[RAF] when to go to outlands.

I did a search both on this forum and an external google search to see if there was mentionn of this but couldn't find any, so I've done the unthinkable and created a separate RAF thread.

Would you recommend staying in Azeroth with my RAF team till 60, or head on through the portal at 58?

I'm thinking it would be nice to make use of 3x the XP in outlands to get to 60 and it would be nice to get gear from quests to head in to the instances as soon after 60 as possible.

Any thoughts? Any problems I dont know about - like 3 x XP not applying in outlands :)

Well, the mobs in Outlands actually give more xp then the mobs of equal level in Azeroth. that being said, since you're already getting the RaF bonus and (if you have at least 3 toons) the party bonus, I'd just stay in Azeroth and knock out a couple quests.

Since you get the 3x xp on quests, you'll be 60 soon enough. Then go to Outlands and kill mobs/quest out there as both the mobs and quests are worth more xp and you won't have the RaF bonus anymore.

Here is the pro and con if you go to outland at 58

pro the mobs/quests in outland give about double the xp then old world. So you will be able to get to 60 really quick if you go to outland at 58.

con if you start doing quests at 58 you will have to do some grinding because you will run out of quests (or you can do the collect quests, which some of the drop rates suck). 1/2 of the quests you can do at 58, 1/4 at 60 and another 1/4 at 61.

I went to hellfire at 58 to get some gear (was planning to do BG but the que time was too long so i just lvled). I did about 1/2 of the collect quests, which only put me at 60. the 60-61 is a huge difference (you are not getting the decreased xp anymore). I had to grind 60 to 61 in instance. Finished the rest of the quests and went to the next zone at 61.2. Grinded in UB (found ub much easier then sp) till honored, which put me at 62. From there i did all the quests (except the major pain drop quests, like the ells, that took me 15 minutes on 1 of my guys so there was no way i was going to attempt that on a team of 5). Right now i am at 67.5 I have about 2 zones left. Bad part is some of the pick up quests are starting to be the first quest in a chain. I probably have enough quests to get me to 68.5, but hopefully to 69. Then time for my grind for honor then do the 69 - 70 grind.

But to sum up it all depends on how you want to play.

If you are just grinding in old world, then come to outland because mobs give better xp.
If you don't mind grinding rep in instances to catch up to quests lvls, then come to outland.
If you want to quest the whole time, then stick to the old land till 60 (i heard some people even stay till 61).

Thanks Drizzit, great summary.

I will go through the portal at 58. Purely from an impatience point of view. I see the portal trip as a right of passage for my characters.

I'm actually looking forward to spending a lot of time in the instances - I haven't done a single instance with the group so will be working out a lot of kinks as i go. I'll have to gear up initially with the first few quests but can sub in various high levels to help out with the runs (although nerfing XP) till I get my group dynamic sorted... e.g The pally I've got has killed about 5 mobs in total. I'll need to have him beat on a boar for half an hour and have my shaman heal him to get his sword skills up (the downside of gifted levels). I've also never tanked with him (but have read the paladin tanking thread on here so will know what I want to do )

I'm going to use rested XP to my advantage as much as possible. I plan on trying to get honoured status with as many factions as possible, so I've got some okayish pvp gear for some 70 fun.

All in all I'm glad RAF came along. It got me past that toying with multiboxing stage, got me past the big long grind to 70 I viewed levelling as, and made me realise that (certainly for the first group) it can be fun levelling as a group.

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Originally Posted by 'shaeman',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106381#post 106381

The pally I've got has killed about 5 mobs in total. I'll need to have him beat on a boar for half an hour and have my shaman heal him to get his sword skills up (the downside of gifted levels)

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My pally was the same way almost. He was 30 when i started power lvling him. Got him to 58 and i went out side of org (with my lvl 70 sham), put my d aura up, grabbed about 10 mobs (i unequipped my weapon cause the skill in it would 1 hit a mob) and just let them beat on me. He is where the secret is i dropped a healing totem. I wasn't taking any damage (i was but when the totem ticked i was full power). You don't have a lvl 70 sham, but you have 4 x healing totems. I think it took me about 20 minutes to get to max skill. I might have to do this with my shams... they are only at 273 at lvl 67 (i'll do that after i get to 70).

