INTRODUCTION AND SOME INFO TO AOE GRINDFESTS I am leveling a horde mage in K3, currently level 37. Have been using this technique of AoE farming since level 27. It gives 30k+ experience per hour, sometimes 40k. This is considerably more than what you can get with questing, given the server is overcrowded around levels 20-40 and questing is usually slow as there is almost always competition for quest mobs and spawns. I have leveled more than one mage before to 60, including one in K2. As others have mentioned, AoE farming has pros and cons. I will mention some of them: CONS 1. Mages, warlocks and the healer that is often with them have a considerable leveling advantage, as they can get easily (much) more experience and loot in the same amount of time than a player who is traditionally questing around. This is amplified by the fact that questing is SLOW. Most questing hubs around levels 20-40 are overcrowded right now and some quest items drop rates are terribly low. 2. Players who take part in AoE grindfests have a fairly good income. I mean, those farmed mobs are often humanoids and murlocs, which drop lots of cloth. Prices of Wool, Silk and Mageweave are sinking as supply grows and demand sinks. This is normal, but it's happening much faster than usual on a fresh server. I can imagine a very fair portion of the market cloth supply comes from AoE grinders. In addition to the cloth, humanoids have good chances of dropping trash-quality equipment which is worth between 5 and 80 silver. I made 8g per hour while getting 40k exp per hour all the way from level 34 to 37. Will probably continue to do so up to 40. 3. Other classes are feeling in disadvantage. I am sure others also have been hearing complains in guild chat about this. Hunters, warriors, rogues, shamans, druids are losing some of their motivation to level. Their questing is slow as hell, when they have a quest in a AoE spot they have a very hard time to finish it. Some are rerolling mages. I'm afraid we will have some class imbalance at 60. 4. Ruins immersion as this is very far from blizzlike. But then again, having 3k+ population in a single realm isn't blizzlike either. PROS 1. Relocates a fraction of the levelers from the questhubs to the AoE grinding spots. I imagine questing would be even worse if nobody was grinding. Since they have a leveling rate advantage, the realm's population level curve is more spread. 2. It's a group activity and somewhat social. Can't say it isn't fun or at least better than questing. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy questing and slowly fighting my way to 60. But with these overcrowded quest hubs it can get annoying at times. 3. A new style of leveling in an old game. Solo or mage dues were not uncommon, but 5-man groups grinding 24/7 was unheard of for me.