Pet Boosting

[qcumber]

I decided to try boosting a pally and priest using one of my lvl 64 hunters in the method that has been described on this forum several times (the 2 boostees are grouped, hunter is out of group, lowbie tags mob, pet kills mob, full xp for boostees). It is very fast -- especially when coupled with a quest route that I know by heart -- and it is also scalable, since I can add 2 more lvl 64 hunters as the boostees and the mobs they face move up in level. After getting to level 16 in around 4 or 5 hours played (which for me is very good), I am excited about being able to get my lowbies into the 50's very, very quickly. But I also feel this is an exploit, and am a little bit worried about Blizzard's stance on such a method. I haven't been able to find any official opinions, either on this forum or the Bliz forums. I have 3 70's that I solo leveled, 5 lvl 64's that I multiboxed without boosting, and several twinks, so I would hate to lose all of that just for saving a few hours to boost 2 more toons. Do you guys have any thoughts on whether this could possibly be bannable? Thanks for your help, I really enjoy this site.

[Zaelar]

It's better if you use toons that the mobs are green to, you'll get the full exp per kill. Not practical unless you set up several power leveling characters though.

And no, not going to get you banned.

[Dorffo]

This tends to fall into the same category as having a high level holy spec following around outside your group healing so you have no down time. Warlocks and Hunters have been helping boost this way for a very long time and it doesn't take advantage of any shady game mechanics like some of the instance boosting methods did.

Summary - boost away!

[qcumber]

Right, it is very similar to the healer out of group, where you also get full XP. The only thing that is weird to me is that if the hunter fires a shot, even if out of group, the boostees get almost no XP, but if the pet does the damage it's full XP. To me I guess DPS is DPS, whether from the cat or the hunter. So that is where I think it might be a bit of an oversight on Blizzard's part. But I agree, mechanically it is the same as healing out of group, and that doesn't feel like an exploit to me. And I won't complain, having 3 lvl 70 kitties tearing away while my pally taps will be great. Tap and tear! 8^)

Zaelar, I am going to be using that method when my pally hits 62. My 3 hunters will be firing away! Those poor Clefthoofs... What did they ever do to me.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

The thing is, this is so slow relative to being drug around by an AoE grind class, it's not even on Blizzard's radar.

[qcumber]

3 pets on aggressive is the new AoE! Just kidding, but compared to what I am used to it seems really quick. My first toon to 70 was a holy priest, so everything seems fast in comparison...

[Dorffo]

My first toon to 70 was a holy priest, so everything seems fast in comparison...

so very true!

[Bena]

does this work with lock pets?

[qcumber]

does this work with lock pets?
From other threads I have read about pet boosting, it seems to, yes.

[Sanctume]

What about 3 Fire Novas as boosting?

[Xaedra]

From what I have experienced, totems count as pets, so I would think this would work. I have never tried it, though.

I do know, that if a totem kills a mob by itself, you get no XP just like as if it were killed by a pet (pretty sure about that anyway).

My husband wants me to play on Alliance once I stop multiboxing, would be great if this worked with totems, I'd use my shaman to boost me!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Check with Toned or Reprisal. One of them was doing that exact thing with fire nova for his paladin alt the other day.

[qcumber]

Wonder if explosive trap works the same way... didn't even think to try!

[Xaedra]

Appears no workie with totems.

Level 1 character kills mob, gets 50xp (ish)
Level 1 character tags mob, totem kills mob, gets 12-15xp. (Tried with both magma and nova)

No go :(

[Ughmahedhurtz]

You try it with multiple lowbies or just one?

[Xaedra]

Ohh nooes, I forgot about that! I'll try it again LOL

[Xaedra]

Yep, it works!

[qcumber]

Bah, explosive trap doesn't work like totems... Oh well.