Yet another quickest 5 man RAF question

[trystan]

Hey Folks,
I've been reading the forums for about a month now. I boxed 5 priests to level 10 on my trial account about a week ago, so I've got the basics of movement, leaderless focus-based hydra, and Jamba down.
I just started RAF program set up as Main --> BoxB --> BoxC -->BoxD --> BoxE

My question now is this:
What is the quickest way to get multiple groups of 5 to 60?
I don't really mean questing vs instance. I mean from a logistics standpoint.
For example: if you level your 1st group to 40, then gift levels up to 60, account E gets left in the dust at level 40.

If I'm planning on leveling up 3 groups in the 3 months that I have with RAF, I'd have 3 leftover level 40s on BoxE this way.
I guess I could then transfer one to BoxD, and one to BoxC and grind them up together. I then would have to transfer them back and thats seeming like a fairly expensive option.
I'm sure there are other suggestions out there. I tried searching the forums, but RAF is too small a word to be searched on the forums. And I've scrolled back but not seen this exact question answered

Anyway I'm looking forward to being part of this community. I'm planning of running 5 priests or druids up first. I think the mobile AoE of 5 mindflays would be pretty great. And the round-robin casting of pain suppressions could probably make a priest a pretty decent tank for a minute. (Well maybe...its just a thought)
If anyone is boxing on the Horde side of Area52 give me a shout.

[Ualaa]

The easiest way is if you have an existing account with a few toons on it.
Say you have a Warrior, Rogue and Mage.
Call the existing account.. A.

You buy 4 new accounts.
You chain link from A like this.

a -- b -- c -- d -- e

B still gets RAF bonus, because they're linked to C.

When E grants levels to D, D can even use those granted levels to grant to C. Etc.

So take an existing toon on A, the higher the better.
AoE classes are superb, as are tank types.

Put your group into an instance, leave them near the zone in.
Pull a lot of mobs at once, as many as you can handle.
Kill them fairly close to the zone in.
Move the group up to the deepest safe point.
Pull a lot of mobs to this new point and kill.
Repeat.

Since the bonus RAF stops at 60th.
And you can boost a toon up to 60th.
Account B can grant levels to a toon on Account A.
Account A is doing the boosting.

So say you want to have... druids, shamans, warlocks, priests and hunters.
Account A will boost BCDE with one of each class.
Eventually, you have a level 60 Shaman, Warlock, Priest and Hunter on each of BCDE.

E can give D... 28 levels per level 60 toon, so 112 levels.
D can give C.. 112 levels too.
C can give B.. 112 levels too.
B can give A.. 112 levels too.

But, because:
E gave 112 levels to D, D has 56 additional levels to grant to C.
D gave 112 levels to C, C has 56 additional levels to grant to B.
C gave 112 levels to B, B has 56 additional levels to grant to A.

And because:
D granted 56 additional levels to C, C can grant 28 extra levels to B.
C granted 56 additional levels to B, B can grant 28 extra levels to A.

And again:
B received 28 extra levels from C, they have 14 more to give to A.

So in all, A will receive from B... 112 + 56 + 28 + 14 = 210 levels.

Now we have sets of Druids, Shamans, Warlocks, Priests and Hunters on B-E.
A doesn't have any of these, and you want to 5 box each combination.
Since there are 5 classes and you have 210 levels...
210/5 = 42... or 210/4 = 52...

If you have none of the classes you want to end up with on A already...
You can level 5 toons to 18th level (and 90+ into the level) and then boost them 42 levels each.
You could level 4 toons to 8th level each (and 90+% into the level) and then boost them 52 levels each.
The toons end up at 60th and the same percentage into their levels.





If you don't have any existing toons on account A...
Example brand new server, or opposite faction.

You set up the accounts the same way.
A -- B -- C -- D -- E
So the levels can be cascade granted backwards.

If possible have a friend boost you.
A bit of gold loaned could help enormously.

On a brand new server, you'll pretty much only buy essential spells.
Shaman's will go with Lightning Bolt, Lesser Healing Wave and maybe a totem per toon.
Mana Spring, Flametongue and maybe Wrath of Air. Water Shield helps too.
As you level up, especially 60+, gold becomes a lot easier.
You can go back and buy anything relevant for your spec.

