How Long Does It Take to Level from 1-70 in TBC Classic?

As an avid TBC enthusiast and content creator, I get asked the big question often – just how long will it take me to level up in The Burning Crusade Classic? Based on my extensive research and personal experience, I‘ve broken down leveling time estimates below:

As you can see, the range is quite wide! While the current world record holder dinged 70 extraordinarily fast in just 14 hours played, most players should expect leveling to take 2-4 full days /played.

How Does TBC Classic Speed Up Leveling from WoW Classic?

The Burning Crusade made getting to the new level cap much smoother by:

• Reducing the total XP required from levels 20-60 by 15%.
• Upgrading quests rewards to give significantly more XP per turn-in. Some were buffed by as much as 40%!
• Allowing players to cap out lower level quests that were previously going gray/green faster.
• Providing outstanding quest density and logical zone progression in the Outlands 60-70.

This means even with the 10 additional levels, TBC leveling goes around 15-20% faster compared to WoW Classic. Let‘s explore why…

Faster Leveling Through Improved Questing

Prioritizing quests based on color coding in your log is key. Always complete higher level orange and yellow quests first. Green quests will start giving reduced XP penalties while gray quests give almost none. With the changes to quest XP values, you can now out level some hubs 1-2 levels later.

If you find yourself getting gear upgrades while questing, remember to regularly replace weaker gear pieces. Better stats directly mean faster killing and quest turn in speed, saving you hours in the long run. Don‘t be afraid to take a few extra minutes enchanting or adding shoulder/leg armor patches too!

Dungeon Leveling – Risk vs. Reward

While questing is still the bread and butter for fast levelers, you can‘t ignore dungeons entirely! The additional gear, XP, reputation gains and chance at rare drops make completing dungeons very rewarding. However, finding groups and traveling to dungeon entrances burns precious time.

As a general rule of thumb, always do each dungeon quest once for the big chunk of XP they provide. After that cherry pick repeat runs only if you have a good group that can clear efficiently without wipes. A single death means losing out on 5-10 minutes of grinding time. Trust me, that can add up quick!

Now let‘s examine the ideal leveling classes, routes and other tips and tricks to shave hours off your 1-70 journey…

While every class can hit level 70 fairly quickly, some have distinct advantages in speed, efficiency and sustainability during the leveling process. Based on years running dungeons and power leveling alts, here are my top 3 picks for fast leveling in TBC Classic:

1. Hunter

Hunters have the whole package – excellent damage output thanks to new abilities like Steady Shot, myriad utility tools like Misdirection and Feign Death, top tier mobility and self healing skills like Disengage and Mend Pet, and the bonus ability to grind monsters and skin beasts for profits along the way. Targeting cloth wearers in particular shred extremely quick. Talents like Spirit Bond also gives substantial health regeneration during downtimes. Hunters may very well be the perfect leveling class that simply have no weaknesses.

2. Warlock

Warlocks received massive improvements to early leveling speed and soloability in TBC. With Felguard at level 50, Voidwalker tanking viability skyrockets. Affliction locks also gain massive bonuses to drain tanking effectiveness, combine that with Health Funnel, and they can grind almost indefinitely. Enslave Demon provides reusable tanks on many Outland mob types. Warlocks may start out slow, but become absolute machines in the 40s and beyond.

3. Mage

While not as durable as Hunters or Warlocks in sustain, Mages make up for it with the ability to dish out tremendous single target and AoE burst damage repeatedly. Specializations like Frost also have excellent control, escapes and mitigation to avoid taking much damage in the first place. Mages can easily round up and burn down packs of enemies with Blizzard and Cone of Cold, making single target grinds inefficient in comparison.

Overall mages have very high damage potential, great toolkit to escape danger, and top notch farming abilities – leading to them leveling with staggering speed. Portals and blink cuts out much of time costs traveling.

One of the secrets top players use is following optimized leveling routes across zones. The route below is specially designed to minimize time traveling far, while ensure you don‘t out level a zone early and waste quest experience:

Hellfire Peninsula (60-62) > Zangarmarsh (62-64) > Terokkar Forest (63-65) > Nagrand (64-67) > Blade‘s Edge Mountains (66-68) > Netherstorm (67-70)

Some key advantages to this route:

• Hellfire provides quest density so high, that you may have to deliberately slow down to avoid out-leveling it too quickly
• Zangarmarsh high defense gear fits the difficult 62-64 levels perfectly
• Terokkar gives big quest hubs precisely when 64+ dps output increases
• Nagrand is saved for last Outland zone skill up professions with plentiful materials

If played properly, Nagrand should end with players on the cusp of 70, with 2-3 zones untouched for future alts.

Those are just a handful of leveling tips – let me know in the comments what topics you want me to cover in future guides!