Any thoughts on x4 lowbies & 1 60 lvl healer?

[Undeadlord]

I was thinking to powerlevel my new team with a 60 healer. This will basically enable me to do larger pulls and never wipe at all even at the brd range perhaps. You will also never have to drink much until 50+. If I make 4 warriors or 4 rogues then I will basically have no downtime at all and I will be able to pull nonstop. I know it's not the fastest way to level but its very consistent, it might beat x5 lowbies due to its consistency. Wipes cause insane amount of downtime, same goes to drinking etc. Most think about the fastest way to level but this usually involves risky stuff that cause wipes and is not consistent. E.g the mage one pulls in cath/mara/zg can go wrong in many ways. It's not something you can execute consistently especially on a bad day.

What do you think?

[nodoze]

Which level 60 healer are you considering using?

I am interested in what your findings are if you try it. I suspect a 60 Paladin with a high crit would be the most mana efficient for as close to non-stop across all the level ranges as you can get. Once you get to where the mobs are Level 48+ the Priest could be better if you can consistently give the Priest the killing blow and leverage Spirit Tap (the mobs have to be able to yield XP for that to proc).

Assuming you are leveling up 4 Warriors (I would stay away from multiple Rogues) I am not sure you will be able to pull that many more mobs at once as it doesn't matter how much healing you have if the warriors are insta-gibbed due to too much incoming damage. I could see doing somewhat larger pulls than with a same level healer and less stopping so you may indeed be clearing instances faster (though maybe not actually leveling faster).

The bottom line is that larger mob group size and less downtime (due to less drinking/wipes) will need to offset the penalty of having a level 60 in the party to make it faster overall to cap (and you end up with only 4 new 60s instead of 5 when done).

That being said being overall faster to cap isn't necessarily the only factor... Even with the XP penalty I really liked using my 60 Protection Paladin to gather up tons of lower level mobs and then AoE them down with the lower level 3 Warlocks+Priest boosting the Paladin's AoE... I don't know that it was necessarily faster than doing 4Warlocks+Priest or an all same level Tank+3DPS+Healer team but I did find it fun and certainly a lot less stressful than my previous melee team.

[Undeadlord]

Which level 60 healer are you considering using?

I am interested in what your findings are if you try it. I suspect a 60 Paladin with a high crit would be the most mana efficient for as close to non-stop across all the level ranges as you can get. Once you get to where the mobs are Level 48+ the Priest could be better if you can consistently give the Priest the killing blow and leverage Spirit Tap (the mobs have to be able to yield XP for that to proc).

Assuming you are leveling up 4 Warriors (I would stay away from multiple Rogues) I am not sure you will be able to pull that many more mobs at once as it doesn't matter how much healing you have if the warriors are insta-gibbed due to too much incoming damage. I could see doing somewhat larger pulls than with a same level healer and less stopping so you may indeed be clearing instances faster (though maybe not actually leveling faster).

The bottom line is that larger mob group size and less downtime (due to less drinking/wipes) will need to offset the penalty of having a level 60 in the party to make it faster overall to cap (and you end up with only 4 new 60s instead of 5 when done).

That being said being overall faster to cap isn't necessarily the only factor... Even with the XP penalty I really liked using my 60 Protection Paladin to gather up tons of lower level mobs and then AoE them down with the lower level 3 Warlocks+Priest boosting the Paladin's AoE... I don't know that it was necessarily faster than doing 4Warlocks+Priest or an all same level Tank+3DPS+Healer team but I did find it fun and certainly a lot less stressful than my previous melee team.

Yeah stress is a big factor, when you wipe a lot and face difficulties it demotivates you from playing more. I will use a priest because I will play alliance and that's the only healer I have, as a horde windfury could be better. I may not spot heal at all, although if I do I would probably be able to spam it endlessly. I'm thinking to use low rank holy nova just to make it even more brainless, also shadow word pain. The 60lvl healer can put a lot of pressure. Maybe I can go shadow too and use vampiric embrace which will aoe heal everyone.

Finally the good thing about this team is that you can buy a boost anytime which is much easier with 4 instead of 5. You can leave out your healer and bring the powerleveler in just to jump few levels if you have the gold for it.

