What happened to xzin? (Xzin: Details inside)

[Texic]

I was watching him level through the armory and was looking forward to seeing how the 10 boxing worked out but I haven't seen any level gains in almost a month. He also hasn't posted for 2 weeks.
Did he give up on wow or just get sidetracked with his other projects?

[Xzin]

1000th Post :)

I have been following the forums and responding to PMs here and there. I stopped leveling on Live at around 42ish.... I did take about two days to setup my PTR layouts and then spent quite a few more doing some extensive testing of Shamans, Mages and combinations. Playing AV with 10 is.... interesting. 10 Boxing WSG..... not so hot. 10 Boxing with shammys was also much more underwhelming than I thought it would have been. Arenas were interesting but the new life totals combined with Pally bubble heals and a few other issues made for interesting games but I don't expect to break 2100 with a 5 boxing team. Plus - epic speed flying mounts are a nightmare on a laggy server with 10 boxes. Losing somebody on the ground is easy. Losing somebody in mid flight.... due to lag. Sucks. A lot.

So those above factors and I got bored of the endless grinding. Kill 600 sets of mobs (sets of 4 - 5 or more, not 1) then do it all over again. For 25+ more levels.

It seemed like a waste of time really. I value my time at several hundred dollars per hour. Literally. I am able to pull a substantial amount of money per hour when you break it all down by either value of the company, total sale price or ongoing operating incomes. Which is good - the world values what I do and my unique talents.

I considered paying some farmers to level up my characters but I don't really want to devote the time it takes to play at the high end right now.

Lately I have been busy with selling one of my companies (still going strong 4+ years out!) and planning for the growth and expansion of a new one. I actually have 3 fully fleshed out business plans right now and self funding for all three. I just have to pick the one I most want to work on and buy all of the equipment and get it going.

WoW is fun and interesting. Sometimes I get really involved with it. Heck, I spent over $60k on my setup - not to mention the thousands of hours of work planning, designing and building. I love this stuff (although the $500+ power bills were a *bit* more than I had planned for) and I keep up with the community but honestly - I don't have the desire to play endlessly and get little to no reward for it. I would rather put my time and effort into something that will actually pay me back in a substantial way - rather than drain my resources and take up my time when I no longer currently enjoy it. I will most likely never make any money playing WoW. I knew that going into it. Don't get me wrong. I don't measure how "good" something is by how much I can make doing it. I played WoW for fun. I also build companies for fun. I am switching into company mode from WoW mode right now. Incentives are nice but really it comes down more that WoW is less fun for me right now than starting up something new.

I love helping you guys (and girls) and I love finding out how to set all of this stuff up. I very much appreciate the praise and thanks I have gotten from some of you. I do plan on continuing to follow WoW and I am sure one day I will come back to it. I still have active accounts and I will do what I can to support the Mag multibox community. There are quite a few of us now - very exciting to see!

But right now the last 2 - 3 weeks have been spent planning exactly how I want to setup my next company What all of the costs are (literally). Office space requirements, employee roles, all of the online work, marketing, projected growth, legal research, margins, etc etc etc. I like to invest in myself and I like to know what I invest in. To me, starting a company is as risk free as you can get. Because I know my own company better than any other. Sure, things can happen but I think a lot if not most companies fail completely because they are under capitalized or poorly planned (or executed). Who are your customers? How do you plan on reaching them? Is your product or service compelling? What is your burn rate? Are there ways to reduce it?

There is a HUGE difference between a company that innovates because they are asked to and one that has to innovate and bootstrap because they HAVE to. You would be amazed at how much you can accomplish with very little capital. You just have to be smart about it.

That said though - it is SO MUCH nicer being able to do things the correct way from the beginning. Think of it as running 5 accounts on 2 or 3 misc computers using only software solutions vs a huge 10 box array with independent computers and a full hardware only route. Both ways "work" but the latter is so much easier to setup, troubleshoot and run.

Anyway, this is turning into a rant. I have manufacturers to locate and projects to organize.

