How this route works. Dungeon quests carry the XP in Forever, so this route moves from one dungeon to the next and quests in the zones where each dungeon's quests start. Your professions level along the way with what those zones drop. Levels and hubs are Reported unless marked; new Forever dungeons are Confirmed by Wowhead.
Dungeon quests are the XP. Reported
Dungeon mobs give more XP than in Classic and dungeon quests carry the bonus XP (the quest bonus per Kris Zierhut, principal designer). Run each dungeon once with its quests.
Zones follow the next dungeon. Reported
Quest where that bracket's dungeon quests start, collect them all, run the dungeon, turn in, and move on.
Eat before you pull. Confirmed
Crafted food gives Well Fed +5% kill XP (8% with the Cozy Sleeping Bag at camp). That makes Cooking a leveling profession, so start it on day one.
Trainer gates set your profession pace. Classic-baseline
Journeyman needs character level 10, Expert level 20 and Artisan level 35. Keep each profession near its cap before you outlevel the materials in your current zone.
Level1–6
Valley of Trials
Valley of Trials, Durotar
Do
Starter quests around the Den (Kaltunk, Gornek's Cutting Teeth, Sarkoth, Sting of the Scorpid).
Galgar's Cactus Apple Surprise (levels 1–3, Galgar, Valley of Trials): collect 6 Cactus Apples for a stack of food plus 500 reputation with Orgrimmar and the Darkspear Trolls. Wowhead lists it as a Classic quest, so its Forever reward may change Reported.
The Great Outdoors (level 4–6, Brakk, Valley of Trials): new in Forever. Teaches Cooking and gives the Basic Campfire Kit, so you can camp and cook from here on Confirmed.
Burning Blade Cave: grab the Felstalker Hooves while you are there, then do Call of Earth at level 4 (Canaga Earthcaller; ritual at Spirit Rock, southwest of the Den).
Professions on the way
Cooking: Cooking starts with The Great Outdoors. Cook every boar and scorpid meat at your own campfire; any crafted food gives Well Fed +5% kill XP for 15 minutes.
Mining: Learn Mining from Norzsh in the Valley of Trials (Apprentice, no requirement) and buy a Mining Pick. Forever adds Poor Copper Veins to starter areas (fewer since the Oct 1 build) Reported. Learn Engineering on your first visit to Orgrimmar.
Level6–10
Sen'jin Village and Razor Hill
Durotar: Sen'jin Village, Razor Hill, the coast, Echo Isles shore
Do
Sen'jin Village and the Echo Isles (5–7): Legging It (new), Practical Prey, the Zalazane and Forgotten Loa content.
Razor Hill and the western ravines (7–9): Encroachment and the new cactus-fruit quest This Fruit Could Bite Back. Beta testers report it gives no reward yet; players expect food or a recipe at launch Reported. Also Dark Storms at Thunder Ridge and Kron's Amulet from the Dreadmaw Crocolisks.
Around level 10: the Fire totem chain (Kranal Fiss north of the Crossroads, Telf Joolam in the Durotar mountains).
Finish Durotar and head to Orgrimmar at 10 for Journeyman training and your first talent point.
Professions on the way
Cooking: Learn Cooking and the Basic Campfire recipe. Cook the boar meat you saved and fish you catch: Cooking 1 → ~50 before you leave Durotar.
Fishing: Learn Fishing and fish the Durotar coast between quests (Slitherskin Mackerel, Brilliant Smallfish) → ~50. At 20 skill, craft the Fish Bowl (+8% all stats at camp).
First Aid: Linen Bandages from humanoid drops → ~50.
Mining: Copper Veins across Durotar → ~50. Smelt Copper Bars as you go: smelting raises Mining too.
Engineering: Rough Blasting Powder from the Rough Stone you mine → ~35.
Skill by the end:50Mining50Cooking50Fishing50First Aid35Engineering
Level10–13
The Barrens: the Crossroads
The Barrens (the Crossroads), Orgrimmar
Do
Train Journeyman professions (Mining: Krunn in Razor Hill or Makaru in Orgrimmar; Engineering: Thund, Nogg in Orgrimmar).
Quest the Crossroads (plainstriders, quilboar, Kolkar).
