Northern Sky

ALLIANCE

I got this from worldofwarcraft.com forum, credits to Haunted

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Most of these have been confirmed to be good, but in order to prevent overcrowding in areas I will try to list several different places, all of which should be pretty decent. More often than not, the areas will only hold one or two people maximum as far as spawn rates go - any more than that and you have too many people and too little mobs to support them. Unfortunately, because of this, you might end up somewhere that isn't quite as good as you might've hoped, and if that's the case, I apologize in advance.

The levels are approximate, you may or may not have to supplement grinding for one or two levels in order to move onto the next zones early on, although most of the later parts deal mostly with areas to grind in. Also, when a level is listed next to a grind area, that means this is the level at which you can more than likely *start* grinding the mobs. You can probably *stop* grinding them about 4-5 levels past where the start level is. In fact, it's probably recommended that you do stop 4 levels past them.

Also, keep in mind that this is mostly for Alliance players, as it's the only faction I've played and thus have no experience with Horde lands. You'll also note the lack of Kalimdor lands up until Feralas/Tanaris. While I'm not saying Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains, Thousand Needles or Desolace are bad places, I honestly have no experience with them either, and these areas that I do list are typically sufficient to take you up in levels.

Please note that the level listed beside a place, if there is one, is the level recommended to *begin* the place. Each place should typically be able to last you for 4-5 levels (with the exception of quest areas), whether you have the patience to stay at that one place for that long is another thing.

Thanks to everyone that has contributed and added to the list!

Level 1-12:
- Newbie Zone :: You may have to leave at level 11.

Level 12-20:
- Westfall [Sentinel Hill, Westfall Lighthouse]
- Loch Modan [Thelsamar, Farstrider's Lodge, Stonewrought Dam]
- Darkshore [Auberdine]
- Elite Area: Mo'grosh mound (Loch Modan)
- Instance: Deadmines

Complete the easiest quests in the first area that you go to (Night Elves should visit Darkshore first, Dwarves/Gnomes should visit Loch Modan first, Humans should visit Westfall first.) Move onto the next zone, and do the same, but this time you can complete more of the zone. Leave the most difficult, unless you can get a group for them - don't waste too much time on it, though. Move onto the last zone and complete all, or nearly all of the quests available in that zone. By this time, you should be about level 17-18. Go back to the first zone, and complete the rest of the quests there.

Typically, my "first zone" is Westfall, in which case you can go back when you are done with both Loch Modan and Darkshore, and finish the Van Cleef line of quests and be at a good level to run the instance.

Level 20-22:
- Redridge Mountains [Lakeshire, Tower of Azora in Elwynn]

Again, do the easy quests in Redridge, which should take you up to level 21 or 22. Skip the more difficult quests unless you have a group for them. I'd skip the entire Stonewatch Keep area of quests just simply because that entire area itself is crap.

Level 22-30:
- Redridge Mountains [Lakeshire, Tower of Azora in Elwynn]
- Duskwood [Darkshire, Sven's Camp, Abercrombie]
- Wetlands [Menethil Harbor, Greenwarden, N. Loch Modan (The Algaz Gauntlet)]
- Ashenvale [Astranaar ?]
- Stonetalon Mountains [?]
- Elite Area: Dun Modr (Wetlands)
- Instance: The Stockades
- Instance: Shadowfang Keep
- Instance: Blackfathom Deeps
- Happy Loot: Naraxis' Fang (Duskwood)
- Happy Loot: Tiny Crimson Whelpling (Wetlands)
- Grind Area [26]: Dragonmaw Encampment (Wetlands)
- Grind Area [26]: Whelgar's Excavation Site (Wetlands)
- Grind Area [28]: Rotting Orchard (Duskwood)
- Grind Area [28]: Raven Hill Cemetary (Duskwood)
- Grind Area [29]: Vul'Gol Ogre Mound (Duskwood)

Preparation: Purchase Bronze Tube.

