Leveling Guide for Alliance

Before we head into Outland, let’s have a little chat about a few things.

This guide is not a “power to 70 and forget about everything else in the world” guide, although it can work for that. Rather, it is a guide for making a character you will want later. That was all good and fine earlier in leveling when our only major goal was getting up to level. Some of the things in the 50s we might have done before the expansion are meaningless now, such as getting the key to Onyxia’s Lair. However, there are some very relevant things to prepare for now. Reputation is going to be taken pretty seriously. So is the rate of leveling, since all quests that remain at level 70 will have their experience converted into money.

So don’t be surprised if the tone of the guide changes a little, and we worry a little more about each individual quest, and on forcing a few runs through specific instances. Some will be more important than others, but ultimately you should run EVERY instance in Outland at least once.

One thing that you should have been working on up until this point is your professions. Tradeskills can surpass 300 in Outland, so you should be at or very close to that point so you can continue to work up your skill as you level. Considering that, if you have tradeskills that you have been neglecting, it might be wise to go do some work on them now before starting on Hellfire.

Regarding Outland itself, it consists of seven zones. In order of difficulty, they are:
Hellfire Peninsula (59-63)
Zangarmarsh (60-64)
Terokkar Forest (62-67)
Nagrand (64-69)
Blade’s Edge Mountains (65+)
Netherstorm (67+)
Shadowmoon Valley (68+)

Note that Hellfire has been labeled as starting at level 59. Many players think rushing to Outland the instant they hit level 58 is a good idea. While there is some method to that madness, unless you are very well-geared – and chances are, you are not – Hellfire is going to be a very difficult area. Considering that, we do not want to rush headlong into things. Be at least level 59, and come ready to do battle with some challenging areas initially.

The plus side (and the reason people like to go at 58.000) is that those levels tend to move swiftly because 60+ levels take over 2.5x the experience, and the gear upgrades from quests blow the old world stuff out of the water. Endure a level or two of difficult times, and it will become much easier after that, those people figure.

However, you may be enduring difficult times anyway. Some classes have an exceedingly difficult time coming to Outland initially, while for others it is extremely easy. This act was written following the successes and failures of my enhancement shaman. I was doing miserably. I switched to playing a shadow priest and I couldn’t believe it was still the same zone. The moral of this is not to say that shamans are weak or priests are powerful, but only to point out that some classes make the transition more easily than others. (For reference, the whole leveling guide up until now was written with the shaman, and the rest is being written with the priest.)
A few final notes: the main city in Outland, Shattrath, hosts two rival factions, the Aldors and the Scryers. You will want to pick one. This guide is not going to pick for you. There are many factors that can go into choosing a faction, but ultimately it really doesn’t matter. The two sides are pretty well the same, with minor differences on reputation rewards and recipes available.

To add to that, there are many other significant factions that you will need to work on. Heroic dungeons, for example, are only unlocked once you have Revered reputation with five different groups. Quartermasters exist all throughout Outland. Rep matters.

Finally, as part of a moneymaking technique, when you reach level 70, any experience you would gain from a quest is converted into cash. Because of this, you will want to ensure you do all quests that would go gray before you hit 70. This is why in the first three zones, we will focus heavily on finishing everything, and also one of the reasons why instance runs will be significant.
Scene 0: Through the Dark Portal (level 59)

OK, got that out of our system? Good, let’s go.

Clear out your ENTIRE quest log – every last quest, and fly to Blasted Lands. Before you leave Nethergarde Keep, enter the barracks and find the vendor that sells Nethergarde Bitter. Buy one for yourself and hold onto it. It’s an unofficial quest item.

Ride out to the Dark Portal. Speak with Watch Commander Relthorn Netherwane, who will ask you to speak to his associate on the other side. Pass on through and head to the left side of the stairs and talk to Commander Duron and then Amish Wildhammer. Take the flight to Honor Hold. Marshal Isildor will direct you to Force Commander Danath, who will send you on your first two errands in Outland.

While you’re in town, look for your tradeskill trainers. There’s one for every profession . You’ll have to wait on First Aid and Fishing.

Quests completed: Through the Dark Portal, Arrival in Outland, Journey to Honor Hold, Force Commander Danath
Flight points: The Dark Portal (HFP), Honor Hold (HFP)

Scene 1: The Path of Conquest (level 59)

Let’s begin our survey of the land by traveling to the east supply caravan and finishing the quest there, and then returning through town to hit the guard tower in the west to pick up two more quests. Three total now. And that’s all we can get from all of Honor Hold until we raise our reputation with them.

So let’s do something to raise it. Ride north a bit to where orcs line the road. Kill a bunch, and collect pieces of metal and wood in the process. Stick to the level 58-59 guys on the upper ridges, and avoid the riders when you can, but kill them if they’ll patrol into you later.

