I found a very fast grind from 72-74ish

[Farleito]

Nerfed!

You're probably reading this because you too have found out that in order to continue questing, you MUST do the collection quests in order to unlock more quests. I was starting to think that I was going to have to do all of the collection quests... until I found this little gem of a quest.

This only works well if you're 4-5 boxing...but you can still do it otherwise. It's just not as efficient.

There is a quest in Dragonblight - No Place to Run ('http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=12261') which gives you a Destructive Ward ('http://www.wowhead.com/?item=37445'). Clicking this thing will summon 8 adds over a minute of time. Clicking 5 of these will give you 40 mobs over a minute of time. There is a 1 minute cooldown on the item, but the mobs come in waves, which span across a minute and 15 seconds. This means you can drop another set before the first one finishes.

I was getting about 350k-400k experience per hour. I'll try to Frap it later tonight.

Some things to note:
- The first 2 waves have a fire AoE buf that HURTS really bad. You will need a fire resist aura or fire resist totem.
- If you die, you are about 80 yards away from the graveyard.
- Since this is for a quest, you'll be getting a lot of traffic. Some people want to "help", others want a piece of the XP pie. In any case, if the mobs are near them, they WILL die. Like I said, the first 2 waves hurt and you need to heal thru it.
- Thunderstorm/Explosion totem on the 4th wave for the grand finale.
- There is a 5th wave (~20-30 mobs), but the cyrstals will explode and kill them. If you are quick enough, you can tag all of them and get the full XP.
- The mobs are undead. Works extremely well w/ a Paladin.
- With Blessing of Wisdom and Mana totems, there is NO down time.
- You get to loot all of the mobs, and they drop lots of greens/greys. However, looting will greatly impact your xp/hour.

Enjoy and have fun!

[Schwarz]

So are you using all 5 of yours at one time? Do you complete this quest the first time you are doing it?

Sounds like you found a little multiboxing gem of a quest item. I'd say hurry up and grind the crap out of this b/c odds are it will get nerfed at some point. Also sounds like a pally will be better for this type of thing as quickly tagging a bunch of mobs is kind of hard for shaman.

[Dominian]

I will assume that you dont turn the quest in and just use the quest item over and over?

[Farleito]

I will assume that you dont turn the quest in and just use the quest item over and over?


So are you using all 5 of yours at one time? Do you complete this quest the first time you are doing it?

That is correct. Do not turn the quest in...unless you don't want the magical item of XP happiness anymore.

Yes, all 5 toons.

[Schwarz]

I was thinking about this and I don't think that they could/will ever get rid of this. Maybe if they catch wind of this they will increase the cooldown time from 1min to like 5min. The question is how long can you stand the grind.

edit: I have a 5 boxing buddy which I might talk into doing this. Can anyone tag your mobs or are they your own. I figured I would heal him while he dpsed and he could heal me while I dps.

[Farleito]

Surprisingly, it's not a bad grind. I hate grinding because of the downtime and the running around. In this case, there is no downtime and you don't have to run around.

I was grinding Utgarde Keep. That was very boring and yielded about 60-80k XP/hour. I've seen posts where people say they can clear the entire thing in 15 minutes. I don't think a boxer can do this in 15 minutes.

I think what makes it interesting is that there is some harmony to it, where you can lay down your second set of crystals at the right time and have it explode and kill off the first wave of the second set. The first crystals will also put a (stackable) debuf that ticks for 1400 damage over 5 seconds (times 5). This helps mow down the 2nd wave. The 3rd wave will beat on the tank and when the 4th wave shows up, you blast them all. After the 4th wave, I take a few steps away and start over. My "second" crystal set now becomes my first set and it will kill off my new first wave... in perfect harmony. I tried to frap this last night, but I don't have the full version installed. My videcard came with it so I just need to get it installed.

The other thing that makes it interesting is that you can pop these crystals near the opposite faction and have them killed :evil:

[Dominian]

wow i will certainly try this when i get home! Im so tired of UK!

[Creazil]

I am now 78, been doing 6 quests in total :-) I've ran close to 100 instances, with a friend of mine, prot paladin (playing 4 shamans). We got a ton of enchanting materials and made it "Realm First! Grand Master Enchanter", which is kinda nice - got TONS of whispers, claiming that we were either insanely rich or we somehow exploited it. We have ran 28 Gundrak instances, which is the instance we have ran most. (20 minutes each run).

