Anyone done 1-60 non-raf recently?

[Khatovar]

I'm currently at about 17 days /played 1-77 on my newest 5-man. No RAF, no boosting, no heirloom items. Of course there's a good bit of idle time in there with bringing up Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Engineering and Enchanting, and generally dicking around.

Overall, it sucked. I felt like I was dragging ass through most of the old world even though I skipped a ton. Outland went faster than I expected. I did Hellfire, Zangar, Terrokar and Nagrand...I could have left for Northrend halfway through Nagrand, but I get all OCD sometimes. Not something I have any intention of doing again until the expansion. Even then I'd probably have to be pretty bored or pretty desperate for a class I don't have.

[lans83]

Still workin on my teams and yes, it is sucking, the slow trek without the RAF. So far my teams are:

Priest + 3 Hunters Lvl 48 (Priest leads)
4 Locks Lvl 30 (I can just imagine my victim's reactions when they have 4xCurse of Agony + 4xCorruptions hit them all of a sudden)
4 Druids Lvl 25 (Feral is awesome this way)
4 Pallies Lvl 50 (My favorite team now. Plaguelands are more enjoyable now. Can't wait till I can get into Stratholm)

So far those are the teams I'm working on, next will be my Warrior leading either two Mages or two Priests for dps and a Priest for heals. Yes, it is slow and at times painful, but I didn't really want to exploit the RAF deal to begin with. It just woulda burnt me out quicker IMO on playin if I powerleveled all my toons up so fast. I got burnt out on my Hunter before the Lich King after I got him to 70 and got his Gladiator set, so I started working on more alts after him. I didn't have time to run instances, so PvP was about all I could do to get new and better gear with him.

Times can vary on leveling speeds according to your play schedule and style. Don't take on any crafting/gathering proffessions and you will level faster. Pick good spots to grind for xp, or run instances over and over you know you can clear easily and fast without wiping with your teams. I'm just now hitting up Western Plaguelands with my Pallies and these zombies are goin down really fast. I'm actually able to round up good size mobs and just toss down 4xConsecrations+4xHoly Wraths and they're down in no time.

At first, I was gonna try and get all my Hunters to 80 first, highest toon I have is 74, and use them to grind the BGs and instances for the heirlooms, but at this rate, I think my Pallies will do that now. Better chance running that team thru instances since I have an actual tank other than a bear, or 4 bears to use that'll die easier. I'm still able to do old world instances with both teams without wiping, much, but grinding can get old for anyone. When you run your teams, make sure to take on quests you haven't done before on your other toons, if any at all. Collection quests can make it seem painful to some, but it can also be a reason for you to grind for xp. Looting on slaves is the painful part IMO, even with the new 'Interact with target' option. That's about the biggest problem I have with having to grind mobs outside instances. On that note, there are upsides to doing collection quests. 1, you get a shitload of xp just from running and gunning mob, depending on the team mockup. 2, humanoid mobs can provide a steady income for your team as you grind, along with good clothe stacks to either use or sale for more money. 3, skinnable beasts are also a good thing to grind on as well for the same reason as the clothe. 4, rep from kills, if you're getting any at all. I went from 0 neutral to friendly with the Argent Dawn on my Pally team from completing 2 quests and grinding the zombies at the graveyard outside Uthor's Tomb in about an hour, if that. Not sure really how much rep I got from the quests, but still, this can help give you a goal to work on as well. I'm gonna be in the Plaguelands now till I hit 58, then off to Outlands for me for the better gear.

Like Ugh, alot of my time on my teams were spent on professions, going afk, and talking to friends instead of actually playing. Hold these off till you hit the level cap if you want to make leveling faster. Even gathering ones. Herb is the worst to try and skill up. Mining is second, but atleast you can get it up most of the way from smelting now. More now than you could in the past. Skinning's not so bad, but can be a pain if it's on your slaves. Then you have to deal with the lag from getting them to target the corpse then skin it. It's easier and faster if done on your main. The added +Crit Chance from Anatomy helps you hold aggro on tanks.Wish I woulda thought about that before leveling up my crafting proffs on my main so much when I started out. :/