In the long run is boxing REALLY worth it?

[ilikemages]

I want your opinions.

I made 3 mages and they are fun... but it is going to be such a bitch to gear them all and be successful in any way shape or form. The idea of shaman is OK in my book but what use are they other than for random gear farming and arena?

Do the outcomes really out prioritize the means? I mean... assuming it takes you 2 months to get to 70... thats 50 x 3-5 + 15 x 3-5 = 195-310$ and if you buy keyclone that is 340$... that is assuming you are using a computer capable of doing this and not buy more than 1 or more monitor or w/e.

<shrugs> i mean it will be amazing to farm 1kg an hour or so when i get geared so i can make my rogue/warrior but...

sorry just venting.

opinions please.

[LancerX]

I want your opinions.

I made 3 mages and they are fun... but it is going to be such a bitch to gear them all and be successful in any way shape or form. The idea of shaman is OK in my book but what use are they other than for random gear farming and arena?

Do the outcomes really out prioritize the means? I mean... assuming it takes you 2 months to get to 70... thats 50 x 3-5 + 15 x 3-5 = 195-310$ and if you buy keyclone that is 340$... that is assuming you are using a computer capable of doing this and not buy more than 1 or more monitor or w/e.

<shrugs> i mean it will be amazing to farm 1kg an hour or so when i get geared so i can make my rogue/warrior but...

sorry just venting.

opinions please.

Well only you can answer the question whether or not it is worth it. But I have leveled 5 shamans to 70, which took me about 2 weeks in real life and has been very easy to get geared out. I have goten tons of epics from the auction house, crafted them and lots of badge/honor gear too. You can make about 250g per day with each toon which means lots of money to level crafting to craft epics or just buy epics off the AH. Honor gear is a great way to start out with full epics while having lots of fun multi-boxing bg's. All in all its been worth it to me, its been fun and at times a challenge, which in the end is why I did it. Hope you have as much fun as me. Good luck.

[Khayos]

If you want a "worth it" option, make a mixed class, then If you do get bored of multiboxing or want to stop and just play one then you have the option of 5 classes not just one out a single class.

I was always thinking too, what about the long run, what about the long term, I made a mixed group, mixed with some characters I had and some I didn't and also made a full Druid group. The druid grp I level up slowly, do a bit here and there, the mixed grp is my main grp that I level everytime Im not on my main raiding.

You just need to see if you want to do it. I know starting up can be daunting and hard work but it does get easier once the kill quests start coming in. I must admit I have quit and restarted and taken a break and re-thought about it over and over but I always come back to it as it is a new challenge to me and I love the challenge.

[ilikemages]

It's really frustrating to lose every battleground and not get shit for honor

i got like 15k in 2 days.

[Maz]

I made 3 mages and they are fun... but it is going to be such a bitch to gear them all and be successful in any way shape or form. The idea of shaman is OK in my book but what use are they other than for random gear farming and arena?
At what point does it become fun for you? It sounds like the fun only starts once you've got fully geared level 70s. For me, the fun starts as soon as my level 1 toons materialise into the world and I see Johnny Random NPC standing just ahead of me with a ! above his head.

I've never finished gearing a single toon to my satisfaction (although I came close once) but I've had a hell of a lot of fun on the way.

Whether it's worth it is entirely down to you. The day it's not worth it to me, I'll walk away. There's nothing in this game to keep me here once it stops being fun.

[Ðeceased]

Ay, the question of it being worth it is simply down to what is fun for you. and if that is worth the money you are spending.

I have to side with Maz, for me Mboxing has been fun from the getgo. I am egarly awaiting lvl 70 but everything I'm doing so far has been fun and an experience every time. I understand where you are coming from tho. In my pre boxing time I used to hate lvling up new characters simply because I had been over and over the same stuff 10-20 times and each time grinding like a maniac.
I viewed this as a fresh start forgot about all the time it took me before and concentrated on perfecting every aspect of my boxing whilst lvling up. Whenever I hit a snag or find something I want to change, I take a break, brainstorm (x5) and come up with solutions to my boxing vows. This is very likely why it's taking me forever to bring my team up to 70, but this time round I don't mind so much. every time i ding it happens 4-5 times and i usually have loads of gear waiting to be used.

for me personally it's either Mbox or no WoW simple as that. there is no middle ground. I am tiered of the nerfed gaming that is non-boxing and if i ever got tiered of boxing I think that would probably be the end of my wow experience. The advantages I've gained through mboxing for me far outweigh the cost of paying a little extra (that of course depends on your financial situation).

