Kopp's guide is in PDF format. The package also includes a free UI map mod, which is helpful for finding the places he tells you to go to for quests.

The guide has one simple goal: To get you from 1 to 70 as quickly as possible. This is accomplished by creating a sort of road map to follow in your questing, and is the most effective leveling method available. This is known as quest stacking. The idea is to travel through each zone in the most efficient manner possible to complete quests. You will also skip quests that slow down your experience per hour intake.

Brian Kopp uses a simple, but effective list format, telling you step by step which quests to do and where to find them. He includes pictures illustrating key information, as well as zone maps showing you the routes you will follow.

The guide is divided into sections as follows:

The title page is followed by links to other guides that Kopp recommends. After that is a Table of Contents. The table consists merely of a listing of the sections of the guide, however, and no page numbers. You're forced to tab through or keyword search the PDF yourself. This area could use some work. After the TOC, you get a list of 27 tips for using the guide, most of which are pretty useful, especially for newer players.

Then you get to the meat of the guide, the actual quest stacking instructions. This guide provides instructions for each Alliance race's starting area, and each leveling section is divided by a range of levels that you should reach in that section. This makes it somewhat easier to pick up if you are using it to level an existing character, which is what I'll be doing with a level 34 Warlock alt that I haven't played in a while.

Sections of the text which take place in a town (defined as having both an Inn and a Flight Path) are highlighted by having a box around them.

There are also hunter specific instructions, such as when to tame a new pet to learn its abilities. Brian Kopp designed his guide around the fastest leveling possible, and he has won many Blizzard-sponsored leveling contests. And that means using a Hunter, as it's the fastest leveling solo class. Kopps assures us, however, that the guide can be used by any race/class combination.

Since Kopp's Guide comes with a map mod, the only other UI mod you will want to get is a quest information guide, like LightHeaded (what I use) or Quest Helper. The leveling guide shows you which quests to do, and in what order, but aside from a few short tips, doesn't detail how to do them. (The resulting document would be of a wholly unmanageable length if it did.)

The mods I mentioned will give you detailed quest information, should you need it, right in the game. LightHeaded, for example, has a sliding panel that pops out of the side of the default quest log and gives all of the WoWHead comments for each quest.

This saves a ton of time tabbing out to a website to look up that little detail you may be missing.

As I said at the beginning, I'll be leveling my Warlock alt with Kopp's Guide.

Howard used to be my bank alt. So, even though he's level 34, he already has five days of played time on him. Most of that was spread out over three years of sitting in front of the mailbox, bank, or auction house, the rest just casually playing him one or two sessions a month to level him up.

Howard is an Affliction spec Warlock with mediocre gear. He has his quest chest piece, and blue shoulders from Shadowfang Keep, but the rest of his gear is slightly outdated green quality stuff.

By using Howard as my review character, I'll be able to see how easy it is to jump into the guide in the middle, and how easy it is to complete the guide as a non-Hunter.

The RSS Feed below will be a diary of Howard's adventures with Brian Kopp's Alliance Leveling Guide. I hope to do one section of the guide per week as a minimum.