My progress so far

[ragawaga]

So I've been using my level 80 warlock to boost my new RAF accounts. I've got a long winded post detailing my plans in the "new to multiboxing forum" so you can look there ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=18842') for more details if you wish.

The current duo that I'm levelling is a druid and rogue. After 17 hours play time, they're at level 46.

1-8 -- I grouped them and quested together in the Durotar
8-12 -- Used warlock to boost them through RFC
12-20 -- Used warlock to boost them through WC
20-40 -- Used warlock to boost them through SM

It gets a bit messy here as I wasn't sure on what to do next

40-41 -- Used warlock to boost them through ZF (XP per hour had dropped from last runs)
41-41 -- Used warlock to boost them through ST...but didn't do that much as lots of the mobs I came in contact with were non elite and the XP per hour was waaaay down
41-43 -- Used warlock to boost through BRD....the XP was fairly good here, but the instance is a bit of a bitch to get to...and it's a maze inside.
43-45 -- Went back to ZF and done it a few times
45-46 -- Strat...but there were a few deaths due to the mobs seeing through stealth, random skeleton spawns...and forgetting to take them off follow while I went to kill mobs :\

So the plan is to go back and try sunken temple again. If I can get them to perhaps 52-ish there....I'll retry Strat. They shouldn't be as big aggro magnets then...and perhaps with stealth won't pull at all.

If that fails...then I suppose I can try questing for the remainder.

For my next team(s) I might try making one of the disposable toons a shaman to make any potential wipe easier to recover from.

If anyone has any better suggestions, let me know :)

[*edited to correct link]

[turbopinto]

Remember, in the hinterlands, especially for horde, theres like 20 kill quests. It makes the mid to late 40s go much faster.

[shaeman]

I boosted my team through strat recently. Loved it.

My advice.

1. Avoid the live side (or should I say avoid going in to the scarlet compound. the skeletons rushing in are a pain. I went there once and decided against it for subsequent runs.

2. Get the key for the side entrance asap. Just kill round, one of the entrances to the guantlet will have the fella that drops the key. Kill him and loot it. From that point on, just go in to Strat from the side entrance.

3. Watch out for the shades of Naxrammas. They appear at the most inconvenient times and summon gargoyles (if not killed quickly) that hammer on your lowbies. Just watch out for a big red yell when they appear and the deaths to these will drop significantly.

4. Avoid the gate with the rats. I took to avoiding this gate due to losing my lowbies a lot. I would kill down to that gate then run back up and go through the top gate in to the live side.

Generally speaking 1 run was worth between 1 level to 3/4's of a level, and could be cleared pretty quickly.

I zoomed through strat -went from 45 - 58/59 with ease. Before I left there on my recent toons I summoned a low level and parked them at light hopes chapel. In future any other lowbies I boost will get a summon out there at 45. As my main druid has the key I'll just start off with the side entrance boosting.

you are spot on with having a shaman along for easy ressing. (Plus disease cleansing totem is your friend).

[ragawaga]

Thanks for that...I may well give it another got....although, I parked them all at the sunken temple before I logged last night, so I think I'll give it at least one shot.

With regards to the key and side entrance...I have to admit that despite starting to play in the vanilla days, I never quite made it to strat and my experience of it is limited to the single attempt last night....and another single attempt with me on a 60 death knight and my mate on a 70 mage. We only did up to the scarlet compound and left after that. Can you tell me where the side entrance actually is? I'd heard about it and so ran about EP looking for it in the hope that on the recent patch, they'd removed the need for the key (having removed the need for some group stuff in other instances like the mallet in ZF....handy for getting the carrot on a stick trinket :) )....but I couldn't find it. Am I being a moron and it's actually that big gate at the right hand side after you've went in the instance proper?

Even if I can maybe get them to 47...maybe I'll go back to strat after that. I've planned for the fact that I'm gonna be visiting these instances a few times...so have parked a lvl 1 alt at the entrance so I can do summons. The only travelling I need to do is with the main....but that's easy as his HS is set to Dalaran. Have someone at RFC, WC, SM, ZF and Strat. I levelled a Shaman to 61 long before I created the RAF account...so he has all the flight paths and 100% land mount...so he can also get around fairly easily starting from Shatrath and can summon.

