Joana's Horde Guide - A Rogue's Review

So what's Joana's Guide? Joana's Horde Leveling Guide is a complete, step-by-step guide that will take your World of Warcraft Horde character from level 1 to 70 in a fast and easy manner. (If you play on the Alliance side, the you should grab Brian's Alliance Leveling Guide, instead.)

So what's speedleveling and what will buying this guide do for you?

From time to time Blizzard has run speed leveling contests. Something along the lines of "First character, on the new server, to get to level 50... wins this Altarec Mana Biscuit..." Ok, the prize is silly, but the races have been real. Guess who wins them? Joana. Usually by a lot. How's under 5 days to level 60 sound?

So the guide is the exact path Joana follows on these speed runs. Think you can follow that path if it's laid out for you? How much time will that shave off your leveling speed.

There are a few other things to keep in mind. In order to get the very best times Joana has become very efficient at following this path, shaving a minute here and a few there. Also...

• He makes no trips to the auction house, leaving any buying and selling to his auction house mule.

• He does no gathering. Nope, no skinning, mining, herbalism, or pvp (honor gathering.) No instances, either.

• He carries big bags, doesn't loot everything, and doesn't make special trips to the vendor to dump stuff. It's a speed leveling run and not a gold making run. In fact, in the guide, he mentions that he frequently destroys items to make room for better loot.

• He stocks up on appropriate supplies so that he can go for long periods of time without hitting the vendors again.

• Think he does these runs on a PvP server? Ha! How many gankers do you think would try to slow him down if they new he was doing a speed run on their PvP server? Now, I did my leveling on a PvP server, but I didn't have people looking for me.

So if you can follow the path and skip all the time wasting activies, however much honor/gold they may make, then you'll find that following Joana's Guide will get you leveled very quickly.

Read on for Rogue notes, what I don't like about the guide (very little,) and what you actually get.

In the screenshot below take note of a couple of things:

• The map which shows you where to go for each quest
• The step by step guide on the left
• Each of the colored text bits are links to sites where you can get far more info on each quest. Some of them are also video links.
• Note the video link at the bottom. Want to see Joana run through this section? Click that link (from within the guide.)

One of the few criticisms people have about Joana's Guide is that it's really a Hunter Leveling Guide since that's the class Joana plays in all his speed runs. Why? Simply that Hunters are the fastest leveling of all the WoW classes.

So I went through the guide as a Rogue and 98% of it was just fine. Some notes first:

I was a newb. I've only been seriously playing World of Warcraft since Jan '08. Previously my best character was an awesome level 5. So the entirety of Azeroth, not to mention Outlands, was 100% new to me.

Also, I took the gathering skills; Mining and skinning, to be exact and frequently went out of my way to do a little more mining and skinning. Fishing, too. There's a skill that'll slow your speed runs!

Being on a PvP server (Bloodscalp) meant getting ganked on occasion. Nothing quite like fishing in a contested zone, at level 25, and seeing that Hunter's Mark appear on your head, cast by someone way higher than you.

Oh yes, I also read all the quests, hit Thottbot.com a lot, and explored a bit. Still, when all was said and done, I hit level 70 in just over 15 days game time (/played.) Not too bad, I think. I'll probably try a speed run, just for fun, with a Hunter, or maybe a Warlock.

Side Note: there are other ways to get to 70 really fast. You can buy powerleveling, which costs around $250-300 real money, and which has the small risk of getting your account banned. You can also buy a level 70 character, pre-made, with the same risk, by spending more money. Or you can get the guide for about $37.

There's also instance grinding, which will level you fast, but you'll have no combat skills or cash so will have to spend some time getting your skills up.

And then there's the issue of actually knowing how to play your character. Not so bad if you're already an experienced player, or have friends willing to teach you. Kinda frustrating, otherwise.

I'm not so jaded that I need powerleveling, though I know some who are. I tried the instance grinding with an alternate character, but that has some issues.

I like the game and I like the leveling and the guide was extremely handy.

Rogue Notes: What's that? You're a Rogue and didn't go around ganking everything in site or a PvP server? Nope. No battlegrounds, no arenas, and little world PvP. I concentrated on gold and leveling. Now, at 70, I'm spending a lot of time in the battlegrounds.

By the way, I did the whole run pretty much solo and still haven't done an instance. (What?!?!?!?)

About the leveling: Joana's Guide is a questing guide, not a grinding guide. Why? Following the quests will pile on the experience much faster than grinding. Plus, it's a lot less boring. Case closed.

About the questing: A Hunter's pet gives him certain advantages when leveling, one of which is when fighting Elites. Skill also helps. I mention this because some of the quests in the guide will have you fighting Elite mobs.

Joana solos them, I skip them (tried it solo, ouch) and the rest of the people get a group. Just be aware that the Elites are there. If you can't or don't want to handle them then just skip them. You won't miss much.

I'm sneeeeaking....: Naturally, there are a few places where, as a Rogue or Druid, you can sneak your way into an area, a cave for example, and nab the goal without having to fight everything on the way in and the way out. Sneak into the Ogre cave, kill the guy guarding the box, grab the box, sneak out.

If you're not sneaky you'll have to fight in and fight out. Score one for Rogues. :)

Come with me: Like the Escort quests? There are a bunch of the in game and Joana has you do a bunch of those. Like the Elites, you can solo them, group them, or skip them. I tried some and skipped the ones that looked to hard. The ones that I did were either short or I was able to clear a path beforehand.

