The Grinding Guide v1.0

DISCLAIMER: This guide is NOT my guide, it’s a copy from a guide that is no longer available. I have heavily modified the guide to be Rogue oriented. The original guide was written for Mages by Proxy/Vince, Mannoroth Server (The Proxy System)

Note: If you would like to have this guide hosted in your website please ask first. I am not doing this for any rights but I want to keep track of who has what so everything can be updated properly.

Introduction
Grinding, power gaming, call it what you want. Why do it? Well there are multiple reasons, perhaps you want to catch up to a friend of yours that is higher level. Maybe this is your second/third/fourth character and you really do not want to deal with plots or having to run around from one place to another in order to complete your quests. Then there are people like me that just like maximizing their performance. Whatever the reason if you want to level up as quickly as possible this is the right guide for you.

Things to Know
Make sure you read the following posts, not only will they help you better understand but they will prove valuable allies while grinding. Knowledge is power, while grinding you want all the power you can get.

Osiris’s Guide: Guide to Playing a Rogue v2.0 (my favorite rogue guide, if people read this the forum posts would be cut by 70%)
http://strategy.worldofwar.net/news.php?id=41&page=1

Laenis’s Guide: Lock picking FAQ (I suggest you get your lock picking up when you hit level 60, right now the limitation is that you get 5 points in lock picking by level so you can’t grind it efficiently until you hit level 60)
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-rogue&t=20276&p=1&tmp=1#post20276

Haunted’s Guide: Levels 1-60 :: Places to Go (more grinding spots, for the Horde side I combined them with what I had, it’s good for Alliance side, but I have not confirmed their validity)
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?FN=wow-rogue&T=29182&P=1

Talent Calculator (in case you are feeling adventurous or you are wondering what things do)
http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Talents.View&category_select_id=7

Rogue Skill list (to know what’s coming)
http://wowvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Skills.List&category_select_id=5

Thottbot (if you do not know what this website is about you are doomed! Along with everything else use it to locate where the mobs are in a map)
http://www.thottbot.com

Grinding Spots (Horde)
0-15 - Questing fastest possible XP
15-18 - The Barrens - Harpies (loc: 38,16) *
18-22 - The Barrens - Bristleback(s)(loc: 52,44) *
22-24 - The Barrens - Bristleback(s) (loc: 41,79) *
22-24 – Hillsbrad - Tarren Mill: Bears and Spiders (loc: 59,30)
24-26 – Hillsbrad - Across the road from Tarren Mill Bears and Cats
24-26 - Thousand Needles - Galak Scouts (etc) * (loc: 45,42)
26-28 – Hillsbrad – Spiders/Bears (back of Syndicate Tower)
26-30 - Hillsbrad - Mud Gnolls *
28-30 – Hillsbrad – Nethander Stead: Cats/Spiders
30-32 – Thousand Needles – Harpies inside the cave*
30-38 - Shimmering Flats - All monst,ers. *
38-40 - Dustswallow Swamp - Very North East Islands, Murlock Warriors/Oracles.

Grinding Spots (Horde and Alliance)
40-46 - Ferales - Woodpaws
46-48 - Ferales - Frayfeather Skystormers *
48-50 - Ferales - Harpies
48-51 - Southwest of Gadgetzan - Thistleshrubs *
51-55 - Burning Steps - Firegut Ogres
51-56 - Nothern Azshara - Legashi *
50-54 - Western Plaguelands - First 'field' to the left, assorted monsters.
54-60 - Western Plaguelands - Scarlet Lumberjacks

* = Recommended

EXP Rates (Note: I have not confirmed this with Rogues yet):
Levels 20-30 = 12-18K xp/hr
Levels 30-40 = 18-20K xp/hr
Levels 40-51 = 20-25K xp/hr
Levels 52-60 = 40-50K xp/hr

Tips

Now that we have the locations down, here are some tips to further maximize your performance.

Death: Its all about how much XP you make per hour, when you are dead, you can no longer get XP, so your XP/hr rate decreases. Obviously the more you die, the less XP you make. Avoid it at all costs. Rogues have various tools to assist them with that. Evasion, Sprint, Vanish can help you get away, along with multiple Stun skills (ex. Gouge). During a fight if you realize that you might die, run. It’s better to lose the XP from one kill, than die and have to go all the way back to your corpse.

