For those of you who are leveling a shaman (or really, any class), this addon is probably one of those that you should go ahead and download. Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s basically a free leveling guide placed into the game as an addon. Yeah, I have some banners on this site for leveling guides - but honestly - I haven’t made a penny off the advertising, and only have it up there to help pay for the domain name itself. Anyhow, if you have the money to burn - buy one of the guides. If not, or if you would just rather not spend $40+ on a leveling guide, I suggest you read on!

TourGuide, available here, is a addon that guides you through each zone as you level. If you have looked at a leveling guide (one of the free ones, or a paid one such as Zygor’s) you are probably already familiar with what it does. If not, here is a quick run down:

You open the config panel, and select which guide you want to use. They are broken down by zones, so simply select the zone you are questing in. The guides are done up in a way as to help optimize the leveling process. So, you won’t be doing every single quest any a zone. Typically, you will be doing quests that either keep you on a set path, or don’t go too far out of the way. Less running means faster leveling!

Once you select a guide, if you are not on a brand new character, you need to go through and tick off the actions you have already completed. You can get to these by right clicking the little widget that is added to your screen. Each “step” is outlined for you, and the steps (actions) range from “Get quest” to “do quest” to “Turn in quest” to “travel to” along with a few others.

The addon registers when you acquire a quest, complete an objective for a quest, turn a quest in, enter a new zone, etc. So, once you have the actions checked off you have already completed, you simply follow the prompts.

I highly recommend you install TomTom as well, as TourGuide integrates with it, and automatically creates waypoints for you. TomTom adds a little GPS-Navigation style arrow to your screen which directs you to the next objective. Combined with this, TourGuide also places markers (or pins) on your map to visually show you where your objective for the current step is. Unfortunately, you won’t get these indicators for every single step - some you have to figure out where to go, and the author notes that this is a shortcoming and is accepting “bug reports” to add proper coordinates for the steps missing them:

“TourGuide does not provide coords for every single objective. If you are lost check with LightHeaded or Wowhead and submit a bug so notes can be added to the objective.”

Even so, I started using this on a new Alliance Rogue I rolled up the other day. I started using it at about level 7 or so. It has really helped, especially since I am not as familiar with the Alliance zones as I am the Horde. I have played the game long enough that the freshness of reading all the quest texts and such has really worn off and I just want to level and see the zones and content. That said, every Night Elf character I have ever started, I have been lost in Teldrassil. I don’t know if it’s the colors in the zone, the layout of quests, or what it is, but each time, I give up on the character because I feel like I am running. And running. And running and getting nothing done. With TourGuide, I am actually having fun with my NElf Rogue! He’s only level 12 and just into Auberdine now, but it’s actually fun and not a chore.

So, if you are one of the people who like to use leveling guides to level up alts (or even your first char, if you are so inclined) - I highly recommend you check out TourGuide combined with TomTom! It’s a free leveling guide!