Twinking tricks/Leveling alts - Page 14

Dynalisia · 01/11/08, 6:39 PM

Originally Posted by Starfire

I always level'd my warriors as Fury and I found escaping to be rather easy.

Piercing Howl is a god-send and will work on any melee.

Yeah, you have intimidating shout on a 2 minute cooldown, but don't forget Shield Wall every 30 minutes. How often are you going to need to "escape".

As far as damage control, you can stance dance and disarm, you can also hamstring, run out and then intercept back in for a stun. And once you hit 64 or so, using battle stance to weapon-swap a shield and spell-reflect is sometimes just obscene (ogres in Nagrand + spellreflect = Profit, at any level). Demoralizing shout and thunderclap help tremendously with mitigation as well.

By the way, epic items in the auction house aren't necessairly the best "twink" items anymore. Quite often you'll find since post 2.3 there are just some wicked weapons available at lower levels. You WILL need help, but it will be worth it.

Example:
[Crescent of Forlorn Spirits] ilevel 35 weapon, available at level 22. (Note! This weapon can use Outlands enchants! Yes, a Level 22 weapon with Savagery, Crusader or Battlemaster).
[Sword of Serenity] ilevel 44 weapon, available at level 34.
[Gryphon Rider's Stormhammer] ilevel 53 weapon, available at level 42.
[Lifeforce Dirk] ilevel 54 weapon, available at level 43.
[Thrash Blade] ilevel 53 weapon, available at level 45.

[Tidecrest Blade] ilevel 57 weapon, available at level 49.
[Blade of Reckoning] ilevel 60 weapon, available at level 50.
[Skilled Fighting Blade] ilevel 60 weapon, available at 50. (And with expertise!)

Another question is... why would you ever want to grind mobs 3 levels above? It's far more faster to grind 3 levels below. This is the first time I've heard of someone advocating/wanting to grind higher level mobs.

In general, the 'ultimate' quest of each dungeon/zone should be done at the first level it becomes available and all the rewards will then tend to be very strong for the classes that can use them.

Starfire · 01/11/08, 7:13 PM

Originally Posted by Dynalisia

In general, the 'ultimate' quest of each dungeon/zone should be done at the first level it becomes available and all the rewards will then tend to be very strong for the classes that can use them.

Yeah, but interestingly enough, the two most "OP'd" weapons on my list are from simple quests. They aren't even elite. Sure, Stalvan has 12 steps, but 11 steps can easily be solo'd by a level 22. The 12th step is to kill a level 32 mob that is right near Darkshire. I found help easily and readily available.

Shaving Sharpbeak, that's a bit more complicated, but still easy if you have a second account or a guildmate.

hugh1130 · 01/12/08, 3:27 AM

Originally Posted by Pater

I tried this as Horde on the Kobolds at the Coldtooth mine and was only getting 100 or so XP per kill. Is it only the harpies that give full XP?

Yah harpies and rams will give full exp

harpies are lvl 62-63 and rams 60-61

Gnolls work to, i prefer harpies because horde controls that side of the game, if your battle group turtled at IB choke, then gnolls are probably better. Harpies are also easier to single pull.

if you get reported afk, you are given 1 minute to go whack some one in pvp not to hard

as for your team loving you... your just as usefull as the 5 other afkavers, and if your high morales prevent you from afkaving, then you woudlnt do this anyway.

Starfire · 01/12/08, 7:03 PM

Originally Posted by hugh1130

Yah harpies and rams will give full exp

harpies are lvl 62-63 and rams 60-61

Gnolls work to, i prefer harpies because horde controls that side of the game, if your battle group turtled at IB choke, then gnolls are probably better. Harpies are also easier to single pull.

if you get reported afk, you are given 1 minute to go whack some one in pvp not to hard

as for your team loving you... your just as usefull as the 5 other afkavers, and if your high morales prevent you from afkaving, then you woudlnt do this anyway.

I'd be cautious with the new threats of suspension and being banned.

Mode · 01/12/08, 7:11 PM

I'd be cautious with the new threats of suspension and being banned.

If you're ok with dicking over everyone in the battleground(DICK!), it'll work out fine. Damage you do to mobs counts for 'damage done', so you wont be at the bottom of the charts. Whenever I go down to guard the hut, I kill a wolf or two on my way so no-one(ie addons) mistakenly thinks I'm AFK'ing.

Darceidus · 01/13/08, 6:05 AM

Originally Posted by Parshath1

Darceidus, for one I'd like to say that what you've done is pretty amazing. I've recently been doing the dot and run thing while 2-boxing my paladin (alt) and warlock.

