Darker's RAF pala boosting guide, Cataclysm edition

After finishing another leveling project, this time inspired by Blizzards new buddy account system, I thought it would be nice to share some of this stuff with others too. Most of this stuff can be reproduced with other classes too even if this guide is mostly written from paladins perspective. Additionally, while this style works without buddy account invite and 3 accounts too, it will propably be faster to go with traditional leveling guides if you can't multibox effectively.

I have also included current level requirements for dungeon quests for those instances I've bothered to check out during the recent RAFfing experiments. Tripled dungeon quests can significantly reduce your /played while boosting, even with added work of looting quest markers during the run.

First, some info about the buddy account system :

You can send an invite to "lure" new customers to play Blizzards epic timesink (WoW). By doing so, your account and the invited account are linked for few months, both accounts gaining bonuses such as :

- 3 x XP rate from mobs and quests
- 1 bonus level to one of invitees characters for each 2 levels the invited player levels his own characters
- in-game chevra mount blah blah, irrelevant to my interests as a multiboxer...

So, in a nutshell, when you invite a friend to join the online sensation, you both get insanely good XP rate for leveling together. This only applies as long as you are partied together and on the same zone. The most important thing here is that while these linked accounts are partied together, it doesn't matter if there's a 3rd non-linked account with them, they will still receive 3 x XP rate, which enables us to do some good old paladin AoE boosting for these fresh characters, with 3 x XP gain.

Another really important bit of information. The mobs you are killing have to be non-trivial (as in not grey) for each of the linked characters. Grinding L25 mobs with L25+L40 chars means you won't get the experience bonus as the mobs are trivial to the higher character.

My approach for this leveling style relies on boost runs. It's pretty viable option even with a reduced XP rate with one high level character pulling the lowbies through, as the buddy system gain still gives 3 x XP no matter the party composition, as long as the linked account characters are in the same group.

I've done multiple runs since starting the whole experiment of RaF boosting in 2009, latest one during the fall of 2011. Many things have changed since the early runs, mainly the instance combination used in the process. I've also tried to optimize the XP rates a bit by using full heirlooom sets on both leveling accounts. While it does not stack upon the actual 3 x bonus (it would be kinda insane if it did..), but you can still shave a lot of time off your best runs with heirloom sets.

Instances

We use 5 instances along the way, each listed below with the screenshots (updated later) to indicate the pull routes and AoE spots. Each pull route is marked with a colorful line, and each AoE spot marked with a crossed circle. Naturally you can vary these, I've tried to gather as big pulls as possible while maintaining the ability to boost without using mana pots or anything other that would cost me extra gold. In the end, repairing your 3 shields and your whole boosting gear 2 times / day becomes pretty expensive too, so I tried to avoid additional costs.

Few words about the choice of instances. Many things have changed in Cataclysm, along with the instance level caps, which also has a huge impact on planning the boost run routes. Deadmines is optional, and bear in mind, it could even be ineffective XP/hour wise. I haven't bothered to run through the rates for doing quests in starter zones versus the rate gained with a fast full clear of Deadmines, but it could go either way. I still trust the good ol' DM because it's easier to drag the alt train behind you killing stuff, rather than accept dozens of quests or share them between the screen for both characters.

Levels 10-15 : Deadmines

Quest level requirements
Deadmines requires character level 15

I used no special pulls for the DM part, mainly because it just takes so damn long to even run through the whole DM and all the way back for a big pull right next to the portal, so I just do it the traditional way, alts in follow, and rush through killing packs on stop points such as bosses.

Levels 15-21 : The Stockade

One stockade run is pretty straightforward. I use one huge pull to clear the whole place up, starting from the entrance, pulling the rooms in the first corridor, then moving on to the left, pulling the last circle shaped room first and the corridor rooms after that. Lastly, we move to right side and pull the corridor rooms, followed by a hasty return to the first corridor and the first non-pulled room on it that we use as an AoE spot.

Keep in mind that the huge train running after you will still be able to snare and knockdown you, and thus bleed your HP down bit by bit while you're unable to mitigate and damage, so adjust the pull according to your gear and preference. Too many packs, with a bit of bad luck with knockdowns and snares, and you might still find yourself getting killed before you can finish of the clear.

In a nutshell : one big pull, use Blessing of Freedom to keep moving, use Cleanse to keep moving, use bubble to make it to the AoE spot if needed. Remember to keep your boosted alts safely on the main entrance, as far away from the action as possible. They shouldn't be in combat so using that bubble to move should be relatively safe. Biggest downside in stockade rotation is that the runs are pretty short, hence it's possible that you have to take some breaks to let the instance limit cooldown to tick off.

Levels 21-37 : SM Cathedral

Quest level requirements
Graveyard requires character level 26
Library requires character level 29
Armory requires character level 32
Cathedral requires character level 35

Bit more work is needed in clearing SM Cath in comparison to stockade, but not much. Once again, we go with one huge pull, AoE'ing the train in the first corridor.next to the instance portal. After entering the instance, just run straight to the main cathedral and range pull Mograine. On your way out, pull the gate guards and the whole upper courtyard with bodypulls, them move to the lower courtyard and body pull all the packs below. Just remember, you have to pull mograine first, because it gets pretty darn hard to open the cathedral door while you have 40 elites gnawing your butt! Also there's no need to move your alts from the instance portal, just train the whole pack down there and use the last corner for LoS to get 'em all into range.

I also encountered some weird mob reset issues with Cath, might be they've done something sneaky with the instance since my last boosting runs here. Most of the time the normal Mograine pull should work just fine though.

Levels 37-48 : Stratholme - Service Entrance

Strat has had it's level requirements lowered conciderably since the vanilla times, so it's perfect for our midway leveling choice on the road to 60. The pull is now ran from the service side gate, pulling all the mobs on baron's side of the instance, up to the baron's courtyard gates with all the abominations roaming around without care. I have to admit, I actually did not check out if the gates still lock behind you after pulling the abos on the yard, so you might be able to squeeze in that few 1000 of xp rate by trying to include those in the pull too.

Other than that, just run the normal baron's route, from the first mob spawns go left, pull everything up to the trap gateway, then pull everything in the next corridor up to Maleki, and finally everything up to baroness and her courtyard, backtracking to the instance portal through Maleki's alley joining his and Baronesses spots. Move the whole train to the instance entrance, and AoE away.

Once again, remember to use your bubbles, blessing of freedom, and any other means to survice. These full instance pulls do hit hard when they manage to get you pinned down.

Levels 48-60 : UBRS / LBRS

Combined UBRS / LBRS is the last part of our boosting run. There aren't that many options left for L50+ boosting instances left after the cap nerf on Scholo and Strat, ST being too cramped and infested by aggro reset spots. If you're looking for some viable alternatives, you could try making some decent pulls in BRD, although at least the initial mob levels are lot lower than in *BRS.

The pull itself is straightforward pull once again, from the LBRS ogre boss room to the instance portal, pulling all the ogres and all the blackrock orcs on the way. I recommend starting the pull from the ogre boss's room, pulling the groups while you climb up towards the instance portal. Remember to use shield and blessing of freedom, you will need them during this round, because of the constant net snares thrown by the orcs. Pull everything next to the instance portal corridor, and AoE away.

Leveling times

Updating fresh and working links to screenshots along with some short information a bit later.