Total cost of 2-3 toons?

[Wadair]

Hello!

I'm back under a different nickname because my old account's email is ancient non-working email and forgot to write down the pw. :p

Without further ado, I better cut it to the case.

I'd be more than eager to try out multiboxing once more with upgraded rig, plan is to start rolling with at least 2 toons,
perhaps 3, it depends more on the total cost than specs I presume. I've tried multiboxing in the past with couple toons,
but ran in to some shared account issues hence I quit it. Now I'm ready to begin at least one new account.

Old Specs


Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86GHz
Motherboard: Asus P5LD2
Video Card: Club 3D Radeon X1950 (256mb)
Memory: 2024 MB (4x 512 MB, 333MHz DDR2)
Hard Drive: 250 GB
Screens: LG L227WT 22" & ViewSonic P775 17"
OS: Windows XP

That was nearly 2 years ago, since then I've upgraded my whole rig 4 times, latest upgrade session this Xmas.

Current Specs


Computer Case: Sonata III Silent ATX-case(500W)
Video Card: GeForce GTX 260 Sonic 896MB DDR3, 2 x DVI, SLI
Motherboard: M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3, AM3, AMD880G, DDR3, SATA3, HD 4250, ATX
Memory: 4x2GB, DDR3 1333MHz, CL9
Processor: Phenom II X4 955BE Rev. C3, AM2+/AM3, 3.2GHz, 8MB, BOX
Hard Drive: 1TB Spinpoint F1, 3.5", SATAII/300, 32MB, 7200RPM[
Screens: Samsung SyncMaster 2333HD 23"-LCD & LG L227WT 22"-LCD
OS: Windows 7 64-bit


I'm more than confident I'm capable on running at least 2 toons without any kind of lagwaves,
3 toons should still be doable and probably more with lower settings, but as stated above,
it *all* depends on the total cost. I'm uncertain am I ready to throw in dough like it ain't a thing for me.
One toon that is to be upgraded up-to Cataclysm + one more monthly subscription is doable with my finance,
but for 3 toons in total (main + 2 slaves) I'd have to do the mentioned twice.

I lurked around forums briefly but couldn't come up with anything solid.
From Wiki I found my specs is good enough for couple toons at least.

I hope some of more experience multiboxers could assist me on this a little bit,
so if I were to buy 1 or 2 more accounts with full upgrades, how much it'd total at?

Thank you in advance.

[echo]

Wouldn't that depend on how much you can find the games for? Then multiply by however many toons you want to run?

Cheapest was probably during the christmas sale, when they were selling vanilla + tbc + wotlk for a total of $20 then plus cata for $40 = $60 to fully upgrade one account. So $60 - $240 in increments of $60 depending on how many accounts you want to run.

[Wadair]

Thanks for the swift reply.

True, however I couldn't find digital copy prices for WoW copies without another account which I don't yet have,
and I know for fact hard copy and digital copy prices varies. Obviously I prefer for digital copies,
but if it turns out hard copies are notably cheaper then that's the plan. As far as I know,
only Blizzard sells digital copies of their games, correct? Usually they tend to be more expensive than hard copies
(SCII at the launch day 60€ as digital copy, hard copy less than 40€ from local store).

[Khatovar]

http://us.blizzard.com/store/browse.xml?f=c:1,f:1

http://eu.blizzard.com/store/browse.xml?f=c:1,f:1

[Wadair]

Ah, damn. I actually found the EU page you linked before creating this topic,
however I thought you could only get hard copies from there, apparently they sell both over there.
Site has changed a bit since I last checked it completely, heh, my bad.

Thank you anyway, though.

It seems I'd save 30€ if ordering hard copies (Battlechest [WoW+BC], WotLK and Cata) from Finland's
most popular webstore I've been using for a good while already.

Few questions comes on my mind now. I had some issues last time as I mentioned, it was related to account sharing.
Shortly, I used my account, my brother's who quit and one new (Three, 3).

If I were to open a new account or two, what I need to ensure? That credit card is the same on all accounts?

[Siaea]

Credit card doesn't matter, just your name needs to be the same across all accounts.

[Littleburst]

The cost is mostly the Monthly fee. Let's say each year a new expansion get's launched which costs 40 euro. In the same year you pay atleast 140 euro on gametime, for each account.

I think your PC will run 5 clients without a problem. Just keep in mind that putting shadow quality on low helps decrease lagg by a lot.

[Wadair]

Alright, thank you for the kind replies everyone.

I've figured it out (mostly) to make this work without leaving a trail of fire behind on my finance. :)
I'll start out with 2 new battlechests (40€ in total, WoW + BC) it'll take a while to level up them all 70 anyway + I'm still planning to raid on my actual main.
This month's salary has gone mostly on new furnitures (new apt :3). In next month, I'll use part of my salary to obtain WotLK+Cata x2.

I'm obviously going to level my toons with RAF, however I've got one more question regarding the matter.
If I order battlechests today (likely will arrive next week) do I have to create accounts now, use my 10-day trial or can I open accounts next week, RAF both and upgrade them up-to BC?

I checked the RAF site over @ Battle.net, and I got the impression I can open accounts and upgrade immediately without a hassle.

Also, thanks for the nifty advice Littleburst!

[Littleburst]

Be sure to read up on RAF.

The best way is probably to recruit a friend from the existing account. Then with account 2(RAF'd from existing) Recruit a new account. Then you have 3 account linked to eachother.

If you want to boost, then just make sure that the 2 "lowbie" account are linked to eachother. Because a target has to give exp to both RAF characters for the bonus to work.

