How Good Can A 3-Man Team Be?

[jddc78]

Hey everyone! First post in these forums, but have been dual boxing for a few months now. I've tried (and enjoyed) several different dual combos including priest/mage, paladin/rogue, & shaman/druid. The latter two have been a blast in particular.

The problem is that I've become addicted to the synergies of multiple toons working together and what that can do. It's a game changing experience as you all are aware! The more I play with the duos, I can't help but want to upgrade the team with another member. I've been scouring the site and have become quite jealous of the pally/4 shaman team and the ability to handle Northrend Heroics. I realize a 3 man team is no match for that kind of power. But realistically, what kinds of accomplishments could a 3 man team handle that would not be possible for a 2 man team? Is a 3 man team capable of doing Northrend instances (heroic or regular) or should I not bother and stick with the dual team?

I'd love to give the 5 man team a shot, but I'm afraid a 2nd computer is out of the question and imagine that would be too taxing on a single box. As far as team composition is concerned, multiple melee is not an issue. I would definitely be using a pally for a tank, but after that anything that adheres to the trinity is a possibility.

[Akera]

A 3 man team could do most heroics if they're well geared.. or atleast if the Tank or Healer is.

I'm in the same boat, been dualing for a while and want to start doing Heroics with a 3 man team just cant decide on a team!

My Paladin tank is a no brainer (T8/9) but I have 4 other characters competing for the healer and DPS spots.

The way I look at, when you run a 5 man normally and 2 DPS die do you wipe? No (well not usually), only if the tank or healer dies. Or if your team is well geared and just want to farm badges, having 1 DPS doing 3k+ is not far off what 3 DPS did combined back in the early days of Wrath.

[EaTCarbS]

I was in the same boat, and making the jump to 3 was awesome!

You will feel the temptation to do 5 though =P

[alcattle]

Pally-Shaman-Tree would be awesomest should run half the regular and a few heroics.

[Akera]

One thing I found when 5 boxing (I have several RAF accounts which I never upgraded from Vanilla) is it becomes a huge step up when running multiple classes.

I can handle 3 just fine (tho more than 2 in PvP throws me) but I don't see myself managing to get the most out of a 5 man team unless the 3 DPS are the same class.

Tank -> Main, control everything. All abilities are instant therefore you cast every GCD.

Healer -> Still trying to find the best way to do this, so far binding low mana cost heals to same keys I use while tanking is working well with bigger heals bound separately.

DPS -> Using a DK or a Hunter is very easy as they're abilities are all (mostly) instant therefore fit into the same GCD rotation as the tank.

This setup becomes very automated and easy in PvE encounters... tho I'm yet to try heroics, it's worked well for me in old world.

When I threw in casters, they're abilities mostly have cast or channel times, therefore were attacking every second GCD (keypress) on the main. This cos a lot of DPS as they were normally ready for the next cast halfway through a GCD.

Therefore, when you start mix-matching your team too much it's becomes very complex to keep everyone casting when they should. This no doubt becomes easier to work around the more experience you get multi-boxing but for now I enjoy doing my standard 96969 rotation on the pally knowing my hunter or DK are attacking on every key press and occasionally I hit a large or group heal to keep everyone topped up.

[Marathon]

I did two, then three and then jumped to five. I say if you can do it the more the better. As far as class the simplier the better. To many classes make macros complicated. I like Pally, Shammy, Tree also. I think druids are awesome healers.

[jddc78]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone! Gonna go grab another copy at lunch and fire up the 3rd account when I get home tonight.


You will feel the temptation to do 5 though =PThat is so true and something that still bugs me a little. I'd hate to invest all the time getting these guys up to 80 only to find that they are never really going to cut it in instances. Did you guys who have went to 5-box do so for this reason? Or did you do it purely for the sake of 5-boxing?


Healer -> Still trying to find the best way to do this, so far binding low mana cost heals to same keys I use while tanking is working well with bigger heals bound separately.I'm clearly not an expert in the matter, but I've always bound my heals to a 2nd bar when dual boxing. This way I can just press shift+1, shift+2, etc. to fire off a heal to the appropriate party member when needed. I can see why you'd like this automated in a 5 man setup and if you figure it out completely, I think that would be something anyone could benefit from.


Pally-Shaman-Tree would be awesomest should run half the regular and a few heroics.

DPS -> Using a DK or a Hunter is very easy as they're abilities are all (mostly) instant therefore fit into the same GCD rotation as the tank.This was something I was debating as well. Akera, I really like your suggestion of taking a hunter as dps. They are easy to manage and the pet could provide for some nice off-tanking if needed. But is the loss of group buffs that a shaman/druid provide worth it? If the group consists of pally-hunter-? ... who should the healer be? Druid or Shaman?

[Greythan]

That is so true and something that still bugs me a little. I'd hate to invest all the time getting these guys up to 80 only to find that they are never really going to cut it in instances. Did you guys who have went to 5-box do so for this reason? Or did you do it purely for the sake of 5-boxing?
I chose to five box to have access to five different classes and experience their gameplay. And, do be able to solo instances.

Every instance in the game is five boxable. Its all over these boards. All different class combinations as well.


I'm clearly not an expert in the matter, but I've always bound my heals to a 2nd bar when dual boxing. This way I can just press shift+1, shift+2, etc. to fire off a heal to the appropriate party member when needed. I can see why you'd like this automated in a 5 man setup and if you figure it out completely, I think that would be something anyone could benefit from.
You'll want to avoid a 2 key press healing system as it will break down under pressure.

I started by configuring my numpad to be my healing with a holy priest. 1 was gheal tank. 2 prayer of healing. 3 flash heal priest. 7-9 flash heal DPS. etc.

I've switched to using Healbot with a window repeater in IS from my tank to my priest's window. I love it and its SUPERIOR to the keypress system for me. YMMV.


This was something I was debating as well. Akera, I really like your suggestion of taking a hunter as dps. They are easy to manage and the pet could provide for some nice off-tanking if needed. But is the loss of group buffs that a shaman/druid provide worth it? If the group consists of pally-hunter-? ... who should the healer be? Druid or Shaman?
No experience with a hunter here.

However, using a shaman, mage, warlock for my DPS has been very very easy. There is a ton of /click macro and castsequence macro knowledge in these forums. Research and set them up to a single key and you can mash away solid, ranged caster DPS without any hassle. From what I've read, a hunter will fit into this as well. All up to your preference.

[jddc78]

I've switched to using Healbot with a window repeater in IS from my tank to my priest's window. I love it and its SUPERIOR to the keypress system for me. YMMV.

This makes a huge amount of sense and I'd love to try this. Are there any references you could point me to in order to learn how to set something like this up? Just the part about the window repeater. I used to use a combination of grid & clique. So I'm aware of how to get that up & running well.

[Akera]

This was something I was debating as well. Akera, I really like your suggestion of taking a hunter as dps. They are easy to manage and the pet could provide for some nice off-tanking if needed. But is the loss of group buffs that a shaman/druid provide worth it? If the group consists of pally-hunter-? ... who should the healer be? Druid or Shaman?

Well it all depends on who your 3rd is...

My Hunter is dualspec MMS/Surv. While It does more DPS as Surv, MMS brings True Shot Aura and Silencing shot, great when I need to interrupt.

If your doing Pally/Hunter + ? Personally I'd go with the Druid, tho i know many would go with the Shaman. MOTW is a great buff to have and from what I'm experiencing druids HoT's are a great way to keep people topped up... also, as much as I like Shamans I hate having to micro manage totems.