If your going to box.... at least 5 box, right? or...wrong?

[Taybox]

I have been researching boxing for about a week now, and im very wishy washy on what i want to do.

I would absolutely love to go straight to 5 boxing, which i think i could manage fairly easy. I am just having trouble talking myself into spending $55 x 5 on WOTLK and $30 x 3 BC. + $70 a month for the accounts.

besides that, i dont know if my one desktop computer can run 5 wow accounts at one time. it is a decent machine, awesome graphics card, but only 2 gig of RAM.

The reason i want to 5 box so bad is so i can do heroics in WOTLK whenever i want and not have to spend 2 hours spamming LF healer/tank. I want to go to dungeons whenever i want, have fun in 5v5 arena/PVP.

If i lower down to 3 boxing, sure i can still 3v3 in arena and have fun in PVP. but i wont be able to run dungeons on my own, which ultimately, is what i want to be able to do. i cant decide!!! :cursing:

[Kaynin]

Adding 2 more gigs of ram would be worth it tbh.

As for how many boxing? I personally prefer 4-boxing over 5-boxing. I've quite some friends I enjoy rolling with. I had five originally but the fifth just get left behind, and more behind, eventually I just stopped logging him in.

dual-core cpu, 4gb ddr2, 512mb video. That's pretty much what you should get however for 4-5 boxing. Know though that going three first and five later would make it annoying to level up two all over again.

That said, it's not impossible to box five with 2gb ram, just don't expect much from pvp and such and expect some lag here and there, also run everything minimal, maxfpsbk low, etc. :p

[Taybox]

Adding 2 more gigs of ram would be worth it tbh.

As for how many boxing? I personally prefer 4-boxing over 5-boxing. I've quite some friends I enjoy rolling with. I had five originally but the fifth just get left behind, and more behind, eventually I just stopped logging him in.

dual-core cpu, 4gb ddr2, 512mb video. That's pretty much what you should get however for 4-5 boxing. Know though that going three first and five later would make it annoying to level up two all over again.

That said, it's not impossible to box five with 2gb ram, just don't expect much from pvp and such and expect some lag here and there, also run everything minimal, maxfpsbk low, etc. :p

i agree. i could probably roll with 4 considering i do have a few RL friends that play, plus guildies.

If i were to roll 4, should i go with 3 dps 1 healer, or 4 dps then just grab a tank (dont know if that would work)

[Kaynin]

If you go shamans, 4x elemental is best imo. A lot of nukage and plenty of healing. I roll four dps.

If you go four dps that however don't have the ability to heal. Bad idea I think. :P Like if you go hunters, go 3 hunters + 1 resto shaman, etc.

But hmm, if you're set on shamans, screw the healer pos, you don't need it, trust me. :P I can do all heroics easily without a healing spec'd shammy. I don't put one on healing either. My healing is either all four doing chain heal or all four doing lesser healing wave (Bang, 8k healing uncrit!). I don't use anything else for healing. One button is all I need for it. ;)

[Taybox]

If you go shamans, 4x elemental is best imo. A lot of nukage and plenty of healing. I roll four dps.

If you go four dps that however don't have the ability to heal. Bad idea I think. :P Like if you go hunters, go 3 hunters + 1 resto shaman, etc.

But hmm, if you're set on shamans, screw the healer pos, you don't need it, trust me. :P I can do all heroics easily without a healing spec'd shammy. I don't put one on healing either. My healing is either all four doing chain heal or all four doing lesser healing wave (Bang, 8k healing uncrit!). I don't use anything else for healing. One button is all I need for it. ;)
so all you do is find a tank and your ready to roll. if tank needs healing, chain heal, and all 4 shammies chain heal? lol thats brilliant. 4 boxing will be better for me, and cheaper lol.

i want 2 or 3 different groups thoguht.

4 x ele shammy
4 x mage
1x mage 1x lock 1x priest 1x hunter

im guessing its going to take a while to RAF this lol.

[Schwarz]

First go make yourself some trial accounts and see what your computer will handle. I would try goign to a major city (if your horde make some orcs and goto ORG) this will kind of let you know how things will go in the outlands. So this will tell you what your computer is capable of.

I tried 5 toons on a macbook laptop. It was super fun super laggy but really really fun. This let me know well if I want to do this then I need a major upgrade on hardware.