[Ellay]

Grats on your 1000th post!!

As always RL > hobbies ~

Enjoy and you'll be back, so I'll leave the light on for ya :)

[Texic]

I figured it was something along the lines of your other business ventures. I myself have lost a lot of interest in WoW since it came out it just no longer seems to be much fun. Sadly I can't say I am being as productive as you though :)

Good luck!

[TheStender]

Does this mean the setup will be revealed? :P

[zanthor]

Wow, no one asked yet...

Can I have your phat lewt? :P

Actually I'd love to see the rig as it exists now... loot be damned.

[Xzin]

I am planning on moving in a few weeks. Before I break it all down I will be sure to document it.

Now not sure if I will POST it or not :)

Maybe.

[Mons]

I would love to see the xkeys macros :)

[unit187]

nice one Xzin, thats very bad when people arent enjoy WoW but still playing it, raiding and wasteing their lifetime. Thats wise to stop playing it now :)

Real Life will always be with you. WoW has come and WoW will go away sooner or later.

[Sam DeathWalker]

I'm still grinding. I dreamed of doing this when I had a level 1 killing skellies in Nek Forest so Im having a great time.

I once figured out I killed like the equivilant of 100,000 french armor horses (forget what they called) in AOE, and Im sure Iv killed way more mobs then anyone in EQ. Its all about grinding ... kill dem mobs! Iv been 3 days right now (about 6 hours) just buying and meming spells, moving tiems around, finishing up the bear quests turn ins and doing tradeskills (making the spells for my wizzrds), not even killing mobs ... for 3 days heh.

I don't lag cause I play at 3 am pacific when the server dosnt even have 200 in the main channel. I usually have 50ms to the server on all 6 compouters, once I get to like 100ms I just log out cuase a lot of my play is based upon fast response and lag will wipe me.

Big edge to be done with rl stuff (I'm 54 now) and not worry about all that...

Just got a HD video camera so will be making some videos of my set up in the next few weeks.



For all the people who go to WoW instead of EQ you guys don't seem to enjoy it as much. Of course if you do look at it "well I can improve my pixils a bit or I can make $300 in the same time" of course you're going to go for da bucks. Im just at the point where I dont need more money...

Besides 1/10th of a second after yur dead everything you did was a waste of time anyways lolzors...

Xzin are you the mod / owner of this site? If you want to sell it or pass it on to someone who will take care of it for the long term then I'm yur man!

[Slats]

I think Ellay is actually. =)

He has 'Site Admin' under his name and posts news on the front page.

[Tealuin]

Xzin:

Good on you man, nothing like turning one's own blood, sweat and tears into a profit.

If you ever need a leveling, computer/Internet support or craftservice lackey I'm sure I can think of somebody to fill the role. :wink:

(I'm so with you on the whole work separate from personal separate from gaming lives, so that's just my way of giving support and respect for your making your ambitions a reality for yourself)

[Xzin]

But see, that's the thing. I don't need the money either. I am in my early 20's and am quite comfortable. I just grew tired of the treadmill, especially with the next expansion on the horizon late spring / early summer 08. So all of the work would be reset again. Screw that. Who wants to endlessly grind and have NOTHING to show for it come expansion? Just seems like a waste. I value my energy and time and while I like to have hobbies, I don't consider my "work" to even be work. I don't take vacations to get away. I really enjoy what I do. I just want it to build on itself over time, as my companies do. I think of it as seeds. The more I plant now, the larger my garden in 10, 20, 30 years.

I would rather use my time actually improving our world through successful business endeavors instead of what I consider to be a fun hobby. How many times can one run AV? Aerial combat has Trammelized world PvP. Plus, not only does business sustain and grow on itself, it does not reset you back to square 1 every 1 - 2 years. In some ways, the real world is much more interesting and even more complex than WoW is and likely will ever be. Maybe I just grew bored with leveling because the real challenge, for me, was setting everything up.

Ellay is the owner of the site. I helped grow it and popularise it but personally I consider the boards to belong to the members. I would expect it to be not for sale.

