10 Secrets of a Successful Leveler

Changelog
v1.1: Fixed BBcode errors
v1.2: Community Contributions section, Thanks Darkerri for the first! =D

Intro: Hi, i have 4 level 70's, 2 60+'s and numerous alts all in there 30's/40's. I dont have an instane ammount to play, as i still have school and stuff, but i know how to level fast, and thats what im going to try and teach you here.

This guide will teach you tips and strategies to avoid getting burned out and creating the spiral that is "altaholicism"

BEGGINING NOTE
this is not a hardcore guide, if you can ding 70 by straight grinding in 6 days /played, go right ahead, youve already passed this stage of your game. If you suffer from the severe case of altaholicisim, then read on, as these tips should help anyone suffering from this problem.

1. Pick a guide
First, if you are just starting out in the game, find a leveling guide, some of the best out there (arguably on the same scale of james' and joana's leveling guides) you can find right here on this website. Leveling guides will show you what to do, and will give you a general idea of how powerleveling works in this game. Once you have a few high level chars from following a guide, you may be able to start following your own path and getting all of the quests done on your own because as with everything, all of these guides aren't perfect, and maybe havent been run with your class. For example, i played a blood elf mage right after BC came out, and i found myself dieing alot on some of the quests because they simply arent soloable as a mage where a hunter (the class the guide was written about) would have no problem with it. Making a few tweaks, like instead of doing x quest before you get to level 20 and get your significantly more powerful spells, you could grind it out instead in an area where you were doing other quests.

One note: Complete Grinding is not faster than questing, and most likely gets you burned out before you even get close to your desired level. It can take roughly 2 hours of grinding to go from 19-20, but i can quest that in 30 mins. The only exception to this is rouges, and shadowpriests, because with rogues you have 0 downtime and can just bandage up, and shadowpriests with high spirit have spirit tap to minimize downtime. Even though warriors can still bandage up, they kill things too slow to be viable grinders. An arms warrior going through his levels is going to take a good 10 or 15 secs more to kill his mobs to grind, and that adds up. fast.

2. Set goals for yourself
This is an important part, One thing i noticed while leveling a few alts was, as soon as i started the char i would look at the t1/2/3/4/5/6 armor sets on them and be like "wow they look cool i gotta rush to 70 fast". This is a big mistake, One thing i tried to do when i was starting most of my alts was i would set a goal and say" Wow theres this really cool spell at 20 i want (like ghostwolf, blink, aspect of the cheetah" and i really want to run that instance deadmines its so fun" and in around 5 or 6 hours of /played, i would be at 20 and running deadmines, and i would get a feeling of accomplishment and be proud of myself. Then i would say to myself "Gnomeregan/sm library looks fun and felhunter at 30 looks awesome for pvp" so my next goal would be to get to level 30 and i would get that feeling of accomplishment all over again. do this, and when you get to the higher levels maybe bring it down to 5, 4, 3, and in outland, 1 level in a day or two of solid playing is awesome. Most instances in outland are alot of fun compared to the azerothian instacnes so set goals for yourself that i wanto get to x level so i can run y instance and get z new BC spell

3. Take it slow, read the quest text
I know it can seem tedious, but reading the quest text really gives you a sense of involvement and it compells you to do the quest to save whatever. When i leveld my first draenei i really enjoyed the starting area's quest line with the story being that we were crashed on this strange island and dont know if were the only survivors, only to find out later after rebuilding the emitter there were other draenei still alive. I know it sounds boring, but it will keep you from getting burned out and thats most important.

4. Listen to good music!
I know it sounds silly, but listening to the same tracks over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and overand over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and OVER again gets really boring and makes you get bored from the game. Im quoting Eera's "Fast Leveling Tips" guide on this website here:

Ok this is the part that really helps, more than the mods, more than the logical thinking, more than questing. This is what will help you keep your sanity when you play for hours on end, music.
Thats right, it's proven, music helps you level a LOT easier. Not just any music though, music that really gets you going, gets you pumped up, keeps you awake.
A good list was written up by one of the DJs for one of the radio stations I listen to (Which will be mentioned shortly) of decent artists to look into for your grinding needs:
Electronica:

1. DJ Tiesto
2. Paul Van Dyk
3. Ian Van Dahl
4. Orbital
5. Trance Control
6. Infected Mushroom
7. Armin Van Buren
8. Ayla
9. Kimball Collins
10. Kraftwerk
11. Chemical Brothers
12. DJ Oakenfold
13. DJ Sasha & Digweed
14. SaxionPike

Metal & Things of the Rock or Alternative Persuasion:

