The BEST Way to Start in WoW Forever (Levels 1 - 20)

WoW Forever: Levels 1–20

The first 20 levels are a chance to build good habits—not just rush toward level 60. Professions, gold management, new systems, and smart choices about quests and dungeons can make the rest of the journey smoother.

Getting Started and Levels 1–5

• Choose the ruleset that fits your preferred experience: Normal PvP, Roleplay, or Roleplay PvP. Hardcore is described as coming later.
• Choose between the Classic and Enhanced presets. Enhanced includes conveniences such as quest markers and a combined bag view. You can change these settings later.
• Follow your starting zone’s natural quest progression. Work on nearby objectives together, and turn in several quests at once rather than making repeated trips.
• If crowded quest areas leave you waiting for enemies to respawn, move on to another task and return later.
• Loot enemies, including for gray items, and sell unwanted items to build up early funds.

Levels 5–10: Professions, Camping, and Gold

• Start professions early. You can choose two primary professions and learn all three secondary professions.
• For earning gold, consider gathering professions such as Skinning, Herbalism, or Mining. Gather along your route instead of making long detours for individual nodes.
• Crafting professions are also worth considering, especially if you’re interested in Forever’s new recipes and profession-related systems.
• Start First Aid, Cooking, and Fishing; they don’t use primary profession slots. First Aid can be especially helpful for classes without reliable healing.
• Complete the early camping introduction, “The Great Outdoors,” around level 5 or 6. Campsites can provide profession-related benefits such as Stamina, Critical Strike, Strength, Intellect, or mana regeneration. You can also benefit from another player’s camp: sitting or crafting there for about a minute grants its available benefits.
• Save gold for useful, lasting needs such as ability training, profession supplies, and extra bag space. Check whether materials might be worth selling to other players before automatically vendoring them. Avoid spending heavily on gear that will soon be replaced.

Around Level 10: Talents and Abilities

• Use a talent build suited to WoW Forever rather than relying unquestioningly on an old vanilla guide.
• Prioritize talents that make leveling smoother—such as those that improve damage, resource management, or reduce downtime—rather than focusing only on maximum damage in a single fight.
• Visit your class trainer for new abilities and upgrades.

Levels 10–15: Choose Zones Sensibly

• Alliance destinations mentioned include Westfall, Loch Modan, and Darkshore. Horde options include the Barrens and Silverpine Forest.
• The Skyborn race begins on Zephris Isle, which is intended to cover roughly levels 1–12.
• Choose zones based on quest availability, enemy levels, and travel time. Move elsewhere if a zone becomes too difficult or its objectives require excessive travel.
• Forever adds more than a thousand quests, so familiar classic leveling routes may not always be the best fit.
• Pick up flight paths at new hubs to avoid unnecessary return trips.

Levels 13–20: Dungeons and Gear

The video highlights two new early dungeons:

• Hall of Things: Roughly levels 13–18, beneath Ironforge.
• Ruins of Lordaeron: Roughly levels 15–20, near Undercity. It’s described as more convenient for Horde, but accessible to Alliance as well.

Before entering a dungeon, check for quests you can pick up and try to complete multiple objectives in one run. Dungeons can provide experience, quests, gear, and practice with group play, but they’re optional—not something to force if finding a group takes too long.

Keep your gear reasonably current, especially your weapon if you’re a melee character. Casters should look for gear that supports damage and resource management. Judge items by their stats, not just their color, and don’t spend hours farming upgrades you’ll soon replace.

Looking Ahead to Legacy

The legacy system is account-wide progression tied to accomplishments across Azeroth, not just leveling. Most players are expected to get their first legacy point at level 25, though some accomplishments may unlock the system sooner. The video advises understanding the system but not grinding for it during the first 20 levels.

Level 20 Checklist

By level 20, aim to:

• Understand which talents and abilities make your class more comfortable to level.
• Be progressing at least one suitable profession.
• Have started First Aid or Cooking and learned how camping works.
• Have some gold set aside for training and other needs.
• Have collected key flight paths and have a rough idea of your next zones.
• Have tried at least one dungeon if an opportunity came up.

Gamers and sources featured: Hammerdance, the video’s creator. RestedXP leveling guides are promoted as an optional resource.