[zanthor]

What about the phat lewt!

Seriously, you have a solid outlook on life. It's amazing how many people dont.

[Ellay]

In agreement with Xzin on the site, it isn't for sale - it's not here to make $, it's to help others in what we do. That in and of itself is good enough for me :)

My outlook on WoW though isn't the end result of getting items, because usually when you hit the peak your done with the game. It's the journey to those goals that makes it enjoyable.

[Xzin]

I agree. I enjoy(ed) playing WoW. I just wish you had *something* to show for it when you were done playing.

With a company, you can keep running it and it throws off $$$. Or sell it. Or build upon itself. With WoW, you reset back to "level 1" with every expansion. Nor can you easily sell it. Plus, well, WoW does not (yet?) generate wealth.

It's all about the journey. I loved the time I spent with WoW and I am glad I am able to help others do what I did. I am just shifting gears is all. Moving on to another challenge. I do plan on keeping in touch though.

[Scribbler]

WoW Generates wealth for me

Just not much wealth ...

:lol:

I don't have the ideas to set up my own business, at least I'm earning more than I'm paying in subs ;)

[Xzin]

My big problem is not the ideas but the people who have the skill sets required to take my ideas and my funding to the next level. I know what needs to be done. I have it all mapped out and detailed. I have literally 3 very well fleshed out and highly lucrative business plans all finished and ready to go. Each can be started for a very low six figures, assuming some sweat equity is put forth. The problem is, I can only focus my energy on one of them at once.

WTB highly skilled and talented people who have desire to work on an early stage company but who lack funding and an idea. Must not suck or desire huge paychecks before the company is off the ground and must be VERY self directed. Experience with computers, networking, game engines and ability to solve problems a must.

Just not something you come across everyday. Especially not if it is full time and requires taking a chance that it will pay off and not taking a salary until it solidifies and starts becoming profitable. I expect that to take 4 - 8 months.

So in the somewhat impossible chance that somebody is actually interested.... let's talk.

[Djarid]

I'd be sorely tempted if I was in a slighty different stage of my life (new father) and of course the right continent ;) (oh and I would fall short on the game engine knowledge)

Bon chance in your endeavours and the skill search

You have given a lot to this community and I hope we can return that favour one day.

[Scribbler]

I also lack game engine knowledge :lol:

[Braggon]

I just wanted to say my farewells to you Xzin. Good luck in your future endeavors. People still ask me if im that guy from your server. Lol Peace!

[Sam DeathWalker]

Well ya you kinda "reset" when a new expansion comes out but I don't look at it like that. If I'm at level 75 when the new expansion goes to 80, I'm 75/80 of the way there, sure I didn't lose all the time spent getting to 75.

Is wow different?

Oh I kinda thought the site would go under if Xzin left lol, I guess thats obviously not the case.

If you really have enough money then you should stop doing anything you don't want to do. Just gettting more and more money for whatever reason is a waste of time if you don't enjoy what you are doing to get it.

I don't understand dont you have a TON more of things to do in WoW or is the game so short taht you do it all this fast ...

[MrLonghair]

I've been on a personal break since a month ago, decided it was time to work on finding out what the heck makes my muscles randomly flare up in pain so bad I cannot even use a computer or do household chores, much less handle a job of any kind.

Real life > Games, always. No matter how fun or addictive a game is or how many people need you for a raid, your life goes first. When there's more life in your dirty dishes than in your weekend nights that's a good sign too. When you suddenly realize that you've done everything in WoW, you know every single step of it from start to finish and how to tackle any potential problem that arises - that's the signal that says you're probably not going to have much more to get from the game no matter how many boxes.

Which was my case. Raided on my hunter until March this year, reactivated in July and I never got my highly beloved priest duo past 42, they were stuck at that level for two weeks of playtime, bothering me like a boil on my ass.

