Revision as of 20:36, 17 April 2011

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Patch 4.0.3a and the Cataclysm introduced new travel challenges for players. The portal hubs in Dalaran and Shattrath are gone, great fissures in the earth now impede overland travel between certain zones, many zone levels have changed, and players are now required to discover the new high-level instances before they are allowed to queue for them in the dungeon finder. A firm grasp of the geography of the world and an understanding of the available means for moving from one place to another will help you meet these challenges.

This guide presents the fundamentals of post-Cataclysm travel between the three continents of Azeroth (Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend) and provides details regarding the many methods of travel available. Also included is information about travel between these continents and Outland.

How travel has changed

The Cataclysm brought a new concept for world travel. In the Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Litch King expansions, a portal hub in a single remote city provided access to the major cities in the Old World.

By contrast, in the post-Cataclysm world, new and improved travel facilities have turned the two faction capitals, Stormwind and Orgrimmar, into worldwide travel centers. Located in the heartlands of Azeroth's two original continents, these cities have also become centers for all types of training, daily quests, auctioning, and other activities.

Although the old portal hubs are gone, improved mass transit and taxi services, greatly expanded solo flight, and new portal hubs allow players to move freely and reasonably quickly throughout the world. Shorter cycle times for ships and zeppelins and the addition of many new flight paths have made travel over land and sea much easier and faster than before, even for low level characters.

Things get even better as you level up. Characters who have reached level 60 can now fly freely around almost all of Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. Characters level 80 and above can make use of new portal hubs in the capital cities. Located in Stormwind and Orgrimmar, these hubs provide rapid access to the new level 81-85 zones. ^[1]

Also, judicious use of new and existing Quest Portals and Item Portals can help speed your travel times.

^ You must complete quests for access to these portals, and the portals to Tol Barad require level 85. See Portals below for more information.

Setting your hearthstone

The variety of travel methods now available have an impact on where you choose to set your hearthstone. As you level up, you need to travel more, but fortunately more means of travel open up as well. Here are some suggestions about where to set your hearthstone to make best use of the methods available at your current level.

Level 10

At about level 7 to 10, when you have emerged from your race's starting zone, setting your hearthstone to a city near where you are questing provides convenient access to trainers and auction houses. New flight paths get you quickly to your questing area.

Level 20

Sometime after you get your first mount at level 20, you will begin to roam the wider world. You'll be spending time on ships and maybe zeppelins, meeting new flight masters and buying taxi flights, and riding the roads to new zones.

You may find it advantageous to set your hearthstone to an inn in your faction's capital city. The Alliance and Horde faction capitals, Stormwind and Orgrimmar, now have class, profession, riding^[1], and flight trainers, as well as cooking and fishing daily quests that all characters level 10 and up can complete.

Mass transit and taxis provide ready access for all levels from these cities to most parts of the Old World.

Level 58

Starting at level 58, you can use any of your faction's major cities as your home base. A quick sequence of portals^[2] will get you rapidly to your faction's capital. Other portals or a short flight connect you to your faction's other cities. A hearthstone in the right city will give you access to any of your faction's cities in one to three minutes.

For example, if you are Horde, you can set your hearthstone in Silvermoon and have quick access to the Undercity via the Orb of Translocation and to Orgrimmar via the Dark Portal sequence.^[2] Thunder Bluff is a short flight from Orgrimmar.

Alliance toons in Darnassus have similar portal access^[2] to the Exodar and Stormwind, while Ironforge is a short flight from Stormwind.

Level 63

Since there are now class and profession trainers and auction houses in Shattrath, when you are questing in Outland you may find you have little need to travel back to the Old World.

At about level 63, when you've moved on from Hellfire Peninsula to zones such as Terokkar Forest or Nagrand, which are more distant from the Stair of Destiny and its portal to your faction capital, you may want to set your hearthstone in Shattrath.

Level 68

At level 68 or so, when you start questing in Northrend, you'll probably want to move your hearthstone to Dalaran and keep it there while you quest. Just as in Shattrath, you'll find there are now class and profession trainers and auction houses in Dalaran, which minimizes the need to return to your faction capital.

Level 74

At level 74 you can pick up the quest Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran. This provides you with a portal to Dalaran from your faction's ports in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord. Don't turn the quest in! As long as you don't complete this quest you can use these portals.

This makes it practical to set your hearthstone to your faction capital or some other useful place, since you can quickly reach Dalaran via a quick ship or zeppelin ride and the quest portal. If you want to do dailies in both Dalaran and your faction capital, these portals will shave roughly four minutes off your commuting time each day.

Level 80+

Once you have more or less finished questing in Northrend and have begun spending most of your time in the Old World again, it makes sense to set your hearthstone to your faction capital.

