Contemplating eventually running a 10 box team. Want some thoughts.

[heffner]

If you want to do it, go for it. I don't see that it's a big deal to try it if you have the hardware and $$$.

You are really asking for information that no one has...not many people run more than 1 character, let alone 10. If YOU think you can handle it, that's all you need IMO. Otherwise, you will just get a lot of baseless opinions -> the one boxers think the dual boxers are nuts who think the 5 boxers are nuts who think the 10 boxers are nuts who think the 25 boxers are totally samwise insane.

So, just be part of the experiment.

Have fun! Let us know how you do.

[TheBigBB]

I am not going to PVP much at all with this group. Most of the time I'd probably play them separately as like my main 5 box and my alt 5 box.

My decision is to go with this group:

Tanks: 2 paladins
DPS: 2 Ele shaman, Moonkin, Warlock, Mage, Hunter
Healers: Priest, Paladin

3 paladins for 3 sets of blessings and auras
2 shaman to cover all the good totems
Druid and mage are in my team already, mark and moonkin aura
Warlock for blood pact and soulstones
Hunter for aspects and ferocious inspirtation and someone to take all the agi gear
Priest for fort

All I need to level is 2 paladins and a warlock.

I actually made 4 new accounts already so I am going to go ahead and prepare this group. I will need a new computer before I can do this the way I want to, which might take a few months.

[TheBigBB]

I am not going to PVP much at all with this group. Most of the time I'd probably play them separately as like my main 5 box and my alt 5 box.

My decision is to go with this group:

Tanks: 2 paladins
DPS: 2 Ele shaman, Moonkin, Warlock, Mage, Hunter
Healers: Priest, Paladin

3 paladins for 3 sets of blessings and auras
2 shaman to cover all the good totems
Druid and mage are in my team already, mark and moonkin aura
Warlock for blood pact and soulstones
Hunter for aspects and ferocious inspirtation and someone to take all the agi gear
Priest for fort

All I need to level is 2 paladins and a warlock.

I actually made 4 new accounts already so I am going to go ahead and prepare this group. I will need a new computer before I can do this the way I want to, which might take a few months.

[TheBigBB]

I've now gotten it in my head that it would be fun to run 10 characters, and that I could totally handle it. My 5 box mixed team is no strain for me to manage, and I feel that adding another team wouldn't add much more. The main thing that would be really challenging would be handling another tank. The new DPS and even healer can all run off the same model I use for my 5 man. The DPS would be targetting the same thing, and the healer could just heal at the same time as the first healer. Even if it's not efficient, it's okay. Just have the second healer be a shaman casting chain heals.

So as you can see, my first team is Priest, Mage, Druid, Pally, Shaman. What classes would I want to add to give me the most bang for my buck in terms of helpful buffs? I think another shaman is a good idea because she can pop the totems that the other doesn't. What else? Keep in mind, I may not actually do this because it's going to be a lot of money to get another team going, so don't be too disappointed if you don't see me 10 boxing soon. I just want to have plans in place.

[TheBigBB]

My gear is lacking but I've run nearly every 5 man non heroic using a lot of blues and have downed 2 bosses in Kara with only the 5 of them. I never did a heroic only because I never tried to do one. I only started doing this a couple of months ago. I am going to tackle heroics, though, there's absolutely no doubt about it. I don't have any stress about it. In fact, I will go do one the next chance I get.

What I'm not finding to be a strain is management. I could manage more things than I am. Regardless of what kind of load my horribly geared blue/green tank can muster at the moment, the problem is never that I felt I couldn't manage my team.

In any case, I just want to have this all worked out in my head first.

I'm not looking to full clear anything necessarily. Maybe 4 horsemen will be impossible. That's okay. Even clearing some content by myself would be rewarding.

I do have a level 70 warrior already. Commanding shout might be valuable. I also have a 60 hunter and a bunch of 64 shaman. I was thinking a warlock could add blood pact. Maybe I should make the other shaman another DPS and then have a pally healer since having another blessing would be useful.

[Sam DeathWalker]

I have found it very difficult to run more then one mellee at max effectivness, at one time ....

Still you do get a lot of synergy from multiple buffs, no doubt.

But with 25 I dont really see much need for 5percent more this or 10percent more that.

From other threads I guess that the basic minimum is Druid, Warlock, Shamans ... then branch out from there but I really don't know.

[TheBigBB]

I have found it very difficult to run more then one mellee at max effectivness, at one time ....