Good luck with the businesses Xzin, I'm going to keep dreaming of opening my own studio some day :) hope to see you in whatever's next

If someone asks me about multiboxing heroes I'll say:
"Those 40+ SFF boxes with two monitors was a bot operation, this guy right here who tenboxed was the real deal"

[Xzin]

Sam, I do what I love. Life is far, far too short to waste otherwise. One of the side effects of doing what I love is wealth creation. Well, maybe not for WoW :) but I do what makes me happy. Everybody has something that makes them get out of bed each day and I truly love the creative elements that go into creating companies or designing a top of the line 10 boxing rig. The sheer complexity of everything is so fascinating to me. I love finding all sorts of creative solutions to things and then making it happen. I encourage all people to follow their dreams in whatever they do, WoW or otherwise. Do what makes YOU happy.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

So, Zin, is your stuff still set up enough to get a big guild screenie together before you disappear for a bit? :P

[Xzin]

Yes it is still all setup. I designed it to be dual use. Heh. Not sure all are active though.

[Tealuin]

With a company, you can keep running it and it throws off $$$. Or sell it. Or build upon itself. With WoW, you reset back to "level 1" with every expansion. Nor can you easily sell it. Plus, well, WoW does not (yet?) generate wealth.



Keep in mind that the first expansion for WoW introduced a major game mechanic change that you really haven't seen from expansions in other MMOs and that has to do with stat allocation.

I seriously doubt that Blizzard will repeat that major of an item reset with the next expansion. The items you get now are for helping conquer the content of the future and/or help progress PvP.

But at the same time each stage of life also in many ways resets you to level 1. You start college, you no longer have the same complete network of people, you're a freshman not a senior, etc.

Or you start work out of school, you're starting over again ... very few people start out at the top. Some do, like you Xzin, and for a lot of people those at the top are what drives them forward.

[Xzin]

I meant "level one" not level one. As a 60 at the start of BC you will replace EVERYTHING by 70. So all those PvP rewards, T3 loot - gone. Helpful at 60 but at 70? Worthless.

I get the reasoning behind it. But it just annoys me to do so much and have nothing or very little to show for it. If you enjoy the experience then fine I guess. I would rather spend my time right now on something fun and interesting that is not going to "soft reset" come the next expansion because for me, that's just not fun. Especially knowing they are increasing the leveling rates "soon".

There is more to it than just that but I thought my stance needed a bit more clarification.

[Slats]

So you are going to wait to finish levelling up Xzin when they speed up the 20-60 process?

[Xzin]

Xzin is 60. If/when I comeback to WoW then yes, it will be nice.

All this said, I leveled from 1-60 in EQ (solo) and I gotta say, WoW is so much easier to level. There is no comparison. I have NO desire to level through that again for any game. Thats not even starting on AA points.

[Runiat]

WTB highly skilled and talented people who have desire to work on an early stage company but who lack funding and an idea. Must not suck or desire huge paychecks before the company is off the ground and must be VERY self directed. Experience with computers, networking, game engines and ability to solve problems a must.
I can start in 2012!

Freshman to MSc takes a couple of years...

[Steph]

...
Aerial combat has Trammelized world PvP.
...

Are you saying you used to play Ultima Online? =]

[Majestic_Clown]

if it was for a spam email going through work colleagues I wouldn't of been here multiboxing.

Fair well good luck in the future.

[Morganti]

I feel your pain Xzin. I'm back in DAoC simply because I have playable PvP toons there that are already setup and ready to go when I get online.

My priests destroyed all in PvP in WoW, but the thought of 5x 30 more levels was tough to swallow, especially with an expansion on the horizon raising the level cap (I really hate when games raise the level cap instead of being more creative with their expansions....it's the easy way out).

I also understand the call to do something that shows a profit in the end. PM me...I think I fit your candidate requirements. I'd be interested to hear your ideas.

[Xzin]

I loved UO. More than WoW and EQ combined. It was THAT good. If you didn't play it you missed out on something special.

Morg, PM me if you want to discuss details.

