WoW Forever Leveling Guide 1–60

Leveling in WoW Forever takes exactly as much experience as it did in Classic, about 4.1 million XP from level 1 to 60, but the way you earn it changed several times during the beta. Blizzard first gave dungeon quests a huge bonus and cut dungeon mob XP, then halved that quest bonus on October 1, raised dungeon kill XP by about 20% on October 8 and trimmed experience from low-level mobs in the open world. The beta closed on October 23 with no further XP change, and on November 8, four days after launch, a hotfix raised experience from kills inside dungeons by another 50%.

More than a thousand new quests fill the old gaps, Riverglades and Mount Hyjal add new stops on the road from 30 to 60, and nine new dungeons sit along the way, from The Hall of Thanes at level 13 to Shaper's Terrace at 60. The beta stopped at level 30, but the whole road to 60 has been played since launch: the first characters reached 60 about 52 hours after the servers opened, and the route past 30 below now follows the live game. Level 30 is only about 12% of the experience to 60: the halfway point is level 48. Right below is our free step-by-step leveling guide for levels 1 to 60. After it you will find every XP change with its date, a go-or-skip verdict for every dungeon from 13 to 60, the zone route from 1 to 60, how to find a group without summoning stones, the bonuses that stack, real hours to 30 and 60, and links to our leveling guide for every class.

Step-by-Step WoW Forever Leveling Guide 1–60

To follow the route quest by quest, use the interactive guide below. Pick your faction, race and class, and it loads every step for your starting zone with a map for each stage. Tick steps off as you go: your progress stays saved in this browser, and if you are already partway through, the search box takes you straight to your current step. The step-by-step routes cover levels 1 to 60 for both factions and every race and class, and a separate route for each faction collects the dungeon quests from 13 to 60 so you can carry them along.

WoW Forever XP Changes Since the Beta

Blizzard did not touch the experience curve: each level needs the same XP as in Classic, from 400 for level 2 to 209,800 for level 60. On the first beta podcast the developers said it plainly: "The experience curve remains the same. We did not change the experience curve." What changed is how you earn it. Forever adds more than a thousand new quests across the whole 1–60 range, mostly in zones that used to run dry, so the old "grind mobs between zones" stretches are much shorter. The quest log now holds 40 quests instead of 20, there is no level scaling and no flying, and flight paths and the new ships carry you between hubs.

The balance between questing and dungeons is where Blizzard kept turning the dials. At the start of the beta on September 17, dungeon mobs gave far less experience than in Classic, while dungeon quests paid a large bonus on top of their normal reward. Player feedback moved that balance twice, and the biggest beta thread, with more than 2,300 likes, was a protest against the first change. This table lists every official change to leveling XP, in order.

All patch notes from the beta, including the builds that only fixed bugs, are collected in our WoW Forever patch notes.

How Much XP Dungeons Give Now

Blizzard never published a percentage for dungeon mobs, but players measured it. Before October 8 a dungeon mob gave roughly a quarter of its Classic XP. The +20% of October 8 and the +50% hotfix of November 8 both apply on top of that, so mobs now give about 45% of Classic. Around level 19 that means roughly 10 XP from a miner that used to give 28, and about 30 instead of 80 from an elite. Other testers who compared the same pulls with Classic Era footage measured closer to 40% of Classic before the hotfix, which would be near 60% now, so treat the exact figure as an estimate.

Dungeon quests are where the experience still is. Even after the October 1 cut they pay well above Classic, as these measured examples show.

After the October 8 build, Aggrend summed up Blizzard's goal: "XP gain is not going to be what it was in era, but it should feel significantly better now... with perfect xp/hr play, the leveling rates in dungeons will be very close, if not equal to the speed you can level with optimal questing play." On the dungeons podcast the team added that it does not want players running Scarlet Monastery Cathedral "50 times, from 30 to 50", and that "this is being tuned actively". In practice, a first run with every quest in your log is one of the best experience sources in the game, and a second run without quests is still slower than good questing, although the November 8 hotfix, which added 50% to kill XP in dungeons, made it less of a waste.

