Unique RAF situation...

[Xisef]

So here's the skivvy:


I'm new to muti-boxing (started about a week & 1/2 ago). Currently I have a tri-shaman (Xi's) team @ level 39. Each has a profession in the 250+ range. I've spent about 2500G in total getting these toons up. I've spent about 2 day's played in game on these toons.
I recently came across a friend that I had run a few instances with (BRD/BRS). He set up RAF with his GF and was telling me how awesome it was. They were in STV with me and still had yet to finish the hunter quests, so I decided to join their group. After finishing the questline through Big Game Hunter, I had gained about 3/4 a level with all 3 of my shaman, I was pretty stoked... accept for the fact that they gained 4 levels.... I was flabbergasted. I had no idea the effectiveness of RAF!

So my ultimate goal is to 5 box shaman. Only issues are that:


I only have a single computer at the moment Won't have the funds till about February of 09 to build systems that are able to hardware box I won't have the patience after Wrath to level from 1-80 on 2 other toons
So since I've never RAF'd before, I wanted to get some opinions on options available to me. I read up some on the wiki regarding RAF, but whoever wrote it apparently has issues with run-on sentences (among other issues).

Basically what I would like to do is:

Currently I have 3 accounts, none of which are RAF'd.


Xifire= main account Xiearth = account 2 Xistorm= account 3

I would like to xfer Xiearth and Xistorm to main account(Xifire), use RAF from main (Xifire) --> linked to 2 new accounts; power level them with Xifire to get extra XP bonuses and grand levels to Xistorm and Xiearth.

I'm looking for the most cost effective solution.. given the fact I don't have 2 grand to spend on another computer/monitor currently. The new toons from the RAF account will be named Xiheed/Ximycall; they won't be leveled right away and can sit @ 60 while they gain rested XP. They wil be played every week or two just to use up the rested xp from dungeon crawling.

I'm looking for feedback to see if my setup may work with doing what's stated. Of course after I finish, I'd xfer them back to their respective accounts.

Cheers, Xi

*When I get home from work I'll be using MS paint to clear up the setup to help clarify what I'm trying to accomplish*

I basically want to be able to keep the same setup I have now *using different wow folders* to run a 3 box to get these guys up quickly. I don't want to really spend much time on them other than to gift the levels to the current 3 I'm running.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3153/xisefgs3.png ('http://imageshack.us')

[Stav]

Xisef,
You mentioned that you would need new hardware to go from 3 to 5 boxing. What are your current system spec's? Depending on your geographic location I'd imagine someone here could come up with a Newegg list for $700 USD or less, excluding a monitor.

With the free month that you get when you upgrade a trial account you may want to consider keeping 5 accounts going in order to maximize your level gifts while minimizing your transfer costs.

Account 1 (Ximycall)
Account 2 (Xiearth) Refers Account 4
Account 3 (Xistorm) Refers Account 5
Account 4 (Xiheed)
Account 5 (Ximycall)

Cost Month 1 = $14.95 x 3 (Account 1, 2, 3) (Accounts 4, 5 are under the 30 day freebie)
Cost Month 2 = $14.95 x 3 (Account 1, 4, 5) (Accounts 2, 3 free month from paid month account 2, 3)
Cost Month 3 = $14.95 x 5
Total: $164.45
Compared to
Cost Month 1 = $14.95 (Account 1) (Account 2, 3 are under 30 day freebie) + $50.00 (transfers)
Cost Month 2 = $14.95 x 2 (Account 2, 3) (Account 1, free month from paid month account 2)
Cost Month 3 = $14.95 x 2 (Account 2, 3) (Account 1, free month from paid month account 3)
TBD $50.00 (tranfers)
Total: $174.75

The only problem is Ximycall loses out on the 3x xp but you will get 4 60's in the time in a fraction of the time. For example, my druids did 1-60 questing, in under 2 days (with about 400 gold invested for critical spells / mounts). If you have a higher level to boost the duo through you can really shorten the time, down to 18 hours or less.