How much exp do you lose with an 60 lvl in your group?

[jak3676]

When in a party, the experience from mobs is calculated as an average level within your party - not each individual's level. So if you're doing RFC with 4x Level 12's and 1 Level 60, your average char level would be calculated as L22, so you get pretty little exp per mob, but hope to make it up in speed. Once you get into the SM/ZF/Mara range, the level difference doesn't impact you as much.

See this thread to see the exact experience per mob by level. https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57267-Mob-EXP-by-Level

[nodoze]

When in a party, the experience from mobs is calculated as an average level within your party - not each individual's level. So if you're doing RFC with 4x Level 12's and 1 Level 60, your average char level would be calculated as L22, so you get pretty little exp per mob, but hope to make it up in speed. Once you get into the SM/ZF/Mara range, the level difference doesn't impact you as much.

See this thread to see the exact experience per mob by level. https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57267-Mob-EXP-by-LevelWe built the following table to denote the average level of a 5box of low level alts with a level 60 when deciding on which dungeons to take:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j6tc7Bi0WNN_NbplgM1mbKcJkv89c4EhbYDN18vuYA4/edit#gid=1036339079

If I recall correctly I used the above with my 60 Paladin AoE Tanking to take my Alliance team of 3 Warlocks+Priest from levels 20 to at least 26 (team average levels 28-33) in the Stockades and then I took my team to The Scarlet Monastery sometime after level 26+ (team average level 33+). To get my team ready for the Stockades I did Hyperspawns with 4 Warlocks+Priest to level 20 and then trained up HellFire and then dropped 1 Warlock for my 60 Paladin (or sometimes my brother would come on his 60 Paladin instead).

That being said I think someone denoted that this was a decent general approximation of how the XP is awarded when a 60 is in the party but not entirely accurate.

[Undeadlord]

To get my team ready for the Stockades I did Hyperspawns


Thanks interesting info, may I ask where did you farm hyperspawns?

I have been looking for hyperspawns below 20 but I didn't find any that could outperform deadmines at 16 or pure questing.

[Boxen]

Here's a link to a thread on hyperspawns:

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/56034-Hyperspawns-in-classic!-!-Potential-gold-xp-farm-(video-included)?highlight=hyperspawns

And here's a link to the spreadsheet derived from that thread:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j6tc7Bi0WNN_NbplgM1mbKcJkv89c4EhbYDN18vuYA4/edit#gid=1905033222

[nodoze]

... here's a link to the spreadsheet derived from that thread:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j6tc7Bi0WNN_NbplgM1mbKcJkv89c4EhbYDN18vuYA4/edit#gid=1905033222On that page the zones highlighted in green can easily get you to be ready for The Deadmines (VC/DM). You can go to VC/DM earlier but I liked getting to level 20 and fully training up before going in. If you are on a PVP server all of those in green are in safe zones so folk can't easily mess with your team.

[Undeadlord]

When in a party, the experience from mobs is calculated as an average level within your party - not each individual's level. So if you're doing RFC with 4x Level 12's and 1 Level 60, your average char level would be calculated as L22, so you get pretty little exp per mob, but hope to make it up in speed. Once you get into the SM/ZF/Mara range, the level difference doesn't impact you as much.

See this thread to see the exact experience per mob by level. https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57267-Mob-EXP-by-Level

Wait a sec...if that's true then when you get to sm graveyard at 30, the mobs are 32-33 and you are level 36 so you don't lose that much...although doing graveyard at 36 is not ideal. You have to do dungeons where the mobs surpass you 2-3 levels. Btw I was thinking that a shaman will be great for this since his totems can absorb most damage.

If your average level is about the same with the dungeons mobs then you get optimal exp? Aka doing deadmines at 10 with an 60 mage is average level 20 which is good enough for deadmines since you can stay there even up to 24 level, so you get optimal exp from the dungeon?

Individual levels doesn't matter ta all?