At this point the Dark Portal sequence^[2] becomes quite useful, giving you rapid access to your faction capital from all of your faction's major cities. (See Level 58, above, for suggestions about where to set your hearthstone to make maximum use of this access.)

In addition, you can make use of the new portal hubs^[3] in the capital cities to access the new level 81-85 zones. This gives you fast access to (and in some cases return from) more parts of the major continents. For example, Horde can quickly get to central Eastern Kingdoms (and back) via the portal to Twilight Highlands. Alliance can reach northern Kalimdor via the portal to Hyjal, while both factions can get to southern Kalimdor in seconds via the portal to Uldum.

^ The riding trainers in the capitals do not require the character to be exalted with the city's faction, although the racial mount vendors do.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d At level 58, you will be able to use the portals in any of your faction's major cities to the Blasted Lands, go through the Dark Portal, and take the portal at the Stair of Destiny to your faction capital. See the Dark Portal sequence in the Outland section for more information.
^ The portals at the new portal hubs have quest completion and minimum level requirements. See the Portals section for details.

As an unorthodox alternative, Shattrath City should be seriously considered as a hearthstone location even after level 85, as it offers numerous advantages.

All things considered, it's probably the single most central city in the game, particularly for Horde players. With a flight to the Stair of Destiny, you can go straight through the portal to Orgrimmar, and you can likewise get to the Undercity by going through the Shattrath portal to Quel'Danas, taking the flight path back to Silvermoon, and using Orb of Translocation to port to Undercity. Alliance players still have the Stair of Destiny portal nearby, as well.

While it has an Auction House, a full set of trainers, and Trade chat, Shattrath is usually almost completely empty, which basically means you get to have your cake and eat it. You've got all of the facilities of a major faction capital, with none of the lag that very often goes with them.

Farming Outland can often still be reasonably lucrative even at level 85, particularly considering that on the auction house, you usually don't have much competition for Outland materials, and people often want to buy them in order to level up the Outland portions of their professions, without having to actually travel to Outland themselves. Hellfire Peninsula is rich in Fel Iron, and a comparitively short flight from Shattrath for mining.

Flight enhancements

Flight paths

Patch 4.0.3a added many new flight paths (also known as "taxis") to both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, especially in the lower level zones.

Flight paths in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms are now shown on the in-game map. After you have discovered an area, any flight masters in that area will show up on your map as a winged foot: blue for Alliance, red for Horde, and green for neutral.

You'll need to talk to the flight masters^[1] to pick up the flight paths, but once you do they will make travel for low level characters much easier than it was prior to patch 4.0.3a.

Flying solo

Characters level 60 or above can learn Expert riding and purchase a [Flight Master's License] from a flying trainer near the flight masters in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Hellfire Peninsula, Borean Tundra, or Dalaran. This license allows the character to fly almost^[2] anywhere in the Old World.

All characters level 68 or above^[3] can now purchase [Cold Weather Flying] from a flying trainer. This permits flying in all of Northrend.

The Expert riding skill, a [Flight Master's License], and [Cold Weather Flying] combine to allow a player to fly almost anywhere in the world, except within certain instances and a few zones not yet revised for flight.^[2]

^ Many of the new flight masters have only a single connection to another flight master in the same zone. This is in contrast to the pre-Cata flight masters, who are connected to the network of flight masters in other zones. The single-connection flight masters will not be able to provide you a flight to anywhere until you have also talked to the appropriate network-connected flight master in that zone.
^ ^a ^b Solo flight is still not possible in the zones connected to the Old World, including the Exodar, Azuremyst Isle, Bloodmyst Isle, Silvermoon, Eversong Woods, Ghostlands, and associated islands.
^ Prior to Cataclysm, minimum level for [Cold Weather Flying] was 77, or level 68 with a [Tome of Cold Weather Flight].

Mass transit

Ships, zeppelins, and trams

A network of ships, zeppelins, and a tram connects the major cities and ports on all three continents of Azeroth. ^[1] These methods of transport are known as "mass transit." Running on a regular schedule, mass transit is free, and it's fast, safe, and easy for all levels of characters.

Mass transit is the most practical way to get between continents, particularly for lower level characters. Mass transit can also be used to travel between certain major cities on the same continent, or between the northern region of a continent and the southern region. Even the highest level characters (other than mages) are likely to find this method of transport useful.

This section contains, for each faction, a table of ports by continent and region, and each port's connections. A quick glance at your faction's table should give you a good idea of how to get where you want to go.

Also included are tables of the mass transit routes available to each faction, accompanied by maps providing graphical representation of these routes and ports.

These maps and tables are intended to help you form a mental picture of the world, and the regions accessible by mass transit. They are also a quick reference for those times when you can't quite remember how to get where you want to go.

