Starting Experience so far.

[Kissell13]

Well I just started a few days ago and am grinding out the first levels with my 4x shammys, trying to get them up to 20 to join my prot pally so I can begin instancing. At first things went rather smoothly, as I was destroying everything in my path. Now I have hit 11 and things are getting a bit harder. Multiple mob pulls have ended my fun on several occasions now. This is probably partly due to the toons still being in their original starter eq. Tonight I hit the AH and spend a few gold to set them up and try again.

Anyone recommend a starting level to hit the instances. I was thinking at 20 for VC since Im on Alliance side. By then Ill have consecrate so things should be a bit easier for me. Anyway I suppose time will tell

-Kissell13

Also I must say that every person I have run into so far has thought what Im doing is cool. No bad pres yet

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Sounds about right. The last pulls in DM are rough <18. Once you hit 20 and get healing stream totems, it's all over but the crying.

You'll get different opinions on this but my most basic recommendation is two-fold:

1) Farm yourself good weapons and gear from instances in between quests, especially if it is stuff that'll last you 10+ levels.
2) Go enhancement spec while leveling at least up through the 40s IMO. I don't know where the good breakover is for switching to elemental but leveling as a gimp caster through those levels is painful, especially considering the itemization issues with shammies in general. Aside from the occasional 70, instance runs have been super-easy as enhancement and have zero downtime. At 30, windfury sped things up a LOT. At 40, dual-wield+windfury is like driving an out-of-control hummer with a huge weed-eater attached to the front of it.

Again, for the purists out there, these are just my opinions relative to playing mages/locks/hunters. I was elemental up through about 15 and the leveling was just sooooo sloooowwww with mana sucking that bad. If you have alts there that have the fiery enchant, you can make the lower levels simply FLY by.

Regarding instance leveling, I usually gauge the effectiveness of my guys by how much downtime they incur. For a mix of greens/blues at most any level, they should roughly perform like so:
Mobs -3 to -5 and bosses -3 or lower = zero downtime, period. If you have downtime of more than a few seconds every 5+ pulls, you're doing something wrong or your gear needs repairs. Bosses should be risk-free kills.
Mobs -3 to +0 and bosses +0 = minor downtime. Shouldn't have to stop to drink/eat until every 3-5 pulls and it should only take you 10-15 secs to recover. Bosses may require a heal or two but should be fairly easy (with obvious caveats where fear/MC/sheep/etc. cause advanced tictacz requirements).
Mobs +0 to +3 and bosses +2 or higher = obviously lots of downtime. Bosses may gank one of you but you should be able to Git R Dun.

If you're not performing at about the above levels, farm more gear, get twink-type enchants or stop speccing straight resto. :P

My 2 cents/pfennigs/pence/etc.

[Tdog]

Well I just started a few days ago and am grinding out the first levels with my 4x shammys, trying to get them up to 20 to join my prot pally so I can begin instancing. At first things went rather smoothly, as I was destroying everything in my path. Now I have hit 11 and things are getting a bit harder. Multiple mob pulls have ended my fun on several occasions now. This is probably partly due to the toons still being in their original starter eq. Tonight I hit the AH and spend a few gold to set them up and try again.

Yea you got to upgrade your gear at some point in time, also it just takes getting use to as far as dealing with multiple mobs at once. Just keep your cool, focus, and a bit of practice and paitence and you'll be doing fine in no time.

Anyone recommend a starting level to hit the instances. I was thinking at 20 for VC since Im on Alliance side. By then Ill have consecrate so things should be a bit easier for me. Anyway I suppose time will tell

-Kissell13

Level 20 was the first time I ran my shammies through Deadmines. Took a few wipes to get use to dealing with elites vs. non elites but I had no major speed bumps. You'll most like be spending sometime reworking macros after your first few instances, its pretty normal.

Also I must say that every person I have run into so far has thought what Im doing is cool. No bad pres yet

O don't worry you'll get them, you're not going to miss out on all the fun of dealing with ignorant people I didn't actually get my first one till level 40. Now it seems like I get time all the time.