[jak3676]

Ualaa - That is the best and simplest answer that question I've seen yet. Bravo!

[trystan]

That was EXACTLY what I was looking for.
Logical, concise.
Thank you very much Ualaa.

[Sam DeathWalker]

If you have a high level A you can:

A - B - C - D - E

And as stated above you instance boost with your existing high level on "A".

You get 32 levels on bcde (I thought it was 30 but we will use the info above that a level 60 can grant 28 levels)

then get accounts "d" and accounts "e" to 60

wtih that leveling you can raf grant FIVE level 60's (i.e. you level up 4 to 32 and 2 of those to 60 and then raf grant and you end up with 5 level 60s total)

Thats by far the most efficient way to do it.

If you need more explanation go to my web site.

[Ualaa]

Actually I think I did the math wrong in the first post.
For every two levels gained, you can boost one level.

Since we start at 1st level and not level 0...
And RAF bonuses stop at 60th.
We have [60 - 1] / 2 = 29.5
Since leveling to 61st does not gain us the extra 0.5 levels needed...

A toon leveled from 1st to 59th (58 levels gained), has the ability to grant 29 levels.
Even though going from 59th to 60th gains us nothing as far as granting another level...
It does give us one more level at 3x exp's and also allows us to boost 59th level toons.

[trystan]

Thanks Sam for an alternative strategy.
And Uulaa from what I have read, the math in your second post is correct.
Leveling one Toon to 60 gives 29 RAF levels. The first at lvl 2 and the last at level 58.
Thanks again both of you.

[Silence]

A bit late, but for whoever comes upon this post it's still relevant information:

they changed the amount of grantable levels some time ago.

Bringing a character to 60 gives 30 grantable levels. The last grantable is gained when reaching 60.

"What is the maximum amount of "grantable" levels a single recruit character can achieve? A recruit character can gain up to 30 "grantable" levels.

Note: When our new Recruit-A-Friend program launched, the maximum number of levels a single recruit player could earn was 29. This maximum value was increased to 30 with the launch of Patch 3.0.8. Unfortunately, this change was not retroactive; thus, recruit characters created prior to 3.0.8 may only be able to gain 29 levels in total."

[crowdx]

One last point on this old post :) , if you level the toons you are granting a level to REALLY close to the next level when you grant them levels to 60 they will be still x amount of XP from that level and so it is real easy to get that toon to 61.
Also it is still well worth boosting toons in the ramps and other Outland instances because you can bring them all into the instance with not a very big hit for having the extra toons in the instance and so you can blow through 60 - 65 and even get to 70 via boosting in dungeons. I have done this several times and it makes it a lot easier than dragging toons around outland.

[Poyzon]

SFK is great for boosting. Take them there at 10 and just leave them at the beginning next to the portal. You can run the entire instance and they will gain XP the entire time without having to move.

The first time through, I go all the way to the end (to get the achievement). After that, I only run to the wolf (Fenrus?) since there's only about 10-15 mobs left in the instance and 1 door that you have to wait for. Time = XP, so waiting for that last door and a handful of mobs is not worth it in my opinion.

When they ding 20, move on to SM.

[sorry]

Hiya guys.
Starting multi-boxing in two weeks and have a couple of questions concerning RAF and lvling. I've read quite a bit on the forum, but couldn't find definite answers to my questions below.

BACKGROUND
I've got two accounts from before (never dual-boxed though) and I'm gonna add three more for a total of five. The plan is to end up with 5 shammies (one on each account) for PvP fun. I also plan on getting two paladins (on seperate accounts) so I'm able to run instances.

RAF:
My plan is to use my two accounts, let's call them A and B, to invite my new accounts (C, D and E).
A -> C and D.
B -> E.
This way all chars will be linked and be able to get the 300% bonus if I'm not mistaken. Anyone wanna confirm that I'm correct?
I then plan to get chars from accounts C, D and E to 'give levels' to chars on A and B.