[Tonuss]

Bear in mind that your lowbies can be standing pretty far away and still get experience. When you're clearing an instance and your lowbies are aggro magnets, simply leave them in one spot and clear ahead with your main. Then move the lowbies forward when the area is safe. You might not be able to leave them very far behind in Stratholme, due to the Eyes of Naxxramas and the spawned skeletons (if you are doing live side). But you can clear it and avoid having to spend too much time worrying about them.

If I remember correctly, the skeletons that spawn as you clear live side always spawn after certain groups are cleared (or after you pass a certain spot). So you will be able to figure out when they're about to arrive and deal with them after one or two trips. Just remember to soulstone a rezzer. :)

I think my boosting route with my group was quest to level 8, then RFC from 8-14, SFK from 14-20, RFK from 20-24, SM from 24-37, RFD from 37-38, Uldaman from 38-45, ST from 45-48, Scholomance/Strath/DM from 48-60. Then after running HFR without boosting from 60-62, I have PLed them to 66 via clearing Outland instances once or twice. Right now I'm running them through quests in Nagrand which is slow but will get them some faction and gear upgrades (some of them are still using gear from Uldaman!). Then again I do not particularly look for the most efficient and quick method for leveling them and my boosting path was very much trial-and-error.

[shaeman]

It took me a while to find the entrance. it is an actual side entrance, so is separate to the main entrance.

I found it by running from lights hope chapel up to the road. I think i nearly went in to the ghostlands but followed the mountain edges along and eventually came to the entrance ( there was a small group of forester, hunter type guys not to far away).

[EDIT: Think I found coordinates. Wowwiki - eastwall gate (service entrance) to stratholme says 42,20-coordinates ]

[ragawaga]

Thanks for that....I'll have a look for it later on...and place a lowbie summoner at it when I find it :)

Think I'll be giving the scarlet part a miss from now on....doesn't seem worth it for the hassle of the skeleton spawns.

I'm thinking about changing my plans to accomodate for taking a shaman to rescue from the wipes. If I specced it resto for the reduced cooldown on reincarnation....I should be fine.

[Kaynin]

I personally found Lbrs/ubrs a great instance to powerlevel from 45-55 - no annoying trash/patrols as in strat, good for money(at leats in tbc) and good exp per hour.
Then ramparts from 55-60.

After that I just quested upto 70 and in wotlk quested up to 80.


PS: Nothing beats ramparts when it comes to 55-60. (I boosted with a level 70 at the time, not sure if boosting with a 80 makes much difference, but even then it's still probably the best way.)

[ragawaga]

Well, didn't play for long last night. I'd parked them at the sunken temple the previous night, so it was just a matter of zoning in. I done the entire instance (apart from the quest that spawns the skeletal dragon) and made good XP. I decided for another run...but due to a f$%k up at one of the trolls maintaining the force field...I ended up running the noobs off the platform into the dragons below. I'd forgotton to SS them and couldn't be bothered with the corpse run etc....so I just rezed at the graveyard. By this time I'd went from 46 to 48 so thought Strat would be a bit more forgiving...also with my new knowledge.

I ignored the scarlet compount...got the key....downed the baroness (no issues with the mind control...she just made me fight my demon) and also the spider boss. It was late, so decided to leave through the service door now that I had the key.....go repair and empty my bags (hadn't done it for a while). I dinged 49 while inside and am about 75% into the level so I'll easily hit 50 tonight.

[Raigirin]

Why not try Scholo?
It is pretty easy to boost there.
I boosted one of my hunters there until she was ready for Ramparts.

[ragawaga]

Why not try Scholo?
It is pretty easy to boost there.
I boosted one of my hunters there until she was ready for Ramparts.

Isn't Scholo just the same level as Strat? Now that I know to avoid the scarlet compound....it's fairly easy. Didn't die at all....and it's easy enough to aoe the mobs...and although I can't get rid of the disease from my current classes....I can still get health back as a warlock with soul siphon and life drain. I reckon that I could probably just boost them right upto 60 in Strat.

I'd love to boost through ramparts. Would obviously be better for any drops and stuff...but the third account doesn't have TBC on it...I'm planning on transferring the characters to my vet accounts an then closing it.

