Recruit a Friend boost plans

So, I'm still on my first main team of PLLMT and they are only level 49. I'm thoroughly loving it and l foresee committing for the future. I am really considering biting the bullet and re-rolling slots 2-5 for the RAF cost savings. My next billing date would be toward the end of February.

What should I try to get done before I rebirth my slot 2-5 toons of the same classes?

I'm thinking I should just continue to run the whole team with goal of getting my Paladin (main account slot 1) to 60 (or as high as possible). Priority on gearing him for Reflect tanking/self healing seems like best idea to help boost the fresh toons.

Any other ideas or suggestions for priorities on slot 1 so I can boost the rest of the team most efficiently/have the most utility?

Should I shoot for getting a mage as high a level as possible (like level 40 for ports and water) as my second priority? I would probably just buy water for the paladin since the lower level water is probably useless at 60.

Would getting a hunter to 40's have any utility in lower level boosting of the 4 accounts versus just using the Paladin?

In hindsight this probably should have gone in the boosting thread.

I think this warrants having it's own thread (though this could be in the other thread also).

I think your team of Paladin+2Locks+Mage+Priest (PLLMT) is likely the team I would do were I starting a new first team to take to cap. My 2nd choice would likely be PLMMT but frankly for a single first team to cap having 2 Locks allows me to take turns recalling everyone for repairs/sales/etc without having to worry about having to time a self summons/recall without screwing it up.

When I switched servers I took advantage of switching to 5 different accounts by RAFing myself such that I am now running 6 accounts (my original one with all my collector edition keys plus these 5 restarted ones). I RAFed 3 accounts from my original account and then RAFed 2 more from one of the newly reactivated accounts because I figured having more than 3 accounts RAFed to any single account could be wasted.

A couple of observations in hindsight regarding the new RAF program including some possible conflicting information:

1. Note that the only benefits on the Classic WoW side are free subscriptions as all XP boosts and virtual items are awarded on the Retail WoW side; You may already have known that but I wanted to restate that just to be clear...
2. As can be seen in this picture from the WoW Retail side, it indicates that after the initial 12 months of rewards I get 1 free month for every 3 month of RAFed subscriptions going forward. It mentions no restrictions nor limits and looks really nice in perpetuity.
3. As can be seen in this picture from the WoW Retail side, it says that each recruited friend can ONLY provide up to 12 subscription months toward my rewards. I do NOT remember seeing this restriction previously and seems to me to now indicate that I can only get 4 months free per RAF (over the course of this first year only). This seems to then be saying that after the first year I can still receive free months (per the first screenshot) but ONLY after I recruit more new accounts...

I think someone mentioned this in another thread but it looks like there will be a conflict on this in the future as it looks like Blizz may already be changing the terms on this new RAF program. That or maybe it was this way all the time but just not communicated properly (or maybe I missed something) but regardless I think many people are going to feel mislead at least and there is likely to be fallout/backlash...

With the above in mind, even if these new limits are correct, considering I was moving servers, it made sense to me then (and still makes sense to me now) to have RAFed my other 5 old accounts. That being said, were I in your position, assuming you are staying on your current server, I am not sure I would RAF 4 new accounts as it looks like Blizz is NOW saying that I will only get 16 free months worth toward subscriptions (48 months of RAFed time divided by 3). That is OK but not in Perpetuity and if I was not changing servers I am not sure it would it would be worth it to me to level up 4 accounts to 50 again (even if boosted) but your opinion may differ and maybe it is worth it to you...

If you do decide to proceed regardless of the current inconsistencies from Blizzard I have the following thoughts on the various topics you mentioned that you may find helpful:

