM
i could be wrong, but i think that's just a feature of the scrolling combat text you can enable in the default blizz UI.
William May 29th 2008 10:47AM
Yes, what he said. It's an in-game thing, I believe. I have it anyway...
Argent May 29th 2008 9:50AM
i ding'd 70 in some instance 3 days after TBC came out. then i went and started in HFP the next week (which was a big mistake, btw.)
a word to the wise: even if you wanna instance level in WotlK, do all the quests in the 2 starting areas BEFORE you go through massive dungeon crawls all the way to 80. the quests will become gray by the time you hit 80 and you'll lose a fair chunk of coin that way.
for all my alts, i've employed a HFP > Zang > tero > nagrand route and usually ding in nagrand or upon doing a few quests in BEM (depends on rested xp, mostly.)
BEM, nether and SMV are absolute cash cows if you do them AFTER 70. i think they yielded something like 1000, 1400 and 1700g respectively (this was before the ogri'la stuff went in, too.)
vanye111 May 29th 2008 9:57AM
I'm at 69.505, and I did all the quests in HFP, 90% of the quests in Zangarmarsh & Terrokar, and have started SMV. I did the Ring of Blood, but that's the only thing I've done in Nagrand. I have done Ramps, BF, Underbog, and Mana Tombs.
rzzr May 29th 2008 10:01AM
Missed Plaguelands (don't even have FP). Straight through portal at 58. Did all quests in HFP and Zangarmarsh and dinged 70 halfway through Nagrand. Stll have not done one quest in Terrokar, SMV or BEM although I picked up flight paths as I headed to Netherstorm on my epic flyer ;-)
Just did loads of instances and the XP just seemed to mount up. Doing quests to get the Arcatraz key in Netherstorm at the moment and have to say the gold you get is awesome.
Haiko May 29th 2008 10:03AM
On my holy priest i did HFP, then grinded some rep/xp with a friend till i was 63-ish and skipped all zones to grind for xp in instances. I healed SV and SL at 65 (no deaths at SV one run, tried a heroic SP at 67... didn;t get past first group, hehe) and eventually dinged in SV and got back to doing the quests for money. I had an epic mount a few weeks later.
Nowadays, i'd just do quests a bit more to lvl since we can do so many dailies for money, but i'd leave SMV or Nether alone so i can get back to 1000g per day for 3 days, just running old quests.
On my hunter however i did everything with quests... Wish i would have known what i knew later with my priest.
Evean May 31st 2008 2:33AM
On my frist 70, i dinged 70 after about 20% thru SMV, but i still had all od BEM, about half of nagrand and 100% of netherstorm to do. With my second toon i knew what to expect and I dinged 70 with 100% of SMV, ntherstorm, BEM and like maybe 20 quests in nagrand still (I even saved the ring chain for 70, TONS OF MOOLA!). SMV + Netherstorms quests at 70=epic flyer. Thats how i did it with both my 70s.