[Havelcek]

For me, I've reached a point in my personal life where I can't raid anymore due to family commitments, so my game time is mostly spent playing alone. The folks in my guild are moving past me at a good clip and since I can't raid I'm falling behind the gear curve. Multi-boxing allows me to log in, have an instant group and a challenge, and make something of my limited time. There are many weeks where I literally have less than 2 total hours to play. :thumbdown:

edit: and for me the money is irrelevant, though that's obviously not true for everyone

[Mak]

For me, multiboxing has been and will be completely worth it. Granted, I only had to spend $40 for KeyClone and buy an additional four copies of the game since I'm lucky my hardware can handle it. I love WoW ever since I got addicted last March. I've run up three characters to level 70 and have many others in the 40s and 50s that I just don't want to level because doing the same stuff over and over is finally starting to get to me.

WoW drama isn't for me and it was becoming so frequent (and escalating into RL) that I had to get away. My way of getting away from it all is not playing with the drama causers and just play by myself. I wasn't ready to quit just yet and this has breathed new life into the game. I've met some awesome people already because of it, especially everyone here. Plus, it's a new challenge and I am able to play on my terms.

Right now, my team is moving slow. I just hit level 10 and am already starting to get overwhelmed with the amount of spells I have to sync between my five different classed girls. So, what do I do? I spend my downtime at work planning out my key mappings for them. The anticipation of running instances by myself, especially heroics, is what keeps me going.

It definitely comes down to whether or not you think it's worth it. Find out your reasons for playing and if they're not good enough, leave multiboxing behind for a month or two because hopefully you'll get bored and come back. I just think, I could be spending $75 on other stuff. To me, this is so much better.

[Gallo]

Worth it how? Money is a relative thing. If $75 a month is enough that you "worry" about it being worth it, then maybe it isn't worth it. It is worth it to me for a few reasons:
1) 2+ man quests are easily soloable
2) Most instances are soloable
3) Sheer power in battlegrounds
4) I have a sporadic play schedule that doesn't allow me to be an "active" raider

So, just put it in perspective. Don't be afraid to say "screw this, its not worth it".

[zanthor]

I'm an active raider, I run a guild, and sometimes, I just want to screw around and have fun...

I play my 5 box team when I'm screwing around, the dailies x 5 pay for ALL my raid gear, I've been slowly building my spellfire gear and when I get back from this trip i'm on I'll have enough spellcloth made to get my last piece on both my mages (then it's time to work on the spellstrike pieces).

I have my 70 warrior, raider and tank supreme... I have my 70 pally, tank for 5 boxing or small instances/badge farming in karazhan... two mages, I pvp with them in 2v2 and bg's which is fun... two priests, which are just used for 5 boxing right now, but I'm considering raiding with them on smaller content as well...

All said and done, I don't 5 box to 5 box, i 5 box because I can, the accounts are worthwhile for many other reasons.

[Mokoi]

The idea of shaman is OK in my book but what use are they other than for random gear farming and arena?

I use my 4 Shamans for 2 hour Kara clears, for SSC and TK. I have been to many 25 man encounters with them, and they are phenomenal.

people who think that Shamans are only for PvP should try going to a Kara with them, or a 25 man and give ALL your ranged casters an extra 6% crit and 6% hit. Along with tranquil AND Wrath of Air totems. Watch your 4 group up the raid DPS by over 1000 alone. Then say they are just for PvP

I think that the same things that make them extremely awesome in PvP (totems, Chain Heal etc etc) Make them even greater in PvE.

