thinking of going 3-4 box, need thoughts.

[marvein]

Ok Im rethinking this again and been looking over lots of blogs and as much as Id like to do something challenging the prospect of 5 shamans is getting too strong for me to pass up. I mean through most of the pre 60s a shaman with a shield can tank reasonably well anyways and post 60 as your stats become much stronger the ability to just zerg nuke something is slowly removing my desire to lvl mixed classes when 5 shamans will be incredibly sexy. Tempted to do 1 priest and 4 shamans but I run into the same problem again, and not to mention with a simple respec I can heal or tank on druid so I think after all I will be going 5 shamans. Currently got 2nd monitor hooked up and running and I found my nostromo pad lol (even though having an xkeys would be quite fun IMO If I dont have to spedn 170bucks then I wont complain. Plus Ive never played a paladin at all so the learning curve will be quite absurd combining this with 5 boxing.

So in the end I will be running 5 shamans off one box using dual 22" widescreens, a G15 keyboard(love it btw), logitech MX3000 wireless mouse and a nostromo n52 gamepad. And I will likely add some weaker/cheaper machine so that I can look up quests and stuff. Also found a decent deal on the wow copies locally so I picked up the remaining 3 for 30bucks each (battlechest edition). Memory and hard drive is en route so Ill be spending my time configuring addons and figuring out macros. I appreciate the input from everyone. I also intend to pvp on these later on but I can see some issues so I will proably only be doing 2v2 and 3v3 arenas and 5maning BGs or something, either way Im looking forward to this a lot and ill post some pics when it is all setup :)

the other issue was race difference since orc cant be paladin so i would have to hook up with each char causing annoying level differences (discovering zones as I traveled) So its just easier this way. And I was able to get my names today

Pewpewss
pewpewwz
pewpewws
pewwpews
pewwpewz

that should make peoples brains melt quite nicely
:D


Ignore this text below, im leaving it here for my own reference.

Well I am no stranger to running multiple instances of WoW to serve different purposes, be it running alts or sharing accounts or using my current ones but Ive had a growing interest in doing some multiboxing once I am done with my druid but I want to get some thoughts. I currently have 2 accounts with characters I will detail in a moment and I am thinking of creating either a 3 or 4 man team. 3man will be pally/priest/shaman, 4th member is sorta up in the air atm. Currently I dont do any kind of synchronized play due to level differences but Im wanting to go for that and be able to utilize current characters for what I will be leveling and be able to utilize all of my characters once the 4man set reaches 70. Of course I understand there is a transfer service but its silly to spend a lot of money on that when I can just set it up right to begin with.

Ok now let me break it down:

Account 1:
70 hunter (eng/miner)
70 rogue (alch/herb)
46 warrior (skin/ench)
24 mage (eng/tailor) designed to be twink until that was changed now its just idle.

Account 2:
65 druid (skin/tailor) will be full resto/raid healer at 70, currently feral

So what Im looking for are some suggestions here to maximize the use of what I have now (such as using a 70 to run the lowbies thru an instance) and then co-operate in the future (such as interchanging them in instances depending on needs, liking swaping druid for priest for healing, etc). Tradeskills are also nice but the only one that really maters is enchanting which atm is only lvled to DE drops for profit (285/300).

My plans are this (once druid is 70):
3-4multibox (using one machine, current rig can handle it easy)

1 paladin (tank)(prot)
1 priest (healer)(holy)
1 shaman (dps/backup heals)(elemental)
and 4th either another shaman for the same role or a mage for support/dps/food/buffs.

obviously I will need to buy 2 more copies of wow but the dilema I am facing is which character to put where. Aside from enchanting the dps can go on the first account since they are the same as the rog/hunter so that is easy. Now the druid will end up being the best choice for running the lowbies thru instances assuming Im not being run thru by a guildie so deciding what to put on that account is the toughest choice.

I think this migt be my best solution
Account 1: shaman#2(or mage in which case i will do 3man until they reach mage level and add him in)
Account 2: shaman#1
Account 3: paladin
Account 4: priest

Enchanting im not completely concerned about doing enchants for characters because I have a guildie who has most of the rare patterns but what Im concerned with would be the DE'ing of bop drops in instances, which is where I intend to spend most of my time to level these alts, especially when I reach TBC levels for the rep).

As ugly as this may sound logistically it wont be that hard, Im good at solving these kinds of situations so making all of these characters work together wont be very hard just maximizing the benefit of all I have now and will have is the part that is bugging me. I think all things considered the priest needs to be on its own account but the two shamans are pretty flexible. The other thing is that if any of the characters fall behind in levels due to being replaced by a 70 to PL something the healer and tank will be the easiest to fix because they are in short supply so getting a pty is a snap and of course the 2 ele shammies (or 1 shammy and mage) are the easiest to solo lvl (compared to a holy priest) so that is no issue. I dunno, its kind of making my brain hurt lol.