Why Low-Level Mobs Give Less XP

Out in the open world, mobs of your own level give the same experience as in Classic. Once they turn green, each kill pays 4–20% less than it used to, and the gap grows the further below you they are. One tester measured a level 20 character earning about 65% of the Classic XP from level 17 mobs. When players reported it as a bug, a Blizzard designer answered: "This is Not A Bug. This is an intended part of the game now that there are various exp buffs in the game (like eating food)."

The trim is Blizzard's way of paying for the new bonuses: cooking food, campfires and the sleeping bag give back roughly what the green mobs take away. Move to the next zone when the mobs go green instead of clearing the last few quests, and keep the food buff up, since it was designed around this penalty.

Experience in a Group

Quest rewards are not split: everyone who completes a quest gets the full XP. Experience from kills is shared between party members, so a duo trades some kill experience for faster quest objectives and safer pulls. Since the October 8 build, the penalty for killing low-level enemies is calculated for each player separately, as in Classic Era. Before that fix, a level 20 grouped with a level 25 in The Deadmines got "extremely low" XP per kill, in Aggrend's words.

One rule stayed: "if a member of the party is at a vastly higher level than the enemy being killed, then no player in the party will receive XP, as intended." A level 60 friend can still escort you, but nobody in the group earns kill experience while they do the killing.

Quests vs Dungeons: Which Dungeons Are Worth It

A dungeon in Forever pays mostly through its quests, so the real question is not "dungeon or questing" but "do I have this dungeon's quests, and is it on my way". A prepared first run can be worth one to two levels in the teens and 20s: testers reported close to two levels from a full The Hall of Thanes or Ruins of Lordaeron run with every quest in the log, and one player went from 18 to past 20 in a single Ruins run at the end of the beta. Since the November 8 hotfix, a dungeon you walk into without quests pays roughly 45% of what Classic did for the same pulls: better than before, but still far less than a prepared first run.

Faction matters too. Several Classic dungeons have almost no quests for one side, so for that faction they are a long trip for mob XP alone. Testers called Shadowfang Keep "dead" for the Alliance, and the same goes for most of the Horde dungeons of the 30s, such as Razorfen Downs and the upper wings of Scarlet Monastery.

Dungeon Table 13–60 With Go or Skip Verdicts

The table lists every dungeon on the way to 60 with its level range, the quests that make it worth running and our verdict after the XP changes. Ranges for the nine new dungeons come from Blizzard; Classic dungeons have no official Forever list, so their ranges follow the in-game Group Finder, and the "from" level is the minimum the Group Finder accepts. Quest counts and quest experience for the new dungeons come from the live game data, and the XP figures are the total for one faction. Dungeons without a link do not have a Forever database page yet.

We list every dungeon with its bosses and rewards in our WoW Forever dungeons list.

How to Get the Most Out of a Dungeon Run

Most of a dungeon's experience is in its quests, so the run starts before you enter. Pick up every quest for it, including the ones in town and the prerequisite chains, and bring the quest items you need. Dungeon quests cannot be shared: the October 1 and October 26 builds closed the last quests that handed a quest item to whoever accepted a shared copy. Every player has to collect their own quests and starting items.

Run each dungeon once, at the top of its range rather than the bottom. Ruins of Lordaeron at 17 is a good run, at 13 it is a wipe fest, and the new dungeons hit harder than their Classic neighbours. You can enter an instance only five times per hour, so a group that wipes and resets a lot can lock itself out for a while. Two more tricks: do the City of Dalaran key chain while you quest in Hillsbrad Foothills, and the last boss there drops a necklace with a short buff of +10% XP against undead.