Still you do get a lot of synergy from multiple buffs, no doubt.

But with 25 I dont really see much need for 5percent more this or 10percent more that.

From other threads I guess that the basic minimum is Druid, Warlock, Shamans ... then branch out from there but I really don't know.With my planned setup, I would be in direct mouse-control of only two characters at a time, which means that I would not use more than two melee at once. The paladin tank and second tank would be the only ones doing any sort of melee. The warrior tank would be considered an offtank and would not always be needed. I would move her in range to attack when I got a chance to do so, but as long as she's keeping shouts up like demoralizing and commanding shout, I don't care what she does for damage.

As for buffs, I don't find multiple classes more confusing to handle enough to bother me, and the benefits of more buffs are truly very significant when you add it all up. Since I don't like to do PVP, I have no use for some of the mechanics that make shamans great. I am way more concerned with synergy of classes to make up for my inefficiency. Buffs are actually very significant at times. I don't know what the level 80 buffs will be, but right now the difference between a totally fully buffed character and an unbuffed one are astoundingly huge. Even just in terms of stamina, you can grab an extra 3000-4000 hit points if you have commanding shout, fort, blood pact and blessing of kings. Unless some of those don't stack now, which I'm not sure about.

[TheBigBB]

It seems that blood pact and commanding shout don't stack. With Earth and Moon already a part of my team, I'm not sure I even need a warlock. Is there anything else they add?

[Vyndree]

I'd say:

Make sure you have clear goals for the team and start with realistic expectations.

What do you want to do with this group?
What can/can't you do with this group?

Just make sure you don't have a starry-eyed view of what it will/won't be. It's a plunge to 10-box, so make sure you start it with the right expectations and intentions.


Suvega and I have both theorycrafted about 10-boxing, but in the end we thought... "what for?" -- In our particular case, just our two groups can fill a 10-man, and with the growing number of multiboxers on our server it's likely we will have enough to fill a 25-man. Recently there's been some headbutting on "which multiboxer gets to bring their full group to ZA/Kara and which has to solobox this time??" -- so a larger team is not exactly a benefit to us.

[TheBigBB]

I'd say:

Make sure you have clear goals for the team and start with realistic expectations.

What do you want to do with this group?
What can/can't you do with this group?

Just make sure you don't have a starry-eyed view of what it will/won't be. It's a plunge to 10-box, so make sure you start it with the right expectations and intentions.


Suvega and I have both theorycrafted about 10-boxing, but in the end we thought... "what for?" -- In our particular case, just our two groups can fill a 10-man, and with the growing number of multiboxers on our server it's likely we will have enough to fill a 25-man. Recently there's been some headbutting on "which multiboxer gets to bring their full group to ZA/Kara and which has to solobox this time??" -- so a larger team is not exactly a benefit to us.My motives/goals:

1. To try to help set a multiboxer precedent for 10 mans, understanding that there may be some or many bosses that will be close to impossible to do at times. I'd like to have that experience on what is or isn't possible, especially because I sometimes question the accepted logic. For example, I'd love to have gotten my hands on Netherspite with some of my ideas, even if I failed.
2. I think it'd be more fun to try to down some challenging bosses, understanding that 5 mans will still be a fun challenge at times
3. I often hate scheduled guild raiding because I like control of my own life. With only 5 I still need big raids to see content, so I need to follow a strict guild.
4. The social aspect of the game on message boards like this one has been more rewarding than the social aspect in the game itself.

I will probably be making a video in the near future to show how I multibox because I think it's working out really well the way I set up my windows. I have, for example, been able to get credit on 5 guys at once on bombing quests through manual clicking; I can switch windows that quickly, and I don't even use any software to do it. This is why I believe I could have been quick enough to grab beams on Netherspite. (just as an example) Yet, I think I'd be okay with just giving it a good go of it.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Personally, I tend to favor the pet classes for 5+ boxing as it gives you more versatility in terms of damage/interrupt/annoyance focusing. As an example, if I have a rogue and a druid attacking me, I'll sic the felguards and felhunter on the druid to keep him slowed/silenced/etc for a few seconds while I dot/fear the rogue. I'm sure you can see the possibilities. Also, with hunters, you just doubled your group size and ALL 10-20 of you are un-CC'able for 20 seconds every few minutes.

[TheBigBB]

It's weird. I replied to this thread 2 days ago but the replies never showed up. huh.

