Some advice required.

[Binky]

So I'm not completely new to multiboxing but I think I've already made a mistake or two.

My current setup consists of my level 80 Disc Priest (mostly tier 9.5 or higher items) and my level 80 Prot Paladin (mostly tier 9). I also hope to add a 3rd account in the near future.

I have also purchased a copy of ********, it does however seem that most people here use ISBoxer.

To date I have only been running around and getting some of the old world achievements and would now like to try for something more adverturous. I have some nagging questions however:

1) Would it be better for me to get a copy of ISBoxer instead of ********?
2) Is there any benefit in moving from a 2 box setup to 3 box? or would the only benefit be going from 2 to 5?
3) If there is a benefit in going to 3 box, which character class should I add?
4) What would the best way be to level my new character up quickly considering the 2 I already have?
5) As indicated above, my current setup is a Disc Priest and a Prot Paladin, would I change this if I add a 3rd character?
6) Any additional advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Redbeard]

1) I dont know what ******* is, maybe its an auto filter for that product which shall not be named so cant answer this. Will say that ISBoxer is awesome.
2) What are your goals? Do you want to do dungeons? Raids? Pvp? Arena? This will really steer the answer to this question. From a pve perspective the only real benefit I can see to adding a 3rd would be that you get to play an additional class, so thats more of a "fun" answer and not an effectiveness answer.
3) I would probably add a DPS since you have tank and heals covered. A ret pally would be easiest probably (and damn good). If you wanted some diversity and some additional awesome utility / buffs either an enhance or elemental shaman would work well. Short answer: if youre just adventuring and doing quests, whatever sounds fun.
4) You have acct A and B right now. Create an RAF account C linked to account B. Create a new char on B and C and then dungeon boost them with an 80 from A (youd want this to be your prot pally of course).
5) This depends on what you want to do. You have a great core for a pve heroic team if you are looking to work on that, so no I dont see any reason to change it if you dont want to.

Youll notice a lot of my answers said "depending on your goals". Maybe think about that and decide what you want them to be and we can be more helpful,

Have a nice day.

[Lax]

1. I'm obviously biased here but the answer is yes ;) You don't have to take my word for it though, there's people switching from that software to ISBoxer all the time, including some of the moderators on the other site. That other software seems to be less functional than Keyclone to be honest, other than buttons you can click with your mouse (which I'm told not many people use). Here's a guide (http://bit.ly/9ouOG0) that can help you make the switch -- and the Quick Start Guide (http://isboxer.com/wiki/WoW:Quick_Start_Guide) is a more general getting started guide that has a lot of good info as well.

2. There's always pros and cons, the cons being that it might be harder and it's extra $$ to buy the game, expansions and the subscription. The more characters you play yourself, the more content you're going to be able to complete on your own. (up to a point) You also get a higher chance of getting loot if you're playing with other people, etc.

3. Pick your favorite DPS. The main question is whether you want melee or ranged, and then what utility/buffs you want. It doesn't really matter ;) Shaman, ret paladin, and mage seem like pretty good/common choices

4. "Boost". Use Refer a Friend to add any new accounts, then you can power through 1-60. Do the referral from the prot paladin account, then you can run the new character through dungeons with him (can pretty much just put the lowbie on autofollow and aoe)

5. Up to you, I probably wouldn't.

[Zub]

4) You have acct A and B right now. Create an RAF account C linked to account B. Create a new char on B and C and then dungeon boost them with an 80 from A (youd want this to be your prot pally of course).



4. "Boost". Use Refer a Friend to add any new accounts, then you can power through 1-60. Do the referral from the prot paladin account, then you can run the new character through dungeons with him (can pretty much just put the lowbie on autofollow and aoe)


Might need some clarification here as the two quotes seem to clash.
Basically (but my RAF knowledge dates, so double check) it all depends how many new accounts you want to add.

if only 1 new account (for a total of 3 toons: 80 priest, 80 paly, new toon) then go for Red's advice, and refer a friend from the PRIEST account.
Then, on the priest account, create a new toon and level those 2 new toons together (for triple xp) and boost them with your Pally on the other account.

if you plan on adding more than just 1 toon (lets say for a total of 5 toons : 80 priest, 80 pally and 3 new toons) then i think it doesn't matter which account you start the RAF from (Paly or priest) as the new toons will all be together anyway, and should still get triple xp.

