Complete RAF Levelling Guide

[The Doctor]

Recruit-a-Friend is being used by a great many people right now, but few are truly doing it in the most efficient way possible. This is a guide to being incredibly efficient when it comes to using Recruit-a-Friend, and is how I got to Level 59 in 8 hours 53 minutes on two characters, using an 80, or in 18 hours on four different characters using a 70.

This is 100% original, I have wrote out every word here myself for the benefit of MMOwned.

This guide is for Horde for the most part, however if you're an alliance character you should get use out of mostly everything with the exception of the RFC part.

What's Needed?
Two accounts, and either a friend who is 70+ or a third 70+ account to help you out. I have used my warrior to run myself through instances until 60, and the second time I levelled a "batch" of characters I had a friend of mine use his mage. Recently I used an 80 Death Knight to run myself through instances and I managed to hit 60 in 8 hours and 53 minutes.

How do I get started?
Go to the World of Warcraft website and log into the account that you want to be the primary account - if you're levelling by having a 70 friend run you through then whatever account you have will work. Since this account will have two level 60+ characters on it from the Recruit a Friend process, it's best if it's upgraded to Burning Crusade, and your main account (so that you don't have to transfer the characters). RAF is NOT an exploit, it's NOT bannable, and completely safe.

Once you're there, choose Recruit-A-Friend. Create a new email account, or use an existing one and follow the instructions. If you want to eventually transfer your second account's toons onto your main account, use your real information, or the same information on the main one, so you can transfer from account to account. Blizzard has already stated that although people double boxing RAF accounts isn't their intention, it's perfectly fine. You have to upgrade the recruited account to a normal copy of WoW to continue to 59. This costs $20, you get a free month of Warcraft for upgrading, so you don't have to worry about spending the $15, and if you level fast you can finish using the account by the time the free month is up.

Double Boxing / Triple Boxing
If you have the computer to handle it, then you can triple box your characters and run yourself through instances while double boxing. If you don't, then don't bother. The main thing that you want to do to make your double boxing experience all the more simple (without using any programs) would be to open both instances of WoW in windowed mode and set up a couple macros for the secondary account and one for the primary account. I was levelling priest/hunter which isn't the best of setups, but until level 8 came around, I was controlling the hunter and using macros to do damage on the priest, just a couple very easy macros that I could get to quickly if needed, and that would make 1-8 a lot easier.

/follow Hunter
/assist Hunter
/cast Smite(Rank 1)

and

/follow hunter
/tar Hunter
/cast Lesser Heal(Rank 1)

Obviously macros are not required, and they can even slow you down if you're more familiar with only running one copy of WoW at a time, however if you have both open in windowed mode you can get your timing down so you level twice as fast, making use of the macros. Just replace "Hunter" with your primary character's name and go from there.

Now, I've levelled with RAF several times and the first few times I was levelling I was using macros to simplify it, but since then I've begun using AutoHotKey to have the keys shared, which makes everything go much faster. AutoHotKey is a relatively simple program to use, it can be downloaded from AutoHotKey.com and is a free alternative to KeyClone. Install it with all the default settings and then run AutoHotKey (C:\Program Files\AutoHotKey\AutoHotkey.exe) choose yes when it asks you to set up a sample script, and when it opens you can then insert the following script.

Note: For Vista Users be sure to run the program as an administrator.

WinGet, wowid, List, World of Warcraft

~2::
KeyWait 2
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 2, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 2, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

~6::
KeyWait 6
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 6, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 6, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

~1::
KeyWait 1
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 1, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 1, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}


~3::
KeyWait 3
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 3, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 3, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}


~4::
KeyWait 4
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 4, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 4, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}


~5::
KeyWait 5
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,, 5, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,, 5, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

~Shift & 1::
KeyWait 1
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,,{shift down}{1 down}{1 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,,{shift down}{1 down}{1 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

~Shift & 2::
KeyWait 2
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,,{shift down}{2 down}{2 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,,{shift down}{2 down}{2 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

