The World of Warcraft: Shadowlands pre-patch has finally arrived, bringing class and gameplay changes to replace old systems ahead of the expansion release. Furthermore, the much awaited level squish has also happened which has reduced the current max level from 120 down to 50. While brand new players always have a set course from the Exile's Reach starting zone into Battle for Azeroth content, veteran heroes can pick how they want to level up thanks to Chromie Time.
For many years, players went through all past expansions on the road to hitting the level cap which made for a jarring experience when they outleveled content in the middle of the story. Chromie Time, however, combines previous Timewalking and level-scaling technology to let everyone quest through their preferred expansion on alt characters. The only question left is how long will it take to go from level 1 to 50 in each different expansion.
Battle for Azeroth
The most recent expansion is still an option for players who want to tie up any loose ends before Shadowlands. Anyone continuing through Zuldazar and Kul Tiras will find many different quests resulting from the improvements and quality-of-life changes in modern World of Warcraft. Furthermore, players will accumulate gear and grey items that still give decent gold when sold here compared to elsewhere. On average, it will take most players 16 hours to hit level 50 from BfA.
Legion
Despite Legion's main artifact feature being a relic of the past, each of the quest-heavy zones is still a modern experience filled with side objectives that award additional experience and other cosmetics. Furthermore, players can still do the unique storylines to obtain their other artifacts and advance their Class Order Hall which is a good idea if they ever want to get a class-specific mount or run WoW companion app missions in the future. Players can expect to spend 14 hours in the Broken Isles until they reach level 50.
Warlords of Draenor
Although WoD had its fair share of endgame problems, the leveling experience is fondly remembered as one of the best that Blizzard has produced. Even after being hit with a significant nerf before the pre-patch, the many bonus objectives and treasures scattered throughout each zone still give a significant chunk of EXP. This alternate reality has always been the fastest expansion to level through and it's still the king now with about 12 hours needed hit level 50 at a normal pace.
Mists of Pandaria
Much like the Pandaren race, this expansion is on neutral ground when it comes to leveling through quests. While the zones are largely devoid of treasures and non-quest objectives, there are cohesive storylines that show the prototypes of what would become WoW's standard nowadays. Along the way, players can also start the reputation grind with multiple factions that award many different cosmetics. Journeying through MoP should take 16 hours for level 50 in most cases.
Cataclysm
Deathwing's return not only reshaped Azeroth, but exposed multiple new areas across the world. Nearly a decade later, however, it's clear the questing mechanics didn't age well compared to their modern counterparts with no other ways to gain EXP besides killing enemies and doing tasks for NPCs. The later Cataclysm zones also require reaching level 30 before they open up and only having 150-percent flying speed at that point will further hamper questing which was designed with quicker flying speed in mind. The saving grace is that less people in these areas means better chances of running into rare mounts like the Mysterious Camel Figurines and Aeonaxx. Otherwise, players trying to quest through Cataclysm should expect to put in 20 hours before reaching level 50.
Wrath of the Lich King
Even though Wrath of the Lich King is perhaps WoW's most iconic expansion, leveling through each zone is a largely outdated endeavor. Players will spend most of their time grinding mobs in one place before turning in the quest and being forced to go directly back to the same area. Despite the grinding element, all storylines do feature the Lich King Arthas in some way building up to the titular encounter within Icecrown which other expansions haven't really done since. Players will take 24 hours to hit level 50 in Northrend.
The Burning Crusade
The original expansion to WoW introduced heroes to the shattered world of Outland, but is much less impressive after 13 years. Nearly all quests are a variation on killing enough of a certain enemy before running or flying across the desolate zone to repeat the same process elsewhere. The quest rewards from Outland, however, are mostly unique recolors of rare vanilla gear so most players should go through the storylines at least once for their collection. Tying for last place, most players should spent 24 hours in TBC zones to reach level 50.
While WoD is still the winner and preferred choice of most players leveling alts, nobody is locked into their pick after the initial quest from Chromie. At any point, players can switch expansions for a change of pace or simply to do their favorite questline. In the end, questing should still be faster than before even with the 100-percent EXP bonus finally being removed.
World of Warcraft is available on PC.
Source: Wowhead