This has been a busy couple of weeks for me. I’ve recently started a temporary training position for a new job, which means working a new schedule. It’s shift work too, which brings more time off but less things like sleeping and forming coherent sentences without a metric ton of coffee in my system at any one time.

I also started leveling up two Alliance characters on a new server.

My DK was already 90, so he got to dip his toes into the Draenor pond. I’ll just say this – for a guy who hates the snow and cold like I do, leveling through the Alliance’s Shadowmoon Valley was a breath of fresh air. At least, it was for the ten minutes I was there. I actually had to go back because I missed a quest that rewarded me with a follower. It was in the first town in the quest chain once you leave your garrison. I’d left my garrison and went to the next zone, not town. So I had to backtrack.

How did I get going so quickly? First, I beefed up my plate heirlooms to cap at 100 and geared the DK accordingly. Next, I knew I wanted to use the Potion of Accelerated Learning. The trick was getting one hundred garrison resources. My DK took a stroll around the scenic countryside and murdered several rare mobs, scrounged up a few treasures, and got enough resources to buy the potion. Twenty percent XP buff from the potion, about 45% from heirloom gear, 200% from rested XP, and I knew I’d put on levels.

Ready to rock, I had two choices – clip through quest chains, or engage in some bullet leveling.

My selection: Click-click-boom, baby. And Bellular gave me the ammunition.

Naturally Elvine gets credit too.

The good news is that I went from 93 to 100 in a few hours. The bad news is that I don’t have the garrison resources, or gold, to get my garrison to Level Three. Also, I’m looking to apply to a new guild and now that my Alliance DK is 100 I’m going to have to quest anyway to get his rep up.

Speed may not kill, but it can hurt your rep. And your wallet.

And your garrison.