Joana The Speed Leveler - The True History & Interview!
It all started back in
2005, this guy name Mancow would play on new servers only (brand new
official Blizzard realms) and leveling a horde character (usually a troll hunter) to
60 as fast as possible. He would time himself (by using
/played command) to see how fast he could do it, and he would do it
over and over again. 3 times in fact (with Mancow). With each new server that came out he was
always the first to 60 by far and was able to do it faster and
faster each time he did it.
One day out of no where, Mancow disappeared, and this new character named Joana started to get first to 60 on every brand new server, and Mancow was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until the second time Joana hit 60 on the new servers that Joana said this:
"For fun I wanted to try a female character and I randomly named her Joana. But yes I am also Mancow, I will keep using Mancow if I am a male character and Joana if I am a female character". -Joana/Mancow
So it was the same player all along. Ever since then, the male character Mancow never made any more speed runs through WoW, but Joana kept on going with 4 more additional servers, continuing to beat everyone to 60 by far.
It was then at that point that everyone was praising to Joana to tell everyone his leveling secrets. To his large response about that, he decided to record the next run he would do on the next new server. And that he did, he recorded his ENTIRE 1-60 speed run on the Jubei'Thos realm, which is technically an Australian server. But Joana said it didn't matter to him what region the server played on was. He then edited the entire video speeding up boring parts, and making it more enjoyable and educational to watch.
He sold his Horde leveling guide initially on eBay. People were buying it like crazy. It also included a text leveling guide booklet that he physically mailed to his buyers. He made a full blown horde leveling guide that was actually VERY useful. His leveling secrets were all down in detail and people started using his techniques to get similar leveling speed results.
Then in the month of March of 2006 Blizzard released a contest to the public (anyone who wanted to participate can), the contest was a leveling contest. First one to level 50 wins, and there was also additional prizes for the top ten. When the server started, Joana appeared in there and people pretty much knew he was going to win. And yes he did win, take a look at a picture of the top 39 people:
Leveling Contest: First to
50...
(click to ENLARGE)
As you can see Joana smoked everyone, although Tacitus did put up a decent fight, it wasn't enough to pass Joana up. It was then at this point that Joana became well-known as the fastest leveler in World of Warcraft.
At that time, Joana's eBay sales started to skyrocket because of the contest he won. It wasn't until 6 months after that, that he stopped selling it on ebay and sold his leveling guide through his own website, which is: www.JoanasWorld.com
Joana's Horde Leveling Guide was the first leveling guide ever and the first to hit the market. Since then more kept popping up, but still no where near the efficiency of Joana's. A lot of people simply tried to rewrite Joana's guide and sell it. Joana has the fastest leveling routes in the world that nobody can currently match. His constant updates to the guide overtime shows his commitment to making it the best it can be.
Here is a short video trailer for his 1-60 speed run he recorded:
I am fortunate to have this interview from Joana:
BlizzardGuides: What are your name, age and job?
Joana: My real name is Paul. My official gamer name is FuriousPaul, but I used Joana/Mancow in WoW for comedic purposes. I will continue to use "Joana" for all my WoW endeavors. I was born in the year 1980, live in the United States, and I do gaming type stuff every day, either streaming on twitch or making game guides. I am currently full time on Classic WoW leveling guides.
BlizzardGuides: What's your opinion on World of Warcraft??
Joana: I think by far it is the best MMO you can play right now. Blizzard takes all their games seriously and I think they did an excellent job with WoW (especially Vanilla/Classic WoW).
BlizzardGuides: How many speedruns through WoW have you done, and did you do any speedruns through any other expansions other than the original vanilla WoW?
Joana: I have done a total of 7 speedruns from 1 to 60. They were all done on Vanilla WoW 1-60, on brand new official Blizzard realms from 2005 to 2006. I did not speedrun any expansion packs. Between speedruns, I would do tons of practice and research to figure out how to do the next run even faster.
BlizzardGuides: How many hours do you sleep per day while evolving a character?
Joana: When I'm racing on new servers, I sleep about 4-6 hours per day, sometimes I can sleep as little as 3 hours in a day. And no I do not drink coffee, I just let my mind produce adrenaline naturally while I'm leveling to keep me awake.
BlizzardGuides: How do you sleep at night during your speed runs?
Joana: This is a good question! Like I said my sleep time is only 3-6 hours a night for 8-15 nights in a row. The first couple of nights after a speed run starts I generally do not sleep very well. I toss and turn a lot because I'm thinking about getting back there and playing ASAP. But I know I need to sleep as it dramatically improves my alertness throughout the day, so I definitely make sure I get some sleep every day. After the first couple of nights are over I then start sleeping like a baby every day. In fact the sleep quality during most of my speed runs (after the first few days) are some of the best sleep I ever had. Your body compensates by sleeping more intensely when you deprive yourself of sleep, something I only ever experienced during those speed runs. This made me think that people could probably get away with much less sleep than they realize.