[Kaynin]

If you go shamans, 4x elemental is best imo. A lot of nukage and plenty of healing. I roll four dps.

If you go four dps that however don't have the ability to heal. Bad idea I think. :P Like if you go hunters, go 3 hunters + 1 resto shaman, etc.

But hmm, if you're set on shamans, screw the healer pos, you don't need it, trust me. :P I can do all heroics easily without a healing spec'd shammy. I don't put one on healing either. My healing is either all four doing chain heal or all four doing lesser healing wave (Bang, 8k healing uncrit!). I don't use anything else for healing. One button is all I need for it. ;)
so all you do is find a tank and your ready to roll. if tank needs healing, chain heal, and all 4 shammies chain heal? lol thats brilliant. 4 boxing will be better for me, and cheaper lol.

i want 2 or 3 different groups thoguht.

4 x ele shammy
4 x mage
1x mage 1x lock 1x priest 1x hunter

im guessing its going to take a while to RAF this lol.

I can also do quite some heroics with a dps as a fifth and even some with a healer. I've four manned ramps and sethekk heroic only so far, and a few first bosses in other heroics. :p Ele shammies are quite powerful. It's still waiting to see how it is in wotlk, but tbh, we got so much healing capability and totems, I expect it to work good. :P

4x mages would be limited in some fights, specifically fights you cant nuke through in 30 seconds. Some encounters will need healing. 1x mage, lock, priest and hunter is a seriously fun combo for pve, but dont expect much in battlegrounds and pvp however. :P

[Taybox]

If you go shamans, 4x elemental is best imo. A lot of nukage and plenty of healing. I roll four dps.

If you go four dps that however don't have the ability to heal. Bad idea I think. :P Like if you go hunters, go 3 hunters + 1 resto shaman, etc.

But hmm, if you're set on shamans, screw the healer pos, you don't need it, trust me. :P I can do all heroics easily without a healing spec'd shammy. I don't put one on healing either. My healing is either all four doing chain heal or all four doing lesser healing wave (Bang, 8k healing uncrit!). I don't use anything else for healing. One button is all I need for it. ;)
so all you do is find a tank and your ready to roll. if tank needs healing, chain heal, and all 4 shammies chain heal? lol thats brilliant. 4 boxing will be better for me, and cheaper lol.

i want 2 or 3 different groups thoguht.

4 x ele shammy
4 x mage
1x mage 1x lock 1x priest 1x hunter

im guessing its going to take a while to RAF this lol.

I can also do quite some heroics with a dps as a fifth and even some with a healer. I've four manned ramps and sethekk heroic only so far, and a few first bosses in other heroics. :p Ele shammies are quite powerful. It's still waiting to see how it is in wotlk, but tbh, we got so much healing capability and totems, I expect it to work good. :P

4x mages would be limited in some fights, specifically fights you cant nuke through in 30 seconds. Some encounters will need healing. 1x mage, lock, priest and hunter is a seriously fun combo for pve, but dont expect much in battlegrounds and pvp however. :P
youve answered alot of my questions haha.thanks

If my computer is able to handle 5 WoWs here will be my setup i believe.

Team 1 : 5 x Elemental Shammy (PVE Heroics / PVP 5v5 Arena)
Team 2 : Warrior / Lock/ Priest / Hunter / Mage (Strictly PVE Heroics)

If I can only handle 4 WoWs.

Team 1 : 4 x Elemental Shammy (PVE Heroics / PVP 5v5 Arena)
Team 2 : Warrior / Mage / Lock / Hunter (Will only need healer for PVE)

[Hachoo]

Personally my thoughts are exactly that - if you're going to box, at least 5 box. The whole point of doing it to me is to be able to solo instances without waiting on anyone else. I personally chose 5 shamans because they're great at PvP AND PvE, and if you need a slight boost in PvE you can have an extra paladin on your main account and use that for tanking.

[phara]

I was in the same place as you Taybox. I couldn't decide if / to what extent I wanted to box. I started out with 3 accounts doing RAF (2 refered to main account), so I leveled up 2 teams of 3 and got 2 toons granted to 60 out of it.

It was good fun, fast to level ... but I have no use for just 3 accounts besides leveling up. I decided if I was going to box at all it would have to be with 5, because I'm not going to pay for even 1 extra account to just level, farm, and quest with. I want to use them for isntances also (and gear them up).