Ports

Ships and zeppelins connect the continents of Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, and Northrend. Below are tables of the ports where they dock, and the ports to which they are connected via mass transit. (See the next section for tables and maps of mass transit routes.)

You can sort these tables by clicking on a column heading.

Alliance ports
Continent/Region	City	Faction	Type	Connections	Via
Kalimdor North	Darnassus	Alliance	Major city	Stormwind, Exodar	ship, portal
Kalimdor North	Exodar	Alliance	Major city	Darnassus	ship, portal
Kalimdor Central	Ratchet	Neutral	Port	Booty Bay	ship
Kalimdor Central	Theramore	Alliance	Port	Menethil	ship
Eastern Kingdoms Central	Menethil	Alliance	Port	Theramore, Valgarde	ship
Eastern Kingdoms Central	Ironforge	Alliance	Major city	Stormwind	tram
Eastern Kingdoms South	Stormwind	Alliance	Capital	Darnassus, Ironforge, Valiance Keep	ship, tram
Eastern Kingdoms South	Booty Bay	Neutral	Port	Ratchet	ship
Northrend West	Valiance Keep	Alliance	Port	Stormwind	ship
Northrend East	Valgarde	Alliance	Port	Menethil	ship

Horde ports
Continent/Region	City	Faction	Type	Connections	Via
Kalimdor Central	Orgrimmar	Horde	Capital	Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Grom'Gol, Warsong Hold	zeppelin
Kalimdor Central	Thunder Bluff	Horde	Major city	Orgrimmar	zeppelin
Kalimdor Central	Ratchet	Neutral	Port	Booty Bay	ship
Eastern Kingdoms North	Silvermoon	Horde	Major city	Undercity	portal
Eastern Kingdoms North	Undercity	Horde	Major city	Orgrimmar, Silvermoon, Grom'Gol, Vengeance Landing	zeppelin, portal
Eastern Kingdoms South	Grom'Gol	Horde	Port	Orgrimmar, Undercity	zeppelin
Eastern Kingdoms South	Booty Bay	Neutral	Port	Ratchet	ship
Northrend West	Warsong Hold	Horde	Port	Orgrimmar	zeppelin
Northrend East	Vengeance Landing	Horde	Port	Undercity	zeppelin

Note that the intracontinental neutral Northrend ports of Unu'pe, Moa'ki Harbor, and Kamagua have been omitted from these tables. See Boats for more information on the routes between these ports.

Routes

If you already know where the ports are located on each continent, the following tables may provide a more convenient reference.

Note that the Nauticus^[2] add-on learns the schedule for ship and zeppelin arrivals and departures on your realm and displays the next scheduled times for any route you choose. Nauticus allows you to set an alarm to let you know when the next voyage is due.

The mass transit routes below are all bidirectional.

File:WorldMap-World Travel Alliance.jpg

Alliance Ports & Routes

Alliance Mass Transit
Between	And	Type	Note
Stormwind	Darnassus	ship
Stormwind	Ironforge	tram
Stormwind	Borean Tundra	ship
Menethil	Theramore	ship
Menethil	Howling Fjord	ship
Darnassus	The Exodar	ship or portal
Ratchet	Booty Bay	ship	Neutral

The ships between Darnassus and Stormwind, and Darnassus and the Exodar dock at Rut'theran Village, at the base of the enormous tree known as Teldrassil. You can get between Darnassus and Rut'theran Village via portals located next to their respective flight masters.

Note that once you pick up the flight path in the Exodar, you can now take the taxi between there and Rut'theran or Darnassus. You can also fly from the Exodar or Darnassus to locations in Kalimdor where you have flight paths.

There is also a portal in the Temple of the Moon in Darnassus which goes to the Exodar. This portal is on the first floor, next to the portal to the Blasted Lands, and has no level requirement.

File:WorldMap-World Travel Horde.jpg

Horde Ports & Routes

Horde Mass Transit
Between	And	Type	Note
Orgrimmar	Undercity	zeppelin
Orgrimmar	Thunder Bluff	zeppelin
Orgrimmar	Grom'Gol, STV	zeppelin
Orgrimmar	Borean Tundra	zeppelin
Undercity	Silvermoon City	portal	Orb of Translocation
Undercity	Grom'Gol, STV	zeppelin
Undercity	Howling Fjord	zeppelin
Ratchet	Booty Bay	ship	Neutral

Note that the zeppelin routes between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff and between the Undercity and Grom'Gol Base Camp in Northern Stranglethorn are to points on the same continent, rather than intercontinental as with other zeppelin (and ship) voyages. The zeppelin between the Undercity and Grom'Gol makes travel between the northern and southern parts of Eastern Kingdoms easy even if you have not yet picked up the key Horde flight path at New Kargath in the Badlands.

