[How to] Level from 80-85
As some of you already know, leveling from 80-85 on the Cataclysm realms requires an enormous amount of experience (over 9 million experience points to get from 84-85), and because the realms are new, many quests are still bugged. This is a guide to help you get to level 85.
First, get acquainted with the different zones:
Though you can head to Mount Hyjal right as you get to lv. 80, it is probably a bad idea to do so. You cannot get all of the experience required to level from 80 to 85 with just the available quests in the above leveling zones. Because of this, you should first get to level 82 (even perhaps lv. 83) in Northrend - in fact, the further you get from Northrend quests, the better. This should be fairly simple to do, as there are a vast amount of quests there that work. However, here's a quick-and-easy way to get a big chunk of experience:
Go to the Argent Tournament in Icecrown. Enter your faction's tent. Pick up the following quests from each NPC that you can:
You should end up with 5 versions of both the above quests in your questlog. Completing them will take 5 minutes and will grant you 1.24m experience points.
You should then go to Geirrvif in Icecrown, who will give you instant-completion quests for a total of 993k experience points.
Once you're lv. 83, head to Mount Hyjal. Use Wowhead to find all the quest givers. How to do this:
- Load the zone's webpage (they are linked in the list at the top of the post)
- Click "Show on map"
- Mouse over your faction (Alliance/Horde)
- Click on "Quest Givers"
This will add dots to the map that display the location of each quest giver in the zone. However, do keep in mind that sometimes NPCs will not be spawned, or they will require you to get a quest from someone else before they give you something to do. Also remember that some are hiding in caves.
A good deal of quests in Hyjal are working - in fact, doing them all should grant you enough reputation to get Exalted with Guardians of Hyjal, which will allow you to buy some nice gear.
Once you've cleared the entire Hyjal zone, head to Deepholm, then Uldum, then Twilight Highlands. Don't bother with Vashj'ir - there are 3 subzones, 2 of which are inaccessible because of fatigue, and the other will offer you perhaps 1 doable quest. Again, use Wowhead to find quest givers. You should be able to hit lv. 85 in this manner. If you still fall short of the xp you need, you will be close and you can just go back to Icecrown and do more quests or farm Converted Heroes.
Do not bother farming mobs in the 80-85 zones as they do not grant much more exp than Icecrown mobs, yet have a lot more HP (except for Deepholm, but it's still not worth it).
Hope this helps!
