Seeking Guidance from the Multi-box Village Elders

[Mojava]

Hi all,

I have recently discovered your world of multi-box addiction and would like some guidance from those in the know. I have utilized this website (thanks a bunch) along with others to iron out the newbness factor of dboxing, but I have some class-specific questions. (Yes I have utilized the search feature and search engines, so /flame off please).

My WOW pre-box experience bar only reaches level 46 (1 Pally, 2 hunters on different realms), so I have no hands-on, latter game experience from which to delve. I PvE almost exclusively (get my PvP fix in COD4); I play for fun and have no desire to be the King of all Pwnnage that so many tend to brag about. I have dboxed 2 hunters to 30, a pally/lock to 29, and a pally/priest to 20. I have come to the Darkside (For the Horde) after giving the Alliance a healthy sample. My favorite class/spec to play thusfar is the AOE Pally with the feral Druid coming in a distant 2nd. I am decided on the AOE Pally as my main for dboxing purposes. So that I may save myself from unnecessary grindage, I ask the following questions:


Which pocket class is more viable for latter game? I have sampled the pally/lock to 29 and while the team can easily crush the mobs, I feel the synergy between the two is lacking. I have sampled the pally/priest to 20 and the synergy seems to be more viable.
Should I forgo the above combo's for a different 2nd class to the pally? Thorns on an AOE pally sounds nice with a pocket druid with a side of buffs/heals. AOE pally with windfury/other completmental totems could be an option. Or since my main concept is AOE pally, shouldn't I use an AOE pocket mage?
If I go with the pally/priest, should I build the priest as shadow or spec for Holy Nova to help with AOE dps?
Are there any here who have intentions on creating talent build trees for each class (similar to what you see on Blizzard's forums) that are geared specifically for multi-boxers? (Since I haven't ventured past level 46, I've no idea if a different tree is even necessary).
Is dboxing instances an option or will I still have to group?
An AOE pally's biggest achilles heal thusfar has been spellcasters. Should I worry less about synergy of my pocket class & focus more on overcoming this weakness?
Thanks in advance for your time and responses.

Mojava

[daviddoran]

Pally Mage seens like a good combo. Mages are glass cannons, so having a aoe tank keeping the mobs busy, u can fire away with the mage and not worry as much about him dying. Plus u get ports/water, and a nice INT buff, which helps AoE paladins lack of mana. Then ud have 2 of the best "boosting" classes, should u ever decide to go more than 2.

Other than that, any slave caster will do a fine job backing up an AoE Paladin, and any other AoE class will have good synergy. If you keep with the lock, u can use hellfire, and keep SS on the pally.

If you add a healer to tail the paladin, priest seems like a good match there, they give stam buff, excellent healing, and youd be a godsend for many people as you can tank/heal, and everyone else can just dps. Should make instancing pretty easy, especially later in the game, and heroics.

[Mojava]

Pally Mage seens like a good combo. Mages are glass cannons, so having a aoe tank keeping the mobs busy, u can fire away with the mage and not worry as much about him dying. Plus u get ports/water, and a nice INT buff, which helps AoE paladins lack of mana. Then ud have 2 of the best "boosting" classes, should u ever decide to go more than 2.

Other than that, any slave caster will do a fine job backing up an AoE Paladin, and any other AoE class will have good synergy. If you keep with the lock, u can use hellfire, and keep SS on the pally.

If you add a healer to tail the paladin, priest seems like a good match there, they give stam buff, excellent healing, and youd be a godsend for many people as you can tank/heal, and everyone else can just dps. Should make instancing pretty easy, especially later in the game, and heroics.

Thanks David - I really like the idea of the pally/mage. My concern with this combo is aggro management. Specced correctly, the AOE pally seems to hold aggro pretty decently. However whenever I've played a mage, I've always had to temper my casting so as not to steal aggro from the main tank when in groups. For those who are familiar with this spec/build, would the firepower of a mage be too much for the pally to maintain aggro or would I have to temper the mage casting?

Thanks again.

[Boylston]

Which pocket class is more viable for latter game? I have sampled the pally/lock to 29 and while the team can easily crush the mobs, I feel the synergy between the two is lacking. I have sampled the pally/priest to 20 and the synergy seems to be more viable.If you like AoE, Pally/Lock and Pally/Mage are both good options. Pally/Lock gets better at end-game due to Seed of Corruption, which is a great AoE spell that would work well with multiboxing. Pally/Mage is probably easier from a non-targeted approach, however.

Should I forgo the above combo's for a different 2nd class to the pally? Thorns on an AOE pally sounds nice with a pocket druid with a side of buffs/heals. AOE pally with windfury/other completmental totems could be an option. Or since my main concept is AOE pally, shouldn't I use an AOE pocket mage?The Pally's main role is going to be holding aggro, honestly. Their consecrate DPS pales in comparison to what a true DPS class can do. Pally/Druid is an effective combo, however-- the druid is more of healer/buffer and not an AoE contributor, though. That combo is more Tank/Healer and not AoE Aggro Holder/AoE Damage Dealer.

If I go with the pally/priest, should I build the priest as shadow or spec for Holy Nova to help with AOE dps?Holy Nova is very inefficient, mana-wise. I'd say that a Pally/Priest combo is still more Tank/Healer like...with some added AoE help from Holy Nova. You can't spam it for long without being out of mana, though.

Is dboxing instances an option or will I still have to group? You won't be able to duo instances for any kind of reasonable XP/loot you'd want. You'll still need to group. Your pally tank will be the backbone of said group, though. If you do have a second healing class, you may find instance groups cake to set up. DPS classes are easy to find to fill slots, in my experience.

An AOE pally's biggest achilles heal thusfar has been spellcasters. Should I worry less about synergy of my pocket class & focus more on overcoming this weakness?
Hard to overcome this weakness directly, but I'd say a warlock would make a great partner. You can target the ranged mobs with your Pally and have the 'lock DoT them up and kill them that way while the Pally consecrates the main pile. I think you overcome this weakness with technique/macros and not with any given class. Mage can utilize counterspell, for example, to force the mob to close to melee range.


Welcome to the multiboxing addiction! I wish all folks gave as much time and energy as you clearly have to putting forth questions that make it easy for us to want to help. Enjoy your gaming!

Your village elder idiot,

Boylston

[bodefeld]

You may also want to consider Pally/Shaman. The AoE tanking is much easier when you get +spell damage (quite a lot compared to what prot pallies normally have) and mana from totems. I'd go for a resto-shaman and prot pally and do instances, or spec ret and elemental for questing.