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WoW's beloved pacifist panda returns to hit The War Within's level cap after 10 days of picking flowers, but not before a rival did so in 1 hour after clearing out the MMO's marketplace

A Pandaren player in World of Warcraft reached the new level cap without leaving the starting area, leveling through gathering while a speedrunner achieved the same feat in under an hour using a controversial method.

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One of World of Warcraft's most chill Pandaren mains has returned to hit the MMO's new level cap without actually playing the new expansion at all. While another Pandaren managed to speedrun the feat in one hour, community favorite Neutral Agent strolled to the same result in 10 days and 10 hours.

A long, time-honored tradition by now, Neutral Agent returns at the start of each WoW expansion to play their Pandaren and hit the new level cap without leaving the Wandering Isle starting area. While that means they don't play the new expansion, it also means they don't have to pick between the Horde and Alliance, making them truly neutral in an MMO largely known for the conflict between the two clans.

It also means that Neutral Agent has to grind in the least optimal way possible, mainly leveling through gathering herbs and mining ore. If you're wondering how long it takes to hit the new level cap doing what the pacifist panda does, they clock it in at 10 days and 10 hours from the start of The War Within's early access.

Amusingly, Neutral Agent signs off a tweet with a call out asking Blizzard to fix the Warbank on the isle. Essentially, another World of Warcraft player managed to snatch the title of the world's first neutral level 80 in just over one hour a mere 18 hours after the launch of Early Access (thanks, Icy Veins). Using the Warbank to get a Mysterious Tarot – something you can't get on the Wandering Isle – the crafty WoW fan gets up to capital-s Shenanigans to complete 14,000 decks and earn enough XP to go straight to level 80. 

It's not as chill as what Neutral Agent gets up to, but it's certainly efficient. Whether Blizzard patches it for Midnight, though, remains to be seen.

If you do play the latest expansion, the good news is, as we share in our World of Warcraft: The War Within review, that it's "one of the strongest" in recent memory.