New Multiboxer

[seijitsu1]

Hey gang, new multiboxer here. I play Horde on Lightningblade and have been lurking here for weeks until I could not stand it any more and had to give this a try. I am running 5 game instances and have started out with a shaman team, but will be trying other groups soon. Anyway, just thought I would say hello!!

[Siaea]

Welcome. Five shammies are fun :)

[Ualaa]

Welcome to the forums.
And to boxing!

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Be warned. 5-boxing can lead to:

Looking over your shoulder to see if your alts are still on /follow
Checking the rearview mirror in the car to make sure they're not losing /follow due to lag
Walking/driving widely around corners so your alts don't get stuck on teh wall/curb
Nostalgia for the "Good Ol' Days" of only having to loot quest items for one toon
Lack of nostalgia for Ye Olden Days of being worried about dying to a named mob while on a quest
The deep disappointment of finding out some cool other games don't allow multiboxing
The annoyance of playing games where you can multibox but only tediously because it lacks macros and a customizable UI

Welcome to the collective. Your uniqueness will be added to our own. ;)

[seijitsu1]

Haha, Thanks! I parked my shammies for a few days to start on a Druid team, I definitely want to take full advantage of the RAF time period. I am only a week in though so there is plenty of time. I am leveling faster this second run through,... but I just can't see how people are able to get them to 60 in 12 hours of game play. I am guessing it has to do with the boosting character though. I am using my Mage that hit 80 about three weeks ago,.. so that has allot to do with it. I am thinking of switching to my DK to finish out 55-60 though.

[Ualaa]

A lot of the 1st to 60th boosting, is done with a tanking toon who is 80th and in half-decent gear for an 80.

The best boosters seem to be Feral Druids or Prot Paladins.
Both have enormous survivability, which lets you pull half/all the instance at once.
And both deal massive AoE damage.
The Pally just by blocking things that hit her.
The Druid because Swipe is 360 degrees.

It is not necessarily a race, if you do a team per week.
You'll run out of character slots on the accounts, before RAF time.
And that doesn't even look at granting levels.

I'd definitely do 4-5 teams, minimum, during RAF.
Stop once you have everything you think will be fun to play.
But give yourself a lot of options to play with.
2+ predominantly caster teams, I really like:
- Druids
- Mages
- Priests
- Shammies
- Warlocks
2+ mostly melee teams, such as:
- Druids
- Paladins
- Rogues
Possibly a mixed team or two.
Hunters could go in either group, but they'll play as casters mostly.
I wouldn't consider DK's during RAF, since they'll be 57/58th without RAF just doing the newbie area.

[seijitsu1]

Yeah, My 80's consist of a Death Knight with moderate pvp gear (4600 gear score I think), my mage with starter pvp gear, and my rogue. So far I guess it is going decently,... I started with my druids the other day and got them to 31 tonight,... but I have been casually playing them a few hours here and there. I am able to pull all the wings of SM in two pulls with only downtime to move my slaves and drink. But like alot of things although it could be faster, it is still rediculously fast. so,.. I will get there eventually.

Even though I am just a week and a half in,... I am really looking forward to being done with boosting and go reek some havock in instances and bg's. I only have the battlechests, so my plan is to play around with BC stuff and wait till closer to cataclysm when hopefully LK expansions will be cheaper.

[Ualaa]

Depending on the gearing on your DK.

You can do SM Cathedral in a pull or two.
And then move on to the Armory, do that in a pull or two.
Then exit the Armory and reset the instance.

Then its the reverse order.
Armory first, since you are there already.
Cathedral second, since you have to move.
Reset the instances, and you're back at the first step.

If you need the gold, the cloth and drops can be quite decent.
Consider mouse broadcasting on, and spam click with everyone into the pile.

But if you want maximum speed.
Set the loot method to Master Looter.
With your DK (active toon) as the Master Looter.
Set the threshold to Greens (if you have a chanter) or maybe Blues for faster clears.
And... Have you DK OPT OUT of loot.
That way, if a corpse sparkles, you know you have to Master Loot the Green/Blue/Purple to someone.
And otherwise you can ignore it.

[seijitsu1]

Yeah, I have not been Looting as a general rule, except for the bosses and sending that stuff using master loot, I did not know that about setting loot threshholds though, who knows what I have missed out on. I have so much to looks forward to once I get through the boosting though. I have not bothered setting up anything other than basic macros so far, so figuring out how to mesh everything together once I get everyone to level is gonna be a fun pain in the ass! But I like that kind of stuff. Soon enough though!

[Gormand]

Welcome to the fold :D Its damn addictive.
Just under48 hours /played without boosting was what I hit for each group, although there were periods of sitting around doing nothing. So depending on how much free time you have 5 teams would be pretty easy to get up in that time.
make sure you get up at least 1 melee team, its different and well I did Pallys and it was just easy mode :/ Also Boxing instances is fun, frustrating and immensely gratifying when you finally get it done. So thats something else to try.