Edit: Clarity! Math!

-Stav

[Xisef]

Current system specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo: E8400 (2.53Ghz) MSI Intel G33 MATX mobo (SFF gaming FTW!) G.Skill 2GB DDR2 @ 800mhz EVGA 512MB 8800GTS KO ed (amazing) Western Digital 500GB HDD (7200) Onboard sound Thermaltake Lanbox Lite *custom modded*

In February I plan on purchasing some barebones systems. Not sure if I'm going all the way with 4 new systems (will have min wow specs) or grab 2 and use the main comp for Xifire and others for Xiearth/Xifire, and Xiheed/Ximycall.
I'll be limited to having 3 monitors in total, the one I currently run is an LG 24". I'd like to get 2 17"; but may go larger [*any input on monitor setups appreciated*].

When I purchase these, I'll prob run this setup:

I'll be moving the C2D to one of the other boxes since they will only run 2 copies each, and get a Q6600 for the main box.

In total I'll be tri-boxing with the 2 alt computers running

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 EVGA GeForce 9500 GT Video Card - 512MB DDR3 Shuttle SG31G2 Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel G31 G.Skill 4GB DDR2 @800 Mhz 64 GB SSD - G.Skill (also nabbing one for main comp for Windows/Wow play)
Window's Vista

[Mzenger]

Sounds like a great set up. If you wouldnt mind me asking, why 3 box instead of say only 2 boxing? (I ask only to get more info, no sarcasm intended)

[Moorea]

I 5x box on a single laptop without issues so I don't think you need to upgrade your computer beside adding ram (my laptop has 4gb and is running vista 64 - I use symlinks for wow shared folders)

[Jheusse]

What operating system are you running on the existing comp? That plays a role.

[Xisef]

Well to answer a few questions;

Sounds like a great set up. If you wouldnt mind me asking, why 3 box instead of say only 2 boxing? (I ask only to get more info, no sarcasm intended)
Basically it's to Hardware box as opposed to software on all computers.


I 5x box on a single laptop without issues so I don't think you need to upgrade your computer beside adding ram (my laptop has 4gb and is running vista 64 - I use symlinks for wow shared folders)
What setup do you run (systems spec)? I've seen a few right-ups on 5 boxing from 1 comp, but honestly the WoW maximizer was a pain in the ass to setup for me. I never was able to get keyclone's PiP to work for me. Also would the best bet be to grab just 1 more monitor and quad them on that w/ some sort of PiP/maximixer feature? Any links for "symlink" is that a Vista only deal?


What operating system are you running on the existing comp? That plays a role.
WindowsXP Pro - I'm bitting the bullet and going Vista, but not sure whether I should go 64 pro or not... any suggestions?

[Jheusse]

I am currently 4 boxing with keyclone on a rig that has some similarities to your situation. I asked about OS because your current OS (that I use too) can only handle 3.5G of memory, and memory is the only real deficient spot in your current rig right now. A second HD can offer slight improvement if you're running multiple folders, I use 2 drives.


I'm guessing you want to hardware box instead of software box because you want to pvp? From what I've read from the old hands here that's the principal benefit of hardware over software multi-boxing, though many of them went hardware back when software wasn't really a viable option. Wonder how many of them would go software in today's environment.

If setting up the maximizer is your biggest hurdle against software boxing, rather than struggle with it yourself, I recommend you cheat. Go to Keyclone's site and download a maximizer template that fits your monitor and your number of accounts and import it. Here's the link ('http://solidice.com/keyclone/layouts/index.html') . And Rob the keyclone developer will go way above an dbeyond to support you and help you get things ironed out. The Keyclone site has a lot of tutorials, setup videos, sample template files, and Rob will PM, chat, email, or phone discuss if needed to get you rolling. Hell I've seen Rob create maximizer templates on request specifically for various users (including me). Software boxing is much cheaper and a good way to dip a toe into the multibox RAF water. You can always go hardware later or over time.

