Guide: Leveling from 1 to 60 as Horde, zone-for-zone description.



Intro:
This guide is meant to give you a little peak at the zones you will visit while leveling your Horde character from 1 to 60. I have not done every single quest in this game, nor have I explored the entire world map, so I can’t promise I know anything about everything. And as mentioned before, I’ll try to keep it “short” for each zone. If you are not thinking about seeing the beauty of Azeroth, learn some lore, do some hard quests, but just want to be 80 as fast as possible, I'm sure there's a faster way to go than what I describe here.

Milaena has made an awesome guide based on the idea of this one for Alliance players. Many thanks, Milaena, for doing this! The guide can be found here:

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13200546429&sid=1

A guide for level 58-80 (Horde) has been made, it can be found here:

http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13200297717&sid=1



There are five races for the Horde, and five for the Alliance. For the Horde, you have: Tauren, Undead (as I may mention as Forsaken), Orc, Troll and Blood Elf.
The starting zones are:
Tauren – Mulgore
Undead – Tirisfal Glades
Orc – Durotar
Troll – Durotar
Blood elf – Eversong woods



Mulgore (Horde) 1-10:
Mulgore is the starting zone of the Tauren. Mulgore is green and open with a blue sky. This zone is considered one of the most beautiful zones in Azeroth by many players. The quests in Mulgore are centered about the peaceful Tauren. When you come to Camp Bloodhoof, you start up the “Rites of the Earthmother” chain. When I started with WoW way back, I found this chain very hard, but I believe I wasn’t that good back then.


Tirisfal Glades (Horde) 1-10:
The Tirisfal Glades are dark and misty woods. The Undead players start here, in the little town Deathknell. The beginner quests as Undead are fun; personally I actually find them the most interesting both lore wise and by variation in the quests. When you leave Deathknell, you are off for Brill. Brill is a town outside Lordaeron City (where Undercity lies today). Brill was in fact one of the first places to be infected by the scourge plague. The entire zone Tirisfal Glades is overrun by minions of the scourge, and most quests are about purging them.


Durotar (Horde) 1-10:
Durotar is the starting zone for the Trolls and the Orcs. Durotar is a flat zone made of red sand. The zone itself is in my opinion not too interesting, but questing here is pretty fine, because there are many nice and easy-to-catch questlines here. When you reach about level 5, you move on to Razor Hill, where you will find more quest chains, some like the ones you’ve completed and some different.


Eversong Woods (Horde) 1-10:
Eversong is the starting zone for the Blood Elves. Eversong is evergreen, shiny and beautiful, with trees and sunshine. The Blood Elves start at Sunstrider Isle, a little isolated area in the north-western part of the woods. The quests in Eversong are somewhat different to the quests in the other starting zones. Alternative ways to do things and not too much focus on gaining the XP as far as possible makes the quests in Eversong unique. The nature and lightening in this zone is breathtaking.



So you have reached level 10 now. Grats! From 10 to 20, there are several ways to go. Myself, I loved The Barrens.



Silverpine Forest (Horde) 10-20:
Silverpine used to be “where every undead leveled”. I think Silverpine is pretty okay. You can find a lot of quests here, which suits a level 10-20 character well. The main hub here is called The Sepulcher. This place has an underground inn and a bat master that offers flight.


Ghostlands (Horde) 10-20:
The Ghostlands are dark, blue woods. The player comes from north, Eversong, and enters near The Dead Scar. The zone has scourge minions, blood elves and creatures such as duskbats and wolves. Early in Ghostlands, you will go to a place named Tranquillien. This place has its own reputation table, actually, and if you finish off all the quests, you will be exalted with them. Ghostlands is a very beautiful zone.



The Barrens (Horde) 10-25:
The Barrens are endless savannahs with some oasises. The main hub in Barrens is Crossroads. Name says it all, doesn’t it? Crossroads is simply the place where the roads from east to west and north to south cross each other. Notice that the Crossroads flight master is the one that is connected to the most Horde flight paths in the entire game, so be sure to pick up the flight master! The Barrens are hated by many and loved by many. The quests here are pretty standard, but some of the chains lead you to mountain hills, within caves and into the oasises. I like The Barrens very much, and I absolutely advice to finish off it all, go the way from 10 to 25 here.
Now you are level 20 (except for if you went to Stonetalon Mountains at 15), congratulations! Let’s see about 20-30. If you chose to do all barrens, you are likely to be something about level 25, and that saves you for a lot of work in the 20-30 zones.