Your Horde so tip number 1 is hinterlands is your friend (May be for alliance as well I wouldnt know) you rock up, pick up something like 15 quests, do 1 lap of the thing and hand them all in. I think its worth 4.5 levels in around 2-3 hours. Ashenvale hunt is awesome XP for your time(Once you know where the 3 beasts hang out), also make sure you do the 3 chicken quests (Ferelas, Tanaris and hinterlands) when you hand in the last one you get another quest which is right there and is a free 30k XP with RAF as well as a chicken pet per toon, that (on my server) easily sell for 500g each.


I pulled off 3 teams in my RAF period(hunter, Mage, Pally), could have done more but
1. I was running out of slots on my main account (As it is I have 9 60+ and the last one is 51)
2. I was keeping up 2 raiding toons at the same time
3. I ran out of things I really wanted to box... except druids, but I want Troll druids and I am not willing to pay to convert 5 taurens to trolls when cat comes out. So my plan is to get them all BoA gear :)
4. I just got sick of leveling through the same areas, Im not a good grinder.


Priests also make great boosters :) While not as strong a Druids and Pallys I could still do Cath in 4 pulls at level 70 in 0 pieces of epic gear. Trick is to not let your bubble fall off, and if it does before weakened soul lets up then thats you limit and its time to spam holy nova.
Kinda tempted to see what I can do it in now at level 80 with an ICC level geared Priest >:D

[seijitsu1]

Ok, I am trying not to be a noob, but I am going to start leveling some melee toons soon and I have not found what I am looking for using the search. Where can I find a melee team for noobs post? I don't imagine I need that awesome iwt swirlie thing until I take them to pvp with, but meleeing multiple targets has me a bit intimidated, Noting I can't figure out with time and work, but if I am missing a grandaddy thread about multiboxing melee classes, I would sure like to find it.

[alcattle]

The key to a melee group is using the IWT action. You target the mob then press IWT and all the others attack the same mob.
It has to be in the basics somewhere, 2 steps process.

[Ualaa]

If you are using IS Boxer...

On my melee team, I have two mapped keys for IWT.
One of the keys has a hotkey, and is sent to all windows.
The other has no hotkey, and is sent to only toons in my melee group (action target group).

I have built IWT into some of my DPS keys.
DPS 1, DPS 2 and DPS 3, will in addition to the assist and press of the key, also send IWT.
You could build these as two clicks, or as on key down and key up.
The IWT they send, is the mapped key with no hotkey, which only goes to melee toons.

Then I have another mapped key.
With two steps.
Step 1, enables the (no hotkey) IWT.
Step 2, disables the (no hotkey) IWT.

So when it is enabled, the spam dps click sequences also have me spam the IWT.
But I can turn that behavior off.
And on or off, I retain IWT (with a hotkey), for quest npc's or flight masters etc.

[seijitsu1]

Just making a post to see if my new settings worked.

Guess not, I will mess with it later. I am using keyclone, which I was hoping would now show up under my name, but I think it takes a day.


Here is some info on my setup.

I am using Keyclone on two computers. My main and two slaves on comp 1 broadcast of a 45" lcd television, two healer toons on comp two broadcast on 2 19"monitors. I use a Logitec G13 game pad and a Razer Naga gaming mouse. In game I use jamba and bartender.

I just got my shaman team matched up with my DK to lead, and my druids have hit 50 and are halfway through the scholo grind. Team 3 will likely be coming soon and I am thinking Pallies.

Anyway, just thought I would share.

[Ualaa]

Well, with Keyclone, you are limited to straight key broadcasting.
So you will want IWT keybound to something in easy reach (I'd probably go a mouse thumb button, if your mouse has thumb buttons), and also have a /Follow macro within easy reach.
You can assign two hotkeys for each action, so maybe one general IWT key for everyone, and another IWT key bound only for your melee toons, which you can spam on the mouse.

That way, your melee team can spam the /Click macro, or whatever you use for DPS on say '1'.
And you can spam, as required, with your mouse.
And when the target dies, have your /follow ready to go instantly, to catch your toons before they run off.

[seijitsu1]

Gotcha,... I am creating my pally team right now actually. I will give what you said a try. You know, I have tried IWT on my shamen when targets get behind their LOS, but they do not turn, swarm nothing, they simply go into attack mode. Do melee toons react differently? I am sure I will figgure it out while working on this team,...

Oh, my shammies hit 60 last night and my druids are at 56,... pretty productive weekend so far. mostly because I am at home quarantined with pink eye!

[Gormand]

When you use the IWT you need to ensure you have click to move enabled on your slaves (In WoW go to your settings and its under mouse) this will cause them to turn and run up to smash stuff. keep in mind though that (Except for hunters) any toon that you hit IWT on while click to move is active will result in it running up and hitting the target. So what you can do is
Target mob
Hit IWT target button
Wait until all toons moving
Hit Back on all your toons to stop them moving

Pallys I found were easy mode :P The only abilitys I used (Besides buffs and auras) from 1-60 were

DPS and Tank
Judgement of xxxx (I had them use different ones to improve synergy)
Consecrate

Tank
Rightous Fury (On my tank, as he is using the same abilitys as my DPS ones he always ended up on top for threat)
Avengers Shield (Once you get the talent its great for pulling)

Heals (Sometimes I had it also using the DPS abilitys but stopped that as I didnt need the extra DPS)
Flash of light
Some instant cast heal
Lay on hands

This setup was great with judgement of wisdom and my healer also hitting the targets mana was rarely an issue, I could round up huge numbers of like leveled mobs and just take them all down with 4-5 consecrates and to break up the tedium you can jsut jump into a random instance whenever you want and get some shiny gear at the end of it :D

[Ualaa]

One of the more common (read high synergy) melee teams, is DK + 4x Ret Paladins.
Consider making 4x Ret Pallies, and also going through the DK area with a DK.