Regarding level 60 Paladin Boosting:
A 60 Paladin is fun for me in boosting a group of 4 alts but I will caution that is isn't necessarily faster than an all AoE team without a 60 like 4Mages+Priest (MMMMT or 4MT) as having a 60 in the party does reduce XP per kill (but you kill more to at least partially offset). I haven't run 4MT so I can't directly compare but it seems like a really fast way to level (assuming you mostly avoid bosses and focus on XP/hour) but regardless I don't care as I want Locks instead of Mages and more importantly I really like my Paladin just tanking a ton of mobs and laughing at bosses with my alts in the background. In my case my friends helped me get my Paladin to cap quickly on the new server and when they were not on I let my Paladin rest and worked on leveling my rested 4 Locks+Priest (LLLLT) to level 20 via mainly Hyperspawns. At 20 I replaced one of the Locks with my 60 Paladin and leveled them from 20 to 30 in the Stockades via boosting with my Paladin via having my Paladin gather a ton of mobs and then having him consecrate/block/reflect while my 3 Locks cast Rain of Fire on themselves and my Priest single target healed my Paladin to supplement his own heals (my Paladin would switch to concentration aura to not suffer pushback and self heal). Note that a Paladin can make himself immune to pushback but you can still be CC'ed so I personally would typically include a healer in my boosted party. At 30 I moved to SM and have been doing HellFire instead of Rain of Fire (doing AoE healing from the Priest instead of single target healing) and have also enjoyed that and think this is the funnest/best route for me to get a full team to 60... Regarding recommended Protection Paladin AoE grinding gear (and relative costs for options from AH from my server) I would review the 'Paladin AoE' tab on the 'Classic WoW Planning' spreadsheet. For a new 60 AoE Paladin (especially focused on AoEing in lower level dungeons) with very limited gold the cost effective gear I recommend to focus on first is getting the Argent Defender shield with a Thorium Spike, the Truesliver Breastplate with absorption enchant, Boots of Avoidance with run speed enchant, Mark of the Chosen Trinket, & Uther's strength Trinket. All of those are either quest rewards (shield & trinket) or are relatively inexpensive from the Auction House and gives a good cost effective kit to start with and the rest of the gear are potential upgrades to just makes AoE grinding lower level instances better/faster... Maybe once my full team is to 60 and my AoE gear fully fleshed out with the more expensive pieces and/or rare/raid drops I may use my 60 Paladin to boost others but right now that isn't something I am focusing on. I could also use my 60 Paladin to AoE grind lower level instances for gold but since I am a 5boxer I likely will just farm dungeons at cap instead...

Regarding level 60 Mage and Boosting:
If I were boosting lots of alts to cap I would not focus on a 60 Mage for Boosting as they taper off (unless you are really good at heavy movement based frost AoE kiting/grinding) and folk have gotten frustrated at the higher levels and felt forced to try to level a 4 man group and instead I would focus on a Paladin or Warrior if doing a single class that can work all the way to cap... One of my kids did a single Mage to cap on my 6th account and I really like having free level 55 water on my Paladin and highest level water my Priest qualifies for (I mainly just life tap on my Locks). Note that a Protection Paladin in defensive gear likely doesn't have a huge mana pool and in many pulls, even with a relatively small mana pool, I am not out of mana so when I don't have free level 55 water I use lower level waters and they tend to work fine as it takes me some time to loot on my Lock anyway. Were I not to have a level 60 Mage on my 6th account I likely would sub out 1 Lock for a Mage in my first party to cap... Were I starting out with a new party or using a 60 Paladin to boost 4 others (with no other classes already at cap) I likely would just include a Mage in my first party to cap (thus running PLLMT) instead of trying to do a Mage to cap separately first.. Later for a 2nd team I would maybe do a LMMMT team to give me some mix/match options at cap like PLLLT, PLLMT, PLMMT, PMMMT, & MMMMT. Alternatively a 2nd team could be LMMMP to give a mix/match of PMMMP at cap as well...

Regarding level 60 Pet Classes and boosting:
If a 5boxer's focus was on Boosting/PowerLeveling lots of twinks (one's own and possibly others/friends) to various levels in various higher level brackets (like 39s, 49s, & 59s) likely I would recommend one's first 5man team to cap to include at least 3 Hunters & likely a Priest if you were to pursue pet tagging. For a 5boxer I recommend 3 Pet classes for pet tagging as you will need 2 accounts for alts (even if you really just focusing on 1 twink and leaving the 2nd alt in the GY with no XP). 3 Warlocks instead of 3 Hunters could maybe also work but from vanilla experience I would say max Beast Mastered Hunter pets are likely significantly better than max Demonologisted Warlock pets... I recommend 3 Hunters (or maybe Warlocks) because a single pet starts off great but seems to fall off well before a twink can effectively tag level 48 mobs that are green to level 60 players... 2 Hunter pets extends the effective range of pet tag boosting but likely still slows down significantly and 3 is likely the best route to be able to get a single twink (or 2 alts) up to the range where you can switch from pet tag boosting to character tag boosting...

The above is a lot to digest and I hope it helps. After reading/reflecting please post back with any thoughts/questions and likely I and others will do what more we can to help...

Wow, Thank you for your detailed response Nodoze!

I agree, It probably would not be worth it for me to switch over if RAF free sub time would not keep rolling in perpetuity. It would make sense to hold off until we get a little more clarification on that. I'm glad I didn't just jump right in to it.

Honestly, it would be somewhat of a relief to know that I don't have to start the 4 toons again. I was kind of dreading having the time wasted and "starting over". Which is funny because at the same time I am also looking forward to trying my paladin tank AOE boost with reflect gear in the lower level instances on a low level team anyway.

Thank you for the link to the spreadsheet. I have referenced that before for some of the hyperspawn ideas but had not noticed the pally tab previously. Definitely some good info on there. Thank you for the tips on getting started with that. I had already picked up some of the trinkets but a lot of the gear on there I had no idea about.

