Grinding in World of Warcraft, either for levels or for gold or loot, is something everyone is forced to do at one time or another, and yet it is an exceptionally boring (if not down right brain-deadening) activity. Actually, I'd rate this as something less than an activity, mindlessly pressing the same buttons over and over as I have done for so long; it's really more of a trained bodily reflex action. Still, for something this boring you'll want all the help you can get, right?

Grinding is the one of the two premier methods of leveling in World of Warcraft (the other, of course, is questing.) Everyone does it. Those who say they do not grind obviously do not know what grinding is, or they are still level one. Maybe they don't do a lot of grinding, but even completing certain quests will require seemingly endless monster mashing. (Here's where a leveling guide would be nice...)

As a brief explanation, grinding involves killing monster after monster in the pursuit of experience, and/or money and loot, whether this be for quests, just getting levels, or simply while moving through a dry spot lacking in the proper quest material.

Believe it or not, I have actually fallen asleep while grinding. Yes, it is that boring. if you do it correctly, well... correct grinding is a matter of opinion, of course, but I prefer to set up a pattern of absolute certainty, meaning I can close my eyes after thirty-minutes or so and continue to gain a steady rate of experience. Sounds somewhat comforting, no?

One of the simplest and easiest things to do is to set up your abilities bar, perhaps even a new custom bar for just this purpose, in a simple 1-2-3-4 line of keys to press for your most valuable abilities. Often times truly efficient grinding is performed by spamming the exact same keys repeatedly. You can do otherwise if you wish, but I do not recommend going against the trend (you'll suffer more.)

It is also better to find an easily navigated space of land, preferably inhabited solely by you and the monsters you happen to be grinding. Any other players can possibly interrupt your rhythm and thus lead to disastrous results. PKers are even worse. Especially when you fall asleep.

Music is our primary ally against the deadly enemy known as boredom; always play some fast and upbeat music, either that or something that happens to match the rhythm of your killing speed. This will get you going at a good steady pace and hopefully keep you efficient as well.

You can make a game of it, setting goals for yourself, or even go so far as to run a movie on your second monitor. You could eve run YouTube Warcraft videos in another window while doing your endless 1-2-3-4 key mashing routine.

One rule about grinding is to always remain efficient. The whole idea of a good grinding spot is one with easily-killed, dumb, monsters that give decent experience. Grinding is not about getting insane amounts of XP, nor struggling through elite monsters. It is all about creating a steady, constant, unstopping killing speed. Never accept any stop and go patterns, they'll kill your efficiency and increase your annoyance.

Finally, make sure you are doing at least yellow mobs. Some classes can manage higher level mobs, but it can be dangerous. Don't push it, just accept a good rate of leveling speed and be happy. Having your grinding (or even questing) interupted by too many runs back from the graveyard is too frustrating to be worth it.

Good luck you future grinding machines, robots, and zombies! My sympathies are with you.

Now that you are an expert with the daily WoW grind you may be ready for some more advanced tips and tricks for accumulating and stockpiling gold. Come on, you know you are lusting after some really cool armor, an epic mount, a flying mount, or perhaps you're ready for an epic flying mount! That takes a real chunk of change.