In WoW, is it better to powerlevel a character in group or out of group?
I have a Level 80 Warrior, and my buddy has a Level 60 Druid. I am interested in speed leveling him for Cataclysm.
For gaining Experience, is it better to stay in the group and just try and zip through Quests as fast as possible? Or is it better to stay outside the group and let him tag monsters and me finish them off?
Being in a group would result in faster killing, but not being in a group would give him full Experience for each kill.
Solution 1:
I'd suggest not being grouped. Then have the lower level player 'tag' the mob e.g. by putting an instant cast on them or a DOT. Once that starts doing damage, the nameplate of the mob will turn grey for the higher level player. At this point the lower level will be the one who'll be credited with the XP for the kill, Now have the higher level AoE them down. That way there should be no XP penalty and fast kills.
I'm sure I remember people using this approach to get the fastest time to the level cap, by tagging things and having an army of friends / guild members burning them down. Link to a discussion of this: http://dwarfpriest.com/2008/04/30/mythbusting-1-70-in-a-day/
On March 19th, the German player Tosog broke all of Athene’s supposed records. He reached 70 in 1 day 4 hours and 20 minutes (video here of him hitting 70).
He admitted to being boosted by other players to reach 70 so quickly (he had higher level players (not grouped with him) kill off mobs he tagged). This was a respectable coordinated effort between multiple players.
It was considered a borderline exploit in the 'fastest to the cap' race I think.
Solution 2:
Unless it's been changed recently (been almost a year since I played) they only get full exp out of group if the mobs are green or higher to you. If they're grey to you, even if your friend tags it, they won't get full exp. I'm not sure if it's more, less, or the same exp as he would get in group though.
Whether in or out of group though, questing should still be faster, and once you get to mobs that are green to you, your friend can quest while you help out of group to speed things up.