[nodoze]

Wait a sec...if that's true then when you get to sm graveyard at 30, the mobs are 32-33 and you are level 36 so you don't lose that much...although doing graveyard at 36 is not ideal. You have to do dungeons where the mobs surpass you 2-3 levels. Btw I was thinking that a shaman will be great for this since his totems can absorb most damage.

If your average level is about the same with the dungeons mobs then you get optimal exp? Aka doing deadmines at 10 with an 60 mage is average level 20 which is good enough for deadmines since you can stay there even up to 24 level, so you get optimal exp from the dungeon?

Individual levels doesn't matter ta all?I denoted above that while this is a decent approximation this may not be 100% accurate. As mentioned above there were multiple posts where folk said it was different than a pure average (maybe discussed both here in the dual-boxing.com forums and in the classic wow isboxer discord channel as I can't remember for sure...).

I will see if I can find some of those posts but the bottom line is that having 1 60 in your full 5 man party doesn't nerf all XP and can be very worthwhile.

Edit: Some of the info seems conflicting... Seems relative mob level compared to boosted character level may matter a lot. Some indication having a really low level character in the party may help...

Edit 1: The following denotes that putting a lower level character into your group can help the overall XP (based upon what was said in the video):

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/57061-New-to-multiboxing-need-advice-for-self-powerlevel-mage-amp-priest-comp?p=428713&viewfull=1#post428713

Edit 2: The following post begins a discussion on how it isn't 100% based on average level (more detail as you read through the posts/replies):

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/56540-The-Boosting-and-Power-Leveling-summary-thread?p=426836&viewfull=1#post426836


If someone has a cogent summary or actual detailed statistics they can post/link/reference that would be great...

[Dav]

Hey, I can actually give you some input on this as I tried it.

I ran (in maraudon):
50 warrior
50 Mage
50 Mage
50 Lock
60 Priest (in 4/8 T2 with +600 healing)


Honestly I stopped it, runs went more smoothly with a level 50 paladin than a 60 Priest for me.
The main problem is threat, the 60 priest pulls crazy threat of the tank. I struggle even building up enough threat on the mobs because you have to heal to keep him alive thus pulling with the healer. On single target mobs it works ok, but once you have a group your healer is tanking

There is probably ways to make this work though, just suggestions of the top of my head:

-In lower level dungeons you can just tank with your cloth/leather healer
-If you run without a tank and just 4x mages, warlocks or hunters or something
-You have 5/8 T2 with a priest for automatic fade
-Your healing with a Pala/shaman with a shield and decent defensive gear, and they cant be interrupted
-Druid Tank might work better

Edit: Just want to add that I didnt overheal, I'm specced for threat reduce on the priest and spammed fade on cooldown

[Tazeon]

I would pay someone else to power level me to level 50.
Then doing quests and starting instances to farm gear.

during power level you can farm with your healer to get some gold back.


A healer is the worst role to powerlevel yourself. I leveled my first team most of the time in instances with my lev60 warrior.
rfc, sfk my warrior killed everything
sm and zf graveyard my warrior was tanking and my casters did a lot of aoe damage
I also farmed Maraudon for items for my shaman. ST I run only two times for quests and then started with BRD farming Items and exp.
For the last few levels I went LBRS. (Quests, UBRS Key, farming items and farming fr protection potion, pattern for mage robe never dropped, bought in AH.)

For bigger aoe pulls warrior should use some consumables to hold aggro better.


team composition recommendation:
If you are new to multiboxing, I recommend to play a standard team.

Tank - Healer - 3 caster (2 Mage + 1 WL or 3 Mages)

[nodoze]

Hey, I can actually give you some input on this [trying to power level with a 60 Priest] as I tried it.
...
Honestly I stopped it, runs went more smoothly with a level 50 paladin than a 60 Priest for me.
The main problem is threat, the 60 priest pulls crazy threat off the tank. ... On single target mobs it works ok, but once you have a group your healer is tanking ...Yeah I remember folk complaining their Priest was stealing aggro at level so that makes sense that a geared 60 Priest would have serious aggro issues. Likely a 60 Paladin would be better as they start at -50% Healing Threat compared to all other healers and then can lower it by another -30%... Then again a Paladin can spec to be both strong in Healing and Protection and with balanced gear do their best to push Threat and suffer no pushback while healing (though you may still need another healer if you go this route due to interrupts).
... A healer is the worst role to powerlevel yourself. I leveled my first team [W+2M+L+S] most of the time in instances with my lev60 warrior.
...
For bigger aoe pulls warrior should use some consumables to hold aggro better.

team composition recommendation: If you are new to multiboxing, I recommend to play a standard team.

