For the Horde!

I've been asked by a few classmates on how I got to the level I am at so quickly (currently lvl. 50), so I figured I'd lay out all the methods I used in a blog post.  Let my clarify first by saying that I'm far from anything significant in this game and for the most part a newbie like many others in the class are.  Therefore, by having a newbie such as myself explain faster modes of leveling in layman's terms - the only way I know how when regarding WoW - my descriptions should come across more clearly than some of the guides you may stumble across when looking for information on the web - some I find being esoteric despite being labeled as a "beginner guide."

Anyhow, these tips are reductive, as they should be, but nevertheless should help you out if find that you're still <15 lvl aftering feeling like you've invested many hours into the game.

1.  If you're in place of settlement and see any yellow exclamation marks on your radar/map, you'll want to approach that person because it's likely to be an offer to do a quest.  Once you receive the information for the quest and accept, don't go off working on the quest just yet.  You'll want to see if there are any characters in the same vicinity offering quests and accept theirs as well.  The reason for accepting many at a time in a specific locale is the quests these characters as of you typically involve going to an area where the other quests would have you go as well.  You can confirm this by maximizing your map and seeing the proximity that your quests are located to one another.  Now you can go to that area and possibly complete three or so quests at a time rather than running back and forth to complete one.  Quests offer decent experience, decent gear to equip, and currency.  In addition, a lot of quests ask you to kill a certain enemy on the ourskirts of their post - so if you like slaughtering monsters for the hell of it, you can make it worth your time more.

2.  By following the first step's advice, this will often allow you to explore more regions that your character can explore and find more cities/posts that offer more quests and special incentives for your character.  You'll get a miniscule amount of xp for exploring a new region, but the real perks come with getting opportunities to do quests that offer more experience, better items, and more currency than the previous ones.  And because you'll be leveling as you keep questing, the level of difficulty for these quests doesn't differ too much as long as you are level appropriate - and you'll know you are because the game is structured in a way that won't allow you to enter an unexplored terrority unless you meet the level requirements (clicking on your map and hovering your cursor around regions outside the one you are in usually show in parentheses what level range of characters are allowed in that territory - thus, if you see one that you eligble for and qualify for level needed, by all means, go "explore").

3.  Early on it's also a good idea to pick a profession that suits your taste.  Each profession offers opportunities that benefit you in one way or another in the game - blacksmithing to make your own armor/weaponry, fishing to give yourself health recovering delicacies, etcetera.  The benefits include xp each time you complete a task in your trade and can set yourself up to be more self-relient in the game.  But also, everytime you're trekking across regions in the game, you'll often see mounds of ore, herbs, streams - all of which can supply you with more character xp while you are out exploring or to questing while building up your profession's skill.  Jumping on this early is good because like the territories your character advances to, each trade's requirements are also dependent on the level range of the region you're in.  So if you're in a region that requries a level 50 character level, and you decide then to pick up a mining profession, you'll have to begin mining in beginner areas much like the ones you spawned in when the game started and work up from there.

4.  Following the three previous methods for leveling up your character quickly, you will be able to get to level 15 in a short amount of time.  At this point you can que yourself in a dungeon to do an instance.  To do this, go to the green eye situated on the right-hand side of your icon bar at the bottom.  This is your dungeon finder.  You will see you can ask to be in a que that will find four other players to do a dungeon with you.  And as you'll notice, this random dungeon finder will give you a reward of gold, often a lot of experience, and a bag that contains a rare item when you open it.  Furthermore, the enemies you face in an instance are "elite" and although they are close to your level, you will find their attacks are a lot more powerful and take a lot longer to die than the enemies you come across when doing a regular quest.  For this you will understand why 5 players is usually necessary.  Furthermore, the monsters in the dungeons often give you a lot more xp (especially the bosses) than you would come across when doing quests on your own.  In addition, the items you find in dungeons normally exceed those that you'll find from doing any monster, quest, or vendor.  That's not all.  Within the dungeons you have quests you can do as well, so again you'll want to make sure you visit every character in the dungeon at the beginning that's sporting a large obnoxious exclamation mark above their head.  Now, you will see how you can level very quickly - often a whole level in one dungeon early on.  And when you're done, que up again.  But you will notice when you display your dungeon finder window that it will tell you how many more times you can do a random dungeon and receive the prize goal and bag for doing so.  Once those alloted times are used up (until they regenerate in however many days it designates) you can choose a tab within the same window that says "pick a specific dungeon."  Here you will be able to choose a dungeon that you may not have done yet, and will also display to you which dungeons are available to you.  You simply place a check next to the dungeon you would like and wait in a que - and of course if you check a dungeon that displays a range of levels that are closest to your character's level, you will reap the most benefit from those in terms of "loot" (prizes for killing monsters), gold, and experience earned.

Also, you will notice sometimes when waiting in a dungeon que that it can take anywhere from thirty seconds to fifteen minutes, which creates a perfect opportunity to read McDonigal or McGee while waiting (I read a good bit of Frankenstein while being qued up).  This way when your addictive tendencies get the upper-hand on your ability to pry yourself away from WoW, you can justify it by reading school material for 5-10 minutes before doing a half hour dungeon sweep.  Then repeat.