Cataclysm is starting to get boring already.
Only 7 months in and I am already toying with old alternate characters that I haven't played in a while.
I started this little experiment with two level 70 toons in need of power leveling.
A level 70 human death knight tank was going to be my dungeon leveling guinea pig.
I choose a tank to ensure instant grouping from the dungeon finder utility.
This would allow me to constantly grind the instances without long waits.
The tanks always enjoy the instant pops from the dungeon finder.
This left my lonely level 70 gnome warlock for my questing grind.
I must say that the dungeon grind with my death knight became boring very quickly.
I really enjoy running dungeons.
I love tanking and was able to stay on this course longer than most would.
The questing was much more pleasant.
I was using one of the best WoW leveling guides.
The guide allowed me to appreciate the expansive world and not have to really pay that close of attention to my path.
You can really enjoy the scenery in Azeroth when you have the time to look at it! I had my tank auction house geared and was ready to start grinding it out.
I went to my corner of the auction house and started the instant group formation with the dungeon finder.
I took the time to pick up the flight paths and all of the dungeon quests for some easy bonus experience.
Level 70-75 flew by really quick.
At level 75 I started running out of group quests and it seemed to take a thousand runs to go up each level.
I was instantly refreshed at level 80 and was able to start grabbing Cataclysm quests.
Flying all over the place to find dungeon entrances was a little exhaustive.
It still seemed to go by pretty quick from level 80-85.
My total time from level 70-85 starting with full rest experience was 3 days 6 hours played.
It seemed like it took forever doing the same dungeons over and over.
I ended that time frame with a little over 8,000 gold.
It was now time to get out the warlock for some non stop tank and spank action with my pet.
The level 70 warlock also started with full rest experience.
I went to the Borean Tundra and began questing.
Using WoW leveling guides gave me the ability to practically fall a sleep and still be able to follow the questing route.
The first couple of levels from every expansion seem to fly by really quick.
In no time I was level 75 and moving up to the more profitable areas.
I farmed the entire time, but never went out of my way to get a mining node or herb.
This really became profitable once I made it into the Cataclysm zones.
I tried really hard not to engage in any player versus player action to save time.
A couple times it was just too tempting.
My total time to level from 70-85, strictly questing with the WoW leveling guides was 2 days 23 hours played.
This was a reduction in time by 7 hours.
I ended this grind with 15,000 gold and a guild bank full of herbs, ore and blues.
This was not a very large time difference.
However, 7 hours in a 72 hour period is still almost a 10% reduction in time required.
In addition to saving a little time, walking out with a nice pile of gold and crafting materials did not bother me at all.
This study shows that in optimal conditions, it is faster to quest with the help of WoW leveling guides.
Questing is faster than strictly grinding the dungeon finder.