Methods of leveling: Which is the fastest?

[uktabi]

Hey all,


I'm new to 5boxing, but I've been dual boxing for a few years now. I have a lvl 70 shaman and lvl 70 druid on seperate accounts. I just started 3 more shamans and 2 more mages and I have a question about leveling.

I boosted my shaman to 70 with my druid and it worked pretty well. I used instances a couple of times, but found the exp to be better if I just found a spot with high respawn (arathi orc farms) and healed my shaman with the druid as the shaman aoe'd everything.

But I've come across a couple other methods and I was wondering if anyone tried them and could give me some feedback before I start.

First of all, the shamans and mages are all at lvl 20 right now.

Methods:
Method #1:
Instance boosting: 5boxing using 3 lvl 20 shamans, 1 lvl 20 mage and the lvl 70 druid.
1, I would grab everything in the entire instance including bosses and run them back to the newb group, which will be sitting next to the exit.
2, AoE them all down to 2-3%
3, Have the shamans cast aoe totems and lineup fire aoe on the mage.
4, zone out the druid before anything dies and before the totems go off.
5, aoe with mage and hope the totems kill everything.
My question for this method is, will the newbsqaud recieve full exp because the lvl 70 was not in the instance when the mobs died?
6, rinse and repeat.

Method #2
Instance boosting #2:
In this version of instance boosting the newbsqaud wouldn't have anything to do but sit there and get exp.
1, Choose an instance that's at least 8 levels higher than the newbsqaud.
2, Kill everything with the lvl 70 and take the exp cut.
3, Rinse and repeat.

Method #3:
Questing:
Questing with the assistance of a lvl 70. Killing everything and such.

Method #4:
1, Find an area outside an instance with a good respawn rate and critters 1-2 levels higher than the group.
2, Aggro everything with the newb squad and begin aoe.
3, spot heal with the 70.

I'm just looking for any feedback on this. I'm looking for the fastest way to 70.

[marvein]

method #2, the exp gained from method #1 is not even close to worth the aggravation of pulling it off. Bossting with a 70 in an instance thats ~8 levels above your alts is still great exp due to the speed of kills. Especially if you have a class with melee aoe like a prot pally or arms war the exp will just fly in.

[Deltis]

Method #1:
[size=12] Instance boosting: 5boxing using 3 lvl 20 shamans, 1 lvl 20 mage and the lvl 70 druid.
1, I would grab everything in the entire instance including bosses and run them back to the newb group, which will be sitting next to the exit.
2, AoE them all down to 2-3%
3, Have the shamans cast aoe totems and lineup fire aoe on the mage.
4, zone out the druid before anything dies and before the totems go off.
5, aoe with mage and hope the totems kill everything.
My question for this method is, will the newbsqaud recieve full exp because the lvl 70 was not in the instance when the mobs died?
6, rinse and repeat.


Would only work if the druid left the group before everything was killed, just leaving the instance would not help. This has been posted on several forums with screen shoots, but does require some practice to work.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Method #2 is the fastest of the options that are guaranteed not to get you banned.

Personally, I play the game to play the game and prefer questing as a leveling method. ;)

[Havelcek]

I find the most consistent method of levelling quickly is by questing, and running an instance when you have quests for that instance.

[Rakadazan]

when does the party bonus exp kick in at 4 or 5 party members? i know 3 will not get it.

[uktabi]

The party bonus kicks in at 4 members.

[Sanctume]

So you have:
Account 1: 70 Shaman, & 20 Mage?
Account 2: 70 Druid, & 20 Mage?
Account 3: 20 Shaman?
Account 4: 20 Shaman?

Account 5: 20 Shaman?

You want to level all 5 of those to 70, the fastest way?

I'm going to tell you what boosting to level 55 or 58 is pretty fast using a Prot Pally since that's what is available to me.
When it comes to Outlands, questing is by far that fastest.

I recall getting 11k to 14k xp per quest turn in at level 69.
When I solo tag a mob, level 67-68 mobs, I would get about 500-600xp per kill non rested. So that's at least 22 mob grind to get the same amount of exp doing a quest.
I think with that much dps in your 3 Shaman + 2 Mage group, you can mow thru exp fast without much worry from needing a level 70 following you.

