As of the Shadowlands Expansion, leveling up in World of Warcraft is much easier than before, thanks to the introduction of Chromie Time and some changes to the leveling experience to make new and veteran players enjoy it even more.
These changes allow a smoother experience when leveling an alt character or for new players just getting into the game. To help you get to grips with the MMO’s way of handling leveling up, we’ve compiled this guide with details on how leveling works in WoW, including Chromie Time and some information on what players need to know about it.
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How Leveling Works in WoW
Like any MMO, you gain experience in World of Warcraft by defeating enemies and completing quests with your character, and as you do more, you’ll level up and unlock new abilities, content, and ways to play the game. For WoW, this is the same idea, but with the Shadowlands expansion, Blizzard changed up the experience significantly, making it much faster and more streamlined for players.
Depending on if you are a new or veteran/returning player, you will have a different experience playing through WoW than it used to before the big shake-up. There are two main ways leveling plays out in WoW today, and we have laid out both below with all the details on what your experience will look like when leveling up in WoW.
New Players – Exiles Reach and Battle For Azeroth
For new WoW players, you will not get the option to use Chromie Time and instead are on a set path for your leveling experience.
For starters, you will enter a unique area called Exiles Reach, which serves as a tutorial area for levels 1-10 and introduces you to all the core mechanics and ideas of WoW. It is quick, compact, and very well-designed, and should get you up to speed.
After this, you will be taken to your main city (Stormwind for Alliance, Orgrimmar for Horde) and set on the main questline for the Battle for Azeroth expansion, which scales to your level until 60. Once you reach level 60, you will be given the quest to begin the current expansion, Dragonflight, and move on to the game’s current content.
Veteran/Returning Players – Chromie Time and Choosing an Expansion
For players returning to the game or leveling up an alt character, you will have a different experience that offers you a lot of choices. After making your character, you can choose whether to play through Exiles Reach or go to your race’s respective starting zone and play through that experience. We suggest Exiles Reach; it’s much quicker and easier, and you leave with good gear that keeps you up for a while.
Along with that, you also get another choice at level 10. When you reach this level, you can take advantage of Chromie Time. This feature allows players to level up a character from 10 to 60 in any zone and expansion storyline they wish, with all the content in that expansion scaled to your level.
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You can also do any dungeons in that expansion, which will also scale to your level, and you have the freedom to change expansion whenever you choose. Chromie Time is handled by an NPC, conveniently named Chromie in Stormwind and Orgimmar. Thanks to the hourglass icon on both the mini and large map, you can see their location.
Once again, when you reach level 60, you will be pulled out of Chromie Time and bought into the current expansion, with the first quest given to you to begin your adventure.
