Help! I suck at PvP!

[Nate101pvp]

What's up guys? Alright, so I'm new to multiboxing this last month, and I'm sorting through stuff slowly. I have a quad shaman team with my gf playing holy paladin. I have a five balance druid team that I play alone.

The shamans+pally team was 39, but every bracket I stop and PvP (14, 19, 24, 29, 34, and 39 etc). The same for my druids. Both my teams are level 41 now.

I started on a new server, with no friends. I have no glyphs (not even entirely sure how glyphs work, I'm a pre wotlk player), I have no BOA gear (again, not entirely sure...), and certainly no props to instance running or gear support. I'm just wearing what I get from questing or random drops.

Here's what I recognize are reasons that I might be doing so poor in PvP:
1) I recognize that low level PvP is not a replica of end-game, and that talents and abilities will become available later that change the balance of PvP, and maybe my shaman team, and druid team, aren't going to shine at low level compared to hunters or ret paladins, etc.
2) I recognize that I have awful gear, no BOA, no glyphs, etc.
3) I recognize that both shamans and balance druids are going to be so much stronger with better gear later on, so I shouldn't get all emo and ragequit, haha.

Here are some skill problems that I can't seem to figure out:
1) A problem that I honestly cannot figure out is how to get my slaves to face a melee target when it's running all the hell around me. I realize there is thunderstorm, and earthbind totem (I am not high level enough for root), but it's to no avail. Ualaa gave me a tip of using my IWT hotkey (alt+j for me) and making a key map to push "s" my backup key, so they face the target and immediately backup a step to stop moving. This is obviously an awesome tip, except what do I do when the little bastards are running around my guys nonstop, haha?

2) Fear. If I get AOE feared, at my level I don't have a trinket and I just not got grounding totem. Fear can send my guys far enough apart so that they are out of follow range, so I have to gather them one at a time by getting in range w/ them. Does that sound right?

3) Healing. My shaman team for example, I have a hard time keeping up with healing what am I doing wrong? By the time I see someone is being attacked, it's almost instant he's at 1/2 hp, and before a heal even goes off he's dead. This is surely due to the level and bad gear, etc, but what should I be using as a typical heal for my shamans? They are dranei so I use the Naaru whenever it's needed, which is a little bonus.

Anyway, I'm just fishing for some PvP tips. I have a feeling the main opinion is that at my low level, it's not even a good representation of what it is later on, and I should focus on leveling and not get discouraged by the PvP now. If I had glyphs and BOA items, maybe it'd be a different story, I am not sure.

Thanks =)

Here are some of thbe

[BrothelMeister]

1: Use Thunderstorm to knock the melee back, and then shock him. I have 3 of my 4 shamans using flameshock, with my main one using frost shock. You should also always have 1 shaman (main toon or slave 1) dropping earthbind, which will slow their approach. Even in end game arena, If I couldn't knock the melee away, I saved targeting them for last. If a melee is swarming you well enough that you can't get him, don't. Target a nearby caster (healer preferred). If the melee is equal gear/level, and his healer is dead, you should be bale to heal through/ just cast instant hit abilities on him, until he wears down. (shock, Tstorm, Fire nova[can also use magma or searing totem if you wish, some like it, I do not])

2: without a trinket, and without being high enough for tremor totem, yes fear will mes you up, and yes you do have to chase your team down to re-group. This becomes a non-issue when you get trinkets and tremor totem.

3: Use 4x healing stream totem if you like, it will help some. Your main healing spells should be healing surge and chain-heal. Healing surge should be able to save your toon once you see he's getting hit, and if it doesn't, then yes, it's a gear problem, or you were just outmatched. Chain heal is good for when you want to heal, but aren't under heavy single target damage.

For the rest of your points on glyph/totem selection Boylston has a badass stickied thread here:
http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=33257

Stick with it, we all at one point were where you are now. It took about 6 months from the start of boxing to get my 1 team pretty damn good at PvP.

[Nate101pvp]

1: Use Thunderstorm to knock the melee back, and then shock him. I have 3 of my 4 shamans using flameshock, with my main one using frost shock. You should also always have 1 shaman (main toon or slave 1) dropping earthbind, which will slow their approach. Even in end game arena, If I couldn't knock the melee away, I saved targeting them for last. If a melee is swarming you well enough that you can't get him, don't. Target a nearby caster (healer preferred). If the melee is equal gear/level, and his healer is dead, you should be bale to heal through/ just cast instant hit abilities on him, until he wears down. (shock, Tstorm, Fire nova[can also use magma or searing totem if you wish, some like it, I do not])

2: without a trinket, and without being high enough for tremor totem, yes fear will mes you up, and yes you do have to chase your team down to re-group. This becomes a non-issue when you get trinkets and tremor totem.

