Joana’s 1-85 Horde Leveling Guides

Rating:
Guide last updated: Updated for Cataclysm
Review last updated: January 24, 2011
Guide suitable for: Beginner - Hardcore players

Joana / Mancow is one of the fastest WoW levelers in the world. He was the first to write a detailed horde leveling guide a few years ago, and it has remained top notch. His guide is all about getting to 85 as fast as possible as Horde by questing. Joana is the name of his character, but he is a guy IRL.

One thing you immediately notice with this guide compared to others is the superior questing path Joana has laid out for you. Some guides only tell you how to complete a couple of quests, then accept new ones and complete those and so on. Joana’s guide, on the other hand, often tells you to complete a dozen quests before turning in, and has a much more well-thought-out route, which minimizes travel and maximizes experience per hour.

I should know, because I’ve tested this guide. Below you’ll find more info about my experiences with this guide. Here are just a couple of screenshots:

3 days and 20 hours to level 60! And keep in mind this was before all the leveling speed improvements and heirlooms Blizzard implemented for level 20-60, so it’d be even faster now. It was also without rested experience. Trust me when I say this guide is FAST.

Joana’s leveling guides are offered as either 1-70, 70-80 or 80-85 or all combined for 1-85. They come as in-game mods, as well as printable guides and online guides for 1-80 with clickable links, so you can choose what suits you best. It’s all included. He has also done a very good job of linking all the quests and a lot of mobs, NPCs, zones and other useful stuff. Not that you'd need it, since all instructions for how to do all quests are included in his in-game addon.

Joana’s in-game addon. Click for bigger picture (opens in new window)

This guide can be used with any horde race and class (separate guides included for Death Knights, undead, tauren, orcs, trolls, blood elves and goblin). It might be a bit harder for some classes, though, and you may even have to skip a few quests. The main difference is that you would also do your class quests.

He’s adding and tweaking things regularly, too, so the "free updates for life" is a promise he really delivers on. Keep in mind, that for new expansions you'll likely have to pay for his new guides, but you have free updates on your existing guides.

One more thing if I may: this guide is virtually grind-free. Some popular leveling guides still require you to do a lot of grinding, but not this one. So if you hate grinding (like me), this guide is for you.

If I had to complain…

There could be some more instructions on how to do some quests on the 1-60 part, and class quests are not included. You’ll have to pick those up from your class trainer yourself. More expensive than other horde leveling guides.

Conclusion

A good guide, by a committed 'author'. 

Click here for more information.

If you want to see my experience leveling up with an earlier version of this guide, click here