Start at either Duskwood or Wetlands. This is where "quest stacking" can come in really handy if you want to be efficient. There are many, many quests that send you to the same areas, and if you get all of the quests at once, you can knock all of them out without having to run back and forth. Considering Wetlands and Duskwood are fairly bad for having their towns on one side of the map and the quest mobs/areas on the other side, this saves a lot of time. A lot of these are parts of quest chains, so honestly it's hard to know if you don't have prior knowledge or do a lot of quest research beforehand - so don't worry about it too much, but try to be as efficient as you can. Once you finish one of the two new areas, you should be about level 25 and can go finish the harder parts of Redridge, and then finish the last zone.

Note for Stockades : There are 6 quests you can obtain for this instance. Lakeshire, Darkshire, Wetlands, Van Cleef note continuation (Bazil Thredd), and two from Stormwind.

Level 31-37:
- Stranglethorn Vale [Rebel Camp, Nesingwary's Expedition, Booty Bay]
- Hillsbrad Foothills [Southshore]
- Arathi Highlands [Refuge Pointe]
- Desolace [32]
- Thousand Needles [31]
- Instance: Gnomeregan
- Happy Loot: Howling Blade (Skhowl, Alterac Mountains)
- Happy Loot: Toxic Revenger (Gnomeregan)
- Happy Loot: Tiny Emerald Whelpling (Swamp of Sorrows)
- Grind Area [31]: Kurzen Encampment [!NOTE!] (Stranglethorn Vale) -- [Test needed]
- Grind Area [33]: Stranglethorn Raptors (Stranglethorn Vale)
- Grind Area [33]: Growless Cave (Alterac Mountains)
- Grind Area [34]: Gallow's Corner (Crushridge Ogres - Altarac Mountains)
- Grind Area [36]: Venture Co. Base Camp (Lake Nazferiti - Stranglethorn Vale)

Preparation: Purchase all 15 pages of The Green Hills of Stranglethorn, 4 Bloodstone Ore.

Start at Stranglethorn Vale. Quest stacking here is also godly, since you don't want to have to run all the way to the northern end of the zone, do one or two quests and turn them back in at Booty Bay. Rebel Camp's quests are largely independent of the rest, though, so you can do those first. Then, head to Booty Bay, where you can pick up two main quests for the northern area: Investigate the Camp and the start of the Excelsior chain, both of which takes you to Nesingwary's Expedition, where you obtain all of the nice happy quests there.

Hillsbrad is only good starting at about level 33, at which point you can actually *do* all of the quests that you could obtain at level 30... Arathi only has one or two quests that you can actually do right now, but it's listed anyways.

Kurzen Cave has been fixed, which perhaps means that Jungle Fighters and Headshrinkers have as well, so someone test that out please.

Level 37-43:
- Stranglethorn Vale [Booty Bay, Nesingwary's Expedition, Rebel Camp]
- Arathi Mountains [Refuge Pointe, Faldir's Cove]
- Badlands [Various camps around the zone]
- Desolace [37]
- Elite Area: Stromgarde
- Elite Area: Mosh'ogg Mound
- Instance: Scarlet Monastery
- Instance: Uldaman
- Instance: Razorfen Downs
- Happy Loot: Tiny Black Whelpling (Badlands)
- Grind Area [37]: Lashtail Raptors (Stranglethorn Vale)
- Grind Area [37]: Water Elementals (Stranglethorn Vale)
- Grind Area [37]: Theramore Coast (Dustwallow Marsh) - Turtle Scales & Leathers
- Grind Area [39]: The spider cave north of Brackenwall (Swamp of Sorrows)
- Grind Area [39]: Rock Elementals (Badlands)
- Grind Area [39]: Elder Crag Coyotes (Badlands)
- Grind Area [41]: Scalding Whelps (Badlands)
- Grind Area [41]: Agmond's End (Badlands)
- Grind Area [41]: Ziata'jai Ruins (Venture Co. Stuff, Stranglethorn Vale)
- Grind Area [43]: Naga Explorers (Stranglethorn Vale)

Preparation: Purchase 9 Blue Pearls, 1 Frost Oil, 1 Gyrochronatom, 4 Buzzard Wings, 1 Elixir of Water Breathing.

