Jpy and I are writing a sort of summary article about the speedrunning submissions that have been made in the main thread. It's a sort of brief overview and of the techniques and common wisdom gained from the thread, in a condensed form.

Thought it'd be a good idea to gather some of your thoughts here so that we can write something that more accurately represents your opinions. If you haven't submitted but are interested in running you're welcome to answer too!

They are pretty open questions so open answers are welcome too. You don't have to answer every question. Here goes:

Why are you speedrunning?
Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?

Why are you speedrunning?
It's fun and I want to get a good start when Classic drops.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Absolutely! It's not just the route, it's learning when and where to buy food/drinks/skills, which skills to train, where the trainers are. Knowledge that will save you time down the line.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
Yes. If you're ahead of the pack, the few people you see will also be speed-levelling. They'll be more interested in levelling than PVP and so will leave you alone.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
Depends on faction but probably level 30 but there are spots to grind before then which can help ensure you have enough gold for your mount.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
I kill stuff if I'm travelling somewhere and don't expect to have to kill a quest mob before I'm able to regen or if I'm at full mana. If I'm travelling and have already run past the thing I've killed, I won't go back for it. If my bags are near full, I'll loot less but not stop completely.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
It's not something I've tried. But I'm gonna.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
See above.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
Escorts. Quests that require interaction with slow respawning objects. Fedex quests unless they're on route.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
Er...

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
Trying to create my own routes but it takes a lot of time I don't have. Ironic much?

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
My routes are nowhere near sufficiently mature to even think about that yet.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
Probably Tauren or Nelf Hunter.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Abuse Spirit!

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Barrens Chat, natch!

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?
Ignore professions except First Aid. Never run out of food/drink. Don't get hung up on gear.

Why are you speedrunning?
Its a good way to force yourself to become better and more effective. I also want to get a good head start over other players when classic releases to take advantage of being 60 early.
Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Yes. Most people that play classic will be "new" players that have never played it or not since retail vanilla. They will level slowly so being ahead will grant you the possibillity to farm/grind in popular areas with low competition for weeks before the rest catch up.
Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
Yes ofc. Being ahead of the pack will allow you to avoid most of the world pvp and gank-fiesta that always appear in the popular contested areas like STV / Tanaris / Unguro while leveling. This will save you a lot of time and braincells :). If you want to experience the world PvP you can always level an alt later.
When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
Between certain levels when you are low on quests and they require a lot of running I try to grind for 1-2 levels until I can move on to a new zone. I've mostly been an all-out-quester kind of leveler but latetly I've tried to incorporate a lot more grinding into my level routes. I would say grinding is most important in your high 30s to get some extra gold for mount and mid 40s because of lack of quests.
When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
Almost always loot corpses except when Im grinding mobs between point A and point B, since Im killing them while moving I would lose a lot of time stopping or running back to loot them.
Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
In the beginning yes, As a paladin main I do tend to buy a few wepons from vendors pre lvl 20. It's not really a problem getting the required amount, just don't buy all spells and you are usually fine.
Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
Most of the time I would say no, if you have a good level route there are most likely weapon upgrades along the way that will be enough. One example I can think of is the white 2h mace "Giant Mace", this is a good 2h weapon for lvl 10. It's usually not required since I always do "protecting the herd" quest in Dun Morogh which rewards a better one, but that's an elite quest and you usually can't solo it, so if you can't find any help for it you kinda need to but the white one.
What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
Quests that requires a lot of running to areas where I have nothing else to do. Some examples are "The legend of stalvan", "The missing diplomant".
How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
You are questing in point A, when you are done you die on purpose and end up at the graveyward which is very close to town, you take ress sickness to avoid spending time to run back. You can use your 10min ress sickness to hop on a flightpath to the next area or manually run across the zone to the next quest hub. Pre lvl 10 this is more effective since you dont get ress sickness.
Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
I am constantly looking at other peoples guides and see what they are doing, even though I feel like I have a nice route there are always room for improvement.
In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
Yes, this will mostly consist of grinding in a free area the amount of xp I would get from the quests instead.
What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
Can't really say, I only specialize in leveling paladins for the most part, but I would guess the fastest is gnome mage. Dun morogh->Loch->Darkshore->Westfall/Redridge
What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Don't be afraid to grind! The general wow mentality is to quest quest quest, and most people I know go out of their way to do every single quest even if they have to run across all of azeroth to turn it in. In the same time you could grind 5 times as much xp by grinding.
Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
vanilla-questing.me is a decent starting quest-route that is easy to follow. It does include you doing all elite quests and dungeons though, so if you are solo leveling you will not be able to follow this completely.

