New guy saying hello

[flux1]

Hey all. I've been a lurker here for a while and decided to finally register.

First a bit about myself. I played WoW long ago and quit back in the tbc times after kara when almost all of my guild stopped playing. Since then I've glanced over wow info rarely, but don't know all the changes since TBC. I have used HKN in other f2p mmos with my Logitech G11. Mostly mapping the G keys to buttons on a single alt following me around to heal myself or range dps a bit, but nothing major.

My overall goal is to be able to do a little bit of everything ingame from pvp to instances to grinding/questing better with boxing. Back in TBC my main was an Enhancement Shaman. From what I've read now-a-days, Elemental isn't really viable for anything end game. Still I'll probably start with them and go from there. End game I plan to mainly 2 box.

The main reason I'm planning to concentrate on a 2 boxing team is, well quite honestly, I don't have the spare cash to buy all 3 expansions * 5 plus $75 a month to keep them going. I do however have 5 copies of WoW from back when it was on sale around thanksgiving at Gamestop for $5 /w $5 gift card. I just never had the time to really devote to it until now. Also, 5 boxing teams seem less viable for instances now than before, so I figured on trying a 2 box if I go all the way to Cata. I will do the chain account linking for at least the first month and a half (default month + TBC trial) So I can boost several chars on the main two accounts to 60 and have a good selection to go from there.

As I get further along I'll ask about viable teams and what not. For now just going to start up a trial and get back into wow and get used to it again. :)

[F9thRet]

Welcome to the boards flux1.

I believe a lot of us started off with 2 boxing, I know I did, but it get's in your blood. Just do what you can, a little at a time, and make use of the resources the members have here.

Be sure to grab Jamba, as it will make your job a lot easier, no matter what boxing software you use.

Stephen

[Khatovar]

Yup, I'm with F9thRet. I started with 2 just so I could dualbox healers for raiding, but suddenly it was 3 and like a week later it was 5, lol. And definately get Jamba. It's amazing, there's no other way to describe it. Even if you only use little bits and pieces of it, it will make your life a thousand times easier.

[Nikita]

Let me ve the first to officialy welcome you to the forum :) what classes are you boxing?

[Glenni]

Let me ve the first to officialy welcome you to the forum :) what classes are you boxing?
Second *

I know I started off with twoboxing a pala tank and a priest healer a couple of years back :3 Was fun.

[MiRai]

Hello.

[flux1]

Let me ve the first to officialy welcome you to the forum :) what classes are you boxing?

Im going to start with 5 shamans and then 5 hunters. After that I'll see how much time my accounts have left and pick another class to go from there.

I may expand it later on and upgrade the other accounts to cata, but the sticker shock of $500 to get 5 accounts there is a bit much for me right now :p

Even if elemental is left in the PVP and DPS gutter, I figure I can respec Enhance/Resto for soloing. Hunters I like cause you can have a built in pet for tanking while the char DPSes. Combine with a resto or elemental shaman to two box old instances and raids for fun.

Also planning to level at least two Death Knights to use as tanks. Avoiding que times by two boxing tank/whatever alone makes it worth the effort.

[ashlor]

welcome to the forums

[Ualaa]

Paladins and Druids are both fun classes.
And they can spec Tank, Healer or DPS.
So they're versatile choices for future teams.

Shammies and Hunters are both fun to play.
And will level quite well, both in pvp or questing.

[coglistings]

Id say that make sure to get on a high population server in a good battlegroup. boxing kinda sucks when you are a medium non pvp server imo Id welcome another horde boxer to KilJaeden as would the other LOB characters. Hellscream is still pretty active. Anyway, nice to see you picking up the metagame :P

[flux1]

Paladins and Druids are both fun classes.
And they can spec Tank, Healer or DPS.
So they're versatile choices for future teams.


Druids was what I was thinking to level after Hunters as like you said, I could respec them as needed for just about anything.