That's my understanding anyway, but i haven't RAF'd in 2+years i believe. Can someone confirm the above?

[donut132]

I use KEyclone over IS boxer cause it is is a one time payment. the mouse broadcasting doesnt work super great, but it gets the job done when u need it... such as droping trees as boomkins. If i was not already set up on all my chars with keyclone i would try IS boxer but i perfer not to have more monthly/yearly payments :)

[Tehmuffinman]

*raises hand as one of the "other sites" moderators*

Changed and I would NEVER go back... if for no other reason than Lax actually seems to respect his customers and gives amazing support.

EIDT:

And there are MAY more reasons than that haha!

[Khatovar]

I use HotKeyNet, which is a fantastic program if you have the willingness to learn. It's worked with every single MMO I've played and does everything I could possibly want. Right now I've even got it set up to fake mouseover healing in a game that doesn't even have the ability to make macros.

I've also used Keyclone and ISBoxer. I wouldn't use that product that shall remain nameless if you paid me.

Personally, the only use I see of going to 3 is it's 1 less slot to fill. If you've got people that you often play with, or you don't intend to solo dungeons then you don't need a full group, of course. It'll make you one toon more powerful, but it's also one more class to learn, one more toon to work out rotations for, one more toon to loot for, one more toon to buy mounts and gear for, one more toon to repair.

And of course it's 1 more subscription to pay for, one more account to upgrade, one more expansion to buy in a few months.

And people don't so much notice one dude following another. Two people following, they notice, so your potential for being the recipient of impotent nerdrage has gone up exponentially.

The next class, I think it'd depend on what you're doing. If you plan to do dungeons, I'd probably go with something that you really don't have to pay too much attention to. Ranged classes are usually easier, and something that can assist in wipe recovery is always a plus, so I'd say a shaman, druid or warlock. But it really does depend on what you're going to do and how you enjoy playing.

I think the RAF setup was covered already, so I've got nuffin'. Doing it the way Red and Zub outline, you'd be leveling 2 new characters, so you should experiment. I'd say bring up 2 classes that can be either healers or DPS, for example a druid and a shaman. This way if you decide you want to use a different healer at 80, you can easily swap roles.

[Binky]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions thus far, it all really helps!

It definately seems that I will be making the change over to ISBoxer then :)

I guess I should have been a bit clearer with regards to my goals though. At this stage I am not all too concerned with the PVP element of things and my main focus is PVE.

My main focus is to clear as much of the old world content including raids on the characters I have. I would love to do Illidan for example but I don't know if this will be possible with just a 2 man setup, has it been done before?

Is it possible to do any of the WotLK content with just a dual box setup?

Would adding a 3rd character be beneficial to the above?

Once Cataclysm hits I will more than likely be using my setup for all the questing/grinding and try to level the characters together, be it 2 or 3.

I unfortunately doubt that I will be in a position to 5 box at any given stage though.

Even though I am part of a Guild I also spend most of my time solo, so whatever team I put together is about as good as it is going to get for me.

I like the idea of adding a ret paladin though, it seems like a good way to move forward considering I already have a healer and tank that I know how to play.

[Binky]

Ok, so Ikve been thinking about this some more and I would definately like to increase my team to 3. At this stage I am thinking of either a ret paladin or mage.

Now for a RAF conundrum however:

I will be using my paladin to do the boosting, so I guess I will not RAF from that account.
On my priest account I also have a level 28 paladin decked in heirlooms, which seems ideal to RAF from.

Can I do the following:
RAF from my priest account and create an account with the exact same details.
Then create a mage on the new account and druid on the existing account which I then boost with my existing level 80 paladin to 60.
And then after all this grant my level 28 paladin the 30 levels from the mage?

If this is possible I would then most likely work the paladin and mage through to 80 together and tranfer the paladin to the mages account, after which I would work the druid to 80. In the end I would have my 3 accounts: 1 with a pure tank, 1 with my priest and druid and the last with a mage and paladin. So I could go for different setups as required.

