Multiboxing Video Series Discussion

[MiRai]

http://youtu.be/HPRGd-1HY88

I've decided to reboot my Multiboxing with MiRai video series, and while this might come as a surprise or even an annoyance, I made a video announcement (in addition to this thread) to help explain.

Why?


I feel that the stat squish warrants that I re-visit the instances I've already done in the past. I just started doing some low-level instances since 6.0 has been live, but overall I think it would be confusing if I kept with that series at the moment and starting fresh will allow me to do things "in order."


After playing with nVidia's new DSR feature (http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/dsr/technology) I found I was able to multibox, and record, in a 4K-compatible (3840 x 2160) resolution. I'd like to use this resolution for all of my gameplay videos moving forward so that they'll stand the test of time. Meaning, in the future, people will still be able to watch these videos at a resolution which gives nice, crisp playback quality.


Moving Forward


All of the current RaF Leveling series videos that were public are now unlisted -- They've not been deleted, just unlisted, and you can still find their original URLs in my original Multiboxing with MiRai thread (http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/49827-Multiboxing-With-MiRai) in the Movie forum, if you so desire.


The Wrath heroics that were previously done will stay public on my channel, but will eventually be labeled as "Pre 6.0" as to not cause any confusion when I redo those instances.


Future Plans For The Reboot

I'd like to hear from others about what they might like to see in my videos, but I'd like to keep them more personal than technical. Here are some ideas that I had for the reboot of the series:


Artificially Increase Difficulty

No Heirlooms

Not everyone has access to a full set of heirlooms for each of their characters
Gives a more realistic idea on how difficult instances are when using a similar team composition


Lock Experience

Doesn't allow me to "out level" the dungeon while I'm in it, which would lower the overall difficulty


Only "Orange" Instances

Only enter dungeons which are colored orange (more difficult) in the LFD tool, as per my current level at the time


Why?

I feel that by artificially increasing the difficulty of a dungeon that I'm able to show the "worst case scenario" one might expect when playing through it. It also allows me to maybe show some of the boss's actual abilities rather than killing them after 15 seconds, which may be beneficial to someone who would like to see how someone else approaches it.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not orange-colored dungeons will be too difficult after the stat squish without a good amount of gear, but since Hit and Expertise have been removed these dungeons should be be less unforgiving -- Still deciding on this and I'll have to test the waters.


Run Two Team Compositions

All Ranged (Minus Tank) / All Melee (Minus Healer)

Allows me to show different perspectives on certain boss fights
Will not be uploading two entirely separate videos
Will maybe show bonus boss fights at the end of the video if I feel it's necessary


Heroics? (Feedback Required)

When reaching TBC, WotLK, Cataclysm, or MoP content, should I do the heroic version of each instance, or should I show what it's like at a lower level?

I'm leaning heavily toward heroics because that is where the biggest challenge should come from, but doesn't directly compare with the leveling experience.

Ultimately, this series was never really intended (prior or future) to be a leveling series which, again, is leading me toward doing the heroic versions of the dungeons, rather than the normal, of each expansion pack.


Changes Moving Forward

There will be no required order to watch the episodes

Allows people to watch the videos in whatever order they want without feeling like they've missed out on something
If UI/Profile Evolution videos become necessary they will be created separately, although I'd like to avoid them altogether for the reboot so that people aren't confused when something changes in the UI when it wasn't set up that way before


Cutting Down On Run Time

Some instances may be slightly edited to help speed up their run time because no one wants to watch, for example, a 40 minute run of Blackrock Depths or Wailing Caverns
Boss fights will not be cut out


More Changes TBD




With all of that said, I do realize this might be slightly annoying to some of the people who've watched this series in the past and don't necessarily want to re-watch the same instances over again -- I get that. I completely understand where you're coming from, but I think starting over will allow me to tackle the instances and the content in an order that makes a bit more sense to everyone. At the moment, I'm planning to start this up sometime in January, but I don't have a solid date on when people can expect to begin seeing the content on YouTube.

Would love to hear what others think about this!


This was a large post to create, so expect edits throughout the coming weeks.

[fightcow]

Great ideas.

My feedback:
1. Heroics only (except maybe for WoD as its current)
2. No heirlooms. Also, state your teams iLVL - I know its not a competition but it can feel a bit meaningless watching someone box an instance with no idea of how geared they are. Knowing the iLvl allows the viewer to gauge how effective the team composition is, as well as the player.
3. Do each instance with as many different team variations as time/sanity allows :) This is what i love about boxing - same content different team.
4. Only include the harder trash fights, if any.