On live, the most expensive mistake is a quest left unfinished. Players kept leaving City of Dalaran and The Drowned City one kill-quest target short, and that one mob is worth about 10,000 XP, so check your quest log before you leave and go back in if something is missing. Clearing a few packs again for a missing drop is allowed and usually takes ten minutes. The Forever Dungeon Journal addon shows where every dungeon quest and its prerequisite starts and ticks them off as you finish them. A full run of Ruins of Lordaeron with its quests is worth up to two levels and four or five blue items that last you ten levels or more.

Our WoW Forever dungeon quests guide lists every quest for the early dungeons with its giver, prerequisites and reward.

Are the New Dungeons Too Easy or Overtuned?

Players disagree, and both sides have a point. Ruins of Lordaeron felt easy to some groups at the right level, while others found The Hall of Thanes as punishing as Burning Crusade dungeons, and Ragefire Chasm turned out harder than the Ruins because of its linked packs. The pattern behind it is simple: the new dungeons are tuned for groups that use crowd control and pull carefully, and they get much easier with a level or two above the minimum. If a dungeon feels too easy, enter it closer to its lowest level.

Leveling Route 1–60 by Zone

The zone order in Forever follows the Classic map, with two big changes: new quests make the starting zones and the 20s longer, and new zones such as Riverglades add whole new stops past level 30. Up to level 30 each faction has its own path, because most early zones belong to one side. From 30 onward almost every zone is contested, and Alliance and Horde level through the same places.

Use the level ranges as a guide, not a rule. When a zone turns green and its quests stop paying well, move on instead of finishing every last quest: green mobs now give less XP than in Classic. Green quests are different, they still give most of their experience and often open the next step of a chain, so keep them in your log for the next town you pass. The routes to 30 below are the ones testers refined over the five weeks of the beta, and they held up on live.

For levels 1 to 21 the same route is also available quest by quest in the step-by-step leveling guide at the top of this page, with a map for every stage.

From level 21 the route continues in the tables above and below. Alliance players finish Redridge Mountains and The Deadmines and head to the Wetlands, where the quests for the new Excavation Site start. Horde players finish The Barrens and Wailing Caverns, then move on to Stonetalon Mountains and Ashenvale.

Leveling Route 30–60 for Both Factions

After 30 both factions share the same zones, and the main choice is which ones fit your route and server. On a PvP ruleset, Stranglethorn Vale is the classic ganking hotspot, and Riverglades is a fresh alternative for the same levels. The ranges below come from the live game: Blizzard's ranges for the dungeons, the zone levels in the game data and the level requirements of each zone's quests.

Each of our class leveling guides follows this route with class-specific stops, and our WoW Forever new zones guide covers Riverglades, Zephras Isle and Shen'dralas in more detail.

Riverglades, the New Zone for the Mid-30s to Mid-40s

Riverglades picks up where routes used to thin out after Redridge Mountains. It is a contested questing zone for levels 36 to 44, according to its Forever database entry. Alliance players work with the Brotherhood of the Horse at Farholde Keep, while the Horde side follows an ogre clan that broke away from the Twilight's Hammer. Both factions fight the Twilight's Hammer, and the zone also holds the Bloodmaul Ring, a fighting ring against the ogres' best brawlers, and the outdoor dungeon Krol'dok Stronghold for levels 40–45. You reach it by land through a new road off Redridge, or by ship from Steamwheedle Port in Tanaris, and it has its own gryphon and wind rider masters. Since November 6 more of its quest items drop for every party member, which makes it one of the best zones to level in a group.

Shen'dralas, the Hidden Night Elf Zone

Shen'dralas is the second new zone of the 30s and 40s, reached through a dangerous journey across Desolace. Almost all of its quests require level 35 and run from 35 to 45, so it fits the same window as Riverglades and gives you a second zone when one gets crowded. Blizzard's designers named Riverglades, Shen'dralas and Mount Hyjal as the places to go instead of grinding the same dungeon.

