gnomeDK – Your Pink Haired Guide to All Things Death Knight

I had been planning on going straight to Outland after getting out of the death knight start area and running some errands. The Plaguelands have never been known as a great leveling area and I figured since we’ll be level 58 anyway why not go through the Dark Portal. However I’ve read some good arguments about hanging around the Plaguelands for a couple of levels. They are based on ease (believe it or not) and may actually be part of a faster leveling path.

The basic argument for staying in the Plaguelands is this. The reason you send alts to Outland at level 58 is because the gear rewards are so much better. In Outland the gear has more stamina and an overall increase in item levels compared to quest rewards in Azeroth. This rule doesn’t apply to death knights, however. The blue gear set we end up with is on par with Outland quest rewards. So that removes the big advantage of heading straight to Outland. The argument continues by pointing out some of the mobs in Hellfire Peninsula are a few levels above a new death knight. Thus a level 60 death knight will have an easier time questing, getting through the mobs faster, than a level 58 death knight.

So staying in the Plaguelands until level 60 leads to faster questing in Outland, so the argument concludes. Okay, I buy that. Depending on how many people take this route you could also avoid some of the first day crowds in Hellfire as well. What really makes Plaguelands work for 58-60 leveling is it opens up some new turn-in quests, and we all know how much I love early gathering for turn-in quests.

My Plaguelands included plan now has me using Death Gate to get from Blasted Lands to Ebon Hold, then flying out to Chillwind Point, Western Plaguelands. If you want credit for the animal parts quests in Blasted Lands you need to turn them in first, because the quests don’t give XP at level 60. You then start in Western Plaguelands rather than Eastern Plaguelands because you need quests that grant Argent Dawn reputation.

The idea is you start questing at Chillwind Point, earning XP and rep. Also be sure to get an [Argent Dawn Commission] for Scourgestones. Once you get to Friendly with the Argent Dawn five turn-in quests become available, offering you almost 48,000 XP.

Bonescythe Digs – [Bone Fragments] x30

The Elemental Equation- [Core of Elements] x30

Cryptstalker Armor Doesn’t Make Itself… – [Crypt Fiend Parts] x30

Binding the Dreadnaught – [Dark Iron Scraps] x30

Savage Flora – [Savage Frond] x30

The quests are all at Light’s Hope Chapel in Eastern Plaguelands and all of the items can be gathered up quite easily before expansion. If you feel like spending some gold for every bit of XP possible you can also gather up materials for That’s Asking A Lot.

Once you’ve gained access to the above quests you can quest however you like to 60, even a bit longer if you can easily finish up some quests.

This same philosophy can be used in going from Outland to Northrend, too. In that case there are some nice gear upgrades in Northrend, but even if you quest in Outland until level 70 you’ll still have zones of quests available to you and you’ll have an easier time with Northrend mobs.