How to collect RAF pet's solo and *fairly* cheap

[Jaladar]

Hey Everyone--

I have been doing the RAF thing since the beginning, and although I have recruited a couple people, I usually end up doing it myself. I did it multiple times before mounts were account bound hence the need to do it a few extra times solo for specific mounts on specific toons. Anyway, I always see comments about how "all of my friends who would play already do--how will I ever get these?!?" and figured I would provide my easy method for doing this solo and how it isn't as expensive as it seems.

**If you have friends that you can recruit--try that first--this is when all else fails**

1) Send yourself a RAF request from within the game (this should be fairly self explanatory I hope).

2) Purchase a Starter Set (new version includes up through Cataclysm). I do this on Black Friday or the week right after Thanksgiving because it is usually on sale for the lowest price of the year at this time. If you can find a really good deal (was $5 last year at Best Buy) get a couple and stick them away on a shelf for personal use or for friends down the road. You can also get the Digital Download version on sale around this time but you really can't save it for later.

3) Buy a 60 day game time card.

4) Activate your RAF account using the activation email you sent yourself. YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE YOU USE THE CODE FROM THE GAME YOU BOUGHT!! Once you start your account, then use the code that came with the box/DD. You are now connected to your main account for 90 days.

5) Use the game time card on your NEW account. By doing so, you have just fulfilled the requirements for the RAF award.

But there's more...you not only just got yourself a cool new pet or mount, you just got 30 days game time on your main account. Yep, the award for month one was 30 days of game time...so if you do the math, your only out the amount you paid for the game (hopefully on sale--have patience) and $15 for 1 month of game time (because if you hadn't done this you would have paid $15 for your account anyway, right? Instead you got that for free and put that $15 towards the new account plus $15 for the 2nd month---math really does get used after high school).

Following this procedure, you will end up with the RAF award of your choice, a new account to play around with up through Cataclysm for 90 days (30 days free with new accounts and 60 days you paid for), and 30 days free on your main account. And each time you do it, you get those 30 days on your main account.

Now--I realize there are 4 pets and a mount this time, and not everyone can afford this--but my net payout when I have done this in the past is usually $20. ($30 card + $5 basic WoW on sale - $15 free month on main account).

Hope this helps somebody out--and Happy Hunting!

Jaladar

[Anarchitect]

Ooh, good tip about Thanksgiving/Black Friday sales. I'll have to keep an eye out during that and see if I can't pick up a couple cheap for RAF. Thanks!

[GilroyKilroy]

Yeah, I am going to wait until the digital download is on sale.

Someone should post here in case I miss it

[Casca]

What about the data we provide for the new accounts? Can we simply use our own data? Or should we use family members?
Might want to transfer the new chars to the main account at a later time so in order to do that I think at least the last name has to be the same, right? But is this possible?

[Restofarian]

You can use your own info and then transfer leveled toons to your main acconut. I did this myself twice now, so I have wow1, wow2, wow3 attached to my battle.net but ended transfering some toons to other account.

[Diamondsoul]

I did this the last time, linked both accounts to the same battlenet ID even and got the RAF mount. I have wow1, wow2, and a wow3 as well as my main account which I named differently for those blonde moments.

[Digem]

the only thing that might make me wait a bit to activate is the free lvl 90 one gets with the new expansion WoD.
might wait to do this till then and then transfer over a bunch of new 90's.
I will have to think about it.

[Angelwings626]

If you wait to buy the games you can get it pretty cheap. Last sale, I got a couple the treasure box digital copy for $5 each. XD using them now for pets. So that could save you a bit more!

[FuxieDK]

**If you have friends that you can recruit--try that first--this is when all else fails**

This is not a "when all else fail" guide.. It's a "when ALMOST all else fail" guide.

I (and many other people) live in a country, where RaF and SoR are outlawed, and thus Blizzard abide by those laws, and makes it inaccessible.
What I (and many others) really need is the true "when all else fail, including laws" guide
Country-change is only possible, if you can provide Blizzard with legal proof, that you now live in a RaF-legal country, which (for most people) isn't an option..

[Thaysula]

the only thing that might make me wait a bit to activate is the free lvl 90 one gets with the new expansion WoD.
might wait to do this till then and then transfer over a bunch of new 90's.
I will have to think about it.

At the moment it reads as, for the Lv90 boost you will have to buy the expansion, which means you can do all this now and then during next years black Friday buy WoD cheap and get your Lv90 boosts

4) Activate your RAF account using the activation email you sent yourself. YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE YOU USE THE CODE FROM THE GAME YOU BOUGHT!! Once you start your account, then use the code that came with the box/DD. You are now connected to your main account for 90 days.

