Leveling Guides For WoW

World of Warcraft Alliance Leveling Guides

When World of WarCraft launched back in 2004, most reviewers thought it would be successful. What they didn't know was exactly how successful it would turn out to be. In fact, it has continued to blow away expectations time and again, and it hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. With the upcoming second expansion pack, Wrath of the Lich King, due out later in 2008, WoW (as World of WarCraft is affectionately known) is going to continue to grow in the years to come.

When there are blockbusters in popular culture, they always spawn new niche markets. Star Wars, for example, spawned a comprehensive library of books, video games, and playing cards after the huge success of the original trilogy. With over ten million paying subscribers, WoW is equally as successful as, if not more successful than, any MMO to date (and arguably any video game at all to date). It has been called Blizzard's cash cow, the game that keeps on giving. With a growing population of over ten million players, WoW is set to be the most popular game for the foreseeable future.

Many players enjoy the end game content. This includes PvP (player versus player) areas and the hardest dungeons, and only veteran players can reasonably attempt these areas. With such tantalizing goals in sight, players feel obligated to level up their characters (a central idea of any roleplaying game), just so they can experience this end game content. While some hardcore players will spend hundreds (and often thousands) of hours on end game content, such as raiding (a term used to describe taking large groups of players into dungeons), players will spend hundreds of hours simply getting to the final levels with their characters. In fact, the world record for leveling a World of WarCraft was up until very recently 149 hours of play time, and that is the absolutely best case scenario. More casual players are likely to take much longer than that.

Of course, the whole goal of these leveling guides isn't merely to cut down on the amount of time that you spend leveling. You're also supposed to have a lot of fun doing it. These leveling guides help serve a number of people in this regard: players new to the game or even new to the genre, players new to that particular race, and even veteran players who have battled across Azeroth and Outland for thousands of hours. How do leveling guides help players have more fun?

Methods of Leveling

Two main methods of leveling exist for players to get up to the level cap. The first, grinding, has been a staple of MMOs for years since before the days of Everquest. Questing is obviously integral to the RPG experience, but it surprisingly hasn't always been an integral part of the leveling process. Grinding refers to killing monsters in a very monotonous fashion for hours on end to rack up experience points and gain levels. Questing involves players completing various objectives and getting experience points for successful completion (along with other rewards, generally).

Some veterans of the genre have theorized that companies traditionally forced players to undergo grinding because they wanted to keep the players interested in the game for longer. While grinding itself wouldn't keep the players interested, it would take them longer to reach the end game content, and thus they would be forced to keep on paying the subscription fees for a longer period of time. Because of a relative dearth of content years ago for MMOs, this grinding made the game seem longer. Even though newer games have allowed gamers to forgo grinding to level up, many MMOs still encourage grinding in some fashion. For example, Lord of the Rings Online encourages players to kill hundreds of monsters in various zones to complete deeds, which give the players a myriad of in game perks.

Many players actually enjoy grinding as a mildly fun way to pass idle time. While more entertaining than feeling bored, players deserve a more entertaining way of spending their time (and money). The crew at Blizzard helped to reverse this downside of the MMO experience by writing thousands of unique quests for players to complete. These quests give experience for completion along with a variety of other virtual rewards such as better armor and weapons. Questing adds a greatly needed variety to the leveling experience that helps prevent players from ever becoming bored with the game.

The more casual crowd doesn't much prefer the competitive atmosphere of PvP zones and hardcore raiding dungeons, so the leveling experience itself is their primary concern. Single player RPGs don't have much in the way of end game content – most of it is centered around leveling, and when the main storyline has been completed, the gamer is given a sense of completion. It's a different story with MMOs. Even after the main storyline has been completed, players can partake in the same dungeons over and over and explore previously unknown regions of the virtual world which they inhabit. There is no “game over” screen for the MMORPG, but many people are content merely to complete the main story arc and call it a day.