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Originally Posted by 'shaeman',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106381#post 106381

but have read the paladin tanking thread on here so will know what I want to do

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OMG (not toward you but towards how easy pally is). Pally tank is so easy you don't have to think. Almost never tank (only tanked once with my warrior), but i have to say there is no thought about tanking with pally. Half the time my pally isn't even attacking the mobs and my guys cannot pull them off of the pally.

Sorry to derail the train, but when you guys do odd race combos (horde pally and shamans don't have the same starting area) do you just get all the toons together from level 1 (easy now with RaF) or level up the first couple levels in the starting area?

I know every starting area has it's own "chain" quests for that race. Usually it's all of 3-5 total quests that other races cannot do and ammounts to about 7k xp total over the course of levels 1-12, but it's still questing.

I guess I need to get out of the habit of trying to do every quest like I do when I solo play.

My pally was lvl 26 (i just remember now, well i think at least). I would say start in your own area until you are at least honored with them (probably around lvl 10) that way you get the 10% decrease in costs (spells and mounts). Then pick one area and meet there.

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Originally Posted by 'Aethon',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106392#post1 06392

Sorry to derail the train, but when you guys do odd race combos (horde pally and shamans don't have the same starting area) do you just get all the toons together from level 1 (easy now with RaF) or level up the first couple levels in the starting area?

I know every starting area has it's own "chain" quests for that race. Usually it's all of 3-5 total quests that other races cannot do and ammounts to about 7k xp total over the course of levels 1-12, but it's still questing.

I guess I need to get out of the habit of trying to do every quest like I do when I solo play.

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I leveled two gnome mages in the Draenii starting zone, it was a blast. :) You lose the rep for your faction, but you can go a good ways towards getting a cross faction mount (I want my gnomes on Eleks...heh heh heh).


And yes, do as many quests as you can, if you're not 5 boxing. It really adds up fast, and you get to see a lot of content you normally would'nt. I've found a few quests I did'nt know existed when the game came out, that were a blast!

I also just did the Infernal quest in Felwood for my lock...lol...awesome, the payoff, besides the infernal talent, is worth the ride. :)

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Originally Posted by 'Drizzit',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106384#post 106384

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Originally Posted by 'shaeman',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106381#post 106381

but have read the paladin tanking thread on here so will know what I want to do

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OMG (not toward you but towards how easy pally is). Pally tank is so easy you don't have to think. Almost never tank (only tanked once with my warrior), but i have to say there is no thought about tanking with pally. Half the time my pally isn't even attacking the mobs and my guys cannot pull them off of the pally.

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I'm always wary when people say how easy a class is. It can be a case of jealousy, or people not knowing how to play the class, So I tend to assume that any class takes skill. (I know there is a particular prejudice against Belf Paladins :) )

It's great news though - I would prefer my paladin was like an earth elemental than as something I will have to micromanage.

This is all i do and i don't pull anything (well i pull if i get trigger happy at the start of the pull). To start off cast Greater Blessing of Salvation on your team, then cast Righteous Fury and Blessing of Sanctuary on yourself. At first i used Retribution Aura for that extra agro, but i haven't lost it so i use Devotion Aura (i will continue to use it until i cannot hold agro anymore then i will go back to ret). Now on the pull i cast Avenger's Shield, when the mobs are almost in melee i cast Consecration and take a few steps back when global cd is done i cast Holy Shield. Once the mobs step into the consecrat and hit me once i cast LB followed by a chain lightning, then lb, then 4 x lesser heals (gets me back to full) then repeat. I usually only cast Holy Shield once and Consecration maybe twice. I also have Petrified Lichen Guard with a iron shield spike on it (which helps). My spell damage is about 250. Half the time my pally isn't swinging her weapon (i usually keep an eye on her health and sham to make sure they are casting), when the mob is almost dead i am like WTF she isn't swinging. Now this is only normal outland instances not heroic or lvl 70 instances (don't think the lvl 70 would be much different).

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Originally Posted by 'shaeman',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106420#post 106420

I'm always wary when people say how easy a class is. It can be a case of jealousy, or people not knowing how to play the class, So I tend to assume that any class takes skill. (I know there is a particular prejudice against Belf Paladins :) )

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Paladin tanking it very easy compared to other tanks. You don't have to aim Consecrate at all. A warrior has to mash a half dozen buttons. A warrior has to tag each mob individually. A warrior also starts each fight with no capacity to do any specials. Duid is much the same as a warrior, but they seem to be able to get the agro going quicker.