[amalgam]

Using multiple class types in the group will be the biggest hurdle. Minimizing the number of classes you use will make your time much easier. I'd go either Paladin/3xShaman or 3xPriest, but I'd avoid mixing them if possible.

[marvein]

Using multiple class types in the group will be the biggest hurdle. Minimizing the number of classes you use will make your time much easier. I'd go either Paladin/3xShaman or 3xPriest, but I'd avoid mixing them if possible.

i think i will be ok with paly/priest/2xshaman with what I have in mind but time will tell, wont take long to realize its a bad combo tho lol

i think ill just go with what i listed now that i think about it more. shamans on existing accounts and paly/priest on 2 new ones.

[amalgam]

Using multiple class types in the group will be the biggest hurdle. Minimizing the number of classes you use will make your time much easier. I'd go either Paladin/3xShaman or 3xPriest, but I'd avoid mixing them if possible.

i think i will be ok with paly/priest/2xshaman with what I have in mind but time will tell, wont take long to realize its a bad combo tho lol

i think ill just go with what i listed now that i think about it more. shamans on existing accounts and paly/priest on 2 new ones.

I was actually commenting more on your thoughts about including the Mage. Yes, it's nice, but is it really worth the frustration and hassle?

[Gallo]

someone hasn't said it yet, so I will...

If you're considering 4-boxing, do yourself a favor and try to 5 box. You wont regret it. Even if this means digging the old computer out of the basement to run a 5th copy of WoW (barely) heh.

[Terbulous]

someone hasn't said it yet, so I will...

If you're considering 4-boxing, do yourself a favor and try to 5 box. You wont regret it. Even if this means digging the old computer out of the basement to run a 5th copy of WoW (barely) heh.

Yeah, if you have the opportunity try to 5 box like Gallo said, Im sure it would make a difference, i would love to 5box myself, but ive only got one moniter, and no place for another, so ill have to stick with 3 boxin.

But either way, if you have the means to 5box, do it, youll have a blast.

[marvein]

someone hasn't said it yet, so I will...

If you're considering 4-boxing, do yourself a favor and try to 5 box. You wont regret it. Even if this means digging the old computer out of the basement to run a 5th copy of WoW (barely) heh.

Yeah, if you have the opportunity try to 5 box like Gallo said, Im sure it would make a difference, i would love to 5box myself, but ive only got one moniter, and no place for another, so ill have to stick with 3 boxin.

But either way, if you have the means to 5box, do it, youll have a blast.

i have the means (computer hardware) to 10box if I wanted to but its the monthly cost im not too keen on, I also play FF so that is another cost there. I have seen that mentioned often on these forums so ill consider it. It would be pally/priest/3shaman if so but I also agree with some other sentiment where you can truly round out your group by getting a second real person in with you to provide that extra little support you may need in those hairy situtations. I guess its something I will have to experiment with when the time comes. I am very anxious to do it because of what it will give me the ability to do. And that is run instances as much as I want being dps class has hindered my ability to get parties, where my druid has no problems at all (in fact I just mainheald 2 SP runs and a UB run on my feral druid tonight lol). Basically I intend to sub my hunter or rogue in for one of the shamans later on to basically use the the other ones to "PL" him thru things so to speak.

There are a few things that I know used to work via addons that I need to make sure still do and this will make implementing this a lot easier. Anyone happen to know if the addon that buffed targets based on a tell you received still work? like if you had the addon installed and you made a macro someone could whisper your priest with "fortitude" and you would cast PW:fort on them. Does this still work?

[Skuggomann]

What id doo is put the pala on the same acc as teh rouge and then 3 shamans cuz then wen your 70 and wana do easy instances you can just stunntank so ya get 1 more dpser and the mobs will go alot faster down

also 3 shammys cuz of the multible totem mania (having wf, agi and strenght on the rouce wiht 3 shamans is just ace) and then just try to get a boomkin to go with ya :)

and for heroics just get a healing class with ya (guildy maby?)

[marvein]

hmm if going 1 pally and 3 shammans, which I totally agree would be the win would i just spec them all elemental and spam heals or would I try to make one resto and the rest ele or something. On the note of 5 boxing ill see; I actually purchased one license for keyclone but I still havent received the license for it yet so I dunno how im going to like it :( My machine is decent but not enough to run 5 copies of WoW on lol so if I go 5 ill probably go 3/2 which should also give me some micro control for 1-2 of the shamans or w/e. Now I just need to learn how to play a paladin :)

And as for the location Im going to put 2 of the shamans on current accounts and spread the rest to new accounts so that is taken care of. Just need to think about professions too lol. Need to do some more looking as to how im going to make this work. hmmm.

