Feasibility of Multiboxing in 25man Raids (3-5 characters)

[MrMunich]

I've mostly focused on researching 5-man comps for the purposes of running dungeons, and eventually heroics. The idea of multiboxing in a 25man raid setting recently crossed my mind, however, and I'm just thinking it through now since it may inform the 5man teams I decide to go with, to potentially be able to support such a thing.

I feel like it would be ambitious to try to play more than one role unless very experienced, so I'd imagine I would be playing some number of caster dps.

Would something like "3x Warlock" or "3x Ele Shaman" be feasible in any 25man raid content? Would mechanics be too punishing for simple "follow the leader" kind of positioning? Would it be absolutely crazy to be the whole caster dps group of "Boomkin, Ele Shammy, 3x Warlock"?! :D

If anyone has experience doing something like this, I'd be interested in hearing how it went, as well as any other compositions that may be better suited!

[nodoze]

I have been thinking of something similar but more from the perspective of TBC raid by mainly multiboxers with maybe the main tank or another key role requiring lots of mobility (like a misdirect+kiting+trapping Hunter) being a regular player (or a multiboxer single-boxing that night ;-). That or maybe I could 4box with maybe my brother (or one of my older kids) tanking...

In reviewing multiple standard raid comp videos the group that seems most plausible to me to be 5boxed would be an all ranged DPS group.

The 3Lock+eShaman+Boomkin example you mentioned above seems the most viable as all can stay at range. Hunters could be another option but you may have a hard time if you mixed any melee in there for physical damage enhancing buffs so seems sub-optimal so maybe better to only 3box the Hunters and have players behind the other party members... If I was developing a raid for mainly boxers I would look to see if I could do 2 DPS groups based on Warlocks or all ranged (it may be a bad idea but is what I was thinking when trying to devise a raid of all/mainly boxers).

If you are interested in taking more than one character to a regular raid run by non-boxers the key would be finding a group that would be open to that and building trust by showing competence over time... I think the wisest approach would be to maybe start raiding with an open minded guild as a single warlock and then be ready/flexible if there is a shortage one evening and/or once things are on farm... If one day they are short a Warlock or Boomkin then bring a 2nd character if no one from the bench is available... When folk move on to harder raids they are often more open to bring alts to the lower raids or to raids being run to help gear newbies/etc so those may be good options to get folk comfortable there first...

[MrMunich]

...the key would be finding a group that would be open to that and building trust by showing competence over time... I think the wisest approach would be to maybe start raiding with an open minded guild as a single warlock and then be ready/flexible if there is a shortage one evening and/or once things are on farm...

Thank you for your considered reply! I think your final paragraph describes exactly how this could come to fruition - in older content, when we're short a person or two, I could volunteer to fill in those slots and see how it is received and then how it goes. If people seem fine with it, and I perform well - I could see trying to more proactively slot in my "ranged team" if/when it made sense. I should have been a bit more specific - I wasn't imagining trying to multibox in current content, but was thinking that as later TBC phases roll out I could join in with 3-5 characters in a "previous phase" 25man.

Not having played TBC before, my main conern was how many 25man raid encounters have mechanics that would be extremely difficult/impossible for multiboxing (think Thaddius charges in Naxx, or the chain lightning on C'Thun in AQ40).

I'm an officer in my current guild, and while I had dualboxed a bit in ZG (Mage + Warlock, for reference), I've kept my 5boxing on the down-low. Honestly, I don't think anyone would really mind - and would be intrigued by the concept. Given my real-life time constraints I can't reliably run a bunch of dungeons with guildies, as much as I would like to.

Luckily - I've spread my characters across accounts, so I'm considering leveling 5 toons (Paladin, Mage, Warlock, 2xShaman) from 60-70 once TBC launches. This lets me play when I can squeeze the time in, while being able to simply walk away if something comes up in real life (and not abandoning 4 guildies in a dungeon, for example). This means my main won't reach 70 quite as soon as if I focused only on him, but I don't think it will take all that much longer, and I'll be set up in a much better way going forward as well (having a variety of classes at lvl70, with decent reputations, etc.)!