I've been wondering, do you think Stratholme would be possible with a warlock? I'll be running through with a paladin, priest and hunter. The problem I foresee is the pushback on Seed of Corruption, as well as being able to keep the warlock up through all of the damage.

Sorry for the late response Parshath1. As you, Prinsesa, and alhill have noted, the biggest problem with using almost any class besides a protection paladin, or perhaps mage, is pushback. The non-elite berserkers pummel, the Stratholme courier knocks-down and kicks, and patchwork horrors do a knockback that will probably catch you during a cast-time spell fairly often.

I have a level 70 warlock and I've tried Stratholme with it, but it is much more time consuming and dangerous depending on your group makeup. If you're stuck with a warlock, you'll want to notice some of your disadvantages before formulating a strategy.

First, you can't pull as much as a protection paladin, because you can only grab about three groups yourself with three (if that many) seed of corruptions before they get within melee range. Furthermore, a common tactic with a protection paladin is to run around groups, pull some groups in the back of the instance, and then run back to the cleared area so that even more groups will domino-pull with them and the snowball zerg will amass until you have an entire courtyard. With a warlock, this tactic doesn't work since voidwalkers will most likely die on the way, not hold aggro if healed, or seeds will go off early (this issue gets worse as your spell damage increases) while you're pulling if you attempt to do it yourself . Warlocks can also not work around the hamstrings or the slowing-effect disease.

Next, you do not have the tanking abilities (obviously) or the cleansing abilities of a paladin. Being able to remove hamstring or the diseases is fairly important for pulling large groups.

To put things in perspective with the pushback problem, I could not do a holy wrath at the beginning of a pull even with improved concentration aura and earth shield, without either focus meta gem proc, frost nova, or a shadowfury. Anything over 1 second is simply out of the question, and even those spells will require 80% uninterruption or better to avoid headache. As of patch 2.3.2 you still do not block or parry while casting spells, which is also a big problem for damage absorption (well, for paladins at least).

Literally, for any class to aoe undead packs in Stratholme effectively, the majority of their dps must come from instant cast aoe, unless they do not have aggro whatsoever.

So, you can do this with a warlock* main, as long as you pull small, keep aggro on your voidwalker as long as possible, and attempt to keep your seed of corruptions detonating when the entire group is together. This is a lot of micro, every single pull, and you will definitely need healer support for it to work. Keep in mind that you should not use level 70 healer support, as that will cut exp for the alts in half.

*********

Anyway, this is all a lot of Captain Obvious rhetoric to illustrate the fact that you need to approach the problem with a broader perspective. Warlocks are extremely good at killing fewer, elite mobs with instant-cast dots, fears, etc. If you're stuck with warlock, a better solution is to attempt Scarlet Stratholme, Undead Stratholme (non aoe packs on your way to Baron), Scholomance, or perhaps Blackrock Spire by running around triple-dotting everything with healer support, and reapplying dots when necessary. (Remember, we didn't do Undead Stratholme aoe pulls because they are unbalanced. We did them because they worked well with the classes we had.) This goes for any other classes that works well solo or with healer support. When I got the alts to 58 using my Warrior, we instead did all of Scarlet Stratholme. I murdalized all the elite 4-packs with sweeping strikes and whirlwind, and that was plenty of kill-speed to give us a level time nearly on par with our protection paladin setup. Keep in mind that elites in say, Stratholme, give 2 to 3 times more exp than the non-elites. There's no reason to attempt to aoe when your forté lies elsewhere.

________
* Like roddo and Rasi stated, any cloth-wearer gets torn up trying to aoe Stratholme, but I think a mage might be somewhat feasible with magic absorption, blazing speed, blast wave, and a healer (or full frost of course). Just a heads up in case some mages were having problems with the slowing effects.

Starfire · 01/13/08, 1:30 PM

Originally Posted by Darceidus

Literally, for any class to aoe undead packs in Stratholme effectively, the majority of their dps must come from instant cast aoe, unless they do not have aggro whatsoever.

So, you can do this with a warlock* main, as long as you pull small, keep aggro on your voidwalker as long as possible, and attempt to keep your seed of corruptions detonating when the entire group is together. This is a lot of micro, every single pull, and you will definitely need healer support for it to work. Keep in mind that you should not use level 70 healer support, as that will cut exp for the alts in half.

.

On a side note, a holy priest can do it. But! you must be mindful of your mana and do not over-exert your mana. To be specific, I was bored and got offered 70g (+drops, which turned out to be far more profitable than the 70g) by some newb level 58 paladin on trade chat. He paid upfront, so, I didn't care.

Holy Nova is absolutely amazing, being able to do 600 damage instantly and heal for 1.2k or so, instantly, and to all party members. Shadow Word: Pain for anything that has higher hp pools. Keep renew up on yourself (1k healing, every 3 seconds). Ability to remove disease/magic.

