After being back for about two weeks, my new Blood Elf Hunter Syllvain hit level 30. I actually hit the mark last weekend, but I never got around to writing a post about it.

While levelling, I’m using James’ Horde Levelling Guide. I thought it would be interesting to track Syllvain’s progress here so that I can measure how quickly a person can legitimately level to 70 while sticking to the guide.

Level 30 – Time Played

I hit level 30 while questing in Hillsbrad Foothills. When I dinged, my total time played was 1 Day, 3 Hours, and 15 Minutes.

While leveling, I avoided many distractions. I didn’t spend much time looking for groups – I only bothered grouping for one quest (more on that later). I avoided all instances. They’re not time efficient at this point, and any gear I got would have been gone in a few levels – mere hours of play time.

However, I did sink some time into professions. Every few levels, I would stop in Ogrimmar to cook and make potions. Syllvain is an Herbalist, so I went out of my way a few times to gather some herbs. He’s also a fisherman – if you look closely at the screenshot, you’ll notice that I had just finished with a bit of fishing. That also ate up an hour or two of playtime.

So I’d say that this time – 1 Day, 3 Hours – is a pretty good estimate of how quickly you can reach level 30 if you stay focused on leveling. You could obviously do it faster if you have people power leveling you, but I prefer to do it on my own. I don’t like to bother people until I need the help.

Getting to Level 21

James’ Horde Guide doesn’t start till level 21, so you’re on your own for the first few levels. As a Blood Elf, I started in Eversong Woods. That’s simple – do every quest, kill some stuff, and eventually you finish it up. I didn’t consult a leveling guide for this portion, but I checked Wowhead quite often for quest information.

I left for the Ghostlands around level 12. At that point, I consulted Snowflake’s Leveling Guide. I didn’t follow it to the letter, but it was helpful to see the quest targets plotted on a map and get an idea of what to complete with each circuit.

By the time I finished Ghostlands, I was a little past level 22. I hung around for a while looking for a group for the final quest – A Traitor’s Destruction. Normally, I’d skip over a quest that requires a group, but I really wanted Farstrider’s Longbow. It’s an awesome bow and I used it for the next ten levels or so.

At that point, I headed over to Undercity and picked up with James’ Leveling Guide. I followed it pretty strictly for these early levels. I started out about a level ahead of James’ projection, and I’ve been a bit ahead ever since. It definitely helps that almost all of the quests and mobs that I need to kill are green.

At this point, I’m almost level 40 – so I’ll report on that experience later in the weekend.