I think it's alright to run instance, when you get into the mood, sitting/talking, listening to music - (12 hours of straight instance)! But I do not believe it is the fastest way, but at least it brings alot of profit and I doubt that enchanting would have been possible without.

[suprafro]

Awesome thanks for sharing, does the quest require any prequils that you know of or can one pickup this quest immediately at level 72? Wowhead doesn't seem have any method of tracking of quest chain prereqs atm

[Farleito]

I wasn't really paying attention to the quest pre-reqs, but I do know that this does have a pre-req. I know this because a friend wanted to join me and pick up a magical quest item for their very own but the quest was not available to them. If you can't figure it out, I'll go look up the quests for the area and tell you which ones I did.

I've only done 2 collection quests, and I'm sure these had something to do with unlocking that quest.

1) Collected 10 (uhh... 50) Blood Ore's
2) Collected 10 ( :thumbdown: 50) miner cards.

[Lyonheart]

I found the quest NPC in the cave. He has no quests. Ill keep looking, but if you can figure out how to get him to give this quest it would help a ton.

[Lyonheart]

To get the quest from Serinar you have to go to the top of Wyrmrest Temple and talk to Nalice. She sends you to Serinar.

[pinotnoir]

damn I did this quest already X(

[Lyonheart]

i am doing this quest now and I can not stop looting. its great exp even with looting! BUT If i could keep myself from looting it would be way better lol. I'm getting tons of cloth 8)

[Nachtkinder]

You sir, are a god.

I'll post my exact strat in a bit.

[Farleito]

Yeah.... so.. I lied a bit on the XP/hr. I'm getting around 500-600k/hr @ 73

I am able to tag all of the last wave consistently.

Here's the "wave":

1 AoE Skeleton-> 1 debuffed AoE Skeleton -> 1 Construct -> 2 Constructs -> 3 Constructs

So, if you're 5 boxing...
5 -> 5 -> 5 -> 10 -> 15

40 Mobs x 250 XP per kill = 10,000 XP per minute = 600,000 XP/hour (theoretical)

so.. if it took me 3 minutes to type this up... I just lost 30,000 XP! wtf...

[Meathead]

hmm im only getting 190xp a session so i dont know is that correct?

[Nachtkinder]

I rescind my previous statement.

Be forewarned:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3039869079_59c0d7ba9f_o.jpg

[Meathead]

that explains it im only getting 29xp a kill now

[Farleito]

Well, it's very clear that Blizzard monitors these forums. This was only discovered last night.

It's just hard to see how this is any different than running an instance over and over. Sure, maybe the XP is a little better... but it's the same concept.

Anways... should have kept it a secret... sorry guys. ;(

[Meathead]

yea it sucks :( but what can we do :P wish i had better gear !

[butta]

It's funny I came across this. I was doing the same thing at level 73 and was kinda floored that I could loot all the mobs and that they were giving full XP. I ground out about 300k XP until I got bored and continued on my way. Was good while it lasted I suppose ;)

[heyaz]

I rescind my previous statement.

Be forewarned:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3039869079_59c0d7ba9f_o.jpg

So that's what you were doing there.... isn't that where you and I got into a little scuffle?

[entoptic]

I did this last night and it was OP.

I am heading home today to continue.

[entoptic]

I did this last night and it was OP.

I am heading home today to continue.

[entoptic]

Cna someone explain to me how that is an exploit?

[Schwarz]

Summoning an endless ammount of mobs is something they have a problem with.

[Farleito]

This serves as a reminder as to how quickly something can be taken away in the World of Warcraft. (of course this nerf was well justified)

After they nerfed this, I sort-of had an epiphany. All of the "hard work" spent playing the game can be erased in the snap of a finger. You do not own the character you play. No matter how much you dis-like something about the game or the way it's managed, you can not change it. You can't take anything in the game with you to another game. All this time spent, where does it get you? I don't know why, but after that nerf, I had a strange feeling...almost like an immediate disinterest. Mostly, I don't like what it does to me when I can't do something I want. Want to experience that feeling? When you get home tonight, don't play the game. It's that "wtf do I do now?" feeling.

Maybe it was reading the GM's response, when he said "Please be advised that I will be noting all accounts involved as to what has occured." Are you allowed to see "your notes"? Probably not. Then why inform you? Nobody likes to have their name written on the board...with a check mark. A simple nerf would send the message. No need for the slap on the wrists for a mistake that they made. A game should be played how one likes to play it.

