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World of Warcraft players leveling their new Earthen characters are doing so without having to fight monsters or complete a single quest. Instead, they are just flying around exploring the world and raking in XP along the way.
The Earthen, the new, Dwarf-like playable race introduced in WoW’s recently released The War Within expansion, became playable on September 3 for those who completed the expansion’s main storyline and a handful of Earthen-centric side quests. It didn’t take long for players to discover that one of the Earthen’s passive racial abilities, Wide-Eyed Wonder, can actually be used to level up rather effectively, thanks to its 200% XP bonus for exploring previously undiscovered areas of the game’s map.
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Normally, players only get a small amount of XP for exploring, with the majority of XP a player earns typically coming from fighting enemies or completing quests. But playing an Earthen increases triples map XP gains, allowing for players to level up with a more pacifist playstyle should they so choose by just flying around and filling out each zone’s map.
A number of players on the WoW subreddit have already done so and reported their findings, with user Rykin14 saying it took them around eight hours to reach level 71 by exploring. They recommended players looking to do something similar stick to continents like Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, and Draenor when it comes to leveling by exploration.
While leveling without having to complete quests or fights sounds relaxing, it seems the main downside is that players will have no gear or gold upon hitting higher levels after doing so, since they haven’t been completing quests. Thankfully, with The War Within’s new Warbands system, players can easily transfer gold and certain items to other characters on the same account, making leveling via exploration a less-punishing experience at the endgame.
Of course, WoW players have been leveling unconventionally for years. One of the game’s most-famous pacifist players, the factionless Pandaren Neutral Agent, has made a tradition of reaching each new level cap by almost exclusively picking herbs and mining ore. For The War Within, it took Neutral Agent 10 days and 10 hours of playtime to reach the game’s new level cap of 80.
The Earthen might not be the only new playable race to come with The War Within. Players think the mysterious Haranir, which play a relatively small role in The War Within at launch, might become WoW’s next allied race. In GameSpot’s WoW: The War Within review, we said WoW’s 10th expansion is one of its best, thanks to a new form of endgame content designed for solo players and a greater focus on the MMORPG’s story and characters.
Blizzard recently announced The War Within’s first major content patch will be a massive 20th anniversary update, one that will bring back the game’s most iconic armor sets.
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