ORIGINAL PLAN:
My original plan was to make 5 shammies, one on each account, and level them as a team (ele-shammies). The just before they got to 60 'give levels' so I'd end up with 5 shammies ~ 60, 1 pala ~ 60 and 1 pala ~ 30.
After that basically just lvl the shammie group to 80 and quest the low lvl pala up to high lvl pala, then lvl them together to 80.

HOWEVER:
I'm not really sure this is the fastest way to lvl the toons. I read somwhere that instance boosting is faster (I'd like some thoughts on this as well). If so I can use high lvls (got them on both accounts A and B) to drag my toons through instances up to 60 or whatever.
I could use one account (A) to boost 4 shammies 1 - 60 in instances (B, C, D and E).
Then use account B to boost last shammie, 2 palas and one more toon in the same manner (B, C, D and E).

I'd really like som input as to what the fastest method of lvling these gimps are!
I'm not worried about missing out on content since that starts @ 80 for me. All I want to do is lvl them as fast as possible since I don't have too much time to play. As such I'd like to spend as little as possible lvling :)


Thanks!
/Sorry

[alcattle]

To boost with A the other 4 must be linked, as you said it, E would not get 3x exp.
using A to boost 4 toons (linkrd) they can grant a new toon on A to 60.
Boosting through instances is faster, but you have like repeated runs and such.
just my [:2 cents:]

[Ualaa]

A + B are existing accounts.
The best AoE boosters are probably tank types.
Like Paladin (superb), Bear/Warrior/DK (good).
AoE classes are ok, if you lack a tank type.

Between A and B, take the best boost class.

I'm going to call the account with the better booster A.
And the other one B.

Link them like this:
A - C - D
B - E

C and D will both get RAF experience, because they are linked and are close to the same level.
Similarly B and E will both get RAF experience.
B needs to be linked, or it won't get RAF.
And A wants as many accounts as possible linked to it, to cascade granted levels.
Since A won't actually have any new toons leveling on it.

You mention that your end goal is 5x Shaman's.
Assuming you level at least 2 teams, which is very easy with a booster and RAF.
C by itself will be able to grant a level 1 toon on A, all the way to 60th.
Ideally, you'd take the toon and make them almost level "x".
And then boost them until they're almost 61st (percentage into the level remains constant).

D will be able to grant levels to C (the same number as C can grant to A).
But C will then be able to grant half as many levels as it receives as extra levels.

If you're doing RAF, I'd level several sets.
The 1-60 is very fast, take advantage of it.
And with granted levels, A will receive at least a few toons boosted to 60th, for the 60-80 sequence joining the teams which you'd RAF boosted to 60th.

I'd go that route.

[alcattle]

why not go A>B>C>D>E? Having a brain freeze day, can't see much farther than my nose

[sorry]

A + B are existing accounts.
The best AoE boosters are probably tank types.
Like Paladin (superb), Bear/Warrior/DK (good).
AoE classes are ok, if you lack a tank type.

Between A and B, take the best boost class.

I'm going to call the account with the better booster A.
And the other one B.

Link them like this:
A - C - D
B - E

C and D will both get RAF experience, because they are linked and are close to the same level.
Similarly B and E will both get RAF experience.
B needs to be linked, or it won't get RAF.
And A wants as many accounts as possible linked to it, to cascade granted levels.
Since A won't actually have any new toons leveling on it.

You mention that your end goal is 5x Shaman's.
Assuming you level at least 2 teams, which is very easy with a booster and RAF.
C by itself will be able to grant a level 1 toon on A, all the way to 60th.
Ideally, you'd take the toon and make them almost level "x".
And then boost them until they're almost 61st (percentage into the level remains constant).

D will be able to grant levels to C (the same number as C can grant to A).
But C will then be able to grant half as many levels as it receives as extra levels.

If you're doing RAF, I'd level several sets.
The 1-60 is very fast, take advantage of it.
And with granted levels, A will receive at least a few toons boosted to 60th, for the 60-80 sequence joining the teams which you'd RAF boosted to 60th.

I'd go that route.