I think I'll be taking a break for a while...

[Schwarz]

I don't know why, but after that nerf, I had a strange feeling...almost like an immediate disinterest. Mostly, I don't like what it does to me when I can't do something I want. Want to experience that feeling?


Do you only want to grind mobs? Surely there must be another good spot to do this. You could try the spot that the Warlock ground out his 10 levels at.

I think this probably needed to be taken care of this sounds like a powerleveling service/gold farming dream. If you had one toon tag all those mobs you could probably level from 60-70 in a couple hours. Also if you can loot the mobs then it is like a license to print money. You could keep doing this until you have as much gold as you need.

If you aren't having fun then by all means take a break. That is the reason we all play right for fun.

[Dominian]

This serves as a reminder as to how quickly something can be taken away in the World of Warcraft. (of course this nerf was well justified)

After they nerfed this, I sort-of had an epiphany. All of the "hard work" spent playing the game can be erased in the snap of a finger. You do not own the character you play. No matter how much you dis-like something about the game or the way it's managed, you can not change it. You can't take anything in the game with you to another game. All this time spent, where does it get you? I don't know why, but after that nerf, I had a strange feeling...almost like an immediate disinterest. Mostly, I don't like what it does to me when I can't do something I want. Want to experience that feeling? When you get home tonight, don't play the game. It's that "wtf do I do now?" feeling.

Maybe it was reading the GM's response, when he said "Please be advised that I will be noting all accounts involved as to what has occured." Are you allowed to see "your notes"? Probably not. Then why inform you? Nobody likes to have their name written on the board...with a check mark. A simple nerf would send the message. No need for the slap on the wrists for a mistake that they made. A game should be played how one likes to play it.

I think I'll be taking a break for a while...

I will test this tonight if im able to ding 62 before the servers go down because they tend to be alot slower with theese nerfs on the EU servers.

He was exploiting and he knew it very well so he should be glad he didnt get a ban.. Even the guy who booset himself to 69 just got his char rerolled back to 70 when they were in full right to ban him.

[Tasty]

Anyone know of any legitimate grinding spots that are packed with mobs and have high respawn rates?

[Schwarz]

MMO-Champion: You reached the max level 27 hours after the european
servers went online, that's pretty fast even if you spend all your time
leveling ... Could you tell us how you achieved that ?
http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/icons/iwarlocks.gif Nymh: The idea first came up when I saw this post ('http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?topic=16919.0') from Jynxx ('http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Turalyon&n=Jynxx').
The idea looked nice and I decided to run a few tests on beta servers.
It took about 3 hours to level from 78 to 79 and considering that it
was one of the longest level, it seemed good enough to use this
strategy to powerlevel at the release.

The biggest problem was
to find a spot with enough monsters to grind without too much downtime
... I spent some time on beta servers and eventually found the crypt in
Drakil'ji Ruins (Grizzly Hills), I think that's one of the only place
in Wrath of the Lich King where monsters repop in about 30 seconds,
mobs here are also neutral and it makes grinding a little safer.
You have to think if he did it in 27 hours you are only going to get like 1/5th the xp on each toon so it is going to take you 135 hours of grinding. I would also think that they have increased the repop time on these guys. I have a feeling any of these super fast leveling ways is good only once then blizzard takes the nerf hamer to them.

[Nachtkinder]

I rescind my previous statement.

Be forewarned:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3039869079_59c0d7ba9f_o.jpg

So that's what you were doing there.... isn't that where you and I got into a little scuffle?Haha, yeah.

Annoying how whoever popped TS first killed the whole other guys team :P

[heyaz]

I rescind my previous statement.

Be forewarned:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3039869079_59c0d7ba9f_o.jpg

So that's what you were doing there.... isn't that where you and I got into a little scuffle?Haha, yeah.

Annoying how whoever popped TS first killed the whole other guys team :P

box on box combat is pretty lame now with TS. Someone's TS is going to be just 1ms too late

[Tasty]

I rescind my previous statement.

Be forewarned:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3046/3039869079_59c0d7ba9f_o.jpg

So that's what you were doing there.... isn't that where you and I got into a little scuffle?Haha, yeah.

Annoying how whoever popped TS first killed the whole other guys team :P

box on box combat is pretty lame now with TS. Someone's TS is going to be just 1ms too late

Maybe shaman on shaman.