37 is where you obtain your next batch of quests from Stranglethorn Vale. Arathi Highlands has fairly decent quests in Faldir's Cove, or if you're feeling group-friendly, knock out the ones in Stromgarde. Badlands has a lot of nice quests, but you have to actually find them. This is where supplementing experience by grinding becomes more efficient at times, and at 42-43 you should be closing the last of your Stranglethorn quests, and be finished with Badlands and Arathi both, as well.

Scarlet Monastery. Black Menace or Sword of Serenity. Nothing more needs to be said - except where to obtain the quest: Desolace.

Level 43-46:
- Feralas [Feathermoon Stronghold]
- Tanaris [Gadgetzan, Steamwheedle Port]
- Instance: Zul'Farrak
- Grind Area [43]: Wastewander Bandits (Tanaris)
- Grind Area [44]: Isle of Dread (Feralas - Inside Cave; South of Feathermoon Stronghold)
- Grind Area [45]: Feral Scar Vale (Feralas)
- Happy Loot: 14slot bag! Cortello's Riddle quest, starts in one of the ships in Stranglethorn Vale for the end of the Bloodsail Buccaneers line of quests.

Fairly self explanatory, I guess. Not much going on here, really.

Level 46-50:
- Tanaris [Gadgetzan, Steamwheedle Port]
- The Hinterlands [Aerie Peak]
- Instance: Zul'Farrak
- Instance: Maraudon [49]
- Instance: Temple of Atal'Hakkar [50]
- Grind Area [47]: Undead in Western Ashzara (Azshara)
- Grind Area [47]: Dunemaul Compound (Tanaris)
- Grind Area [47]: Elementals/Golems around The Cauldron + N of it (Searing Gorge) - Elemental Leatherworking Supplies

At this point, you more than likely have a bunch of quests saved up for The Hinterlands - including but not limited to, the quest to gather Wildkin Feathers (from Rutheran Village), the quest to obtain a snapshot of Gammerita, the quest to obtain Violet Trajan, the last part of Cortello's Riddle, etc. Feel free to knock them all out at once.

Level 50-55:
- Searing Gorge [Kalaran Windblade]
- Blasted Lands [Blood Elf camp]
- Un'Goro Crater [Marshal's Refuge]
- Felwood [Emerald Sanctuary]
- Burning Steppes [Morgan's Vigil]
- Instance: Temple of Atal'Hakkar
- Grind Area [49]: The Overlook Cliffs (The Hinterlands) - Turtle Scales & Rugged Leathers
- Grind Area [50]: Deadwood Village (Felwood)
- Grind Area [51]: Ruins of Eldarath (Azshara)
- Grind Area [52]: Dreadmaul Rock (Firegut Ogres - Burning Steppes)
- Grind Area [52]: Legash Encampment, Thalassian Base Camp, Ursolan (Azshara)
- Grind Area [52]: Jaedenar (Felwood)
- Grind Area [52]: Sorrow Hill (Western Plaguelands)
- Grind Area [54]: Temple of Arkkoran (Azshara)
- Grind Area [55]: Jadefire Run, Felpaw Village (Felwood)

The quests in Blasted Lands all stack on top of each other. Five in total, one for each stat; they give 4700 experience per turn-in, along with always the chance of obtaining a Draenethyst Sphere for Kumi'sha the Collector with every mob you kill. Un'Goro Crater has the biggest collection of quests out of all of these zones.