[Eteocles]

Boils down to your preferences as they said. Thinking of only the endgame like you say kinda limits your options. Enjoy the journey, not the destination, if you actively think about it it starts to suck ;p

Personally I feel except for pom-pyro-fb'ing people Mages are fairly boring/tough to box in any fun way...Shamen have power and versatility. Half the fun of mages is AoE and blink abuse and both of those screw with your ability to follow as a boxer or are outright undoable correctly.

I dunno about the long run but I'm enjoying myself now and that's all that matters.(On a side note, 15k honor in 2 days? That's still enough to buy something and not bad, pfft on your over-the-bar expectations raised by honor farmers; feh on how much you get, just enjoy ganking the enemy in the BG and the honor will come in as you go regardless ;)

[Gallo]

I was going to say the same thing Eteo. 15k in 2 days isn't horrible.

[Sanctume]

Just do both. :)

I actually levelled 2 Shamans and 2 Mages, with a 3rd Shaman along the way.

Mostly I leveled 1 Mage + 2 Shamans, because having Blizzard and boositng with a Pally tanking AoE was great.

When I hit Outlands, I find the 3 Shamans more enjoyable. So the 2 Mages remain at 60 while I plow thru dungeons and quests with the 3 shamans (2 Ele, 1 Resto).

I do plan to level the 2 Mages still, but I think I'm going to enjoy BGs with the 3 shamans.

[Skrimshaw]

I used to multibox Ultima Online back in the day. I never really thought about doing it in WoW until I appeared in one of Vyndree's videos on the wrong end of a few chain lightnings. Being that I and a few friends started over horde side Archimonde and I beat them to 70 and S3/S1 gear I have gotten bored waiting for them to catch up. So I started mutliboxing a few weeks ago and absolutely love it. I used to be in a big raiding guild pre-TBC (Oinland), we used to raid 4-5 nights a week, and when we got to Naxx it went to mostly 6 nights, after a month of that I was done, and haven't done any real content since. My room mate is almost 70 on a druid, and I'm looking forward to my 4 shaman and his druid running some pve for the first time in years. Multi boxing atleast for me has renewed an interested in a big portion of the game. I still will be pvp first, and will try for welfare epics and Arena gear, but atleast this has renewed my interest in the game, otherwise dreams of Warhammer might have been the only thing keeping me gaming.

[Djarid]

I have been boxing since August and I have several teams none of which have reached 30 yet... partly due to 2 boxing, then 3 boxing then 5 boxing and abandoning teams along the way (revisiting my 3x shaman and adding another 2) and partly due to having limited play time.

That said multi-boxing is certainly my bread and butter fun in wow. Yeah getting to 70 will be great but I am enjoying seeing all the content I missed along the way with my solo chars.

[Eteocles]

Yeah you're so active on the wiki and forums Djarid but I've outlvl'd you several times over and I started a couple months after you did lol; though that's just the progress aspect, you still get your total fun out of it and that's all that matters ;)

[elo]

No it's not. Then again, nothing is.

[Tdog]

"Worth it" is a term relative to the one saying it. What might be worth it to me, might not be worth it to you. I 5 box so that I can get a group to go w/e the hell I feel like it. No need for waiting around or looking for a group. I just log on and go. After having wasted more of my life than I care to remember dealing with terrible pug after terrible pug and all the douchebags that go along with dealing with them, it is for sure worth it to me to 5-box. I spend less time on WoW while accomplishing more in-game than I ever have before.

However your reasons for wanting to multibox may not be the same as my reasons. So again asking if it is "worth it" is something you'll have to figure out on your own.

[Bigfish]

"Worth it" is a term relative to the one saying it. What might be worth it to me, might not be worth it to you. I 5 box so that I can get a group to go w/e the hell I feel like it. No need for waiting around or looking for a group. I just log on and go. After having wasted more of my life than I care to remember dealing with terrible pug after terrible pug and all the douchebags that go along with dealing with them, it is for sure worth it to me to 5-box. I spend less time on WoW while accomplishing more in-game than I ever have before.

However your reasons for wanting to multibox may not be the same as my reasons. So again asking if it is "worth it" is something you'll have to figure out on your own.

This, more or less.

