Level 26: Thursday, March 3, 2011

Remaining in Duskwood, you eventually find your way over to the western part of the zone, and the haunted Raven Hill Cemetery. Ghouls and zombies have taken over here, and your main mission is to see what's causing the disturbance, and put a stop to it. Eventually, you find out that a necromancer who lives in one of the cemetery's shacks is responsible.

Recently, a caravan of friendly worgen have also set up camp here, and their chains involve you finding a wild worgen and administering a cure to him in order to make him more human.

Finally, nestled in the center of the zone, surrounded by rocky hills with one obscure path to follow, is the Twilight Grove. This clearing is the site of one of the four portals in the world that leads to the Emerald Dream.

At times, however, adventurers are startled to find a large World dragon prowling the area. Large raid groups, back when the level cap was 60, would form to take these dragons down for special gear. However, for a level 25 newbie wandering around, this could be quite an imposing sight.

Level 25: Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Located almost due south of Stormwind, the forest of Duskwood is one of the more immersive zones for leveling Alliance players. The atmosphere is very well done, with visuals that convey the story of a once-normal society changed by some pretty bad things.

Shortly upon entering, you find yourself in the zone's lone town of Darkshire.

The local guards, the Night Watch, who have been overcome by the many problems threatening the town, enlist you to help out. Your tasks include clearing out some wild worgen from the surrounding areas, and helping out an elderly man who lives on the outskirts of town. He has some pretty NORMAL needs, including ghoul ribs and zombie juice, you know, normal old man stuff, that he has you get for him. You continue to do his dirty work, because quests mean experience, and experience means leveling, even though he pretty much mocks you to your face for being so stupid

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Eventually, he has you deliver a message to the mayor of Darkshire, and SWERVE, the guy is pure evil and has used you in order to create a giant abomination to lay waste to the town to settle some undisclosed grudge. The monster used to take shape in the cemetery on the other side of the zone and travel the road towards Darkshire, killing any leveling character who was unfortunate enough to wander into his path, but now the town phases, and immediately after you hand in the old man's message, the monster appears in town, setting fires and causing problems.

You put down the monster that you were pretty much responsible for creating, and go on your way. It's a nice change-up from the constant questing that they throw in a chain every now and then that has someone take advantage of you.

Level 24: Tuesday, March 1, 2011

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUU

The entrance for the Gnomeregan Instance is located inside the starting area for gnomes. The story of this dungeon is the ongoing attempt to reclaim the Gnomish capital after it was bombed from within to hold off some attacking troggs. It is also one of the most hated instances in the game.

You enter the underground city via a shaft drilled into the mountainside. Once underground, you are surrounding by a puke green aesthetic (it's all of the radiation) and Gnomish architecture, which is pretty much "put more gears on it."

Multiple levels make it hard to navigate. Tight corridors make it so that one false step can get you swarmed by a ton of enemies. Every time you kill an enemy in here it makes an annoying "waaaaaaahhhhhooooa" sound effect. It also takes forever. Anyway, the final boss is Dr. Robotnik Mekgineer Thermaplugg, the guy who originally had the idea to nuke the city from the inside. It's unknown whether he did this on purpose.

Level 23: Monday, February 28, 2011

The Stockade is the Alliance answer to the Ragefire Chasm instance, and is the only dungeon available in an Alliance City.

The heavily-guarded prison is experiencing a riot inside, and only you and your other party members can stop it, since the guards there are extremely incompetent. They can't get five feet into the dungeon without needing a place to rest, and a priest to heal them.

Prior to Cataclysm, the riot was started by Edwin Van Cleef's lieutenant, Bazil Threed, who got himself locked up in order to take down Stormwind from the inside. He was the final boss for the a number of years.

When the world changed, and adventurers had killed him already, a new boss needed to be added, and so the game designers decided to make fan favorite Hogger the final boss in the dungeon.

For most Alliance players, Hogger, the leader of a trogg gang in Elwynn Forest was the first "Elite" mob that they encountered, and most were thrown off guard by how tough he was if attempted without a group and slaughtered. Players who do the Elwynn Forest questline are actually responsible for getting him arrested in the first place, so this is a neat way to wrap up the storyline.

Level 22: Sunday, February 27, 2011

Down a winding mountain road (although there are alternate ways) from Loch Modan lies the Wetlands, a marshy swampland that connects the southern portion of the Eastern Kingdoms to the northern. Also, before ferries were added to Stormwind, the zone's main town, Menethil Harbor was only one of two places that offered Alliance players passage to the other continent of Kalimdor.

Named for the former king of Lordaeron (who was murdered by his own son, Arthas,) Menethil Harbor was a popular stop for Alliance players who needed to get to the other continent for some of the endgame raids that they were attending. However, Deathwing's emergence, and the destruction of the Stonewrought Dam submerged the town, although the boats still work.

There are a number of other areas to explore in the Wetlands. There are a band of marauding orcs....

Dark Iron dwarves who threaten from their stronghold in the northern part of the zone...

g-g-g-ghost pirates!

There is also a band of dwarves at an excavation site who are trapped by a herd of dinosaurs that needs rescuing.

Level 21: Saturday, February 26, 2011

Located in a sunken Night Elf temple off of the western coast of Darkshore, Blackfathom Deeps is another early dungeon instance that many players miss, since it's somewhat removed from a large majority of the starting areas.

You reach the instance portal by swimming underneath the temple ruins, and upon zoning in, find yourself in a maze of caverns, connected by pools of water that you need to swim through. The temple has been invaded by naga and satyrs, and they've changed the decor to reflect their own, slightly.

The main boss of the instance is a three-headed hydra.

Level 20: Friday, February 25, 2011

Level 20 is a fun milestone to reach. You usually receive a pretty powerful new ability for your class, but more importantly, you can also obtain your first riding mount! This riding skill, which at game launch was originally given to you at Level 40, lets you ride mounts that increase your speed by 60%. Every race has their own unique mount, and there are two classes that get special ones.

Blood elves got large birds that resemble Final Fantasy's Chocobos.

Night elves get large cats.

Dwarves get rams.

Goblins get motorized scooters.

Orcs get wolves.

Draenei get large elephant-like elekks.

Humans get horses.

Trolls get raptors.

Tauren get kodos, which kind of resemble dinosaurs.

Undead get undead horses

Gnomes get mechanical chickens.

Warlocks of all races get the felsteed, summoned from the depths of hell or something.

Paladins get the armored warhorse.