Leveling 80-85 methods

[heyaz]

So I'm pretty much done with questing, one for reasons of which we are all painfully aware, and two because xrealm zones have made Cata leveling spots a warzone - expect to be ganked relentlessly and camped.

My three ideas were dungeon boosting, AV/IOC esp. during CTA, dungeon boosting with a 90 tank, or the deepholm AOE spot. I went with the last. My experience there was excellent and I don't know if there's a faster way:

Deepholm AOE
This spot is excellent assuming you can get it to yourself (1 or less other 90s grinding it, no gankers). With xrealm zones this is going to require off hours or just getting lucky. My initial concern with this was not having the 3k'ish gold per toon after questing but this spot yields several thousand gold per hour with potion of treasure finding so it works out anyway.

Since there's no HGWT and I have no warlocks, I just summoned the toons to Stonecore and flew there.

I was using a 90 guardian druid to boost four toons. Times were as follows:
80-81: 30-40 minutes (rested), with a few other 90s hogging my mobs
81-82: 1hr 15 minutes (half rested), again 90s hogging mobs and several ganks on my alts
82-83: 2 hours (non rested), first half of level I was ganked at least a dozen times and lots of 90s farming there, second half I had it to myself.

I expect 83-84 to take about 1.5 hours if I can get it to myself. XP per kill goes up each level since the gap is closing. I'm working on perfecting the pull; I'm having problems with mobs evading and tethering back in the middle of me actively hitting them. Right now I do kind of a figure eight around the whole thing and put the guild banner in the middle so as to not lose range (it disappears).

It appears makes zero difference whether the alts participate or do damage, xp was the same so I had them fly above.

Ganking is not nearly as bad as leveling, but it happens. I was air ganked constantly by shadow priests and mages floating down, no matter where I put the alts they would get to them.

If I recall correctly, questing was 2.5-4 hours per level Before xrealm zone mass ganking, as I did on my shaman.

So far this is the fastest way I have found to get 80-85, by a huge margin.

Anyone tried any other methods besides questing and had good results? I figure a lot of us will be doing this several times...

[Lyonheart]

So 4 low levels being boosted by a 90 right? I am about to level a rog..priest, warrior and hunter, so this sounds great. One question I have is.. was the tank necessary? Could a 90 mage do it? Hes my only tailor.. so the extra cloth would be great ( for making 22 slot bags )

[Narij]

Don't forget, with CRZ, the highest level can pull the other toons to another server. Consider getting an 85-90 on a pve realm if you want to quest.

[Ualaa]

If they're equal level, and the party leader is on another (PvE) server...
Can they invite toons from a (PvP) server, and have everyone on quest in a PvE environment?
$25 (or so), each way... for gank free questing.
Which is still questing to level...



Since you were 90th at the location, and there were other 90's competing both for mobs and for ganking your toons...
This would likely not be a good spot for a team without a 90 booster.
Is that a correct assessment?



Instance leveling will be a decent option... even if its Stormstout trash farming... if you can use the dungeon finder.
But if your composition is 5x Shaman or a DK with 4x non-Healer spec DPS, you'll need to physically be there and will be subject to 5 instances an hour.



If you (or your composition) sucks at PvP, or without out-gearing the composition the 10-man battlegrounds are rough...
How is the experience from Random Battlegrounds, while losing.... (SotA, WSG, Gilneas, etc)?
How is the experience while winning half the games, for the larger battlegrounds like AV/IoC (Call to Arms, vs non-CtA)?
Did they implement the ability to never get two battlegrounds of your choice?

[Multibocks]

I suggest going pve realm, because on mine this area is camped 24/7 by farmers, of course from the opposite faction.

[Starbuck_Jones]

There are a LOT of places those troggs are on almost insta spawn than on that ledge where they get knocked down by the rock monsters. I always ground on the other side of the zone where they are attacking the stone dwarfs.

[heyaz]

So 4 low levels being boosted by a 90 right?One question I have is.. was the tank necessary?

Yes. No, tank is not necessary - I saw UH DK, Fury Warriors, Warlocks, etc. As a tank you will stay topped off the whole time; I did notice other non-plate non-tank classes getting pretty beat up during big pulls, however they kill faster.

Since you were 90th at the location, and there were other 90's competing both for mobs and for ganking your toons...This would likely not be a good spot for a team without a 90 booster.
Is that a correct assessment?

Well, people usually played nice with the booster, it was the afk alts they loved to gank. My 90 druid was killed maybe twice, my alts 12+ times probably. You can definitely do the pull with much less than a 90, it's a little slower. However the times I shared the farming spot with alliance, they mostly left me alone, I'm not sure they would do that if it were a <90. They love the easy kill.

[heyaz]

If you (or your composition) sucks at PvP, or without out-gearing the composition the 10-man battlegrounds are rough...
How is the experience from Random Battlegrounds, while losing.... (SotA, WSG, Gilneas, etc)?
How is the experience while winning half the games, for the larger battlegrounds like AV/IoC (Call to Arms, vs non-CtA)?

The experience is awful. It's maybe 0.25-.5 bars for a loss, 1-2.5 bars for a win depending on the size of the BG.
Larger BGs during CTA are about 1 bar a loss, 3-4 bars a win. So it's slower than molasses. Could take 6-10 hours per level even in the 80s. AV/IOC week would be a bit faster, but you've gotta wait for that (next one is in December I think). Whereas, the troggs or dungeons are always there. I don't like having to wait for a CTA to level/gear up/etc.

[heyaz]

I suggest going pve realm, because on mine this area is camped 24/7 by farmers, of course from the opposite faction.

I guess if you really want to level through the 80s fast, and especially if you're doing multiple teams - could definitely be worth putting a 90ish booster on a PVE realm temporarily.

[pinotnoir]

What is this xrealm ganking you speak of? I have not played wow since cata.