Not-streamlined multiboxing is easier than I expected

[Chrono285]

I was pretty disappointed by the recent announcement, but I decided to give it a shot and go as low-tech as possible. I said goodbye to WOB and removed EMA. I turned on focus follows mouse and regedit the delay down to 0. Then I manually launched and resized/positioned five clients. Then I had to write new macros, update old ones, add new keybinds, etc. All together about 90 minutes of configuration.

I discovered that everything that I need can still be done, it's just a little inconvenient.

Old flow for combat:
Spam "1", occasionally hitting "2", "3", or "4" for heals or cooldowns or whatnot.

New flow:
Hold down "Alt", Spam "Esc" and "1", occasionally hitting "2", "3", or "4".
OR
Constantly move mouse around windows in a circle, spam "1", occasionally hitting "2", "3", or "4"

I haven't decided which one to use yet, but they both get the job done. Unfortunately, Alt-Esc seems to teleport my mouse pointer around to each window, so either way I have to stop spamming when I need to use the mouse. Fortunately, I don't need to use the mouse too many times during a fight, so it's only a small loss in DPS.

The real annoying changes come with the loss of EMA. No more auto-set loot type on invite, no more follow after combat, no more quest turn ins and flight paths. However, none of these are time-sensitive tasks. It's tedious to select the same flight marker or quest one at a time on every toon, but there's no time pressure to do it quickly, so it's not crucial. I'm constantly leaving toons behind because I forgot to make them follow, but I assume this will get better as my muscle memory changes.

After trying it, I'm much more optimistic about the future of multiboxing in WoW. It's not as easy as before November, but it's still plenty fun. I never boxed through TBC when it was current, so I'm really looking forward to that. I am exclusively a questing/dungeon player, so I don't know about PVP. It's possible that's borked beyond repair, but dungeons are still good to go.

[Moorea]

removing addons is just plain paranoia

and not using wob to do exactly what wob does (setting mouse focus and placing windows) also is a bit (but at least for software there is indeed the “streamlining” argument); as you can exit it before playing

[Chrono285]

I would agree, but it seems that EMA has been removed from curseforge: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/ema . I did add some new addons to replace some missing functionality like selling junk and repairing.

I also hope to return to WOB sometime in the future after the dust settles. Right now, there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on what "streamline multi-boxing in any way" means, so I took a conservative interpretation.

[Moorea]

I would agree, but it seems that EMA has been removed from curseforge: https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/ema . I did add some new addons to replace some missing functionality like selling junk and repairing.

I also hope to return to WOB sometime in the future after the dust settles. Right now, there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus on what "streamline multi-boxing in any way" means, so I took a conservative interpretation.

It's been removed by the author because they decided to throw the towel; not anything based on facts.

https://www.dual-boxing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2476&stc=1

Unless they publish a new policy update to contradict this, addons!=software and remain permitted.

[coupdog]

Do we know of anyone thats been playing with ema and joe multiboxer since this announcment thats been banned?

[TheMias]

No, thus far it has been due to player reports. And like anything, you can (and should) appeal if you are following the TOS. Since you can do everything* using WA that you can in EMA, I doubt blizzard themselves are coming after it.

[Moorea]

Do we know of anyone thats been playing with ema and joe multiboxer since this announcment thats been banned?

EMA is an addon and addons don't get people banned

[bpkdasbaum]

Activate Window by Hovering Over with Mouse is a Windows Function

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/113260-turn-off-activate-window-hovering-over-mouse-windows.html


Instead of clicking through the setting you can use this lightweight standalone program

https://joelpurra.com/projects/X-Mouse_Controls/

It's a Windows utility to enable or disable active window tracking, raising and also the delay in milliseconds.
This is known as x-mouse behavior or focus follows mouse.

[bpkdasbaum]

Do we know of anyone thats been playing with ema and joe multiboxer since this announcment thats been banned?

i have been playing with EMA non stop. Addons don't get you banned.

[Dragula]

Do we know of anyone that's been playing with ema and joe multiboxer since this announcment thats been banned?
WinterlyTV in one of his streams in the chat stated that he was using Joeboxer and was system flagged before this recent TOS update https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1016277651 1:12:21 in the stream. In the stream (which is after the most recent tos update), he was using the focus a window then scroll mouse wheel hover with windows and was hoping people would report him to see what happened. Hopefully he gives an update soon on if it's player reports or if it's a system thing.

[Celosar]

I recently submitted a series of tickets to attempt clarity on "streamlines in any way". They told me the statement was intentionally vague so I asked about all of the built in windows options we're using atm and got a managing GM who told me if I didn't stop pursuing the conversation they would suspend my account.

Can they detect WOB? If not then I'm fine using it. Otherwise I guess it's scroll wheel mouse hover for eternity :*(

[ebony]

They can detect anything your running on your PC it says that when u sign the tos in game!

[Skybar]

They can detect anything your running on your PC it says that when u sign the tos in game!
Well, if they could 100% detect anything you are running there would literally be 0 bots in the game. Thats not the case.

[nodoze]

I recently submitted a series of tickets to attempt clarity on "streamlines in any way". They told me the statement was intentionally vague so I asked about all of the built in windows options we're using atm and got a managing GM who told me if I didn't stop pursuing the conversation they would suspend my account.

Can they detect WOB? If not then I'm fine using it. Otherwise I guess it's scroll wheel mouse hover for eternity :*(While I love the infinity spin wheels I think they clearly violate the 1 human input to 1 in game action in 1 game client which is clearly a guiding principle when folk are looking at what others are doing.

No one outside Blizzard knows, at any given time, what they are using to trigger a ban but we should be aware of risks.

From previous research my somewhat vague recollection is that Blizzard can see what interacts with their clients and can see running processes on your machine but don't know that for sure. It has been awhile that I researched what folk believe Blizzard's anti-cheat mechanism can/do track (I think Warden is one of their tools) and don't have the time nor interest to research all of that again so my recollection from my research years ago is the best I can tell you...

The safest option is to not use any 3rd party software and not do anything that could be construed to be input broadcasting or automation.