Level 55-60:
- Winterspring [Everlook, Starfall Village]
- Western Plaguelands [Chillwind Point]
- Eastern Plaguelands [Light's Hope Chapel]
- Instance: Blackrock Depths
- Instance: Blackrock Spire [60]
- Instance: Stratholme [60]
- Instance: Scholomance [60]
- Grind Area [55]: Felstone Field, Dalson's Tears, The Writhing Haunt, Gahrron's Withering (Western Plaguelands)
- Grind Area [56]: Northridge Lumber Camp (Western Plaguelands)
- Grind Area [56]: Corin's Crossing (Eastern Plaguelands)
- Grind Area [56]: The Pillar of Ash (Burning Steppes)
- Grind Area [56]: Winterfall Village (Winterspring)
- Grind Area [57]: Blackrock Stronghold (Burning Steppes) [NOTE]
- Grind Area [57]: Ice Thistle Hills (Wintespring) - Rugged Leathers

Notes: Blackrock Stronghold is probably the best place to grind for a rogue; however, you do have to get used to how the roamers work. You'll probably die a few times along the way while learning them. Also, this might likely be another area where they're increasing the armor on the mobs, but two of the four kinds of orcs that spawn are casters, anyway. Ice Thistle Hills is not the best place to grind for experience, but it's probably one of the better places to get a nice quiet grind going and also leave with a few backpacks full of Rugged Leather.

Okay -- So this isn't really a "complete" grind area list, because honestly, you only have to sit down and grind at one or two places for a few levels before you can move onto the next tier of zones, and that's typically what I did. Just sit down and grind at one place, don't move around everywhere and you'll be out of there in a few hours or days. I've tried my best to list the best quest areas and zones as well for those that would rather try to quest and not grind their way through the game, too, but that's also somewhat incomplete, especially at later stages since I don't have much knowledge of the various new quests they implemented in Winterspring and the Plaguelands.

c&p wow official forums.

HORDE:

Level 1-5
- Newbie Area

Level 5-15
- Brill[note]
- Mulgore
- Durotar

Im biased here, Ive made.. at least 12 Troll/Orc characters and as many times as Ive done the Troll quest I find them slightly more difficult and time consuming then the Undead ones in Brill. When Retail came my guild and friends of orc/troll persuasion, made it to about 8 as a group and migrated to Brill till 13 then came back to XR. I just find it alot easier plus the runs are usually shorter between objectives, plus who doesn't like killing humans and stealing pumpkins, that never gets old heh.

*I just hate Durotar, its ugly, the quests bore me as Ive done them at least 8 times each sue me*

If you are going to continue in Durotar, make sure you acquire ALL the Senjin village AND Razorhill quests if your level 8, plus if your going for mining and are going to use firstaid you can grab both in Razor as well. The raptor egg quest stacks with tigerskins, trolls, zalazane, mishra's skull and saves you alot of back and forth.

Level 15-20
- Crossroads & Ratchet Quests
- Silverpine
- Instance:Ragefire Chasm

Again personal preferrence, Silverpine is tougher post 15 I find but its alot more compact saving travel time. Overall wealth is higher in Sp as your killing humans alot. Crossroads has more differentiated quests the downside is it takes more time to run between town so stacking is almost a pre-req so do your homework if you dont want to run for 20 minutes and waste your time.

RFC is the first Instance horde players can enter and it has 6 quests total, also very good xp there. Id recommend that if you have friends and/or the patience for pickup groups as grinding in instances yields more wealth over the levels from increased drops then regular questing.

Also for RFC, delivering the Orders to Nazgrel by Thrall, speak to Thrall. Eliminating the burning blade fellows leads up to one of the RFC quests and if you dont do the intro quests you wont get this last RFC quest(I know, I didnt care to do the Intro heh).