Quick looting: Looting takes time. Imagine how many times you have to loot from level 1-60, a lot, so you might as well maximize your looting time. Press Shift + Right click, what that does is loots everything from a corpse. This also works with Mining, Herbalism, Chests or anything that you can interact with by Right clicking it.

Strafing: Always strafe away from monsters, instead of just backing up. Backing up is 70% movement, Strafing sideways = 100% Movement. Keep this in mind when you are trying to position yourself properly against monsters. Also remember that there is no collision between you and the mobs so you can pass through them instead of having to go around them.

AddOns

They are your friend, they make your life easier and give you better control of how you want things to be. Go to www.curse-gaming.com and click on the AddOns section. Ultimate UI and Insomniax are two of the most popular UIs right now. Personally I do not like pre-packaged UIs, I prefer to choose what I want instead of getting swarmed with a bunch of AddOns that I will never use.

Installing AddOns is a lot easier than one would think.
1. Go to your WoW directory (ex: C:\\Program Files\World of Warcraft)
2. Create a directory called Interface
3. Create a directory called AddOns in the Interface folder
4. Locate downloaded UIs
5. Unzip them in a temporary folder
6. Move the UI folder to C:\\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns
7. Start WoW, after logging in at the Character Select screen click on the AddOns button to the left.
8. Enable all the UIs you have downloaded, make sure to click on Load anyway for older versions
9. Start the game and enjoy

I suggest unzipping the UIs in a temp folder because depending on the UI they either already have the Interface/AddOns coded in or not making it annoying to have to search your directories to find out if the UI is where its supposed to be at or not.

Also some UIs do not load by themselves you might have to type a /slash command to activate them or modify their options. Go to the page you downloaded the UI from and it will probably mention the command there if not try to name of the UI it will probably work. Finally if you have too many UIs you might have to update the MB allowed for the UI, right now mine is on 56 MB.

List of AddOns I have:
Gatherer – Good for keeping tracks of Ores, Herbs and Chests
Auctioneer – Helps you with the AH, keeps track of prices for every item and automatically sets up the sell and buyout price
Gypsy_Full – Simple and easy to use, it also displays your char stats in a prettier format
MonkeyMods – Keep track of your quests, as a grinder you will not use this too much, but it helps from levels 1-15
RogueSpamm – Eliminate the annoying text when you are spamming buttons
Scrolling Combat Text – Combat related messages
Titan Panel – A bar at the top keeps track of XP/hr, Gold/hr, location, it’s simple and convenient
EnergyWatch – Shows you the server ticks for Energy regen, helps you spam a lot less and time your attacks a lot better
RogueHelper – Need to say more?
StatusBar – One of my favorite, shows your health, energy, combo points, along with the mobs health and mana
TitanMail – It works like an Inbox, shows how much mail you got
CooldownCount – Keeps track of cooldown times, keep the GypsyMod folder
SpellAlert – Alerts you with enemy spells, PvE and PvP wise, useful to know what is being cast
Azaziel's Book of The Dead - PvP related, keeps track of amount of kills
MoveAnything – You can move any window around your screen
CT_MailMod – Can certain multiple emails at the same time
Enchantrix2.01 -> Lootlink – Enchanting helper, if you do not take enchanting as a profession do not bother with this
Atlas – Has maps of instance dungeons, useful for level 60 raids
StunWatch – Keeps track of Stun time
TitanCritLine0 – Keeps track of highest normal and crit hits
GypsyBag Fix – Fixes Enchantrix

Talents

Most people recommend the Combat build 21/30 for grinding.

Advantages
The simplicity of the grind, Sinister Strikes followed by Eviscerate/Slice and Dice. You want slow swords on the main hand for maximizing your SS damage. Fast off hand weapon (usually a dagger) for poison procs.

Disadvantages
Kind of boring, grinding tends to get boring, having a Combat Build makes it even more boring. Also it’s my personal opinion that it does not do the same amount of damage that my Dagger build (technically the Osiris build). From tests done at level 18 I was getting 10K/hr versus 13K/hr with the Dagger build.

