I finally hit 60 this past weekend and decided to update my leveling guide, filling in the last 10 levels. So here it is folks, hope you enjoy.
As many of you soloing mages already know, once you get into your 30s your choice of quests to solo become much smaller as most of the quests have become Elite and non-soloable. What I'm doing here is writing a little guide for the Mage community on places and mobs that I xp'd on to get to 60.
First thing I did when soloing was to try to find mobs that for one reason or another dropped faster or were just easier to xp against than others. Some things I'd look for were mob hp, damage taken by spells and how hard the mob hit. Another aspect that came up by accident was mob pathing. With one group of mobs in particular, due to their pathing, I was able to cast up to 5 fireballs on them before they reached me.
Finally I am an Undead Mage on a PvP server so some of the zones I've xp'd in were more Horde controlled contested zones, like Thousand Needles and Swamp of Sorrows.
Levels 28-30
I found that the level 28-30 Screeching Roguefather and Screaching Harpies in The Screeching Canyon in Thousand Needles were fairly easy to grind on. Harpies seem to have lower HP for their level and died fairly fast. Yes they can silence you and prevent you from casting. Luckily though, they hit very poorly. I never really ran into a problem because of this. I'd just go into attack mode and swing with my staff while mashing Fireblast until I could cast again.
Levels 30-32
The spiders and mini Raptor mobs in The Arathi Highlands are very nice. Both the Plains Creepers and Highland Striders have lower than average hp and are between levels 30-32. Also there are some decent quests that I also worked while grinding. The Arathi Highlands were probably the last zone that I went from doing mostly questing instead of grinding to mainly just grinding.
Levels 33-34
Witherbark Headhunters, Axethrowers and Witchdocters in the SE corner of The Arathi Highlands are a nice spot to grind in, levels 32-35. I liked this area especially because a number of the trolls are Witchdoctors/Shaman with very LOW hp. Caster classes usually always have lower hp and if you use counterspell correctly, will be easy fodder.
Levels 35-36
I found the level 36-37 Highland Fleshstalkers in The Arathi Highlands to be a fairly decent to xp on. They drop fairly easily due to a bit lower hp. They hit a bit harder but nothing that was ever threatening. The biggest threat I had was from the Alliance pcs running around while I was xping.
Levels 37-38
Here I went to Dustwallow Marsh and fought at the Lost Point tower where there are level 37 Theremore Deserters. The best part about this area is the pathing. Human mobs in general have average hp but the pathing at the tower can allow you to get in an extra fireball every now and then. That and the fact that I rarely saw any Alliance while I was xping here was nice.
Levels 39-40
Here I went to the Swamp of Sorrows and fought Swampwalkers 38-39, Swampwalker Elders 39-40 and Tangled Horrors 40-41 in Misty Valley. These mobs went down so insanely easily. With the right talents you can cut through these guys like a hot knife through butter. By talents I mean Pyroblast, Ignite and Arcane Concentration. Mobs here are 38-41. Many times I was able to take them down just on 3 fireballs. On rare occasions my Pyro and Fireball would both crit, taking the mob down in only 2 spells.
Levels 41-42
I moved over to The Hinterlands and stayed here through level 48. Even though this is mainly an Alliance zone (no Horde town or flight path) the xp and $$ was just so good I couldnt pass it up.
As you come into the zone from Hillsbrad if you keep to the right side zone wall you will come across a spawn of Trolls levels 40-41. There are 3 mob types, casters, melee and axe throwers. Again the casting mobs drop fairly easily with the axe throwing mobs being the biggest pain. The good thing about these mobs is that not only are they good kills but they drop the rare crafting items Heart of the Wild and Wildvine and the uncommon Flask of Mojo. On Frostwolf I was actually able to get 10gp for a stack of 20 Wildvine and about 1gp per 5 Heart of the Wild and Flask of Mojo.
Levels 42-45
Normally mobs scale by 2 or 3 levels and I will xp on them until I reach the level of the highest mob in the spawn. Here though I xpd on mobs levels 42-43 until I was level 45. Why? The main reason is the pathing issue I found and eluded to at the beginning of this article. If you keep going just a bit deeper into The Hinterlands, the next troll spawn spot has trolls in this clump of hills that are levels 42-43. Here is a picture of exactly where this spot is on your ingame map. http://webpages.charter.net/czechp/WoW/The_Hinterlands.jpg And here is a picture of where I stood to xp on these trolls. (The red X show where inside this little fort that the trolls spawn.) http://webpages.charter.net/czechp/WoW/Pathing_Pic.jpg The spot Im standing at is also a mob point, so you will need to be aware that after a
certain period of time, that mob will respawn.
As you can see in the picture I usually cast between these two walls. Although my character can walk through them, Blizzard has coded it that mobs cannot. What this means is that when you fireball them, they have to run all the way around all the stone walls to get to you. This allows you to get usually 4 fireballs before they reach you. If you have Impact and get a stun, you can usually get 5 in. Many times with a crit and the extra ignite dot, the mob will NEVER reach you before dying.
Also there are a few mobs in the front of this fort that you cannot reach with your fireball from where I’m showing I stood. What you can do though is move into the fort and fire 1-2 fireballs at the mob, then run back to your spot between the two walls. Since the mob cannot follow you, it will be forced then to path around the fort. You can then finish it up without ever being touched.
I stayed here until I reached level 45 as the fast xp here was just better than anything I could get elsewhere.