*edit* changed my mind again lol. been thinking about it and I feel that 1pally, 1 priest and 3 shaman will be the most versatile. Placing 2 shamans one existing accounts and the rest on new ones. Currently working on specs and spellcasting arrangements and keybinding stuff. I will also be running all 5 from one pc, to reduce costs and for ease of use. So far the equipment I need is 2 more gigs of RAM, another 21" monitor, another hard drive and an x-keys pro.

And my druid is almost 67 weee :) Hopefuly my christmas bonus looks nice, hehe.

Going to be playing with keyclone tonight with current accounts since ivce just been 'pling' sort of since Im farming rep on two chars it will be nice to be able to use both to help kill and stuff.

[Hotnutz]

I actually purchased one license for keyclone but I still havent received the license for it yet so I dunno how im going to like it :(

Open your keyclone and hit the button to send er whatever again, it will verify you paid for the key.

And I think you will be liking it very much :D

[marvein]

I actually purchased one license for keyclone but I still havent received the license for it yet so I dunno how im going to like it :(

Open your keyclone and hit the button to send er whatever again, it will verify you paid for the key.

And I think you will be liking it very much :D

Ya it worked a day or two ago, been playing with it recently using my 2 accounts. It works great but the combo doesnt lol (rogue druid) the targeting is odd and part of the problem is my rogue has run speed enchants for pvp so if I dont follow then they get out of sync and if I do follow there are several times where I cant target with rogue cause he is facing the wrong way. Its a small matter though because that isnt the combos I will be using just getting used to how it works. It was funny purpously talking in guild chat 2x lol, was messing with people's heads. :)

Found another deal on a 2nd monitor and Im picking it up today and a second memory kit (which I bought february of this year and now costs less than half as much lol). I've been messing with some addons like pitbull to get the feel for them. Pitbull gave me some headaches at first because of its granularity but I got it mostly under control. Now if only I could find a way to hide the boxes and buttons when they have nothing in them... Definately going to use bongos for this and getting the 2nd hard drive to speed up performance, will put 2 WoW folders on root drive and the rest on other drive. When things are all said and done I think I will have 6-7 different WoW folders lol.

[marvein]

well after more research and looking and thinking Im going to go with 5 shamans instead, will make for an easier learning curve with 5 boxing on 1 machine and having 5 shamans droping totems (with the way some of them stack too) is just sexy as hell. See first post for more info.

[Kyudo]

Nice choice mate, currently 4x shamans at L40 myself, with another waiting at L44. Lots of fun.

However......

Sort out the text size in your 1st post, or I won't even bother trying to read it :D /wipes blood from eyes

[marvein]

Nice choice mate, currently 4x shamans at L40 myself, with another waiting at L44. Lots of fun.

However......

Sort out the text size in your 1st post, or I won't even bother trying to read it :D /wipes blood from eyes

\I did that on purpose cause that was my initial questions/comments. did that so it was still there in case I needed to reference it and the new question is the full size text :P

[marvein]

Well redid my setup and stuff last night and was getting used to macros and stuff, set up my nostromo n52 pad with some macros (using alt-shift-0-9) I created two test shamans on my current accounts and did some testing and so far its working great. Its very simple of course since I only setup 1-2 buttons but the theory is working so now I just need to get maximizer working nicely. I have 6 instances of WoW because for the multiboxing Im using a skew of different addons than I do with my main. Going to take some work to get all the macros and keybidnings setup to be efficient but doing 5 shamans is making it alot easier. I told my brother and he was like "omg i wouild kill to have 5 lvl 70 shamans" lol (he has a 70 ele shaman currently) and my druid is getting closer to 70 hehe.

[marvein]

Well its all setup and running. got the characters created and giuld registered. and the momentI had them all logged in to test syncing I got lots of "wtf?" and "lol" haha it was quite funny. And apparently someone told their buddy cause this 43 came riding in and immediately was like "BOTS!" so I responded on each character like this

char1: actually I
char2: am activelly
char3: on each one
char4: of these
char5: characters

and 3 people laughed and one guy said "haha I told you"

Seems quite a number of them could tell what I was doing and was asking how I was making it work. I was able to quirkily run them together and killed a few mobs before parking them in an inn. Waiting until I have all my macros setup and stuff before going further, just wanted to get the ball rolling. Oh and I get about 36fps on each instance with 1 on main monitor and 4 on the 2nd one. in total Im using around 1.7gigs of RAM but im sure that will go up as I add macros/buttons and configure addons which is why I have more on the way. Haha Im so freaking pumped about this, gotta hurry and finish druid!

