World Of Warcraft: Lets start out the new week with more answers

First of all, I would like to thank you all for taking the time out of your day and out of the time you would normally be spending in the burning crusade to answer a few of our questions.

My question relates to the 5 man instances and leveling. I'm a 60 priest, been playing for almost 2 years, and I don't have another level 60. Can you explain to me (and the rest of us for that matter) how viable the instances are for leveling? (I would rather not solo if I don't have to). Can you give some examples on experience in one or two of the starting instances, and maybe give us some tips on what to look for when grinding these new instances. Are there any particular quests, etc... that make the instance grinding less tedious? I've heard that 60-70 is about equal in time to 1-60 (I've also heard 40-60). What kind of time frame are we looking at on getting to 70? About a level a week? 2 levels a week?

Well, you're welcome. Blizzard have just changed the xp setup a bit, so the you need more xp pr lvl than before, but they've also increased the amount of xp you gain from quests. It might be because they want to make quests a better way to lvl than pure grinding, but it's a brand new change, so no one knows for sure yet.

However, you can still do instances all the way to 70 if you want to, and since there is quite a few new instances there is a lot to choose from. But even though there is a lot of instances, you'll likely also be fairly sick and tired of doing them in the end, after perhaps doing the same instance 20-40 times in a row. But if you like instances, sure, it's a very viable way to lvl.

Regarding the timeframe from 60 to 70, it all depends on how much you play of course. Before the xp change, 60-61 took just over 400k xp, and now a bit more. Try to make your own estimations from how long you took to do 59-60, since thats about where it'll start.

#1 You rock, thanks for all the great info.
#2 Will I still need all my resist gear for lets say the 60-65 levels before it can be replaced by other items? I would love to offload 4 full sets of gear before BC comes out.
#3 Is the tauren race different in any way?
#4 I am a dps DW fury war with t2/t3 items, Am I going to be keeping Hand of Justice forever? Have they changed it or its ability?

#1 Thank you.
#2 Resist gear will still be nice, but perhaps the increase in stamina would be more beneficial rather than the resist you'll gain. It all depends on how you feel - is 18 fireresist better than 50 stamina, along with the many other stats you'll gain?
#3 Nope.
#4 EDIT: Thanks to Xtholos for this answer. HoJ scales in the beta, so only 2% at level 60 and it goes down from there. ^Drysc conversation about HoJ.

Will T3 and other Naxx items be good all the way to 70 or will they most likely be upgraded by the blue/green loot on the leveling path?

People are replacing Naxx grade items around lvl 67 or so (the current lvl cap), and some still use 80% of their Naxx items, while others have replaced 80% of them. AQ40 and BWL items are more or less all replaced at that time. MC items are replaced more or less in the first instance.

In the Caverns of Time: Hillsbrad, can you explore all of Hillsbrad Foothills? Also, what stops you from going into Arathi or Silverpine Forest, are there some invisible barriers or something?

Yes, you can explore all of Hillsbrad. Southshore in particular is kind of fun, since so many fun characters walk around - like a young Kel'Thuzad for instance.

You can't move out of the zone though. There are walls, gates and other things that block the way, but imagine how big the place would be if they had to make the entire world as it looked 7 years ago.