Are paladins still the easiest tank class to use when boxing? I've watched videos from wrath showing a paladin with 4 shamans could basically clear any 5 man out there. Wasn't sure though if the changes in cata require more micro-management of procs over other tanks. I was looking at DKs as possible tanks since they start out at 58 anyways when you finish the starter zone, so if I don't like them much going through outland there's no real wasted investment for time or gifted levels.



Id say that make sure to get on a high population server in a good battlegroup. boxing kinda sucks when you are a medium non pvp server imo Id welcome another horde boxer to KilJaeden as would the other LOB characters. Hellscream is still pretty active.

Benn looking over where to start some. So far I've started a single toon on Area 52 horde side to see what the main changes are to shamans so far. May make an alliance team also since Dwarfs can be shammies now too.

[Ualaa]

The Paladin tank is probably the best, from a boxing point of view.
By best, I mean the tank which can be played with the least management of abilities or the easiest to macro.
Less attention required, allows more attention to other aspects of your play.

I played 5x Shaman.
Which evolved into 1x Paladin (Tank) + 4x Shaman.
And eventually 1x Paladin, 3x Shaman, 1x Warlock (bonus spell damage, via curse).
The Pally/Shammy team certainly rocks for PvE.

If you're managing the tank, as the active character, then any of the tanks will certainly work for you.
The Druid is lacking core tanking mechanics, until they hit 81st; beyond that point they rock and are my #2 choice to tank with... especially with Swipe going to 3 seconds instead of 6 in 4.1

The DK is a good tanking class.
Blood Presence, dual-wielding for extra Blood Worms (2H works though)...
Rune Tap every 30 seconds, and other DK's Rune Tap stacks somewhat (+5% I believe).
And go with a rotation that prioritizes Death Strike.
The 4x DK + Healer teams, are doing heroics... 3x DPS, with a Healer and DK Tank will work well.

[Wink-]

Oh wow, I didn't know you got more blood worms for dual wielding. I still agree with Ualaa, go with pallies. I do not use the Avenger's Shield reset cooldown ability so I have a one button mash for a perfect rotation for tanking.

[Khatovar]

I do not use the Avenger's Shield reset cooldown ability so I have a one button mash for a perfect rotation for tanking.

Look into multistep macros. You can use them to automatically toggle between your standard "rotation" and a proc.

ISBoxer - http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=33080
HotKeyNet - http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=33160
Default UI - http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=34310

All the utility, no additional buttons to mash.

[AgentSnipps]

On the subject of pally tanks, I solo boxed one as MT for my guild in kara and again in WoTLK for naxx to Icecrown but took a break before the pre cata patch and I loved every second of it. Now after the patch I can't stand playing my pally as a tank I hate the holy power resource system with some kind of unhealthy passion. I'll be the first to admit that at times I felt like a warrior with an annoying mana bar and wanted to something diffrent but I just can't deal with the holy power crap as a tank (not as bad as ret.)

Thats just my opinion tho and I'm sure they are still great tanks it's jsut not for me anymore so when I get back to playing my pve team will most likely go warrior tank despite the clear advantages the pally has. Welcome to the site btw.

[flux1]

Thanks everyone for all the info about the tanking classes. What I'll likely do is go ahead and level 5 boomkins, then respec to feral later on if I want to try tanking. Plus with the excess gifting levels, get two paladins up on my main accounts to use as possible tanks and healers. Along with going ahead and getting 2 DKs started to see how well they do.

Ualaa, I also wanted to thank you for the info in the wiki about chain linking accounts to get extra levels back to your main account. That really explained everything well.

Thanks for mentioning the toggle options Khatovar. I was thinking of using the 3 different profile selecting keys on my G11 to pick different macros to spam when situations change. The toggle option will work far better for that, and will let me setup actual different profiles for different teams or pvp/pve.

[Ualaa]

I've not added anything to the wiki myself; not sure how.
I believe for a while there, Bettysue was adding a lot of useful posts to the wiki.
Anyway, glad you found it to be useful.




For my DK's, I have three sets of "spam" keys.
The team is actually 1x Paladin, 4x Death Knight, fairly close to the model from Mosg2's DK Manifesto.
And then manually manage a lot of different buttons.

