How long does it take to reach max level in WoW: TBC Classic?

Reaching max level in WoW: The Burning Crusade is half the battle. Once you get to level 70, a massive weight is taken off your shoulders and you can finally start sinking your teeth into endgame content. But unlike retail WoW, leveling through Classic content takes a while. It’ll take a substantial amount of time to actually reach the endgame and start to get ready for all the content it has to offer. 

For the sake of this guide, we’re going to split the leveling process into three different chunks: the first half of your journey to level 60, the second half of your journey to 60, and the final stretch of levels that occur between 60 and 70. It’s unfair to lump the new Burning Crusade content in with Classic WoW content since the game’s latest expansion is an experience all by itself. After tackling the first 60 levels, the last 10 on the march to the finish line are completely unique. 

Here’s how to tackle the WoW: TBC Classic leveling experience, as well as approximately how long it might take you. 

The first 48

The reason why the first 48 levels in Classic WoW are so pivotal is because they quite literally account for half of the experience that you’ll be gaining during your journey through Classic content. From levels one to 60, the first 48 levels are equal to the last 12 levels that you play through in terms of experience prior to transitioning into Outland. 

Don’t be fooled when you hit level 30 and think that you’re halfway to walking through the Dark Portal. If anything, you’re actually about a third of the way to level 60 in terms of experience when hitting the halfway mark in levels. But once you hit level 48 and start playing through high-level content, the effort required between each level-up is going to increase exponentially. It takes just under 45,000 XP to go from level 32 to 33, for example. But to jump from 50 to 51, you’ll need about 120,000 XP—with that number only increasing with each level. 

On average, it should take about three to four days of in-game time to reach the halfway-to-60 level 48 and start taking the next steps in your quest toward max level. 

The fast 50s

Although the experience gains required to tread through the 50s are intense in comparison to the first half of your journey, the final push through Classic content isn’t too long once you start to realize how many quests, dungeons, and other opportunities to farm XP are available toward the end of the game. Zones like Felwood, Winterspring, and the Western Plaguelands are filled to the brim with quests—so many that your quest log will undoubtedly fill up at least once. Beyond the raw XP you’ll earn from questing at level 50, the amount of mobs required to complete quests in certain zones is astronomical. You’ll be passively gaining experience like there’s no tomorrow. 

It should take you about a day or two of in-game time to progress from level 50 to 60. That’s approximately two or three weeks of real-life time if you play at a casual pace. 

Journeying through Outland

It’s recommended to treat your climb toward max level in WoW: TBC Classic as a completely separate experience once you step through the Dark Portal. The grind from 60 to 70 can take a significant amount of effort and takes double the amount of experience as it did to get from one to 60. Whereas it takes just over three million total XP to get from one to 60, it takes about 6.5 million XP to level from 60 to 70. In short, prepare for a lengthy journey that could take a very long time. 

Instead of breaking down the final leg of the leveling process by its 10 individual levels, try to approach the Burning Crusade content by zone. There’s a good chance you’ll do almost every quest in every zone, but make sure to move on if you outpace a zone. If you’re level 63 and you’re still questing in Hellfire Peninsula, for example, you should be moving on to Zangarmarsh or even Terokkar Forest. The biggest piece of advice we can dish out when it comes to leveling through Outland is when you see quests are available in a new zone, take them as soon as you can. 

On average, it can take anywhere between two to three days of game time to get from 60 to 70—and that’s if you don’t take any breaks or leave your character AFK in a major city. In total—assuming you spend all your time playing Classic WoW leveling—it will take you about eight days played to reach level 70. With AFK time and downtime taken into account, it could take up to nine or 10 days to hit the max level.