Multiboxing 101 (5 Mage Tutorial)

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Contents

Synopsis

Greetings! This tutorial is designed to take someone who has a basic World of Warcraft setup (including WoW accounts and hardware/keyclone/octopus/clonekeys/etc.) and get them up and running in game. I will get you set up for most basic situations that my 70s typically run into. I will not discuss other games that are known to work with similar methods (i.e.: DAoC, etc.) but you can fairly easily apply these basic principles to them. I will also be using focus for basic targeting and movement and will NOT be covering other methods in this tutorial.

Prerequisites

    ##### STOP! DO NOT PASS GO! DO NOT COLLECT $200! #####

This tutorial assumes that you have the following things already done:

  • Your WoW accounts are active and ready to play.
  • Your PCs are setup and you can launch and login to each WoW account.
  • You have KeyClone/Octopus/hardware setup and at least configured so that you think it works.

Once you are satisfied that you have things at least ready to go, proceed.

First Steps

Before we get into the mechanics of setting up your group for multibox play, let's confirm that your setup is working as expected. Please verify the following:

  • Set up your test group
    • Create an undead mage on your main account named Eenie
    • Create an undead mage on each alt account and name them Meenie, Minie, Mow and Curly
  • Verifying keys are transmitting to your alts
    • Go into all of your WoW keybind configurations and make sure all of them are set to use "/" to send "slash" commands.
    • Make sure all them are set to use the same key (i.e.: SPACEBAR) to "Jump"
    • Exit the configuration screens in WoW (back to basic UI)
    • Make sure key broadcasting is unpaused/enabled in keyclone/octopus/whatever
    • Type the following command from your main:
      • /say The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog!?.
    • EXPECTED RESULT: Your main and all of your clones say "The Quick Brown Fox Jumped Over the Lazy Dog!?." in the SAY channel.
      • NOTE: If you are using software and have your whitelist/Do-Not-Pass list set to not transmit certain keys, the alts may not say the complete sentence above. In this case, I leave it to you to determine if the correct keys are being sent to your alts as you expect.
    • Press the JUMP key on your main
    • EXPECTED RESULT: Your main and all of your clones jump each time you press the JUMP key.

If any of the above did NOT work as expected, you have configuration problems and need to spend some time making sure the above is working as expected.

Getting Everyone Moving

OK, now that we've gotten keypresses to transmit correctly to your alts, the next step is to make everyone move correctly. For most people, you will want to be able to move everyone correctly under a few basic conditions:

  • Everyone is together, your main is alive and in control and everyone else is following him.
  • Everyone is together but you want to move everyone in the same directions independently.
  • You want to break follow.
  • You want to turn everyone at the same time but while standing in place.
  • Your main is dead/disabled/out of range/etc. and everyone needs to follow someone else.

I'll give you the examples I use and how my config is setup and you can adjust your keybinds to whatever you want once you understand the basic setup.

Movement Keys Setup

OK, go back into your keybind configuration screen in WoW and configure your movement keys as noted below. I will use my current in-play setup as an example for the rest of this document.

  • MAIN ONLY
    • E = move forward
    • S = sit/down
    • A = move backward
    • D = strafe left
    • F = strafe right
    • ENTER = open chat window
  • ALL CHARACTERS (main + alts)
    • SPACEBAR = jump
    • UP ARROW = move forward
    • LEFT ARROW = turn left
    • RIGHT ARROW = turn right
    • DOWN ARROW = move backward
    • T = target nearest enemy
    • / = slash command

Normal movement (Follow Main)

OK, now let's set things up for normal following mode that you'll use for traveling and almost all normal movement situations.

  • Go into your alts keybind configuration and set up one of your hotbar buttons to use the "E" key (same key as your main's move forward).
  • On your ALTS ONLY, open up your macro configuration screen, make a new macro named "FollowFocus"
  • Once created, in the edit box for the new "FollowFocus" macro, type in the following lines: 
/follow focus
  • OK, let's say your chars are named Eenie, Meenie, Minie, Mow and Curly, with Eenie being your main. Create a new macro on all your chars named "SetFocus" and in the edit box on all of them, type in the following: 
/focus [target=eenie,nodead][target=meenie,nodead][target=minie,nodead][target=mow,nodead][target=curly,nodead][target=eenie,exists][target=player]
/target focus

NOTE: For the focus macros to work, your guys need to all be in the same group or raid.

  • Drag the "SetFocus" macro to the same button on all of your hotbars (main and alts).
  • Now, invite all your guys to a group.
  • Press the "SetFocus" macro button you just created.
  • EXPECTED RESULT: All of your guys should now have "Eenie" targeted. NOTE: If you use a good unitframes addon like Pitbull, it will show you who all your guys have targeted, making it easy to keep an eye on them.
  • Next, press the hotbar button for "FollowFocus."
  • EXPECTED RESULT: All of your alts should now be following your main. Move your main around using the mouse and the alts should all follow him around.

This is the normal base setup and movement method you will use while traveling mounted and generally moving around. NOTE: I have my "FollowFocus" hotbar button bound to "E" so that I can keep them all following or re-follow after combat easily by just tapping my main's "Move Forward" key.