Thanks a bunch for what sounds to me like sound advice!
I've ben toying around with a few different ways to do this, but your method sounds about right. Haven't been playing a lot since TBC, but I do have a 80 warr, 80 drood (resto so crap feral gear) and 80 hunter. I was originally thinking about boosting with the hunter using the gorilla as tank (aoe thunderclap). Then again I have no experience boosting instances like this, so any input is much appreciated. The only reason I'm asking after you mentioned the list is that hunter ain't on it... is it that bad? :p My experience with hunter = faceroll.

I was planning doing something like this:

Both groups
01-08 Questing I guess
08-12 Ragefire Chasm
12-20 Shadowfang Keep
20-35 Scarlet Monastry
35-45 Zul’Farak
45-55 Scholomance or BRS
55-60 Ramparts

After that shammies
60-80 Dunno. Shammie group questing 60-70 then AV? If AV still gives decent xp I can do that easily, especially since I can buy PvP gear with the honor I gain. Always nice to have a few items waiting for me when I hit 80 :)

/Sorry

[Nulkunpissija]

E can give D... 28 levels per level 60 toon, so 112 levels.
D can give C.. 112 levels too.
C can give B.. 112 levels too.
B can give A.. 112 levels too.

But, because:
E gave 112 levels to D, D has 56 additional levels to grant to C.
D gave 112 levels to C, C has 56 additional levels to grant to B.
C gave 112 levels to B, B has 56 additional levels to grant to A.

And because:
D granted 56 additional levels to C, C can grant 28 extra levels to B.
C granted 56 additional levels to B, B can grant 28 extra levels to A.

And again:
B received 28 extra levels from C, they have 14 more to give to A.

So in all, A will receive from B... 112 + 56 + 28 + 14 = 210 levels.



I have one account with a level 70 druid and I have been planning for a long time to start multiboxing. I´m still in the planning stages of my characters but in the beginning of 2010 I´ll surely return to WoW. I haven't played retail WoW in over a year now and I would never return if it wasn´t to try the excitement of multiboxing and also the speed of RAF boosting. So I´m planning to boost with my 70 druid and 4 characters at a time, maybe fewer if my math is true.

Since it's 30 nowadays / 60 char A would receive 225 this would also mean that B would receive 210 levels - 3 extra characters to level 60 + one to 30 C would get 180 levels - 3 level 60s which would mean that you'd get 6 characters to 60 on A 9 on B and C 8 on D and 6 on E.
Is this correct or am i way off?

I understand that all characters that i want 5 of I need to level for E but it might be faster if I only had D and E with me on the last few runs.
Thanks for any input.

[Ualaa]

A is the boosting account.
B grants to A
C grants to B
D grants to C
E grants to D

Including cascading levels, A receives:
0.5000 x Levels Gained by B
0.2500 x Levels Gained by C
0.1250 x Levels Gained by D
0.0625 x Levels Gained by E

Another way to look at it, for every 60 on BCDE (boosted by A).
A receives: 30 + 15 + 7.5 + 3.75 granted levels.
With just one group boosted to 60th, we have 55 granted levels.
Which means you can level a toon to 5th (almost 6th), grant levels and be almost 61st.

The fractions of a level cannot be granted.
But if you level multiple groups, they'll add up to whole numbers.
Basically if you receive an odd number of granted levels, you need another toon, to make your total even, so you can in turn grant another level.

[Moorea]

Sorry to ask a silly question but I haven't RAFed since when it first came out and my memory is fuzzy: if you have say

A->B->C->...

ie A RAF B which RAF C...

And you boost with A - would the fact that A and B are linked cause some problem or blizz never got around to make it not get xp (because A's (booster) level is much higher than B - I suppose B get RAF xp because of C but doesn't get a penalty despite A being in party ?)

I currently have 6 accounts and I'm considering either going to 10 on my main realm or just getting a new team of 5 (5 pallies) on KJ

[Ualaa]

A -- B -- C...

A is 80
B-E are low.

A -- B, gets you no RAF bonus.
But B -- C, gets both accounts the RAF.

So B-E all get RAF, boosted by A.