But! all that said, there are two things you need to be -very- mindful of. A priest without mana is a dead priest. Do not pull more than your mana can support. Second, if you are clearing towards the baron... bad things will happen if you cannot kill the Baroness before she MCs your 70 and have the 70 wipe everyone else -_-

Also! You must absolutely be careful of the healing mobs in there. Focus them down, fear them if you need too... This is the one part where I would recommend not AoEing. If the mobs heal too much, the Holy Priest will likely go out of mana.

Zeuter · 01/13/08, 2:13 PM

I can imagine things can get fun as well when all the people you are boosting at that moment are wielding a [Ravager], if they have the proficiency.
Considering you'll kill Herod plenty of times in the first place, it shouldn't be too hard to get a few of these.

◊ rhyd · 01/13/08, 3:53 PM

Originally Posted by Darceidus

To put things in perspective with the pushback problem, I could not do a holy wrath at the beginning of a pull even with improved concentration aura and earth shield, without either focus meta gem proc, frost nova, or a shadowfury. Anything over 1 second is simply out of the question, and even those spells will require 80% uninterruption or better to avoid headache. As of patch 2.3.2 you still do not block or parry while casting spells, which is also a big problem for damage absorption (well, for paladins at least).

Literally, for any class to aoe undead packs in Stratholme effectively, the majority of their dps must come from instant cast aoe, unless they do not have aggro whatsoever.

So, you can do this with a warlock* main, as long as you pull small, keep aggro on your voidwalker as long as possible, and attempt to keep your seed of corruptions detonating when the entire group is together. This is a lot of micro, every single pull, and you will definitely need healer support for it to work. Keep in mind that you should not use level 70 healer support, as that will cut exp for the alts in half.

I've been experimenting this weekend with my lock doing the aoe packs in Strath and I would say that gear also plays a factor. While there's no way that my lock is nearly as efficient as a pally, if you have 2 piece T5 and spec for a felguard it's far more effective than using a Voidwalker, and you don't really need a healer except for removing the disease; although having a healer obviously lessens the downtime.

The basic tactic is the same as the void walker (tab target + Felguard hitting the mob to be seeded). My felguard drops to about 1/3 to 1/4 health before the seeds detonate and then he's instantly back up to full. The added bonus is that the Felguard can help clean up the leftover elites, which are usually at 2-5%, and/or any other adds that wander in.

For the record, I was using a mix of pve and arena gear, 2 piece T5 (shoulders, pants), [Void Star Talisman], and had about +1320 damage, 23.74% crit, and a goofy 7/43/11 spec.

Starfire · 01/13/08, 3:56 PM

Don't think I saw it here, but its rather amazing how good:
[Earthen Elixir] is at level 50. Especially for Prot Paladins.

Starfire · 01/13/08, 3:59 PM

Double Post

• Bass · 01/13/08, 4:10 PM

Originally Posted by rhyd

Note: If you do use a Felguard spec to run through instances, be aware that you won't be able to loot the items unless you tap the mob with some of your own damage. It's not the optimal spec for doing stuff that drops dead in one cleave from a Felguard (35ish or below stuff), assuming you care about looting the mobs at all. It's possible this also affects XP gains, though I did not test that part. I assume this also rings true for hunter pets.

Vetinari · 01/14/08, 1:17 AM

Originally Posted by Bass

Note: If you do use a Felguard spec to run through instances, be aware that you won't be able to loot the items unless you tap the mob with some of your own damage. It's not the optimal spec for doing stuff that drops dead in one cleave from a Felguard (35ish or below stuff), assuming you care about looting the mobs at all. It's possible this also affects XP gains, though I did not test that part. I assume this also rings true for hunter pets.

Yes, if the pet does all the work, you receive no XP or loot. I was running a 35 rogue through SM, and i just put my felguard on aggressive, /follow on the rogue, and told him to hit everything once. Went afk for 30 min, and came back to a cleared cathedral, lol

◊ Merple · 01/14/08, 1:26 PM

A couple of friends of mine and I are considering levelling up new characters using a method that seems a little overpowered.

The plan is Priest, Warlock, Druid, and we're going to abuse two pretty broken factors in the game:

1) Wands.
Both the priest and the warlock can use wands, and there are a wonderful series of broken wands throughout the game that usher your character up to ~level 30 before you even need to think about using spells offensively.
[Lesser Magic Wand] (available at level 5)
[Greater Magic Wand] (available at level 13)
[Gravestone Scepter] (available at level 18)
[Dancing Flame] (available at level 25)

2) _____ over Time spells.
Between the Druid, Priest and Warlock, we've got 2 HoTs and a list of DoTs a mile long. These, along with the wands, leaves us capable of dealing massive damage with next to no work. Pile up the dots and start wanding.