For me it's just a time issue. I do have friends and guildmates that I run instances and raid with, but there are many times where my friends aren't available, so it's all about being able to progress in the game on a set schedule without waiting for others. As far as the hardware, I had a core 2 duo system that I cannibalized to make a new q6600 system with 4 gigs of ram. I reused my case, video cards, hard drives, sound card and ordered a new cpu, cooler, mobo, psu, and ram for around $500 on newegg. I'm only using a single 7800 GTX and running 5 toons on this system, and it works great (XP horizontal span).

[Kaynin]

If you can bring up solo'ing instances for a long period of time, all good. I seriously get bored if there's no one around though, and one person is easy to lfg. :P

[Seldum]

" I reused my case, video cards, hard drives, sound card and ordered a new cpu, cooler, mobo, psu, and ram for around $500 on newegg. I'm only using a single 7800 GTX and running 5 toons on this system, and it works great (XP horizontal span). "



Now that was excactly the info I needed. Gonna buy me 2gb ram and a new monitor and ill be 5 boxing in no time hehe.

[Nomak]

I personally enjoy 2 boxing because I use 2 machines and treat them as separate characters. I have run different instances on both characters at the same time and it has been fun and challenging. You don't HAVE to 5 box to have fun. 2 Boxing gives you the edge you need for quests or mobs that you just can't solo and wish you had someone to heal you. Whatever works for you and provides you with the most fun is what you should choose though.

[elo]

I actually think anywhere from 2-5 boxing has great returns. I 2 boxed for a year before finding this site and had a blast. The only thing I did 'wrong' was that I boxed a prot warrior and holy priest because I was (am) an instance whore and always wanted to be ready to jump into one. I'd just recommend anyone < 4 boxing roll/spec for DPS and ranged makes this a lot easier. With multiple ranged dps you can absolutely mow through quests and jump into any 5 mans easily. But like someone else pointed out, make sure at least one of yours can heal.

[heyaz]

I'd go with 5. I did 4 the first time around and just regretted not having a fifth (especially a tank). I hit 70 and running around dotting people up in AV turned into a gimmick real fast and I realized I couldn't do instances.

Don't let your current hardware limit your choice, you can always upgrade. And don't underestimate it - I started quad boxing on my laptop with 2GB ram and just an nvidia 7900.. ended up being on the road for 3 months and haven't had a chance to get home and get a proper desktop. I'm currently 5 boxing on the same laptop - graphics are low except for max spell effects and the main window gets great fps, only things that really hurt are Shatt, Org, and AV. Everything else is great and I took it all the way to 70.

[Lyonheart]

Just go 5. If you go less, you will STILL need to rely on someone else to fill the group. THE POWER OF FIVE BABY! If you can do 3 or 4, you CAN do 5! If you want to "roll" with friends, just leave someone out. But with the power of five, you will have less limitations!


OH! And make sure you do it RaF style!

[Kaynin]

Yeah, I suppose it differs from person to person. ;)

I can't bring up the patience needed for five, so I just go four. :p Still have five accounts tho, six even, but whatever. Four is my thing.

And if I wanted to I bet ya I can four man most heroics too. I've only four manned two so far, only because I was bored and wanted something to do though. It's just fun to bring others, imo. :p I helped various green geared tanks get heroic and badgeloot in no time. xD

[Schwarz]

We could be having a discussion in a couple months that if you are going to box you should be 10 boxing. Time will only tell there are things that you still do in the game with under 5 accounts.

[pengwynman]

I would absolutely love to go straight to 5 boxing, which i think i could manage fairly easy. I am just having trouble talking myself into spending $55 x 5 on WOTLK and $30 x 3 BC. + $70 a month for the accounts.
isn't wotlk only $40?

[Bigfish]

I started with 2-boxing, then 3, and then 5, and honestly, boxing with a smaller number of characters lets you start working on how you set up your keyboard and macros without spending as much time figuring things out as you would if you jump straight in to 5.

[pinotnoir]

Go 5 accounts. I started with 3 and had to play catch up to 5.

Make 5 shaman! PVP Instance
Make a pally on one account to tank. You can macro 1 button and hold aggro with your pally in 5man instances. Less management is good.
Make 4 other toons you like that can be grouped up with your pally.