And A gets a bunch of cascaded granted levels, for several level 60 toons on A to join those on B-E, for when you go 60-80.

[Moorea]

Thx Ualaa - so Blizzard after all never "fixed" the boosting and it's now working as intended ? (I remember there was some statement when RAF first came out it wasn't working as it was supposed to)

[Ualaa]

why not go A>B>C>D>E? Having a brain freeze day, can't see much farther than my nose

The preferred link (for most levels gained from granting levels) is:
A -- B -- C -- D -- E




But if someone has A + B already, and wants to use both in their RAF mix, you have to go:
A -- C -- D
B -- E

And if anyone is boosting on A/B, it has to be the A account, because B -- E are reliant on only the other account for the RAF bonus. C is not dependent on A, because C -- D is a link too.

[Starbuck_Jones]

Pretty sure you cant grant levels to toons that are higher level than you. So the first post where he wants to stop at 40 and grant 20 levels to his other toon to 60 wont work. You can only grant levels to toons that are of lower level.

Im not sure why you would want to try and cascade level grants this way as it just goes to lower and lower leveled toons.

Your better off just RAFing up 2 groups of 60 and level grant a 3rd or RAF up 2 groups of 60 and 2 groups of 30 and level grant the rest for 4 full groups.

[Moorea]

I think (too late now as I set it up A-B-C-D-E instead ) that if you have 1 account you want to keep and 4 throwaways (like I did to setup a new raf) then

A-B-C
A-D-E

would be the best setup as you would get more level granted back to A (A being booster)

any comment ?

[Ualaa]

Cascading will get you the most total levels granted.
But not the most total levels on Account A.

With:
A -- B -- C -- D -- E

Assuming you boosted two sets of 60's on B-E, we have:

A gets 50.00% of the levels gained by B = 60
A gets 25.00% of the levels gained by C = 30
A gets 12.50% of the levels gained by D = 15
A gets 06.25% of the levels gained by E = 07

B gets 50.00% of the levels gained by C = 60
B gets 25.00% of the levels gained by D = 30
B gets 12.50% of the levels gained by E = 15

C gets 50.00% of the levels gained by D = 60
C gets 25.00% of the levels gained by E = 30

D gets 50.00% of the levels gained by E = 60

That nets us:
112 granted levels on A
105 granted levels on B
090 granted levels on C
060 granted levels on D
367 granted levels in total.




If you go:
A -- B -- C
A -- D -- E

Again, assuming two sets of toons boosted to 60th:

A gets 50% of the levels gained by B = 60
A gets 50% of the levels gained by D = 60
A gets 25% of the levels gained by C = 30
A gets 25% of the levels gained by E = 30

B gets 50% of the levels gained by C = 60

D gets 50% of the levels gained by E = 60

180 granted levels on A
060 granted levels on B
060 granted levels on D
300 granted levels in total.

[Moorea]

except the level you get are "low" levels and if as I said your goal (which was mine) is to make 4 raf during the free month and transfer minimum of toons back I think A(permanent)-B-C A-D-E gives the most high level toons on A

[Ualaa]

Agreed, 180 levels granted to A is superior to 112 levels granted to A.
More so, when none of the other accounts will be kept.

The only better option for granting would be:
A -- B
A -- C
A -- D
A -- E

However, losing either 3x experience (if A were boosting) or only going as 5x New Toons (thus no boosting), makes this a pretty impractical set up.

[gmbattletech]

So if i get this right.. Account A(booster toon) refers account b, account b refers account c and account c refers account d and account d refers account e

[Ualaa]

If you're going with 5 RAF accounts, and will be keeping them all.
Go with:
A -- B -- C -- D -- E

Only good reasons to do differently are if you have more then one existing account or will not be keeping all of the RAF accounts.

[Moorea]

Btw, even with A-B-C-D-E and A being a booster - how do you get even 5 level 60 ; assuming A boosts B,C,D,E to 60 :

then you can create a level 30 on D (from E's level 60/2)
which lets you create a level 45 on C (first 15 from the l30 on D and another 30 from level 60)
which lets you create a level 52 on B (22+30)
which lets you create a level 56 on A (26+30) - or if you have a level 4, a level 60

this is nothing to be that excited about ?

