The Best Zones to Enjoy While Leveling in WoW (+Best Expansions to Level Up Fast)

Like most games, World of Warcraft (WoW) has hidden “best zones” that will help you level up fast. What you may not know, however, is that there are several zones that are actually better than the rest. These zones are considered to have more positive effects on your leveling time compared to any other zones in the game, and can help you gain more experience per hour than anywhere else.

While leveling in World of Warcraft (WOW), you’ll experience many different zones, from the tranquil, green forests of Elwynn Forest to the bustling cities of Stormwind and the Black Morass. Finding the best zones to level in is important for making the most of your time in Azeroth, and there are plenty of sites out there that will help you locate the best zones to level in.

As most WoW players know, leveling doesn’t happen as fast as we’d like it to. This makes the game’s leveling zones very important – as the best zones to level to will impact your ability to get to the endgame fast.

To others, leveling is the adventure, the portion of the game when you get to explore the realm and participate in the narrative presented throughout WoW’s many zones. First, we’ll look at some of the most enjoyable zones to visit when leveling in WoW, and then I’ll tell you about the best WoW expansions with the quickest leveling zones.

Others see leveling as a necessary stumbling barrier to achieving endgame content and developing their character via gear and whatever the expansion’s current gimmick is.

In any case, we’ll go through the greatest zones to level in World of Warcraft from both viewpoints to guarantee you have the finest experience possible. Please keep in mind that we’ll be concentrating on the leveling experience from levels 1-48 (the earliest you may enter Shadowlands), since exploring all four main zones of the Shadowlands is practically required to fully appreciate the newest expansion.

Before we begin, it’s important to mention that this tutorial is mostly intended for individuals who are already acquainted with World of Warcraft.

The 5 Best World of Warcraft Zones to Visit

Regardless of whether you’re leveling or not, these are the zones we suggest you visit at some time. Of course, if you select that expansion, you should level in all of them.

Grizzly Hills is a mountain range in the United States (WotLK)

The first game on our list is Grizzly Hills, a timeless classic for those who played during the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos period. On the surface, the zone seems to be a beautiful forest, a haven of typical woodland life amid the harsh Northrend landscape. However, it serves as a staging area for a variety of threats that may lead to future wars.

We re-encountered the danger of the feral Worgen headed by Arugal, saw Ursoc’s corrupted rebirth, unwittingly assisted the emergence of the ice troll Drakuru, and slayed hundreds of seemingly ass-less bears here.

1) Grizzly Hills Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

In addition, active battles between the Alliance and Horde occurred in the zone’s southern edge, as the two sides fought for control of the port and resources.

The zone is notable for its highly remembered and adored zone soundtrack, in addition to its famous quest chains. A gentle violin resonates over the countryside, lovely and frightening all at once, hinting what the zone has to give its players. A brief respite before the onslaught on the Lich King’s inner sanctum. While the music in most zones has always been great, the soundtrack for Grizzly Hills elevates it to one of the finest zones in the whole game.

It’s also one of the rare occasions the game refers to your past exploits, which is a bonus for Alliance players. Gryan Stoutmantle, your main quest giver turned brigade commander, would recognize and welcome you as a staunch friend if you helped Westfall with the original Defias Brotherhood in Vanilla.

Suramaar Suramaar Suramaar Suramaar Su (Legion)

When Legion initially came out, this was the last major questing zone. Originally only accessible to players who had reached the level limit of 110, this zone focused on assisting the rebel Nightfallen group in coping with their mana depletion and recovering their beloved city from the Legion’s grasp.

Players united and rallied Night Elves, Blood Elves, and Highborne Elves under one flag to cut off the Legion’s vice-grip, relieve the mana drought afflicting the people of Suramaar, and kill Gul’dan himself in the Nighthold raid during an epic campaign that spanned a full patch.

2) Suramaar Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

Other quest lines and places of interest may be found across the zone, but the magnificent and realistic metropolis of Suramaar will stick with players the most. The city, which was made up of numerous marketplaces and social areas interwoven with alleys and buildings that players could actually explore, was one of Blizzard’s most ambitious attempts at creating an organic and interactive metropolis. 

The city was guarded by elite Nightborne foes, with demons tormenting innocents in the abandoned areas. To escape discovery, players had to carefully navigate the city while disguised, progressively undermining the Legion and reclaiming the city and its resources one step at a time. These moments combine to make this one of the finest zones in World of Warcraft.

