New RAF Team PVE Leveling

[paulmr1968]

About to finally start MBing and using RAF. Looking to eventually have a 5 Shaman PVP BG team. Wouldn't mind having a Pally on one of the accounts to do instances, so I'm wondering should I level as Pally+ 4 Shaman or as 5 Shaman? I'm looking for fast leveling. Should I just quest or spend time on instances? (when leveling in the past I did it mostly solo so I didn't do the sub-60 instances and thus don't know them that well).

Also for my RAF, I'm planning on doing A-B-C and then have B-D-E. This way I can give free levels to two accounts. I figure if I stop MBing, i might dual-box and would like having multiple classes available at lvl 60 on 2 accounts.

[Ualaa]

In general the A - B - C - D - E approach is stronger, because of the Cascading Levels effect. You can grant levels, based off of granted levels received. Not saying the A - B - C and B - D - E won't work, even A - B, A - C, A - D and A - E will work just fine, if you'd wanted all the granted levels on A, and 4 Zhevra mounts on A as well.

In the case of Paladin x1 + Shaman x4 and Shaman x5 for BG's, I'd personally level 5x Shaman in one group. This makes hotkeys and macro's incredibly easy, as every toon has the same stuff.

Then level a Paladin as part of a mixed team, where the Pally is the tank and you have whatever second group you'd like to try. Or possibly a full mixed group. With an actual tank, you have the option of instancing instead of questing for the Pally group.

If you have an existing toon on your original account, especially a tank type toon or an AoE type class, then boosting will be the fastest by a long shot. However, when you boost, you're only leveling 4 toons at once. Still the leveling speed can be pretty amazing.

I'd personally level as many teams as you think you'd possibly want to try at one point, to 60th. Then park them somewhere and start on another team. The 60 to 80 process is a lot slower then the 1 to 60 process. Plus while you have RAF, the 1-60 is very fast and the more teams you level in the 3 months, the more granted levels you get.

I used an existing account to boost with, and did four accounts with RAF. Leveled 4x Shamans, Druids, Priests and Hunters. I really wish I had done Warlocks (have them created at 1st level, but have not started on this team yet) and would like to have an all melee team too. I easily had over a month of RAF time remaining, when I started the 60+ grind, so more teams would have easily been possible. And 1-60 with RAF is so much faster and easier.

The first team to level, I'd go with questing. If you don't have gold from a main, only purchase essential skills... like the current Lightning Bolt, Water Shield and Lesser Healing Wave. You might want Ghost Wolf, Flame Shock (once you get Lava Burst) etc. This gets you your essential skills. Once you hit Outland, quest rewards will quickly fill out all of your abilities. But with RAF, and the insane leveling speed, its impossible to train all skills as you level, without gold from an already existing main.

Once you have at least one team at 60th, you can use one of them to boost with, if you'd like. A level 60 is not terribly geared, but they'll destroy the lower instances, even if they just quickly single target mobs down in rapid succession. If you have the gold, it might be worthwhile to pay for instance runs, purely for being boosted. A decent progression is SFK - SM - ZF - Strat - Ramparts - Underbog or as alliance Deadmines - Stockades - SM - ZF - Strat - Ramparts - Underbog.

Once all your teams are 60th, you can play one and then another, to always have rested.

Good luck and welcome to dual-boxing.

[paulmr1968]

Thanks Ualaa.

I'm partial to trying to get all free granted levels into two accounts. I understand the cascading effect. I have old WoW accounts but I'm not using them for this. I may reactivate them later. They don't have high enough horde toons.

I'll go 5x Shaman for leveling by quests. Yeah, I'd like to do as many RAF teams as possible before it runs out. Starting with Shaman, and want Warlock, Mage, Priest, Druid and maybe Paladin too. That would leave Warrior, Rogue, Hunter and DK as non-60 teams. But if I pumped all the free levels into two accounts, I could have 60's of those 4 classes as well on two accounts. So two accounts would have 60's for all ten classes and the other accounts would have 5-6 60's. That seems to give me a lot of options long-term as to what classes to play.

I thought if you have linked RAF accounts you couldn't boost with them. Example A-B-C-D-E, and A has a level 60 (from first RAF team) and B-C-D-E have new level 1's for a new team, I thought boosting would not be at 3x speed because the accounts are linked for RAF. Or was that changed?

Finally, I'm planning on leveling with Elemental to keep them all casters, unless Interact with Target and Enhancement are the way to go these days.

Thanks again.

[Ualaa]

If you go A - B - C - D - E.

And A is a level 80.
And the group is all five toons.

B does not get RAF experience based on being grouped with A.
Because of the level difference, and A being 60 or higher.

However B does gain RAF experience when grouped with C.
Because they're within 5 levels and are both 59th or lower.

[paulmr1968]

Ok, just so I'm sure.

If the group was only A-B and A was lvl 60 and B was lvl 1. RAF experience would not accrue to B.

However, if the group was A-B-C and A was lvl 60 and B and C were both lvl 1, then B and C would accrue RAF experience because they are linked. And the same for A-B-C-D-E because B-C-D-E are linked.

But if you do A-B; A-C; A-D; A-E and A is lvl 60 and B, C, D, E are all lvl 1, then none of the level 1's get RAF.

Also,

Gifted levels from E-D (in a A-B-C-D-E setup), allow D to regift them to C at the same 2:1 ratio. So when a lvl 60 on E, grants 30 levels to D, the D toon who got the 30 levels can turn around and gift 15 levels to a C toon. (This part I've been pretty sure of, but I now see the cascading effect clearer.)

So in a A-B-C-D-E setup, 60 levels on E become 30 levels on D and 15 levels on C and 7 levels on B and 3 levels on A.

