Boosting in RFC/SFK

RAF ends on the 13th (only 11 more days!). As I mentioned in my last entry, I created a new 4-man team (2x Shaman + 2x Warlock) with the intent of boosting them through instances as much as possible with my level 60 prot pally. I leveled them off quests to 8 and then took them into RFC. This worked well, though I was expecting more XP/mob. However, the lack of XP/mob is more than made up for by the fact that I can kill a ton of them all at once, so the XP adds up quickly.

Once the team hit 10, I ran them over to SFK (Shadowfang Keep). On the way, we passed a level 80 death knight. Now, my experience is that I could expect a wipe and run at that point, but he must have been really bored (or focused on something else) because we ran by unscathed, despite him following us for a bit.

SFK has gone well (leave toons at the very beginning and not worry about patrols - FTW!). Because of their level, the toons aggro the first 2 mobs to the right of the entrance, but this is easily avoidable by dropping a Consecration to pull aggro off them. After that, I just park them right at the entrance and run the pally through. Here's how the run goes:

• Pull everything down to the cells that contain the guy who opens the door for you. Kill everything, talk to the guy (so he'll run off to open the door) and loot while waiting for the door to open. I get some Spaulders of Disenchanting from Rethilgore and a green or two off the rest for selling on the AH.
• Next, pull everything in the courtyard, run up the right side (don't go in the door where Razorclaw is yet), follow this up to the back entrance to the Baron, pull him and everything else over to Razorclaw and then kill everything. No looting (yet).
• Next, run all the way through the rest of the instance, pulling Odo and Commander Springvale. Pull them all along the ramparts until you get to the entrace back into the interior of the structure (where all the Son of Arugal's start). I stop at the point where you could jump down back to the courtyard (shortcut) and kill everything. No looting (yet). If we're lucky, the Deathsworn Captain has spawned.
• Next, run all the way through until you get to Fenrus. Kill everything so the doors open. No looting (yet).
• Next, run all the way through until you get to Wolf Master Nandos. Kill everything so the doors open.
• Run into the final room, pulling the 3 sons up to Archmage Arugal and kill everything. Now that everything is dead, loot. I usually loot the final room and then all the bosses on the way back (which is made easy by all the non-boss mobs having decomposed).
• When I get back to where I killed Odo and the Commander (and if we're lucky, the captain), I jump down into the courtyard. There's always 1 chest in this area (not locked) that's good for a green or 2.
• I also pick off the 3 fel steeds because they have a 25% chance to drop Fel Steed Saddlebags (10-slot bag). I save these for last because they have any annoying stomp/knockdown that I really don't want to deal with while running around collecting mobs.
• When I get back to the entrance, I give my toons any blues they can use or just jump out, reset and repeat.

I haven't timed any of this, but I'm not hitting the 5-instance lockout, so I'm probably not running it fast enough. I could probably cut time by running farther before stopping to kill things, but at level 60 and 3.9k health, I do still get hit.

I've picked up 2 BOE blues while in here: Face Smasher and Lil Timmy's Peashooter, both of which are now on the AH.

I'd say the first 5 or so runs, I actually looted EVERYTHING. In hindsight, I should have just looted the bosses and disenchanted. The XP is more important right now compared to the cash (which is nice, don't get me wrong).

I've run this a bajillion times now and the team is level 20. Next time I post will be after runs through SM. It should be interesting to see how a level 60 pally does with all the casters and high-level mobs in SM. My guess is that I'll have to pull in slightly smaller packs. I'll let you know!