And yes, I also love the utility of the PLLMT team. I never played any of these classes in original classic so it has been a fun learning curve. There are just so many tools and synergy between this group it is awesome! Hellfire is super powerful and combined with super impressive pally AOE threat and priest prayer of healing you can really steamroll amazingly large groups of mobs. Mage water and ports is an absolute must though and there is a ton of other utility in the mage's arsenal that is helpful with snares and buffs. I think the only drawback to mixing warlocks and mages is that warlock AOE is stationary while mage AOE has the potential to be mobile. Mage also blows through mana much quicker. For Me Damage done has been pretty similar between mage and lock toons though.

As far as boosting with a warlock pet I fear it may not be that great. I tried boosting 4 melee toons out of group with a single level 45 succubus, imp, or voidwalker. I thought that even though I was only level 45 the pet at least at the lowest levels would really tear through some mobs (tried Elwynn boars and dockmaster mobs) but I was not impressed and full team of 5 was just as fast. Not really a helpful test since I was not at cap and was trying to boost 4 toons rather than just 1-2. I suspect that a fast attack speed beast mastery hunter pet would perform much better at all level ranges versus the warlock pets which will struggle with sustain and mana issues.

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Originally Posted by nodoze

A couple of observations in hindsight regarding the new RAF program including some possible conflicting information:

1. Note that the only benefits on the Classic WoW side are free subscriptions as all XP boosts and virtual items are awarded on the Retail WoW side; You may already have known that but I wanted to restate that just to be clear...
2. As can be seen in this picture from the WoW Retail side, it indicates that after the initial 12 months of rewards I get 1 free month for every 3 month of RAFed subscriptions going forward. It mentions no restrictions nor limits and looks really nice in perpetuity.
3. As can be seen in this picture from the WoW Retail side, it says that each recruited friend can ONLY provide up to 12 subscription months toward my rewards. I do NOT remember seeing this restriction previously and seems to me to now indicate that I can only get 4 months free per RAF (over the course of this first year only). This seems to then be saying that after the first year I can still receive free months (per the first screenshot) but ONLY after I recruit more new accounts...

I think someone mentioned this in another thread but it looks like there will be a conflict on this in the future as it looks like Blizz may already be changing the terms on this new RAF program. That or maybe it was this way all the time but just not communicated properly (or maybe I missed something) but regardless I think many people are going to feel mislead at least and there is likely to be fallout/backlash...

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Yep, that looks to be the case, since they built a counter 0/12 it's almost a guarantee that when it hits 12/12 it will not gift any more recruit time. It seems very important how you link accounts to get the most of what you want. I'm linked with all 4 recruits from my main account, so i will get the 4 free and then 36 months beyond the 12th reward, equaling 12 more months free on my main account. Maybe in a year, when hitting (12/12), they will offer a whole new set of rewards and it would be worth to drop the old and start another 4 if they keep the 70% faster leveling thing.

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Originally Posted by nodoze

[Large RaF Post From Up Above]

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I'm a bit confused on this, so if i generate the link and add 2 new wow accounts i can get 2 months free on account i generated the link on? From what i can see on months 2/5/8/11 you get free game time, is it worth re-rolling to save $40 over the year? or am i missing something here

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Originally Posted by mcmikeyboi

I'm a bit confused on this, so if i generate the link and add 2 new wow accounts i can get 2 months free on account i generated the link on?

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Unless my math or understanding is off I believe you should get 4 months free per account you RAF which would be $120 before tax (12/3*2*$15=$120).

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Originally Posted by mcmikeyboi

I'm confused about this, from what i can see on months 2/5/8/11 you get free game time, is it worth re-rolling to save $40 over the year? or am i missing something here

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That is per account. 4 months free is $60 at base prices per account. Most people here are looking at 5 accounts not 2...

Sorry for any confusion. In my case my friends quit on the server I was on, my server had become dominated by the opposing faction, and I was NOT liking my melee cleave team... I had other friends on a different server offering to help me get going over there and thus since I was essentially starting fresh on a fresh server I decided to just RAF unused/new accounts. Note that I was also considering 10boxing at that time like I used to do in BC/WoTLK...

Note that unless my math is off I think it is $300 for the year for a 5boxer not $40 (not counting tax). 5boxing 5 accounts that RAF each other should result in 1.67 worth of free accounts which is approximately $300 per year not counting tax (1.67 accounts * 12 months * $15 = $300) or (12/3*5*15=$300). This made a lot of sense to me at the time as the deal looked initially to be in perpetuity though later it looks like they added limits which makes the moving to other accounts more questionable.

The above being said, if I was staying on the same server and/or had a team that I actually liked, I would NOT have re-rolled onto new accounts.

I hope that addresses any confusion. Note that I am aware that you can lower the price by signing up for more months at a time but I am just using the base monthly rate above...