Level 20=30
- Stonetalon Mountains
- Ashenvale [23+ for solo]
- Hillsbrad[note]
- Thousand Needles [26ish for solo]
- Instance: Wailing Caverns [18-25]
- Instance: Shadowfang Keep [22-28]
- Instance: Blackfathom Deep [24-30]
- Grinding Leather: WC [23-25] Crocodiles are NonElite, right near the entrance so easy to stealth too, plus i forget what level Krusk the Turtle is who drops the shell shield.
Horde players should probably head into STM and get the flightpath for Sun Rock Retreat as its one of the jump off points to Shadowprey Village (that and Thunder Bluff). Ashenvale is a touch difficult as the mobs are packed together off the roadways and alliance travel the roads so your 50/50 on getting hit while running around on the roads the closer you get to Astranaar.

I spent alot of time grinding in WC during OB, got a Deviate Scale Belt made (love that thing), the 10 Slot bag, the 15 dps mace, almost a complete set of armor of the fang for a "Im feeling purple" mood and a Wingblade, its just a good place to xp.

SFK is a must for any rogue and casters you might know. Meteor Shard was used by myself till I got my Swine Tusk shank to go with my Zealots Blade. Arugals Robe and Belt are extremely good stats for casters and several 40 Mages I know stil l use the belt for the Int bonus (thats it though).

Hillsbrad is a favorite place for 30-40's Alliance to hangout and gank lowbies as there quests usually collide with ours and for example, the 25 guy killing bears for tongues in the same field as the 32 guy killing yeti's, I'm sure someone's going to die and I'll have to wager even odds on the higher level winning so you have been warned, solo there at your own risk.

Blackfathom is harder then SFK but it also has higher rewards and a good stealther who can take out a 28 Caster Elemental can get to the Fathom Core solo.

Level 30-37

(This section is freshest on my mind as I got my mount Friday and im almost 44 as of last night.)
- Thousand Needles & Shimmering Flats (East end of Thousand Needles)[28-34]
- Alterac Mountains [33ish-43]
- Stranglethorn Vale [PVPSERVER NOTE]
- Desolace [32+]
- Arathi Highlands [33+]
- Badlands [35+]
- Instance: Razorfen Kraul [30+, recommend 32 in groups, less the better your gear is and your group]
- Elites: Dungarok [30+]
- Grinding/Cash [Rock Elementals 38-40]

*PVPSERVER NOTE (Disregard if your on RP or Regular) Stranglethorn is highly populated with Alliance usually on any medium to high pop server as it has very good quests and rewards for the level. That being said you have been warned, easiest way to get there is the Zepplin from UC or Org, opposite side from the one that transports you to UC/Org from whichever area your at.

There's a flightpath in BootyBay and Id suggest getting it at 40+ if your on a PVP server, or going at an offtime because you can NOT rely on the BootyBay Buccaneers to protect you from 20+ Alliance hoodlums pk'ing you and camping your corpse. (Actually happened to one of my good friends, made me laugh)

Desolace, my least favorite zone post 20+ in the game as its sparse and ugly, thus the name. It has some fairly interesting quests if you like killing centaurs and will recieve a 40+ instance before too long.

Shimmering Flats = Good place to xp about 33 the scorpians/turtles/basalisks/vultures range from 30-33 and 35 for the basalisks. Good place to grind Xp/Cash is the southend where the basalisks spawn is at. Animal Parts + Leather will speed up your mount acquisition.

South of the Flats is Tanaris and Gadgetzan is directly across the border with the FlightMaster on the Flats side of town. Gadgetzan has a bank and an AH but, beware as its usually Alliance Favored and on PVP servers its a good way to get randomly ganked by a 58 Gnome warrior in TR whose a dork (didnt happen to me I swear)

If you can reach the Badlands via a patient higher level friend whose willing to walk you the LONG trek from either Grom'Gol, Stranglethorn or (God forbid) Hammerfall, Arathi Highlands you will be rewarded with the halfway flightpath for the eastern continent allowing you to reach Grom'Gol from UC as well as UldaMan (40+ instance) and several higher level zones for later.

Alterac is a continuation of alot of Hillsbrad quests and its right north of Tarren Mill, PVP servers are a tossup whether you will be battling constantly or never, luck of the draw.