My sleeps were usually on a daily schedule, hardly any napping. I scheduled myself to go to sleep at a certain time and wake up when I naturally wanted to (no alarm clock). I would then start playing again.
BlizzardGuides: How was your lifestyle during your speed run marathons? Do you wake up and brush your teeth before you start playing?
Joana: I usually only spend an average of one hour a day to do everything else I needed to do. I usually only ate once a day. I also made sure every other day I woke up and do a 15 minute intense cardio workout. This really gets the blood flowing to increase alertness dramatically for days after. This does take up some time but I think it is well worth it. This is one of my secrets to sitting through these extremely long marathons healthfully. No coffee or drugs, just healthy food and water. Cardio is my drug. And you don't wanna over eat or it will bog you down.
BlizzardGuides: How difficult was it to record the long 4 day 20 hour video, must have been hard to do back in 2006?
Joana: Indeed, my 1-60 speedrun was recorded back in 2006 when PCs were so slow compared to today and there was no streaming platforms that existed. 4:3 was still the mostly used aspect ratio, CRT monitors had low resolutions, small hard drives that could barely fit huge FRAPS videos. I know it's only 4:3 with 512x384 resolution, but to record a 117 hour video in those specs back in 2006 while doing a speedrun at the same time was an amazing accomplishment. This was considered a really good video recording job for what I had to do, and it was challenging to pull it off. I had 2 PCs going, the one I was gaming on, and the other one was compressing FRAPS's raw video files, which were huge. I needed a ton of CPU power, and needed top of the line hard drives to fit all the video files in. I was only able to record a max of 6 hours of gameplay before my hard drive was completely full. So I was constantly transferring raw video files from my gaming PC to my video compression PC all day long while doing the speedrun. I got a good system down and got the job done.
BlizzardGuides: What's the main purpose of your guide and what can players expect to find in it?
Joana: The main purpose of my guide is to not only show horde (and now alliance) players how to level really fast and efficient, but also to let them have fun while they are doing it. My guide is not some boring grind, I have now done 7 speed runs from 1-60, and I can tell you I would have never done it that many times if it wasn't as fun for me. My guide has players questing rather than grinding, and jumping around from zone to zone instead of grinding in one zone for countless hours, which reduces boredom tremendously.
BlizzardGuides: Did you start playing WoW for lucrative purposes or was that an afterthought?
Joana: I enjoy every game Blizzard makes, I will play them no matter what, and I tend to master them to the best of my abilities. I also enjoy speed running through games in general. I also enjoy long marathon type stuff. Put the three together and you have the result of the record time I have achieved through World of Warcraft. The thought of making money from what I was doing did not cross my mind until my 5th speed run, I realized so many people want to learn how to level as fast as me, and this user base was extremely huge (13+ million people), so that motivated me to actually spend months working to make a guide for everyone. I didn't realize it would take me as far as where I am today.
BlizzardGuides: How did you have time to do all these speed runs? Don't you have a job elsewhere or something?
Joana: At the time I was a seasonal landscaper. I had every winter completely off to do whatever I wanted (November - April). And I did all my speed run marathons during those months.
BlizzardGuides: How long have you been into gaming?
Joana: I started playing video games at the age of 2. The first game I played was this arcade game called Ice Cold Beer. I got so good at it I was beating adults at the age of 2! I then later played all kinds of PC games such as: Save the Lemmings, Wolfenstien 3d, Doom, Quake, Warcraft 2, Diablo, just to name a few. I also played many NES, SNES, and genesis console games back in the day. You can see more of my gaming history here.
BlizzardGuides: Your guide is clearly indicated for Horde players. Was that choice random or was it made according to the abilities of each faction?
Joana: I think it was more random than anything. I started playing WoW with an Undead Warlock and then started playing on new servers as they came out. I just stuck with horde mainly (no particular reason), with the goal in mind of finding the fastest way to level from 1-60.
BlizzardGuides: What is your process of creating a speedrun for WoW? How are you able to reach maximum level so quickly?
Joana: So when I am practicing speedrunning WoW I am looking at every possible quest I could do and to see if I can incorporate that quest into the route. I do this by seeing how much XP per time I get from the quest. Other things I look at is areas to discover for XP, places to die on purpose to go faster, knowing when to build up first aid, knowing the precise timings for all my spells and abilities, knowing all the shortcuts in the game world, knowing exactly how much food/water/arrows/etc you need to buy at the town, and the list goes on and on.
BlizzardGuides: On your site you claim to be "the world's fastest Speed-Leveler", but some players claim that this form of gameplay makes the game less fun to play. What's your opinion?
Joana: Everyone can have different opinions on this, but this is how I enjoy playing WoW for the time being. I enjoy long competitive marathons (it don't matter what type of game it may be), and WoW enables me to do just that. I have actually had a LOT of fun speed leveling through this game.
BlizzardGuides: What do you do after reaching the maximum level with a character?