In other words the "number of granted levels" may be in theory large, but practically - what do you actually run and can grant ? (ending up with a bunch of level 2 or 4 or... isn't very useful at all)

(with A-B-C and A-D-E you get directly 1 level 60 on A for each 4 from BCDE)

[gmbattletech]

thinking on doing this, only want like 1 account in the end... Account A
account a refers B
account a refers C
account a refers D

if i get this right.. all my granting lvls go back to account a...


Or woudl there be a better way to do this...

Thanks for advice

C

[Ualaa]

Not a cheap option.
But the best as far as granted levels go.

A is the parent account.
B-X are the RAF accounts.
And you are only keeping A when you are done.

Have A refer every account.
So it looks like this:

A -- B
A -- C
A -- D
A -- E

Etc.
You only want to get the chain to 5 toons, as that is the group size limit.

Now for the "not" cheap part.
Transfer a toon from A to B.
This is your booster.

The A -- B link will generate no RAF.
And Account B will not be gaining levels.

However, the A -- C, A -- D and A -- E links will be RAF links.
And while you are losing granted levels from B to A.
You are gaining a level 60 toon on A instead of 30 levels granted from B, for every 60th you boost.

And A still gets 50% of the levels gained by C, D and E.

Note, A and B need to be on the same B.Net account, or there is a 30 day hold on transfers.
Since B-E are disposable accounts, you would not want CDE to be on your B.Net account.

[Moorea]

gmbattletech (http://www.dual-boxing.com/member.php?u=3038): if you do that you get not raf bonus if you boost

to get raf bonus you need to do A-B-C A-D-E (A being booster)

if you don't have a booster and just want to quest a group of 5, then yes A referring all is the best to get lots of toons on A

[gmbattletech]

Thanks Moorea.. will go the the way you have... my machine can only handle 4 wow'clients at this time,, so goign to have account a, b,c,d with account a being booster..

Questing till lvl 10 and then instance after that

[Ualaa]

If you're only going four total accounts...
That is A, B, C and D.

And A is the booster.

Then B, C and D, need to each be linked to another account.
In their level range..
A -- B -- C
A -- D
Won't work, because D is not linked to an account low enough.
If there was a D -- E link, you'd be fine.

You'll need to link B, C and D each need a link to each other.
So you can go with either of:
A -- B -- C -- D

-or-

A -- B -- C
A -- B -- D

[Sooda]

A quick question, just to clarify the boosting procedure... Are the "grantable levels" earned by account or toon?

I'm thinking this is obvious is you have done it already... I want to make sure I understand this completely before create my plan.

Here is what I want to clarify: We'll say you do something like A>B>C>D>E, and have L60 toons on each account. Now lets say hypothetically, you are all out of grantable levels except for account "E", which has 10 more levels to grant. Account E grants a toon on account D levels 20 to 30. At this point, account D will have 5 grantable levels, right? And can you use the L60 toon on account D to grant levels 55-60 to a toon on account C? (or is the L30 toon on account D required to be the "granter"?)

Thanks in advance for the info!

[Ualaa]

Each toon gets to grant levels, based on what they earnt.

The current scheme is one level granted per even level gained.
So a toon who leveled from 1st to 60th, can grant 30 levels.
Or a DK who leveled from 55th to 60th can grant 3 levels.

You can grant levels to toons who are lower level then yourself.
But only to toons of level 59 or lower.
If you're 60th, then the second restriction is the only limiter.
If your toon is 26th, you can only grant levels to 25th or lower level toons.

Then A >> B is an account reference, as far as the linking goes.
But it is the toon who earnt levels that actually does the granting.






*Edit*

If E grants 10 levels to D.
A level 20 becomes a level 30.

The level 30 on D, can now grant levels to C.
They can grant a total of 5 levels (22, 24, 26, 28, 30), to toons of levels 29 or lower.

C will in turn be able to grant levels to toons on B.
But it will be reduced again.