Questing is for chumps 

The traditional leveling methods just don’t work in classic wow when the starting zones are flooded with people. They DO NOT WORK! The first day of the launch will be radically different than retail so get ready to play radically differently. Any “kill bears and bring me 10 bear butts” style quest will take multiple hours to complete. That is right, that 2-minute starter quest now will take 2 hours to get done because a hundred people are going after the same 12 spawn points and they all need 10 bear butts each. 

Skip these quests. In fact, just go ahead and plan on skipping the first few quests. They are a time sink and you will struggle to complete them. So what should you focus on? 3 things and in this priority order: 

• Kill everything that you can
• Get money 
• Delivery quests

Farming Mobs… as a group

Getting out of the starting area ASAP is your primary objective. You don’t have the power to do that at level 1 and you will struggle to level up by yourself. Get a group for 5 random people. Most mobs will be tagged on spawn by the massive number of people in the area. Getting a large group will help you tag more mobs faster and will dissuade others from trying to farm your area. It will also allow your group to go up against higher level mobs, so skip the level 1 mobs and look for level 3 mobs. The second your party can quickly take down a level 3 mob, LEAVE THE STARTING AREA. Grinding level 5 mobs just outside the starting zone with a group will be much faster than spawning camping level 1 mobs and hoping the other 3 people around you don’t tag them first. Once you get around level 5 to 6 you can solo as before… but staying as a group is still a better strategy. 

So what is the highest level mob a full group of fresh characters can take on? I do not know. The stress tested ended before I could test that idea. 

Get Money

Yes, you want to level up but in classic money matters. Just because you have levels does not mean you can afford all your abilities, or even most of your abilities. Basic vendor gear is actually really good early on as well… if you can afford it. Get a gathering profession and sell as much as you can. An extra 10 to 20 silver is actually really, really useful. I know in retail you can make 1,000 gold in an hour, but in classic money is very tight. Getting slightly more gold will set you up for leveling faster in later levels as it will let you do things like level up different weapon skill as you play, select from a wider range of weapons, and take on slightly higher level mobs because you consistently have slight better gear. If it saves you a death run or two it is worth it. 

Delivery Quests

These are worth it for the XP and they are the only quests that will be guaranteed completable while the server is crazy crowded. The problem is these are few and far between. Grab them where you can but don’t expect them to be a significant portion of your XP. They are a cherry on top, but not a meal. This will be a mob grind.