10 Boxing - Dual Boxing Two Zins Arrays - Ideas?

[Xzin]

I recently purchased the hardware to dual box 5 more characters. So I should, in theory, be able to 10 box - dual boxing two 5 boxes.

I plan on starting up 5 new accounts and moving my existing warlocks over.

I plan on going 1 Priest 4 Mages + 1 Priest 4 Warlocks.

4 Pets, 6 Instant Cast AoE Fears, 10x AoEs, 6x Dots, Somewhere around 25k instant damage (PoM Pyros, Deathcoils, etc) - Cross AoE Heals - Water, Portals, SOULSTONES, Summons, 4x Sheeps, etc etc etc.

This setup is not for the faint of heart. It required an 8 port KVM, 10 keyboards, 10 wired mice, 10 wireless mice receivers, 7 vetra multicasters, 12 y-mice, 5 x-keys and of course 10 computers and the monitor arrays to view it all.

Which means I need to plan all sorts of things that most people never think of- power consumption, heat dissipation, even bandwidth use.

This is not really the 40 man project I was thinking about before but hey.... maybe 15 is the next step :) Probably not though :)

But I enjoy this hobby and I have updated everything for BC.... so this should be.... interesting.

I suppose I have to be to spend $150 a month in subscription fees and the $400 just for the expansion. It's.... a bit extreme but hey.... this is for fun.

Anyway, the point of all this is not "omg look at my setup" but to solicit suggestions for things that I might have missed or not thought about. I have the ability to select any individual machine, command a single team or all 10 at the same time - instantly. I expect this to be "no more" difficult than multiboxing with the Zins but ramped up a notch or two. I obviously can only do 5v5 arena matches but world PvP should be..... interesting. Some (not many) 10 man dungeons are available.... and there is always AV.

One thought I had was to use the same X-Keys pro to control the Zins and Control the Warlocks but use a foot pedal as a kind of alt or control key.

A sort of hybrid chording system if you will - press nothing and the mages are active. Press button 1 and the warlocks are active.... so I can instantly swap between them - perhaps even set it such that both are connected and both cast.... not too difficult to setup really and the warlocks and mages share a great many spell "types" (AoE, Instant Cast, "Fireball", etc)

Any thoughts or suggestions on what odd or strange things have changed in the game since around January? While I have thought a great deal about this, I know I have not thought of everything. What things might I be missing with this setup? Any suggestions or comments?

[shockbeta]

I can't think of anything specific. Just normal changes done overtime, balancing tweaking. I'm pretty sure you don't use to many addons or scripts of sorts. That is the major thing since TBC came out. They changed a lot of the functions you're allowed to use and what macros can and cannot do. From what I've seen you do, and what the rest of us do. I really don't think that will effect you at all. I do like the foot pedal idea to toggle between sets or teams within your group. Make sit more micro managed. Able to utilize all of the keys for all characters, and as a foot pedal makes it a real slick way to swap what ones to control. I'm sure you've put a lot of thought into this and am sure it will be close to what you think it will be like. A few things to get used to with your new setup, but once you get a handle on it.... Death and destruction will follow.

The only thing I've been thinknig about is with that many people at your control you may really want to think about how you're going to target. I doubt you want all 10 focus on one target. I would think 5 would be enough. I'm not sure if this was in before or not, but you're able to use mouseover to cast spells and the such. I haven't tried it, but maybe mouseover a target hit your target key, and said group leader targets him, then mouse over next and said group leader targets him. Then just use your standard /focus or /assist macro to have the rest of the group support their leader. I'm sure I'm rambling on with useless info at this point as you've most likely looked at the new changes and addons to the macro and scripting system. I'm sure you've got a lot more worked out then I could come up with in one sitting.

[Xzin]

I bet a LUA script could be made that would sync targets - something that would target based on priority or just with different targets selected - PoM sheep 4 players at once or something.

The cast on click sounds neat - and /focus is in now - I know about the new TBC UI changes as I played a little with the beta TBC but never got really involved in fixing my UIs. I use some UI mods. Nothing extreme but a few custom made ones. WTB decursive though :)

I have thought about the basics and know what to expect but I have already picked up a few good ideas from this board and figure there may well be more good ones waiting in the wings.

Not yet sure if it will be better to target 1 pick off 1 or target 2 pick off 2 slower. 4x insta cast fire blasts + 4x shadowburn + 2 shadow word deaths = a lot of hurt. Well... about 6k damage base before talents, gear, etc. Instant cast (cooldowns though).

Maybe just toss the pets around randomly, throw some dots in and gib the rest. Not sure yet - different situations will call for different strategies and the whole point of this setup is to be as flexible as possible.

[shockbeta]

I'm not sure about targeting in script anymore. Well I'll jsut say targeting specific stuff. I'd give a once over the change list for the macros and scripts. I beleive that made a lot of stuff not able to be done in script anymore to off the one button smashers. One buttons with a script that thinks for them. I'll look into it a little bit see if I can confirm it. I haven't done much scripting for WoW though so I could be completely wrong on this. After thinknig more I really like the mouseover idea. I tested it and it's really easy.