Shaman on mage is hot sauce :P

[valkry]

You admit it's a mistake (bug) on Blizzard's part, and you take advantage of it. You agrre to the terms & conditions where taking advantage of a bug/exploit is not allowed (every time you download a patch/xpac)...yet you qq when Blizzard growls at you lol.

And the GM wasn't making notes on your account, he was making a note of the accounts involved...a list. it's pretty easy to figure out what is on that list, the names of your accounts and what exploit it was. As it was, you got dealt with nicely. The GM could have just instantly banned you for 3 hours while finding out what exactly you are doing and then issuing each account with an official warning. But instead he/she asked you to stop whilst taking note of the accounts involved (in case you decide to return an hour later doing the same thing I bet, so the next GM would know that you have already been warned not to do it, and would then proceed to escalate you to a perma ban)...

Let off pretty easily imo. I don't see how you can be angry at blizzard for this.

[Farleito]

I can only assume you're talking to me. First... I was never approached by a GM. I was talking about the screenshot that Nachtkinder posted. Second, I did not think it was a bug. If it were a bug, they would have to recompile the software. This was "corrected" while I was grinding. I literally saw my xp go from 250 per kill down to 28 per kill while staying connected, in the middle of a pull. In my opinion, it's no different than running an instance over and over. Is pulling all the mobs in SM, killing them and resetting the instance a bug? When the GM (in Nachtkinder's ss) said it was an exploit, I referred to it as a mistake on their part. How many people made it to 80 before I even discovered this quest? ...and they would be worried about me killing the same thing over and over when I'm level 73? "Hey, look at that guy! He's entertaining himself by killing the same thing over and over! Quick! Stop him!"

Never said I was angry. I'm more disappointed in the way they deal with these things. I would imagine that, well since this is a game, the GM would have said something along the lines of -- "Wow! That's an interesting approach to that quest. I don't think this quest was intended to give full experience for killing these mobs. While I look further into correcting this, please do not do this anymore as it is now considered an exploit. =) Thank you for understanding. By the way, are you enjoying the expansion?"

-or-

Instead, they could start banning people for saying stupid shit in the trade channel. Like: [2. Trade] [dikhed]: anal [Sunder]. That's against the ToS.


But hey... you are entitled to your opinion and I do respect it.

[entoptic]

how is that a bug? I would have to know that it is a bug to exploit it. Just because something gives me exp over and over does not mean its a bug. How does one know they are exploiting when they don't even know it's a bug.

When I saw this post I never thought it was a bug. I thought it was intended to be that way and someone smart said "hey we can lvl off that".

Most "bugs" come from blizzard putting something in place and finding out someone found a nice way to lvl which is not how blizzard intended. Instantly they are exploiting and in blizzards eyes should get the ban stick.

[Drizzit]

And the GM wasn't making notes on your account, he was making a note of the accounts involved...a list. it's pretty easy to figure out what is on that list, the names of your accounts and what exploit it was. As it was, you got dealt with nicely. The GM could have just instantly banned you for 3 hours while finding out what exactly you are doing and then issuing each account with an official warning. But instead he/she asked you to stop whilst taking note of the accounts involved (in case you decide to return an hour later doing the same thing I bet, so the next GM would know that you have already been warned not to do it, and would then proceed to escalate you to a perma ban)
Yea knowing my luck if i did it they would have band my accounts without telling me anything. After the band i would do it again because i have no clue why they band me. I get 24 hour band. Go do again and now get a band for life... Now if a gm told me what i was doing then i could stop... The stupid blizzard bands need to be more informed. Like if you are playing for 6 hours, then you get band with the email from blizzard saying that you are exploiting a bug. You have to sit down and think of all the stuff that you did those last 6 hours that was exploiting... or even worse have to think back to yesterday cause maybe they are behind. Now a email saying you are band for exploiting a bug that you keep on summoning a mob in xxx quest to gain experience. This is not what we intended to lvl a person so it is considered a bug and you are now band for 3 hours. With that kind of message that narrows down to what i did wrong and though i might not know what quest it was, i will know next time another quest that i can do it with i will not do or an alt that is coming up in lvl.

Even when you email them why they band you. All they do is send you another email saying that after review of you band, we have decided to continue with the band because you exploited a bug.... WTF just tell me what i did so i know not to do it again.

When i was a kid i always hated when my father punished me. I asked him what i have done, then he says "You know what you've done".

