See also: The Ten Ton Hammer Travel Guide and Maps

There are two types of transportation available to you in the World of Warcraft: Public and

Private.

Public transport is made up of flight paths, boats, zeppelins, portals/translocation orbs, and trams. Private

transportation is made up of a few more options. These include mounts, hearthstones, teleportation, portals, summoning, and druid travel forms.

Walking

Walking from place to place is the most basic mode of transportation, but obviously the most time-consuming. For a fairly complete map of overland region connections, see our Overland Connections Map. By default, numlock will activate your "autorun" ability. This allos you to run without pressing the movement keys. Very useful for going long distances.

Public Transportation

Public transportation in WoW is broken up into several basic modes: flights, boat & zeppelins, portals/translocation orbs, and the Deep Run Tram linking Stormwind and Ironforge.

Flights

See also: Horde Flight Routes, Alliance Flight Routes

• To be able to fly in WoW (before level 70) you must explore the world and find “flight paths”. To do this you

  must find the flight master at new cities in new areas. Look for the green exclamation point both above the Flight Masters head and on your minimap. All players start with the route point

  active in their home city. Once you find the other points you can start flying from city to

  city.

• Flight paths are a great alternative to walking to and from areas. Flights are relatively

  cheap and speed up your travel time immensely. A 15 minute walk from one area to another

  translates to about a 3 or 4 minute flight that doesn't require you to expend any effort.

• When on a flight you can explore the surrounding world with different camera views and plan

  out future explorations. There are many places you can see on a flight that you will not see on

  the ground until you are a much higher level.

• You gain the fastest movement speed possible in the game by flying. However, even though flying between flight points moves you faster the route is not. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. So with the epic flying mount you'll usually always find yourself getting between cities faster than traveling between flight points.
• The different factions (Horde and Alliance) both get different modes of flight between

  their cities. The alliance gets Gryphons and Hippogryphs, while the Horde gets Wyverns and

  Bats. Both function in identical ways.

• The Horde also has the option of Goblin zeppelins as a form of transport. The Zeppelins

  run on three routes
  - Orgrimmar to Undercity
  - Grom’gol to Undercity.

Boats and Zeppelins

See also: Horde Boat / Zeppelin Routes, Alliance Boat Routes

To get around between the continents the two factions have different methods of transport. The

Alliance makes use of boats, while the Horde makes use of zeppelins.

The Alliance can travel between the ports at: Darkshore, Theramore Island, Menethil Harbor and Azuremyst Isle (available with the Burning Crusade expansion).

The Horde has Zeppelin ports and can travel between: Undercity, Grom’Gol and Orgrimmar.

The Deeprun Tram

The Deeprun Tram links the Dwarven city of Ironforge and the Human city of Stormwind.

It allows easier access to the auction house, trainers and vendors for each race.

The system is made up of two trams that follow the tram circuit roughly every 2 minutes. The

tram is an exceptionally cheap method of travel between the two cities. It enables the player to make the trip with no cost at all, same as the boats or zeppelins.

Should you use the tram over flying? It’s a matter of personal preference. The first time you go between Stormwind and Ironforge you’ll more than likely need to take the tram since the path between the two cities is through two level 50-60 zones. After you obtain the flight points of both Ironforge and Stormwind the option to fly between the cities is given. Neither way is technically faster since the tram has the variables of when the tram arrives along with the loading/walking times while the flight path is always the same. The tram is also free but at the same time requires a good deal of effort to take while flying is on demand and the cost is a non-factor once you gain a few levels.

Portals/Translocation Orbs

With the Burning Crusade came new forms of public transportation. In Shattarath City, players can find portals to each of the major racial cities. This allows easier access to trainers which are not available in the Outlands. The cities that can be reached by portal from Shattarath are: Exodar, Darnassus, Stormwind and Ironforge for the Alliance and Silvermoon City, Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff and the Undercity for the Horde.

Two translocation orbs can be found in the game. They are connected and enable the user to travel between them. The first is found in a side hall in the Ruins of Lordaeron. The second is found in Sunfury Spire in Silvermoon City. Right-clicking on either of these will transport you to the other one.