[code:1]
Here's the mouseover focus...
/focus [target=mouseover]

and this sets your target to mouseover.
/target [target=mouseover]
[/code:1]

I'm sure you could do somthing with it more, but that's the basics for it. Like you said prioritizing and synching would be the issue.

So where you thinking ideas like that? or Other things as well? I can ramble on all day about some stuff...

[Xzin]

Yep, exactly stuff like that. Especially the newer stuff and how TBC will impact this. E.g. is world pvp dead, do people still do bgs, how have mounts changed the rules of pvp, etc?

[shockbeta]

There's some "new" things you can do to people on flying mounts. my favorite being a druid(insta cast flight form) is to knock them off their mount mid flight. plummet to there death, 5 secs.. out of combat, shift to flight form go about my business...

I really don't do much pvp unless I see someone attacking quest givers in a town. I used to pvp a lot, but I find it more fun just leveling. that's just the type of player I am. level 70 brought a whole new bracket to pvp. The gear you can get is insane, and the amount of people you can take on is equally crazy. This all depends on how well equipped the other people are. I'll leave the PVP tips to someone more knowledgable on the topic then I.

I do know PVP really depends on what server or battlegroup you're in. There's times where there is always world pvp happening, and then there are stretches where I don't see any. This could just be where I am at the time, but I would assume it's always there.

I'm curious as to how you're planning on implementing the foot pedals to toggle what to broadcast to. Do you really use all your keyboards at once, or is it more like a hardware versino of multibox or synergy? Making me brew some ideas of new features for multibox. Grouping computers... shortcut keys to toggle which group is active. Would help for micromanagement of parties. I guess only if you had multiple of one type. like 2 mages, priest, 2 hunters, or something. I also think I'm gonna try to figure out how to do the mouseover targeting to send to my party I use. I don't use it, just knew you could do it. Wonder if it would be possible to create a script that could utilize it. I"m not thinking to choose what to target, but if you told it what to... hmm...

[trainwr3ck]

Well, to save a little money, you could go with six month subscriptions instead of paying month to month. If my math is right, it would save you something like over $200 a year doing that since you have ten accounts. Time it so that they don't all need renewing at once though.

[Gallo]

My major question would be, what do you plan on accomplishing? I mean, the prospect of being able to run Kara on your own is pretty awesome, but that instance is pretty damn finnicky when it comes to class ditribution. I dont think you could do it with warlock pets as tanks, and I'm not sure you could do it without a rogue to do some sort of interruption on bosses.

If you're simply looking to make an army of Zins... then awesome. Honestly, I'd aim to attempt an actual 10man group. Maybe something like

2 priests
2 warriors
4 mages
4 locks

at the very least. The 2 warriors could to the interrupts that you need, and could be outstanding tanks for bosses.

[Xzin]

The whole point of this setup is to PvP. PvE will be fun for a bit but thats not really the focus of this setup.

The foot pedals will just act as alt/control/shift modifier keys that will change the command being sent.

I figured I could kill anybody on a mount. Drop out of mount, PoM / Pyro them and then slowfall :) Not sure what to do about the warlocks though :) Pretty sure the priest slowfall is self only....

I mainly use a single set of X-keys and a keyboard but I have the ability to shift to any single input or toggle it to send keystrokes to any machine or combination of machines I need. I find it quite elegant actually but damn it's hard to learn :)

[Ellay]

Not to be negative nancy but warlock and mages are polar opposite in terms of how they kill. One is burst other is DoT. Why not 8 warlocks or 8 mages? :)

[Xzin]

Not to be negative nancy but warlock and mages are polar opposite in terms of how they kill. One is burst other is DoT. Why not 8 warlocks or 8 mages? :)

Variety :) And synergy.

Don't forget that warlocks DO have instant cast spells. Plus, they also have pets (pseudotanks).

I don't plan on doing A LOT of 10 man PvP - but 4 more mages would be kinda boring :) Not that I disagree with you that mages and warlocks kill in opposite ways.

Plus, I want 2 differing 5 man teams - I suspect that warlocks in this configuration would be terribly strong.

Who knows, maybe I will level up a mage team and a warlock team, so I can do both :)

8 Mages.... I don't even want to think about how much hurt that would bring down. I suspect 8x Fire Blasts might kill a level 70. Lets not even start on 8x blastwaves.

[Ceromus]

Goodluck. Alot of us are having problems with /follow disconnecting or lagging characters.

[Steph]

Xzin staying ahead of the crowd - I like that! :D

I like my priest/warlock/mage setup. Having more of each should be awesome. My focus is PvE, so I dont have more slots, but for world pvp and without money concerns I recon its a fun option to explore.

You can get engineering and parachute cloaks for the warlocks against falling damage, that would also give you a number of other toys.

One thing though, I thought one could not join AV as a party anymore via the /script JoinAsGroup thingie. Is there another way?