Shorter waits at the dock

The time it takes to travel using mass transit has been significantly reduced. Before Patch 4.0.3a, players often had to wait four or five minutes for a ship or zeppelin to arrive at their point of departure. Now the time between departures is typically closer to two minutes.

Also, characters with the ability to fly in the departure zone can land on a ship or zeppelin which has already departed, provided it has not gained too much speed. This allows you to catch a voyage you might otherwise have missed. Characters with flight ability in the destination zone can fly off the ship or zeppelin before it has reached the dock, saving a little more time.

The newly reduced departure cycle time is key to efficient travel in the post-Cataclysm world. Although the ports look far away on the map, in practical terms they are actually only two or three minutes apart - much less time than it takes to fly across a continent.

Thus, the actual travel time between, for example, Stormwind and Darnassus, is less than a minute longer than the travel time between Stormwind and Ironforge. The same is true for travel between Orgrimmar and Undercity.

You can use the Nauticus^[2] add-on to see the departure and arrival times for upcoming voyages. Nauticus also allows you to set an alarm to let you know when the next voyage is due.

Cross-faction mass transit

Warning! There are exceptions to Blizzard's "passive crew" policy.^[3]

Blizzard's blog post, One if by Zeppelin: Two if by Boat, states that the crew on the opposing faction's mass transit will never attack a player^[3]. So if you're an Alliance player, and you can avoid the guards on the zeppelin docks, you can use zeppelins for travel. Likewise, if you're Horde, you can use Alliance ships.

If you can fly, avoiding the guards will be much easier. Fly onto the rear platform of a zeppelin, or the stern of a ship, and fly off before it reaches its destination port.

Keep in mind, however, that airborne guards patrol the major cities. If you take a zeppelin to Orgrimmar, for example, it's likely that the guards will start shooting at you before you are able to depart the city limits.

Also, watch for players of the opposing faction, who may not share the crew's scruples about attacking you. Ships and zeppelins which do not enter a city (which automatically flags you for PvP) are likely to be safer^[4]^[5].

Note that the dockmasters and zeppelin masters (on the zeppelin docks) have the vessel's destination in their title, so you can mouse over them to make sure the transport is headed where you want to go.

Mass transit vs mage portals

To put travel times into perspective, remember that the loading screen part of a mass transit trip takes the same amount of time as that of a hearthstone - or a portal. The only time penalty for taking a ship or zeppelin is the wait time at the dock, and that is now almost always less than two minutes.

Keep this in mind the next time you are tempted to advertise in the trade chat for a mage to sell you a portal to another city. By the time you find a mage and he or she gets to you, takes your gold, and pops you a portal, you could have already been aboard mass transit and on your way.

Also, many ships and zeppelins land near a flight master, whereas a mage portal will often deposit you somewhere deep in the bowels of your destination city.

For most city to city trips, when you consider the total time of the trip, typically mass transit will get you to your destination as fast as or faster than a mage portal.

And mass transit is free.

Exceptions

The main exception is Dalaran, because the taxi flight between Dalaran and the ports in Borean Tundra is almost five minutes. Master flying (310%) knocks this down to just over four minutes, but added to the ship or zeppelin ride, the total travel time between a port in the Old World and Dalaran could be six to eight minutes. If you can find a mage quickly a portal might be a little faster.

However, if you can fly in Azeroth and Northrend there are at least three ways to travel between Dalaran and your faction capital in about five to seven minutes (depending on your riding skill level) using NPC portals. See The Dalaran Commute.

Certain items or questgivers also can teleport you to Dalaran or other convenient locations. See Item Portals and Quest Portals.

But unless you are questing in Northrend, why do you need to go to Dalaran at all? The faction capital cities, Stormwind and Orgrimmar, are now the travel hubs, and have trainers and daily quests as well. And while you are questing in Northrend, the class trainers and auctioneers who arrived in Dalaran with 4.0.3a pretty much eliminate the need to go to any other cities.

Another exception might be Stormwind to Theramore; Alliance characters below level 60 wanting to get from their travel hub to central Kalimdor will need to fly (or take the tram) to Menethil to catch a ship to Theramore, or fly to Booty Bay and take a ship to Ratchet. The necessary taxi flights^[6] are close to four minutes, so a mage portal to Theramore may save lower level characters a little time.

Also, travel from the faction capitals to the cities of Exodar and Silvermoon involve runs between ports and portals, and some trips, such as Silvermoon to Thunder Bluff or Exodar to Ironforge, require multiple voyages if your hearthstone is not set to your faction capital. In cases like these, a mage might save you a few minutes.