Stonetalon Mountains (contested) 15-27:
When I leveled my first character, my druid, I went to Stonetalon Mountains at level 15. My desire to explore the entire world, see new areas, took me here at an early level, and away from The Barrens. It didn’t last too long, however. At level 15, as a new player, I found the quests really hard, and the zone itself is hard to get around in, with many small unclimbable mountains. If you are thinking of going to Stonetalon Mountains, I advise you to wait until at least level 18, if not level 20. The zone is pretty decent looking, not too spectacular in my opinion, but if you like red rock mountains and killing spiders, this is a place for you.


Ashenvale Forest (contested) 18-30:
Ashenvale has a very elven theme. This land once belonged to the Night Elves. During Warcraft 3, the Orcs started to make lumber out of the ancient trees here, and made the Warsong Lumber Camp. Ashenvale is basically the reason why the Orcs and the Night Elves are enemies. You can see this in Warsong Gulch, where the Night Elves fight the orcs from Warsong Hold. As for the quests in Ashenvale, I have to say I enjoyed every moment. The quests have a great variety, where you have to gather, slay, rescue, help, you name it. You can start off with a couple of quests at level 18, but I advise you to wait until level 20, first of all because the quests will be a lot easier with your new skills and talent, and second because you get many more quests at level 20. The chains at Splintertree Post are interesting, both when it comes to lore, and gameplay. When you move on to the Zoram Strand, you will get a couple of quests for the higher level, and some quests for the instance in this zone; Blackfathom Deeps.


Hillsbrad Foothills (contested) 20-30:
Hillsbrad Foothills is the first contested zone (if you play on a PvP realm) you will meet at the Eastern Kingdoms. The foothills used to be the zone for world PvP back in the Vanilla days, with endless fights between the Alliance town Southshore, and the Horde town Tarren Mill. The quests in this zone definitely shows you how the Forsaken and the human fight over the lands of the Lordaeron area. The quest chain “The Battle for Hillsbrad” is a must if you are looking for simple, but funny quests. The quests are all about (exept for the the last two) killing the human at the Hillsbrad farm. In the last quests you have to kill the leaders all over Hillsbrad. Other quests are mostly about gathering and slaying animals, and some will eventually lead you to the neighbor zone Arathi Highlands (level 30-40).


Thousand Needles (contested) 25-35:
Thousand Needles lies at the very southern end of the endless Barrens. The name of the zone says it all; the zone is needles (mighty mountain tops), and deep valleys between them, except for the south-western part of the zone, The Shimmering Flats, which is a dessert, only inhibited by a racing course and some goblins at a “garage”. If you decide to go to Thousand Needles, you should know that it might be frustrating to have to find your way up and down from the hills. The quests in Thousand Needles start at Freewind Post, a tauren camp atop a hill. Luckily, there are elevators up to the post. I have to admit I haven’t done all the quests here, but from what I’ve seen, the quests are much about killing centaurs from a local tribe and water elementals, etc. The southern part, Shimmering Flats, as mentioned, is for the higher-level character (I’d say 30-35). Notice that there’s a character at the “garage” involved in a mage class quest.




You should be level 30 now, congratulations! Soon you will be mid-game. I am trying my best to keep it short.




Arathi Highlands (contested) 30-40:
The Arathi Highlands is pretty much a continue of the foothills. I find it a little less interesting than the foothills, because I “had enough” after doing 20-30 in the neighbor zone. The landscape isn’t that interesting, either, most of the zone is endless plains with raptors and some farmsteads. In this zone, in opposite to the foothills, there is no Forsaken camp. The orcs reside here, at a post called Hammerfall. Hammerfall serve as the main quest hub for the Horde players. The quests are much about killing things; raptors, a local troll tribe, syndicate thieves and so on.


Desolace (contested) 30-40:
The Horde post lies at the west coast, and is the only place in this zone with green grass. The quests are pretty okay, but the zone itself makes me less or more depressed. Gray wastelands, a kodo graveyard and a long way up to the instance Maraudon, makes me want to go outside and do something else. I do not say that you should not go to Desolace;

This is a great initiative, thanks Lethan!

+Blue Tag!