Mount Hyjal, the Last Stop Before 60

Blizzard calls Mount Hyjal "the climax of your leveling journey". The druids have opened the road into Hyjal for the first time since the Third War, and you work with the Druids of the Talon and the Cenarion Circle while Horde and Alliance tensions flare up again. Most of its quests require level 54 and are level 56 to 60, so it is the zone for your last levels. Since the November 9 hotfix, players below 60 can also loot the Hyjal Owl Nests for the quest Feathers in Flight.

Hyjal is also home to two of the three launch raids, which open on December 9: the 10-player Barrow Deeps inside the mountain, with entrances connected to Mount Hyjal, Winterspring and Blackmaw Hold, and the 20-player Hyjal Summit near the World Tree. Our WoW Forever raids overview covers all three, including Onyxia's Lair.

New Dungeons and Milestones From 30 to 60

The road from 30 to 60 is familiar Classic ground with new stops along the way, and it is the long part: about 88% of the experience to 60. These are the milestones that change how you play:

• Level 35: the new Gelkis and Magram quests in Desolace, which start with "Valley of Bones", require level 35 since the October 8 build. The Drowned City, a new open-air dungeon with an underwater entrance west of Grom'gol in Stranglethorn Vale, is tuned for 35–40.
• Level 40: you learn Apprentice Riding for 100 gold, and your first mount comes free with the training. On the beta, dual specialization also unlocked at 40 for 50 gold.
• Level 48: most quests from this level on also reward gold since the November 10 hotfix, which helps you save for riding at 60.
• Level 45: each class earns its second Legacy point the first time it reaches 45.
• Levels 48–60: three more new dungeons: Alcaz Prison in Dustwallow Marsh at 48–53, Blackmaw Hold in Azshara at 55–60 and Shaper's Terrace in Un'Goro Crater at 58–60.
• Level 60: Journeyman Riding costs 1,000 gold, and the third Legacy point for the class arrives.

There are no flying mounts in Forever and Blizzard has said none will be added, so every flight path you pick up on the way matters more past 30. For prices and every mount in the game, see our guide to all WoW Forever mounts and how to get them.

Finding Dungeon Groups in WoW Forever

Forever has no dungeon finder queue and no summoning stones. The Group Finder is a listing board: you post a group or yourself, other players browse the list and whisper or invite, and everyone still walks to the entrance. Blizzard explained the choice in an interview: "Easy, quick access to teleports shrink the world, and marginalize part of the identity of a class like Warlock." On the dungeons podcast the team added that it would be "very careful on anything that cuts down travel time".

How the Group Finder Works

To post a group, open the Group Finder, choose the dungeon or activity, set the roles you need, a playstyle (Learning, Relaxed, Competitive or Carry Offered) and whether new players are welcome, add a comment and list it. The browser tab shows groups first and solo players below them, with filters by dungeon. It also lists quests, zones and other activities, not only dungeons. The Group Finder checks your level for each dungeon and shows only the ones you are eligible for; tick "Show All Level Ranges" to see the rest. Since the October 8 build a listing can also set a voice mode, Discord or in-game voice, and players who join get a prompt.

The meeting stones at dungeon entrances are still there, but they only open the Group Finder window. They do not summon anyone. The only summon is a Warlock's Ritual of Summoning, which needs the Warlock and two more party members at the entrance.

Why Players Find the Group Finder Slow

The biggest complaint is the whisper flood. One of the most-liked beta threads put it this way: "List a group and get 25 whispers from random people. What class are they? What role are they? Have to /who their name to find out." A group looking for a healer gets dozens of whispers from damage dealers. The tool also does not show where a player is, so you can invite someone who then needs 20 minutes or more to fly in from another continent, sometimes with their Hearthstone on cooldown. Tanks and healers are scarce because they too run each dungeon only once.