Durotar Supply and Logistics, just west of the Crossroads (about 49.7, 29.4; turn-ins with Dokimi): hand in Waylaid Crates for Merchant's Favor. White crates (raw materials) pay 5 or 10, green crates (crafted goods) pay double. One source reports a one-time 50 Favor bonus on your first turn-in Reported. This is also where Horde buys the new Engineering schematics; ore and ingot crates count too.
Pick up Ragefire Chasm quests in Orgrimmar as they appear.
Professions on the way
Cooking: Plainstrider and zhevra meat from the Barrens → ~75.
Mining: Journeyman Mining (skill 50, level 10) from Krunn in Razor Hill or Makaru in Orgrimmar. Copper and the first Tin Veins in the Barrens → ~75.
Quests: Beneath Ironforge; quests from Dun Morogh, Silverpine and Undercity
Do
Run Ragefire Chasm once with all its Orgrimmar quests.
Cozy Sleeping Bag chain (from level 14): click the Burned-Out Remains in the Field of Giants (southern Barrens) for ...and that note you found, then Stepping Stones, Scramble and Wet Job in Stonetalon, and finally This Must Be The Place at Thoradin's Wall in Hillsbrad around level 20. The Cozy Sleeping Bag gives up to +3% XP for 2 hours after resting in it, and raises your food bonus to 8% at camp. Some steps cross into Westfall and Loch Modan (Alliance land) Reported.
Hall of Thanes is new (13–18) but sits under Ironforge; do it only if a Horde quest chain sends you there.
Fill the bracket with Barrens hubs (Ratchet, the northern work sites).
Three dungeon chains overlap here. Pick the one whose hub is closest: Silverpine for Shadowfang Keep, Ashenvale for Blackfathom Deeps, Wetlands for the new Excavation Site.
Stonetalon (Sun Rock Retreat) fills the gaps.
Professions on the way
Mining: Tin and Silver in Ashenvale, Silverpine and the Wetlands; Iron Deposits from 125 → ~150. Rock Garden at 140.
Cooking: Poached Sunscale Salmon and Nightfin Soup → 300.
Mining: Small Thorium Veins in Un’Goro, Burning Steppes and the Swamp of Sorrows; smelt Thorium Bars (250) → ~275. Azerothium Bar (Pitchblende + Coal) at 275.
Skill by the end:275Mining300Cooking
Level55–60
Blackmaw Hold and Shaper's Terrace
Mount Hyjal, Azshara, Un'Goro Crater, the Plaguelands
Skill by the end:300Mining300Engineering300Cooking300Fishing300First Aid
Class quests
Level 5
Professions and secondaries
Start Cooking and First Aid (Well Fed food adds +5% kill XP; First Aid now makes Healing Potions). Choose your crafting path in the Professions tab.
Level 10+
Talents: Elemental
Follow the point order on the Talents tab. Turn in every Waylaid Supplies crate for Merchant’s Favor, the recipe currency.
Levels 15–25
The Barrens and Wailing Caverns
Collect dungeon quests first: dungeon mobs give more XP than in Classic and the quests carry the bonus XP. Queue as healer; your gear overlaps.
Level 30
Engineering specialization
Pick Goblin (Jumper Cables XL, Sapper Charges) or Gnomish (Battle Chicken) at skill 200.
Level 40
Mail
Switch to mail. Skycaller’s (Elemental) and Mender’s (Restoration) mail come from Leatherworking 210; the pieces are reported Bind on Equip, so a leatherworker or the Auction House can supply them.
Levels 55–60
Respec to Restoration
Raids open Dec 9: Barrow Deeps (10), Hyjal Summit (20), Onyxia (40). Keep Elemental for solo and farming.
Totem quests
Shamans get race-specific quest chains for Earth, Fire, Water and (in progress) Air totems between roughly levels 4 and 30, each ending in an elemental fight and granting a totem plus a signature spell Confirmed.
Earth · level 4
Call of Earth, Canaga Earthcaller, Valley of Trials: collect Felstalker Hooves, then the ritual at Spirit Rock. Reported
Elemental
Restoration
Engineering
Fishing
Valley of Trials, Durotar