~Shift & 3::
KeyWait 3
IfWinActive, World of Warcraft
{
ControlSend,,{shift down}{3 down}{3 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid1%
ControlSend,,{shift down}{3 down}{3 up}{shift up}, ahk_id %wowid2%
return
}

Once you replace the text in the file with the code above, save the file and double click the [H] logo that appears in the bottom right corner of your screen, when it pops up choose File > Reload Script and then you can open two instances of WoW and have the keys shared. (The first WoW that you open will be the one controlling the keys, when you press 1 on that character it will press 1 on the second, and so on for the keys listed in the script above).

Starting to Level.
Class choice is pretty big. Each time I've levelled I've always made sure that I have one class that can heal, because when you get to 50+ instances (and even ZF), being able to heal whoever is running you through will make things a lot easier. I decked out my priest in all the damage/heal gear he could get and specced him holy, and it just made my mage able to pull a lot more mobs, and get through the instance a lot faster, so I would suggest going with a healer class unless you have a friend in solid gear, since the mage running me was an alt.

From here, this is a straight levelling guide on how I got my RAF characters to 59 fastest. I've gotten six 60s from this, and am working on my third "batch" of characters on alliance side now since I've gotten all horde classes to 60+ this is meant to be a resource for anyone who wants to do RAF, nothing more.

---------------------------------

Levels 1 - 8 - Questing!
Feel free to skip this part and go on to the next if you'd like, this is just a bare bones run through of what I did to get to Level 8 (and Orgrimmar) the fastest. Most people don't need to know this much information about starting zone quests, because, if you're like me, you've done them enough.

Create your characters. I will start this with a quick zone runthrough so that people who are starting undead characters know which quests to pick up and can power through quickly. If you created different races then skip to the Level 8 zone, if you created one undead, then use your undead to summon your second account to the undead zone, and then group and begin to quest with one character on follow.

Go to the first quest hub, the church. Pick up the first quest [2] The Mindless Ones. Complete the quest and return to the questgiver. Now pick up the quests [3] Rattling the Rattlecages and [3] Scavenging Deathknell run through the starting zone and finish both of the quests. You should notice you're levelling very, very fast. By the time you turn in those two quests you should be Level 5. From there, start to head out of the starting zone towards Brill, stop and pick up the quest [5] A Rogue's Deal and then continue down the road until you reach Brill.

When you reach Brill go into the inn and turn in the quest. Head to the zeppelin from there, and get on the one to Durotar. After you're off the zeppelin, head into Orgrimmar, and make the zone your hearth on both characters - often times people will forget to set it on both. Once that's done go south until you reach Razor Hill, and pick up the quest from Gar'thok [7] Vanquish the Betrayers as well as teh quest [7] Carry Your Weight (you pick up this quest from the top level of the tower above and behind the inn). Head south towards Sen'jin, follow the road until you reach the questgiver, Ukor that gives you the quest [5] A Peon's Burden, head into Sen'jin. Pick up the quest [8] Thwarting Kolkar Aggression and then head west towards the Kolkars, complete the quest. Return to the questgiver and turn the quest in, and then head north, up the road.

Halfway up the road head east to Tiragarde Keep. Set loot type to Free For All. Begin killing things there, looting only on your primary character until he has all of the Canvas Scraps he needs. At which point continue killing things and remember to tab onto your secondary character to loot. Head up to the top of the castle, and then kill Lieutenant Benedict, loot the Admiral's Key on both characters, and then clear to the roof of the castle, and open the chest on both characters, loot the Admiral's Orders and start the quest that you receive on both characters. From there head back to Razor Hill, turn in all the quests that you have, take no follow ups (aside from the follow up to "The Admiral's Orders" if for some reason you're not level 8 by the time the quests are turned in) and then hearth to Orgrimmar. Now the instance grind begins, and it will not be anywhere near as descriptive as this starting zone guide.