Private Transportation

Private transportation in WoW is broken up into 4 basic modes: Mounts, Hearthstones, Spell Based (Teleportation, Portals, Summoning) and Travel Forms.

Mounts

See also: Flying Mount Guide

Mounts are permanent pets that, when summoned, allow players to move at speeds up to and over double their normal movement speed. Land mounts are available at level 40. With the Burning Crusade expansion came the introduction of player-controlled flying mounts at level 70.

Each of the races has

their own land mount as listed below:

• Human: Horse
• Troll: Raptor
• Night Elf: Night Sabre
• Orc: Wolf
• Dwarves: Ram
• Undead: Undead Steed
• Gnome: Mechanostrider
• Tauren: Kodo Beast
• Draenei: Elekk
• Blood Elf: Hawkstrider

These racial mounts are generally available in the races' starting realm at a town other than the starting town. For example, troll raptor mounts can be found at Sen'Jin village in Durotar northwest of the starting area of The Den.

In addition to the racial mounts available two classes have their own mounts as well. Paladins

can summon Chargers while Warlocks can summon Nightmares. These abilities are learned once the

player reaches level 40. Class mounts function in a very similar way to racial mounts other

than a longer summoning time.

There are also special "prestige" mounts gained by completing high level quests. With the arrival of the Burning Crusade expansion, we'll see flying mounts for the first time flying around the Outlands. These special mounts are used not only for speedy travel but also to reach special level 70 dungeons at heights unreachable by normal means. Though flight is only possible in the Outlands, these mounts can walk along the ground as well, making them useful anywhere in Azeroth.

In the Burning Crusade Expansion, flying mounts are available to level 70 players in the Outlands. These mounts are capable of both running on land and flying through the air (over large chasms and mountains). In fact, there are many areas in the Outlands that are only accessible by way of a player-controlled flying mount. To learn more about flying mounts, see our Flying Mount Guide.

Hearthstones

All players can gain hearthstones from inns while they travel. Hearthstones provide a way of

travel back to the last inn you stayed at. If you destroy your hearthstone to save inventory space (recommended for levels 1-5). You can gain hearthstone links back to any friendly

or neutral inn. To activate your hearthstone, right click it; it activates a spell that takes

15 seconds to cast (so be sure you're safely out of combat and outside enemies' reach - if the hearthstone cast is interrupted, deal with the interruption and you can begin casting the hearthstone again immediately). When done, you are returned to the last inn you bound yourself to. Hearthstones can

only be used once per hour though, so be careful with their use.

Teleportation, Portals, and Summoning

All three of these are methods that Mages and Warlocks use to travel around the world.

The

first one, teleportation, is used by mages to travel to the major cities of their faction as

follows:

Alliance

• Stormwind
• Ironforge
• Darnassus
• Shattrath

Horde

• Orgrimmar
• Undercity
• Thunder Bluff
• Shattrath

Portals are the warlock variation of teleportation. Rather than teleporting yourself to a location, portals pull groupmates to your location. Warlocks gain the summoning ability at level 20. Portals require the help of two other people and a soul shard. Portals can also be used outside of instances at the Meeting Stone. One player targets within the group who they wish to summon then they click on the Meeting Stone. A second person inside of the party clicks on the Meeting Stone and that player is then asked if they'd like to be summoned to that Meeting Stone. The person who is being targeted must meet the level requirements for that instance (which are listed when you hover over a stone).

Travel Forms

There are two classes in World of Warcraft that gain travel forms. This is the ability to

shape shift into a form that allows easier and faster movement from one place to another. Shamans

gain the ability to transform themselves into ghost wolves at level 20. This gives the a

travelling speed of 150% of their normal speed. Druids gain a travel form at level 30 that also

provides a 150% travelling speed.

Along with the Burning Crusade expansion, druids also gain the ability to assume a flight form at level 68.

See also: The Ten Ton Hammer Travel Guide and Maps