Controlling multiple classes ? (noob question)

Hi,

I'm new to multi boxing; I got 3 locks to level 7 and I use keyclone and it's relatively easy following the 101 wiki tutorial for targetting, etc... I have their bar setup the same for now ('cept for the curses). It was a bit slow to get to that level but that includes learning. I wonder if I can hope to 3 man instances given that I would basically have 3 casters + 3 pets - is that enough ? [I'm considering swapping 1 lock for 1 priest for heals too]

Now I have a basic question, if you have a team with different classes; how do you manage to hit all the keys you need to at the same time ?

Random example: you have a mage, a hunter and a healer

The mage constantly has to refresh its scorch x 5 while doing fireballs and other spells; the hunter need different shots and constant hitting of steady shot macro, while the healer needs to find who needs heals and cast the right heal to the right target:

Basically what I'm getting at is when I play 1 character in instance I'm constantly hitting a key (not the same one) - so how do you deal with more than 1 (and not loose dps from idle; even if you could solve mapping all the bars to different keys)

Thanks a lot for your advice

I'm using a combination:

• Button mashing for trash/non-elites.
• /castsequence for the beginning of boss fights.
• Merged DoT/debuff buttons
• Hitting lots of buttons every 1.5 seconds for misc. lol

I keep myself sane by organizing everything into pages of 20 by function (dps/heals/healself/cc/misc) and using macros/infinibar to show the icons of the spells on the alts on the main's bars.

For my mixed classes, I deliberately picked instant casting classes (warlock, hunter, warrior, priest). But, if your mage has to do something every so often, just put it in a sequence for him.
/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=target/25 Scorch, Fireball, , Scorch, Fireball, ,
The extra comma is to give the char time to cast the spell, other people will be doing something instant in that time and if you just mash the button with no pauses, the mage will be out of sequence of other people. Bascially it gives the mage time to cast the spell and stil be on the same step as other people.

An example:
/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat/target Sunder, Demoralizing Shout, Thunder Clap, , , ,
/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat/target Corruption, Curse of Agony, Immolate, , !Shoot, , , , ,
/castsequence [target=focus-target] reset=combat/target Shadow Word: Pain, , , , !Shoot, , , , ,
/castseuqence [target=focus-target] reset=combat/target , Serpent Sting, , Arcane Shot, , , , , , , , , , ,

You can try to match up spells. You can put in pauses for alts so they wait for the tank to get aggro, or the healer to catch up or anythng. Most things outside of an instance, just do 1-2 spells, most mobs will die too fast for anything else. Hope that helps.

Everyone has their own style. Nixi would be the master of answering this question!

For me I always run 2 classes, just to keep things interesting. On my main computer I run the odd class, while the rest X4 of whatever class are my alts. I bind 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,89,0,-,= to my alts. As for the main (the different class) I unbind those keys, from there you have three options.

You can
"click" everything
Key bind all the stuff you want to use
Or use a separate interface for it like a gamepad, XKeys, or even a mouse with a lot of buttons on it.

So were on the same page, this is for the "main" as for the rest I use 1,2,3,4, etc.

I do all three, use a mouse with a lot of buttons on it, click and key bind. I mainly just click buffs, things not important in the heat of battle. If i do run out of room and need to click something, I make those keys on the UI large, so it’s easy to take care of.


That in a nut shell is it, you'll find many here rely on XKeys as a keyboard extension to help out with all the key binds. That’s the most popular choice. I personally have one but only use it for buffs; I find I’m a bit clumsy going back and forth from a keyboard to the xkeys. You just have to figure out what works for you.

Bradster is right, you have to figure out what works for you as you go along - you'll find as you level what you need - you get better skills at analyzing fights, too, which is a big plus.

I'm running a druid/mage/lock combo right now, and the big pulls in Sunken Temple are kicking my butt, so it's "rework the macros/technique" time again - which I just went through running through ZF. I don't mind though, it's fun to start out from scratch *again*. :)