Hunter quests: One advantage that Hunter's will have with Joana's guide is that all the Hunter specific quests are included, but not those for any other class.

Is it just a Hunter Leveling Guide? No. While it was put together by a Hunter, and includes the Hunter quests, I think you'll find that it's appropriate for any class capable of soloing. Certainly groups will have no problems.

Leveling Tip: If the quests seem a bit tough here's what you do.

1. Do some extra grinding in the easy areas,
2. Loot more and look into some better gear. Joana's not big on getting the hot gear, but better gear might be a help to your leveling.
3. Always log out in an Inn or Capital city and get that rest xp.

If you do #1 and #3 from the beginning you'll find yourself staying a level or two ahead of the guide at all times and the listed quests will be that much easier.

Also, Blizzard increased XP from level 20 to 60 in the 2.3 patch. Joana's guide takes this into account and recommends skipping certain areas. Feel free to do those if you want/need the extra levels. All the details for those areas are still included if you want to use them.

Well, it's a Horde leveling guide, after all. So if you're a Gnome, or any Alliance race, you'll have to get that other guide (which is very similar and might even be better in some ways. Much of what is said in this guide applies to Brian's as well)

Joana's guide is entirely online. Once you've paid you'll be able to log into the site and access the whole thing. It comes with a printable version, if you want to print it and put it on a clipboard, which I did at first.

It's just that you'll have to switch back and forth from the game to read the online guide, unless you printed it.

Of course, the big advantage to the guide being online is that it's easy for Joana to update it, which he does on a regualr basis.

Some guides, such as the iDemise guide, are entirely in-game, which is cool, but you still have to switch back and forth from the game map to the game.

You still have to read your quest log! Big ouchie there, right? Not. While the Horde guide includes details on many of the quests you're going to have to read your log on some of them. Still, Joana's guide has a ton of links and videos. Read below for more on those.

It's not free. Well duh. Anyone putting in that much time and effort deserves to get paid.

And that's about it on the minus side.

There's a bunch of stuff that you do get with Joana's Guide. It's not just a "go to (zone) and do the quests you find there" guide.

You get:

• Joana's 1-25 Blood Elf Leveling Guide: All the other races hook up in the Barrens at level 12 or so, which you can certainly do with your Blood Elf if you want. This guide covers the entire Blood Elf starting zone. By the way, following it will likely get you to exalted rep with Tranquillen, in the Ghostlands, which will give you access to some nice reputation gear.

• Joana's 1-60 Horde Leveling Guide: Just like it says. Also covered are the the starting zones for all the other Horde races.
• Joana's 60-70 Outland Step-by-Step Guide: Just like the 1-60 guide, but for Outlands.
• Joana's 60-70 Outland Reference Guide: This is a listing of all the worthwhile Outlands quest chains, if you don't want to follow the step-by-step guide.
• Change Log for Joana's Guides: proof that's this gide is regularly updated.

• Class Guides - Submitted by Users: A total of 22 class guides covering the nine classes. These include play tips and talent builds.
• A Hunter Talent Build - Since Joana's expertise is in getting leveled fast don't you think he'd have a killer talent build? It's included.
• Hotkey listing for Hunters, and Warlocks too!
• Leveling tips and tricks for all characters and several that are Hunter specific.
• Maps! Joana has included a map of each zone and marked it with the general locations of each quest. Also included are notes on how to get to the next zone (which some guides omit.)

Want videos? Joana has covered the entire 1-60 run (and will do the 60-70 run eventually) on video. There are also a number of videos specific to particular quests.

Want more quest info? Every quest in Joana's guide is linked to Thottbot.com or wow.allakhazam.com which will give you lots of info on each quest.

It's on the Map! Every quest in the guide that has a specific location is marked on the in-game map. When you buy the guide you'll get the Map Notes addon which comes pre-loaded with all of the quest coordinates. Get the coords from the guide, locate that spot on your main map, set a waypoint, and away you go. This will save you tons of time searching for locations.

Updates are included: There's no monthly fee and no charge for upgrades. When Joana updates the guide for new content he uploads it to the site and you have immediate access.

Let's start with who it's not for:

Obviously if you're done with the leveling grind then you don't need this guide. I'm currently spending all my times in the Battlegrounds, working on getting that nice epic gear. So my alts are all getting rusty.

If you have a guild which will powerlevel you to 60 or 70 then you certainly don't need this guide.

If you'd rather buy your levels (by buying a character or buying powerleveling) then go for it. It's your account.

If you already have all the quests memorized and can match Joana's leveling speed (my kid says he can and he's been playing since the WoW beta test) then you don't need it.

The rest of us should seriously consider it.

The forums and chat have plenty of questions and remarks asking where to go and what to do to get leveled. People comment about flat spots from level A to level B, where the leveling is tough.

There are no flat spots in Joana's guide and you'll never wonder where to go or what to do.

If you're new to World of Warcraft and you don't have a buddy to show you around the Joana's guide is a good way to go.

If you're an experienced player and want a faster route to 70 then you should look into buying a copy.

So where are you in the game? You can grab your copy of Joana's 1-70 Horde Leveling Guide here.