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I'm new to wow and have been playing for about 2 weeks and just started two-boxing with keyclone, which works like a breeze.
I am going to add more eventually, so wanted to know why I keep reading alot about peeps using so many shamans.
WIll I be at a total loss if I just went with a well rounded group, or does 5 of any class own just as well.
thxs.
I'd allmost suggest to stop playing with more accounts and play with 1 char first. WoW has sooo much to offer as a game, wich you can do ofcourse with your own party, but playing with real people really helps, specially when new. You won't regret it ... WoW is alot bigger then you might think...
To answer your question: Shamans are a class you can use for allmost everything, healing ? Np! Tanking ? Np! Insane dps? Np Buff your party with totttummmsss? Np!
Paladins, druids and shamans are the most used classes, and mages and locks for dps. Ofcourse you can roll with any thing you like, but take in mind a melee class needs to be in range. Can be done but just more work...
PS: Welcome to the forums and WoW :thumbsup:
Shamans are unique in that they have an extreme amount of utility which lends itself nicely to the synergy/resources that Multiboxers have readily available. Totems make dealing with things that are usually a major obstacle to Multiboxers, i.e fear, crowd control.... totally trivial.
Multiboxing isnt really a "beginner" WoW subject, I'd suggest playing to 70 the normal way before you start Multiboxing.
Origins of the Shammy+Pally Fad/Phase/Craze/Insanity(?)
In general, it's easier to map classes that are identical because the spells will all match up 100% with the cooldowns, cast times, and uses. For example, on a warlock a direct damage spell that you can spam would be shadowbolt, but it may have a different cast time then a mage's fireball or frostbolt. Therefore, you'd have to "button mash" your key in order to make sure the spells were casted back to back.
With identical classes, the spells, cooldowns, and cast times all map together perfectly.
Hybrids are ideal as well, because not only can their spells be mapped perfectly to each other, but they can each be specced to a different role at whim -- you can have one spec for healing + dps, another for all out dps (perhaps for leveling), and you have the option of changing this combination at any time.
As for shammies, they also have the additional benefit of being the only hybrid (shaman, druid, paladin) that has both a rez, a dps spec, a healing spec, and a way to break fear via Tremor Totem. AoE fear is one of the main pain points of multiboxing, and without a reliable counter you have to use PvP trinkets or abilities with cooldowns (i.e. WoTF) to remove it.
Shaman can also "tank" some early level instances, though if you're looking at instances over level 40 or so, you'll probably be better off with a specced plate/bear tank.
I kinda agree with notes. Playing WoW for the first time is something really special for most people. Discovering the world and doing the quests for the first time in WoW was just the best experience I've ever had in a computer game so far. Back when I started (2+ years ago) I didn't even understand crafting and the quality color-codes on drops until maybe level 25 or something like that, on my first char. It was wonderful to be a newb and learn new stuff from experienced players every day.
I really recommend to try to catch that feeling if you can as it's about 3 months of pure enjoyment, if you succeed =)
On a side note: You might consider a team of druids. While I'm pretty sure that shamans can out-DPS druids, especially on the initial burst, Druids bring 3 things to the table that are VERY desirable if you are aiming for PvE gaming (I'll describe this from my 5-man druid teams PoV):
1. Real tanking (in bear form). Druid has group AoE aggro- and taunt-abilities. Druid tanks are viable all the way up to 70. Shaman tanks simply are not. As someone mentioned shaman can tank ok until ~40, but after that they simply fail.
2. Prowl (stealth in CAT form). You get this at lvl 20 and from that point on (if you, like me, have a full druid group) you can stealth past lots and lots of patrols and trash-groups in instances to farm bosses. <- This is just not practically possible with any other class, in an instance made for your chars levels. (sure a rogue would be able to stealth) but then you want a tank as your main! And In multiboxing melee alts (rogues) are not practical (you want casters on /follow, right?)
3. Seed of life (Combat resurrection ability). I have used this several times and Its hard to describe how powerful this ability is, when you have 5 druids in your group. Since druids are called "the only true hybrid of WoW" if my tank dies normally there would be a wipe on a boss what I have done a few times is this:
a) Shape-shift one of my DPS'es to bearform and taunt the boss aggro over to him.
b) Rejuvenate the new tank to buy a few seconds (from all other players still alive. Rejuvenate stacks so its a quite powerful HoT going on the new tank for the moment here, that works against the damage the Boss is doing.).
c) With another of my 3 DPS:ers i start seed of life (combat ress) on old tank, (while healing new tank from assigned healer if neccessary).
d) Heal up/rebuff maintank
e) Shift back to main tank and let him taunt back boss aggro.
f) Restore DPS'es to dps status and continue , the fight.
Before multiboxing I have played every single class at least a little bit to get a feeling (altoholic as you can see :-) warrior 20, mage 25, warlock 28, rogue 39 (twink), druid 43, paladin 45, priest 54, shaman 62, hunter 64, and from the experience I gained imho is that Druid is by far the single most versatile class in the game.
Keep in mind though that I'm a pure PvE player so if you intend to PvP my advice is not applicable =)
Well this was a rant, but i hope someone might find it useful.
I would agree, if you just started playing WoW 2 weeks ago, I would play the game normally, as it was originally intended to play. You will get to learn the game and other classes, how pve and pvp works and so on. Plus once you decide to multi box, you can use that 70 of yours to help your new multi boxed toons.
I'd suggest a prot pally or a frost mage if you want to boost your other toons later.