Assassination Talents (21 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points 12-14
Malice - 5/5 points 35-39
Remorseless Attacks - 1/5 point 15
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points 40-42
Murder - 2/2 points 43-44
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point 54
Lethality - 5/5 points 55-69
Cold Blood - 1/1 point 60

Combat Talents (30 points)
Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points 10-11
Improved Gouge - 3/3 points 16-18
Deflection - 5/5 points 19-23
Precision - 5/5 points 24-28
Riposte - 1/1 point 29
Dual Wield Specialization - 5/5 points 30-34
Blade Flurry - 1/1 point 45
Sword Specialization - 5/5 points 46-50
Aggression - 3/3 points 51-53

Subtlety Talents (0 points)

The Dagger (Osiris) build, 24/10/17.

Advantages
Huge damage, especially at level 18+ when you get ambush. Ambush > Gouge > BS, if timed right you will have enough energy to do BS right when Gouge is about to expire. Main hand you want a dagger with the most damage you can get, off hand again should be something fast. Dual daggers are how it usually works best. At level 22 your damage takes off due to Improved Ambush and then later Ruthlessness.

Disadvantages
This build requires skill, proper timing so that the Backstab lands. Moreover it will require you to move behind the enemy with Stealth and then move behind him again after the Gouge. It takes work but it has greater damage potential than the Combat build.

My preference was the Dagger build, it makes it exciting when you are grinding because of all the movement. If you feel that you do not have the skill or you want grinding to be a little bit more simple go with the Combat build, you will not miss out much.

Assassination Talents (24 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points 30-32
Remorseless Attacks - 5/5 points 25-29
Malice - 5/5 points 33-37
Murder - 2/2 points 43-44
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points 45-47
Relentless Strikes - 1/1 point 48
Lethality - 5/5 points 38-42

Combat Talents (10 points)
Improved Sinister Strike - 2/2 points 10-11
Improved Gouge - 3/3 points 49-51
Precision - 5/5 points 52-56

Subtlety Talents (17 points)
Camouflage - 5/5 points 12-16
Opportunity - 5/5 points 17-21
Improved Ambush - 3/3 points 22-24
Initiative - 4/5 points 57-60

The Hemo (Draugr) build, 24/0/27

Advantages
Hemo build gets its power from the Combat Points build up setting it up for Evis both from the lower cost of Hemo and a bunch of CP related skills such as initiative. Instead of being a controlling build it relies more on energy to damage instead of the Osiris build that relies on damage > control > damage.

Disadvantages
Er...after reviewing this build I cannot really see anything wrong with it. Lacks a lot of burst damage but you are not looking for PvP anyway.

My current favorite grinding build, go for 15/2/13 until level 39 then respec to 15/0/13 and go all the way up to 15/0/26. For simplicity I did not include Imp Sinister strike for the grinding talent build up. Get it at lvl 10-11

Assassination Talents (22 points)
Improved Eviscerate - 3/3 points 10-12
Remorseless Attacks - 3/5 points 31-33
Malice - 5/5 points 34-35 37-39
Improved Slice and Dice - 3/3 points 40-42
Ruthlessness - 3/3 points 53-55
Lethality - 5/5 points 56-60

Combat Talents (0 points)
None

Subtlety Talents (29 points)
Camouflage - 5/5 points 13-17
Opportunity - 5/5 points 18-22
Initiative - 5/5 points 26-30
Improved Ambush - 3/3 points 23-25
Ghostly Strike - 1/1 point 43
Improved Sap - 3/3 points 44-46
Improved Cheap Shot - 2/2 points 47-48
Preparation - 1/1 point 49
Setup - 3/3 point 50-52
Hemorrhage - 1/1 point 36


Professions

Gold, if you have gold you can buy anything you want. Why make it when someone else can and you can pay them? Most people get professions in order assist them however in order for professions such as Leatherworking to keep up to date with the character you end up making items over and over again that you have no use for. I suggest you go with Skinning/Mining (what I prefer) or Skinning/Herbalism, two gathering skills means a good source of income through the Auction House. Do not go Mining/Herbalism because you only have one searching skill active. I like Skinning for two reasons, its easy money since you just skin what you killed, secondly it does not take you away from grinding. After a battle you need a few seconds to recover your Energy before your next fight, I use that time for skinning.

It feels that Mining is a better option because there are fewer Veins to mine than herbs. Profit wise Mining and Herbalism seems about the same in the long run, however because herbs are a bit easier to get, they sell cheaper per stack, that also translates to you running around wasting time picking herbs. Mining seems to maximize your time away from grinding with money.