[Nepida]

This is the site you come to to get the answer "yes" :) It was definitely worth it for me, I've stopped for now cause WoW is getting pretty boring (MBing was the only thing that was fun) and GTA4 just came out...

[Dorffo]

Totally worth it for me. I run with a small friends/family guild that has always struggled to do much past 5mans due to wierd schedules, not having the right folks on etc etc.

We don't need to invite random scrubs anymore now that I can pretty much round out any group comp that they slap together, and when no ones on I can still pvp/instance on my own schedule which is great for me (wierd work hours, family etc... playtime can be sporadic)

[Jaws5]

its all about fun. if its not fun then don't do it

[thinus]

If you have to ask then it is not.

[Skuggomann]

I find that the "worht" in "it" comes from the fun/happyness of playing the game :)

[Djarid]

Yeah you're so active on the wiki and forums Djarid but I've outlvl'd you several times over and I started a couple months after you did lol; though that's just the progress aspect, you still get your total fun out of it and that's all that matters ;)

I think I am officially the slowest leveler on these forums ;) having a pregnant gf and 1yr old daughter isn't conducive to a lot of play time ;)

[Ðeceased]

And we've finally convinced a long time friend of ours to leave horde and come back to our server.


how could you! I mourn for my turned brethren! :P

[kllrwlf]

To be realistic, nothing or everything in life is worth it in the long run.

When you are about to die, you will either look back upon your life is a big waste, with more things that you wanted to accomplish but didn't... or you will look back with a smile knowing that you did all that you could.

WoW is a video game... you play it for entertainment... not to find worth in yourself.

If it's not fun, then you shouldn't play it. If it's is fun, continue playing it.

If it's fun with multiple toons, play the multiple accounts... if not, then don't.

In 10 years (or whenever WoW does die), all of our accounts will mean nothing, just a memory of a video game that we enjoyed playing.

[Mak]

To be realistic, nothing or everything in life is worth it in the long run.

When you are about to die, you will either look back upon your life is a big waste, with more things that you wanted to accomplish but didn't... or you will look back with a smile knowing that you did all that you could.

WoW is a video game... you play it for entertainment... not to find worth in yourself.

If it's not fun, then you shouldn't play it. If it's is fun, continue playing it.

If it's fun with multiple toons, play the multiple accounts... if not, then don't.

In 10 years (or whenever WoW does die), all of our accounts will mean nothing, just a memory of a video game that we enjoyed playing.Well said. I have thought about how much time I've spent on characters that could ultimately disappear at the drop of a hat and if it would bother me if everything just ended. I realized that it wouldn't. Have I missed things in RL? Not yet. I've been able to pull myself away and the good times I've had on WoW (and Vent) will always be with me.

[Eteocles]

Back when D2 was popular/current I had a late-80s Amazon...my highest char, I never broke lv90 let alone hit 99...but I could solo anything ingame and enjoyed playing with her(no innuendos, pervs, not my fault Zons only came with boobs installed ;p); even after I quit playing D2 as much, I still kept D2 installed and logged into her every so often to keep the acct/char refreshed so it wouldn't be autodeleted...I lost some mules but always kept her alive...till one day I eventually did forget to refresh it, and all that work, fun, items gone...but by that time, I hadn't played...I wasn't gonna play anymore...I was holding onto something unnecessarily, I let it go. I enjoyed my time with it and at the time it served it's purpose: Fun. I still have the memories, as said above, and enjoyed myself.

Same will go for WoW...I love my Druid and have put alot of time and work into making it the powerhouse it is now...and I'm enjoying multiboxing as well right now...but one day it will also be but a memory...and a good one. My motto is to "Enjoy what you can, while you can"; if you start to look at things from an "end of goals/life" perspective, nothing at all is worthwhile, even humans living is pointless as all we do is live and survive; all the things we do as a people are just betterments for us and insignificant in the grand scheme of things; but for now, it's all we can do, so do it if you want to. :P

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Will it be "worth it" to go buy my new sports car and immediately put it in one of the local custom engine shops for some performance mods? For me, HELL YES. For people who are on a tight budget or for those namby-pamby, bed-wetting fruit-cakes that whine and bitch and moan constantly about gas prices even though they drive a prius, probably not. As someone above said, it's all relative. I play WoW to SAVE money (because the things I'd do for recreation if it wasn't gaming are exSPENsive). :P There's a guy in my neighborhood that spends about $2000/month on tires and engine parts for his drag racer. I don't think that's worth it but he does. That's just a different hobby and one he likes and I don't.