^ In two cases, portals are also available for travel between two cities. Although these are not strictly mass transit, they are included in the tables above because they complete the city-to-city travel picture.
^ ^a ^b Nauticus - An add-on which learns and displays ship and zeppelin arrival and departure times on your realm, with optional alarm.
^ ^a ^b Warning! There is at least one exception to the reassuring statement in the Blizzard blog regarding the passivity of mass transit crews. Alliance players attempting to board a zeppelin at Warsong Hold in Borean Tundra are attacked by the zeppelin's crew. (Horde players can, however, safely board the Alliance ship from Valiance Keep in Borean Tundra to Stormwind.)
^ An example of a safer route is the zeppelin between Tirisfal Glades and Grom'Gol, which provides Alliance toons quick transit between northern and southern Eastern Kingdoms. Just don't fly east over Lordaeron when you are in the vicinity of the Tirisfal Glades zeppelin towers, or you'll be flagged for PvP.
^ Horde players can fairly safely use the Alliance ship between Theramore and Menethil to travel between central Kalimdor and central Eastern Kingdoms.
^ Characters with a [Flight Master's License] can fly from Stormwind to Menethil or Booty Bay in two minutes or less, and characters who have appropriate access at the portal hubs in Stormwind can take a portal to either Hyjal or Uldum to quickly reach Kalimdor.

Portals

Several portals allow rapid travel between continents, or to distant areas of the same continent. Some of these portals can be used by either faction.

In some cases, portals can be used as stages in a trip designed for rapid travel from one part of the Old World to another. For example, a level 58+ character in Silvermoon can quickly reach Orgrimmar by taking the portal to the Blasted Lands, running through the Dark Portal, and then taking the small portal beside the Stair of Destiny to Orgrimmar. See The Dalaran Commute for more multi-portal routes.

Portals in Northrend are also included here. For portals between Outland and the Old World, see the Outland section below.

Also, see Teleport for a list of non-mage teleportation spells that require a certain class, profession, and/or item to use.

World Travel Portals & Portal Hubs

Some portals listed below can be used by characters of any level, while others require a minimum level or completion of certain quests before they can be used.

Alliance Portals
Zone/City	Location	Direction	Zone/City	Location	Faction	Level	Notes
Exodar	Vault of Lights	Both	Darnassus	Temple of the Moon	Alliance	1
Darnassus	The Temple Gardens	Both	Teldrassil shore	Rut'theran Village	Alliance	1
Shattrath	Terrace of Light	One way	Isle of Quel'danas	Sun's Reach Sanctum	Neutral	70	Quests required
Sholazar Basin	Waygate	Both	Un'Goro Crater	Shaper's Terrace	Neutral	77	Waygate activation required
Dalaran	The Violet Citadel	One way	Tanaris	Caverns of Time	Neutral	1
Dalaran	Violet Gate	Both	Crystalsong Forest	Violet Stand	Neutral	1	Violet Stand Crystal must be used first
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	One way	Hyjal	Nordrassil	Alliance	80	Hero's Call quest required
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	One way	Vash'jir	Seafarer's Tomb	Alliance	80	Hero's Call quest required
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	Both	Deepholm	Temple of Earth	Alliance	82	Hero's Call quest required
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	One way	Uldum	Ramkahen	Alliance	83	Uldum quest required
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	Both	Twilight Highlands	Highbank	Alliance	84	Portal quest required
Stormwind	Eastern Earthshrine	Both	Tol Barad	Baradin Base Camp	Alliance	85

The Alliance portal hub, The Eastern Earthshrine, is located on a small island in a lake northwest of Stormwind Keep. It is accessible on foot through the Dwarven District gate.

Horde Portals
Zone/City	Location	Direction	Zone/City	Location	Faction	Level	Notes
Silvermoon	Sunfury Spire	Both	Undercity	Ruins of Lordaeron	Horde	1	Orbs of Translocation
Shattrath	Terrace of Light	One way	Isle of Quel'danas	Sun's Reach Sanctum	Neutral	70	Quests required
Sholazar Basin	Waygate	Both	Un'Goro Crater	Shaper's Terrace	Neutral	77	Waygate activation required
Dalaran	The Violet Citadel	One way	Tanaris	Caverns of Time	Neutral	1
Dalaran	Violet Gate	Both	Crystalsong Forest	Violet Stand	Neutral	1	Violet Stand Crystal must be used first
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	One way	Hyjal	Nordrassil	Horde	80	Warchief's Command quest required
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	One way	Vash'jir	Kelp'thar Forest	Horde	80	Warchief's Command quest required
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	Both	Deepholm	Temple of Earth	Horde	82	Warchief's Command quest required
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	One way	Uldum	Ramkahen	Horde	83	Uldum quest required
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	Both	Twilight Highlands	Dragonmaw Port	Horde	84	Portal quest required
Orgrimmar	Western Earthshrine	Both	Tol Barad	Hellscream's Grasp	Horde	85

The Horde portal hub, The Western Earthshrine, is on a cliff on the north side of the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar, and can be reached via a footbridge from the zeppelin port plateau.

