Going to give WoW a try again - stay hardware or go software?

[Nisch]

Ok, so the wife and I are burned out on DAOC..........hated the nerfs in AoC, and Warhammer is just plain boring. We fired up a couple 10-day trials last night and we've decided to give this a try again. I played at release and stopped after getting my rogue to 45'ish originally. I since multiboxed DAOC, full hardware. My setup is this:

http://www.danhanisch.com/daoc/nischcomp-0424.jpg

What I'm pondering is setting up my system for 5-boing WoW and wondering if I should stick with my hardware setup or go software. I since changed my monitors and have (3) 22" monitors on the bottom row with (3) 17" along the top row. If I went hardware, I'd go back to my setup as pictured above. Otherwise, I'd go software, and would do center screen as my main, and 2 WOW's per screen on the outer monitors.

GIven my hardware setup, should I stay that way?

(6) PC's
(6) Monitors
(5) daisy-chained keyboards/xkeys/footpedal (including 1 G15 USB for main PC use only, HH Lite for broadcast)
8-port Vetra PS2 broadcaster
4-port Vetra USB broadcaster
2-port PS2 KVM used for single or multiple keyboard use.
Octopus used for screen/mouse sharing, WOL, and remote shutdown.


What are you guys' thoughts??

Also, where's a good place to pick up a combo package for 6 WOW's (1 for the wife, 5 for me) I tried Best Buy, but they limit you to 3 at a time.

Thanks,

Dan

[dpaladin]

I dont know about the hardware/software side - but as for purchasing the game. You should be looking at RAF setups. You daisy chain your recruit a friend bonus and everybody is making 3x experience on kills and quests - it gets you through the first 60 levels in record time.

Then you just upgrade those accounts.

[Fuzzyboy]

Hardware > software - other than the electricity bill I can't think of a good reason to prefer software over hardware.

As for the bestbuy-issue - why not bring your wife and get 3 each? :)

[Fuzzyboy]

Oh yeah, and like basket says, make sure you chain your accounts to enable RAF :) you can do that after buying them though, but you need to do it before activating them.

[suprafro]

You definitely want to look at RAF before activating any new wow accounts

http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/RAF

[Nisch]

Interesting. I was wondering what everyone was talking about with "RAF", but now it makes more sense.

One question though........should I start the chain from my old account or the new 10-day trial?

Ok, two questions, do I need a 70 to do this?

Also, do I need to send to 5 individual email accounts? Meaning, do I have to have 5 email accounts setup to receive the emails??

Thanks again,

Dan

[Marious]

Or you can always download the 10 day trial and do a digital upgrade online no need to go out and waste gas on going to store buy it all online from Brlizzard WoW website.

And from what I hear hardware is the way to go if you can afford it, and since you already have the set up why not continue with it you obviously know what your doing with your set up why change it? Unless you are worried about the electric bill.

[ChaoticMonk]

Intersting. I was wondering what everyone was talking about with "RAF", but now it makes more sense.

One question though........should I start the chain from my old account or the new 10-day trial?

Ok, two questions, do I need a 70 to do this?

Also, do I need to send to 5 individual email accounts? Meaning, do I have to have 5 email accounts setup to receive the emails??

Thanks again,

DanIts upto you wether you want to use your old account to refer some new accounts or use your new account to refer more new accounts. Using you old account would save you some money as you dont have to buy a new copy of wow for that one, just for the new ones.

The only use of having a 70 with this is he can boost you thro instances much quicker but questing 3x XP is still insanely fast.

You do not need 5 individual emails...you can use the same one over and over.

[Nisch]

Nice,

I'll just create 5 new 10-days and do that, 4 for me, 1 for the wife. And then I just will upgrade them digitally. Thanks for the information! :thumbup:

[Pringle]

Kinda off-topic here, but is that a R/C heli attached to your wall? If people wanna give us boxers grief for speding money, they should try flying helicopters. Now there's a money pit! Alot of fun though!

[Nisch]

Yeah, that's my Logo10.

I work for the man who owns Hacker Brushless USA, and the former US distributor for Mikado helicopters. I got the helicopter for exchange for some website work.

It didn't cost me as much as it COULD.....but it's still very expensive.....especially after a crash. :cursing:

[Vyndree]

4-port Vetra USB broadcaster

Please seriously reconsider and go with PS2 if you're going full hardware. USB communication is 2-way, and you're going to spend more headache with a USB hardware multiplexer than a PS2.

Also check out the new multiboxer-designed Vetra devices. Might be able to save a few bucks. ;)


I find that Amazon is prompt and pretty cheap for the battlechest. Just make sure to get good use out of the new Recruit-A-Friend bonuses.

[Rms]

Some advantages I see using software: (I haven't used hardware so if i mistepping let me know)

you can limit the buttons that you want to be transmitted to the ones that you want
keyclone has a round robin feature - each press of a key presses that key in a different window sequentially rather than all at once
of course its less hardware but you already have that

[Nisch]

4-port Vetra USB broadcaster

Please seriously reconsider and go with PS2 if you're going full hardware. USB communication is 2-way, and you're going to spend more headache with a USB hardware multiplexer than a PS2.