/c'est la vie

[Libel]

Right now, my team is moving slow. I just hit level 10 and am already starting to get overwhelmed with the amount of spells I have to sync between my five different classed girls. So, what do I do? I spend my downtime at work planning out my key mappings for them. The anticipation of running instances by myself, especially heroics, is what keeps me going

Same here :)

To the OP: I asked mylself the same question. My answers:

- I made 5 different classes (Lock, Pala, Mage, Priest, Hunter) for the fun of it and to be able to pick the class I love the most if I should stop multiboxing
- Being able to mix real life and the game: saying no to my daughter because I don't/can't leave my group buddies was a no go. If I need to stop playing, there isn't any consequence for anyone.
- Being able to get the loot I need without doing an instance 10 times to get an item for my only toon. At least with 5 toons, I choose who gets what and having cloth, leather and mail I am sure to always have something for one of them :)

At 70 I will decide what I keep but the adventure of putting together all of this is where the fun is.

My 2 cents

[Quix]

Worth it?

Everytime I actually win 5v5 arena's solo, that I used to lose with 4 of my best friends IRL, I think so.

Everytime I NS>EM>CL 1shot someone, I think so.

Everytime I 4x POM>Pyro 1shot someone I think so.

Everytime i rake in 1k gold in just over 2 hours, I think so.


At the end of the day, it comes down to what you "think".

[OzPhoenix]

I can honestly say I'd quit WoW if not for 5-boxing it. In fact, I did quit WoW for about 6 months, and only came back for a bit of fun before I found multiboxing.

I'm a chronic ALTaholic, so I don't think I've ever had a single character geared to the max (though in my pre-quit Raider days I came close). Now, I'm having more fun in this game than I have ever had (and that goes all the way back to Beta). My only problem is finding the time to play all my groups as much as I'd like, and finding the time for my Hunter(70) to run around doing dailies and generating gold for them.

[Sun]

worth every penny when you drop your first 3 man team

worth every penny when your obliterate 6 with only a hunter to assist you against the higher level gank

worth every penny when your 5 box makes lvl 70s go out of their way to avoid you.

worth every penny when you get your fellow 5 boxers to go on a PVP spree

I personally think boxing makes this game much more interesting. But thats just my opinion. 8)

[Silly Gooooose]

took me about a month IRL time to get 70. Playing on and off. I'd go balls to the wall leveling with all my spare time, then get burned out and play another game for a few hrs.

Just boos your guys, from 8-45ish should be easy as hell.

[Mak]

I can honestly say I'd quit WoW if not for 5-boxing it. In fact, I did quit WoW for about 6 months, and only came back for a bit of fun before I found multiboxing.

I'm a chronic ALTaholic, so I don't think I've ever had a single character geared to the max (though in my pre-quit Raider days I came close). Now, I'm having more fun in this game than I have ever had (and that goes all the way back to Beta). My only problem is finding the time to play all my groups as much as I'd like, and finding the time for my Hunter(70) to run around doing dailies and generating gold for them.

I agree! I have three level 70s and so many other characters and none of them are maxed at all. The furthest I've seen with any of them is Kara. Multiboxing has been WAY more fun and I just had to restart my girlies and they're only at level 9. I'm so psyched to do heroics by myself. However, I have found that with 5 acc'ts I can be an even bigger altaholic. I now have five teams I want to run. One day they'll all be 70. For now, I just want one set. =P

[Teq]

Thanks for linking your multiboxing friends – who already have a daytime job explaining multiboxing is legit – to private servers.

Please go away.

[Jaws5]

Short and sweet,
If its fun with 1 char , then 3,4, 5 ,10 is that times the number you play

:)