Leveling in World of Warcraft is a part of the game that some players want to get through as fast as possible to reach the endgame. While the leveling process has been slowed down slightly since its peak in the mid-2010s, you can still get to max level within a day or so of total playtime, depending on your class and leveling route, among other factors.
With the introduction of the “Chromie Time” leveling system, getting a character to the endgame has never been easier and more customizable since you can now select which expansion’s content you want to level through whenever you make a new character. Still, even with that in mind, some expansions’ zones are going to be far more efficient to level through than others. Typically, older expansions, where the quests are a lot simpler, will be best for leveling.
Here are the most optimal and fastest zones to level a fresh World of Warcraft character in.
Eversong Woods/Ghostlands
The most efficient starting experience in the game belongs to Blood Elves. Their dual-zone quest chain in the Eversong Woods and Ghostlands contains over 100 quests and can easily be banged out in an afternoon. Since the questing experience was developed over 15 years ago, no elements of modern quest design are present. Almost every quest follows the classic “kill-collect” formula that many early WoW quests had. You’re guaranteed to start this zone at level one, but by the time you finish, you could be well past level 30.
Gorgrond
Warlords of Draenor is typically viewed as the expansion with the fastest leveling experience, and no zone is more evident of that claim than Gorgrond. The zone features plenty of bonus objectives that can be easily completed for a quick burst of experience, while the regular quests in the zone often overlap with those bonus objectives. If you want to make use of the experience that Draenor zones like Gorgrond offer up, it’s best to save the continent for the back half of your leveling experience.
Cape of Stranglethorn
Stranglethorn Vale is just as efficient of a leveling zone in retail WoW as it is in WoW Classic, although in the modern game, you’ll want to head to its southern section—the Cape of Stranglethorn—for the best XP gains. Booty Bay is one of the richest questing hubs in all of WoW history, with a far-breaching questline surrounding the Bloodsail Buccaneers as well as plenty of side quests in the area.
Western/Eastern Plaguelands
The Cataclysm expansion completely revamped the Plaguelands into a zone with plenty of XP opportunities. After you finish your race’s starting experience, you could head to the Plaguelands and complete both zones’ major storylines within a few hours of playtime. Plus, they’ll be greatly worth your time since the Western Plaguelands in particular has one of the strongest narrative storylines out of any zone in the game, while the Eastern Plaguelands holds some of the richest history in WoW. The Plaguelands plays host to major points of interest such as Andorhal, Darrowshire, and Light’s Hope Chapel. Spending some time in these places and getting to live through some of the best questlines in WoW, all while leveling at a blazing pace, is an experience that can’t be missed.
Silverpine Forest
Horde players have access to one of the fastest zones in the game in Silverpine Forest. Not only does the main questline for the zone go by at a rapid pace, but there are plenty of side quests to collect and keep your level progression humming right along. Silverpine is also one of the densest zones in WoW in regard to rare spawns, each of which will provide a flat boost to your XP with very little effort involved.
Azsuna
Legion was the first expansion to turn WoW’s leveling system into a campaign-oriented experience. With this in mind, quests became more cinematic, had more NPCs involved, and featured a more enriching story that went along with each quest. Even with that in mind, though, Azsuna is still one of the fastest zones to level through due to the density of its quests per hub and relatively quick main storyline.