As far as belf paladins being discriminated against, there was nothing funnier on the boards when BC came out. All the Alliance paladins were screaming at how bad paladins were and every belf paladin was just happy as anything, which just ticked off the alliance even more.

I would say level to 60 in Azeroth, WPL and EPL are great finishers and will last you even 54-60.

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Originally Posted by 'Seraphaw',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106432#pos t106432

I would say level to 60 in Azeroth, WPL and EPL are great finishers and will last you even 54-60.

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I agree with this, yeah go through the portal at 58 as a celebration but go back to Azeroth, do your EPL turn ins at least if you can afford the stuff off the AH (savage fronds, bone fragments, etc.), quick and easy xp before you hit 60 and the RAF bonus is gone. You'll run out of quests in Hellfire if you just blast through them without rested time starting at 58 before hitting 61 if I remember correctly. Having hit Hellfire at 58 with two toons and now at 60 with my 5 shaman, going at 60 is a lot easier and flows better to 61 and beyond with the quests. If you're going to heavily grind instances then it doesn't matter much (if you're geared enough to do them).

I've never waited to 60, always going through the portal at 58. I've never run out of quests on my way to 70. Just do some instances here and there, and with a little rest xp, getting to 70 shouldn't be a big deal.

Regarding skilling up boosted characters or other characters for multiboxers, In the blasted lands near the portal. You'll notice servants up on the ledge around the crater. (There are 5 or 6 around the upper edge of the crater near portal)

All of the servants are near pylon looking objects.

These guys are for a quest, they cannot be killed unless you have quest and can click on pylon, they will stay alive forever at 1% unless you run away in which case they'll reset.
They don't hit that hard, they are level 57, you can skill defense and weapon skills on them all day. They attack fast.
It's a one stop wonder for pre outlands =)

I just went over there pre outlands and skilled up all 5 of my guys weapons at the same time lol

58 In Hellfire and doing all the quest can maybe get you to 62, but if you're not 62 by the time you're ready to Zangarmarsh, you will not get most of the quests available there.

That's why I prefer to be 60 when I start in Hellfire. Unless you're Ramparts boosting from 55 for the faction.

I went to Hellfire at 58, but my plan was to spend a lot of times grinding instances to ensure that I have the faction for the pvp sets. I'm 68 now and have only quested in Zangarmarsh and Hellfire. I'm honored with all the factions for the pvp gear except the helm which requires Sha'tar. Honestly my eyes are about to bleed from doing so many instances and I would recomend questing a decent bit to break up the monotony.

With the RAF bonus I see no reason for jumping into outlands before 60. You should be no where near running out of quests on Azeroth.

I went to Outlands at 59, with like 4 bubbles to go. WPL was giving me so much exp, I didn't want to start wasting Outland quests and end up in Zangarmarsh at 60 or something.

Here's what I did:

1-8 Quests
9-16 RFC
17-22 SFK
23-40 SM
40-59 Quests (STV, Feralas, Tanaris, Ungoro, Winterspring, WPL)

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Originally Posted by 'Drizzit',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106349#post 106349

pro the mobs/quests in outland give about double the xp then old world. So you will be able to get to 60 really quick if you go to outland at 58.

con if you start doing quests at 58 you will have to do some grinding because you will run out of quests (or you can do the collect quests, which some of the drop rates suck).

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Not to nitpick, but aren't those two statements contradictory under the triple xp rules?

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Originally Posted by 'Drizzit',index.php?page=Thread&postID=106349#post 106349

con if you start doing quests at 58 you will have to do some grinding because you will run out of quests

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Never had that problem, even without RAF. Since 58-60 is going to go reaaaal quick with RAF, you're not missing out on much. Just leave the zone when you run out of quests, no big deal.

I like going to the outlands and gear up with quest items. At 61/62 I like to go back and run Scholo and Strath each once getting all the quests done (With the chance of getting the mount). When I am done with that I return to the outlands and usually hae enough stuff to do till 70 without the need to grind.

If you have RAF, you're going to get roughly 600xp per kill in Outlands, just from regular mobs.

If you're on a PvE server the answer is easily to go out there at 58 and start picking up gear immediately. Those two levels are fast without RAF.

If you're on a PvP server, you might not want to grind as it's a little more combative out there, with 70's flying around. Questing should still be good. You can pick up 4-5 items in the first hour of questing out there.

You'll get six times the EP in outland with RaF and Ding 60 in no time. On the other hand: IIRC there have been a lot of nice kill quest in Silithus, so I might not matter that much.