---------------------------------

Levels 8 - 13 - Ragefire Chasm
Important Quests: [16D] Slaying the Beast
Pick up the quest from outside the instance to kill Taragaman. You need to be Level 9 to pick it up so if you're still Level 8 then just wait until the next run and pick it up. Grind RFC out until you're Level 13. The experience is superior in RFC to SFK up until that point. Pick up the flight path to Orgrimmar while you're there, after you hit Level 13 head over to Shadowfang Keep and you can start levelling there.

Alliance - Quest with your alts until Level 10, and then head to Deadmines or Shadowfang Keep.

Levels 13 - 22 - Shadowfang Keep
Head into Shadowfang Keep and stand at the entrance, the way that I ran through this place was to clear the first couple rooms and then get the door opened, once that was done I'd aggro all of the mobs in the courtyard area save for the Felsteeds, and then head up the ramp and through the hallways, and then into the room with Baron Silverlaine, pulling him and then running straight through to the Butcher, before winding up back at the gate where I'd AOE down the mobs. If you do this quick enough then you will reach the 5 instance per hour cap, and if you were fast like me, that's something that you want to avoid. Have the RAF characters follow you out into the courtyard and then begin to clear past Baron's room, until you reach the room with the Lupine Horrors and Sons of Arugal, pull and clear the whole room, and then reset and repeat, unless you want loot/the achieve from Arugal.

Levels 22 - 39 - Scarlet Monastery
Important Quests: [42D] Into the Scarlet Monastery
Clear SM Graveyard fully once, and then head to Library and clear it as well. Library is not a great place to focus on because of the fact that mobs will reset if you attempt to pull too many, so I wound up just clearing both the lower ones twice (Graveyard once for kicks, and Library for the Scarlet Key). After clearing Library I shifted my focus over to Armory and Cathedral, which I would clear in around 3-4 pulls each. For Armory I would run through the courtyard and pull back through the doorway to it, and then AOE down, afterward having the alts follow me slowly as I pulled about halfway to Herod and then AOE'd, and then finally pulled the packs leading to Herod. For Cathedral I would aggro the entire lower courtyard and bring them back to through the doorway to it, AOE them down, and then have the alts wait at the right stairway as I pulled and cleared the Upper Courtyard, for the Cathedral itself just aggro Mograine and AOE.

If you're clearing through Cathedral incredibly quickly then you're going to want to alternate between Armory and Cath, otherwise stick with purely Cath and clear it, or when you only have a little bit left until reach 38-39, resetting and clearing Cath alone is optimal if you're not in danger of hitting the instance cap.

Levels 39 - 48 - Zul'Farrak
Important Quests: [47D] Divino-matic Rod, [45D] Scarab Shells, [45D] Troll Temper
Head to Tanaris. Begin all of the quests mentioned above, which you can pick up in Tanaris. Getting here for Horde means taking the zeppelin back to Orgrimmar and then flying down to Camp Taraujo and riding to Tanaris through Thousand Needles (where you should pick up the flight path for Freewind Post).

Clear through ZF, remembering to loot on both of your characters, the Troll Temper, the Scarab Shells and the Divino-matic Rod from Sergeant Bly, after the stairs event. You'll want to stay in ZF until you're 48. While I have heard of people heading over to LBRS or BRD at 45, I myself haven't tested it. The method that I used to clear ZF was just clearing a straight shot to Witch Doctor Zum'rah and the shallow graves, and then pulling the entire room, AOEing and resetting. This was quicker than standing around waiting on the stairs for the zombies to spawn, and I found it made ZF a good amount quicker.

---------------------------------
For the following section, going up to 56 and then questing WPL and other areas up until 60 was the old recommendation of mine, however with the capability of classes to clear TBC instances like Slave Pens, if you have both accounts upgraded you will be able to knock out the final five levels in around an hour, and scoop some gear to make levelling easier at the same time. I believe that you can accept the TBC trial upgrade and then start grinding out instances, however I don't know from firsthand experience. Stratholme was my preferred path for 48-55 (I did BRD at 70 but Strat at 80 was great).