Why are you speedrunning?
To me, leveling quickly is the most fun aspect of original WoW. It is challenging, engaging, and has a massive ceiling for optimization both at the macro and micro levels. I love challenging myself to find more efficient routes and shave off an extra minute from my times.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Definitely! Even if there are noticeable differences between current private server emulations and Classic WoW, the mere experience of running through the game can really help improve your times.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
Probably, especially if you want to avoid getting ganked. Since I'm shooting for a top world finish though, I'll be rolling on a PvE server.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
It depends on the content patch. Blizzard has announced that the Classic release will be at content patch 1.2, and if that means ALL content will be at patch 1.2, then there will be a lot of grinding from levels 48-52. At those stages, grinding is more efficient than questing by far. Also, grinding can be considered more efficient than questing if you can reliably AoE grind.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
I loot corpses of mobs that have quest objectives, and general area grinding. I almost always loot humanoid corpses due to the chance to drop money and cloth. I almost never loot corpses if I'm dragging a mob along with me as I travel somewhere.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
Yep, I have notes that remind me to have a certain amount of money for a certain step in order to be able to afford both weapons and skills.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
Yes, if you're playing a class that is quite weapon-reliant (Warrior, Rogue, Paladin, Hunter). I have a mapped-out weapon progression list that includes several white vendor weapons at certain points.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
I often skip quests with mob loot objectives that have low drop rates (e.g., Goretusk Liver Pie in Westfall). I also will skip named mob and group quests depending on if I'm solo and if the server is very populated/busy.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
It's a free hearth before level 11!

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
Since I'm playing alliance, I use an original route of my own.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
Yep, I have 3 contingency plans for the initial opening rush, depending on the severity of the congestion. By the time I'm at level 20 though, I'm ahead of the pack enough that I can fall into my normal route comfortably.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
To level 20? Hmm well the best times I've seen have been Night Elf Hunters, but I suspect that with proper use of death warping and their better starting zones, Dwarf Hunters or Tauren Hunters are probably the fastest on paper.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Your health is a resource, and if it's full, you're not killing things quickly enough. You should aim to chain pull as much as possible. Look a few steps ahead and bring mobs you're currently killing over to the next mob you plan to kill.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Joana's speedrunning Discord has been great, and so has the speedrunning thread on this forum.

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?
Nope, I think the other folks in here covered it!

Why are you speedrunning?
To reap gold and power advantages at level cap available by getting there first

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Practice running is immensely helpful, as you get first hand experience on quest details and niche knowledge. Knowing exactly how far you need to go to completely explore a cave, or where the best mob density is for a given quest, is great preparation.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
Speed leveling is as important as each player makes it. Leveling on a PvP server will be slower when falling behind compared to a PvE server, definitely.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
If you need to be a certain level to accept a quest coming up on your route, or if the travel time to get to a new quest area outweighs the speed of grinding where you are.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
Always loot corpses unless the corpse is at a distance off the travel path I am taking. In any other scenario, I will loot the corpse. I plan on skinning while leveling so that plays a role as well.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
No, I have a list of all abilities I will be training and which ones to avoid to save gold. By vendoring all loot + skins, I will have more than enough to maintain a decent wand for my level and have close to enough mount gold at 40. I expect to get my mount around 40-42.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
White vendor weapons are great early on when greens are rare and your class relies on white hits for a majority of their damage.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
Long respawn single loot item quests are almost always skipped, in preparation for launch mayhem and not reliably being able to do them.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
Die in certain areas to travel across the land to a graveyard, resurrect at the spirit, and save overall travel time.