Quest Portals

Some questgivers offer portals which make it easier to complete their quests, usually because the completion requires travel to a remote or inaccessible location. However, if you don't turn in these quests, you can continue to use the portals for travel. Note that all these portals are one way.

Make sure you pick up these quests as soon as possible, because completing certain other quests may make these unavailable. To keep the portals available, do not complete the portal quests.

Alliance Quest Portals
Zone/City	Location	Questgiver	Destination	Quest
Silithus	Cenarion Hold	Nethergarde Mage	Blasted Lands	Quest:Nethergarde Needs You!
Borean Tundra	Valiance Keep	Magister Dath'omere	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Dragonblight	Star's Rest	Archmage Modera	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Dragonblight	Wintergarde	Vas the Unstable	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Zul'Drak	The Argent Stand	Magister Teronus III	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Grizzly Hills	Amberpine Lodge	Magistrix Haelenai	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Howling Fjord	Valgarde	Ulrik von Stromhearth	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Icecrown	Argent Vanguard	Highlord Tirion Fordring	Moonglade	Quest:The Keeper's Favor^[1].

Horde Quest Portals
Zone/City	Location	Questgiver	Destination	Quest
Silithus	Cenarion Hold	Okril'lon Mage	Blasted Lands	Quest:Call of the Warmatron
Borean Tundra	Warsong Hold	Magistrix Kaelana	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Dragonblight	Agmar's Hammer	Archmage Aethas Sunreaver	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Dragonblight	Wintergarde	Vas the Unstable	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Zul'Drak	The Argent Stand	Magister Teronus III	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Grizzly Hills	Conquest Hold	Magistrix Phaelista	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Howling Fjord	Vengeance Landing	Magister Varenthas	Dalaran	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Icecrown	Argent Vanguard	Highlord Tirion Fordring	Moonglade	Quest:The Keeper's Favor^[1]

The portals to the Blasted Lands are useful because it is a short flight from the portal destinations there to the Dark Portal, which leads to the Stair of Destiny and its portals to Orgrimmar and Stormwind.

The portal to Moonglade is particularly useful to Alliance because it is a short flight from there to Darnassus. Orgrimmar is a little farther.

Note that there are a number of other quest portals, but they may not be as useful as these for general travel. See Teleport.

Quests you should never turn in

If you turn in any of the quests in this table, you will lose access to a portal that is useful for traveling around the world. So, don't turn them in!

Quests you should never turn in
Destination	Quest Recipient	Quest
Blasted Lands	Quartermaster Lungertz	Quest:Nethergarde Needs You!^[2]
Blasted Lands	Quartermaster Lungertz	Quest:Hero's Call: Blasted Lands!^[2]
Blasted Lands	Okrilla	Quest:Call of the Warmatron^[2]
Blasted Lands	Okrilla	Quest:Warchief's Command: Blasted Lands!^[2]
Dalaran	Archmage Celindra	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Alliance)
Dalaran	Archmage Celindra	Quest:The Magical Kingdom of Dalaran (Horde)
Dalaran	Archmage Celindra	Quest:Learning_to_Leave_and_Return:_the_Magical_Way^[3]
Moonglade	Keeper Remulos	Quest:The Keeper's Favor

^ ^a ^b You'll need to do a series of quests to get access to the portal to Moonglade. Go to the Argent Vanguard in Icecrown, see Highlord Tirion Fordring, and do Quest:Honor Above All Else. Quest in this area until you complete Quest:The Battle For Crusaders' Pinnacle, which will cause a phase change at Crusader's Pinnacle. Go there, see Highlord Tirion Fordring, and do Quest:A Tale of Valor. This begins a quest line that brings you to Quest:The Keeper's Favor, which provides you with a portal to Moonglade in northern Kalimdor. To keep the portal open, do not complete this quest. For a detailed map of the Icecrown quests, see the post from Whiterock in the Comments section at Honor Above All Else
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d If you turn in these quests, you will lose access to the portal from Cenarion Hold in Silithus to the Blasted Lands. Being able to travel quickly from southern Kalimdor to the portal hub in southern Eastern Kingdoms is, at times, extremely useful.
^ If you turn in this quest, you will lose access to all the Magical Kingdom of Dalaran quests - and their portals to Dalaran.

Item Portals

Certain items have the ability to teleport you to a key location at or near either Dalaran or your faction capital.

