You can start here at level 10, with the Buzzbox, fishing and cooking (Easy Strider Living) quests, moving to Bashal’Aran and Ameth’Aran as you level, although I started at 12. Look up quests on Allakhazam or Thottbot for details. Also a good guide for Darkshore and Teldrassil on Allakhazam.
If you are still in Darnassus, collect any profession upgrades and recipes. You will be returning to train as you level, so if you forget it isn’t a big deal. There are no class trainers in Darkshore, and the only profession trainers are tailoring, mining and blacksmithing.
Auberdine
First step: bind your hearthstone in the inn. Then upstairs meet Wizbang Cranktoggle and get Buzzbox 827, Gaffer Jacks (you can only get this if you have taken fishing, and may need a certain skill level as well), Gwennyth Bly’Leggonde – Washed Ashore, and, in the SE building in the village, Terenthis – How Big A Threat?. Head back to the landing platform, but go down to the beach and get Gubber Blump – the Family and the Fishing Pole. Fish. When you get bored, kill the level 9/10 crawlers. The buzzbox is right by the NW edge of the griffon platform.
This next stage can be done easily if other people are camping the areas required, otherwise delay until after you have completed Bashal’Aran and Ameth’Aran (next section). Further south are the murlocs and the beached carcass. Directly inland and a little south from this is the furbolg camp; they are 13-14, so running through to pick on the quest flag is worthwhile if someone is killing there; otherwise, you’ll have to come back later. The marker point seems to be the obelisk on the north edge of the camp, go just south of it; I actually ran through the middle of the camp east-west without getting the flag. Return, cash in the rewards, and get Buzzbox 411, Electropellers (fishing quest) and the next Washed Ashore. The sea turtle is underwater between the south boat pier and the nearby island; click on the head. Darkshore threshers roam nearby and are aggressive, level 12-14, so be careful – but are needed for the Buzzbox, which we are saving to complete until we go to Cliffspring River, as it is a long run. There is at least one more beached sea creature/turtle along the south shore that is within our capabilities, you can find it now, or come back for it later.
The next item is Sentinel Glynda Nal’Shea – The Red Crystal and its follow on quest. The best way to do this is to go to the crossroads south of Auberdine, then run due east. You will pass the moonkin cave for the druid bear form quest, then the moonkin oracle cave. A short way south of here is the red crystal, high up on the zone wall. If you are careful you can reach here with no aggro, or outrun any moonkin that dislike you. The follow on (As Water Cascades/The Fragments Within) requires running back to Auberdine, then to the crystal and back again.
Bashal’Aran and Ameth’Aran
Then collect Thundris Windweaver – Bashal’Aran and Tools of the Highborne quests: Alanndarian Nightsong – Easy Strider Living (cooking quest, kill foreststrider fledglings, which are level 13), and, outside the last house leading south, Tharnarium Treetender – Plagued Lands. Head south. Take the first left turn to Bashal’Aran; the blue light is in the SW corner on the plateau next to the road at the signpost. Kill grells/sprites, then get the second quest and kill satyrs. The next part of the quest involves Ameth’Aran, the blue/green light at the middle of the south edge, in a building of sorts. When this quest is collected, go back to the main road south. You will find another quest from the guard along the road, Sentinel Tysha Moonblade – the Fall of Ameth’Aran (the tablets needed are at the NE and SE corners of the camp, and look like square tiles; one upright, the other laying over at an angle). Directly east of her is Ameth’Aran, level 10/11 mobs to kill. Further south is the Grove of the Ancients, immediately east when you cross the bridge. You can fish safely in the lake behind. On the way back, pick up a rabid thistle bear for Plagued Lands. There are many of them between Ameth’Aran and the Grove. You will need to run back to Bashal’Aran after completing Ameth’Aran, but head into Auberdine first for more quests to the north.
Cliffspring River
Collect Tharnarium Treetender – Cleansing of the Infected. If your fishing is high enough, get the next Gubber Blump quest. Next stage should be north to the Creek (Thundris Windweaver – The Cliffspring River) and Buzzbox. Run to the creek, first bridge north out of Auberdine. Kill rabid thistle bears along the way if you don’t already have your quota. Drop down to the beach and swim up the river to the waterfall (just under the bridge), and fill your vial. Go back along the beach; along here the crabs for Gubber are level 15-17, the lower ones are closer to Auberdine, but don’t drop the quest item. There are three sea creatures, guarded by level 13-14 murlocs; clear them and pick up the quest items. Watch out for openable crates along the way. The first turtle is at the NW corner of the beach; and the second is at the small bay. Just north of this one and between the two turtles is the buzzbox. Don’t try to get the thresher eyes here, as there are lots of annoying murlocs in the way. The third sea creature is on the shore north of Cliffspring river, roughly level with the Mathystra ruins.