This is not quite as dramatic as it used to be. From the new FAQ (http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/11524458)

Q: My friend just started playing. Can I still recruit them even if they already made an account?
A: Yes, with the new system you can recruit players who have World of Warcraft accounts that are less than 30 days old. Simply use the standard Recruit A Friend process. When your friend receives the email, clicking the link will bind your accounts for Recruit A Friend rewards and benefits (as long as the potential recruit’s account is still 30 days old or less).

So as long as the account is still on it's 30 days free time, you have a safety net.

[Casca]

I haven't really been following this but to my knowledge in order to merge two accounts the last names have to be the same.
So what if you made a new account with the same last name as your main account but in a country where RaF is allowed. Then you use this account to RaF other accounts to acquire all the pets. Once this is done you merge it with your main account and thus will have the RaF pets as well there.
I'm sure there is an error in there somewhere but it's an idea.

[Guest]

50% OFF Upgrade (in-game only!)

I just RAF'd my partner who created a new Battle.Net account (brand new today). Created using the e-mail link sent obviously.
Logged in on her account and before you get the character selection a popup window appeared/disappeared briefly. Created a character and logged in and then /quit.
Logged out to windows and relogged in from scratch and a popup "Upgrade Now" window appeared offering 50% off an upgrade (normal price £9.99) but ONLY IF YOU USE THE BUTTON from the splash page which takes you to account management.

This worked for me at approx 12:00pm (CET) 13/11/2013.

[Avalee]

Thanks a lot Jaladar for that info. Just to be perfectly clear, I don't need to install the game 4 times do I? I don't think I have enough room on my PC to fit them all.

[Venun]

Haevlyn, am I understanding correctly that you pay only 4,99 right now for the WoW? (minus the gametime etc.).

Aka, the same price as OT described?

[Zíra]

How long does it take for receiving the gametime and the pet/mount after raf a "friend" with an account and gametime? In the faq they stated something about a week... is this true?

[Khorah]

@[profile]Zira[/profile]
The time I did this for the 2 seater rocket, I received the rocket really quickly after I attached the time card to the new account.
My guess is that the "up to a week" is just c.y.a. for Blizz in case something goes awry.



Another note: If you decide not to get a time card, you will NOT get the mount/pet until your referee pays for their 2nd paid month (which is their 3rd month..First month is free). So if you want the mount/pet sooner rather than later, be sure to get a time card and attach it to the new account and you will get your new shiny very shortly thereafter


I DID have a question however.
Do each of these new accounts need a separate email address? While I have several email addresses, I don't know as I have 7 to spare to get the other mounts and pets (looking long term.. not all at once )

[Guest]

Haevlyn, am I understanding correctly that you pay only 4,99 right now for the WoW? (minus the gametime etc.).

Aka, the same price as OT described?

You must use the in-game "splash" window that states "50% off", but yes, I paid approximately £4.99 for her "licence key". Any extra game time is of course extra.

I didn't really get the "window" the first time i logged into the account, it flickered and disappeared at first. I created a L1 character and logged out (quit to windows).
I logged in a second time and on the character selection screen got a 50% off splash window with a link to click.

[Silverstarr]

I've done the RAF for every mount also. I always have 2 accounts active, since during the first RAF I found that I enjoy dual boxing for questing. Since my alts are mainly for professions, it's more efficient to level 2 at once. This time I was able to add 3 accounts, for a total of 5 active accounts, before I hit the limit. This is all under the same email address and battlenet account. So the limit is 5 active accounts, and not total accounts, (I have 3 inactive accounts - total 8) under the same battlenet account. For the 4th pet I used a 2nd email address and created another battlenet account.

If you've never tried dual boxing, it's an amazing way to level up fast. I just make a /follow macro (i.e. - /follow Silverstarr - whatever the name is) and it's easy to do both at once. I do have a laptop for the 2nd account, although I've heard of people using the same computer. I don't think mine could handle 2 WoWs running at once. Both toons will level super fast with the triple xp bonus. When the 2nd account runs out of time at the end of 3 months, you could either move that toon to your active account or not; the toon on your main account will have leveled fast either way.

[Kalium]

Does anyone know if you could merge accounts afterwards instead of moving characters over?

[Jaladar]

What about the data we provide for the new accounts? Can we simply use our own data? Or should we use family members?
Might want to transfer the new chars to the main account at a later time so in order to do that I think at least the last name has to be the same, right? But is this possible?

Yes I have done this--and it just requires a last name match as I used my wife once but she doesn't play so I transfered the toon I made on her account over to mine.