3: Use 4x healing stream totem if you like, it will help some. Your main healing spells should be healing surge and chain-heal. Healing surge should be able to save your toon once you see he's getting hit, and if it doesn't, then yes, it's a gear problem, or you were just outmatched. Chain heal is good for when you want to heal, but aren't under heavy single target damage.

For the rest of your points on glyph/totem selection Boylston has a badass stickied thread here:
http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=33257

Stick with it, we all at one point were where you are now. It took about 6 months from the start of boxing to get my 1 team pretty damn good at PvP.

Thanks man. I found Boylston's guide last week, I really enjoyed it. I forget the name of it.. (sorry I sound so noob)... but the new spell I got that puts 4 totems down at once per shaman, but only 1 of each type. This doesn't sound like what anyone is using, is it? Everyone just drops individual totems it sounds like.

Also, right now I'm just using my IS Boxer premade 1-10 and "-" and "=" buttons. Obviously I need to be using WAY more hotkeys than that, and find myself turning repeater on to mouse-click an icon on all shamans (like mount, shield, etc) because my hot-keyed or keymapped buttons are taken up with mostly damage and healing spells. I need to learn how to do this especially with the G11 keyboard I have. That's a next project for me.

Do you think I should keep PvPing in each bracket? It's pretty discouraging...maybe I should just level up and PvP later when the battlefield is a little more level?

[Lpwned]

The only thing I can actually answer here is the turning.
Don’t use a movement key to break follow! Use a turn key. Why? If your guys are still on follow, in the middle of a cast, and you see a DK coming your way and want to break follow so your cast still goes off when you get death gripped, you can. Turn breaks follow, but not a cast. Also use Q and E for the Turn all buttons (Not Alt-Turn). You will use it a LOT, and Alt-Turn is awkward.

Ha ha I feel your pain man! Unfortunately low level PVPing not being like level cap PvPing is a gross understatement.
The primary reason for this:
Low HP with too much DPS. The power of the multiboxer is coordination (The ability to hit 4 players burst on 1 target at once). We are week at everything else. To make low level PvE more fun, bliz has over buffed ALL classes to the point where a single toon can 1 shot any other toon.
What does this mean? Your primary strength is worthless, and you are left with only your weaknesses. This applies to healing as well. Even 20 + toons can’t heal a 1 shot.

Don’t get discourage. As a boxer you are getting a VERY skewed view of PvP (More so than soloer’s). Low level PvP is a frantic shuffle to hit the other person with your burst before they hit you. High level PvP isn’t, you have time to think.

[Lpwned]

Do you think I should keep PvPing in each bracket? It's pretty discouraging...maybe I should just level up and PvP later when the battlefield is a little more level?

I would. Low level PvP is NO fun. You will began to hate the game after enough of it.

[Ualaa]

Use the PvP as a change of pace, when you're tired of the PvE play.
The new brackets are x0-x4 and x5-x9, so the prime times to PvP are x4 and x9 levels.

But questing will almost always be faster levels.
Except maybe whatever BG on its weekend.

[Nate101pvp]

Use the PvP as a change of pace, when you're tired of the PvE play.
The new brackets are x0-x4 and x5-x9, so the prime times to PvP are x4 and x9 levels.

But questing will almost always be faster levels.
Except maybe whatever BG on its weekend.

Yeah, I really wasn't PvPing to level, but because this team is with sole intent to PvP, so I assumed it as practice. But I don't think it's good practice if I don't have my key mapping figured out, and getting owned by boa/glyph geared lowbies, and don't have my good skills/talents yet.

[Kedash00]

one thing with the fear at lower levels that helped me, if you do get feared, there will be that 10-15 second period where you are running around trying to get your guys back together, just have them spam heals on themselves while you run around hitting your follow button, the ones following you will be moving so they wont waste mana and spamming yourself with heals should keep you alive long enough to gather them all up.
That always worked for me unless one of them got feared into a big group of alliance and just got raped.

[Nate101pvp]

The only thing I can actually answer here is the turning.
Don’t use a movement key to break follow! Use a turn key. Why? If your guys are still on follow, in the middle of a cast, and you see a DK coming your way and want to break follow so your cast still goes off when you get death gripped, you can. Turn breaks follow, but not a cast. Also use Q and E for the Turn all buttons (Not Alt-Turn). You will use it a LOT, and Alt-Turn is awkward.

