So my Hunter, Syllvain, finally hit 70. Although he moved up the ranks at a furious pace, it seems like it took forever.

In game, it took 6 Days, 7 Hours of played time. That’s a heckuva lot faster than my other two seventies (which were pre 2.3), and I’m pretty sure I could have done it faster. I spent some time in Battlegrounds in the late 60s, and I could easily have shaved 8-12 hours off by not fooling around.

In real life, it took just over five weeks with almost all of my playing time devoted to leveling.

65-70: The Itinerary

I dinged 65 while finishing up the quests in Terokkar Forest. After the last few quests there, I was a few bars into 65.

The next logical zone was Nagrand. I headed straight there and started with the Nesingwary quests. I probably should have gathered all the quests in the zone to complete some over-lapping areas, but I didn’t want to waste any time. I needed a new ranged weapon, and [item]25639[/item] was perfect.

After that, I went to Garadar, the Consortium Outpost, the Throne of Elements, and those dudes by the Murkbloods. I skipped a few of the elite quests in Nagrand. The Jump-a-Tron is no fun when you can’t slow-fall. I didn’t have anyone to kill Gurok with, nor did I have a group for Buying Time.

This brought me to a bit short of level 67. At this point, there was still pretty much one logical choice in progression. I headed north to Blade’s Edge Mountain. I completed almost all of the quests there, except for one or two group quests - including the one where you kill Elite Ogres outside Gruul’s.

While doing the quests in Ruuan Weald, I earned the last bit of Cenarion Expedition Rep I needed to hit Honored. I also got some nice loot (Natasha’s Choker) from the quest chain at Death’s Door.

When I finished Blade’s Edge, I was a few bars short of 69. This presented me with the first real choice - Netherstorm or Shadowmoon Valley?

When I leveled my Mage, I went to Shadowmoon and did Netherstorm after hitting level 70. At that point, there were a lot more people around (including guildies) to do the group quests in Shadowmoon. This time around, I was doing mostly everything solo - and Netherstorm was much better for that.

I rode into Area 52 and picked up all of the quests. I did every one of them, except for Netherock and Manaforge Ara. I completed the entire group of quests around Kirin Var village - which is a ton of xp. Before I headed to Eco Dome Midrealm, I had hit 70.

The Real Game Begins - Gearing Up

While leveling the Hunter, I had one goal in mind - hit level 70 and start playing with my friends. They were the reason I had come back to the game.

When I first started playing (on my Mage), I had the same motivation. I joined the game late, and I wanted to hit level 70 as quickly as possible to start raiding with them.

The problem with getting a late start is that getting to 70 is only half the battle. I hit level 70, but I’m in no shape to Arena, and I’m a bit of a handicap in Battlegrounds. I was able to pick up two pieces of the starter PVP set, but it’ll be a while before I have some decent gear.

It’s somewhat ironic that the initial grind to 70 seems to take forever - but the real game is just beginning. It will take days more of play time to just get the basic gear I need, and many more days until I’m satisfied that I have “good” gear.

Ah well. Here’s to a lot of battlegrounds. First stop: Warsong Gulch and Vindicator’s Chain Bracers.