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
My route is custom from practice but I have taken great consideration form Joana's route's / philosophy as well as some of the speed runners here on barrenschat.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
Yes, I have a list of critical quests I will need to complete in a given area for a chain or significant exp, but everything else is skippable to get ahead of the pack if I need it. I think it depends on how quickly I am able to get in the server that will decide how likely a backup plan is to be used.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
Dun Morogh is the fastest starting zone, and I think the fastest class to 20 is likely Dwarf Hunter or Gnome Warlock/Mage.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Don't speed level, enjoy the leveling experience. Leveling in Vanilla is a truly great play experience.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Youtube, barrenschat

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?
Leveling Speed Formula = (combat + quest time) - (travel + downtime). It's important to understand that leveling speed takes into consideration the speed of combat and questing just as much as minimizing downtime and travel time.

Why are you speedrunning?
I want to get ahead of the curve on classic, and warrior levelling takes a long time. I'd rather be prepared for what I consider the most arduous part of the levelling experience.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
Absolutely, the speedrunning is purely practice for me.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
Yes and no. Levelling in a group might help prevent ganks, but there's always going to be a few jerks on the opposite faction who level faster purely to be able to grief.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
When you can kill fast and have limited downtime. Hunters/Locks excel at this, I'm not sure how its going to shake out on a Warrior.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
Always loot corpses, need to save for the epic mount.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
Less so copper, but selling your whites on the A/H is absolutely necessary. It's often easier to get a weapon upgrade from the AH than a white vendor.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
Not really tbh, see above.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
I often skip elite quests unless there's groups actively looking to kill the mob. Fetch quests/kill quests are essential to do though.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
There's like...one on the 1-10 Horde levelling route worth doing and it saves maybe a minute. Not worth for the routing I've seen.

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
I'm starting with Joanas and will tweak it from there.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
Not yet, to b decided on launch.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
Human or Dwarf paladin just to limit downtime. Maybe hunter depending on how quick you can get to 10.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Kill everything you see, take dedicated breaks from questing in a low-pop area to grind.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Playing the game and learning to feel aggro radiuses is a huge benefit. It just comes down to experience.

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?
Naw, but thanks for doing this!

Why are you speedrunning?
I want to get as far ahead as I can, while I can. I'm competitive by nature, but an even bigger motivator is that I have many real-life obligations that prevent me from playing whenever I want. That's why I'm planning to take two weeks off of work and play as heavily and efficiently as possible. I'm currently using my free time to research and prepare for launch and am really enjoying it.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?
There are many valuable economic reasons to speed level in Classic WoW. Due to the community-based nature of Classic WoW, the most advanced players will quickly make a name for themselves, which can have many long-lasting benefits.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?
It depends on your goals, but for me, absolutely. World PvP is going to be a nightmare for players who want to progress through to endgame, and staying ahead of the curve will help dramatically with this.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?
I only use grinding as a catch-up strategy when I am behind on exp for the questing route. There may be areas where grinding is more efficient, but there are many variables and I do not have the time or motivation to research them.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?
As a warlock, there are many occasions when I do not loot corpses. If I am running from point A to B, I can spend a couple of stationary GCDs to dot a mob, then continue running while my pet and dots kill it. This is efficient resource management for maximum xp/h. Running back to loot the mob would be inefficient. In general though, I try to position myself to loot mobs whenever possible.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?
No, because I only buy one white weapon, the level 15 wand. And if I am able to get a Lesser or Greater Magic Wand before this time from another player or the AH, I won't buy the white wand.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?
It is worth it to buy the level 15 white wand if you are ahead of the curve and unable to get a Lesser or Greater Magic Wand.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?
I mostly use Joana's guide for questing, with some customizations based on preference, a few things I found were more efficient, and my class-specific tie-ins. Joana has spent thousands of hours polishing his route and I am in no position to reinvent the wheel.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?
Death warps should be used when the associated resurrection sickness will not impede your progress in any way and the time saved by the warp will increase your xp/h over running the distance and grinding mobs along the way.

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?
As mentioned above, I use Joana's guide with some adaptations.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?
I have tested a couple of things for level 1-10, but I feel fairly confident in my improvisational skills.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?
I haven't tested enough personally to find out, but I would guess Night Elf Hunter for alliance and Tauren Hunter for horde, mostly based off of the advantages of their starting areas. I'm focused on horde though.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?
Play the game the way you enjoy it. Speedrunning a game isn't for everyone, and I advise against if you haven't experienced doing dungeons and pvp while leveling. But for those with a goal in mind, the best advice I have is to always have a plan and if you're a mana user, never be at full mana. Use your resources efficiently and effectively so you can maximize your xp/h.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?
Kargoz on YouTube has some great resources. Also, there are several Discord channels which are gold mines of information.