Anyway, I am going through with this on short notice. I started RAFing new accounts and just wound up now with 10 accounts and a new team of my old alts and a couple of new guys to round it out.

I decided on another paladin tank and a new paladin healer. Before I discuss the rest of my new team, I have a question about the paladin healer. Is she going to be any good at multibox healing? I thought that paladins had a cool new AOE healing move, but I now see that it's been changed to make it a little too complex for me to use. Maybe I should swap her out for a shaman healer instead? I'd be missing another blessing and aura, but healing is too important to mess around with.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I'd go with either a priest or a druid, personally. Now that druids have anytime rez and an AoE HoT, it's tough not to like 'em.

[Bigfish]

I'm looking forward to getting my 10-box set up running. I can tell already setting up a 10-man raid is going to be so much more intense than 5 manning things. Just thinking about that extra layer of positioning while increasing my synergy and coordination gives me goosebumps. Even better, having the leeway to entirely alter my playstyle to experiment and find out what can function as an adequite trade off. I'm REALLY looking forward to trying to leave my balance druid out of boomkin form, just for the added HoTs. I may even be able to get by with just 1 or even 0 healing specs, once I delve a bit more in to Paladin tank-while-self healing.

[Rin]

W000T Another 10-Boxer.

I should have said something sooner, but welcome to the family. 10 man raids in WOTLK should be very intresting and challenging for us running 10 characters. Personally, I'm looking forward to something that requires more skill than a lot of old "tank-and-spank" type fights. I run 2 Paladins, 4 Shaman, 1 Priest, 2 Mages, and 1 Druid.

The Druid's job is to nuke and provide the elemental debuff so that the rest of the team can nuke hard.
The Druid also provides thorns and blessing of the wild for the party.
The Priest is specced Holy (suprised, right? :-P, jk), and I use her to toss heals to the team. The heals I have bound on my G15 keyboard to odd combinations such as SHIFT-ALT-F4 for Circle of Healing, etc. I basically use the top segment G1-G6 for my Priest. I've brought her all the way down the Holy line too and have gotten the "Oh *(%&*@ someone in my team is about to die, so I better keep her alive" aka Guardian Spirit talent
The Mages are both Arcane specced. I use Focus Magic on each of the mages (giving them an additional 3% crit chance that can't be used on self). I use a missle rotation and arcane barrage atm.
The Shammis are all full Elemental; they function as my mail wearing nukers and pseudo healers. I have some of their keys bound to the G15 as well so that I can control healing from one team to another quickly. If my Priest were to die, 1 key press from my shaman would get any of my characters to full health, while still providing nukes from the shaman (since I only have 3 of the shaman set to drop a big heal in the event of an emergency)
One Paladin is specc'd Protection, she tanks well. I'm debating on what to do with the other Paladin as far as specs go (she wont be 70 until about 2 weeks from now), I'm thinking Holy for her, but I might just do 2 full protection tanks. Either way, the Paladins each provide blessings, auras, and dual consecration castings, etc.

Cheers.

[TheBigBB]

Thanks for the replies guys. This thread got totally screwed up when the boards fixed up the issue it was having with wrong times being logged. The first half of the thread is just a mess. Apologies. I can't even seem to edit it out.

Anyway, you guys have some good input! Rin, your ideas are a lot like mine! I am totally with you and following what you're saying.

I looked into it more, and I LOVE the glyph you can give a paladin which heals the GROUP for 10% of what you healed the tank for with holy light. That might make a paladin a great boxing healer afterall. Stick a beacon of light on one tank, heal the other tank, and the group gets 10% bonus from that. So you can give healing to everyone at once just about. Good stuff. I can't wait to see how that works. If it doesn't work out, I have a ton of spare shaman from my disbanded shaman team that I can replace the extra paladin with. My only major difference from you is I am leveling a warlock for the blood pact and soulstone instead of another mage, though I will be able to RAF up a second mage just in case.

I am going to run 5 windows on two computers using a USB multicaster. I have to use a USB because I run off a Mac and they told me that it might not work with the regular one. I am not sure about this, but that's what Vetra told me. Right now I can only effectively play the characters as two separate teams of 5 since I only have one good computer, but I am capable of running them all at once on one computer if I HAD to. I plan to get another computer soon. My cashflow isn't as good as it should be to do this, but I will sacrifice my other gaming hobbies to make up for it. No more console games.

[heffner]

Ugh, ya no kidding on the screwyness. I actually deleted my reply after I realized it had nothing to do with what you asked, lol. Oh well.