Tri-box? or 5-box

[Terbulous]

Ok, so im still brand new to the whole multiboxing thing, just curious to know what yall think would be better. Should i stick with my triboxing mages? or should i go grab my other monitor from the closet and start 5-boxing?

[amalgam]

If you have the means to 5-box, why wouldn't you?

[Terbulous]

If you have the means to 5-box, why wouldn't you?

No clue where i would put the other monitor...my table is too small.

And i havent quite gotten the hang of it totally yet, if my main dies, or somehow gets in a spot where the mob isnt directly infront of me, my alts just stand there and i look like a complete idiot. If i had 4 people doing that instead of just 2, it just makes it worse. Maybe my macros arnt up to snuff yet, dunno.

Im just trying to outweigh the pros and cons of triboxing and 5-boxing, to see if the outcome is greater for the 5-boxing

[Ryan]

I'm just three boxing now, which is fun, and is a noticeable difference from just single play. But it is a bit lacking in the sense that you can't solo instances (well, I can solo some, but it's too slow to be worth it) or some of the really hard group quests. If I could, I'd go 5, and probably will in the next few months.

[Negativ1337]

hmm, with 3 boxing you got pros and cons. This is what i think :P

3box:
Pros:
-Group bonus exp.
-Better to control.
-Cheaper to play.
Cons:
-Very hard to solo dungeons (almost inpossible).

5box:
Pros:
-You can dungeon farm for better exp.
-Cool formations. (Possible with 3box aswell, but then you will have less chars in the formations).
Cons:
Costs alot (think about 5 accounts montly fee).

[Terbulous]

yeah, the price really isnt an issue really, i can easily run 5 WoWs on my pc if i hook up a second monitor to it, but im just looking at the fact of.

At the moment ive got 3 lvl 11 mages, i havent really gotten very far at all, and im not exactly totally experienced at multiboxing yet. Im afraid that im not gonna be able to do any instances along the way leveling, and i couldnt stand not doing any instances to level.

Thats why i was looking at 5 boxing, that would give me a viable way to level. But then i come across another problem, with me being inexperienced at multiboxing, i dont see how i could effectively run a whole group by myself, i dont exactly have the know-how of macro building.

I wanna 5-box, just because i believe it would be just that much more fun, but it would be more difficult. (i was thinking about a 1x pally / 1x priest /3x mage combo)


dunno, others thoughts on this would be appreciated. thx

[Parsous]

If you're having problems deciding on whether or not you can effectively 5-box, get some trial accounts before you lay down the cash. Here's my little story/history.

My PvE setup is

Main Computer
- Pally Tank
- G15 Keyboard that communicates via keyclone to healer computer.

Healer Computer (Laptop that I use for other things as well)
- Pally Healer
- Receives commands from G15 but has an N52 gamepad for override purposes

Mage Computer
- Controlled via an N52 gamepad with Keyclone and unique keybinds per client to allow CC without overlap.

I've always multiboxed to some degree in MMO, but never had the resources until recently to actually run a full group in any MMO.

I ran 2 in EQ and was hooked on controlling multiple people then. Ran 3 in City of Heroes and then 2 in City of Villains (my 3rd computer that I had taken out of retirement blew a gasket and I didn't have the funds to replace it)

Started with 2 in WoW (Rogue/Priest on Zul'jin), eventually moved on via free server transfers to Hellscream, then to Madoran.

Started experimenting with running multiple clients on my existing boxes but the main computer became dangerously unstable (BSOD/Kernel Freezes) due to the fact that I have certain configurations and software running on it that I don't wish to alter/remove for a simple game (And dual booting was too much a PITA imo), and the laptop didn't have the horsepower to reliably run multiple clients.

Purchased a computer for around $500 (I can build them if I wanted, but I hate doing it for various reasons) w/ Dual Core and 2g RAM w/ a mediocre video card. Stripped it's pre-built software loadout (Gotta hate OEM's for loading their crap but the price was right for the specs) and started running 3x clients on it without incident. Signed up my trial accounts, tested it out, and activated the accounts once everything was worked out.

My setup has it's flaws and could use reworking but I'm doing the best I can with what I've currently got. The main problem I have right now is desk space and I don't plan on getting a new desk just yet. I started out with using 2 N52's to control the healer/mage kits but this meant that one machine was usually sitting idle. This wasn't too much of a problem until I hit BC instances and insisted on using the pally to AoE tank everything.

I started having some issues with keeping up the healing in certain circumstances since I could only effectively control two sets of characters at once (Tank, Healer, or 3 mages) so I added keyclone to my extra boxes, stripped out the unnecessary key binds on the healer and now can easily move/heal the group without leaving the tank's keyboard.

Still getting used to that setup and I haven't quite yet nailed down keyclone in the regards of passing certain keys between clients (I only started today), but the efficiency appears to have improved. I'll have to run some more BF runs after tonight's server maintenance and see if I can beat my last run's time (65m at lvl 62 currently)

[Allokra]

Let me save you some time and unnecessary headache in trying to catch up future additional members. Once you get started with 3 and you have the capabilities of going with 5...you will...give it a week or two and you'll be so hooked that you cant NOT have 5!!! I thought I would 4 Box...well that just ended up in me trying to catch up a new level 1 shaman to my level 22 team...you dont need that :)

Get some trial accounts and see how you like it.

[Jusa]

If you have the means to 5-box, why wouldn't you?

No clue where i would put the other monitor...my table is too small.

And i havent quite gotten the hang of it totally yet, if my main dies, or somehow gets in a spot where the mob isnt directly infront of me, my alts just stand there and i look like a complete idiot. If i had 4 people doing that instead of just 2, it just makes it worse. Maybe my macros arnt up to snuff yet, dunno.

Im just trying to outweigh the pros and cons of triboxing and 5-boxing, to see if the outcome is greater for the 5-boxing

The way you fix this is hit your follow key then hit your clone back key. Now they are facing your main.
i have my movement keys set to ESDF and my clones to Alt+ESDF this lets me move them if i have to but works like a blacklist when i move my main normaly.

[Terbulous]

Let me save you some time and unnecessary headache in trying to catch up future additional members. Once you get started with 3 and you have the capabilities of going with 5...you will...give it a week or two and you'll be so hooked that you cant NOT have 5!!! I thought I would 4 Box...well that just ended up in me trying to catch up a new level 1 shaman to my level 22 team...you dont need that :)

Get some trial accounts and see how you like it.

Yeah, i tried to set it up today, i hooked up my old 17 inch crt moniter today on a small little table right next to my other moniter...and i got as far as setting up the other windows (trying to get it to work with maximizer) and i stopped there, since keyclone doesnt support dual moniters, then i gotta wait untill the new release comes out to try it all.

When i tried to put 5 wows on my screen via keyclone, it shoved all 5 of them onto my 20 inch LCD, and left my crt moniter just sitting there like no-ones business.

So, looks like im just another person waiting for the update for keyclone to support dual moniters (i cant get horizontal span with my current ones)

[Toned]

Why do you need to see everyone? I use 2 computers for 5 toons. I can see 2 characters at a time only lol. Alt tab ftw!