George In The Meta
Where do you quest at level 20 in WoW Forever if you don't want dungeons?
By George In The Meta ·
Short answer: if you're Horde, go to Tarren Mill in Hillsbrad Foothills. When I got there, most of the quests on offer were level 22, a couple were 24, and only one was 28. I tried Ashenvale first, on a route written for Classic, and died before I reached the town.
Why does every quest at level 20 send you to a dungeon?
Because by now a lot of the quests you pick up are dungeon quests, and if you're like me, you just follow them without reading them. I kept ending up outside Shadowfang Keep.
When I finally looked, I had nine quests in my log and six of them were filed under dungeons: three for Shadowfang Keep, two for Ragefire Chasm, and one from the Ruins of Lordaeron chain under Undercity.
I didn't want a dungeon. I want to quest while I'm working, so I can walk off at any point and not be committed to the length of a full dungeon. Finding a group is its own problem, which I've written about in are dungeons still worth it.
How did I work out where to go?
I asked my coach. I've built my own set of addons for Maple, and one of them saves everything about my character to a file when I log in or out: the quests I've got left, what's in my bags, my gear, and where I'm standing. An AI assistant reads that file, and I talk to it while I play.
So I asked it where I should go, because I wanted to quest. It looked at my log, saw I was in Orgrimmar, and sent me to Ashenvale.
Why didn't Ashenvale work at level 20?
The route was out of Orgrimmar's side gate, follow the river north, climb up into Ashenvale, then on to Splintertree Post to hand in The Ashenvale Hunt. That route came from a Classic guide.
It went badly. I came up next to level 28 spiders, then bears I couldn't even see the level of, and they all pulled on me. I got stunned, used my bubble, used Lay on Hands while I tried to run, then had to cross a river full of more mobs. Then I died on the road to a group of skull-level mobs, the ones too far above you for the game to show a level.
I released at the spirit healer and walked the rest of the way. At Splintertree, the deer right outside the town were level 27 and a wolf was 28. That's when I gave up on it.
One thing I learned on the way: Lay on Hands drains all your remaining mana. Use your other mana spells first, then Lay on Hands with whatever mana you have left.
Are WoW Forever's zone levels the same as Classic?
The guides don't agree, and most of what you'll find is written for Classic anyway. WoW Forever Builds lists Ashenvale and Hillsbrad Foothills at 20 to 30. EndGameTools stretches both to 18 to 34.
Neither of those numbers would have told me what was waiting outside Splintertree Post, in the east of Ashenvale: mobs at 27 and 28. A zone's range covers the whole zone, not the bit you're walking into.
Is Tarren Mill better at level 20?
Yes. Here's how I got there:
- Hearthstone to Undercity.
- Fly from Undercity to The Sepulcher.
- Follow the main road south through Silverpine Forest.
- At the bottom of Silverpine, the road turns east into Hillsbrad Foothills.
- Tarren Mill is up in the hills in the north-east. Stay off the road south: it goes to Southshore, the Alliance town, and it has guards.
I walked it from The Sepulcher. The spiders on the way were around level 24, which meant slow kills but no real danger for a tank. I hit 21 around the time I discovered Tarren Mill.
The step-by-step directions matter here. The map is covered by fog of war until you've been somewhere, so walking about, I wouldn't have known which road to take.
What quests are at Tarren Mill?
These are the ones I picked up, at level 21:
- Elixir of Suffering: 22
- The Rescue: 22
- WANTED: Syndicate Personnel: 22
- Elixir of Pain: 24
- Battle of Hillsbrad: 24
- Dangerous!: 28, and it shows red
The first one was easy. I'm slapping spiders, and it's taking a while because I'm a tank and not doing much damage. Dangerous! is the only red one at my level. Someone in General chat was already asking for a group for Battle of Hillsbrad.
Why use an AI coach instead of a guide or a video?
Because I'm actually talking to it, out loud. Not typing. I speak into my microphone, it picks me up, and it answers out loud: I hear it through my speakers. So I never stop playing. I'm running around questing, asking where to go next, and following the directions it's reading out to me while I'm still moving.
To read a guide I'd have to stop. A video isn't made for me: it doesn't know where I am or what I've got on me.
It isn't always right, either. The Ashenvale route was its mistake, because it used a Classic guide. When I told it the deer were 27, it corrected itself and gave me Tarren Mill instead, with The Barrens as the backup.
Without being able to ask it, I'd never have worked this out. I would probably have given up and stopped playing.
Where should you quest at level 20 in WoW Forever?
If you're Horde and want to quest without dungeons: Tarren Mill, with most quests at 22 when I arrived at 21. Skip the Classic side-gate route to Ashenvale at this level. If Tarren Mill is too much, The Barrens was the coach's other option, though I haven't tested it. I play Horde, so I can't tell you what the Alliance side looks like.
