Smile! We’re leveling again!

Oops I did it again. I started leveling another character. Another Death Knight, no less.

And I’m thoroughly enjoying myself so far.

I decided to take a few different approaches this time. First, I wasn’t going to do anything with his garrison. By that I mean I wasn’t going to maximize it, optimize it, or do any -izing of that nature. No, let the chips fall where they may. Even though I “accidentally” leveled it up to Garrison Rank 2, I put down a Blacksmithing hut (to get the recipes without having to quest for it) and a Storage hut (so I could though all the things in my bank). No medium huts, nothing else. This time around, the garrison would exist only to provide me with garrison resources so I could buy XP potions.

Second, and this idea came to me “accidentally” as well (I’m beginning to question the validity of your accidents — Editor), was leveling without engaging in the storyline (re: questing). I figured since Blizzard wasn’t that interested in engaging in their current content, why should I?

Well then, you might think to yourself, how does one advance without questing? Impossible, yes?

To that I say nay.

Technically I guess I did follow the questline – to a point. Once I was level-appropriate, I’d get the quest from my garrison to visit the new zone. I’d then follow the two or three quests to unlock my stronghold in that zone. After that, I’d stop with the storyline questing and start with alternate XP gathering.

So what would I do?

Blizzard’s infatuation with their treasures and the placing of them, was something I took advantage of. They were scattered all over the zone, and at 20-30k XP a pop they were worth more than a quest turnin. Snatching up these freebies also forced me to cover more of the zone than I had previously when I was focused on speed leveling.

Bonus objectives became a thing, and I was all over them. As a Blood DK, I could complete the bonus objectives faster than I could finish many of the quests, and I’d get a decent chunk of change in the process. I’d also get a much decenter slab of XP (110k worth of tasty XP) in the process. Oh, and achievement points.

It’s like giving XP away!

My plan wasn’t to do much with the garrison. Partly out of protest, but mostly to prove a point to myself. Still, out in the wilds of Draenor there were garrison followers with short quests attached to them. They weren’t storyline related, so I figured it’d be worth using them to pad my XP bar as well. Some of these recruiting quests were quite simple.

Doesn’t get much easier than that.

So far, things are going just as quickly as they were when I was focused on speed leveling. My DK is already at 96, and is about to journey to Spires of Arak. There are definite drawbacks to leveling this way – lack of gear upgrades via quest rewards being a big one – but so far, the process has been painless. It has much more of a casual feel to it. There’s no big worrying about keeping up with garrison stuff, or making sure I don’t miss any steps in the questline.

Will this work all the way to 100? After all, there are only so many XP alternatives available per zone, and the leveling requirements keep increasing. I may eventually have to cave, or get creative, but I’m planning to ride this hobbled pony as far as I can. Make your own fun, is what I say.

Why So Serious?