Starting over - advice from those that have

[Owltoid]

My current situation:
5 WotLK accounts
5 druids @ 80
quite a few other toons between 60 and 80 (probably 13)
2 vanilla accounts that are currently RAF linked to 2 of the WotLK accounts


I'm debating abandoning all and starting fresh. When I originally started multiboxing I thought I'd just play my druids, and therefore wasted my RAF time. Now if I want to level up toons I either have to do it without RAF or pay transfer fees (gets expensive).

If I started over then I think I could get 5 of each tanking/healing class, and 4 of each pure DPS class allowing for nearly every comination I could want. I could also get a consistent naming scheme which helps with my OCD of needing order to things

What are your experiences on starting over, whether it just be a new realm or abandoning old accounts to start new ones? The biggest hit would be paying for 5x battlechests + WotLK expansion (probably around $300, which is equivalent to 12 transfers). I'm not terribly worried about the money as long as I don't regret starting fresh, but would like ot hear others' experiences.

[Stabface]

Seems like a lot to throw away. Depending on how many toons you have right now to transfer, maybe you can consolidate down to 3 accounts, then open up 2 new RAF accounts or use the existing ones and boost your new alts?

[ILikeTwins]

To be honest with you it is not that bad to level up toons even without RAF. If you have a decently geared druid tank amongst your druids then it would only take about a week to get a group of new toons from 1 to 80.If you are really used to the RAF bonus from 1-60 then it might seem harder but it honestly flies by pretty quick. You wouldn't have RAF after 60 anyway so if you already have a bunch of toons around 60 then you can just level those.

If you really want RAF then I would suggest that you just get a bunch of vanilla wows and use those to RAF up to 60. The only thing you wouldn't be able to do is make a blood elf or draenei. If you really want those races then look for warchests that are on sale. Transferring those toons that you make would be cheaper than completely starting over it would seem. Especially if you need to buy expansions for all of them.

[Owltoid]

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

I keep running into the problem of "this group would be fun" and I don't have the group. For example, I'm currently leveling warlocks. In a few months maybe it will be hunters, or mages, etc. If I knew locks were going to be the last group then I'd be ok stopping, but I'm worried about the constant adding on of new toons.

There have been some valid points made. The leveling time from 1-60 is small compared to 60-80 so if I really want to do this then maybe I should save the money and keep the current accounts.

[Firstcow]

Owltoid, DO NOT get new accounts or use RAF anymore. Now 1-60 is so easy to boost that it's not worth paying the money. Here's a good strategy to level up 1-60 without burning yourself out.
Note that this works only if you make a druid feral and boost only 4 other characters, not 5.

1. DO NOT boost more than 2 hours at a time, ever! Otherwise you get burned out. So every day do 2 hours of boosting and maybe in the weekends do more but take breaks every 2 hours.
2. Lvl 1-10. Just level up normally without any boosting.
3. Lvl 10-18. Deadmines.
4. Lvl 18-22. Stockades.
5. Lvl 22-35. Scarlet Monastery. Only the CATH side, don't bother with the other wings.
6. Lvl 35-45. Zul'farrak.
7. Lvl 45-55. Upper and Lower Blackrock Spires.
8. Lvl 55-58. Hellfire Ramparts.

On average you will get about 2 levels per hour this way, from 10 to 58, so the total is about 24 hours of play time. If you play 2 hours every day during week days and 8 hours in a Sat and another 8 hours on Sun, you can have a new team in one week, and you paid no extra money. Just be consistent and TAKE BREAKS every 2 hours.

[Nighthawk38]

A suggestion from someone of the same mindset. I was in the same boat, Owltoid. Felt like I kinda wasted my RAF by not getting as many toons leveled up as I could have. I also enjoy playing different classes, depending on my "mood" for the day.

Here is my suggestion, and it's what I am currently doing with my guys. Why not take your 5 druids, farm some heroics and do a few Wintergrasp battles. Get yourself 40 triumph badges on each toon, and i think it's about the same in WG marks of honor. Buy a cloth heirloom chest with the badges, and the cloth shoulders (heirloom) with the WG marks. That will give each of the toons you are leveling a 20% XP bonus, all the way thru 80. I would imagine with a druid tank you can boost almost as fast as a pally from 1-60, then you can mix and match questing and instances on the toons from 60-80.

It will take a little longer from 1-60 than if you had RAF, but the 60-80 will be a bit faster because of the heirloom gear.

If you completely start over, you also will need to relevel all those professions as well, don't forget that. And those professions can be worse than leveling the toons themselves.

Just my two cents.

[Drommon]

I have often thought about starting over myself because I know way more now than I did when I started . What has stopped me was the amount of time that I already put in. If you are willing to let go of what was done without regret then do it. What I would do though is try to find a way to use what you have and maybe use heirlooms to give a boost in XP for the new toons. But it sounds to me you want to RAF a bunch of toons to 60 from scratch.

My Pally team was RAFfed to level 42 and then RAF ran out. I leveled them to 78 and today they are 11 days played. Thats a lot of time. I also have a mixed bag of horde and alliance toons at 60 as well. Today I wished that I raffed 5 of each class to 60. I would have started with Pallys, then shaman and so on.

If you are going to start over please have some very clear goals (it sounds like you do). Because you are giving up a LOT.

[kate]

It depends, in part, on what your time is worth.

If I were going to start over, here's how I'd do it:

Keep 1 main account that has an 80 for boosting.
Buy 4 copies of Vanilla (not battle chest or WOTLK - I suspect that once Cataclysm comes out there will be a new battle-chest or deal that offers WOTLK cheaper, and you don't need the expansions until then)
Link them via whatever RAF method is optimal
Boost like mad - getting 1 of everything on the 4 vanilla accounts to 60.
Roll 1 of everything you don't have on the main account, quest in a group/grant levels as needed to get all of those to 60.

I've been thinking about doing something similar, but I'm going to wait until after Cata launches probably to be able to best decide what to do.

Edit: In Cata, guild "talents" will allow you to get a 10 and 20% bonus to leveling speed, from some of the things I've seen - basically replacing the heirlooms. I don't know if it will be cumulative with them, but there's that. Also, we don't know what other kinds of things will come out yet. Leveling 1-60 in Cata may be REALLY easy compared to now, and it will certainly be different.

[Siaea]

Just get the heirlooms from Argent Tourny and it's pretty easy to get to 80. I did it with my alliance shammies and it was cake until 70 (see my "Holy brick wall, batman" post), but it's still not too bad with the 20% exp boost. I wouldn't spend the cash on 5x more battle chests unless you just fart money.

[Owltoid]

Thanks for the helpful replies.

There is something so tempting about a clean slate. I'm sure many have had that feeling. Starting on a new server without any "seed" gold, no boosting and just running instances at level, making a new name for yourself on the server, etc. Obviously I'm trying to debate if that's worth the $325 plus TONS of time.

I considered waiting until Cata, but there's no guarantee RAF will be around. In fact, since they're redesigning all the old content, I wouldn't be surprised if they did away with RAF. They'd likely keep 1-60 similar to what it is now, decrease 60-70 exp a bit, and heavily decrease 70-80 required exp to level (thereby keeping the leveling time from 1-85 roughly similar to the current non-RAF 1-80).

It would be sooo sweet to have all my teams names exactly how I want them and have everything unison based on the knowledge I've gained multiboxing for the last 1.5 years.

Not an easy decision...

One perk of starting new accounts is that I would have 5 legacy WotLK accounts in case I ever decided to 10-box (not likely, but you never know). I do make very good money at my job, but recently lost a ton investing in options... not my brightest moment in life.