heroics without raiding?

I'm considering getting back into WOW after leaving 3-4 mo's before BC. I will never have time to raid (wife+kids) so I'm thinking 5boxing a 1xprotPally,1xpriest,3xmage for PVE instances as an alternative.

I'm really impressed that some of you are able to clear all heroic instances - but am a bit discouraged that those who can with a protPally tank, seem to have high-end raid gear on it.

How far can i get with that team without ever setting foot in a high end raid? Would I ever be able to gear my team with good stuff?

btw - thx to those that have put a lot of time in here, documenting their progress and giving me so much good info to read.

I geared my pally tank from multiboxing heroics and eventually Kara. It was very difficult for me at first. I remember wiping for hours in Slave Pens (no joke). It seems silly to me now that I ever wiped in there. But that's part of the fun. You really get to see the development and strength of your team as you persevere through those initial struggles.

I have a few raid pieces on my healer now, but those didn't come until recently. I had crafted the Primal Mooncloth and Whitemend tailoring sets that I used during my first stages of heroics.

Good luck to you. The team you have proposed should do well. I hope you enjoy the rewarding challenges of multiboxing as much as I have.

I dinged 70 a couple of days ago. In heroics my 4 shamies get completely destroyed even on trash, so I decided to farm some gear from PvP.
First I took the gloves that give you 5 yards extra range on all shocks. also added the gryph that adds 5 yards range to earh shock. this makes my LB + CL + Earth Shock rotation pretty effective from 36 yards killing a mob and severely damaging another before even they reach me.

Next piece is the PvP shield because it's a HUGE armor improvement. 6k armor vs the 3k armor my current shield has. Next will be the PvP chest and I think I will be ready to go heroics without much pain.

I farmed the honor for the gloves in one single day.

Its kind of irrelevent for TBC now, but imo things you will want to do for WOTLK:

- have mining on as many alts as possible. There is an ENTIRE set of epic crafted tanking gear, it requires 16 new bars (forget the name) and each bar is on a 20 hour cooldown for miners. So you can gear up your tank as fast as your cooldowns or as fast as you can blow through gold on the AH. The gear is crafted by blacksmiths and it is all BoE.

- carry a set of healing gear for your pally (just pick it up in instances as you go along). For naxx10/25 pug runs early on, there is always going to be guild groups that are "lf1m healer". For a few weeks/months there is just going to be a scarcity of healers at 80, especially since so many previous healers are going DPS (boomkins, retadins). Make sure with the raid leader that you will be able to roll on tank gear, most of the time it'll be main spec first then off spec if nobody needs but still better than nothing.

- try to farm 75k honor or as close as you can, and 100 badges of each BG (extra 30k honor). You shouldn't go crazy on this, as you'll be able to continue farming while leveling, but its a nice way to buy 1-2 pieces for "free" when you ding 80.

Many of us with prot pallies have tank gear that is mostly badge gear, I actually built up an entire set by raiding karazhan weekly (and daily heroic) as holy on my paladin before I even started multiboxing, and bought a tank piece once every 2 weeks or so - it just takes time. It'll be slightly easier in WOTLK with easier heroics and more crafted BoE good tanking gear.

Well, gearing a multibox group is the same as gearing a single toon.

When tBC was new, nobody was geared, so you could not join the guilds Kara farming runs.

Everyone was gearing up, just treat your team the same.
You run the quests (usually group quests) that are worthwhile in terms of item rewards.
Run the max level non-heroic instances until you have most of the gear from these. Non-heroics can be run as many times a day as you have the time.
Once you've got near the best or even 75% of your slots filled with this gear, try a weaker/easier heroic; see how you do.
If you're lacking, farm a bit more gear from non-heroics. There will be some heroics easier to do then others, for your group composition/playstyle.
Try a few. Once you find something you can do, farm the piss out of it - make sure to run it as close to every day as possible, the badges will add up.
Any time you get a gear upgrade, try something that was a little out of reach, it might be doable now.

Post what worked for you and what did not on the PvE tactics forum.
Others will have insight to what you can try differently.
Others might get something that helps them.
Read how someone else tackles a given pull - it might make the difference for you, or even give you a tactic for a different situation.
Keep experimenting, even on things you've done successfully, there's always room for improvement.

If the game gets frustrating, take a break from it. Remember its a pass-time, and should be played for enjoyment.
Come back at it later on, recharged and ready to go.
If you're persistent, you'll eventually beat each step along the way.
And at that point, the time invested to get there will have been worthwhile.