Matrix

E 60
D 30 60
C 15 30 60
B 7 15 30 60
A 3 7 15 30 60

Result:

E 60 toon
D 60 toon plus a 30 toon
C 60 toon plus a 45 toon
B 60 toon plus a 52 toon
A 60 toon plus a 55 toon

Ok, so I'll change from A-B-C and B-D-E to the standard A-B-C-D-E.

[Toned]

A -Plvler
B - C
D - E = Profit

I'm in the process of converting over to 10 boxing so I just fired up a new round of RAFs... hitting 60 in like 18-19hours = WIN.

[Ualaa]

The only reason to not go A - B - C - D - E, is if you already have more then one existing account, and want to level new toons on each.




If you own two accounts - A and B, and want to five box, go:
A - C - D
B - E




If you own A, B and C already, and want to five box, you are forced to have one not gain RAF exp's, but you can boost with that account and possibly transfer a toon down the road.
A
B - D
C - E




If you already own 4 accounts, I'd only purchase 4 classic accounts, not even upgrading those to burning crusade.
Link them like this (ABCD old -and- EFGH as new):
A - E
B - F
C - G
D - H

Then you group ABEF together, and boost with C or D.
Then you group CDGH together and boost with A or B.

The 1-60 takes 1/3rd of the normal time with RAF.
Doing it twice increases this to 2/3rds normal time.
Which is still a big boost, especially with multiple teams.

The EFGH accounts need not be upgraded at all.
Create humans or orcs on them, and group them with keeper accounts.
And ditch them once RAF expires.




If you have only one account which you're keeping, use it to chain RAF all of the others.

I always suggest linking like this:
A - B - C - D - E

To form a chain like this, you would sent an RAF invite to yourself, from Account A's account management. Then use the code emailed to you to create a trial/RAF account. Then use a retail cd-key to upgrade the trial account. Then the repeat the process, but each time do it from the new accounts page.

The Battlechests are probably the best option for accounts which you intend to keep. They are marginally cheaper then Classic Warcraft + Burning Crusade. I would imagine Blizzard will put out a Classic + Burning Crusade + Wrath box at some point after the release of Cataclysm.




The account with the best boosting toon will be referred to as Account A.

The best booster is usually a Prot. Paladin, although any tank class is a strong choice too (Death Knight, Feral Druid or Warrior).

An AoE class is good, but they don't have the survivability to boost in the more difficult dungeons.




They have changed the granting levels.

A toon RAF'd to 60th can now grant 30 levels (instead of 29 levels at 59th).

With boosting, you can go 1st to 60th in 10-12 hours /played.

A week is more common, for experienced but not hardcore players.




Let's say (over the course of 3 months of RAF) you boost a 4x group of:
Druids, Hunters, Mages, Paladins, Shamans and Warlocks...

That is 6 toons, or (6x30) 180 levels to grant.




A Has 0 RAF Toons and a Booster.
B Has 6 Toons and grants A 180 levels.
C Has 6 Toons and grants B 180 levels.
D Has 6 Toons and grants C 180 levels.
E Has 6 Toons and grants D 180 levels.




But we have cascade linked our accounts into a chain.

B Has received 180 levels from C and can give an extra 90 levels to A
C Has received 180 levels from D and can give an extra 90 levels to B
D Has received 180 levels from E and can give an extra 90 levels to C




And...

B Has received 90 more levels from C and can give 45 more to A
C Has received 90 more levels from D and can give 45 more to B




And...
B Has received 45 more levels from C and can give another 22 to A.




So A in total has 180+90+45+22... 337 levels.
A boosted: Druids, Hunters, Mages, Paladins, Shamans and Warlocks.

Let's assume A boosted with a DK.
And that you are only interested in playing the six classes we boosted, each as a 5-box group.

337 divided by 6 = 56.16.

On A, we will need to create one of each of those six classes.
We will want to level them to 4th.
And ideally be 19+ bubbles into 4th level.
We do not want them to ding 5th, from exploration exp's if we move them about.

We can grant levels to any toon our level or lower.
But cannot grant levels to a toon of 60th or higher level.
So a toon who is 59th, can be level granted to 60th with a 60th or higher toon.

56 granted levels to a level 4 toon, makes the new toon 60th level after granted levels.
And they'll still be 19 bubbles into their level, probably 61st by the time they arrive in Hellfire.

[Moorea]

If you go A - B - C - D - E.

And A is a level 80.
And the group is all five toons.

B does not get RAF experience based on being grouped with A.
Because of the level difference, and A being 60 or higher.

However B does gain RAF experience when grouped with C.
Because they're within 5 levels and are both 59th or lower.

I asked that earlier and I'm pretty sure everybody said it does work and B does get 3x bonus even though A is high level in party, because of C being there - which is it ? I need to know soon as that's what I plan to do (A booster)

[Ualaa]

A is level 80, or 943 doesn't matter.

B and C are the same level (or within 4 levels of each other anyway) and are 59th or lower.

A -- B -- C is the link.

A and B do not get RAF.
So if C has disconnected, then B is shit out of luck.

B -- C is a link, so when they're grouped there is RAF.

So A -- B -- C.
You have no RAF from the A -- B link.
But you have RAF from the B -- C link.
So as long as B and C are together, they both get RAF.
It does not matter that B gets no RAF from its link to A.... it does get the RAF from its link to C.

But if either of B or C is gone, the other loses its RAF when only grouped with A.
Because A doesn't meet the requirements for the RAF bonus.

Pretty sure that's what I said in the portion you quoted.

[shaeman]

They don't have high enough horde toons.

Do they have high enough alliance toons? If they do, it might be worth faction transfering one of those highlevel toons so you can boost to 60 that bit quicker.