Should be an interesting experience.

Nobull · 01/14/08, 2:02 PM

When I twinked my mage I stacked stamina bonuses using clefthide leg armor to boe legs. I also stacked spelldamage bonuses and arcane spelldamage bonuses to solo and aoe grind. I found I was able to easily solo red mobs in the 20-30 range, and the aoe grinding was rather fast. A lot of low level dungeons had loot buffed also, so you can get more gear with built-in spelldamage bonus. This type of twinking would work for any casting class.

Rajaat9 · 01/14/08, 3:28 PM

Originally Posted by Merple

A couple of friends of mine and I are considering levelling up new characters using a method that seems a little overpowered.

The plan is Priest, Warlock, Druid, and we're going to abuse two pretty broken factors in the game:

1) Wands.
Both the priest and the warlock can use wands, and there are a wonderful series of broken wands throughout the game that usher your character up to ~level 30 before you even need to think about using spells offensively.
[Lesser Magic Wand] (available at level 5)
[Greater Magic Wand] (available at level 13)
[Gravestone Scepter] (available at level 18)
[Dancing Flame] (available at level 25)

2) _____ over Time spells.
Between the Druid, Priest and Warlock, we've got 2 HoTs and a list of DoTs a mile long. These, along with the wands, leaves us capable of dealing massive damage with next to no work. Pile up the dots and start wanding.

Should be an interesting experience.

Not to rain too much on your parade, but druids can't use wands. He can be the designated HoTer, though, since one of his actually has a casting time.

◊ Merple · 01/14/08, 5:11 PM

Originally Posted by Rajaat9

Not to rain too much on your parade, but druids can't use wands. He can be the designated HoTer, though, since one of his actually has a casting time.

I'm aware. If the mob is still alive after the preliminary application of Moonfire and Insect Swarm, she can pull the next mob while we wand, or wrath/starfire if it's worth it.

Or if we're still doing this at 40, she can boomkin melee. Joyous.

roddo · 01/14/08, 6:09 PM

Originally Posted by Rajaat9

Not to rain too much on your parade, but druids can't use wands. He can be the designated HoTer, though, since one of his actually has a casting time.

He never said druids can use wands, he stated the lock and priest can only.

One thing I found useful is the fact that crusader stacks off of 2 weapons (never had the enchant before) and on a character with strength providing ap is awesome. My 40 shaman mows down mobs, especially when I get a double crusader followed by a windfury proc.

Fafhrd · 01/14/08, 6:25 PM

Warlock boosting in Stratholme

Some of you are talking about Seeding the packs in Stratholme. When boosting a pally through it, by going heavy affliction and triple dotting everything, I could go forever, as long as the pally supplied enough heals to cover my Life Taps. HPS from the Siphon Life dot was enough to cover most of the damage incoming. I stopped maybe every 20-30 mob to help pick up some loot, but if we had skipped it I could have cleared the instance without pausing once.

Rajaat9 · 01/14/08, 7:55 PM

Originally Posted by Merple

I'm aware. If the mob is still alive after the preliminary application of Moonfire and Insect Swarm, she can pull the next mob while we wand, or wrath/starfire if it's worth it.

Or if we're still doing this at 40, she can boomkin melee. Joyous.

I can't believe I fell into the trap of incorrectly correcting someone. And on my first post! Clearly, I need more then 4 hours of sleep before trying to be a smart ass.

Regardless, with that set up, I'd think the druid should almost be resto. The dots will do similar damage (most of the moonkin talents are based on buffing wrath/starfire, anyway), and there's very little a Spriest and warlock can't dot down, especially with extra druid dots in moonfire and roots. You can probably just never stop killing things, as both priest and lock have nearly infinite mana (spirit tap and life tap), they just need a strong healer, which a tree can certainly be. High ticking rejuvs/regrowths can keep you flush with both mana and health, and hots are efficient enough that she won't need to drink either. Thoughts?

• Calantus · 01/15/08, 2:57 AM

On my warlock I partied with a shadow priest from 65-70 and frankly the grinding was rediculously broken. We just wandered from quest to quest just chain dotted up everything. Between him giving me back mana and myself and him giving me back health we just never stopped except to loot, and eventually we just had him looting on FFA and me just going on with what I was doing. Having 5-6 things dotted constantly from one end of the zone to another is a thing of beauty and our xp/hour shot through the roof. Adding in a druid to HoT, loot, and add in the group bonus would be even better I'd imagine.