Westfall is a place in the United States where (Cataclysm)

Sorry, Horde, but Alliance questing is pretty much the only way to go in this zone. Westfall, the human kingdom’s breadbasket, has been plagued by crop failure, lack of assistance from the capital due to political manipulation, and the ever-growing Defias gang for years.

3) Westfall Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

While many problems, such as dealing with the Defias gang, have now been resolved, worrisome rumors and occurrences have been happening in quick succession. Beloved members of the town have been killed, local pests like gnolls and murlocs are banding together, and someone is using the people’s concerns to assemble an army.

Players are forced to live with the consequences of their ostensible “solution” to an issue from years ago, and they get a peek into the life of an ordinary peasant. You’ll find this zone to be one of the most memorable and exciting zones to level in, culminating with another plunge into the Deadmines.

Icecrown is a fictional character (WotLK)

The Lich King’s doorstep, as well as the conclusion of the war effort in Northrend. After the catastrophic Wrathgate event in Dragonblight, the Argent Crusade makes a last-ditch effort to establish a foothold in this zone. 

Players then report to their faction’s flagship, where they will stage attacks throughout the zone to take control from the undead troops and establish an united staging area for the assault on the Lich King himself. With the enormous bloodthirsty vrykul, unending swarms of undead, and even the Scarlet Crusade’s zealots to deal with, gamers will have no lack of enemies to slay.

4) Icecrown Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

Despite the fact that it is a freezing wasteland, the zone is brimming with missions to do. As you delve into the mysteries of Icecrown, the Ebon Hold Deathknights seek your help in killing some of the Lich King’s most fearsome champions, the Argent Crusade creates a tournament ground to vet out a strike force, and you witness what may or may not be the last remnants of Arthas’ humanity.

Where the war against the avatar of death concluded in Wrath of the Lich King, Shadowlands heralds the start of our fight against death itself.

dreadful wastelands (MoP)

We’re aware. The core of the Mantid swarm is one of the finest zones to level in for its deep history and excellent benefits, despite how beautiful and colorful the rest of Pandaria is.

After being dispatched to explore the zone and figure out why the mantid are invading years ahead of plan, players will soon get involved with the deadly insect race. You discover how the Sha drove the mantid queen into a terrifying frenzy when you awaken and liberate the Nine Paragons, the mantids’ champions.

5) Dread Wastes Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

With the Paragons’ distinct zone-wide benefits, you have a variety of options for dealing with the region’s difficulties. As you gain the mantid’s trust and ultimately discover where their true allegiances lie, you’ll be able to quickly refresh your cooldowns, transform your opponents into huge live bombs, mind control any enemy as your pet, and more.

A Leveling Recommendation for New Players

If you’re leveling for the first time, we highly advise you to complete the new Exile’s Reach introductory chain (available immediately after character creation) to reach level 10. It will walk you through the game’s mechanics, what to anticipate from questing, and how to seamlessly transition into the prior expansion’s leveling content. To get started with Battle for Azeroth content, just follow the tasks it offers you when you arrive in your faction’s main city.

Because opponents now scale to your current level, you could theoretically level in other expansions/continents, but we suggest sticking in BFA content to prevent becoming lost and overwhelmed. Your objective will be to reach level 48 so that you may begin playing Shadowlands, the most recent addition.

The Best Leveling Zones in World of Warcraft

We’ll be discussing the finest zones for effective leveling, and in order to do so, we’ll need to discuss the WoW expansions.

If you want to level quickly, choose a single expansion and concentrate all of your efforts on completing the tasks available in that expansion through timewalking. Simply reach level 10 and go to Stormwind/Orgrimmar, where you will be asked to talk with Chromie after interacting with a mission board. She’ll let you take a timewalk and pick an expansion to level in until you reach level 50. 

Speedleveling Chromie Blizzard courtesy of HGG / Jeffrey Hsu

By the time you’ve completed all of the main zones of the expansion you’re leveling in, you’ll most likely be at level 48.

It should be noted that timewalking leveling is only possible if your account has at least one level 50 toon.

By doing so, the material will adapt to your current skill level, providing you with valuable experience and gear. You may also use the group finder to queue for the dungeons in that expansion.

You could theoretically switch between expansions by speaking with Chromie and completing a separate timewalking campaign, but the time you’d spend returning to your capital and switching would be better spent leveling in a single expansion.