[edit] Also...don't you need attunement for Scholo? When levelling up my Warlock, I didn't do many instances....highest "old world" one I did would've been Mauradon. I didn't know many people on the server at the time.....and hated pugs....still do...but got a lot of RL friends there now.....but I digress.....so this means that I never done any of the old attuments...so I don't have the key to get in.

[ragawaga]

Despite having limited time last night, it was well spent. Went from 49 to 54 with no major hiccups. There was one point where the warlock died....I pulled too many mobs and was chain silenced. Fortunately the rogue and druid were stealthed and far enough away from the action not to take the aggro. The druid was able to rez the warlock and the night continued.

They're currently around halfway through the current level (druid is slightly ahead of rogue due to the occassional death). Not sure how much time I'll get on tonight...but fully expect to get to 56...hopefully more.

Having done the full run (I got the achievement last night on all 3 toons) and now knowing the lay of the land...I'm perfectly happy to keep them there till they ding 60. It's fairly easy...I can kill big groups of the mobs with the AoE and instant cast DoTs...and I'm getting good rep with the Argent Dawn.....and the bosses are dropping some nice gear. OK the gear will be replaced instantly with the entry level quests in outland...but at least it'll be better than trying to do those quests with level 30 gear :pinch:

[Gadzooks]

Why not try Scholo?
It is pretty easy to boost there.
I boosted one of my hunters there until she was ready for Ramparts.

Isn't Scholo just the same level as Strat? Now that I know to avoid the scarlet compound....it's fairly easy. Didn't die at all....and it's easy enough to aoe the mobs...and although I can't get rid of the disease from my current classes....I can still get health back as a warlock with soul siphon and life drain. I reckon that I could probably just boost them right upto 60 in Strat.

I'd love to boost through ramparts. Would obviously be better for any drops and stuff...but the third account doesn't have TBC on it...I'm planning on transferring the characters to my vet accounts an then closing it.

[edit] Also...don't you need attunement for Scholo? When levelling up my Warlock, I didn't do many instances....highest "old world" one I did would've been Mauradon. I didn't know many people on the server at the time.....and hated pugs....still do...but got a lot of RL friends there now.....but I digress.....so this means that I never done any of the old attuments...so I don't have the key to get in.Scholo requires the Skeleton Key, which you get from killing the Lich in the middle of Andorhal.

However, your rogue should be able to pick the lock - WoWWiki says 280 lockpicking to get in.

Scholo is the same level as Strat, but the fights are a little different, it's not too bad, the female boss in the basement might give you some hassle, everyone in the old days used to skip her. Lots of casters, and some of the pulls are tricky. It's a bit of a maze, too, the first few times you go through. Just read up on it on WoWWiki to get a feel for the quests and fights and layout.

There's an easy side quest in there, good for some easy exp and loot, you summon a gargoyle boss. You need a drop for it, sorry, I can't remember it now.

I always liked Scholo runs - back in vanilla we had to run it a LOT to get our class drops, so we all got to know it well. :) There's a decent set in there for rogues, if you don't have the Shadowcraft set yet, or the Stormshroud set, it's called Cadaverous, and it's not bad, and it drops frequently, or used to. It's good for feral druids, too.

http://thottbot.com/?set=121


There's some fun loot too - like the baranov trinket, that summons peasants to fight for you.

Plus, next Christmas, you can farm the last boss for the Xmas hat! :)

[ragawaga]

Scholo is the same level as Strat, but the fights are a little different, it's not too bad, the female boss in the basement might give you some hassle, everyone in the old days used to skip her. Lots of casters, and some of the pulls are tricky. It's a bit of a maze, too, the first few times you go through. Just read up on it on WoWWiki to get a feel for the quests and fights and layout.

Not really filling me with confidence ;)

As far as the rogue lockpicking it...that's a no go from the start. All I've done with the toons was quested to level 8. From there on...they just stood back while I killed stuff with my warlock. So the lockpicking is at 0....as are most weapon skills....he can't even equip swords yet! I was basically just prioritising getting to 60...then I'll deal with all that later. I've personally found that powerlevelling a skill when you're a bit higher level far more efficient than doing it as you progress through the game. eg...when my DK was lvl 60, I got skinning from 1-375 in just under 2.5 hours.....mining 1-300 was about 4 hours...but that was supplemented with some ore from a mining alt.