1. Sonata Arctica
2. Tristania
3. Black Label Society
4. Iced Earth
5. Primal Fear
6. Symphorce
7. Lacuna Coil
8. Within Temptation
9. Dragonforce
10. Nine Inch Nails
11. Drowning Pool
12. Korpiklaani
13. Rhapsody
14. Switchblade Symphony
15. Type O
16. Dimmu Borgir
17. Iron Maiden
18. Epica
19. The Gathering
20. After Forever
21. Nevermore
22. Killswitch Engage
23. Rammstein

Some other good people recommended by Hakker:
Basshunter (one of my favorites hes an EXTREMELY famous dance music creater from sweden who makes gaming music)
My Chemical Romance (there fast stuff not the slow ones)
The Used
System of a down
Sum 41
Paul Stanley
The Killers
AFI
Billy Talent

Ok so if you're not into that kind of music and preffer listening to some radio, look at http://www.wcradio.com, shows every day, good conversations and good music in the preshows and the music breaks, good for people that don't like listening to music all the time.
Ontop of that if you can't a break from music, if you're in a guild or a gaming community that has a Ventrilo or Teamspeak server you might want to go on there and talk with them.
Anything that keeps your mind from all the quests your doing and all the mobs you're killing. It makes the time pass faster and makes it more enjoyable.

(recommended by Hakker) Another good wow radio show is Taverncast, although they havent updated there podcasts in a while, they still are the funniest wow podcasters and have the best edited shows out of any free podcast out there.

5. Dont buy off the AH if you can avoid it
Unless your gear is EXTREMELY crappy for your level, you can get awesome gear from quests that will keep you good until you get to raiding. Buying gear off the ah is pointless and not needed. If you really need to update your gear, take a break from the guide and farm an instance. Ive never had trouble buying my normal, epic, and normal flyer mount ever because i dont buy needles crap off the AH. Begging makes you look bad and will land you on quite a few peoples ignore lists. Go to the auction house and sell. never buy, unless you plan on reselling. its even possible to go from 1-60 without any gear at all, infact its already been done. (not 60-70 because outland is HEAVILY gear dependant) if your interested you can check out the Naked Troll Project article here http://wow.qj.net/Naked-Troll-Project-reaches-its-goal/pg/49/aid/68828

6. If you get bored, do something else!
If your not listening to what im saying, doing straight grinding, not listening to any music and not getting involved in the game, you will get bored. When that happens, do something else! farm a fun instance, do battlegrounds, gank lowbies in barrens, raid something. Just take a break and keep on your chosen character. The last thing you want to do is make an alt before your completely done with your character. That sets you on the long, hard path of altoholcisim, a serious problem in america, that leads to car crashes, dead babies, and cancer.

7. Join a good guild!
You play an mmo for social interaction, then use it! good guilds help keep you focused on your character and help keep you enjoying the game. I was completely bored of my first 70 before i joined an awesome friendly raiding guild and i would play for hours on end. Buidl your social relations in the game, even if you dont plan on playing to 70, socializing is half of any mmo game.

8. Get a life!
Exploring outside the game is a really good way to keep you interested, it keeps you from playing so much you get burned out fast, and it keeps you from, well, losing all of your friends =O

9. Pick the right talents
If you plan on leveling as fast as possible without burning out, then you have to make sure you have the right talents. Spec for the most damage as possible. If you need some good builds, there are awesome ones right here on this website (hint hint: Hakker's In Depth Class Guides could use some more hits =)

10. Dont be afraid to explore!
Following a guide to every single step gets boring and tedious. Fast. Dont be afraid to do anything the guide doesnt tell you to do, go and explore some of the zones you dont visit, Deadwind pass, even though most of the zone is 70, the early parts look really awesome. Beggar's haunt in duskwood, a place hardly known by anyone, is just north of that path and has an area with a cemetary and two dark portal guards next to a waterfall.

Closing: Well these are the ways that keep me from getting burned out while leveling, i really hope they can help you alot

More about me: I have 4 level 70's on the Stomreaver server, my fastest time being 10 days 17 hours/played, and i have 2 60+'s on Zul'Jin server, where my fastest time to 60 was 5 days 2 hours /played, and i also have many other 40+ alts on that server that i still play time to time but were mostly the product of my former altaholcisim.

Sources: "Fast Leveling Tips (For 1-70) By Eera, http://www.wow-pro.com/node/974

Community Contributions
11. Always log out in an inn, so you get the rested EXP bonus. The 50% extra EXP only effects creature deaths, not quests. It helps in the long-shot. (thanks darkerri =D)