Quests completed: The Legion Reborn, Know Your Enemy, Waste Not Want Not, Fel Orc Scavengers

Scene 2: Mecca (level 59)

From the western exit of HH, travel due south to the zeppelin crash site, and pick up the two quests there. Head all the way southwest to the Razorthorn Trail where you will pick up the eggs you need. Stay on your mount and ride through the area, and then work from the back to try to get your eggs. Much safer on that end, mostly due to fewer large mama ravagers wandering across the road.

After that, ride straight down the road into Shattrath City. In the center of the city, you will find A’dal and Khadgar. Follow the two quests, and then make your decision regarding Aldors and Scryers. While the guide will not deal with Aldor or Scryer quests, they are an extra source of something to do sometimes, and you will more than likely want to pick one of the two rather than remaining neutral for no benefit. (Note: this paragraph assumes you have reached level 60. If you have not, this step will have to wait for later. There’s really no significance to doing it now.)
The other thing to note is that there are portals back to the old world cities in Shattrath. Since there are no trainers or auction houses in Outland, you will need to use those portals to return. Because of this, be sure to get the flight point in Shattrath, just to the east of the center of the city.

Take care of your affairs – notably training if you’ve reached level 60, and hearth back to Honor Hold when you are ready to continue.

Quests completed: Ravager Egg Round-Up, A’dal, City of Light
Flight points collected: Shattrath City (Terokkar)

Scene 3: Fire, Brimstone, and More Fire (level 59/60)

Before you begin, return to the Zeppelin Crash and complete Ravager Egg Round-up.

Due east of Honor Hold is The Path of Anguish. Go there and eliminate some demons. Then sneak back to the questgiver east of Honor Hold, and continue southeast to Zeth’gor.

Zeth’gor is a fairly nasty area. Casually kill a few orcs until you get a Cursed Talisman, and then report to Expedition Point just north of there to grab the quest Zeth’gor Must Burn.

The two new quests have you killing random orcs and reaching the various towers inside the stronghold. Definitely kill as you go, or you’ll get tag-teamed. Follow the east wall into the area, where you should see a tower just inside the wall. Clear out so you can stand below it and use your smoke beacon. The second tower is further along the wall in the back. After you clear the second tower, leave Zeth’gor and loop around the outside. You’ll fare better with the felboars outside (who you need to kill anyway,) and the third tower is outside the wall. When you see the northern tower in-between the next two entrances to the fortress, work your way in, clear and smoke it, and then pass all the way south to the final entrance where you will find the last tower.

Return to Expedition Point when you finish. It is entirely up to you if you hang around and finish the talisman quest now. There is a follow-up to it that will wait.

Finish collecting boar meat in the surrounding areas, and then return to HH. (You might also consider killing the demons northeast of Expedition Point for Disrupt Their Reinforcements now, even though it will be addressed in scene 8.)

Quests completed: Ill Omens, Zethgor Must Burn!, The Path of Anguish, Expedition Point

Scene 4: Buzz Off (level 59/60)

We now have more quests available to us in Honor Hold. In the inn, in the barracks, and by the mine around the west side of town, all told you should have the following quests:

• Cursed Talismans (or Warlord of the Bleeding Hollow)
• Hellfire Fortifications
• A Job For an Intelligent Man
• An Old Gift
• In Case of Emergency…
• Laying Waste to the Unwanted
• Helboar, The Other White Meat
• The Path of Glory
• When This Mine’s a Rockin’
• The Longbeards
• Weaken the Ramparts (Hellfire Citadel)

Report to the zeppelin crash and complete Helboar The Other White Meat, and then head east to the Valley of Bones. Kill buzzards and collect the rest of your zeppelin parts, and then return to the crash site to turn them in.

Quests completed: Helboar the Other White Meat, Smooth as Butter, In Case of Emergency…

Scene 5: Mine (level 60)

After the fact note: Apparently this scene cannot be done without first reaching level 61. Save it for later; it’ll keep.
Go to the Honor Hold Mine (around the west side of town) and head inside. Kill 12 sappers, and return to Foreman Biggums. He has a follow-up that you may have to wait a level for, but we’re going to at least pretend to do right now. (Do it when you can, if not now.)

Fight your way to the bottom and kill Z’kral. It is possible to avoid the sappers on the way down, but one poorly-placed Maiden of Pain, and you’re facing a three-pull…and we’re here for the experience, right?

These 5-line scenes are nice, even when they still take half an hour.

Quests completed: When This Mine’s a-Rockin’, The Mastermind

Scene 6: Your’s (level 60)

Head east toward the Path of Anguish, but go north to the Path of Glory and look around in the fairly open part of the road for Draenei skeletons. They are VERY faint and hard to see. Use your mouse cursor to “look” for them. Cleanse 8 skeletons, and then wrap around to the northern ridges around the road.