Levels 48 - 55 or 56* - Undead Stratholme
UD Strat is a pretty quick clear. Go straight through up until Baron, keeping a close eye on your RAF characters to ensure they don't get an Eye of Naxxramas on them. Once I reached the area where the Abominations were, when there was only one left I would have the alts follow me close to the door, and as soon as Ramstein the Gorger opened the doors all of us would go through the doors, and the RAF chars would wait down the stairs near Baron's doors as I kill Ramstein and then the skeletons that spawned. Kill Baron, then have the main run out and clear the Mindless Zombies in the Abom room, rinse and repeat until you reach level 55. If you start to go very quickly then clear a few packs on the way to Strat Live.

Levels 48 - 55 or 56* - Blackrock Depths
Important Quests: [52D] Commander Gor'shak, [52D] KILL ON SIGHT: Dark Iron Dwarves, [52D] Dark Iron Legacy, [55D] Lost Thunderbrew Recipe, [56D] Disharmony of Fire
Head to your respective quest hub. For Alliance, it's Morgan's Vigil, and for Horde it's Kargath. Set Kargath to your hearthstone if you're horde. Pick up [52D] Disharmony of Flame(horde) or [52D] Overmaster Pyron(alliance). Complete the quest and do a quick clear of the first room and to High Interrogator Gerstahn, looting any Relic Coffer Keys along the way (head straight and then hang a right), loot the key from her on one of your characters, it will be used for a later quest.

Now, head back to Kargath and reset the instance. Turn in Disharmony of Flame and pick up the following quests: [52D] Commander Gor'shak, [52D] KILL ON SIGHT: Dark Iron Dwarves, [55D] Lost Thunderbrew Recipe, [56D] Disharmony of Fire. From here, head into Searing Gorge and then south through Blackrock Mountain to the Burning Steppes and snag the flight path from the goblins at (65, 23). While you're there pick up [55D] The Heart of the Mountain and then head back into Blackrock Mountain. As soon as you're in BRM, head back towards the way you came (towards the exit to Searing Gorge), when you're next to that hallway jump off the side of the walkway and die on both of your characters, and then run them back in ghost form. Run along the chain, to the center of Blackrock Mountain while in ghost form (down the stairs near the meeting stone) and take the quest [52D] Dark Iron Legacy on both characters, complete the first portion of the quest (listening to his story) and then grab the follow up, run down the chain towards the entrance to BRD (where the old MC port was) and rez, you should have died directly next to it.

Now, it's time to do BRD clears. The instance is huge, and so most people spend a lot of time just killing mobs in there. I'll give you a quick runthrough of what I do the first time, and what I do each time afterwards, to get quests done. Clear out the first room, and then head down the second cave on your right, clearing the mobs along the way. You should soon see a quest turnin pop up on your minimap, open the cell with the key you looted earlier, and turn in the quest on both characters before accepting the followup. As soon as you take the followup tab onto your other character and accept it, a wave of mobs will spawn and attack, have the person running you through ready to pick them up quick.

From here, head back into the main room and take the first right (to the north cave), keep your eyes on the left side of the cave, for the Ring of Law, which is an event that has several waves of mobs before a small boss. Clear this room, and then a hallway will open up that you can walk through. Go up the hallway, and keep a pretty big difference. If the person running you through is going to need heals, have him bring the mobs back to you (positioned in the hallway still) otherwise you'll just agro the fire elemental pats. Clear the better portion of this first small room and then head up the ramp immediately to your right as soon as you leave the hallway. Head across this room, not attacking anything until you're on the opposing side. From here, continue clearing, turn left and then head straight down this hallway. When you get to the end of the bridge you'll come to another room which you can clear out, which will lead you to the central portion of BRD which is centered around Incendius. From here you can do the Heart of the Mountain event, as well as head to Incendius, kill him and finish the quest, and then kill Fineous Darkvire for the Ironfel.

