Leveling faster in WoW Shadowlands

With Shadowlands released, everyone wants to get to the new maximum level which is 60. Since the level squish reduced everyone who was level 120 to level 50 this made some things complicated and yet quite fun.

If your character is not level cap then your new level will be approximately 41% of your current level. This means if you are level 60 now, your new level will be 25. If you are level 90, your new level will be 35. If you are 110 your new level will be 45.

While this sounds like a lot, do not get too worried about it. The revamp is changing how leveling as a whole works. Now all you have to do is enter Chromie Time to revisit your favorite expansion and level all the way from 10-50 there. So you just rolled a new character? Levels 1-10 will be completed in the starting zone. From there you unlock Chromie Time, a new feature that will allow you be be sent into a version of any expansion that is not only scaled to your level but is also set up so that by the time you complete the majority of the quest chains in that expansion you will be at/around level 50 and ready to start the new content.

Gearing

Old expansion crafting gear will once again be viable, regardless of the expansion or level, thanks to the new Relic of the Past system. Simply put, you can craft an old world item then attach the appropriate Relic to it to increase its item level all the way up to item level 100.

Relic of the Past I – item level 23 and requires character level 15

Relic of the Past II – item level 33 and requires character level 25

Relic of the Past III – item level 43 and requires character level 35

Relic of the Past IV – item level 56 and requires character level 45

Relic of the Past V – item level 100 and requires character level 50

These relics are crafted by tailors, leatherworkers, and blacksmiths using materials from previous expansions. They will be readily available to everyone (likely in the prepatch) so feel free to mix and match old crafted gear to replace your current raid tier with.

This will likely be gamebreaking at first with items scaling poorly, or special effects being used in unintended ways. For example, the two-handed mace Hammer of the Titans. It’s unique effect is “Chance on hit: Stuns target for 3 sec”. The weapon itself, being from Vanilla, is not unique because at that time no class could equip 2 separate 2-handers. But now fury warriors can, and they could level those weapons up with them the entire time from 10-50+, chain stunning all enemies in their way.

Consumables

Make sure you stock up on consumables. Flasks, food buffs, potions, and more will play a large role in trying to reach the new level cap of 60 in a hurry. As soon as you hit the first real quest hub following the bit of expected roleplaying at the start of the new expansion, pop all of those buffs. The first zone, and especially the first few quests to get you into Shadowlands, should be easy for anyone to slide into the new content, however we are looking to min/max this experience. By using consumables and buffs you should be able to cut through those new mobs with ease.

Toys

There are a ton of toys in Warcraft that are more useful than they are vanity items. Some can even help you level faster.

Loot-a-rang:

Use: Retrieves the loot from a nearby corpse. (3 Sec Cooldown)

Requires Engineering (1)

This toy is great for looting mobs you dont want to get too close to out of fear of pulling other mobs, or maybe they tried running away before you killed them and got stuck in a wall before they died. Well fret no more because this toy will loot them for you (as long as they are within 30 yards. Note, you do have to be an engineer to use this toy, albeit only a level 1.

Mother’s Skinning Knife:

Use: Skin a creature from up to 40 yards away. Not effective on creatures above level 113. (3 Sec Cooldown)

Requires Skinning (1)

This toy functions just like the loot-a-rang but will skin your mobs for you. Now, sadly, this is not a viably way to replace skinning most of the time because of the painful 3 sec cooldown, plus it has a cast time slower than regular skinning. But if a mob is far away and you don’t feel like running to it, here you go.

Katy’s Stampwhistle

Use: Call through sleet and snow to Katy Stampwhistle, Postmaster’s Assistant extraordinaire. Katy will deliver and retrieve mail for 10 min, or until she is called elsewhere. (3 Hrs Cooldown)

How about a mobile mailbox for all your mailbox needs? While the process of getting this toy is annoying to say the least, it pays itself off within the first few uses. The 3hr cooldown is rough but it can be very helpful in many situations.

Addons

AddOns can certainly make a great difference in leveling. From small visual improvements, to guiding you step-by-step to the max level, in my opinion it’s worth exploring some addons that will make WoW easier. Here are some good ones.

Azeroth Auto Pilot

If you do not have Azeroth Auto Pilot installed, stop reading and do that right now. This addon is a great help while leveling in the new 50-60 areas in Shadowlands. With a quest tracking system built in that keeps a record of what quests you have done, which you haven’t, where to go next, and even where and when to use your Hearthstone for efficient speed leveling, this is a must have.

FasterLoot

Next for addons is FasterLoot. This is easy to overlook but it simply closes out of your loot window milliseconds after it opens. Any good goldfarmer can tell you that this can make a difference in the long run. If every mob you kill takes ~1 sec to loot and you kill several hundred mobs per level, that could add up to hours of gameplay going from 1-60.

TomTom

TomTom is a navigational addon for WoW, which can show locations that you specify on the world map and mini map. TomTom also has a waypoint arrow that shows you the directions to the waypoint you have selected to travel to. This is obviously very convenient when doing quests and leveling. So although TomTom isn’t a step-by-step leveling guide, it’s great for helping you navigate all around the zones in WoW.

You can specify waypoints by entering them with a chat command if you know the coordinates of a location, or by clicking on the world map. TomTom can also be used with another addon called LightHeaded, by the same addon author, to find coordinates from comments on Wowhead, which can then be added to TomTom so that they show up as waypoints on your maps. The waypoint arrow can then be used to help you go there.

Perhaps the most useful feature is to let TomTom automatically set a waypoint at your closest quest objective that is visible on the world map. That way, you can go to quest locations in a streamlined manner which makes questing and leveling faster.

Rare Scanner

Rare Scanner is also valuable in that it, well, scans for rares. Shadowlands is going to have several systems like we currently have with rare mobs throughout the new zones. These mobs give bonus loot, bonus xp, and sometimes even rare and valuable drops. So grab this addon so you don’t miss a mob hiding just over the hill.

Lastly, use this time to clean out all your addons and start fresh. Some addons you have installed might not be useful to you anymore, some might not be supported, and some you may have turned off and just never uninstalled. So wipe the slate clean, start over, and cleanup your UI with a bunch of dazzling minimalist interface bling so that the Blizz game designers cry a little bit that another player will never see their hard work.

Play Style

If you are in an active guild or have a lot of friends playing, form a group while questing. I am certain we can expect a large number of kill quests and nothing speeds that up as much as having a few friends burn down those mobs next to you. Playing in a group will also increase your likelihood for survival should you run into a strong opponent, unless your friend is a rogue and vanishes, leaving you to die.

Make sure to check out the new dungeons once you are able to enter them. While they may take a bit longer at first, they are more than worth it for the new item drops. The experience rewards are still in flux so it’s hard to say if it is indeed the best xp-per-hour however with the better gear you will be able to kill things faster while leveling. If you get into a good group, do not feel shy about running the dungeon multiple times as well. The faster you can down that last boss the more xp per hour you get.

Lastly, consider dual gathering professions. Since you get experience from both mining and herbalism this will add to your leveling speed, even if by a small percentage. Those materials will sell fast and for big gold at the start of the expansion so it is worth your time to farm it without considering the XP, but with the XP it is a no-brainer. There will undoubtedly be nodes everywhere in the new zones so you won’t even have to go out of your way to gather them.