While you are back in Auberdine, go and clear the furbolg camp for How Big A Threat?; they aren’t hard, as such, but it is very easy to get several adds and stunned. Go back to Ameth’Aran for Cerellean Whiteclaw – For Love Eternal (collect from the dock). She wanders around the south of the camp, close to the shrine, and is level 16 (but easy; you may be able to do this at 14 or even 13 when you do Ameth’Aran, but I didn’t try).
I was level 16 with 21 hours played at this point; some time was wasted waiting on a petition (see Teldrassil guide), and doing more running around than was strictly necessary.
Time for the next buzzbox. This is on the main road just past the bridge over Cliffspring River. The Moonstalkers are found north of Bashal’Aran and east of the road, and both sides north of Cliffspring River. You also want Sentinel Elissa Starbreeze – Tower of Althalaxx. Watch out for the aggressive snakemen (naga) and the mobs around the tower – levels 16-18 for the humans, and 19-21 for the naga. The Tower quest is just a delivery to an NPC by the side of the road, so is excellent exp. You might be able to try the second Tower of Althalaxx quest at this point, but if you aren’t sure, there is still more to do in the south.
Back in Auberdine, pick up Terenthis – A Lost Master. The final Buzzbox is on the right of the road heading south, past the Grove of the Ancients, and close to the small lake where Grimclaw hangs out by the roadside. Kill both grizzled thistle bears (15-17) and moonstalker sires (16-18); these are common close to the buzzbox. The moonstalker matriarchs, south of the Glaive of the Masters, are both higher and come with a pet moonstalker runt, making them more of a group mob.
Back again to Cliffspring River, this time with Thundris Windweaver – the Blackwood Corrupted, and possibly Tharnarium Treetender – Tharnariun’s Hope. First do the next Tower of Althalaxx quest; the mobs are slightly higher, but are melee only and can be single pulled, so long as you remember that most camp fires will have an extra mob on the side you can’t see. The next stage will be to deliver a message to Ashenvale, which you may as well save up until you have reason to go there, around level 20.
The camps for the Blackwoods, which are 16-17, are just south of the river, and the easiest way to reach them is along the river. The three objects you need to open: one at the north edge of the north camp, one at the south edge, and one in the south camp. As with the earlier Blackwood camp, it is easy to get rushed by several mobs, so pick your targets very carefully. The final mob is level 19, but seems very easy for the level. Once you are close enough to the fire to click the phial, all the blackwoods will rush to the fire – non-aggressive. Back out, and in a few seconds the satyr will spawn pull him out quickly before the blackwoods turn aggressive again, which they will do very soon.
The Den Mother cave is close to the south camp, and you need to climb the zone wall just north of the cave and work your way south along a path. The Den Mother is level 19, and she is guarded by several cubs, all level 10. The easiest way to deal with this is to follow a group in, and pick off the mobs as they respawn. If you aren’t so fortunate, it will be tough. I’d suggest trying picking off cubs one by one, and running like crazy to lose aggro. If you can escape each time, or even if you die and wisp back, you should be able to reduce it to a manageable level.
Barithras Moonshade – Cave Mushrooms. This quest leads on to another quest series for the last part of your time in Darkshore. Follow the river inland once more, but this time come out on the north side. Up a short slope is a cave guarded by naga. The mushrooms you need to gather are ground spawns inside the cave, with the final death cap at the back. It has three mobs, 16-18 in aggro range; without a group it will be hard before 20. I discovered that you can kill to the back, then die, and wait for a group to come in, and loot the death cap; it’s a cheesy technique, but works. After a bit more research, I think I have the answer: death caps will spawn at three points in the cave. Two of them have two twilight thugs as guards, meaning a sure three pull; but the third spawn point only has naga, all single pulls. Try taking the right path, the one that slopes upwards. The spawn point may well be behind a rock or in a corner.