Hopefully you now have two primary gathering professions, secondary skills you can have all three, Fishing, Cooking and First Aid. I strongly recommend not wasting your time with Fishing, it’s a pure anti-grind skill. First Aid is important, it will be your healing, Cooking at higher levels will give you a good Stamina boost.

Time Management

World of Warcraft is a huge game, it’s easy to get lost or side tracked time wise. Here are a few ways to keep on track.

Make an alternate character and travel to AH. See him as your mule, each time you get a stack of items to sell to the AH you mail them to him (CTMailMod is very useful for this). Your mule will serve as a seller and AH checker.

Traveling takes time, when you find a good spot stick with it, running around to optimize your XP/hr by 1K is not worth it if you spend 30 minutes to find that better spot. For faster traveling make sure you visit the griffin/bat handlers on every town you go to. It will save you a lot of time. Of course at level 40 you want to buy a mount, going Skinning/Mining you will have enough gold to do so. Use your mount even in cities, it will save you time.

While leveling up your professions try to do it in bundles. Instead of smelting three copper at a time wait until you get a stack of two. It will speed things up especially when you need components or a cooking fire.

Have the biggest bags you can afford, it will save you trips to merchants, they are worth they money. Make a Tailor as a friend and give him mats to make you bags. Save some cloth and buy some thread. For example a 6 slot bag can be bought from a merchant for 5s, however a tailor learns it for 1s, if you give him the cloth needed (you are bound to have lots of cloth based on the mobs you have to grind) he will probably make it for no money. If he seems greedy give him some more cloth as a payment.

While grinding equipment are a bit harder to get. Instances are lower XP/hr and at lower levels the time spent in an instance will not add up to the benefit you will get from a better weapon or armor. Moreover not doing most of the quests you will not get the quest rewards. This is when your two gathering skills come into play, buy weapons first and then armor.

Grinding is boring

It’s kind of true, grinding can sometimes become boring, so does having to travel from one place to another to do quests. Games will get boring once in a while, you might as well deal with it.

I listen to music while grinding, go to www.shoutcast.com and pick up the type of music you want. Some people like watching TV, position your TV to a location where you don't have to turn much to watch it, or chatting in game. Grinding doesn't require you to watch your screen 100% of the time, even on a PVP server, so watching TV isn't too hard. Finally if you are really bored try doing something fun with your character. I play an undead, but I really wanted to get the mask Alliance rogues get from Westfall so I did that. You can also run some instances for some group playing. Finally you can always make a different character, play them for a bit and then move back.

In the end focus on your goal.

How long should it take?

About 7 days and some change of game time. If you know the spots already it will be even faster. If you are in a PvE server it will be slightly faster because you will not have to deal with ganking while grinding. I also recommend picking up quests. Usually the place you grind you will be able to complete at least 1-3 quests in that area, that’s free XP since you are already there.


Macros
Here are some macros for mages. They work great for their purpose.

WotF
Description: When you get feared in PVP, you automatically lose your target, this will automatically target the last person when using WOTF.

/cast Will of the Forsaken(Racial)
/script TargetLastEnemy()

Special Thanks
- Amras (Kil’Jaeden) without him this guide would not be here
- Osiris for his excellent guide that helped me since day one
- Haunted for the awesome grinding list
- To all the people that put in the time to help others and write FAQs
- Last but not least everyone that bothers bumping posts so they can stay alive

Changelog
v1.0
- Added Special Thanks section
- Added link for the Osiris guide
- Added link for the Haunted grinding list
- Updated XP/hr list added level 20-30
- Updating grinding list thanks to Haunted’s guide
- Added Things to Know section
- Deleted reset instance macro (sniff)
- Updated Talent section, now has combat and dagger build
- Talent progression for both builds
- Revamped the entire Talent section
- Public release 1.0!
v1.0.1
- Updated Hillsbrad Farmer and Galak Scouts (thanks Xianli)
- Added coordinates for Galak Scouts and Hillsbrad Spiders
- Added thottbot reference for locating the mobs
- Added note in the begining of the guide
1.0.2
- Added locations for Harpies and Bristlebacks
- Added level 22-24 Bristleback grinding place along with location
1.0.3
- Added Firegut Ogres
- Added Legashi
- Added Draugr Build
- Changed MoD to Camo for builds