Also...while I've always wanted a rogue for fun stuff (like sapping noobs in STV ....dancing in front of them then vanishing again) they've been my least favourite class to level and always quit around lvl 20....so that's why I chose to do one first...so that I know I'll have it. Maybe doing the outland quests with some better talent points and abilities will change it. That said...I know that'll be the last one I get to 80 :)

[Tonuss]

There's some fun loot too - like the baranov trinket, that summons peasants to fight for you.
I thought that the Barov Peasant Caller was a reward from a quest chain that ends outside of Stratholme? Ah, right, the quest chain starts with the deeds that you loot inside.

@OP: If you're just boosting and don't care about loot, Scholo and Strath are pretty much the same IMO. Gandling is retardedly easy though, just keep the alt team in one of the rooms so that they're far enough away not to draw his attention and he won't teleport anyone. After that, he's a pushover.

[Gadzooks]

Scholo is the same level as Strat, but the fights are a little different, it's not too bad, the female boss in the basement might give you some hassle, everyone in the old days used to skip her. Lots of casters, and some of the pulls are tricky. It's a bit of a maze, too, the first few times you go through. Just read up on it on WoWWiki to get a feel for the quests and fights and layout.

Not really filling me with confidence ;)

As far as the rogue lockpicking it...that's a no go from the start. All I've done with the toons was quested to level 8. From there on...they just stood back while I killed stuff with my warlock. So the lockpicking is at 0....as are most weapon skills....he can't even equip swords yet! I was basically just prioritising getting to 60...then I'll deal with all that later. I've personally found that powerlevelling a skill when you're a bit higher level far more efficient than doing it as you progress through the game. eg...when my DK was lvl 60, I got skinning from 1-375 in just under 2.5 hours.....mining 1-300 was about 4 hours...but that was supplemented with some ore from a mining alt.

Also...while I've always wanted a rogue for fun stuff (like sapping noobs in STV ....dancing in front of them then vanishing again) they've been my least favourite class to level and always quit around lvl 20....so that's why I chose to do one first...so that I know I'll have it. Maybe doing the outland quests with some better talent points and abilities will change it. That said...I know that'll be the last one I get to 80 :)Fair enough - I loved playing my rogue, I played her from the first week of release to a month before Wrath came out, they're a fun class, and so far the easiest to level, in my experience. (Havent run a hunter, heard they're easy)

Play the rogue more when you level it - at 20 they're a completely different class than at 60, or 70, 80. They shine in PvP - I've always said, if you PvP a rogue, and you don't have the opposing side hunting you down in anger, you're not playing it right. :)

No worries about lockpicking, it's a lot easier to grind these days - but definitely do it, because you'll be passing on a lot of locked chests and boxes alone the way - level your pickpocketing, too, at some point.

[ragawaga]

The end is in sight (for this pair anyway). I dinged 59 last night. I really wanted to stay on longer and get to 60....but when you have to get up for work early....and there's snow, you need your sleep :sleeping:

It was just more of the same thing last night....running the dead side of Stratholme with a wee venture in to the live side to The Unforgiven to see if he'll drop that leather face mask....he never has. No doubt with my luck when I'm running through my next duo, it'll drop.

As a funny side, I'll probably have achieved my first report last night. Forgetting that I would need to be 60 to gift the paladin all the way to 60, I got the pally to summon the druid. The pally is parked at SM for summons atm....so I started gifting while I was there.....not paying attention to the fact that there was an ally at the summoning stone. I can only imagine what he though when he saw the paladin go from 31-59 in a matter of secconds.....probably something along the lines of "OMFG..HAX!!!11!!". Time will tell.

[ragawaga]

Well, as predicted the duo dinged 60 last night. With a /played time of 1 day, 3 hours and 41 minutes.

The next team I'm levelling is a shaman and hunter. I quested them to 8 last night and logged them off outside RFC.

I'm not going to post anymore in this thread as I'd just be repeating myself :)

[joedeath332]

GZ ,, after reading this have decieded to try boosting my shammy and palli ,, using a L67 druid , will give it a go for a bit , and see how many instance runs i can stick :D :D