Leveling guides certainly help casual players and those who like the single player RPG experience. Some of the harder quests give much better rewards, but they aren't necessary for this crowd of players. Casual players would have much more fun with the game if they know which quests can be completed by single characters or small groups and which quests take larger groups or more serious players with better equipment. While some players might state concerns over taking the entire “exploration” factor out of the RPG experience, it's an empty argument at best. Leveling guides don't ruin the excitement of exploring new lands and meeting new people online from all around the world.

For the more hardcore crowd, leveling guides also help a lot, although not quite as much as for new players. Those looking to experience end game content in its fullest can get there faster than ever, and they are probably going to be less focused on soaking up the atmosphere of the game while they level, instead opting for the quickest route to raiding and dueling off in the PvP zones. With proven methods, leveling guides will help them achieve their goals in the absolute shortest amount of time possible.

The Alliance

Between the two main factions (the Alliance and the Horde), the Horde only has one well known leveling guide, but the Alliance now has three popular ones. The first Alliance leveling guide, Brian Kopp's guide, was incredibly comprehensive. The written guide has over one hundred pages of suggested quests, basic objectives to meet, and general tips that everyone can benefit from. Like the other leveling guides, it's updated regularly to accurately reflect the current state of Azeroth and Outland, meaning that it was updated when The Burning Crusade launched, and it will be updated again when Wrath of the Lich King comes out later in 2008. However, it's also updated for each patch (not just the expansions), so players know that they're always getting the most up-to-date information.

Team iDemise, instead of just using a traditional written guide like Brian Kopp's guide, opts for an in-game technology that helps players without forcing them to minimize the game to read the guide or print it out. The folks at Team iDemise originally came from Counter-strike and Quake, so they have an extensive history with video games, and they're knowledgeable about a wide variety of different technologies which help them excel. One such technology is MapMod 2. For World of WarCraft, Team iDemise uses MapMod 2 to put the objectives right into the game, telling players exactly where to go and what to do without having to look away from World of WarCraft. Team iDemise's guide is totally unambiguous, and players will never be left guessing where to go or how to go about completing certain difficult objectives.

Both of these guides serve different audiences. They both have proven methods that work, but Team iDemise certainly appeals to the hardcore crowd with its use of MapMod 2 technology, while Brian Kopp will appeal to more casual and roleplaying gamers. Either one will help any gamer level up faster and have more fun at the same time, and regular updates ensure accuracy. However, it appears that perfection can be improved upon, because the record that could not be broken finally has been.

Recently, Glutony, a level 70 dwarf hunter, broke the previous world record of 149 hours for leveling a character from 1 to 70. He wrote down absolutely everything that he did and compiled it into the single most helpful guide ever written. If you thought Brian Kopp's one hundred plus page guide was large, Glutony's guide at www.wowaddicts.com is over six hundred pages long. That's nearly six times as long as Brian Kopp's guide, and Glutony prepared the guide for any type of player by leaving no bit of information out. Without a doubt, the guide at www.wowaddicts.com will appeal to the widest range of players while giving them record breaking methodology. By breaking the record of 149 hours, Glutony ensured that his guide has the absolutely best strategies for leveling a character in as little time as possible.

However, the guide goes beyond just including six hundred pages of quest strategies and basic tips. Glutony also recorded every single minute of his journey to level 70, so players will be able to access the video library of guides and receive unparalleled instruction for leveling their characters. From Glutony's point of view during his playing time, players will be able to see exactly what he did. However, www.wowaddicts.com (along with the other two guides mentioned previously) only covers leveling up of Alliance characters. Horde players will need to turn to Joana's Horde guide for their current leveling needs. Glutony hopes to release an entire library of WoW guides covering a wide range of topics, but for now www.wowaddicts.com only has the Alliance leveling guide.

All of these guides will serve you well, but the one at www.wowaddicts.com has proof of its methodology and the fact that the strategies employed by Glutony (and written into his guide) broke the previous world record for leveling, so you know you're getting the most effective Alliance guide. For an integrated experience, the Team iDemise guide is also helpful, and Brian Kopp's guide, the original Alliance guide, remains helpful to casual players even through today. Horde players will want to check out Joana's Horde guide. Know that with any of these guides (which are updated to reflect each patch and expansion), you're getting a helpful tool to level more quickly while having more fun.