A few habits make it much faster:

• As a damage dealer, browse the list and whisper or invite players yourself instead of listing and waiting.
• If you list, put the role you need in the comment and turn on the chat option that opens whispers in a new tab, so they do not scroll away.
• Ask where people are before inviting, and ask everyone to start travelling the moment they join.
• Take the quest and tag your target first, then invite: changing the party can move you to another layer, which is still a known issue in the October 26 notes.
• If forming a group will take more than about 20 minutes, quest near the dungeon in the meantime instead of waiting at the stone.

Addons That Fix the Group Finder

Community addons fill most of the gaps in the default interface. All of them are free on CurseForge:

• LFGForever: shows class icons and role badges for every group member, the leader's level and the group's level range, highlights groups with an open spot for your role and colours zones by your level. Open it with /lfgf.
• Pinta Group Finder: adds filters and quick apply to the default Group Finder.
• whereyouat: shows where a listed player is, so you stop inviting people who are 20 minutes away.
• Forever Dungeon Quests: shows every quest for a dungeon as Missing, In Log or Done, with the giver and coordinates. Type /fdq followed by the dungeon name.
• Forever Dungeon Journal: lists every dungeon's quests, prerequisites, quest rewards and boss loot with map pins.

We compare these and the other addons worth installing in our WoW Forever addons guide.

Ways to Level Faster in WoW Forever

Forever gives you a stack of small bonuses on top of good routing: rested XP, the Well Rested Legacy perk, cooking food, the Camp Tent and the Cozy Sleeping Bag. None of them is big on its own, and most only boost experience from kills, so they matter most in grinding spots and dungeons. Together with a good partner and the right Legacy perks they decide whether you hit 60 in the first weeks or a month later.

How Rested XP Works in WoW Forever

Rested XP is a pool of bonus experience your character builds while logged out. As long as the pool lasts, every kill gives double experience; quest turn-ins are not doubled. A character builds 5% of a level every 8 hours, roughly 15% a day, up to a cap of one and a half levels, which takes about 10 days to fill.

For the rested XP rate at every level, the Well Rested numbers and which bonuses work on quests, read our WoW Forever rested XP guide.

It only builds properly in an inn or a capital city such as Stormwind City or Orgrimmar. You can tell you are in a rest area in two ways: the level on your portrait turns into a "zzz" icon, and logging out is instant instead of a 20-second countdown. Because the pool is measured in levels, a week of rest at level 59 is worth far more raw XP than a week at level 10.

Forever adds two ways to push it further. The Well Rested Legacy perk makes rested XP build up to 20% faster and raises the cap by up to 20% at five ranks. A Leatherworker's Camp Tent next to a campfire tops your rested XP up to 5% of a level once an hour; if you already have more than that, it does nothing, so turn in a quest or finish a pack first and set up the tent once the bonus is used up. Student Fodder, which granted rested XP in Season of Discovery, now only heals and gives a short Trail Snack speed boost.

If you plan to level several characters, rested XP becomes the backbone of the plan: our WoW Forever alt leveling guide shows how to rotate four characters so almost every dungeon run happens at double kill experience.

Experience Bonuses You Can Stack

On top of rested XP, several new effects add a few percent each, and they all work at the same time. Keep in mind that the bonuses cost time too: a campfire stop or a few minutes in the sleeping bag only pays off if you would have taken that break anyway.

Camping, XP Food and the Cozy Sleeping Bag

Camping is the biggest new leveling system in Forever. At level 5 to 6 you pick up The Adventurer, which leads to The Great Outdoors and unlocks campfires. A Basic Campfire Kit needs only Cooking 1, and anyone with a profession can add a camp feature to it. Sit at the fire for about a minute and the buffs last an hour; they do not stack with class buffs of the same kind. Since the October 26 build you also get the campfire buff while kneeling, lying down, casting, crafting or buffing nearby. For experience, the one that counts is the Leatherworker's Camp Tent, crafted from 5 Light Leather at Leatherworking 20. All camp features share a one-hour cooldown, so make your hourly camp stop your break from the keyboard.

