Get to 70 fast with this World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade Classic leveling guide

Looking for the best way to fast level in Burning Crusade Classic? The (re)release of World of Warcraft's first expansion increases the level cap from 60 to 70. If you didn't play through WoW Classic or you're planning on rolling one of the new races, you'll find that a few of these tips apply from 1-60, too.

This guide shows you how to level through Outland so you can start enjoying the content that Burning Crusade Classic offers. Of course, if you don't mind spending the money, you can pay to level boost a character—as long as it's not a Blood Elf or a Draenei. But as you're still going to need to do the last ten or so levels the old-fashioned way, this WoW Burning Crusade Classic leveling guide will have you through the Dark Portal and beyond in no time.

Burning Crusade Classic leveling guide: What's changed 

There are a number of changes to take note of with the launch of Burning Crusade Classic. While much of the leveling experience is the same between levels 1-60, there are some differences you should know about.

You'll be able to get your first mount at level 30 (it's level 40 in Classic) and the mount and mount-training cost have both been reduced. Additionally, the experience needed to get from 20-60 has been lessened while the experience from quests between level 30-60 has been increased. More quests and quest hubs have been added and some existing elite quests have been toned down to non-elite.

While these aren't huge changes, they should make the leveling process a little less daunting for fresh characters.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

WoW TBC Classic fast level tips

Complete quests...

While it may seem obvious, questing is going to be the main way most players choose to level, especially if you're playing solo. You'll find various quest hubs while you're out in the new Outland zones, so you should work your way through these to rack up that experience. 

You'll also see more of the story this way, so unless you're racing to get to level 70, questing can help round out the world you're in.

It's also worth noting that a boosted character won't have the best gear and are probably a lot weaker than those that have leveled and geared up naturally. As such—and especially if you're going it solo—it might be an idea to quest in high-level Azeroth zones (Winterspring, Eastern Plaguelands, or Silithus) before venturing to Outland.

... but pay attention to colours in your quest log

This will depend on your priorities while leveling, though. Quests show as different colours in your quest log and you should pay attention to them if you want to make the most of your time spent. Yellow and green quests are generally within a few levels of your character and are safe to complete solo. Grey quests, on the other hand, should be avoided entirely as they will only give a fraction of the experience. 

Red or orange quests are meant for a higher level than your character and great care should be taken if you plan on tackling these. In fact, avoiding them altogether may be safer, to avoid wasting time with unnecessary deaths. You can always come back to them when you've gained a few more levels.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Let professions give you a helping hand 

Learning a profession (or two) may seem counterintuitive if you're just trying to make it to level 70, but certain tradeskills can help you while leveling. First Aid in particular allows you to make consumables that can heal your character if things get a bit dicey. 

Depending on how much time you want to commit, you can also craft gear and weapons or simply pick up two gathering professions and throw the materials you collect onto the auction house to make some gold along the way.

Group up for an easier time

Grouping up with friends or guildies while doing quests can cut down on the time spent on each. And while the experience gained from enemies will be less while in a group, the quest rewards remain the same for each player.

Some classes have no trouble soloing content while others may take longer to kill things, but even so, the speed with which a group can clear quests generally makes for a more efficient easier leveling process, to the benefit of everyone involved.

Speaking of groups, do dungeons 

If you have a group ready to go or if you can form one easily with friends or via your guild, running dungeons is an efficient way to gain levels. This soon falls off though if you have to spend time looking for a group or have people leave and then need to replace them.

Having said that, one of the big benefits in TBC Classic—if you play Horde—is that there are likely to be a lot of Paladin tanks around, so dungeoning through Outland is more viable than it would be normally. 

Dungeon quests are a great source of experience, too. While these can only be completed once, it's worth running a dungeon for that extra chunk of XP even if you spend the rest of your time questing.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Set your hearthstone to save time

Getting around in Burning Crusade Classic takes a lot longer than it does in modern WoW, so it's a good idea to make use of your Hearthstone and set it accordingly. Some quests will send you far and wide to kill enemies or collect items and you can waste a lot of time running from one place to another. You won't be able to cut out all of your travel time, but you can lessen it by using your hearthstone to return to the innkeeper at a quest hub or town and cut out your return journey entirely.

Kill enemies between quests 

Grinding is only going to be a viable alternative to questing if you play a class that can quickly AoE down multiple enemies. But that's not to say you can't supplement your questing with a bit of grinding on the side.

As I've already mentioned, leveling in Burning Crusade Classic will see you spend a lot of time traveling from one place to another. If your hearthstone is on cooldown or you're venturing into a new area, kill any random enemies you might see along the way. Sure, it's not going to give you a chunk of experience like a quest does but every drop of XP helps.

(Image credit: Blizzard Entertainment)

Don't forget rested experience 

When you log out, make sure you do so at an inn or rested area. Rested experience gives you twice the XP for killing enemies and is gained more quickly when logged out of the game. 

As you'll no doubt need to sleep IRL at some point during the leveling process, it makes sense to take full advantage of the buff by maximising the amount you get when not logged in. You can tell if you're in a rested area by the 'Zzzz' in the corner of your character's portrait.

Sarah James
Guides Writer

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she's quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.