I was thinking of giving "first to 70 on my server" a serious shot with Brian Kopp’s alliance leveling guide, as I’m sure many others considered.

Well, for starters, Brian’s server went down due to heavy traffic, so no one has been able to access the guide, which is very unfortunate and regrettable indeed. In fact, it sucks really bad.

I had the fortune of having a working copy on my hard disk (which I cannot share, sorry) since I helped Brian with the 60-70 coordinates. So I entered Outlands at 0200 a.m., after picking up TBC at midnight in a local game store, and started racing ahead. Well, turns out some people got the Burning Crusade delivered already on Monday, so they had it installed and patched right when the portal opened at 00:01 am.

I was two hours behind.

Nevertheless, I was the first alliance on my server to reach 61, at 0800 a.m. Then I continued playing for another five hours. But I don’t think I’m cut out for being first to 70. I think I could be, if I really really wanted to, with the help of Brian’s guide. Despite not having an epic mount, starting with really sucky green gear, and being 2 hours behind from start.

Forcing myself to play just for being first is not my style. I’m not that hard core. Instead, I’m gonna go my own pace with Brian’s guide and shoot for a low /played time instead.

If you’re waiting to access his guide I can tell you that it’s worth its weight in gold. There’s not a lot of info (barely any) on thottbot on the new quests so far, but I never found myself having to look anything up. It’s all in his guide.

Look, leveling in TBC is a great experience, and I’m not gonna take away from that by playing when it’s not enjoyable (after 11 hours straight). I enjoy leveling fast, but it’s about /played time. Even Joana / Mancow said that he was aiming for the lowest /played, not being first to 60 on those servers.

That appeals to me, and that’s what I’m gonna do.