Dungeons vs Questing in WoW Forever: Which Levels You Faster Now?

In WoW Forever, dungeons and questing level you at roughly the same speed, and that is deliberate. Blizzard cut dungeon quest bonus XP on 1 October, raised dungeon kill XP by about 20% on 8 October, and its lead designer says perfect dungeon play is now "very close, if not equal to" optimal questing, not faster. In practice, the fastest players will mix both: quest in the open world and run each dungeon once, at the right level, with its quests.

Status: these are beta changes. Blizzard says it doesn't plan big tuning changes before launch, but real launch-week XP rates are not known yet. We will update this page with launch data.

The short answer

If you...	Lean towards	Why
Play solo, at odd hours	Questing, with the odd dungeon	No waiting for a group; questing is Blizzard's baseline
Have a fixed group or a duo	A dungeon-heavy mix	Your group is ready, so dungeons cost no waiting time
Play a tank or a healer	A dungeon-heavy mix	Groups form fast around you
Level on launch week	Questing first, dungeons as groups form	Starting zones get faster respawns at launch (see below)
Want the gear	At least one run of each dungeon	Dungeon drops are often upgrades for the zones around them

None of this is a promise of a faster time. Group speed, travel and how long a group takes to form decide more than the XP numbers do.

What Blizzard changed during the beta

Date	Change	Source
1 October	Dungeon quests "now reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values"	Blizzard development notes
8 October	Experience from killing creatures in dungeons up by "approximately 20%"	Blizzard development notes
8 October	Party XP fixed: each player's kill XP is based on their own level, as in Classic Era	Blizzard development notes
15 October	The group finder now updates which dungeons the party is eligible for when members are different levels	Blizzard development notes

Two details matter for planning:

• Dungeon quests still pay more than normal quests. The 1 October cut halved the extra experience, not the whole reward. Picking up a dungeon's quests before you go in is still the biggest win in any run.
• A big level gap still zeroes XP. Blizzard's 8 October notes say that "if a member of the party is at a vastly higher level than the enemy being killed, then no player in the party will receive XP." Carries by a much higher friend don't give you kill XP.

What Blizzard says about dungeons vs questing

After the WoW Forever podcast's dungeon episode on 8 October, Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield posted on the official forums:

• "with perfect xp/hr play, the leveling rates in dungeons will be very close, if not equal to the speed you can level with optimal questing play."
• "XP gain is not going to be what it was in era."
• "We understand that some of you want to dungeon cleave to 60 … That playstyle being the optimal way to level does not pass that muster and we need to hold firm on these balance adjustments."

He ties this to two of Forever's design pillars, "World is the Main Character" and "Nurture and Protect Social Experiences". In the same podcast, senior game designer Rowan Ryder said the team doesn't want dungeons to be one-and-done, but that "just grinding dungeons isn't the optimal way to play" (Wowhead transcript).

What that means for you: expect dungeons to be about as fast as good questing when your group is good, and slower when it isn't. Don't expect the Classic Era dungeon-spam routes to be the fastest way to 60 in Forever.

Launch week: why questing may win early

Blizzard's 2 November notes adjusted respawn rates "to properly support large player volumes at launch". Rates are "generally on the faster side in lower-level zones – with starting zones being the fastest", and Blizzard plans to lower them again "once the initial launch surge of low-level characters has settled down."

That points to two things for launch week:

1. Early questing should stay playable even when crowded. Blizzard still expects "some contention for spawns", so a crowded starting zone will be slower than on the beta.
2. Dungeon groups are easiest to find early. Most players are at the same levels in the first days. Groups for the first dungeons should form quickly, while groups for mid-level dungeons can get harder to find as players spread out.

We have not measured launch XP rates; check back after launch for real data.

How to mix dungeons into a questing route

1. Collect the dungeon's quests first. Each dungeon has quest givers outside it, often in the nearest town. Without the quests, you lose most of what makes a run worth it. Our dungeon quests guide lists them by dungeon and faction, with quest givers.
2. Run each dungeon once at the right level. At the low end of a dungeon's range the run is slow; near the top, mobs give less XP. The dungeon table in our leveling hub lists every dungeon with its level range, and our dungeon grouping page covers rulesets and faction rules.
3. Keep your group within a few levels. Since 8 October that no longer penalises the lower players as long as the gap isn't huge.
4. Have a fallback. If no group forms in a few minutes, keep questing and queue again from the next zone.
5. Turn in, then leave. Hand in the dungeon quests and head back into the world; don't stay for a second run unless the group is fast and your quests nearby are done.

Dungeons, duo and class choice

• Tanks and healers have the easiest time with a dungeon-heavy mix, because groups form around them. If you level as a tank, see our Prot Warrior and Prot Paladin guides. Healers can start with leveling as a healer.
• Duos can quest together and fill a dungeon group with three more players. See our duo leveling guide.
• Mages can make up some of the open-world gap with AoE pulls; see our Mage AoE guide.
• New dungeons on the way to 30: the Ruins of Lordaeron, the Hall of Thanes for Alliance, the Excavation Site: Wetlands and the City of Dalaran.

Where RestedXP fits

RestedXP's Forever guides come in two routes: a Speedrun Guide for solo questing and a Dungeon Leveling Guide that weaves mandatory and optional dungeons into the questing route. You pick the optional dungeons yourself under Guide Routing, and the route has you collect the dungeon quests on the way. Our RestedXP Dungeon Guide page has the dungeon list from RestedXP's 3 November update.

Both routes come with the same purchase, so you can switch: Dungeon Guide when your group is online, Speedrun Guide when you play alone. If you'd rather not pay, Questie shows quests on the map for free, but it won't plan the order for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is dungeon leveling faster than questing in WoW Forever?

Not by design. After the 8 October beta changes, Blizzard's Josh "Aggrend" Greenfield wrote that with perfect XP-per-hour play, dungeon leveling should be "very close, if not equal to" optimal questing, and that dungeon cleaving to 60 being the optimal way to level does not pass Blizzard's design pillars.

Did Blizzard nerf dungeon XP in WoW Forever?

Partly. On 1 October dungeon quests were changed to reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values. On 8 October experience from dungeon kills went up by about 20%, and a bug that cut XP in parties with a higher-level player was fixed.

Can I level to 60 only through dungeons?

You can, but Blizzard has said it will not let dungeon spam be the optimal way to level, and our view is that a mixed route is the safer choice. Dungeon groups also depend on finding players at your level, which gets harder as people spread out after launch.

Do I get less XP if a higher-level friend is in my group?

Since 8 October, each player's kill XP is based on their own level against the enemy, as in Classic Era. But if a party member is vastly higher level than the enemy, nobody in the party gets XP.

Should I run the same dungeon more than once?

Blizzard's designers say they don't want dungeons to be one-and-done, but also that grinding dungeons shouldn't be the optimal way to play. A practical rule: run each dungeon at least once with all its quests, and repeat it only if your group is fast and the quests in the world around you are thin.

Does RestedXP have a dungeon route for WoW Forever?

Yes. RestedXP's Forever Dungeon Leveling Guide mixes questing with mandatory and optional dungeons, and you choose the optional ones under Guide Routing. See our RestedXP Dungeon Guide page for the list.