Leveling Route 20–30 for Both Factions: Redridge, Duskwood, Wetlands, Stonetalon, Ashenvale and Hillsbrad

The twenties are where a vanilla character stops being carried by quests. Each zone has a dozen of them, but they are spread over three zones per faction, half send you across the map, and the last two levels before 30 are always a grind. This leveling route 20-30 gives each faction a track of three zones, Redridge, Duskwood and the Wetlands for the Alliance, Stonetalon, Ashenvale and Hillsbrad for the Horde, with one grind spot per zone for a dry quest log and the right moment to run the Deadmines, the Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep and Blackfathom Deeps as a group. It is written for a character on a vanilla-era realm such as WoW Forever, where the walk is long and the bags should pay for the mount.

Where and what you need

Levels and tracks. Stops 1–4 are the Alliance track and stops 5–8 the Horde track; each stop names the levels it covers and the grind spot for when the log runs dry. Both tracks start where the Alliance and Horde leveling routes 1–20 end and finish at 30 with a flight path into the next bracket. A hunter, warlock or mage runs a level ahead of the numbers; a lone warrior or rogue a level behind in Duskwood and Ashenvale, where the mobs come in pairs.

Gear and supplies. Quest greens carry you to 30 if you take the weapon every time one is offered. Carry twenty food and twenty water, take First Aid to 150, and move your hearthstone to each hub: Lakeshire, Darkshire and Menethil Harbor, or Sun Rock Retreat, Splintertree Post and Tarren Mill.

Professions. Skinning is the easiest coin, since every zone here has wolves, spiders, raptors or basilisks for Light and then Medium Leather. Mining finds Tin and Silver on every ridge, Herbalism picks Mageroyal, Briarthorn and Bruiseweed along every road, and all three go from roughly 75 to 150 without a detour.

Bag space. Four bags of ten or more slots. Wool, two leathers, two ores, three herbs and the quest items of two zones at once all stack separately.

Dungeons. Four sit on or near the route: the Deadmines (17–26), the Wailing Caverns (17–24), Shadowfang Keep (22–30) and Blackfathom Deeps (24–32). None is required; each is worth about a level and a weapon if a group is easy to find, and the stops say where each fits.

The route

The numbers match the map: the Alliance path runs 1 to 4 on the eastern continent, the Horde path 5 to 8 across both.

1. Lakeshire and Redridge (20–24). Take every quest in Lakeshire: the murlocs on the lake shore, the gnolls on the north bank, the spiders in the eastern hills and the orc camp at the far end for 23–25. Grind: the gnoll camps north of the lake at 17–21, three to a fire, Wool in every bag. Group run: the Deadmines from Westfall at 20–22 if you skipped it before.
2. Darkshire and Duskwood (23–28). Darkshire hands out the Raven Hill cemetery, the orchard spiders, the worgen north of the road and the ogre mound in the south-east. Grind: the undead in the Raven Hill cemetery at 23–26, dense, slow and heavy with Wool, written up in the Raven Hill farming guide. Group run: the Stockade (24–32) in Stormwind, half an hour with quests from Darkshire and Lakeshire.
3. Menethil Harbor and the southern Wetlands (24–28). Fly to Ironforge and walk through Loch Modan to the harbour. Its quests cover the Mosshide gnolls in the marsh, the raptors on the ridge and the excavation site. Grind: the Mosshide gnolls at 20–24, then the raptors at 25–28 for Medium Leather. The marsh grows Bruiseweed and Stranglekelp; the ridges carry Tin, Silver and the first Iron.
4. Dun Modr and the Thandol Span (27–30). North up the road past the Dragonmaw camp at Angerfang to the ruined town held by Dark Iron dwarves at 27–30 and the quests at the span. Grind: the Dragonmaw orcs at Angerfang at 25–29, tightly packed, with Wool and the first Silk. Finish at 30 by crossing the span into Arathi for the Refuge Pointe flight path.
5. Sun Rock Retreat and Stonetalon (20–25). The outpost's quests cover the Venture Company in Windshear Crater, the harpies and basilisks in the Charred Vale and the climb to the druid at the peak. Grind: the Venture Company workers in the crater at 18–23, who drop Wool and stand in neat lines. Group run: the Wailing Caverns (17–24) back in the Barrens at 20–22, worth a full level.
6. Splintertree Post and Ashenvale (22–28). The pass north of the crater leads into Ashenvale; the post in the east hands out the Thistlefur furbolgs north of the river, the satyrs further east and the night elf outposts along the road. Grind: the Thistlefur village at 23–26, furbolgs in pairs with Wool and Medium Leather. Group run: Blackfathom Deeps (24–32) on the Zoram Strand at 24–27, beside a Horde outpost with a flight path.
7. Tarren Mill and the Hillsbrad fields (24–28). Zeppelin to the Undercity, then south through Silverpine to Tarren Mill. The quests cover the farmers in the fields, the Syndicate in Durnholde Keep to the east and the yetis in the hill cave. Grind: the farmers at 20–24, dense and non-elite, the fastest Wool in the bracket, then the Syndicate at 22–26. Group run: Shadowfang Keep (22–30) in Silverpine, one zone back along the road, at 22–26.
8. The Alterac foothills and Thoradin's Wall (28–30). North of Tarren Mill the road climbs into the foothills: the Syndicate in the ruined town at 28–32, the yetis on the slopes and elite ogres in the hills to leave alone. Grind: the Syndicate in the ruined town, who drop Silk with the Wool, or the yeti cave for Medium Leather. Finish at 30 at Thoradin's Wall and ride east into Arathi for the Hammerfall flight path.