[TheStender]

WTB highly skilled and talented people who have desire to work on an early stage company but who lack funding and an idea. Must not suck or desire huge paychecks before the company is off the ground and must be VERY self directed. Experience with computers, networking, game engines and ability to solve problems a must.

If only my skills in those areas were actual skills and not just "I think I know what I'm doing." :P

Hopefully you can get some good people. Best of luck to you.

And post pictures of your setup. ;)

[Rin]

I'm still grinding. I dreamed of doing this when I had a level 1 killing skellies in Nek Forest so Im having a great time.

I once figured out I killed like the equivilant of 100,000 french armor horses (forget what they called) in AOE, and Im sure Iv killed way more mobs then anyone in EQ. Its all about grinding ... kill dem mobs! Iv been 3 days right now (about 6 hours) just buying and meming spells, moving tiems around, finishing up the bear quests turn ins and doing tradeskills (making the spells for my wizzrds), not even killing mobs ... for 3 days heh.

I don't lag cause I play at 3 am pacific when the server dosnt even have 200 in the main channel. I usually have 50ms to the server on all 6 compouters, once I get to like 100ms I just log out cuase a lot of my play is based upon fast response and lag will wipe me.

Big edge to be done with rl stuff (I'm 54 now) and not worry about all that...

Just got a HD video camera so will be making some videos of my set up in the next few weeks.



For all the people who go to WoW instead of EQ you guys don't seem to enjoy it as much. Of course if you do look at it "well I can improve my pixils a bit or I can make $300 in the same time" of course you're going to go for da bucks. Im just at the point where I dont need more money...

Besides 1/10th of a second after yur dead everything you did was a waste of time anyways lolzors...

Xzin are you the mod / owner of this site? If you want to sell it or pass it on to someone who will take care of it for the long term then I'm yur man!

I don't think you've killed more mobs than me. Look up the Ynopi's (Fironia Vie server)- First Drakkins to 75 in EQ, all 6 of them - ended up getting them into the top 100 characters for each of their classes too and in one of the top 10 guilds on the server... :twisted: Got burned out and quit shortly after. Agro management in EQ is easy mode, plus the fights are a lot slower overall, as opposed to WoW... although the leveling in EQ is much, much, much more difficult.

Xzin made some very good points, and to tag onto that, I feel that eventually everyone here will grow tired of WoW (unless you're one of those diehards that will just play until Blizzard shuts the doors (not likely)) - especially once you reach the leveling cap and then are forced to repeat the cycle. It's a great business model for Blizzard though, as it keeps people playing (add content->give people incentives to play more->loop). For now, I'm enjoying WoW far more than I enjoyed EverQuest, and that's also in part of having one-control for everything. In EQ I actually ran 6 different sets of controls; it just takes much more focus to be able to react and respond properly when you are using 6 independent sets of keys.

To cover your other tangent; I don't play any of these games for money. Games are just that - games. While I'm not a venture capitalist like Xzin, I make very good money programming for corporations in Minneapolis. You invest money into "gaming" knowing that you're getting entertainment out of it - nothing more. Besides that, trying to be competetive in today's global market by selling Blizzard's Intellectual Propery is not the best way to earn an income - I mean really? You want to spend 150+ hours for a $400-500 turnaround, less initial gaming costs and monthly fees? If you're willing to work for those rates, let me know and I'll get you a job (seriously). I don't believe that any of the intelligent people on these forums are doing this to earn a living.

Just my 2 cents.

[keyclone]

my opinion is that Blizzard will have to change their long term strategy for WoW in order to keep it a viable franchise and to increase its user base.

to that end, just adding 10 extra levels each year with a few more mobs to kill and some trinkets to gather just isn't a worthy enough reason to grind it out. (you killed all those mobs for what? to bank pose??)

they need to address the end game... my suggestion would be player built cities and to allow for sieges and city conquest (take over or destroy)... similar to shadowbane.

in SB, even though people had max'd out their characters, they were logging in, in order to help defend their city (or take over an enemy). this gives questing for the various items a meaning... you need them in order to perform better for your city.

just my US$0.02 worth....