Grinding
At around this point I was level 17, and wasn’t confident that I could solo any of the remaining quests. Back in Darnassus, I picked up the Moonglow Vest quest from the leatherworking trainers, and killed level 13-15 mobs in Darkshore to get enough leather to complete the quest; this gave me about 25% of a level. If you want or need to grind for experience while in Darkshore, taking the beach north from Auberdine gives you crabs with a level range of 9 to 21, and crawler and clam meat drops for cooking, as well as random chests to open. The only aggressive mobs on the beach are the murlocs. If you can track, offshore there are darkshore threshers and coastal frenzies to kill.
There are also at least 6 more beached sea creatures alond the south shore, all south of the fisherman roughly level with Ameth’Aran, and guarded by level 13-20 murlocs.
Option for Hunters
A hunter might also consider making the long trek to Loch Modan for the Daryl the Youngling – A Hunter’s Boast quest, which rewards with a good bow/gun; or possibly to Stormwind City for swords training.
Daryl is in the Farstrider’s Lodge, in the extreme SE of Loch Modan. His first quest rewards you with a decent bow, for which you have to kill mountain buzzards around the lodge; both these quests are timed. The second quest has you killing elder mountain boars, which are in the mid east side of the loch, a good run away; you will also have to dodge bears, buzzards and spiders both there and back, unless you kill the path clear before taking the quest. The reward is a decent 2 handed sword, although you can get a better one from the Mathystra quest below; a good one hander is available at Ironband’s Excavation Site to the west; Magmar Fellhew – Gathering Idols (if you’ve been to Ironforge first, collect Jern Hornhelm – Ironband’s Excavation, which leads into this one).
The Master’s Glaive and the Ruins of Mathystra
After that you get the series to return to Onu, then The Master’s Glaive, which is south of the Grove of the Ancients, on the west side of the road. This involves killing a couple of 17-18 mobs, then half a dozen more to reach the small island in the middle of the area. The evidence Onu asks for is one of the pedestals on the central island. You can also pick up an additional escort quest there, from Therylune. She is in stealth mode usually, and when you accept the quest will wander about to the north – so clear that side first before taking the quest, if you can.
While there, you can finish up the Lost Master. The cave is to the SE of Grimclaw, and guarded by 16-18 furbolgs. You may be able to slip into the cave from the south by killing two or three furbolgs, or by following a group in. The cave itself is safe, and if you just hand in the cloak (Escape Through Stealth), you can hearthstone back to Auberdine for the wrap up.
The final quest in this sequence is Onu – Mathystra Relics, which sends you all the way back to the far north to kill the 19-21 naga. While there, you may as well do Gelkak Gyromast – Gyromast’s Retrieval. The gnome is on the north end of the beach, and you can get his key parts from the northern most set of murlocs (south of the river), encrusted tide crawlers (or raging reef crawlers), and giant foreststriders, all north of Cliffspring River. The second part requires killing a level 20 elite, so can be skipped if you don’t have help.
By this time, I was level 20 with 1 day 14 hours played – a lot of that spent running up and down Darkshore, trying to work out when I could do each of the many quests, some of that spent in Loch Modan, and a lot of time spent swimming around Dun Moragh etc getting there!
Ashenvale
The next quest from the Tower of Althalaxx sequence sends you into Ashenvale, where the starting mobs are mostly 18-20. In Auberdine, you can collect Gershala Nightwhisper – Researching the Corruption (Blackfathom Deeps, Elite). You should first go to the Grove of the Ancients to start Kerlonian Evershade – The Sleeper Has Awakened, which is an escort quest to Maestra’s Post; I think it is level limited, and you need to be at least 18 or 19 to start it.
On the way, you will be ambushed twice, each time by 3 creatures; not sure of the exact levels, but I think around 20. Three furbolg close to the Master’s Glaive, still in Darkshore, and three assorted beasts half way to the destination in Ashenvale. Your target is in the first building on the left.
Quests that I have skipped (from this level range):
Deep Ocean, Vast Sea – sunken ships to N; 17. This is supposed to be very hard.
WANTED: Murkdeep! (click on poster outside inn) S on beach (18). Requires killing multiple waves of mobs in the murloc village, so a group is best advised.
The Absent Minded Prospector, 20; another escort quest, with fast respawning mobs.
Moving On
You have already been given quests into Ashenvale, to the south. If you run short of quests or appropriate mobs at any point, consider Loch Modan, Westfall, or, if you are 15+, Redridge Mountains. At the higher end, if you don’t like the thought of Ashenvale, both The Wetlands and Duskwood are good for 20+.