Independent (but synchronized) Movement

For some situations, you will want to have your alts move with your main but not on follow. A good example is when you want to move everyone else up in melee range of something and /follow won't get them close enough. Here's the basic idea:

  • Have your alts follow you normally until they are facing in the right direction you want them to go in. (May take some running back and forth to get them lined up neatly.)
  • Press the "UP ARROW" key.
  • EXPECTED RESULT: If you bound your keys as I mentioned above, all 5 chars should move forward and no longer follow your main. Then when you press the "A" key to back up your main, the alts will continue to face forward. Now you can move your entire group forward and backward without having to re-follow every time. Works great on the pyramid/Sergeant Bly event in Zul'Farrak.

Breaking Follow

Sometimes, you will want to stop your alts from following your main around. An example might be that you want to go LOS-pull a caster around a corner but you want your alts positioned in a particular spot with a minimum of fuss during the pull. This one is easy. Just position your alts where you want them and then press one of your ARROW keys. Any "movement" key pressed on your alts will cause your alts to stop following.

Turning In Place

Let's say you're fighting a monster that will cast Frost Nova, rooting your entire group. What happens if he runs behind you? Simply press the "LEFT ARROW" or "RIGHT ARROW" keys to turn and face the monster. Pretty simple, eh? ;)

Switching Leader Characters

There will be times when you will want to switch your leader character to someone else. Most of the time, this will be because your main dies in battle. Here is the basic procedure I use for this:

  • Let's start with your current group with Eenie as the leader.
  • Play until Eenie dies.
  • Press the "SetFocus" macro key noted above.
  • Mouse over to Meenie's screen/window.
  • Press the "FollowFocus" button
  • RUN AWAY! (your alts should now be following Meenie)

Combat!

Basic Combat Spell (Fireball)

  • First, go up by the crypt where your undead mages started and talk to Undertaker Mordo and get his quest, Rude Awakening.
  • Go down the hill, left into the church and talk to Shadow Priest Sarvis and get his quest, The Mindless Ones (quest to kill 8 mindless zombies and 8 wretched zombies).
  • Walk out of the church.
    NOTE: be careful turning sharp corners or going over/through/around obstacles as your alts may get stuck!
  • Open up your macro configuration windows on all 5 accounts.
  • Create a new character macro and name it "Fireball"
  • Drag it down to whatever hotbar button is the easiest one for you to press as we'll be using this one a LOT.
  • In the edit panel for the macro, type the following: 
/assist focus
/cast fireball
  • Close the macro configuration window.
  • Walk down through the palisade wall to where the zombies are wandering.
  • Target one of them with Eenie (using the mouse or "T" or whatever suits you)
  • Press the hotbar button you put your "Fireball" macro on.
  • EXPECTED RESULT: All 5 mages cast fireball at the zombie, one-shotting it in a glorious orgy of destructive power.
  • Repeat the above steps until you complete all 16 zombies for the quest.
  • Return to Shadow Priest Sarvis and turn in The Mindless Ones.
  • Type "/dance" and congratulate yourself on level 2!

That's your basic single-spell combat macro. Continue using it to completely devastate the starting zone and litter the ground with corpses. Level to 5 or 6 on the quests there and then proceed out down the road to Brill. Continue leveling until you hit 8. Go upstairs in the Inn in Brill and train your level 8 spells, including Polymorph (Rank 1). Now we'll introduce your first complicated macro.

Round-Robin CC (Sheeping)

  • Open your macro configuration windows on all 5 accounts.
  • Create a new character macro on them and name it "Sheep."
  • Drag the "Sheep" macro down to the same button on your hotbar on all 5 accounts (let's say button "X" as an example).
    NOTE: Polymorph only works on beasts and humanoids.
  • Now, in the edit box for the "Sheep" macro, type in the following macro on Eenie's window: 
/castsequence reset=45/combat polymorph,,,,
  • In the edit box for Meenie, type in the following: 
/assist focus
/castsequence reset=45/combat ,polymorph,,,
  • In the edit box for Minie, type in the following: 
/assist focus
/castsequence reset=45/combat ,,polymorph,,
  • In the edit box for Mow, type in the following: 
/assist focus
/castsequence reset=45/combat ,,,polymorph,
  • In the edit box for Curly, type in the following: 
/assist focus
/castsequence reset=45/combat ,,,,polymorph
  • Grab the quest Graverobbers and go north down the hill from Brill until you get to the Gnoll camps.
  • Target one of the gnolls and press your "Sheep" button.
  • Target a 2nd gnoll and press your "Sheep" button again.
  • EXPECTED RESULT: You should now have two gnolls sheeped! If not, you typo'd something in the macros or something else is wrong.
    NOTE: The "reset=45/combat" above means it will cause Eenie to cast sheep first, then will walk down the line until either 45 seconds have passed, you exit combat or you reach the end of the macro.

Conclusion

That, ladies and gentlemen, is basically it. Everything else you do in game will expand on your basic knowledge of WoW and the above principles. There are many ways to do the above but this is how I do it and an easy example to get you started. Once you've gotten all of the above working, you'll be ready to ask questions in our forums and get answers on the finer points of multiboxing.

Next Steps

Once you have the above down, you should be questing, killing and having a grand ol' time. Here are some links to the next steps and things you may become interested in as you continue laying waste to the countryside.


Enjoy and best of luck in your new hobby!

Cheers,
Ughmahedhurtz
The Dons @ Magtheridon (US-PVP)

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