Good luck :D

[Cluch]

You should have no problem with the names, if they are all linked up to the same battle.net account. I wouldn't think you'll even have to enter in a name. I'm not sure on that because i merged mine.

I five box on something similar to your machine. However, all my slaves have their graphics settings on low. It runs fine obviously not ideal especially compaired to other setups in the community. But, It is what it is.

Definitly, Make sure your raf is setup correctly. Littleburst suggestion is exactly what you're looking for.

Have fun.

[Wadair]

The best way is probably to recruit a friend from the existing account. Then with account 2(RAF'd from existing) Recruit a new account. Then you have 3 account linked to eachother.
Sounds good to me. I think I RAF'd last time both 2 slaves from my master account, but as mentioned I ran in to some account sharing issues hence I quit as early as at trial stage.
I presume I should follow your advice, Littleburst, because my way #2 and #3 wouldn't be linked to each other, I guess.

I'd appreciate some clarification on this piece found from Battle.net RAF FAQ:


While adventuring with your linked friend or family member, you will each gain triple experience while partied up to level 60.

Up to level 60, only? Has it always been like this, is this outdated information or a fact? Or am I missing something important here?

[Ualaa]

Fef had a post, towards the start of Cataclysm (so within the last month or so), regarding video settings. His post was for running higher settings on the main computer and lower settings on the slave systems.

You can, via /slash commands, lower video settings below what the sliders in warcraft - video options will allow you to go. You can completely disable shadows (level 0), while the slider gets you a range between 1 and 5. That kind of thing.

I have my slave windows lower than the minimum settings, for everything except view distance. Definitely helps performance on the main window.

[MiRai]

While adventuring with your linked friend or family member, you will each gain triple experience while partied up to level 60.Up to level 60, only? Has it always been like this, is this outdated information or a fact? Or am I missing something important here?
It has always been this way.

[Wadair]

I appreciate the replies.

@Ualaa
True, I tend to keep settings quite low for my slaves as well, excluding view distance, main window is the only normal one. I'll take a look at Fef's post.

@Fenril
Figures. Thanks for the clarification.


If I were to link my toons like so:
Main-Slave1-Slave2
(On main RAF Slave1. On RAF'd Slave1, RAF Slave2)

Instead of:
Main-Slave1&Slave2
(On main RAF Slave1 & Slave2)

How would this affect on granting levels for instance?
Friend of mine used the latter pattern and he's doing quite well for himself, however I can't figure out what's the difference between these two patterns.
Is it only that first mentioned pattern allows me to grant more levels on main while latter pattern allows me to grant levels on main and Slave1?

[Littleburst]

I appreciate the replies.

@Ualaa
True, I tend to keep settings quite low for my slaves as well, excluding view distance, main window is the only normal one. I'll take a look at Fef's post.

@Fenril
Figures. Thanks for the clarification.


If I were to link my toons like so:
Main-Slave1-Slave2
(On main RAF Slave1. On RAF'd Slave1, RAF Slave2)

Instead of:
Main-Slave1&Slave2
(On main RAF Slave1 & Slave2)

How would this affect on granting levels for instance?
Friend of mine used the latter pattern and he's doing quite well for himself, however I can't figure out what's the difference between these two patterns.
Is it only that first mentioned pattern allows me to grant more levels on main while latter pattern allows me to grant levels on main and Slave1?

http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/RAF

Small tip: You can find an awnser to every question, a starting boxer would run into by using google. There's just to much information on the forum/wiki.

http://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=008057042136573243121%3A8oo5ucbwy-s
bookmark it now! :D

[Wadair]

Ah, nice.
Wiki used to be stub but time flies I suppose. :)

I'll use Wiki/forum search more accurately next time around, thanks.

[Wadair]

On Wiki it states:


1. Main refers all new accounts

Pros: Offers many granted levels to toons on your main account.
Cons: All 4 mounts can only be given to characters on your main account. You can't use your 70 main to boost.

Obviously that is slightly outdated, but why I couldn't boost on my main in this method? In the method below it seems to be possible:


2. Chain linking

X>A
A>B
B>C
C>D
Pros: Mounts on your first 4 accounts. You can use your main to boost. Main account gets mount. Levels are able to be granted to main.
Cons: ?

I can't figure out why couldn't I boost with method #1, or is word 'boost' used here for other purposes than 'boost your slaves with main'?

[Wadair]

I deeply apologize for triple posting, but just to clear the atmosphere:

I figured it out already.

If I were to boost my 2nd account's (A) and 3rd account's (B) lvl 1 toons with my main's account (X) lvl 85, with method #1, them all would have to be in same party to take advantage of the RAF benefits and it simply wouldn't help the case because with method #1 I would be forced to have lvl 85 in same party with lvl 1 toons and yet not able to take advantage from benefits (one being over lvl 60).

However, with method #2 even if my main would be outside party the slaves would still take advantage from RAF benefits because they would be linked to each other instead of being only linked with my main. Come to think about, not sure how this would work practically, in theory at first it made a bit more sense than it does now.

I've tried to look around with keywords such as boost, boosting, account linking but mainly have just come across with archived posts or off the case posts.

So if anyone comes up with a more clearer version than this, I'd be obliged.

[alcattle]

I will try and clear the RAF a little.
For 3 accounts, first one has your main, and other two are linked with RAF. You can boost with a high level and the others get some benifits (3x exp, gifting to one toon, and 2 mounts)
With this same set up you can run 3 level 1 toons. Then you get the same and another toon gets gifted levels.
Doing it some other way, allows gifting to the refering account only (X ->A, X ->B) and two mounts on X account.