What you get

Source	Drops and nodes	Why it sells
Gnolls, Venture Co., Dragonmaw, Syndicate and farmers	Wool Cloth, Silk from 27, coin, greens	The scarce cloth on a fresh realm; Silk starts the next bag tier
Wolves, spiders, raptors, basilisks and yetis (Skinning)	Light Leather to 25, Medium Leather after	Leatherworkers move to Medium at 100 and buy it by the stack
Tin and Silver veins on every ridge	Tin Ore, Silver Ore, the odd gem	Bronze needs tin; Silver is the first ore that sells for real silver
Mageroyal, Briarthorn, Bruiseweed and Kingsblood from 25	Herbs	The 100–150 alchemy potions are built on these four
Quest rewards	A green in every slot, two or three weapons, a bag or two	Saves the auction house money for the mount
Dungeons	Blue weapons and armour, quest experience worth a level each	A blue weapon at 25 lasts to 40

Time it takes

Honest numbers for a first run with no help: roughly 4–6 hours for 20–24 in Redridge or Stonetalon, 5–7 hours for 24–27 in Duskwood or Ashenvale, and 5–8 hours for 27–30 in the Wetlands or Hillsbrad, where the log runs dry a level early. Call it roughly 14–20 hours played from 20 to 30, a little more than the first twenty levels took, because the walking is longer.

Each group dungeon is worth about a level and costs one to two hours including the group search; two of them take roughly two hours off the total and add a weapon. Rested experience from logging out in an inn is the other big lever: a character that plays two hours a day keeps a rested bar all the way and finishes nearer 14 hours than 20.

Tips

• Turn in quests in bundles: take everything the hub offers, do one full circle, come back once.
• Log out in an inn every time; rested experience doubles kill experience and the twenties are half kills.
• Grind an hour at the named spot when you arrive a level early; it beats a dry log at the next hub.
• Take weapons over armour from quest rewards. Kill speed is the whole bracket.
• Skin everything with four legs; Medium Leather from 25 is the mount fund.
• On a PvP realm Hillsbrad and the Ashenvale road belong to both factions; grind off the road and keep the hearthstone ready.

Running it with ForeverBot

Open ForeverBot's Leveling section and leave Pick guide by level and zone checked: the addon picks the Redridge or Stonetalon guide at 20 and changes zone with the step list. Set the Quests sliders From 20 and To 30, keep Accept on from guide so the navigator skips the cross-map errands, and leave Turn in quests automatically, Choose reward and Equip upgrades on so quest weapons go straight into your hands. In Combat and rest, Eat below HP around 45% and Drink below mana around 35% suit a class without heals, and Remind me to rest stops you pulling a second furbolg on a sliver of health.

For the group runs, open Dungeons, pick The Deadmines, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep or Blackfathom Deeps from the list and press Start: the arrow leads to the entrance, and inside every pull is yours. Under Extra, keep Repair at vendors, Buy food and water, Sell junk and Hearthstone checked; on a PvP realm switch Route mode in Settings to safest and tick Avoid dangerous zones under General. Current status shows the guide step and XP/hour; keep the setup with Save profile. ForeverBot's Leveling and Dungeons sections are in every plan; see plans and pricing. Automation is against the game's terms of service and carries a ban risk; the first-run setup guide covers installation and that trade-off.

FAQ

Can a Horde character use the Alliance zones, or the other way round?

Partly. Hillsbrad has a hub for each side and both quest there from 24; Ashenvale and Stonetalon have an Alliance town and a Horde post each. Redridge, Duskwood and the Wetlands have Alliance hubs only, though a Horde character can still grind Raven Hill or the Dragonmaw camp.

Which dungeons are worth the time in this bracket?

Shadowfang Keep first: its blues last to 40 and it fits both factions at 23–26. Then the Deadmines or the Wailing Caverns at 20–22 for a level and a weapon, and Blackfathom Deeps at 25–28 for the experience. On a fresh realm groups form fast in the twenties; later, budget an hour of searching per run.

Where do I go after level 30?

Alliance characters cross the Thandol Span into Arathi for 30–35, then walk south from Duskwood into Stranglethorn Vale. Horde characters take Arathi from Hammerfall or Thousand Needles from the Barrens, then the zeppelin to Grom'gol for Stranglethorn, where the skinning route pays for the mount.