Obviously the DK does their area on their own.
But you finish it as 57th or 58th.
Which is very strong, for boosting your low pallies through instances.
You should be able to solo through Scarlet Monastery (level 45 range on the pallies) quite easily.

Once the pallies and DK are 58+ (or around 60), take them to Outland as a team.
As far as heals go, you'll want two macros.
Each of these will cast Flash of Light, which when you get an Art of War proc is instant.
So your macro is something like:
#show
/cast Flash of Light
/stopcasting

If the spell is instant (ie, had a proc on Art of War), it is done on the cast.
If there was no proc, the stopcasting ends the heal there.

Two versions of the proc, as far as heals go.
One is target=player, which is general self healing vs AoE damage.
And have another where the target is whatever the main toon is targeting... ie, whoever needs the big heal.

You also include Divine Storm in the pallies dps macro, which is healing.
With four pallies, you judge wisdom, justice and light (double up on light for the heals).

Drive with the DK.
Use your click castsequence for the Ret's, along with liberal IWT spam.

There are quite a few posts on this composition.
They have 5-manned (with gearing) a lot of 10-man early WoTLK content.
And are very much viable in arena and battlegrounds.

[seijitsu1]

Update, Shaman team is at 60, Druid team is at 60, I used the granted levels to boost my shaman on my main account as well as creating and granting levels for the dps portion of my first PVE team. My paladin team is at 45 and I am thinking of doing my priest team next. I figured that I would boost one team of each of the classes with rezing abilities to cut down on corpse runs from miscellaneous and stupid pats, after that I may do either hunters or a mixed pve team. Tomorrow is one month into multi-boxing and i am pretty pleased with my progress. I have definitely hit the UGH!!! stage of level boosting!

I have had some hardware issues with lag running ramparts,.. but i equate that to not having done any real work on the comp that I am currently using as my main. Without getting into gory details,... I am surprised I have been able to get this far without the thing puffing out smoke, so with some new parts and some work on it's ram usage,... It will hopefully perk up a bit. Not sure I will have much problem in instances, but definitely want everything running on all cylinders before I try pvping.In the mean time, by 2v2 team is leaving me in the dust with gear from the new season, so I am trying to wrap my head around that again too and all of this without completely selling my soul to the wow gods.

So,... that's my nutshell. How are you?

[seijitsu1]

Another update, I spent the week traveling for work so progress has slowed significantly. I also am anticipating spending multiple trips on the road soon, so I am trying to put in some time this week to get as much done as I can. Paladin team is at 60 now, I have boosted the main account counterparts now and now have only three toons on my main account below the level of 60. I used some extra levels to get my hunter to 60 and now am working on my fourth team. I am doing a priest group and have gotten them to 20 and just moved them to scarlet monestary. so,... work continues and we will see how much i can get done before I spend a month on the road. One good thing about travel though, when I go out of town, I am able to save money as everything I do gets billed to my company. Perhapse I can use that money to upgrade my accounts to wolk,..

Anyway, keepin' on keepin' on

[Ualaa]

Quite a few people in my guild take laptops when they do business trips.
I suppose one-boxed laptops for raids is a lot lower requirement then something you can 5-box on.
But it is a consideration.

I'd stick with as many options as you'd think might be fun to play down the road... as long as you have the RAF, might as well.

I too did 5x Hunters and 5x Priests, during RAF.
In my case, I've not touched them since, but having them leveled is nice.
I'm going to level both sets from 60th to 70th, for trade skill purposes.
Possibly further, as they were both fun compositions to play during RAF.

I didn't do Warlocks, which I'm in the process of leveling (4x Warlock & 1x Priest).
Well.. want to level, I should say.
Beyond creating the team, and basic macros (level 22's now), haven't touched them in quite a while.
I wish I had done the team during RAF...
And quit leveling teams (1-60) with over 6 weeks left in RAF.
Hindsight is 20/20 they say.

[seijitsu1]

Well, I am at the end of my refer a friend, and I started my hunter group,... but did not do too much with them. I am pretty content with what Ihave right now. My company got busy and my time spent at home was greatly decreased really fast. So here is the crossroad I find myself at.

Ether I cancel my four extra accounts as they hardly see any play time with what little time I spend at home, or I look into buying a new laptop to maybe multibox on when I travel. The jury is still out right now.

Anyway, I ave my shaman team up to 65 now despite only playing them a few days out of the last month and a half. One neat thing though,.. I have spent some time in Org doing what I consider public relations. I do shaman tricks and druid aspect dancing and stuff and answer any questions about multiboxing I can. So far I have been well received.

More info as I get it