The release of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures sets another race in power leveling competitions. Right from the first day, elite players are planning to rush to the level cap to claim the first spot on each server. This has always been the case when a popular MMORPG launches. A group of players engage themselves in a fierce competition to be the first and fastest to reach the level cap. The reward for it, sometimes is nothing more than a bragging right to claim you are the best and the first for that particular server. For others, this means an opportunity to share the secrets to leveling in the form of an Age of Conan guide offering hints and tips to reach end game faster for each class.

The first day Age of Conan officially goes live, marks the start of the power leveling race to level 80. Both MMORPG newbies and hard-core veterans start from equal grounds regardless of their prior experience. Traditionally, this leveling route varies depending on each player's preference. There are two schools of thoughts; one is based on grinding monsters and another favors questing. Each method presents different advantages and disadvantages. From level 1 to 80, these players experiment and try to create the best Age of Conan guide that offers the most efficient leveling strategy.

Grinding strategy may be a viable method of leveling. Traditional click and slash MMORPGs allow players to click a button and auto-target monsters to their death. Age of Conan offers more involvement in the action-based combat system by having no targeting functions. Players get to control the direction of weapon swings and watchout for their characters' and the monster's positioning so as to complete each swing within range to do damage to the monsters. The same goes for ranged and caster type characters, they must actively watch and follow the target's movements. Repeatingly killing monsters normally sounds boring and dull but the combat system in AoC makes it easier to grind from 1 to 80. Thus, offering top players to create grinding based AoC guides that tell others which mobs to kill and how to find them.

On the other hand, leveling by questing may seem to be the more appropriate choice for new MMORPGs. However, it does have some drawbacks. Coming up with original and meaningful quests, and storyline is not easy to achieve. Most of the quests in other MMORPGs we have seen so far, lacks creativity. Quests with killing X numbers of Y monsters are common in every game as well as picking item Z and delivering it to the NPC at another town. Age of Conan promises us deep immersion, interactive quests and an involving storyline which offers a variety of quests for both solo and group players. This presents another interesting solution for an AoC game guide that focuses primarily on questing from 1 to 80.

The developer has estimated a total of nine days to hit the level cap, nevertheless players will look for and have always been able to discover more efficient ways to reach the goal faster. With trial and error, the time to reach level 80 will be shortened as players eventually hit the optimized balance for both grinding and questing. Once it has been achieved, these leveling secrets are published in the form of leveling strategy guides that everybody can follow. Within the first few months, you will see an abundant selection of free and commercial Age of Conan strategy guides in the market. However, the best AoC guide must offer a balanced mix of both the grinding and questing aspects of leveling as player's personal preference differs.