[valkry]

I can only assume you're talking to me. First... I was never approached by a GM. I was talking about the screenshot that Nachtkinder posted. Second, I did not think it was a bug. If it were a bug, they would have to recompile the software. This was "corrected" while I was grinding. I literally saw my xp go from 250 per kill down to 28 per kill while staying connected, in the middle of a pull. In my opinion, it's no different than running an instance over and over. Is pulling all the mobs in SM, killing them and resetting the instance a bug? When the GM (in Nachtkinder's ss) said it was an exploit, I referred to it as a mistake on their part. How many people made it to 80 before I even discovered this quest? ...and they would be worried about me killing the same thing over and over when I'm level 73? "Hey, look at that guy! He's entertaining himself by killing the same thing over and over! Quick! Stop him!"

Never said I was angry. I'm more disappointed in the way they deal with these things. I would imagine that, well since this is a game, the GM would have said something along the lines of -- "Wow! That's an interesting approach to that quest. I don't think this quest was intended to give full experience for killing these mobs. While I look further into correcting this, please do not do this anymore as it is now considered an exploit. =) Thank you for understanding. By the way, are you enjoying the expansion?"

-or-

Instead, they could start banning people for saying stupid shit in the trade channel. Like: [2. Trade] [dikhed]: anal [Sunder]. That's against the ToS.



But hey... you are entitled to your opinion and I do respect it.
They do ban people for that anal stuff. Well, they give them a warning and if they are up to the ban stage of warnings then they are. They just have to be reported.

[Tasty]

Its not a bug and it wasn't an exploit, until people started exploiting it.

Exploits aren't exploits until people exploit something that wasn't intended to be exploited.



hmmm

[Tehtsuo]

And the GM wasn't making notes on your account, he was making a note of the accounts involved...a list. it's pretty easy to figure out what is on that list, the names of your accounts and what exploit it was. As it was, you got dealt with nicely. The GM could have just instantly banned you for 3 hours while finding out what exactly you are doing and then issuing each account with an official warning. But instead he/she asked you to stop whilst taking note of the accounts involved (in case you decide to return an hour later doing the same thing I bet, so the next GM would know that you have already been warned not to do it, and would then proceed to escalate you to a perma ban)
Yea knowing my luck if i did it they would have band my accounts without telling me anything. After the band i would do it again because i have no clue why they band me. I get 24 hour band. Go do again and now get a band for life... Now if a gm told me what i was doing then i could stop... The stupid blizzard bands need to be more informed. Like if you are playing for 6 hours, then you get band with the email from blizzard saying that you are exploiting a bug. You have to sit down and think of all the stuff that you did those last 6 hours that was exploiting... or even worse have to think back to yesterday cause maybe they are behind. Now a email saying you are band for exploiting a bug that you keep on summoning a mob in xxx quest to gain experience. This is not what we intended to lvl a person so it is considered a bug and you are now band for 3 hours. With that kind of message that narrows down to what i did wrong and though i might not know what quest it was, i will know next time another quest that i can do it with i will not do or an alt that is coming up in lvl.

Even when you email them why they band you. All they do is send you another email saying that after review of you band, we have decided to continue with the band because you exploited a bug.... WTF just tell me what i did so i know not to do it again.

When i was a kid i always hated when my father punished me. I asked him what i have done, then he says "You know what you've done".I don't mean to be a dick, so I apologize in advance, but it's "Ban". The plural form is "Banned".

[Littleburst]

Well, it's very clear that Blizzard monitors these forums. This was only discovered last night.

It's just hard to see how this is any different than running an instance over and over. Sure, maybe the XP is a little better... but it's the same concept.

Anways... should have kept it a secret... sorry guys. ;(They hardly monitor their own forums, let alone a forum for wowplayers. Like they read here from time to time to be able to spoil our fun or something? ?(

Everyone who jumps out by gaining a lot of something in a other way then the 'normal' way will be monitored. You having 3 or 4 slaves following you and farming those mobs will certainly get you a few tickets from players who want to spoil your fun. Seems they succeeded.

[Kaynin]

I doubt they read the forums.

I made 10k gold th two weeks before wotlk launch on the scourge event disenchant 'exploit'. They didn't fix it. Shard prices went sour and the trick wasn't viable anymore when enough people had caught on. Still, I was teh early. o/

Bought 8 epic level 80 craftables with that money just now. Wooza.

[Tasty]

Wait wait wait, that was considered an exploit by blizzard?