Have fun and waste lots of real life time!

I have wow guilt for the time I spend playing.

[Souca]

I highly recommend starting with the prot paly and 4 shaman group. Since its your first group you want to have a stable group that lets you deal with the learning curve from controlling 5 characters instead of worrying about group comp. Even if you never use the paly in an end game instance they are great for getting those other teams up to level quickly. I quested my paly/shammy group up and it was a great experience. Even though my paly lags behind my shaman in gear, she is still incredibly useful when I can't find another tank or just want to go mess around in an instance without having to get a tank. To wit, my paly is the reason I can get 5 horseman clears a night and handle an entire scourge invasion site.

- Souca -

[Sam DeathWalker]

1 prot pally 4 elemental shaman

nuff said.

[Vyndree]

As the original pally/4shammy boxer, I have to say: it's really up to what you want to do.

Do you want to have the extra complexities of managing multiple classes? Dual-boxing is by far the way to go if you're one of the types who likes to min/max their character and is getting bored with the solo game. I'm a 5-boxer, and I do have 2-man groups that I regularly enjoy. There's a level of control that you lose when playing more than 2 or 3 characters.

Do you want to experience group material on your own? Most group material is considered instancing, and that's capped at 5. While people HAVE had success running 4 dps in a 5-man instance, it's really much easier with a "holy trinity" style group with tank/healer/DPS. Excuse me, not easier but more by design. Sure, you can plow through some instances thanks to pure burst, but if you're this type of person you don't really want to exploit the heck out of snares and burst to get things done -- you want the experience of running all the standard grouping roles at once and the thrill once you've achieved those heroics. CC classes shine in heroics, since you have plenty of time to set up /focus'es and macros for CC pre-pull.

Do you want to raid? Is your guild multiboxer-friendly? If your guild is new to multiboxers, you might want to start with just two characters in a raid. Guilds unfamiliar with multiboxing will probably not have a problem wrapping their mind around you taking up two spots (usually 2x dps), but boy will their eyes pop out of their heads when you ask to take up 1/5th to half of the raid. If they're cool with what you're doing (and this works well for casual guilds who don't have the people to fill out 10 or 25-mans), you might be able to pull off 5 -- even so, raids are all about reaction time so I'd minimize the number of classes in order to maximize your dps. Raids (at least pre-wrath) are all about min/maxing.

Do you want to PvP in battlegrounds? AoE really works well here, as do the typical arena groups if your playstyle is more to hunker down and defend. If you're an offensive player or you like to totally disrupt the BG en masse, warlocks spamming SoC and mages AoEing are the best way to go -- usually 4 of one dps class plus a healer (priest is great for AoE heals). Shamans work well when defending nodes in AB/EotS, or defending tower caps in AV. They're not as offensive as mages/locks -- I play with Suvega often (4x mage + priest) and he usually heads in first, ripping up their defenders and I follow behind, bursting down healers and then hunkering down next to the flag while he goes and caps another one. 2-boxers (dps + healer) also work well here.

Do you want to PvP in arenas? 5 characters is hard to do in arenas, and 4x Shamans plus a third party healer (at least pre-Wrath) really shine in this area. Keep in mind that, if you do have 5 characters, you can always "drop" one and arena with 4 of them. Arenas are all about burst, cc, and anti-cc. Shamans shine in burst and anti-cc (grounding/tremor). CC as a multiboxer is hard to pull off, since it usually requires setting up /focus'es (which really doesn't work well in the fast pace of arena games).

So, it really depends on what you want to do with the whole thing. If you want the instance experience, go all out with 5 or expect to LFG for the remaining spots. If you want to arena, you really only need 4 since you need a space for your healer. If you want to raid, it's based on what your guild is willing to commit to. If you want to PvP in battlegrounds, there's alot of options. If you just want to experience controlling multiple characters, you're going to get a really closeup look if you 2-box, since you have way more brainpower for individual control.


Why did I choose pally+4 shammies? Because my "main" was a shammy, and by leveling 4 shammies and a pally I could both round out my group of 5 for PvP, add a tank for instance and raid encounters, and potentially take just 4 shaman to arena with. It provided me with the most flexibility (thanks to the ability of hybrids respeccing from dps <-> healing) with group composition while still giving me the option of going "full dps", "dps + heal", and "tank + dps + heal"