Levels 46-48
I leveled to 48 again on Trolls, this time at the Alter of Zul. There is a very good concentration of level 47 casting trolls that are fairly easy to take down. I would get to just inside counterspell range, fireball, fireball, counterspell, arcane missile and the mob was either dead or very close to it. Surrounding the Altar are roaming Axe throwers, melee and wolf mobs.
All of the troll npcs drop Wildvine and Flask of Mojo which are decent sellers in the AH.
Levels 49-50
I leveled to 50 fighting Deadwood Furbolgs in Felwood. Again there are 3 types of mobs, casters (Felwood Gardners), melee (Felwood Warriors) and archers/ranged (Fellwood Pathfinders). The most annoying again is the archer/ranged Furbolg with the melee being fairly easy and the caster very easy. The casting furbolg is either a shaman or druid and will attempt to heal itself when low on health. I will usually pull it in with 3 fireballs, fireblast then wait a second to see if he attempts to heal. If it does, I counterspell then Arcane Missile and it's usually dead. If it doesnt I just AM.
Levels 51-53
I did levels 51-53 at the first field with Undead and Caldron, Skeletal Sorcerers, Slavering Ghouls and Skeletal Flayers. Mobs are levels 50-52 with the Skeletal Sorcerers being your easiest kill, so I tried to find a spot that had the highest concentration of them. Your only problem here is that you are UNABLE to polymorph undead, so if you pull 2, you will have to deal with 2 at the same time. I did though find a very nice out of the way spot from wandering undead and the wandering spiders/bears that inhabit the area. Plus this area had the HIGHEST Undead Sorcerer concentration for easy kills. BONUS: it's a bit out of the way so you will many times NOT be spotted by anyone else while xping. Lucky me. You want to head to the back of the field, behind the Silos and house. The Skeletal Flayer mobs are the toughest with the most xp while the sorcs drop fairly easily. Sorcs cast either fire/frost spells so how I pulled was this. I got to within counterspell range, Fireball, Fireball and while the 2nd fireball is loading up spam your counterspell hotkey. You should get off your counterspell just before the sorc casts his. Hell then run to you. Cast Fireball one more time, Arcane Missile and Fire Blast if needed to finish. Flayers and Ghouls are pure melee so no counterspell is needed. Ghouls can hit you with a dot disease but its only minor.
Level 54
This is a tough level as you are just about to get your next Fireball/Pyroblast at 54 so your damage output is a tad under what youd like it to be. For this level I just moved down the road to the next field of undead, Rotting Cadavers and Blighted Zombies and Skeletal Terrors. Undead here are levels 53-54, mostly melee but an occasional caster. Again on any casting mob, just use the same tactic you used for the Sorcerers. For these mobs I went again behind the house but this time on the East side of the field. I do this usually because these areas, the mobs tend to wander less and are mostly STATIC spawns, which is best for xp grinding. This was probably one of the harder levels to get but once you hit level 54 though, you will be able to move on to a much nicer more relaxing camp.
Levels 55-57
I was so insanely happy to find these guys. They are the Scarlet Lumberjacks in Western Plaguelands. There are two spawns of them, one with a mill and TONS OF WANDERING MOBS. The other one is west of the Mill with a tent and all but 1 mob are STATIC!!!!! Oh and did I mention they are HUMANS so your polymorph works again.
There are a total of 10 mobs in the area that you will work. 4 of them are solo chopping trees. The other 6 are paired up. I always made sure that whenever I worked on the pairs, I was at full mana. When I pulled the pairs, I would do this. Fireball, Fireball, Fireball, now while my 3rd fireball timer was going off, I'd target the 2nd mob coming in. I would either PoM/Poly the 2nd mob, or you can just wait till both mobs are on top you and Frost Nova, back up and Poly the 2nd mob, then finish the first.
The only wandering mob you have to worry about is the level 59 named mob that wanders through the camp like every 10 minutes. At level 54 he is red and undoable, at level 55 he is orange and a hard kill and at level 55 he is still orange but can be killed with a full mana bar/hp fairly easily, usually no potions or gems needed.
Also, one of the nice things about this camp is there is also a chest that spawns in it that usually has a green item inside. I opened it 4-5 times and each time received some kind of green item.
Finally at this spawn I received TWO Epic drops, yes you heard me, TWO!
Hammer of the Northern Wind: http://www.thottbot.com/?i=14393
Shadowblade: http://www.thottbot.com/?i=7245
Both of which Im giving to my alt Rogue.
Levels 58-60
Again I wanted to find mobs that I could Poly and were as static as possible. I found them in the Mossflayer Trolls in the Easter Plaguelands. They are located here.
These are a bit tougher than the Lumberjacks, but once you get used to them and their pattern, they become fairly easy. There are Mossflayer Scouts, spear using Warrior class mob, Mossflayer Shadowhunter, Hunter class and Mossflayer Cannibal, Shaman class. I did NOT go all the way inside the camp. Rather, I worked the road/hill leading into the Mossflayer complex. Their are 4-5 of static mobs along the road, a hut with 2 mobs and 2 more static mobs just before the big pit with the Infected Mossflayers. 2-3 mobs also wander up and down the road so you need to keep an eye out for them.
I had very little trouble here with Alliance. Most of the time Alliance players would just run in and bypass me while I xpd as they were usually solo doing the quest to kill the named level 60 in the pit.
Your only real problem mob are the Cannibals as they will turn you into a frog for 5 seconds at which time they can still beat down on you. Also they will from time to time, drain life you so I usually Counterspelled them when they started to melee me.
Here I received my 3rd epic drop that I gave to a guildy.
Axe of the Deep Woods: http://www.thottbot.com/?i=10591