1 and 4 are mainly included to facilitate 3 :)

[Lyonheart]

heirlooms are going to be a non-issue soon as they will sell for gold. So depending on how many videos you do.. or when you do them. No reason not to include heirlooms as most would have them in the future i would think. I would say up to 60 at least, since the upgrades for heirlooms might be more difficult to obtain, depending what the plan is for that system. Doing a few dungons with and without might be interesting?

Anyway.. looking forward to your vids 8)

[Khatovar]

I'd just do heroics for the TBC+ content. I don't think there's enough difference between the two in most cases to warrant an entirely separate video and in cases where there are, you can just throw up a little blurb or something about it. Exceptions, of course, for "Revisit Heroics" like SFK and SM since the level difference between normal and heroic can make them feel like entirely different dungeons based on available abilities.

[MiRai]

Alright, great... I've got more votes for Heroics. ;) In my opinion, the only real reason that Heroics will differ from leveling instances is that during the Heroic it's likely that I've gotten a few more abilities and maybe an extra tier of talents. Those extra things can make a difference, but I think the Heroic version is going to be a lot more fun to do.

This was written before I fully realized what Khatovar had posted below. >_>


1. Heroics only (except maybe for WoD as its current)
2. No heirlooms. Also, state your teams iLVL - I know its not a competition but it can feel a bit meaningless watching someone box an instance with no idea of how geared they are. Knowing the iLvl allows the viewer to gauge how effective the team composition is, as well as the player.
3. Do each instance with as many different team variations as time/sanity allows :) This is what i love about boxing - same content different team.
4. Only include the harder trash fights, if any.

1 and 4 are mainly included to facilitate 3 :)
2. I like the iLVL thing.
3. My time is always limited, but I wanted to show the two sides of the spectrum of compositions: All ranged and all melee. Anything in between should probably be considered easier than all melee and harder than all ranged. ;)
4. The editing out is mostly to keep the long boring instances from being so long and boring, and I'd like to keep the max runtime to about 20-25 minutes which is what I've tried to do in the past. The old school Vanilla instances which haven't seen a makeover suffer from this problem the most since that was how it was back in the day, but I think most instances will fit into the time slot well.


heirlooms are going to be a non-issue soon as they will sell for gold. So depending on how many videos you do.. or when you do them. No reason not to include heirlooms as most would have them in the future i would think. I would say up to 60 at least, since the upgrades for heirlooms might be more difficult to obtain, depending what the plan is for that system. Doing a few dungons with and without might be interesting?

Anyway.. looking forward to your vids 8)
I don't think it's safe to assume that heirlooms will be had by everyone and they may not be all that affordable since we will only need one "copy" of them now, so Blizzard may try to make the prices expensive. The guild heirlooms are ~1500g each which is far from obtainable for anyone starting fresh. Granted, unlike their level 80 counterparts, those heirlooms go to level 85, but I think if Blizzard was going to make them cheap they'd just give them to us since most people could easily afford something like 250g each.

A full set of heirlooms is Head, Shoulders, Chest, Cloak, Pants, two Trinkets, and a Weapon and/or a Weapon and Off-Hand -- We'll say eight total pieces for a nice round number (not including the ring in this since it's not purchased).

Let's forget about the fact that the guild heirlooms cost ~1,500g each and we'll use round numbers for each piece:

8 pieces @ 250g each is 2,000g x 5 characters = 10,000g
8 pieces @ 500g each is 4,000g x 5 characters = 20,000g
8 pieces @ 1,000g each is 8,000g x 5 characters = 40,000g

There are a lot of assumptions there and Blizzard will likely be allowing certain pieces of gear to be interchanged between specs like the other WoD gear is, but I still think that it's going to be a large chunk of gold to buy heirlooms since they're a one time buy and Blizzard is always looking for more gold sinks these days.


I'd just do heroics for the TBC+ content. I don't think there's enough difference between the two in most cases to warrant an entirely separate video and in cases where there are, you can just throw up a little blurb or something about it. Exceptions, of course, for "Revisit Heroics" like SFK and SM since the level difference between normal and heroic can make them feel like entirely different dungeons based on available abilities.
You know... I didn't even think about those heroics that are first seen at a lower level. Obviously, I do like the heroics version of them better, but I almost hate to leave them out of the lower level stuff since people will likely hit Shadowfang Keep Normal during leveling, but not the Heroic version. I think Deadmines is going to need both versions since the last boss of the Heroic version is completely different, but I'll have to give some thought to the others now.

[MiRai]

This is actually a test video I uploaded for myself about a week ago so that I could see if I was "doing it right."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmgp75pMql8

A few things to note:

1) Google Chrome is required to watch the video at a resolution higher than 720p unless you have Adobe Flash installed separately and are specifically using the Flash player for YouTube. Chrome does not require a separate install of Flash since Google maintains, and includes Adobe Flash with Chrome.

