How are people so high level already?

[Vincen_Bishamon]

I am a legacy member and that is why I have lv 50 monk, paladin, and bard. I took a break from 1.0 otherwise I would have a lot more lv 50s. And do to the fact, I played before their are some items that wont be on 2.0 that only legacy members will have.

[Nexi]

A lot of it can also be attributed to practice. Knowing what quests to do, what not to do, how to grind etc.
I know during WoW it used to take me forever to level up but the more I did it (alts etc) the better I got, I eventually grinded a monk from 1-90 in 2.5 days without recruit a friend.
Though yeh, in the case of the 40s, it is probably legacy or phase 4 beta

[Reiterpallasch]

I've seen a few 40s around on a non legacy server. People make exp chain/fate groups, and just rake in massive amounts of exp. It really is the fastest way to do it.