Spam 1:
- Pseudo priority system... broadcasts one key on key press, and five keys on release.
- By having more of a given spell than another, its more likely that will fire off... so a weighted priority system.
- Down = Howling Blast, making this the most likely spell to fire off.
- Up = Howling Blast, Frost Strike, Frost Strike, Necrotic Strike, Blood Strike.

Spam 2:
- Same Pseudo priority system... just different keys broadcast.
- Down = Obliterate.
- Up = Obliterate, Obliterate, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Frost Strike.

Spam 6:
- Same Pseudo priority system... again different keys broadcast.
- Have really thought of moving this to "Spam 3", but have much more frequently used things on 3-5.
- Down = Death Strike.
- Up = Death Strike, Death Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Frost Strike.

They're not exactly "toggles", but the idea is close enough.
Three different modes of DPS, each on its own "spam" key.

[katsurahama]

Be careful about making G11 macros. They qualify as "automation."

Do everything with isboxer.

[flux1]

Be careful about making G11 macros. They qualify as "automation."

Do everything with isboxer.

I've read about people getting banned for those before even without using it for boxing. One guy back in wrath was using it to auto repeat a key he held down to dps as an arcane mage and got banned for it. The way I have my G keys is for them to just do a single key press, and from there have Hot Key Net send a keypress to a window or windows.

For example: I have G18 set to Crtl + Alt + Q. Press that, HKN sends = to a single wow window where I have Strength of Earth totem in that slot to drop it.

From what I've gathered from seeing Blizzard posts on the topic, as long as you pressing a single key does no more than pressing a single key in wow, no matter how many or few windows that single key press goes to, you are ok.


Ualaa, someone added the info about cascading donated levels back down the chain to where you get more on your main account once they pile up. That was what I was talking about as it showed how to link the accounts for the most benefit over time.

[Ualaa]

My G-Keys are IS Boxer hotkeys.
Not even keybinds in game.

Back when I was using Keyclone.
They were all single binds, along the lines of Alt + Shift + J.

[AgentSnipps]

Thanks for the info on G keys that could have been a ibg mistake on my part somewhere down the line, I really should read the rules again.

[Khatovar]

As long as there is no automation, G-keys are perfectly fine. If there's loops or delays or anything that constitutes automation, that's where you're going to be crossing the line.

The same thing goes with anything else that allows you to program actions, like the Razer Naga or the Steelseries. I use a Naga and it uses "macros", but those macros are actually just key combinations like RCtrl + RShift + F8 {Naga only just recently added the ability to create "single key" actions that include modifiers. Previously you had to make them as a macro.}.

Hell, even various programs we use everyday for multiboxing *CAN* automate. I know autohotkey, HotKeyNet and ISBoxer all have the ability to use delays and loop actions. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with those programs; they are perfectly legitimate as long as you don't break the game's rules.

Avoid delay actions. Avoid repeating actions where you press a button and it does the same thing over and over until you make it stop or for a certain amount of times. Avoid anything that duplicates actions specifically removed from the game {such as whisper casting or reactive casting (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showpost.php?p=304166&postcount=3)}. When in doubt, ask, and ask before using. Coming here or going to the game's official forums and nerdraging after you get busted isn't going to win you any sympathy. ;)

[AgentSnipps]

Offtopic: Hows that Naga working out for you? I was looking at geting one.

[Kekkerer]

Razer Naga has been the best purchase I have ever made for multiboxing, I can now use my keyboard solely for dps and have all healing related skills and cooldowns on the mouse.

[Khatovar]

Looks like a good number of people (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=33497) who get a Naga like them. I've got a little overview of it in this (http://www.dual-boxing.com/showthread.php?t=31266) thread. Changes to the "Configurator" software have improved usability since then, so the only negative I can still list with it is the stupid location of the back/forward buttons, which they seem to have considered with the Razer Naga Epic (http://store.razerzone.com/DRHM/store?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=razerusa&Locale=en_US&Env=BASE&productID=220156700), which is probably going to be my next upgrade. Unfortunately the great god Murphy has made sure there won't be money around for any sorts of upgrades for a while. ;)