Razorfen Kraul is a good instance, pretty short has several good drops, the ones im familiar with are corpsemaker and swinetusk shank. Corpsemaker drops from one of the minibosses and is a GOOD 2h weapon, swinetusk shank is also a good dagger from another miniboss. You will most likely be redo'ing this instance as you kill the boss mob, get a note, take it to TB/UC(forget which), kill him again for his "You killed Me Proof" Item and return to the same guy. There's an escort quest in RFK and I warn EVERYONE who does it, DO NOT LEAD THE ESCORT he runs he doesn't walk, sometimes this is the first escort folks do where the mob moves fast and they try to lead the guy and clear the way, he'll run on by you leaving you fighting. He must be allowed to aggro mobs, he regens quickly and can handle himself but you HAVE to let him acquire aggro or he will walk right past the mobs while you fight and he moves fast enough that you will fail the quest.

LEVEL 38-43
- Elite Quests: Arathi
- Swamp of Sorrows
- Feralas
- Dustwallow
- Instance: Scarlet Monestary
- Instance: Uldaman
- Instance: RazorFen Downs
- Grinding: Ogres [40 reg - 47 elites]

Feralas is good for skinning at 40 if you pick your targets carefully with 40 wolves in the front to 51 in the back, with bears/spryte dragons, apes and hippogryphs in there as well. Dustwallow is packed with mobs, stealthing spiders, elite firekin, elite crocs definately take a party if you want to wander through there non-stealthed. Swamp of Sorrows has part of the Artisan Cooking quest, zesty clam meat off the eastcoast in the 43-44 crawlers. SM is a good instance ranking from 32-42 you could xp soley there and come out quite well off, especially if your a mail user post 40, the scarlet set is decent and Herod's Shoulder looks nice. Uldaman is a nice change of pace but its got several dwarf only quests in it so expect nominal resistance entering the instance on PVP. The Stormgarde quests Im not fond off as its not truly an instance and with an Alliance presence its too easy to get your run borked, non PVP shouldn't care do it if you want too. RFD, the public intro part is 34-35 Elites and isn't too hard, it's a decent farming spot for a rogue wanting to pickup lots of silk and decent change. The instance however, is 40+ and rather hard for an unprepared group. Numerous elites will attack your party as well as 37 nonelites for extra damage thrown in while your fighting there heavier cousins so take adequate CC.

LEVEL 44-47
- Tanaris
- Searing Gorge
- Hinterlands
- Stranglethorn
- Instance: Zul'Farrak

Start at these places, you can continue on here and spread out to others as you advance in your quest strings. Ive just started doing Tanaris quests and the southern end of Tanaris is a deathtrap to me at the moment so after mapping it on my mount im staying away till higher lvl. That and the Acquire Specimens quest I really despise, I spent 30 minutes getting 4 good samples, needed 24 good, got annoyed, dumped it all, ran off to gather ornaments while I looked for Gust Elementals to get my Breath of Wind for Elemental Leatherworking. Stranglethorn, if you did the catpart gather quests there is a 46 elite cat southeast of Grom, the quest reward for killing him is a nice gun/bow choice.

LEVEL 48-60
- Blasted Lands
- Ungoro Crater
- Silithus
- Western Plaguelands
- Burning Steppes
- Instance: Temple of Atal'Hakkar [52+]
- Instance: Blackrock Depths
- Instance: Blackrock Spire

Thats about all I know off the end area's, I have friends who spend all there time exping in Atal'Hakkar at 55+ in Swamp of Sorrows, Ungoro is 50+, never stepped into Silithus haven't had the urge, same with the rest of these zones I just know the general level of the quests. Someone else add to this and make it better thank you!

NOTE: You will probably get ganked repeatedly in Hinterland, Alterac, Hillsbrad, Stranglethorn so expect to get camped and deal with res sickness.