DPS while multiboxing

I'm still pretty new to multi-boxing, having only RAF'd a trio to 60 (Paly, 2x priests).

Originally I got into MBing just to get a quick paly and and priest up to 60 (guild needed more healers), but toward the end of my little experiment with MBing I really started to enjoy it - particularly running instances. Lately I've been looking hard at getting back into it, although I'm slowing upgrading my hardware to handle 5-boxing first.

For those who focus on PvE and Heroics - how's your DPS? Can you get within 5-10% of non-MBers in Heroic/Raid settings?

When I was running my 2 priests with dual duty to toss out some HOTs, their DPS was pretty low. But I also never set up an optimum cast sequence macro. I tried to map my buttons such that similar cool downs between my tank and DPS/Healers, but I'm sure it can be improved. It was good enough, so I never really optimised it. But now I'm looking at getting back into it more seriously, but I'm not sure what to expect at the high end of PvE.

Answer is, it depends.

With shammies, being able to basically spam like 2 abilities with a FS/LB thrown in from time to time makes it stupidly easy to do decent DPS in a multiboxing scenario. Throw in classes like druids/mages who have procs to watch for and have to change rotations to maximize DPS and your potential goes down dramatically. Then you have classes with a bunch of abilities on cooldowns that require fairly complex prioritization and do not lend themselves well to condensed macro rotations, and it just gets worse.

Don't get me wrong. The worst of the multiboxer guys that do heroics (like me) are still way better than your average dumb-ass PuG member in blues trying to do heroics. 5 people at 75% capability is still far better than 3-4 guys at 90% and 1-2 guys at OMGRETARD.

I have found that with my mixed group I have to approach each one individually and with the understanding that while doing dps with that toon I am just going to be spamming one button. On some toons, my hunter for instance, I use /click in a macro that triggers three other cast sequence macros. Pretty complex? Yes. Totally stolen from guys on this site. Yes. But it works very well. The concurrent /castsequence macros work well for my druid as well. As for my priest and warlock I have a single castsequence that works really well for them, atm. When that group hits 80 and I start adding haste and other stuff it may get trickier but at 70 I do really well.

As Ughmahedhurtz said, shaman are pretty easy. With my team 1 (pally x4 shaman) I can do every instance I have tried. Just be creative and read as much as you can about how others are doing what you are trying to do and don't be afraid to mix and match.

Thx for the responces. Yeah, I can really see that all the things that you have to cast when something procs (Arcane and Fire mages come to mind) really wouldn't be possible.

Hmm, now to figure out if I want to do the Paly, 4x Shammy thing to make it easy on me, or I'd have more fun with a divergent group. I was thinking Paly, Shamy, Druid, Mage and Priest for healing pretty much gets me all the caster buffs in the game. Solo wise, I'm raiding with my Mage spec'd for deep frost now, so I'd like to get her into the mix if possible. The ports and mage tables should be pretty handy too I think.

Shammys can use a simplified rotation and so can frost mages i.e. frostbolt spam, not sure about druids though. Hmm... I was thinking I'd use the Druid as boomkin and heal with the priest, but I suppose I could flip those two around.

Now that I think about it more - I was planning on 5 seperate classes to get optimal use out of the drops, but DPS wise there's really no reason the Shammies can't wear cloth if that what drops.

Just thinking out load here mostly. I suppose the best answer is to do both :)

The best answer is to do what you think will be most fun. I am glad that I did Pally+4 Shaman first. Now I have a heroic geared team at 80 I can farm with or do about anything I like. I am having way more fun with my mixed team I think. One tip is to make sure you have an enchanter (or disenchanter ^^) if you go with an all caster team. Boomkin is nice and priest healing is pretty simple. I recommend leaving the priest discipline specced until you absolutely need a dedicated healer (which may be never). With disc you won't heal as much as you will protect. Empowered shields, Pain Suppression and Borrowed Time seriously reduce the healing your tank will need. I toss out renews and flash heals on occassion.

I thought I had this figured out somewhere, but now I can't find it. Probably time to brush up on my Google skills. But here they are again - I think this is the complete list of buffs that us caster types care about. The seperate groups of items should stack, but the individual items within each group do not.