Item Portals
Item	Destination	Access to	Faction	Level	Cost	Cooldown
[Shroud of Cooperation]	Stormwind or Orgrimmar		Both	35	150^[1]	8 hours
[Wrap of Unity]	Stormwind or Orgrimmar		Both	35	300^[1]	4 hours
[Cloak of Coordination]	Stormwind or Orgrimmar		Both	35	500^[1]	2 hours
[Ring of the Kirin Tor]	Dalaran		Neutral	80	6,800 to 8,500^[2]	30 minutes
[Band of the Kirin Tor]	Dalaran		Neutral	80	6,800 to 8,500^[2]	30 minutes
[Loop of the Kirin Tor]	Dalaran		Neutral	80	6,800 to 8,500^[2]	30 minutes
[Signet of the Kirin Tor]	Dalaran		Neutral	80	6,800 to 8,500^[2]	30 minutes
[Argent Crusader's Tabard]	Argent Tournament Grounds	Dalaran^[3]	Neutral	80	50 ^[4]	30 minutes
[Potion of Deepholm]	Deepholm	Stormwind or Orgrimmar ^[5]	Neutral	82	Varies^[6]	1 minute
[Baradin's Wardens Tabard]	Tol Barad	Stormwind^[5]	Alliance	85	40 ^[7]	4 hours
[Hellscream's Reach Tabard]	Tol Barad	Orgrimmar^[5]	Horde	85	40 ^[7]	4 hours

See the Teleport page for more teleport items, some of which are only available to certain races or classes.

^ ^a ^b ^c Also requires guild achievement and reputation.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Cost varies with Kirin Tor reputation.
^ The Argent Tournament Grounds is a one to two minute flight from Dalaran.
^ Also requires rank of <Crusader>.
^ ^a ^b ^c Since Tol Barad and Deepholm are connected to Stormwind and Orgrimmar by two-way portals, these items effectively get you to your faction capital city in seconds.
^ [Potion of Deepholm] is created by Alchemy. If you are not an Alchemist, see your Auction House.
^ ^a ^b Also requires Honored with Baradin's Wardens (Alliance) or Hellscream's Reach (Horde).

The Dalaran Commute

Characters levels 59 and below will generally find that ships and zeppelins are the most expedient means for getting back and forth between Dalaran and the Old World continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms.

However, if you are level 60 or above and need to commute between Dalaran and your faction capital (Stormwind or Orgrimmar) for daily quests, there are several routes which use a combination of portals and flight to get you to Dalaran or back home to your capital in roughly five minutes.

Note that once you have acquired one of the Item Portals above, you can use the item to get to Dalaran or your faction capital city very quickly. However, the routes below may still be useful if your hearthstone or other portal item is on cooldown when you need to travel.

Five Minutes to Dalaran

If you like to have your hearthstone in Stormwind or Orgrimmar and you are level 83 or above, you can use two portals to get to Dalaran:

In your faction capital, take the portal to Uldum
Fly north to the Waygate in Un'goro Crater
Take the Waygate to Sholazar Basin
Fly east to Dalaran

This trip is slightly over five minutes if you have a [Flight Master's License] and Master Riding.^[1] ^[2] Note that you must complete a quest to activate the Waygate before you can use this method. See the quest line beginning with Quest:An Issue of Trust.

Home in Five

If you prefer to have your hearthstone set to Dalaran or have not yet gained access to the portal to Uldum, you can get home from Dalaran to Stormwind or Orgrimmar by following this sequence:

Use the portal in the The Violet Citadel to the Caverns of Time in Tanaris
Fly west to Cenarion Hold in Silithus
See the Nethergarde Mage or Okril'lon Mage and take the portal^[3] to the Blasted Lands - but don't turn in the quest!
Fly south to the Dark Portal and go through it to the Stair of Destiny
Step off the landing to the left/south (Alliance) or right/north (Horde) and use the portal there to Stormwind or Orgrimmar

With a [Flight Master's License] and Master Riding^[1] this trip is under five minutes.

Home in Four

If you've reached level 80 there's an even quicker way home from Dalaran. However, you'll need to do a series of Argent Crusade quests^[3].

Here's the sequence:

From Krasus' Landing, fly northeast to Argent Vanguard
Dismount and speak to Arch Druid Lilliandra
Take her portal to Moonglade - and don't turn in the quest!

In Moonglade, Horde:

Fly south to Orgrimmar

In Moonglade, Alliance:

Fly west to Rut'theran Village
Take the portal to Darnassus
Fly to the Temple of the Moon, go inside, and take the portal to the Blasted Lands
Go through the Dark Portal to the Stair of Destiny
Turn left, jump off the landing, and take the portal to Stormwind

With a [Flight Master's License] and Master Riding^[1]^[2] this route can get you from Dalaran to Stormwind in less than three and a half minutes. From Dalaran to Orgrimmar takes about a minute longer.