Also check out the new multiboxer-designed Vetra devices. Might be able to save a few bucks. ;)


I find that Amazon is prompt and pretty cheap for the battlechest. Just make sure to get good use out of the new Recruit-A-Friend bonuses.

The USB broadcaster was my first purchase. I only use it for mouse broadcasting to the 4 17" monitors. It was really unreliable for keyboard broadcasting, which is why I have the 8 port PS2. :)

And what products are you talking about?? I haven't checked out their website in probably close to a year. EDIT: NM, just found them........pretty nifty.......too bad I spent all the money on my broadcaster unit already. :thumbdown:

[Nisch]

Some advantages I see using software: (I haven't used hardware so if i mistepping let me know)

you can limit the buttons that you want to be transmitted to the ones that you want
keyclone has a round robin feature - each press of a key presses that key in a different window sequentially rather than all at once
of course its less hardware but you already have that

Yeah and I see the advantage of being able to swap out the main toon for an alt when it dies. Right now I have to move the mouse to the appropriate screen and then take over control of that character. Hitting a button would be quicker......

Thanks for the feedback.

[Lyonheart]

Me and one of my guildies software box. I am a business owner and could easily afford to hardware box If i wanted. But the free space i have makes me hesitant to go hardware. I run 5 on one PC and sometimes up to 5 more on another, linked via keyclone. I might do hardware someday though.

BTW, what side ( horde/alliance ) and server type(pve/pvp) are you going for? I have a guild on Hyjal Alliance. We all are using RaF atm to level up alt teams. You are welcome to stop by and chat with me ( Whitelyon ) Or PM me for vent info If you like.

[Nisch]

I'm not really worried about the costs either. I already have the hardware, so the added costs of the electricity is nothing really. It just seems like most people software box, and I wasn't sure if that was a preference thing, a cost thing, or convenience. With DAOC, it was the only option.

As for server/side, we're not sure yet. I'm gonna go pick up a hard copy and get it installed. I got the wife's RAF setup and she's linked to my main. But the limitation of the trial kinda sucks, so I think I'm gonna just go ahead and upgrade her.

[Gomotron]

PhnxGold

If you're looking for some MB buddies, or more accurately buddy, you can join me on alliance side on Bronzebeard. It's PvE. I went Alliance due to some friends I work with that liked the "cute" characters on Alliance. :S

Anyways, I can help out with gold 'n' such at early levels. It's amazing what a few 16 slot bags on each character can do with respect to ease of gaming.

Let me know if you do roll on Bronzebeard.

[Vyndree]

Well most of the hardware boxers have been here for a WHILE -- literally before software was ever close to being confirmed "okie dokie" by the GMs.

My personal decision for hardware boxing was this:
Safety -- hardware multiboxing was at the time confirmed OK, but software was a "gray area" still. It's confirmed now, so it's a moot point, but it was part of my decision process so I'm keeping it in the list.
Resilience -- Hardware solutions will work for ANY game, as long as the hardware supports it. So since I used fairely average gcards and core2duo's, I should be able to multibox almost any game on the market and most future games for several years to come.
Speed and Reliability -- If one of my machines breaks down or reboots mid-fight, I can still control the other 4. Unlike software, where if your "main" machine goes down (or the only machine, in the case of single-box software solutions) your alts are sitting there unmoveable. Hardware also doesn't suffer as much from network latency or software latency -- with PS2 multiplexers, it's pretty zippy.
Upgrades -- If my hardware ever goes out of date, each individual machine is relatively cheap (~$500-600). Replacing one average component or machine in an outdated/broken system is cheaper than replacing a high end, state-of-the-art quad-core or its components.
Latency -- Even on my main PC (quad core, 4g ram) I experience "laggier" performance when I open two WoW windows. If I try to run 3-4 at the same time, I'll likely suffer from poorer frame rates, slower alt-tabbing, and overall performance. Of course, this depends on how "high end" your single-box rig is, but keep in mind better computers are often exponentially higher cost.
Viewing area -- If I were to use 1 PC, I'd have to split 5 WoW windows on one (or two) monitor(s). At the moment, the largest monitor we have on hand is 30" widescreen with a heavy little pricetag. I already had two 19" widescreens, and adding them all together in a 2x3 array means I have much larger viewspace. I also have room on the 6th screen for a browser window (to troll dual-boxing.com forums, of course). Adding some cheap 19" widescreens from newegg cost around $150 each, making the additional 4 monitors ~$600 ($900 if I replaced my two existing monitors). I was able to reuse my existing monitors and get a much larger viewspace than an near equivalently expensive 30".
Reuse for other projects -- Ever try rendering or processing something on a cluster? ;)

[Xar]

If I had the funds right now I would go hardware in a heartbeat. The frustration of losing a clone while 5-boxing on my quad-core is growing especially now that all 5 have epic flying. This happens everytime I go through shat. I'm running all on one hard drive so that may be a factor. I've also experienced nasty video lag as a result of using PIP on keyclone so I only use it now when it will be convenient to log all wow's off then on again. I don't think it's an actual keyclone problem but a vista/wow and swapping sizes between two different video destinations (main screen/clone screen) because of lack of span mode in Vista.

