Alliance Leveling Route 1–20: Northshire to Westfall

Every human character on a vanilla-era realm starts in the same quiet valley, and most of them lose their first evening there. This alliance leveling route takes you from Northshire Abbey to level 20 along a line that bends only once: Northshire, Goldshire, the garrison on the Westfall road, Sentinel Hill and the northern farms, a Loch Modan detour by tram when Westfall runs dry at 13, then back for Moonbrook and the Deadmines. On 1.12-style realms such as WoW Forever there is no experience bonus, so each stop also names where to grind when the quest log runs out.

Where and what you need

Levels. A human start at level 1, finishing at 20 when Redridge Mountains and Duskwood open up. Dwarves, gnomes and night elves can join at Sentinel Hill around level 10.

Class. Any. Warriors and paladins are slowest between 10 and 15, where Westfall mobs come in pairs. New skills arrive every even level in Goldshire and, from 10, in Stormwind, where most classes also have a class quest.

Hearthstone. Set it in Goldshire at 5 and move it to Sentinel Hill at 10. Leave it there during the Loch Modan detour: one hearth brings you back instead of a second tram ride.

Bags, food and flight paths. Two extra bags by Goldshire, twenty food and twenty water from level 5 on, and the flight paths in Stormwind at 10, Sentinel Hill on arrival and Thelsamar the moment you enter Loch Modan.

The route

The numbers match the map. Stop 6 is the only time you leave the Westfall road.

1. Northshire Abbey (levels 1–5). Take every quest around the abbey: wolves and kobolds first, then the kobold mine on the ridge and the Defias thugs in the vineyard. Grind spot: the mine entrance, where kobolds respawn fast. Leave at 5, not 6, and walk south-west to Goldshire.
2. Goldshire (levels 5–8). Hearth here, collect the quests from the inn and the smithy, and work the boars and wolves west of the village until the kobold quest sends you to Fargodeep Mine. Grind spot: the first chamber of Fargodeep at 6–7, or the lake murlocs east of Goldshire at 7–8, fought on the grass.
3. Westbrook Garrison (levels 8–10). First clear the east side once: the second kobold mine north of the big lake and the bears by the logging camp turn in together. Then follow the Westfall road to the garrison in the south-west corner for the gnoll quests. The elite gnoll chief on the hill wants a group of three; ask or skip him. Grind spot: the gnoll camps along the trail, one pull at a time.
4. Sentinel Hill (levels 10–12). Cross the bridge into Westfall, take the flight path and move your hearth. The tower hands out the Defias, gnoll and harvest golem quests that carry you to 12. Grind spot: the harvest watchers in the fields north of the hill, slow and generous with linen; coyotes and vultures fill the gaps.
5. Gold Coast Quarry and the northern farms (levels 11–14). Work north: the pumpkin farm, the kobold mine in the north-west corner, then the Defias at the quarry on the coast and the murlocs along the beach. Grind spot: the quarry at 12–13, where the miners stand far enough apart for single pulls. When the remaining quests turn orange at 13, head for the tram.
6. Thelsamar, Loch Modan (levels 13–17). Ride the Deeprun Tram from Stormwind to Ironforge, walk east through the pass and take Thelsamar's flight path. The town, the dam and the hunting lodge hand out a dozen quests in the 12–18 band: troggs in the valley to the south, kobolds in the silver mine, bears and crocolisks on the shore. Grind spot: the trogg valley at 14–16. Leave the ogre mound to groups and hearth back when the log is empty.
7. Moonbrook and the Dagger Hills (levels 16–19). Westfall's southern half is finally the right colour: Defias looters and pillagers in the ruined town, gnolls and harvest reapers in the hills, dust devils on the plains. Grind spot: the farmhouses on the edge of Moonbrook, where the bandits come in twos and drop linen, wool and silver. The Defias chain that ends in the Deadmines comes together here.
8. The Deadmines (levels 18–20). Finish the chain with a group of five; one full run with its quests is roughly a level and a half. If no group forms, grind the Dagger Hills gnolls and reapers to 20 instead, about an hour and a half. At 20, take the road east to Redridge or south into Duskwood.