If you're dead set on hardware boxing I can't help you much, though I always liked Fursphere's Full Hardware Ghetto Five-Boxing - A how-to guide. ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&postID=63210&highlight=ghetto#post63210')

By the way, my system specs that I successfully ran a 4 shammy team to 60 wth recently:
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
XFX GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB Card
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz S Dual-Core Processor
Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel
XP Pro
2 160 GB 7200 RPM HD

[Xisef]

Not to derail my own thread.. but the main reason for the post was regarding the setup for RAF.

Will xfering characters prior to RAFing the account work to grant them levels?

IE :: Xifire refers Xiheed/Ximycall

Xiheed gets 29.5 levels to grant to Account 1? Grants Xistorm 21 levels

Ximycall gets 29.5 levels to grant to Account 1? Grants Xiearth 21 levels

With 17 level's left to spare?

[kadaan]

Is there a reason why you're transferring storm/earth to the main account instead of doing a storm->heed and earth->mycall refer?

If you're doing Fire->Heed and Fire->Mycall, you can't boost with Fire. Any npc that cons grey to one of the linked characters nullifies the exp bonus.

[Siaea]

I 5 box, and my single best upgrade was going from an Intel duo to a Quad Core Q6600. You should be able to run 5 on that machine with that upgrade ($219 when I got it, will probably be lower now).

[Xisef]

Is there a reason why you're transferring storm/earth to the main account instead of doing a storm->heed and earth->mycall refer?

If you're doing Fire->Heed and Fire->Mycall, you can't boost with Fire. Any npc that cons grey to one of the linked characters nullifies the exp bonus.
My understanding is that once they reach level 39 I can run him with. I'm not worried about boosting till level 40 as it is. I just really dont understand how RAF works it seems, and the more I read about it on the forums here, the more confused I get =(

Honestly; I just want to grant levels to the 3 shaman I run now. Thats really the only reason to Xfer them and back again. I just didn't know if it would actually work this way or not.

[Ualaa]

You get bonus levels on the original account which sent out the RAF invite to the new account.

For every 2 levels gained on the new account (ie earnt by playing the new RAF account), they can grant 1 level to the parent account.
So 1 level at 3rd, 2 levels at 5th....... 29 levels at 59th.

If you transfer a level xx toon to the RAF account, you can run them there, but they did not earn the levels while on the RAF account, so you won't be able to grant anything from those toons.

[Halo]

I'm in almost the same boat.



I've been 3 boxing 3 shammies who are currently at 42 (shockaa, shockbb, shockcc). I'm ready to 5-box so I'm about to RAF for 2 more accounts.

The shockaa account has a 70 priest I use to do dailies for gold or could be used to boost if needed.


The question is: what is the most efficient way to do the invites? I've read the FAQ, and still can't figure out how to do it so one of my original 3 doesn't get left behind.

1. shockaa account recruits 2 new accounts.

2. shockbb and shockcc each recruit 1 new account.

3. some other variation that involves moving toons between accounts?

[kadaan]

Is there a reason why you're transferring storm/earth to the main account instead of doing a storm->heed and earth->mycall refer?

If you're doing Fire->Heed and Fire->Mycall, you can't boost with Fire. Any npc that cons grey to one of the linked characters nullifies the exp bonus.
My understanding is that once they reach level 39 I can run him with. I'm not worried about boosting till level 40 as it is. I just really dont understand how RAF works it seems, and the more I read about it on the forums here, the more confused I get =(

Honestly; I just want to grant levels to the 3 shaman I run now. Thats really the only reason to Xfer them and back again. I just didn't know if it would actually work this way or not.Somehow I thought fire was 70, sorry.

So if I understand correctly:
- Your goal is to 5-box Shaman
- You have 3 accounts, no level 70's, and a team of 3x39 Shaman
- You'll be leveling Fire, Heed, and Mycall to 60 together with RAF
- At 60 you'll grant levels to Earth and Storm up to 60
- You'll 5-box from 60-80

Is that the gist of it? If so then I think your plan is the most efficient.