Levels 55 - 60 - Slave Pens
This is a very straightforward and simple one: clear Slave Pens on normal mode with the alts in tow. There's nothing special that needs doing, most of the packs are small and manageable however if you have a more geared character than you can aggro entire rooms and speed up the clear by a lot. This was by far the easiest part for me, and if I ever RAF again this will be what I stick with.

BE SURE THAT YOU HIT 60 ON THE RECRUITED ACCOUNT FIRST, AND THEN GRANT THE MAIN ACCOUNT'S ALT FROM 59 AND 1-2 BARS TO 60.

Note: You only have 29 grant ups to give when you have a character who reaches 60. This means if you level one character to 59.99 you can grant him to 60.99 and then use grant ups on a level 32.99 to get to 60.99 as well.

Cloth Turnins are an excellent way of getting experience from 58 on. You can get somewhere around 250k experience doing cloth turnins at 58 (with the triple experience benefit). So if you couple the turnins with WPL Cauldron Quests, you should be able to get from 56 to 60 within an hour, good luck.

[TheFreak]

I would suggest for around level 45 - 50 do The Hinterlands quest. I just finished up in The Hinterlands and got two levels from doing quest objectives then another one from turning in quest.

[goodzumber]

am i suposed to accept and deliver all quests by hand by tabbing?

[The Doctor]

That's the only way to do it, it's a little annoying at first, but there aren't very many quests to pick up.

[i Newell]

wait, so you only need 2 accounts, and what about the lvl 70??? cos you need 2 of the same to get the RAF and you need a 70 to run you?

[The Doctor]

wait, so you only need 2 accounts, and what about the lvl 70??? cos you need 2 of the same to get the RAF and you need a 70 to run you?

You either need two separate accounts from the Level 70, or you have to be friends with a 70 that's willing to give you runs through. Whenever I levelled it was with a friend of mine who was doing the exact same thing I was, and he was triple boxing while running us through the instances.

The first time I did it I was triple boxing through using a warrior, so there's only two options for doing it (unless you buy a new account and refer a friend to actually play it and run the characters through).

[Plex]

Umm, wouldn't you want to level the secondary account to 60, then grant the primary account to 60.9? Or can you not grant an char from 59 to 60?

[The Doctor]

Umm, wouldn't you want to level the secondary account to 60, then grant the primary account to 60.9? Or can you not grant an char from 59 to 60?

The option to grant characters on the primary account levels disappears once the character on the secondary account reaches level 60.

[Got Josh?]

The quest an [36D] An Unholy Alliance is actually a Razorfen Downs quest you might want to fix that out .

Ps. At last! My first contribution to the site :P

[The Doctor]

The quest an [36D] An Unholy Alliance is actually a Razorfen Downs quest you might want to fix that out .

Ps. At last! My first contribution to the site :P

An Unholy Alliance starts from the Small Scroll you pick up from the last boss in RFK. The followup is an RFD quest.

[Got Josh?]

Oh ic! my bad i guess!

[tomit12]

First, I'd suggest getting a program like AutoHotKey and setting it up for your second box. You don't need to, but not having to alt-tab or click between windows makes things considerably smoother.

Second, from 10-25, Horde or Alliance, I just go to Shadowfang Keep. With either my Pally or Mage I can just leave the alts at the entrance, round up the entire instance and drag them to the roof right above my alts. Takes all of 5 minutes per run, with 10 - 25 typically going by in about an hour.

[Plex]

Just an update (great guide by the way, really helped), you can indeed grant a level from the secondary level 60 account to the primary account. So have your secondary account get to 60, the primary account to 59.99, and the lowbie on the primary to 32.99. Then give a level to to the 59.99, and 28 levels to the 32.99, and you have two characters one quest turn-in from 61, and your level 60.

[yrref]

I didnt really get it but maybe I did:P
Is it like this:
My own account makes a RAF account, on a secondary email. Then, we both make new characters. Then we level to 8, and we both join a party with a level 70 mate, and he runs us through dungeons to level quickly.

[m0rbidang3l]

very well written and informative guide. +rep