So I finally completed the ironman / bloodthirsty challenge and here is what I would suggest my fellow contenders.
First of all if you have not yet read the advice given by Surai I suggest doing it here (
http://textuploader.com/dq79d). It has almost everything you will need to know and do for ironman.
Before you being, know that this is going to take time, so have patience. Read all the rules and know what you can and cannot do. Do not assume, if you do not know if it is allowed or not, just pop the question in guild chat or in forum.
Pick a race / class that you are comfortable with. For people playing this game for the first time, take a race / class and stick to it to know the spells before you start with ironman or bloodthirsty. Changing race / class will only confuse you.
For ironman one of the main challenges would be to not equip a green or higher quest reward item, as these will be soulbound just right click on the item and it will be equipped and fail the ironman challenge.
If you signed up for bloodthirsty, you have the freedom of picking where you want to fight unlike ironman where you tend to follow the quests. So use this freedom wisely. I could give you details if you need of locations that I fought, but I guess it all depends of your class / race and your style of playing the game. Avoid humanoids, most of them will run to a friend and the fight will get chained, and unless you have to ability to kill or fight multiple targets you are bound to die. Beasts are the best but be careful of their grouping. Avoid casters, most of them hit hard and unless you have interrupts it may not be easy.
Before you pick a specific area to grind understand the re-spawn timer. Know which side you can run if things turn ugly. Once you find an area that you can grind stick with it for few levels. You will get lower XP each time you level, but the grind will get easier and with increased speed of killing the mob you can counter the lower XP you get. Also know if there are any elite that will spawn in the area, as it may be hard or impossible to kill elite of same level or a few levels lower.
Avoid spells similar to warrior charge that can get you killed for no mistake of yours.
Remember if the client crashes or your internet disconnects your character will still be fighting and will only auto-attack, and if you die in the process you fail. So choose mobs that can be killed with just auto-attacks if possible (this may be only possible for melee class), this mean most times lower level mobs. Avoid any mobs that cast spells, they hurt a ton. If you crash, try and log back in as soon as possible and you may still be able to save your toon.
Avoid PvP locations and mobs that turn on PvP, no point PvPing while doing bloodthirsty as you will be out geared.
Health and Mana pots are fine to use, so keep them handy.
Hope these help others.