Grinding? Really?

[Trogstad]

I'm not a noob really (Lvl 63) but I have what's probably a noob question.

I keep reading that grinding is the fastest way to level up. If I understand the term correctly, grinding means to just kill mobs over and over and over again. Is this fact, or is it debatable? Because it seems to me that questing is a far more efficient way to gather XP, especially considering most quests involve the killing of mobs anyway.

I'd be very interested in hearing your opinions on the matter.

[poopsmcgee]

i quest like a mofo. i grind sometimes too. like if i'm finishing a quest at the lvl 30 i'm at now and i know i'm gonna get around 3k for the turnin and i only need 8k or so to level. i'll just stay out there and grind down to about 3k and turnin and train. i think a good mix of both is the best at leveling.

[Nitsujcm]

It depends on a number of factors- I can quest much faster than anyone can grind in some areas because I know the quests like the back of my hand and can go right to them. Or you can follow a guide that tells you right where to go. Class also matters - some classes are very bad at grinding.

However- if you are new to a zone- it has a lot of weak caster mobs and you are a rogue- you can grind out some fast exp and lvl faster than you would walking all over the place trying to find some god forsaken cave on an island at the edge of the map.

[murderousmic]

The most efficient way to level is to quest AND grind. Do the quests that make you kill x amount of y mobs. Although, if you have rested exp, grinding can go much faster than questing in the old world (non-expansion). In TBC, grinding is nearly impossible and you better quest.

[wisenor]

I have done a lot of both on my hunter. The points I would make have already been said above.

With Grinding at say level 20+ you should be able to turn in 30,000 exp per hour or thereabouts, with rested exp obviously double that. If you have a lot of rested exp then an area where mobs spawn fast will level you quicker, no matter how well you know the quest locations.

Questing is the the purpose of the game, you grind to obtain the quest objective, thus acheiving more exp, then you get a nice bonus for turning it in.

As Nitsujcm says, if you know the quests very well, i.e where to find them and what you need to do to complete them then you can turn in much better results that way. You only slow your ascent when your running around not able to find what you need to complete the quest or too many others are chasing the same objects.

My hunter is 53, I am in the un goro crater, I have gathered 14 quests in my log and am ready to start grinding to get them all turned in, I reckon about 3/4 hours work and it will get me to 54 and then some.

Grinding in the right area with full rested exp at a rate of 30,000 exp per hour (60,000 with rested) would still take me 3 hours.

[thedirty]

In outlands, questing is far far better than grinding for both making money and getting experience. Pre 40, questing is also better than grinding, but from 40-58, I had alot of times that grinding was better than questing, because the amount of quests that you need drops off considerably, unless you like travelling all over the place, which lowers xp/hr anyways.

[kcma]

It depends on a number of factors- I can quest much faster than anyone can grind in some areas because I know the quests like the back of my hand and can go right to them. Or you can follow a guide that tells you right where to go. Class also matters - some classes are very bad at grinding.

However- if you are new to a zone- it has a lot of weak caster mobs and you are a rogue- you can grind out some fast exp and lvl faster than you would walking all over the place trying to find some god forsaken cave on an island at the edge of the map.

that's basically it. you can get crazy insane amount of xp really fast from questing but it won't sustain you over a long run. overall though. if you do one or the other exclusively to 60, it'll prolly be the same. and of course fastest would be the optimal combination of both ;)

and to push the xp/hr of either is tricky but overall getting good xp/hr from questing is probably easier, esp if you're new.

[Dark Matter]

At 63, you will be in Outland - probably in Zangarmarsh.

In Outland faction reputation is going to become important to you, a lot of the heroic keys require revered reputation with X faction.

The Reservoir Key for Coilfang Heroics needs Cenarion Epedition Revered to obtain. The temptation is to quest as much as you can then grind/hand in repeatables.

That is not always the best way and you are better served by doing some research. Taking CE as an example:

You get rep from the Slave pens @ 15 per trash kill until Honoured.
You get rep from unidentified plant part hand ins (white drop from many mobs in Zangarmarsh) 250 rep per 10 until honoured.
When you hand in the Unidentified Plants you get grey/white plants back to sell or use. 5% of these should be Unidentified Species - save these. They can be handed in for 500 Rep at any time.
The Naga in Zangarmarsh should give 5 rep per kill until friendly.

Once you hit honoured with CE - then start questing.

Quest rep is:
- Hellfire Peninsula - 1,545
- Zangarmarsh - 4,775
- Terokkar Forest - 1,350 (+25 for Alliance)
- Coilfang Reservoir - 1,760
- Netherstorm - 750
- Blade's Edge Mountains - 4,220

That's 14,400 (+25 for alliance) rep which will take you past revered and 2'5K into Exalted.

After revered Steamvaults normal and heroic will give 12 rep per trash kill (more for the 3 bosses) and you can do the repeatable Coilfang Armaments quest for 75 rep per hand in.

You only need exalted with CE if you want one of their rep rewards.