I am on a mission to see how fast I can level my new Paladin (retribution of course) with 3 heirloom items. These are the bind on account items, which I bought with my ret pally main character. Since I enjoy playing the paladin so much, I have more or less lost the will to play my other alts, a rogue and a mage. So, my solution was to create another pally to fill those roles.
With the heirloom items, I will get an extra 20% experience gain from killing mobs and completing quests. This stacks with the xp gain increases from quests already factored into vanilla WoW and TBC content. In addition, the xp required per level was lowered forthose two as well. This should make for some pretty quick leveling times.
I have several guidelines when leveling, and I have leveled toons to 60, 70, and 80 many, many times. Since I am trying to level as fast as I can, I have a few tips I'd like to share. They are as follows:
- Kill everything in your path when running from objective to objective. There is no longer a need to grind for levels with all the xp boosts, but killing mobs helps speed up the leveling process and will help keep your level on par with the zone you are in, as well as the zones you are about to enter. The worst thing is to enter a zone under the minimum level requirements, as that slows down leveling tremendously.
- Only loot mobs that are pertinent to your game-play and leveling. This only applies if you already have a sound financial stability with other toons. If not, you may want to loot everything you can to stock your bank and pad your wallet. For instance, loot all mobs that drop cloth if you plan on leveling first aid or tailoring. If you are killing murlocs, don't loot them since they don't drop cloth. However, they do drop clams with meat and pearls inside, as well as some leatherworking items. So, if you are leveling any of those professions, then looting murlocs would be advisable. Just pick and choose. I end up looting about 50% of the mobs I kill. Skipping the looting process eliminates a good chunk of time spent on bag management and having to visit vendors to sell trash.
- Level professions only if necessary. Wait until your goal level to start your professions, especially crafting. Professions slow down leveling time, and usually can be done much quicker at higher levels where money, mount speed, and ability to blow through low level zones help make this process go as quickly as possible.
For instance, on this toon, I am choosing herbalism and enchanting. I am skipping herbalism, and will level that when I reach level 80. Enchanting I will have to level during leveling because I cannot disenchant past a certain level, and there will be many, many items I will need to DE along the way. So, I will break this up into 4 or 5 visits to level large chunks at a time. - Don't afk, log out instead. Since I am actually going for /played time here, I won't be afk. Any time I need to leave the computer, I am logging out.
- Skip dungeons. I should clarify, only unless you have 4 or more quests for a dungeon, and a friend or guildie ready to blow you through the level. Otherwise, you would be wasting precious time. It is way too easy to elvel now, without having to do the dungeon quests.
That said, I love old school dungeons, especially the vanilla WoW ones. If you want to experience these, by all means go ahead. I just choose to skip them because I've been there before, and I know I can actually level faster by not going through them.
Starting Out
Okay, now for the meat of the post. I chose a female human Paladin, mainly for the reputation gain increase (racial ability). I then had to decide what my plan was:
- Levels: 1-80
- Professions: Enchanting, Herbalism
- Dungeons: No
- Side Professions: First Aid only
- When to head back to the Paladin trainer: Every 4 levels
- Spec: Retribution!
After my ret pally was made, I moved her straight over to Stormwind City by hugging the northern mountain wall between Northshire and Stormwind. By discovering new areas, I actually leveled to level 2.
Once in Stormwind, I needed to set myself up for my project, as this was before patch 3.2. I was going to use Champion's Seals to buy my heirloom items, so those would have to wait. However, I wanted to be as geared as possible, so here is the list of what I sent myself:
- Traveler's Backpack x4
- Unadorned Chain Vest
- Unadorned Chain Leggings
- Unadorned Chain Gloves
- Unadorned Chain Bracers
- Unadorned Chain Boots
- Unadorned Chain Belt
- Stormwind Doublet (shirt)
- Blood Elf Bandit Mask (level 5)
- 50 gold
- Polished Spaulders of Valor
- Polished Breastplate of Valor with +3 to all Stats
- Bloodied Arcanite Reaper with Crusader Enchant
Level 2-7 Northshire Valley
Starting at level 2 with 32 minutes 11 seconds time elapsed. Onward!To see specifics on leveling in this starting zone, see my Intro to Paladin Leveling Guide.
Here we are with screenshots of each level as I hit them and the time /played.
Level 3 - 34 min 3 sec (1 min 54 sec elapsed)
Level 4 - 36 min 26 sec (4 min 15 sec elapsed)
Level 5 - 40 min 52 sec (8 min 41 sec elapsed)
Level 6 - 45 min 40 sec (13 min 29 sec elapsed)Now, in my Intro to Paladin Leveling Guide, it took me 35 minutes to level from 1-6. With my heirloom items, it took me about 15 minutes. 20 minutes ahead of time already!
Level 7
As I was running to Goldshire, I hit level 7 by killing mobs on my way there.
Level 7 - 54 min 12 sec (22 min 1 sec elasped)Then it was on to Goldshire, and completing all the quests there. I did every quest that was available in Elwynn Forest. I dinged 10 right as I was starting the quests over to the east in the logging camp.
Level 8 - 1 hr 6 min (27 min elapsed)
Levels 8 through 9 carried me into the mine and through Billy McClure's quests.
Level 8 - 1 hr 6 min (27 min elapsed)Levels 8 through 9 carried me into the mine and through Billy McClure's quests.
Level 9 - 1 hr 16 min (37 min elapsed)
Level 10 - 1 hr 28 min (59 min elapsed)
That's it! As Guard Thomas celebrated level 10 with me, I cheered at a 59 minute time! Barely under an hour for levels 1-10. The heirloom items just seem way overpowered, but there's no way I'm complaining. I'm loving it!
I'm actually already to level 24, just need to do the level 11-20 post. Should be up soon!
I'm actually already to level 24, just need to do the level 11-20 post. Should be up soon!