Keep a +5% XP food buff up at all times and eat whenever you sit down to drink. Most new Forever recipes have it, from the Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice at level 5 to the Prehistoric Pulled Raptor at 45, and leveling Cooking from the boars and wolves you kill anyway costs almost nothing. The buff only works on kills and fades when you die.

The Cozy Sleeping Bag gives a stacking XP bonus: rest inside it for at least a minute and you get a stack, up to three, worth 1% each, and the buff stays through death. The bag itself has a one-hour cooldown. Its buff duration is not listed in the game data yet, and players reported anything from one to two hours, so check the timer on your buff bar. The chain opens at level 14 with ... and that note you found: Alliance players start at Alexston Farmstead in Westfall and Horde players at the burnt watchtower in The Barrens. It then takes you through Stepping Stones in Stonetalon Mountains, Wet Job in Loch Modan and Eagle's Fist in Hillsbrad Foothills. The whole chain takes two to three hours across both continents, so pick up each step when your route passes nearby instead of making a special trip at 14.

We walk through every step of the chain with coordinates in our WoW Forever Cozy Sleeping Bag guide, and our WoW Forever camping guide explains every campfire and camp feature.

Legacy Perks That Speed Up Leveling

Legacy points are shared across your account, and each character can spend up to 16 of them in perks; you open the Legacy window with the Y key. Each class earns a point the first time it reaches 25, 45 and 60, so your first character pays for the perks of the next ones. For leveling, these perks matter most:

• Well Rested builds rested XP faster and raises its cap; five points in it also open Talented.
• Talented gives your first talent point as early as level 5 instead of 10, still up to 51 in total.
• Thrill of Adventure restores 5% of your maximum health and mana over 10 seconds every time you land the killing blow on a non-trivial enemy. It does not work in dungeons, raids or battlegrounds, but in the open world it means less downtime between pulls.
• Frequent Flier and Mount Up cut travel time once you have flight paths and a mount.

For the best perk combinations and how to earn points quickly, read our WoW Forever Legacy points guide.

Duo Leveling in WoW Forever

There is still no reliable duo time to 60, but the beta and the first week on live give a clear picture of the trade-off. Quest objectives go much faster with two, quest rewards are not split, and beta players reported that quest drops are shared out evenly within a party; since the October 26 build some quest items can be looted by every party member. On the end-of-beta podcast Aggrend said grouping "doesn't slow you much". The cost is kill experience, which is split between the two of you; experienced levelers make that up with dungeon runs, where the two of you need a group anyway.

A pair with no downtime, such as a Warrior with a Priest, works best: one pulls, the other keeps both topped up and nobody sits to drink between packs. Our WoW Forever duo leveling tier list ranks every class pair for speed.

WoW Forever Leveling Tips

None of these habits is a big deal on its own, but together they save hours on the way to 60. They come from the beta, from the first week on live and from the groups that raced to 60.

Bags and Inventory

Every starting zone now has a quest that rewards a free 6-slot bag, usually by level 7; on Zephras Isle it is the Simple Leather Satchel. Grab it before you leave, along with the quest item in each starting zone that lets you learn a gathering profession early. Vendors also sell small herb, mining and skinning pouches that hold only those materials, and Tailors and Leatherworkers can make new reagent bags such as the Linen Reagent Bag and the Light Leather Reagent Bag. The bank starts with 64 slots instead of 24, so a bank alt parked in a capital city takes even more pressure off your bags.

Our WoW Forever bag guide shows every free and cheap bag from level 1 to 30 and when to pick each one up.