2) If you're using Google Chrome and are watching the video through the HTML5 player (which should be default these days), selecting 1440p or 2160p will automatically shift you over to the Flash player -- It will seem as if the screen "refreshes" and, at the moment, this is expected behavior. You'll then need to re-select the resolution again since the Flash player will kick you back to the lowest, default setting. If you're using any sort of YouTube extensions or add-ons for your browser(s), then they may alter the instructions I've given.

3) YouTube is capable of accepting 60FPS for 1080p video and below, but only 30FPS is available for my video at this time. There is currently a bug with the YouTube player which doesn't allow for videos uploaded in a resolution greater 1920 x 1080 which have a framerate of 60FPS to display properly. I am hoping this bug is fixed before I reboot the series since 60FPS is sexy, but if not then it will only be available in 30FPS.

4) Watching the video in a resolution that isn't your monitor's native resolution may cause unwanted distortion during playback.

5) There is an added motion blur effect io the video. I like it and it's likely going to be added to this series. I've shown this video to several people so far, and some have claimed to not even notice the effect when I asked them about it, so your mileage may vary.

[fightcow]

Have you considered doing the WoD stuff first while its fresh?
id be very interested to see that as its what we are all currently playing and its always fun to compare notes and see how other boxers are approaching things.
Plus you get to experience it before its all set in stone how to best tackle each instance with walkthroughs etc.

[zenga]

http://youtu.be/HPRGd-1HY88
I feel that the stat squish warrants that I re-visit the instances I've already done in the past.

2016: Heyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, now that male blood elves no longer look as queer as they used to I figured it is a good time to redo Wotlk content, what do you guys think?
2017: Heyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, recently I started wearing briefs instead of boxers, so I figured its a good time to redo some Wotlk content , waddayathink?
...
2076: eyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, now that I'm playing from a wheel chair in my nursing home I figured it is a good time to redo some Wotlk content, what do you guys think? I know I still gotta do cata and all 56 future expansions, but no worries, I will get there!

[MiRai]

Have you considered doing the WoD stuff first while its fresh?
id be very interested to see that as its what we are all currently playing and its always fun to compare notes and see how other boxers are approaching things.
Plus you get to experience it before its all set in stone how to best tackle each instance with walkthroughs etc.
By the time I'll have leveled all of my characters to 100, all of the instances will have already be done already -- It's going to take me ​that long -- But CMs should still be tough even up to the last week of the expansion. ;)


2016: Heyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, now that male blood elves no longer look as queer as they used to I figured it is a good time to redo Wotlk content, what do you guys think?
2017: Heyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, recently I started wearing briefs instead of boxers, so I figured its a good time to redo some Wotlk content , waddayathink?
...
2076: eyyyyyyyyy guyyys Mirai here, now that I'm playing from a wheel chair in my nursing home I figured it is a good time to redo some Wotlk content, what do you guys think? I know I still gotta do cata and all 56 future expansions, but no worries, I will get there!
Are you trying to say you don't enjoy watching WotLK content? Who are you?

Plus I'll be doing TBC before WotLK, which you said you enjoyed a lot.

[Asterix]

I am playing twinks only for the BC and WOTLK content and usually stop playing them when I get to Cata <3

[MiRai]

Just throwing an update out on this...

1) I've fallen behind on videos and have about 10 to create and release before I'll be ready to dedicate time to reboot this series.

2) I began to run into some performance issues with my super high video settings once I hit MoP instances. I can only imagine how much GPU bandwidth it takes to run five clients at an almost 4K resolution, and unless I turned my settings down I would continuously experience issues with stuttering throughout the instance (which I'd obviously like to avoid while recording). This means that I should probably upgrade my GPUs before attempting to record anything for real, but I'd like to hold out until nVidia releases their next top-tier GPU which should be March/April.

3) I'm still leaning toward no heirlooms because, like I said before, I'd like to make the instances a bit more difficult to show that those who don't have access to a full set of them, can still complete the instance; but also, now that the 6.1 PTR is out we can see that the current cost for every heirloom available -- fully upgraded to 90 -- will costs upwards of 90,000 gold (http://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/2ti7u9/are_you_willing_to_pay_over_150000g_for_all_level/) -- This is, of course, assuming they stay priced at that amount. Unfortunately, I doubt any new multiboxer would have anywhere near that amount of gold just lying around, especially when leveling teams with RaF, so that further reinforces the idea that I shouldn't use heirlooms... but, I may go ahead and use weapons/off-hand only -- We'll see.