[Xzin]

Goodluck. Alot of us are having problems with /follow disconnecting or lagging characters.

I am hopeful that putting each character on a separate box will help fix the disconnection problem some people who box on one machine are having. It sounds more server side though - if you send too much data through to WoWs servers, it disconnects you. It has always done that. Maybe they changed something with the code.... not sure but my experience was that it only did that on the same machine. Plus, I intend to spread my connection out across multiple internet lines. Not because I need to for bandwidth reasons - WoW uses less than 56kBITs per character up and down) but to help combat any localized lag, etc. If one connection lags, the others will take over seamlessly. Fairly simple load balancing and redundancy.

As for the following issue..... I am still well.. heh .... following this latest development.

Until I test it myself, I will be unable to truly judge it but normally I don't ever really blink or change speeds (like a druid, etc).

So we will have to see.

[Xzin]

One thing though, I thought one could not join AV as a party anymore via the /script JoinAsGroup thingie. Is there another way?

Click join at the EXACT same time. If 10 slots are open (or 5 with the Zins) then presto :)

The only hard part is making sure they are in the same group.... not always as easy if people don't want / care to move you.

[Ceromus]

Goodluck. Alot of us are having problems with /follow disconnecting or lagging characters.

I am hopeful that putting each character on a separate box will help fix the disconnection problem some people who box on one machine are having. It sounds more server side though - if you send too much data through to WoWs servers, it disconnects you. It has always done that. Maybe they changed something with the code.... not sure but my experience was that it only did that on the same machine. Plus, I intend to spread my connection out across multiple internet lines. Not because I need to for bandwidth reasons - WoW uses less than 56kBITs per character up and down) but to help combat any localized lag, etc. If one connection lags, the others will take over seamlessly. Fairly simple load balancing and redundancy.

As for the following issue..... I am still well.. heh .... following this latest development.

Until I test it myself, I will be unable to truly judge it but normally I don't ever really blink or change speeds (like a druid, etc).

So we will have to see.

Boxing on the same computer makes the problem alot worse because when the window loses focus it really brings out the issue. Im using seperate computers myself im running the DGL-4100 router. I have yet to figure out exactly why /follow is lagging some of my characters and not others its quite the hassle. None the less I am fairly confident that if you did run them on seperate connections or even seperate IPs that the issue will probably never happen.

[Yarddog]

There is a little snag/annoyance when trying to take off in flight mode with characters that are following. From my experience so far, characters in follow mode will not just take off when the leader starts to fly away. Even if I hit space bar on the following characters to get them to make the initial jump off the ground they still won't follow in flight but rather will drop back to the ground and run to follow.

What I find myself doing is looking for elevated terrain that I just run off of with my leader and all the following toons will go into flight mode. Sometimes this is just a small hill, and sometimes its the edge of the world. Anything that drops off sharply where your character would normally fall for even a few feet will work to put your characters into flight mode.

If everything around is flat, then I have to individually get each toon flying a few feet off the ground before getting them all to follow in flight mode.

Not too big a deal with just my 3 characters, could get real annoying with 10 if you are taking off and landing a lot. Depends on what you are doing with your characters.

[Yarddog]

Perhaps you are already using or have tried this, but injecting keystrokes with voice commands might be beneficial in your setup. I did it once a long time ago (don't recall what the program was) and while interesting it was a bit of a bother. However, in your setup having an additional method of commanding your toons (even in a limited fashion) might help.

[Xzin]

There is a little snag/annoyance when trying to take off in flight mode with characters that are following. From my experience so far, characters in follow mode will not just take off when the leader starts to fly away. Even if I hit space bar on the following characters to get them to make the initial jump off the ground they still won't follow in flight but rather will drop back to the ground and run to follow.

What I find myself doing is looking for elevated terrain that I just run off of with my leader and all the following toons will go into flight mode. Sometimes this is just a small hill, and sometimes its the edge of the world. Anything that drops off sharply where your character would normally fall for even a few feet will work to put your characters into flight mode.

If everything around is flat, then I have to individually get each toon flying a few feet off the ground before getting them all to follow in flight mode.

Not too big a deal with just my 3 characters, could get real annoying with 10 if you are taking off and landing a lot. Depends on what you are doing with your characters.

I was just planning on hitting spacebar a ton to take flight then /following.

From what I hear, that will work perfectly as it automatically makes you fly up the Z axis and stops you from going back to the ground as you sorta well just hover.

[Yarddog]

Ok, another "DOH!" moment for me in WoW. Yeah, it works fine hitting space bar several times to fly up the z-axis, just like when underwater. I tried it last night. I swear I tested that right after getting my flying mount and it didn't work. Apparently I just did something wrong when trying it. Won't be the last time that I totally miss the obvious I'm sure, LOL.

[Gallo]

just an FYI, I dont believe you have to actually HIT the spacebar many times... all you have to do is hold it. With an epic flying mount, I feel like a rocketship launching when I hold spacebar because it shoots up so fast.