Quest Items and the Quest Log

With a 40-quest log you can carry quests for the next two zones and every dungeon on your route, and turn in whatever is on your way. Keep green quests: they still give most of their experience and often open the next step of a chain, while gray ones are the ones to drop. Skip quests that send you far off your route for a low drop rate; the best levelers on the beta dropped long collection quests rather than farm them. Some quest items that used to drop for one player are now lootable by the whole party, so grouping for named mobs and busy quest areas speeds things up, especially on launch day. Take the quest first and invite after, since joining a group can move you to another layer and lose your target.

Many of the best quests on the way to 60 never appear on a quest giver: they start from a drop in your bags. Our WoW Forever quest items guide lists every worthwhile quest starter by level and zone, plus the rewards worth a detour.

Capital cities also have new delivery and errand quests that give a lot of experience for very little travel. One delivery in the Undercity was worth about 1,200 XP on the beta, so check the quest givers every time you pass through a city. On live, the race groups chained these errands on purpose: every race has a capital city introduction quest, and quests that only ask you to carry a package, click a crate or talk to someone pay around 1,000 XP for a minute or two of work.

Travel and Small Time Savers

Travel eats more time in Forever than in Classic because there are no summoning stones and no flying. Pick up every flight path you pass, and use the new ships: Stormwind Harbor to Auberdine, Menethil Harbor to Southshore and Auberdine, and Riverglades to Steamwheedle Port. Below level 10, dying and taking the spirit healer's resurrection is often faster than walking back, since there is no resurrection sickness at those levels. Set your Hearthstone at the inn of the hub you will return to most, and log out there so the character rests.

Gold, Training and Gear

The first mount comes free with the riding skill, but Apprentice Riding still costs 100 gold at level 40. Save for it by skipping ranks of spells you never cast, by checking the auction house before you sell to a vendor and by not overspending on auction house greens; most classes should still train their main abilities every couple of levels. Keep your weapon upgraded first, since base character power in Forever is lower and gear matters more, and casters should pick up an early wand such as the Lesser Magic Wand at level 5 or the Greater Magic Wand at 13. Since the October 15 build, wands and Auto Shot need you to stand still for half a second before they fire.

If you would rather skip the climb on a second character, our WoW Forever leveling boost takes it to the level you need. To get professions, riding and Legacy Points done in the same order, see our WoW Forever power leveling services.

How Long Does It Take to Level to 60 in WoW Forever?

The race groups have shown how fast 60 can go, but there is no reliable /played figure for a normal player yet: the first week belonged to racers and crowded quest areas. The experience table shows how small the measured part is. Levels 1 to 30 need 499,000 XP, only about 12% of the 4,084,700 XP to reach 60. Level 40 is about 28% of the way, and you reach the halfway point only at level 48: 2,029,800 XP, or 49.7%. Each figure in the table below comes from the source named next to it.

Put together, expect a well-played first character to reach 30 in about 20 hours of /played and 60 in roughly 100 to 120 hours, although that second number is still a projection rather than a measurement. Launch week was slower for most players, with a queue at every quest mob in the 10–20 zones. Duo leveling has no measured time yet. The figures assume you quest with the bonuses above and run each dungeon once with its quests; leveling mostly through repeated dungeon runs is slower since the October changes.

WoW Forever Leveling Guides by Class

The route above works for everyone, but talents, rotation and the best dungeons differ a lot between classes. Each class guide covers the best leveling spec, talents by level, the rotation, gear, races and a route with the stops that matter for that class.

If you have not picked a class yet, our WoW Forever best leveling class ranking compares all nine for solo speed, and the WoW Forever duo leveling tier list does the same for pairs.

New to classic WoW altogether? Our WoW Forever beginner's guide explains how quests, talents, camping and Legacy Points work before you pick a route.

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More WoW Forever Leveling Guides

These guides go deeper into the topics this hub only touches on, from rested alt rotations to every free bag on the way to 30.

WoW Forever Leveling FAQ

These are the questions players asked most often about leveling during the beta and in the first week after launch.

How Long Does It Take to Level From 1 to 60 in WoW Forever?