On the north half of the road, which is the Horde counterpart to where you collected the salvaged wood and metal, there are four large siege engines. They’re fairly distinctive; you’ll know them when you see them. Stab westward until you find them, and take a torch to each one of them.

By the time you reach and clear the last two throwers, you will be nearly to Hellfire Citadel, and past Thrallmar. Go northwest from there and locate the Thrallmar Mine. The foreman there is a goblin, so you can do the Horde’s quests.

The first quest is in the area to the southwest where you can see crust bursters. And hey, they’re Marauding Crust Bursters! So kill 15 of those guys as you loot the crates that are around there. And yes, Outland Sucks.

What sucks more is that the follow-up quest is a bit over our heads, and the two quests that come after that are not. We’ll have to put this on hold, though. But for now, head back down to the Northern Rampart, and take the road west and out to the Temple of Telhamat. Pick up all the quests here (even though we aren’t doing them yet) and the flight point, and then find the medic in town so you can train First Aid past 300 and maybe use this Netherweave stuff you’ve been picking up. After that, return to Honor Hold.

Quests completed: The Path of Glory, Laying Waste to the Unwanted, A Job For an Intelligent Man, Outland Sucks

Scene 7: Run the Ramparts (level 60)

The quests in the zone will continue to grow more difficult. Hopefully you’ve picked up enough gear at this point that you’re in better shape than when you started. You’ve got plenty of quests to do, maybe as many as 15, but none that scream out and say “Do me first!” and level 61 is still probably a long way away.

So we will continue to plug away at more quests, but quite honestly, the best thing you can do for yourself is get together a group for The Ramparts. It’s a level 60-62 instance reached from the southern side of the front walls of Hellfire Citadel. (As opposed to Blood Furnace which is up the scaffold and onto the second wall behind it.) A trip through the Ramparts will get a few more pieces of gear you need, and get your experience marker closer to that level 61 cut-off that seems like it won’t come.

Even with rest experience for most of it, I was only 60% through level 60 at this point. This was starting about halfway through 59. A Ramparts run brought that closer to 75%, plus added a few nice items.

So steel yourself for some longer hauls. It’d be nice to finish all of the eastern part of the zone in one pass. It’s not going to be possible, but darnit, we’re gonna try!

Quests completed: Weaken the Ramparts, Dark Tidings

Scene 8: The Eastern Front (level 60)

If you do this entire scene is one pass, it’s going to take a long time. (Look at the quests completed list.) Break off as needed.

Head back to Zeth’Gor and cherrypick a few orcs to finish the talisman quest, and take it back to Expedition Point. As a follow-up, fight your way into the main building in the back to kill Morkh the orc, and bring his armor back.

Go northeast from Expedition Point and fight the demons in this area. Collect 8 Demonic Rune Stones, and then enter the center area of each of the two transporters in the area and blow them up with Kingston’s Primers.

Report back to Expedition Point and perform the bombing run on the two huge portals. You might need to take two trips, but it’s doable in one. Completing this will send you to Shatter Point where you get to perform a more interesting bombing run. Again, take two trips if you need to.

Completing this will send you to Honor Point , which is a small outpost just south of where you were bombing. The Alliance commanders there will send you to the nearby Forge Camp to kill some of the workers and the leader of the area, Razorsaw.

The follow-up supposedly goes to the next camp over, but quite honestly you can kill 3 cannons in Mageddon as well rather than heading out to Rage. Complete that quest and then finally head down to the last forge camp, Invasion Point: Annihilator. When you kill Arix’Amal, he should also drop a quest-starting item that you will want.

We could go home at this point, but if you aren’t wiped out yet, drop off the cliff to the west. (Not literally, go south and around Thrallmar so you don’t die.) This is where the Thrallmar mine is, and we still ought to be trying to rescue the Pep Boys. They’re along the northern rampart guarded by level 62 orcs. Fight in cautiously and open each cage.

Return to the Foreman at the mine and get ready for the most wonderful quest ever. Stanky. Anyway, find the key he’s looking for, and then report back for one final mission into the actual mine. Kill Ur’gazz beneath the mine, and you’re free to hearth back. You’ve certainly earned it at this point.

Quests completed: Cursed Talismans, Warlord of the Bleeding Hollow, Disrupt Their Reinforcements, Mission: The Murketh and Shaadraz Gateways, Shatter Point, Wing Commander Gryphongar, Mission: The Abyssal Shelf, Go To The Front, Disruption – Forge Camp: Mageddon, Enemy of my Enemy…, Invasion Point: Annihilator, How To Serve Goblins, Shizz Work, Beneath Thrallmar, The Dark Missive, Return to Honor Hold

Intermission
That should have gotten you to level 61. Equally important, we’ve wiped out nearly all the quests in the eastern half of the zone. (That is, east of the ramparts by Hellfire Citadel.)