Optimal leveling strategy for speed?

[iceyone]

Okay, I finally have spent some time 5-boxing and I feel like I have the hang of it. I'm going to consider my 1 Pally 4x Shaman team the sacrificial lambs, because I spent a ton of time getting all the kinks worked out and figuring out the way I like to do things.

Now that I've done that, I've come to solicit some opinions from you guys regarding optimal leveling strategy go end up with either 1xPally 3xShaman 1xBoomkin or 1xPally 4xShaman in the shortest time possible (to 60).

Here is what I have available:

1. First, I screwed up linking my RAF accounts, so I can only donate 29 levels (or 30 I guess) to any one account.
2. I have the following level 70 toons available on my main acct for boosting: Hunter, Warlock, Shadow Priest. I also have a level 65 Druid, but I'm guessing they're not great for boosting. Anyways, out of the Warlock and Hunter, I'm not sure which is considered better for boosting. Any prevailing opinions here? I know Pallys are the kings of this, but I don't have one.

Here's what I'm thinking, but I don't know if this is a good idea or not:
Roll with 5x shaman until SM. Then take the 4 shaman that are going to make it and boost them through SM with either my lock or my hunter. Then roll a Pally & a druid and level them (getting RAF bonus) to say level 25. I should then be able to gift them both up to 50 (assuming that's where I stop with boosting for this theoretical example). Then go on with either my 1P 3S 1D team or 1P 4S, depending on whether or not I can hang running 3 classes at once (which I'm not sure about).

Does this sound like a winning strategy? Is there a better way to do it?


(Update: I forgot to mention, my 70s are all on different servers; one is Alliance, one is Horde PvE and one is Horde PvP... So I can't just mix and match between my 70s to easily find out)

[accretion]

I'd recommend the following:

• Pally + 4x Shaman - It's much easier than any 3-class setup and is viable for any lvl 70 or Heroic instance
• Level all 5 up to 30, then swap out the Pally for either the Lock or the Hunter, then quest boost to 60.
• Gift the Pally from 30-60 and you're all set. All in all, it should only take you 2-3 days /played if you avoid the "bad" drop quests
• If you want to add a Druid option, then your original description makes sense, but will take about twice as long (guessing 4-5 days /played)

[iceyone]

Interesting. I'd originally planned on taking 5x Shaman to 30 because of level disparity with the various totem quests. You think that it would still be faster to go with 1xP 4xS, keeping in mind that the pally has to do extra work to keep up? (Gifting the extra levels prior to 30 is no bueno, since I'll need those levels to grant from 30-60).

Edit: Hahah nevermind, I see the error of my ways. Of course it'd be faster for the Pally to make up a level or two between 1 and 30 than it would be to go from 1 to 30, even with RAF-ing. Sorry about the confusion

[Rigz]

For my 2 cents when it comes to outdoor questing, nothing beats a warlock/hunter. Set up your macros so that your main is one of the lobies and tag mobs then have a macro to send in your warlock/hunter pet. You not only get full exp for the kill but the real benefit is that it is super relaxing. I never tried a hunter so I only speak from lock experience, but I assume hunter pets pretty much do the same thing.

Its like having your own AI controlled level 70 minion to do your dirty work. The felguard pretty much 1-3 shots anything up through about level 50, they still own after that they just don't wtfpwn in seconds.

I'm sure boosting is faster but for my money questing is way less burnout. With raf the the ability to get full exp from tagging first really adds up too.

Edit* if it was not clear the warlock/huner is not grouped with your lobies and they cannot do any other damage to get the full exp for the kill, just send in pet.