On that point, we suggest the following expansions as the quickest to level in and have the finest WoW zones:

  1. Draenor’s Warlords (WoD)
  2. Legion
  3. The War for Azeroth (BfA)
  4. Pandaria’s Mists (MoP)
  5. Apocalypse (reworked the entirety of Classic)
  6. The Lich King’s Wrath (WotLK)
  7. Crusade of Fire (BC)

The first three on the list are the ones you should concentrate on since they use the most up-to-date quest flow and advancement. Rather than scouring a zone for hidden missions, you’ll organically move from quest hub to quest hub, with quest objectives often concentrated in particular places. As long as you keep an eye on the minimap for any new missions in each place you visit, you should only have to backtrack a few times.

When a sequence of missions leads you to the approximate area of one, we also suggest completing the additional quest goals strewn across the expansion’s zones, since they provide significant amounts of experience.

Additionally, Mission Tables are included in all three expansions, enabling you to send followers out to collect resources and gain experience enhancing goods over time.

Warlords of Draenor Blizzard is an image of a blizzard.

Due to the way quest centers are easily set up, and flight routes are often provided to you when asked to go to a new zone, Warlords of Draenor is regarded to have the quickest leveling zones in WoW. In addition, there are many treasure chests and uncommon monsters strewn around the globe that provide significant amounts of experience. If you keep up with your garrison every time you hearth back to base, you should get some good experience.

Legion Blizzard is an image of a blizzard.

For much of the same reasons as WoD leveling, Legion is considered efficient, albeit with somewhat longer travel time between quest goals. It’s not too bad, and more importantly, it allows you to utilize your class/specialization-specific weapon. When the weapons no longer have all of their unique powers, they still serve as excellent stat sticks and eliminate the need to worry about weapon drops while leveling. They also removed any flying-related accomplishment criteria!

Battle for Azeroth Blizzard is an image of a blizzard.

If it weren’t for two reasons, Battle for Azeroth would likely be higher on the list. To fly in the expansion, you must have both parts one and two of the meta-achievement Pathfinder unlocked. Two, since BfA was the most recent expansion previous to Shadowlands, most of us are still sick of it. Leveling in BfA is pretty efficient if you already have the Pathfinder accomplishment, but you presumably already know what you’re doing at that point.

Mists of Pandaria Blizzard is an image of a blizzard.

The design standards of Mists of Pandaria and Cataclysm are very contemporary, although travel time is much longer. Cataclysm is particularly famous for this, but it also provides the most diversity in levels if you’re looking for a change of pace, since the expansion completely rebuilt and renovated the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Just keep in mind that getting from zone to zone will need some running, but the quest pace and advancement are much more obvious now, avoiding the worst of backtracking.

Wrath of the Lich King Blizzard is an image of a blizzard.

Wrath of the Lich King and the Burning Crusade, on the other hand, suffer from the aforementioned backtracking problem. It’s fairly unusual to finish a quest objective, turn it in, and then be instructed to return to the location where you just killed everything to interact with a single item. It’s especially bad in BC content, making it difficult to level without flying throughout the expansion.

On a personal basis, we like WotLK zones and recommend leveling a toon at that time period for nostalgia.

 

That concludes our post on the top zones to level in World of Warcraft! Subscribe and leave a comment below if you’d want to see us expand on this with additional zones. Maintain your competitive edge with the newest guides and info from High Ground Gaming.

When it comes to leveling your character in World of Warcraft, some zones are more fun than others. If you want to rake in the most exp, you’ll want to pick one of the more popular zones, like The Blasted Lands or The Deadmines. But if you’re looking for a more relaxing experience, try out one of the less crowded zones, like Swamp of Sorrows or Everfrost.. Read more about fastest way to level in shadowlands and let us know what you think.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which Wow expansion had the best leveling?

The best leveling in World of Warcraft is the Burning Crusade.

What is the fastest way to level in WOW?

The fastest way to level in World of Warcraft is by doing quests.

What is the fastest way to level in Shadowlands?

The fastest way to level in Shadowlands is to use the Escape skill.

This article broadly covered the following related topics:

  • wow level 50 zones
  • wow level 50 questing zones
  • wow best leveling zones alliance
  • wow level 20-30 zones horde
  • leveling zones wow
Greg Baskerville
Greg Baskerville
Gaming Blogger & Musician. Playing games since the Amiga days in the 1980's, and a handy guitarist.

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