280 Spell Power -> Elemental Shaman -> Totem of Wrath (Fire)
10% of Casters Spell Power -> Demo Warlock -> Demonic Pact
144 Spell Power -> All Shaman -> Flametonge Totem (Fire)

13% Spell Damage -> Affliction Warlock -> Curse of Elements
13% Spell Damage -> Balance Druid -> Earth and Moon
13% Spell Damage -> Unholy DK -> Ebon Plaguebringer

5% Haste -> All Shaman -> Wrath of Air Totem (Air)
3% Spell Haste -> Balance Druid -> Improved Moonkin Form
3% Haste -> Ret Paly -> Swift Retribution

5% Chance to be Crit (debuff on boss) -> Frost Mage -> Winters Chill
5% Chance to be Crit (debuff on boss) -> Fire Mage -> Improved Scorch
5% Chance to be Crit (debuff on boss) -> Destro Warlock -> Improved Shadow Bolt

5% Crit -> Elemental Shaman -> Elemental Oath
5% Crit -> Balance Druid -> Moonkin Aura

3% Hit -> Shadow Priest -> Misery
3% Hit -> Balance Druid -> Imp Faerie Fire

3% Damage -> Beast Mastery Hunter -> Ferocious Inspiration
3% Damage -> Ret Paly -> Sanctified Retribution

10% to all Stats -> All Paly -> Blessing of Kings

750 Armor, +37 all Stats +54 Resists -> All Druid -> Mark of the Wild

80 Spirit -> All Priest -> Divine Spirit
64 Spirit -> Warlock with Fel hunter -> Fel Intelligence

60 Intelligence -> All Mage -> Arcane Intellect
48 Intelligence -> Warlock with Fel hunter -> Fel Intelligence

91 MP5 -> All Paly -> Blessing of Wisdom
91 MP5 -> All Shaman -> Mana Spring Totem (Water)
109 MP5 -> Resto Shaman ->Improved Mana Spring Totel (Water)

30% Haste for 40 Seconds -> All Shaman -> Bloodlust

So, you can get the bulk of the buffs with 1 Elemental Shaman and 1 Balance Druid. For the most part Mages/Priests/Warlocks have redundant buffs - pick 2 and you cover most of it. Adding at least 1 Paly is recommended - Ret if you can get it.

Blessing of Kings, Mark of the Wild, Divine Spirit, Arcane Intellect and Blessing of Wisdom can all be cast outside the party/raid if needed.

So if I went with an all shaman team, I'd lose the spirit buff from the priest, the int buff from the mage, 13% spell damage from the druid (although it may be worth swapping the Paly for a DK at the high end), 3% hit, and Blessing of the wild. I think that confirms it for me. Time to multi-box an Elemental Shaman, Balance Druid, Frost Mage, Priest and a Paly. I've never done a disc priest, but I'll give it a shot. Hopefully getting fully optimal buffs in a 5-man party will make up for the sub-optimal casting rotations.

I'll probably also do a 5x Shaman team for PvP later, but I think I'll be focused on PvE for a while. Now just to wait for my 2nd PC to arrive. :( (When I started looking at upgrading my current rig to quad core, new video card and more RAM, I found quite a few complete systems on EBay for cheaper than I was going to spend just to upgrade. Two PC's (even if one is a little old) are probably better and cheaper than 1 maxed out system anyway.)

New PC? UBid is your best friend :) I have had good luck with two HP desktops through UBid, far cheaper than I could build myself.

My instance runs are usually much faster with a trinity setup than with a dps that also heals and tank group. So elemental shaman that pinch heal. Its mostly about control and avoiding close calls. When the tank and healer are that smooth, the DPS can hit more procs and scream during 'execute!' time.

I definitely cannot pull the shit I would pull in my group in someone elses. Mostly because I have no idea why people skip clearing mobs, pull in dumb ass orders and so forth.

This relates to the DPS question in that multiboxing I have a 'trust your mechanic' vibe that is perfect, I know that heal is going to come and I know that if I just had a hot streak with a pyroblast ignite on my mage push the envelope. But that just means I need to keep in touch mentally with my tank a bit.

Wipes I would blame on DPS races, they don't exist multiboxing. If your tank misses a arrow on a pull (or whatever) and the DPS opens up (has spells inflight) man how many times have I had to heal that crap in UBRS pugs? Too many.