The Best Quest Helper
The Information on this Page is up to date for patch 3.3
When I first started playing World of Warcraft back in Vanilla(original WoW) there was no such thing as a quest helper at first. Most, if not all players used thottbot and other sites like it to find what to do during certain quests. Now there are a lot of different options when needing help in doing quests. Blizzard has even added their own quest helper, which although I do not use, it is actually pretty good.
At this time, it doesn't really have all of the nice benefits of a lot of the addon WoW quest helpers but it can sometimes get the job done. So throughout my time as a World of Warcraft player I have used many of the quest helper addons and here is my list of which ones are worth looking into. Of course everyone has different tastes so I know some will probably prefer something other then what I use. The way I see it, it's all good as long as the quest helper you use helps you do what you need to do.
QuestHelper
One of the original free quest helper mods, and in my opinion one of the best. I have used QuestHelper for as long as I can remember. I now normally use QuestHelper along with one of my paid leveling guides, but even if I am not leveling I always have it on. The cool feature about this addon that was added just in the Wrath of the Lich King Expansion is the added "bubble areas".
What QuestHelper does is when you are on a quest say, to kill 8 demons, it will put a box on your map to show the best location to find the demons. At the same time if you hover your mouse over the box QuestHelper also lights up other areas in the region that are known to have the demons as well. What this allows you to do, is to see where these paths cross when you have multiple quests in the same area. Therefore you can complete sometimes 4 to 5 quests at once in the same area.
(Multiple Quest Locations)
Of course with almost any thing there is always an upside and a downside. I would have to say that one of QuestHelper's biggest pitfalls is that sometimes it can be just too much of a resource hog.
Now I will admit I do not have the worst computer to play WoW, I have my graphics on probably medium-low, but sometimes QuestHelper just seems to be too much. In all honesty I only really seem to experience this when I first log on, or if I am in a big city like Dalaran. Personally though I play through the slower frames per second as they are only occasionally, and this addon is just too good to not have.
I almost forgot to mention this as it is a new feature as well, but one of my favorite new things with QuestHelper is the option to track achievements. This can be a huge time saver when it comes to your explorer achievements as well as even hunting for those rare spawns in Outland and Northrend. A lot of the achievements in the game can now be tracked by QuestHelper and it has really helped me to bust some out in no time.
(Achievement Locations)
Carbonite
Personally I have not used Carbonite that much as I tried QuestHelper first and fell head over heals with it, but when QuestHelper stopped updating for a short time I gave Carbonite a try. In terms of functionality when I tried Carbonite it is very well rounded. A lot of the key features of this WoW quest helper are a blessing. One of the coolest parts of Carbonite is the maps. You can zoom in and zoom out the map depending on what you want to find. They label different spots on the map as "Points of Interest" with these points you can then find things such as flight masters or mailboxes real quick.
I would have to say I really liked this feature of Carbonite and do wish QuestHelper had something like this. Just like QuestHelper, Carbonite has a decently intensive quest tracking interface. You can watch pretty much as many quests as you want as well as move the window, which comes in handy if you have a modified user interface. Like I mentioned above Carbonite also has a HUD type feature where you can find and track almost any sort of type of NPC. Of course Blizzard added this into the game as well, but it still is not as visually pleasing or easy to use as the Carbonite one.
Honestly when it comes down to the above two options I really do believe it comes down to personal preference, and maybe a little bit of your computers processing ability. Personally I most likely will always use QuestHelper unless Blizzard decides to really make its ingame wow quest helper a little more robust. So if I had to recommend which one to try first, hands down I say QuestHelper.
Speed Leveling Guide
Personally I have never used any free leveling guides while leveling in World of Warcraft. The first leveling guide I ever used was Joana's leveling guide back in the day. Back then you had to play in windowed mode, or alt tab in between the game to read what to do next. Now a days all of the good and usable leveling guides use ingame leveling mods.
These mods are really cool as they allow you to just use the guide step by step as you level with no need to alt tab out, or play in windowed mode ever. Of course by doing this it makes it a lot easier to level faster as you have a checklist of what to do next, so you are never left wondering where you should go or how to get there.
The leveling guide I use exclusively now is called the Ultimate Leveling Guide, and I have to admit it is aptly named. I found this guide awhile ago and have been straight up impressed every step of the way while using the guide. I ended up buying the ultimate package which came with a leveling guide for both Horde and Alliance Factions, as well as a gold guide, professions leveling guide, and even a PVP guide.
The author Dugi really keeps to his brand. Since I have owned the guide I have received updates for all of the major WoW holidays, giving step by step instructions on how best to earn the main holiday achievements. I believe to receive this information you need to own the dailies guide which I do as it came in the ultimate package as well. Currently the guide is going through a big update to the ingame mod,
I believe Dugi is now creating his own official WoW leveling mod to go along with his guide. I can not wait to see how it turns out as he never seems to disappoint.