The XP needed is the same as in Classic, about 4.1 million from level 1 to 60. The fastest race group reached 60 about 52 hours after launch, but a normal first character takes far longer. Optimized beta routes reached 30 in 17 to 22 hours of /played, but levels 1 to 30 are only about 12% of the total XP, and the halfway point is level 48. A route planner simulation puts 1–60 at 103 to 124 hours depending on server population, close to the roughly 120 hours a casual Classic Era player needs.

Is Dungeon Leveling Faster Than Questing in WoW Forever?

Not on its own. The first run of each dungeon with all of its quests is one of the best experience sources in the game, but dungeon mobs give only about 45% of their Classic XP even after the November 8 hotfix, so repeat runs pay less than questing at most levels. Blizzard's stated goal is dungeon leveling "very close, if not equal" to optimal questing with perfect play. Mix dungeons into your questing route at the right level instead of grinding one dungeon.

Does WoW Forever Have a Dungeon Finder or Summoning Stones?

No. The Group Finder lists groups and players and checks who is eligible for each dungeon, but it does not match you automatically or teleport anyone. Meeting stones only open the Group Finder window, and the only summon is a Warlock's Ritual of Summoning. Addons such as LFGForever and whereyouat make the listings much easier to read.

Can You Share Dungeon Quests in WoW Forever?

No. The October 1 and October 26 builds closed the remaining dungeon quests that could be shared, so every player has to pick up their own quests and starting items before the run.

Does a Higher-Level Friend Reduce My XP?

Only if they are far above the enemies. Since the October 8 build, the penalty for killing low-level mobs depends on each player's own level, as in Classic Era. But if any party member is vastly higher than the enemy, nobody in the party gets XP from that kill.

Why Do Low-Level Mobs Give Less XP in WoW Forever?

On purpose. Mobs below your level give 4–20% less XP than in Classic, while same-level mobs are unchanged. Blizzard answered the bug report with "This is Not A Bug", explaining that it offsets the new XP bonuses such as cooking food.

Has Dungeon XP Changed Since Launch?

Yes. On November 8 Blizzard hotfixed kill experience in dungeons up by 50%, so it feels better to go back in for more runs. Quest XP and open-world kills were not touched. The developers have said they will keep tuning, especially for levels 30 to 60. Since November 10, most quests from level 48 also reward gold.

Is Rested XP the Same as the RestedXP Addon?

No. Rested XP is the in-game bonus that doubles experience from kills after you log out in an inn or a capital city. RestedXP is a separate third-party leveling route addon; the addon itself is free, while its full guides are paid. You do not need it to use the rested bonus.

What Is the Rested XP Cap in WoW Forever?

One and a half levels, the same as in Classic, filled at 5% of a level every 8 hours of rest. Five ranks of the Well Rested Legacy perk raise the cap and the build-up speed by up to 20%.

Do XP Food and the Camp Tent Work on Quest Experience?

No. The +5% from cooking food boosts experience from kills only, and the Camp Tent only tops up your rested XP, which also applies to kills. Quest turn-ins are not affected.

At What Level Do You Get a Mount in WoW Forever?

At level 40, when you train Apprentice Riding for 100 gold; the first mount comes with the skill. Journeyman Riding for the epic mount costs 1,000 gold at level 60.

Can Horde Players Run The Hall of Thanes?

They can, but The Hall of Thanes sits beneath Ironforge, so getting there as Horde means a long, dangerous trip through Alliance land, and the dungeon has no quests for the Horde. Horde players usually take Ragefire Chasm and Ruins of Lordaeron at the same levels, and the Ruins entrance is outdoors, so Alliance groups can reach it too.

Can You Level to 60 in WoW Forever Now?

Yes. The cap of 30 applied only to the beta. The full 1–60 range has been open since launch on November 4, and Blizzard has said 60 stays the cap. The first raids, Barrow Deeps, Hyjal Summit and Onyxia's Lair, unlock on December 9.