Joana: I will simply keep playing the character until a new server comes out again. New servers are like magnets to me, It just feels like I have to go to them and start fresh again, heh. So my speedleveling running mindset always won over playing end game stuff for me. Don't get me wrong I did play the end game dungeons a lot and enjoyed them a lot as well.
BlizzardGuides: Do you have any tips you would like to share with the readers that are starting to play World of Warcraft?
Joana: Just starting to play WoW? I would say your first time through the game, don't rush yourself, take it easy, try the Dungeons (Instances), meet new people and team up with them and basically just have fun. I still recommend using my guide to let you know where to do all the quests at and what zones you should be at for your particular level.
Joana's official website contains all kinds of information about his speed runs and screenshots from his speed runs as well.
Currently the Best In-Game Leveling Addon:
Vanilla World of Warcraft Guides
Joana's 1-60 WoW Leveling Guide
Noob guide for World of Warcraft
ALT uses for WoW
Starter WoW
addons/mods Guide
Chat with
opposite Race in World of Warcraft
Leeroy
Jenkins World of Warcraft Video
Cool Easter
Eggs in World of Warcraft!
choosing the right
non-combat Pet for World of Warcraft
Children's
Week Guide For World of Warcraft - Alliance
Onyxia Key Guide
for Horde
Cool WoW Tricks
How to get
Exalted With Darnassus
Night Elf to
Ironforge Guide
Teremus the
Devourer Guide
How to Make a
Character with Cool Letters
Complete Emote List
Useful World of Warcraft
Tips
Auction Hall
Guide
Leveling Guides
Joana The Speed Leveler - The True History & Interview!
Alliance 1-60 Leveling Guide
World of Warcraft
Grinding Guide (35-60)
Powerlevel to 20 in under 24 Hours (Horde)
Low to mid level
Mage/ Warrior leveling guide
Horde
1-60 Leveling Guide (1-25)
Horde 1-60
Leveling Guide (25-40)
Horde 1-60
Leveling Guide (40-60)
Power Level
1-60 in 2 weeks!!!
Best Grinding
Spots in World of Warcraft
Best Grinding
Spots in World of Warcraft (PART 2)
Class Gold
Grinding Spots
Powerleveling
Made Easy
30-60 WoW
Grinding Guide
Profession Guides
Inscription Guide 1-450
Enchanting Guide
1-375
1-375
Jewelcrafting Guide
BOE
vendor recipes for every profession
1-375
Engineering Guide
First Aid
Profession FAQ
1-375 Tailoring
Guide
1-375 Alchemy
Guide
1 to 375 Cooking
Guide
1 to 375
Skinning Guide
1 to 375 Mining
Guide
1 to 375
Leatherworking Guide
1-375 Herbalism
Guide
1-375
Blacksmithing Guide
1-375
Lockpicking Guide
Farming (GOLD) Guides
WoW Gold Making 101
- Five Ways to Make Gold in WoW
Pros reveal
their secrets to making gold
Diremaul West Solo
Farming (1000g/day)
Easy Gold making
trick for World of Warcraft
Guide to winning the
STV- Fishing Extravaganza
Farming for
Whipper Root Tubers and Night Dragon's Breath
Best Zones and Mobs to
find Cloth from
Hearthglen Gold Farming in WoW
Gold guide
Solo RFD in 5 minutes
for Quick Gold
Skinning for
great gold! Level 55+
Class Guides
Detailed Frost
Mage Guide
Paladin 1-60
Leveling Guide
How to Tank as a
Warrior in Instances
Sahrokh's
guide on playing a Druid as a multi role in raids
End-Game
Priest Guide
Mage pocket guide
for noobs
Rogue
Grind Guide
Hunter Pet
Guide
Restoration Shaman talent & gear guide
A Beginner's
Guide to Priest Healing in WoW
Shaman Class Guide
Warlock Class
Guide
Warlock Class
Improvement Tips
Mage PVP tricks for
Dummies
Aoe Mage Grinding
Guide
Larxanne's Druid Guide
PVP (BG) Guides
How to win Alterac Valley - Alliance
How to win Alterac Valley - Horde
How to 'Graveyard
Ninja' in AV
Vilkacis's
Warlock Twink guide
Guide to winning
Arathi Basin
Basic Guide
to Alterac Valley
Creating
A Level 19 BGer From Scratch
20-29 twink guide for Battle Grounds
Instance Guides
Molten Core
Bosses strategy for Garr - Magmadar - Lucifron
Notes to use
while playing in Molten Core
45
Minute Baron Run in UD Stratholme Guide
Zul'farrak
Instance - Proper Way to Complete It
Scarlet
Monastery Guide
Shadowfang
Keep Guide
Sunken
Temple Walkthrough
Wailing Caverns
Guide
Zul'Farrak
Instance Guide
Karazhan
Attunement Guide
Other Expansions:
MoP Guides
How to Get Netherwing Drake/Mount Guide
WotLK Guides
Death
Knight Tanking Guide
WotLK
Achievements Guide