[Knytestorme]

Well I just started a few days ago and am grinding out the first levels with my 4x shammys, trying to get them up to 20 to join my prot pally so I can begin instancing. At first things went rather smoothly, as I was destroying everything in my path. Now I have hit 11 and things are getting a bit harder. Multiple mob pulls have ended my fun on several occasions now. This is probably partly due to the toons still being in their original starter eq. Tonight I hit the AH and spend a few gold to set them up and try again.

Yea you got to upgrade your gear at some point in time, also it just takes getting use to as far as dealing with multiple mobs at once. Just keep your cool, focus, and a bit of practice and paitence and you'll be doing fine in no time.

Really though, if you've been leveling them up there should be no need to hit up the ah. Should have been getting gear upgrades from quests or even just drops as you go if you are only grinding.

[Ken]

[...]
At 40, dual-wield+windfury is like driving an out-of-control hummer with a huge weed-eater attached to the front of it.

LOL!

Again, for the purists out there, these are just my opinions relative to playing mages/locks/hunters. I was elemental up through about 15 and the leveling was just sooooo sloooowwww with mana sucking that bad. If you have alts there that have the fiery enchant, you can make the lower levels simply FLY by.

I have 4 elemental shammies at 28 and it doesn't feel slow at all. The mana totem helps a lot: I can sitll use 400 mana drinks while I have 1200+ mana.

Regarding instance leveling, I usually gauge the effectiveness of my guys by how much downtime they incur. For a mix of greens/blues at most any level, they should roughly perform like so:
Mobs -3 to -5 and bosses -3 or lower = zero downtime, period. If you have downtime of more than a few seconds every 5+ pulls, you're doing something wrong or your gear needs repairs. Bosses should be risk-free kills.
Mobs -3 to +0 and bosses +0 = minor downtime. Shouldn't have to stop to drink/eat until every 3-5 pulls and it should only take you 10-15 secs to recover. Bosses may require a heal or two but should be fairly easy (with obvious caveats where fear/MC/sheep/etc. cause advanced tictacz requirements).
Mobs +0 to +3 and bosses +2 or higher = obviously lots of downtime. Bosses may gank one of you but you should be able to Git R Dun.
[...]

Those numbers are exactly my experiences too, can't agree more.
The cool thing is that you can one-shot mobs that are -3 to -2 through Fire Shock.

I now almost exclusively do instances because I get better loot and I don't have to constantly run back and forth to the questgiver. I feel that I level slightly slower, but that might just be because I'm getting higher level also
The major benefit is still the gold you get out of it. When doing quests, I only got enough money from them to buy my skills. When doing instances, I get about 20-50g per run. Doing instances was slow in the beginning, but that seems to improve when you get better at it.
While I had huge problems pulling 3 elites in Wailing Caverns, I now have no problems at all with pulling (same level) 4 elites. So learned skills and experience really change the game.

[Crayonbox]

I spoiled my characters.

+30 spell damage enchants on Level 1 daggers and 35 spell damage and 20 stam leg enchants on level 1 cloth pants on all my toons.

Been 1 shotting mobs from 1-20 so far. I highly doubt I will replace either of those pieces until late into the 40s, maybe even into 50s.

[zarocks]

I started Deadmines around 16.5, completed the quests outside the instance, cleared trash up until the 2nd boss (Goblin Shredder), and by that time I had 4 quest turn-ins which brought me up to 18 on everyone. By the time I completed my second run, my party was almost 19, so taking down VC was possible. (With the occasional wipe in-between).

To play it safe, you could start Deadmines at 20, but if you're as anxious and impatient as I am, it is possible to begin lower than that.

[Aradar]

Personally, I just cleared the whole Draenei starting area and then began doing the dungeons. Since then I have done nothing but dungeons and the related quests and it has worked out really well.

[Havelcek]

Yea if you are rolling Draenae the quest rewards from the new zone are worth staying around for. Much better than the old world starting areas.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I spoiled my characters.

+30 spell damage enchants on Level 1 daggers and 35 spell damage and 20 stam leg enchants on level 1 cloth pants on all my toons.

Been 1 shotting mobs from 1-20 so far. I highly doubt I will replace either of those pieces until late into the 40s, maybe even into 50s.

HA! I thought of that but don't have guys that can make those yet. :P Think I might hafta look into that when I start my druid team.