[Nisch]

Well most of the hardware boxers have been here for a WHILE -- literally before software was ever close to being confirmed "okie dokie" by the GMs.

My personal decision for hardware boxing was this:
Safety -- hardware multiboxing was at the time confirmed OK, but software was a "gray area" still. It's confirmed now, so it's a moot point, but it was part of my decision process so I'm keeping it in the list.
Resilience -- Hardware solutions will work for ANY game, as long as the hardware supports it. So since I used fairely average gcards and core2duo's, I should be able to multibox almost any game on the market and most future games for several years to come.
Speed and Reliability -- If one of my machines breaks down or reboots mid-fight, I can still control the other 4. Unlike software, where if your "main" machine goes down (or the only machine, in the case of single-box software solutions) your alts are sitting there unmoveable. Hardware also doesn't suffer as much from network latency or software latency -- with PS2 multiplexers, it's pretty zippy.
Upgrades -- If my hardware ever goes out of date, each individual machine is relatively cheap (~$500-600). Replacing one average component or machine in an outdated/broken system is cheaper than replacing a high end, state-of-the-art quad-core or its components.
Latency -- Even on my main PC (quad core, 4g ram) I experience "laggier" performance when I open two WoW windows. If I try to run 3-4 at the same time, I'll likely suffer from poorer frame rates, slower alt-tabbing, and overall performance. Of course, this depends on how "high end" your single-box rig is, but keep in mind better computers are often exponentially higher cost.
Viewing area -- If I were to use 1 PC, I'd have to split 5 WoW windows on one (or two) monitor(s). At the moment, the largest monitor we have on hand is 30" widescreen with a heavy little pricetag. I already had two 19" widescreens, and adding them all together in a 2x3 array means I have much larger viewspace. I also have room on the 6th screen for a browser window (to troll dual-boxing.com forums, of course). Adding some cheap 19" widescreens from newegg cost around $150 each, making the additional 4 monitors ~$600 ($900 if I replaced my two existing monitors). I was able to reuse my existing monitors and get a much larger viewspace than an near equivalently expensive 30".
Reuse for other projects -- Ever try rendering or processing something on a cluster? ;)


Very well put, thank you.

And yes, I have done 3D movie renderings, so I can appreciate a clustered environment. Now being a software developer, I can also appreciate having multiple test platforms. :D

[Nisch]

If I had the funds right now I would go hardware in a heartbeat. The frustration of losing a clone while 5-boxing on my quad-core is growing especially now that all 5 have epic flying. This happens everytime I go through shat. I'm running all on one hard drive so that may be a factor. I've also experienced nasty video lag as a result of using PIP on keyclone so I only use it now when it will be convenient to log all wow's off then on again. I don't think it's an actual keyclone problem but a vista/wow and swapping sizes between two different video destinations (main screen/clone screen) because of lack of span mode in Vista.

Ok, things like the video lag I'm not familiar with, so that point is taken and probably seals the deal for me.

I already went and got the first battle chest. After a week of giving it a whirl, I'm sure I'll go out and buy 4 more. :)

Thanks for the feedback.

[Bradster]

I'm a hardware boxer, as far as the Hardware > Software statements I have to say both have their advantages. I would take a look at Keyclones features and see if you would find PIP more useful with your specific style of play. There really isn't a "Best" or "better" each have their own style. Which is appealing the most is case by case.

[Vyndree]

I'll throw in my vote for hardware as well, pretty much Ditto on what Vyndree stated.

Only downsides to hardware is:

Electricity bill (turn off when not using, not really an issue)
Heat (5x space heaters anyone?)
Space (all those PCs take up a lot of room.... I'm going rack mount myself)

Indeedy. Though it sounds like he already has to deal with this already. He's most of the expensive-to-run hardware anyway.


That being said, there are definite benefits to software as well -- I would die for a good hardware round robin or PiP, but you can't have your cake and eat it too. :/

[Nisch]

Ok well I finally got it up and running on my setup.

You can see I altered my screens a bit, but I like the layout now that I'm only running 5 computers (as I was running 6 in DAOC)

I got my Shamans up to 11 today, just trying to work out all of the kinks. Still need to get the macros all setup. I simply just have my follow and assist setup so far. The rest are just hotbar entries.

Thanks to all that helped. It's really fun doing the MB'ing in WoW. Much better than a single toon.

Some pics of the setup:

http://www.danhanisch.com/nisch/wow-mb-1.jpg

http://www.danhanisch.com/nisch/wow-mb-2.jpg

[Hat]

lol@your sig phnxgold

That's an excellent response.