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?
That's all I can handle at this time. But this is a cool idea!

Why are you speedrunning?

I understand the need for gold from my private server experience. Going to level my hunter alt first so I can get the economic edge.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?

Even if you get unlucky and you're unable to log in for the first few hours and you fall behind because of that, having a plan will always be beneficial. Most people that are going to be playing wont be following any guides, or will be following Joanna's at best.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?

Yes.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?

Depends on the quests available.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?

I always do, I might be a bit ocd. My route relies heavily on vendor weapons and I also like being able to afford my mount at 40.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?

Only at the first 10ish levels or so.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?

As a hunter my weapon progressions comes almost exclusively from vendors.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?

Highly depends on the situation. Its important to be able to gauge your surroundings and determine whether or not following your route is worth it in that particular situation.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?

DIE at X res at Y.

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?

That's how I started out, yes. However, the more I got in to it the more I learned, so after I was finished adapting I went back to see if I can find other things I could change and I ended up rebuilding the whole route from scratch. And I'm currently in the process of doing the same to my own route. There's always something new you learn that can be applied at different points throughout a route.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?

No. I honestly don't think its worth it. I have targets I have to hit at certain points throughout my route. If questing somewhere is out of the question, then I'll just have to make up the difference somewhere else along the way.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?

Starting zone? No idea. Tauren shamans seem to have it pretty sweet however. 1-20 is like 8 hours though, which is not that big of a deal compared to the time to 60.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?

If you're anything like me you shouldn't end your route at 10/20/30. Having a sick route to those levels and then following Joanas from 30 to 60 isn't going to feel good.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?

I guess you pick up bits and pieces as you go. A reddit post here, a forum thread there, a youtube video, etc.

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?

Routing to high 30s is fairly easy and because of that it can be done on a private server. However, trying to figure out the most optimal path from there to 60 is a different story. I recommend getting a repack and running section to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Sorry I missed this, here is my info for posterity :D

Why are you speed running?

I enjoy the personal challenge, and aim to be in the top 1% to 60 at Classic launch.

Do you think running will help on Classic launch?

In the past year alone, I’ve improved on my PB to say 40, by 30%.

Do you think speed levelling will be more important on PvP servers?

If you’re wanting to get ahead, there’s a significant benefit to being a higher level than the other faction. They are sparser, and less likely to tackle you.

When do you consider grinding to be more efficient than questing?

When the Xp/hr is higher grinding for that section than questing, and there is no real gain from chained quests for the invested time.

When do you loot corpses and when do you not?

Almost 100% of the time to 40 for mount. I don’t if the corpse is a mile away in the wrong direction.

Do you have to actively think about managing your silver and copper in order to get white weapon upgrades from vendors?

Super actively. This is a priority early on for efficient DPS.

Are white vendor weapons worth it? In which situations?

Often they are an upgrade especially early on. The only time I skip a white upgrade is at higher levels when you tend to get upgrades for specific quests.

What type of or specific quests do you often skip on your routes?

Escort quests with long routes, eg robot chickens, are a waste of time. Quests with low xp for the effort. Quests with turn ins that don’t align with the route.

How would you explain death warps in the shortest and most concise way?

I call it deathportation or deathstone. You die to get to the closest graveyard.

Do you adapt your route from joanas or do you use an original route of your own?

Original route of our own.

In your routing, do you have contingency/backup plans in case of too many other players?

I have several contingency plans based on numbers, likely xp/hr, static respawn rates and dynamic respawn rates.

What is the fastest class/race/starting zone character to level to 20, in your opinion?

Hunter, lock and mage are all very strong to 20.

What other little bits of advice and wisdom would you share with the average classic player?

Be aware not all cities have all your class trainers
Your level 10 class quests will be in your home starting area
Hunters, beast training is in your general tab in your spell book.

Are there any other information sources besides joana that have been really helpful for you?

Allakhazam, Petopia, and plenty of chat on Discord

Anything else you learned so far that you feel should really be in this article?

Anyone planning to nolife the launch needs to make sure they are getting adequate exercise and rest. The race to 60 is over 100 hours and attempting to do this in big sittings if you aren’t used to it can lead to severe strain on your body.