[Poyzon]

1. I'm obviously biased here but the answer is yes ;) You don't have to take my word for it though, there's people switching from that software to ISBoxer all the time, including some of the moderators on the other site. That other software seems to be less functional than Keyclone to be honest, other than buttons you can click with your mouse (which I'm told not many people use). Here's a guide (http://bit.ly/9ouOG0) that can help you make the switch -- and the Quick Start Guide (http://isboxer.com/wiki/WoW:Quick_Start_Guide) is a more general getting started guide that has a lot of good info as well.

Yep, I'm one of those mods Lax mentioned and I switched about 3 weeks ago to ISBoxer. The price of each product is essentially the same ($1 diff), but the feature set for ISBoxer is so much better for my needs (and I really wouldn't consider myself an advanced user yet). Feel free to send me a PM if you have questions.

[jinkobi]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions thus far, it all really helps!

It definately seems that I will be making the change over to ISBoxer then :)

I guess I should have been a bit clearer with regards to my goals though. At this stage I am not all too concerned with the PVP element of things and my main focus is PVE.

My main focus is to clear as much of the old world content including raids on the characters I have. I would love to do Illidan for example but I don't know if this will be possible with just a 2 man setup, has it been done before?

Is it possible to do any of the WotLK content with just a dual box setup?

Would adding a 3rd character be beneficial to the above?

Once Cataclysm hits I will more than likely be using my setup for all the questing/grinding and try to level the characters together, be it 2 or 3.

I unfortunately doubt that I will be in a position to 5 box at any given stage though.

Even though I am part of a Guild I also spend most of my time solo, so whatever team I put together is about as good as it is going to get for me.

I like the idea of adding a ret paladin though, it seems like a good way to move forward considering I already have a healer and tank that I know how to play.

I'm an old raid content junkie and a 5 boxer. To be perfectly frank with you there won't be any old raid content you can clear that you couldn't clear with a prot pally solo. It does make clearing old raid much faster though.

BWL has been 5 boxed- and you'd need at least 5 for the 2nd boss since he has a seriious DPS requirement. The first boss is doable but very difficult.

AQ20- easy- but can also be done with a solo prot pally.

AQ40- only 1 person on this site I know of has been 5 boxing AQ40- first boss with the mind control (Skeram) and the Twin Emperors are very difficult.

Tempest Keep- can't be 5 boxed YET... Maybe by level 85 but there's already rumors of them removing the pheonix in Cataclysm. There will be another type of pheonix available through a rep grind though (according to a fansite).

Serpentshrine- Can't be done- first boss I think is the only one you can box.

Black Temple- can't be 5 boxed.

Magtheridon's Lair- can easily be 5 boxed.

Gruuls lair- people have 5 boxed it.


Bottom line though you won't be able to handle any TBC raid content with only 2-3 accounts. One of the main reasons people get into multiboxing is to farm WOTLK heroics/PVP. People with 2-3 accounts generally just PVP- or random dungeon if you can handle the pugs.

Please don't be discouraged though! When I started multiboxing I only had 2 accounts and had a lot of fun. Then eventually decided to make the move to 5 boxing which really opens up a whole new planet of opprotunities. You will clear the old raids with much more ease and life will generally be easier all around with just 2-3 accounts.

[Teal]

I think a mage would be a fun addition to the duo you have so far. They have a nice AoE that will make your grinding go a bit faster and help when it come to bad pulls.

[Iru]

A mage, like Teal suggests, would add +3% damage, and extra Int as well as an additional AoE capability.

Any other caster would also add value: warlock/boomkin (+13% spell dmg), ele shaman (various totems et al).

Of less use would be a physical damage class: rogue, hunter, enhance shaman, warrior - mostly due to the lack of synergy between it and the prot palladin - unless you're planning on expanding beyond a 3man team.

[Tehmuffinman]

/derail

Teal and Iru... Welcome to the other side =)

[Iru]

Silly human, I has been here for everages. Just not posting :)

Although, am only now considering dropping that tab from Opera