What you get

Stretch	Experience	Side income	Watch out for
Northshire and Goldshire	Levels 1–8, first skills, your hearth	Linen Cloth, Light Leather, copper if you mine	Leaving Northshire late; it is gray at 6
Westbrook and Sentinel Hill	Levels 8–12, two flight paths	Gnoll and Defias silver, linen by the stack	The elite gnoll chief, who needs a group
Northern Westfall	Levels 11–14	Linen from the quarry Defias, copper and tin from the mine	Murloc groups on the beach that chain-pull
Loch Modan detour	Levels 13–17, a second quest hub	Light and Medium Leather, tin, Bruiseweed and Briarthorn	The ogre mound and the elite troggs in the deep caves
Moonbrook and the Deadmines	Levels 16–20, first dungeon rewards	Wool Cloth begins, silver and green drops	Pillager pairs; the dungeon needs five

Time it takes

Be honest with your evening. A first run on a 1x realm takes roughly 12–18 hours of played time from 1 to 20; a player who knows where every quest target stands does it in roughly 9–11.

By stretch, expect roughly 45–70 minutes for Northshire, 2.5–3.5 hours for Goldshire to 10, 3–4 hours for Westfall to 14, 2.5–3.5 hours for Loch Modan, and 3–4 hours for the last three levels including one Deadmines run. Logging out in an inn after each stretch adds rested experience to the next session.

Tips

• Leave each hub when its quests turn green, not gray; a green quest pays less than the walk to turn it in.
• Buy skills in batches at 6, 10, 14 and 18 instead of running back to a trainer at every even level.
• Learn First Aid in Goldshire and bandage with the linen you loot; it halves the downtime of every melee class.
• Loot everything, including one-copper grays; at this level vendor junk is a third of your income.
• Fight murlocs on dry land and pull them toward the road; they bring friends from the water when you stand in it.
• Do Loch Modan in loops: hand in at Thelsamar, run the dam and the lodge, come back, hand in again.

Running it with ForeverBot

Open the Leveling section. With Pick guide by level and zone on, the bot chooses the chapter for a human start, and Current status shows the quest it is working on under Next along with your XP/hour. Tick Turn in quests automatically, Use flight paths and Equip upgrades, and under Quests set Accept to from guide with From 1 and To 20. Under Combat and rest, Eat below HP and Drink below mana decide how often you sit down; around 45% and 35% suits a warrior or paladin. In Extra, switch on Repair at vendors, Buy food and water, Hearthstone and Sell junk.

In Settings, set the Navigator Route mode to safest so the Westfall leg stays on the road, keep Arrow or Line on world map on, and use Pick flight destination for the Stormwind flight point before the tram. Avoid dangerous zones in the Leveling section keeps the path out of the elite gnoll camp and the ogre mound. For stop 8, open Dungeons, choose The Deadmines, and let it route you to the entrance. Every section is part of every plan; see plans and pricing.

FAQ

Why detour to Loch Modan instead of staying in Westfall?

Because Westfall has a hole in it: its quests cover 10–13 and 16–19 well, but the middle is thin. Loch Modan fills exactly that gap with a dense cluster of quests around one town, and the hearthstone brings you back to Sentinel Hill the moment you are done.

Can a dwarf or night elf follow this route?

Yes, from stop 4. Dwarves and gnomes finish Dun Morogh around 10 and can run the Loch Modan detour first, then take the tram to Stormwind and the road to Sentinel Hill.

Should I farm anything on the way, or just level?

Level, and take what the route gives you; nodes sit on the path at Fargodeep, the Westfall kobold mine and the loch shore, so Mining or Herbalism costs almost no time. For coin before 20, the Elwynn Forest gold farming route and the Westfall Defias farming route are built for exactly these levels.