[Ticks]

10 Boxing with shammys was also much more underwhelming than I thought it would have been

Hey Xzin, I've been wondering if you could elaborate a little on this. I'd imagine that burst damage in an arena setting for multiboxing is key. Could the shaman not deal out enough of it?

[Xzin]

I found myself frequently out of mana. Fears screwed me up (but macros could help that) and the damage was underwhelming even for 10 characters. Totems were tricky and heals were very hard.

Part of that was certainly due to the fact that well, I have never played shammys before. Part of it was because I had no macros setup to do advanced things. Some of it was a lack of thinking through the BEST ways to do things based on experience because well, I don't have any with shammys. For example: healing and damage with priest + 4 mages = easy. With shammys its trickier. It was more do damage OR heal. AoE healing was well, not there either. I missed the shields and the ability to be reactive rather than defensive about healing because shammy heals are slower and of course no shields.

I felt a lot of it was the lack of "oomph" that the mages have.

8x fireblasts = gibbed. I mean - almost nobody survives that. Instant cast so you can run and gun. In PvP (especially AV) you are CONSTANTLY moving. Always. Shammys are more of a hunker down kind of style. I didn't personally like that.

Lack of serious AOE hurt A LOT. When 3+ people get in your face, even with 10 shammys.... they start putting a hurt on you quickly. Range was less with shammys as well.

In large scale combat, mages just mow people down. The shammys.... felt more cumbersome and less able to take target after target after target.

Not to say they cannot or are not viable. I just don't know how best to play them. My personal belief though is that the 4 locks + 1 priest or 4 mages + 1 priest is stronger for my playing style and in my opinion, PvP.

Rin: I agree. I play(ed) for fun. Nothing more. I made good money selling gear and plat in EQ but that was a different time and that opportunity has passed. It is hard to compete against people willing to work for $100 a MONTH and consider that a modest wage. Especially considering games like WoW reward you so much more for time spent and have little to no penalties for death. Heck, I leveled up to 43 or so completely naked without any problems at all. In EQ you would NEVER have been able to do that. You needed gear (which was left behind when you died, meaning at times a rather time consuming corpse retrieval) and further - you LOST EXP when you died. A lot. Up to a day's worth, depending on your level (and assuming you could not drag a cleric out to where you were (which was often far away) and have him or her rez you. So if you were not good at playing your character (and were the right class as some could NOT solo) then you were very limited in your ability to solo. Grouping was possible but not always the best way to go and there was at times no telling how miserable your group was going to be. Mistakes cost you dearly.

The upside was I could sell a rubicite breastplate or efreeti boots for well over $500 cash and I could farm them all day and night (1 spawn point, 60 - 120 minute spawns and 4/5 or 6/7 times there was only a placeholder and not the boss mob). The boss also could drop rare or common loot and there was only a single spawn point for most items on the entire server - no instances. So when I was farming - nobody else was. There were a few other "always dropped" items that I had literally on timers - oracle robes and the like that spawned on a set time of about 8 hours and sold for nearly $100. My timers were accurate down to the second, barring a server reset, in which case it was an extra item.

This was a rather lucrative opportunity for somebody who was at the time in high school and had not yet set out to start something "serious". I made something in the five figures doing this for part of the summer before needing to finish up high school (so I could later go on to drop out of college). Amazing how that works but formal education does not always lead to success . Most of all though, I enjoyed EQ's market and how it all worked. WoW is so much.... easier and simpler. I guarantee you that if WoW were as hard as EQ 1 was to level up (and there were no dupes, etc) that the china farmer would be far, far less common and it would be MUCH more difficult to make what they are willing to accept as a living. Right now, anybody can bot up or level a hunter to 70 and farm away by sitting in front of a computer for hours a day and kill the same crap over and over. But my dissatisfaction with how easy WoW is is another post all together and a big reason why I play 5 or 10 characters at once.

[Bradster]

Nice to see you around Xzin. Good luck with the new projects :wink: