Journey and Joana's Guides compared

Journey and Joana’s Guides are linked, but they are two products. Joana’s Guides has helped players level since 2006 and is still developed. Journey is new and licenses the same addon technology for World of Warcraft: Forever. At launch both run the same routes; later they go their own way.

How the two are linked

Joana’s Guides started with the routes of Joana, the speedrunner who set a world record to level 60 in the original game in 2006. Joana died in early 2024. TomCat had built the addon and the tools together with Joana, and took over the maintenance out of respect and with the support of Joana’s family. Today they belong to TomCat’s Gaming.

Journey licenses that addon from TomCat’s Gaming and builds new routes for Forever on Joana’s original 1 to 60 routes, with permission from Joana’s family. The license is not exclusive, so Joana’s Guides continues on its own. Journey did not buy it.

Until the Forever routes are stable and cover the whole game, both use Joana’s original routes as a base. After that, each one goes its own way.

Side by side

	Journey	Joana’s Guides
Forever guide	Levels 1 to 30 free now, 30 to 60 from 4 November	Launches in November
Price	25 and 30 dollars until 4 December, then 30 and 45	Monthly Everything Plan: 5.95 dollars; one-time price at launch
Payment	One-time	Subscription or one-time
Discount	10% with code NUTRI	Not announced yet
Free part	The addon and levels 1 to 30	The addon and levels 1 to 30 at launch
Made by	TomCat (addon) and speedrunners, on Joana’s routes	TomCat (addon), Joana (Classic routes) and speedrunners for Forever
Besides leveling	Duo, group and Hardcore routes planned	Hardcore, Season of Discovery, TBC and WotLK routes

Prices are in dollars, plus tax.

What Journey offers

The free part already has Forever’s new quests, the Skyborne start on Zephras Isle and the class quests of the new race and class combinations. On 4 November, levels 30 to 60 start on the classic route; about a week later Forever’s new quests are added, around five levels every four to five days. A purchase covers every character on one Battle.net account. More in the post about Journey.

What Joana’s Guides offers

The Joana’s Guides addon has run in the Forever beta since 21 September, with the Classic Era 1 to 60 routes. Guides built for Forever follow as they are ready. Outside Forever, the Monthly Everything Plan covers Classic Era 1 to 60 (with Season of Discovery, Hardcore and Anniversary), TBC 60 to 70 and WotLK 70 to 80. One-time plans exist for each version.

A lifetime purchase of the Classic Era 1 to 60 guide also works in Forever, as it is. New quests, zones, races and dungeon quests that exist only in Forever become a separate product. Its price and the upgrade options are not known yet.

Which one fits whom

• You only play Forever and want to pay once. Journey is built for Forever and has a fixed price.
• You already own Joana’s Classic Era guide. It keeps working in Forever, and the route is the same at launch.
• You also play Classic Era, Hardcore, TBC or WotLK. Joana’s Guides covers them with one plan.
• You want to try first. Both are free up to level 30 at launch.

RestedXP, Journey, Joana’s Guides and Zygor together are in the leveling addons for WoW Forever compared.