^ ^a ^b ^c Master Riding gives you 310% flying speed.
^ ^a ^b You'll also need [Cold Weather Flying] for the fastest possible time.
^ ^a ^b See Quest Portals for more information about the NPC mage portals from Cenarion Hold to the Blasted Lands and from Icecrown to Moonglade.

Rockets and boats

Horde characters may now use the Bilgewater Cartel Rocketway to travel quickly around Azshara.

Characters who complete the quest Quest:Circle the Wagons... er, Boats (Alliance) or the quest line beginning with Quest:To_the_Summit (Horde) get the [River Boat] for travel in the flood waters of Thousand Needles.

Turtle boats ply the waters between the neutral Northrend ports of Unu'pe, Moa'ki Harbor, and Kamagua. See Boats for more information.

Outland

Outland is floating in outer space, physically unconnected to Azeroth. Unlike Northrend and the continents in the Old World, Outland has no mass transit ports.

However, each faction can quickly travel to and from Outland via portals located in their major cities and in Outland. Also, characters level 70 and above can take a portal from Shattrath to the Isle of Quel'danas, from which flight paths to locations in the Eastern Kingdoms are available.

At level 58, portals in the major cities take you to the Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands, which provides access to the Stair of Destiny in the Hellfire Peninsula zone of Outland. Portals at the Stair of Destiny return you to your faction's capital city.

Outland Portals

Alliance
Origin	Location	Destination	Notes
Stormwind	Mage Quarter	Dark Portal	In the Wizard's Sanctum
Ironforge	The Mystic Ward	Dark Portal
Darnassus	Temple of the Moon	Dark Portal	Ground floor
Exodar	Vault of Lights	Dark Portal
Stair of Destiny	South terrace	Stormwind
Shattrath	Terrace of Light	Isle of Quel'danas	Requires level 70, Quests

Horde
Origin	Location	Destination	Notes
Orgrimmar	Cleft of Shadow	Dark Portal
Thunder Bluff	Spirit Rise	Dark Portal	Lower level
Undercity	Magic Quarter	Dark Portal
Silvermoon	Sunfury Spire	Dark Portal	Inside entrance, room on right
Stair of Destiny	North terrace	Orgrimmar
Shattrath	Terrace of Light	Isle of Quel'danas	Requires level 70, Quests

Note that the portals from the major cities which provide access to Hellfire Peninsula take the player to the Blasted Lands in the vicinity of the Dark Portal. The player must then run or fly to the Dark Portal and go through it to enter the Hellfire Peninsula zone of Outland.

The portals in the major cities to the Blasted Lands can only be used by level 58 characters and above. The return portals, from the Stair of Destiny (on the Outland side of the Dark Portal) to the faction capitals of Stormwind and Orgrimmar, as well as the Dark Portal itself from the Outland side, can be used by any level.

The Dark Portal sequence

You don't need to be going to Outland to find the Outland portals useful. From any major city, follow this sequence to get to your faction capital:

Take the portal to Blasted Lands (Near the mage trainer; see Outland Portals above)
Ride or fly to the Dark Portal and walk through it to the Stair of Destiny
Turn right (Horde) or left (Alliance) and jump off the landing
Take the portal to Orgrimmar or Stormwind

This takes less time than you might expect, especially once you can fly in the Old World.

At level 58 this sequence opens up new possibilities for choosing where to set your hearthstone, and becomes key to rapid travel among your faction's major cities and throughout the Old World. See the hearthstone section for more information and examples.

Low level access

Although the portals in the cities to the Blasted Lands can only be used by characters level 58 and above, there is no level restriction on the use of the Dark Portal. It is possible - though challenging - to ride lower level^[1] toons through Duskwood^[2], Swamp of Sorrows^[3], Deadwind Pass and the Blasted Lands to the Dark Portal in order to enter Outland.

Once you get to the Blasted Lands go through the Dark Portal. Horde characters turn right (north) and jump off the landing. You'll find a flight master who will fly you to Shattrath City even if you've never been there before.

Alliance characters turn left (south) and jump off the landing to find your flight master and fly to Shattrath.

To return to the Old World from Shattrath, see the flight master outside the Terrace of Light and take the taxi back to the Stair of Destiny. Each faction has a small portal beside the steps. The Alliance portal goes to Stormwind; the Horde's to Orgrimmar.

^ Level 20 or higher with a riding mount is recommended, since you will need to outrun a number of mobs who patrol on or near the roads in these higher-level zones. Study the maps before you go, and accept that you may be killed a few times along the way. En route, stick to the roads as much as you can, and keep moving!
^ Horde characters will need to skirt the Alliance guards in Darkshire.
^ Alliance toons beware of Horde guards patrolling the road in Swamp of Sorrows between Deadwind Pass and the Blasted Lands.

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Changes: Learning From The Past (Alliance)