Tank - Healer - 3 caster (2 Mage + 1 WL or 3 Mages)Now that you have gotten your team to 60, do you think PowerLeveling with a 60 Tank was worth it? Did you feel like you were able to do larger pulls and offset the XP penalty fully or only partially compared to a regular team?

Do you think a 60 Protection Paladin would be better than a 60 Warrior at Power Leveling due to better AoE and self heals?

The reason I ask is because I used my 60 Protection Paladin to PowerLevel 3 Warlocks+Priest from from level 20 to ~40 in instances and felt it was pretty easy and fairly fun but didn't seem to be crazy fast leveling for my alts...

From 20 -> ~30 in The Stockades the Warlocks did Rain of Fire to help kill the mobs my Protection Paladin gathered up (my Prot Paladin did the most damage by far).

From ~30 -> ~40 in The Scarlet Monastery the Warlocks did HellFire to help kill the mobs my Protection Paladin gathered up (from memory I think the 60 Prot Paladin still out damaged the Warlocks but they were much closer).

In both scenarios my 60 Prot Paladin gathered using Retribution Aura and then once all the mobs were back at the Warlocks+Priest I, when needed, would switch to Concentration Aura to suffer no pushback and self heal with the Paladin to supplement the Priest. Even though there were interrupts my Paladin often got off Flash of Light Heals as they are so quick and it really helped me keep my Priest from going OOM... It seemed like my Warlocks & Priest never had any Threat issues and were almost never interrupted and thus would almost always finish their full HellFire channels.

All in all I enjoyed being able to gather and face tank a ton of mobs but with the XP penalty I sometimes wondered if it would have been better to have just done 4L+P (or 4M+P) instead of trying to PowerLevel 3L+P (or 3M+P) with my 60 Tank and curious your thoughts...

[jak3676]

The main problem is threat, the 60 priest pulls crazy threat of the tank.
Heal with Holy Nova - no threat :) (no mana either after 10 seconds, but that's another issue. At least with 3/4 mages nothing lives longer than 9 seconds, so you're good)


a 60 Paladin would be better as they start at -50% Healing Threat compared to all other healers
Is that confirmed? I thought everyone who looked into it didn't find documentation of that. i.e. all healing has a 50% reduced threat, but Palies were the same as every other healer - until you take salv into account.

[msothername]

Hey guys. I am new to multiboxing.

I have a 60 mage and a 60 Warrior.

Right now i boost 3 mages+1priest in SM. But its super boring and meh.
Do you think i could just run dungeons with my 4 chars+ my 60 mage or warri? Or is the exp penalty to high.

They are 28 now. So maybe run graveyard?

[nodoze]

... [Reduce Priest Threat issues] with Holy Nova - no threat :) (no mana either after 10 seconds, but that's another issue. At least with 3/4 mages nothing lives longer than 9 seconds, so you're good)

[a 60 Paladin would be better as they start at -50% Healing Threat compared to all other healers]Is that confirmed? I thought everyone who looked into it didn't find documentation of that. i.e. all healing has a 50% reduced threat, but Palies were the same as every other healer - until you take salv into account.

Good point on the Priest healing threat...

Regarding Paladin Healing threat, I was skeptical initially as well when it initially came up in an earlier thread in this forum but felt it was pretty evident after reading the discussions, diving deeper, and reviewing various folks testing. If I recall correctly some folk did healing tests that could not be explained otherwise and I recall reading more than once in the many sites regarding Paladin Tanking was that this was done because Paladins can Boost their Healing treat almost +100% via Improved Righteous Fury so they did a hidden -50% nerf to compensate for this. Sorry I don't have time right now to research all that again but I at least felt it was pretty well proven awhile back.