Ha ha I feel your pain man! Unfortunately low level PVPing not being like level cap PvPing is a gross understatement.
The primary reason for this:
Low HP with too much DPS. The power of the multiboxer is coordination (The ability to hit 4 players burst on 1 target at once). We are week at everything else. To make low level PvE more fun, bliz has over buffed ALL classes to the point where a single toon can 1 shot any other toon.
What does this mean? Your primary strength is worthless, and you are left with only your weaknesses. This applies to healing as well. Even 20 + toons can’t heal a 1 shot.

Don’t get discourage. As a boxer you are getting a VERY skewed view of PvP (More so than soloer’s). Low level PvP is a frantic shuffle to hit the other person with your burst before they hit you. High level PvP isn’t, you have time to think.

I'm trying to digest this, but I'm not totally get it. The 1st paragraph I'm talking about. Can you elaborate on the break follow and move keys and stuff. I'm pretty much using IS Boxer and Jamba just how it is set up. I didn't customize anything aside from setting my teams up. This sounds awesome if I can get it.

[Lpwned]

I'm trying to digest this, but I'm not totally get it. The 1st paragraph I'm talking about. Can you elaborate on the break follow and move keys and stuff. I'm pretty much using IS Boxer and Jamba just how it is set up. I didn't customize anything aside from setting my teams up. This sounds awesome if I can get it.


Sorry, I probably wasn't very clear there. Made a few assumptions.

I'm kinda talking about 2 things that I mashed together (Turning and breaking follow).

First one is breaking follow. There are many times when its useful. Eg. Your guys are low on HP and your casting a heal. There is a DK running right for you. Guarnteed he is going to DeathGrip your main when he gets close enough. If you leave you guys on follow, they will all stop casting to follow your main.

The most common way to break a follow is this:
Set your software to broadcast "T" to all your accounts. Bind T to move backwards (Alternate keybinding) in WoW. To break follow you simply tap T. I recommended that you set T to TURN Right / Left instead of a movement key. In the above scenario, you can break follow without stopping your current cast.

The second point is turning all your accounts.

Set your software to broadcasts Q and E but NOT A, S, D, W. You use ASDW on your main to move. Bind Q and E to Alternate Turn Right, and Alternate Turn Left (Alternate being the right column of bindings). So what have we done here? You run in to kill someone. You start casting, and they are starting to run to your left. Hold down Q... All your guys turn left. If you set it up this way, you can also just tap Q or E to break follow instead of having to bind T as well.


Like others have said though, if there is a melee class all over you, its best to focus someone else, and try to root / push them away.

[Ualaa]

Until you're higher, you're missing tools (as are your opponents).
Any pvp you do, is purely practice which is not a bad thing.
But I'd do it at maximum level, for each bracket, and only if you need a break from PvE/Questing.

[Zub]

recovery from fear:
In some cases, when they are too far for /follow, you can use the Interact with Target key on an enemy.
the range of IWT is longer (or was some time ago at least, haven't tested recently) and that will make your toons all converge to a single point, making them closer to eventually get the /follow command.
(hopefully before they go hit that enemy with their staff :-)

[Lpwned]

Just found out about this.



Then I would execute a step on press or release, meaning while you hold the thumb button down, you are mouse broadcasting, meaning right click held will turn your character the same as when you are one boxing.
As soon as you release the button, your mapped key goes to step 2, which turns off the broadcasting of the mouse.

The best way to handle turning all the toons IMO.

Its tricky to set up, but basically mouse button 3 acts as a "hold right mouse down and move" on all the accounts. Aka, you can turn as fast as you want!

Credit goes to Ualaa for this one.

[Nate101pvp]

Just found out about this.



The best way to handle turning all the toons IMO.

Its tricky to set up, but basically mouse button 3 acts as a "hold right mouse down and move" on all the accounts. Aka, you can turn as fast as you want!

Credit goes to Ualaa for this one.

Oh damn! That makes so much sense, haha. So right now I use control+alt+R (which is SUPER annoying) for repeater. I just need to go and change it to the mouse button. Nice. Good tip.

[BrothelMeister]

If you are using ISBoxer, I do not recommend a button solely for moving backwards. Instead, many of use have a 2 step button that does 1 action while the button is held down, then preforms an action once the key is released.

On the way down, have teh key set for Interact-with-target; on the way up, have it set to go back.

If you press the key, as long as it's held down, it will move toward the target, and once you release, it will stop moving, but still be facing the target. This is how you can make snared casters turn to face a moving target that is behind them.

This is a more useful key to break follow because it also incorporates IWT.