[Orin]

Marvein, sounds like I'm just a little behind you in the startup phase. I have 2 characters running right now, using AHK currently for testing and learning. I created a priest/warlock to play with. I no more than finished the first quest and some other level 2 character started following me and seemed curious about what I was doing. No comments, but I could tell he knew something weird was going on. :P

I too have an N52 that I purchased, but it doesn't fit my hand well, so I haven't made any use of it. I also need to setup my 2nd monitor instead of trying to run 2 WoW screens at once on my main 21" widescreen. They just end up being way too small for me to play well.

[marvein]

ya, the nostromo doesnt quite fit my hand the right way either, I find if I turn it slightly at an angle it feels much more natural, even though I lose hte ability to quickly hit some of the buttons. It doesnt bother me that much though because Im doing 5 shamans all of their abilities are the same so I will be using a similar set of key bindings I use on my main accounts in order to control the others. Which involves mapping of course 1-0, shift1-5, alt1-5 and Q,E,T,F,V,X keys reserving the nostromo for those various control functions that I wont use much like changing focus if the leader dies and using long cooldown abilities like earth/fire elementals and bloodlust(since blowing all bloodlust at once would be stupid)

[marvein]

well its alive!!!

dinged lvl 8 tonight before logging. I didnt expect to get this mucha ttention but dang, averaged atleast 5 people following me most of the time lol. Good thing was most of them thought it was either funny or cool with the exception of two QQ'ers.. gotta say keyclone is handy for a mass /ignore :)

here is my setup, posing for a screenshot

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y261/pik4chu/pewpewsquad-lvl8.jpg

still have a lot of work to do before I can get to doing instances, the healing rotation and targeting is kicking my butt. I new it would be wierd but its proving difficult to wrap my brain around so some more pen and paper work needs to happen tomorrow. Oh and ive total wiped twice because of that lol (that and I was taking on stuff 5-6lvls above me for quests) but Im having a BLAST. the most popular requerst I get is "if you type /dance will they all do it?" so i do it and everyone just cracks up, its funny.

Oh and as for performance, I average 40-50fps on ALL clients outside of major towns, had to make a couple trips into org today for quests and there were a few parts where the alts dropped to 10fps (only lost follow on one of them) and that was when I was walking between the AH and the maiblox so no surprise there. Hopefuly when the 3rd HDD and more ram show up early next week things will be smooth enough.

[Sanctume]

What spec are your shamans?
Do you just nuke everyone, let the totems work, and hardly not melee?

I'm thinking of getting a 3rd account.

I currently own 3 computers, 2 AMD X2 4400 w/ 2 Gig each, and my laptop Core 2 Duo.

All my machines is setup to use maximizer and 3 wows.

Currently, I use my laptop to play my main 70 prot pally to aoe grind instances, and p-level lowbies.

My 2nd machine can control 1 to 3 wow clients, with macros supporting the main: follow, heals, assist nukes.

Eventually, I want to have 2 clients on each of the AMD X2 4000s, and the 5th on my main laptop.

Account 1:
70 Warrior
70 Rogue
56 Pally (holy) - being p-levelled.

Account 2:
70 Pally (prot w/ Arena/PvP Ret gear)
63 Priest

If I get a 3rd account, I will most likely transfer the 70 Pally to tank, and I can p-level my 56 Holy Pally and my 63 Priest.

As for my goal, I just want to set up for the Death Knight / Lich King Expansion. I read that at 70, you do a quest and it opens your account to create a level 50 or 60 Death Knight.

If I do the quest on 3 accounts, I'd have at least 2 healer accounts, and a main tank account--so I can p-level a Death Knight probably on the Account 1 first.

But I'm also curious on the 3 shaman setup. I've never had a shaman past level 12.

[marvein]

for the most part I just burn things down but there are of course times you will run out of mana and rather then standing around like a knob I do have a couple buttons for melee type stuff.

for 1-2 packs of mobs I dont often use many offensive totems due to their mana cost and short life span of the target. If its one big meany ill use stoneclaws and fire totems. If its large groups of trash then stoneclaws+magma/nova totems. If I know I will be in a spot for several pulls I drop a full spread of healing stream, mana spring, grounding/tremor/earthbind/stoneskin regular flame totems since they do better dot for the mana cost. etc. The totems I use the most now is a combo of 4healing sprind and 1 mana spring since the mana spring one doesnt stack (mana tide does though).

my spec is full elemental (got elemental fury a few levels ago and it made a huge difference) next one will be elemental mastery woot!