For level 55 and under, instance grinding seems fastest because the running around quest in the old world "seems" to be longer because you don't have access to the speed of an epic land mount yet--just the level 40 mount, and plain running.

Doing the damn Shaman totem quest at level 40 (Fire, Water and Air at the same evening is an entire evening of run around)! I did not even do the class quest for my Mages.

Level 20, Scarlet Monastery Cathedral is the best exp gain per time--but you can't do it with 5x level 20s. You can run the druid in bear and agro a bunch of mobs and have your shamans + 1 mage doing blizzard. But this will mean that one of your mage will not be able to level up along with the others--I had such dillema.

What I end up doing was (4-box)
Account 1: lowbie Shaman, Lowbie Mage (extra dps)
Account 2: lowbie Shaman, Lowbie Mage (extra dps)

Account 3: prot Pally
Account 4: lowbie Shaman (resto)



I broke them down to: Shaman + Mage + Pally + Shaman (healer) and grinded instances twice as needed.
By the time I hit level 55, grinded Blood Furnace with the goal to get everyone near 60 and near honored in Thrallmar before doing any Outland Quest.

After getting all 3 shamans to 60+ and mage to 60, I ran out of mojo to continue, and I chose to just level the 3 Shamans by themselves with the 70 prot pally following and tanking instance quests. And I just chose quests to get them the Outland gear upgrades.

I also tried the aoe the mobs down to low health, but remember that humanoids in SM will start running away after a certain point. And the Wizards will throw in Arcane Explosion when 2 or more players are near in range. It's too much of hassle to multi-box that power level setup. It can work with 2 people though.

[Skrimshaw]

With my 4 Shaman I ran them through WC at 10-20 and then SM 20-40 with my 70 lock. Took 1 weekend 38 hours /played to get them to 40. SM Library 20-34 and then SM Cath to 40. Then started boosting ZF, doing 12 minute runs to 47. Now I'm debating on what to do next.

[Dor]

I boost in sm to 40 then quest a bit in stv and feralas..then boost a bit to 48 49 in st then quest the rest of the way to 60 going to every instance to complete instance quests -- at 60 i run thrallmar rep to honored then quest the thrallmar quests... etc and so on for ea zone and instance in that zone

[Boylston]

If you have 4 or less, Instance powerleveling with a L70 AoE-capable class is by far the way to go until they hit L40.

5 becomes complicated because you can't easily use a L70 to help. You CAN rotate through your other characters if you have 6 accounts, which won't slow things down terribly much. If your 70s are also on the 5 accounts, you are forced to maybe level 1 by themselves and powerlevel the others.

In any event, I don't think instance powerleveling is worthwhile post-40. ZF becomes too tricky, the exp/hour isn't vastly superior to questing anymore, and it just isn't fun, to be honest. Overland questing and/or running level-appropriate instances (if you have 5 that can do it) will serve you much better. Post 2.3 quest XP and dungeon quest XP is very nice and will help you go from 40-58 very fast.

I advocate Outlands at 58 to get the great quest gear, and I've never had too much problem with quest gaps this way. You may have to run some instances or grind a bit in your low 60s, but it sounds like you're trying to put together an instance-capable 5-box team anyhow.

[Maz]

party bonus
Party bonus?

[Tdog]

party bonus
Party bonus? Look in your combat log the next time you kill something that you get xp from while partied with at least 4 characters. It will say something the the effect...

Mob X died.
You recieve 187 experience points (+27 group bonus).

[Dor]

party bonus
Party bonus? Look in your combat log the next time you kill something that you get xp from while partied with at least 4 characters. It will say something the the effect...

Mob X died.
You recieve 187 experience points (+27 group bonus).


you guys were making me doubt myself.. for shame on making the old man log in game..... party bonus starts with 3 (grps of 3 get bonus 2 dont)

[Mystrana]

hehe i 3 maned VC at 23 and yes i got party bonus seems like they have changed it

3 maned First half of Gnomer no worrys at lvl 30 :) so yes its possible and YES my 3 hunters did get party bonus in instances :)

[Emo?]

I quested, imo only boost if u got a class/char that can clear an instance fast =).