Beginner with Key Mapping Questions

Hello! I am very new to ISBoxer. And have some questions. I've only been playing WoW for a few months. But I played EQOA, EQII and FF11 for years. I dual-boxed all three, especially FF11 and EQOA for a very long time. But, back then I used two computers/consoles, keyboards and monitors. I have a lap top and want to use ISBoxer to multibox WoW. Dual boxing made these games 100 times more fun and productive for me, and I can't wait to get started in WoW.

I have done many of the first steps in getting my team up and running. I have installed ISBoxer, have set-up 3 different teams. My main team will be a 5-man with a holy paladin as leader, followed by a holy priest and 3 shamans. I also have set up a team to facilitate buying and selling of items in Booty Bay's neutral AH.

I've done some initial steps, but need help continuing. So far, I have logged on and used my Booty Bay 2-man team to use the AH successfully and can log onto my 5-man team. All 5 windows load, I log in and all 5 characters will stand there in-game waiting for me to tell it what to do. It is at this point, I am really stalled.

I think that my next step is to set up my keymaps. Please correct me if I am wrong: I understand the keymap is a collection of mapped keys. And each mapped key will have a series of actions and will tell the computer which of my 5 characters each of the actions should be sent to. For example, all 5 can heal, do ranged attacks, buff and I want to set up the pally to pull and do melee attacks. I have looked at many of the tutorial videos and read many of the beginner threads. Am still having trouble figuring out what I need to do next to get my 5-man up and running.

Right now I am assuming that I need to (or it would be easier for a beginner like me) to have all functions I want these 5 characters to do set up with in-game keybindings and then I just use the ISBoxer software to bundle certain key bindings together so all I have to do is press one hotkey. Question 1: Is that understanding correct? Should I set up in-game character specific keybindings for ALL actions before I even try to set up key maps in ISBoxer?

Currently my 5-man team members are all level 15. But, I looked ahead and listed out what abilities they are going to have between levels 15 and 30. I want to keybind 3 ranged attacks for each (2 for the priest), 1-3 heals for each, 3-4 buffs for each. Then there are character specifics like taunting, ghost form, and dropping totems. Furthermore, there are actions that I need to set up for all 5: follow, stop-follow, eating/drinking, resurrecting others/self, assist leader, hearthing, accept invites and interact with quest givers and probably more.

This is where I don't know what to do next. It seems overwhelming. I'm sure that if I stick with it, I will be able to figure out, but I am a bit overwhelmed. Question 2: What do I do next? Do I set up all the in-game keybindings and then do something in ISBoxer?

I think I might have seen some older ISBoxer video tutorials and some newer ones, cause some of the screens look different then what I have on my computer. So, I am confused. So, Question 3: When I get to the part about setting up the ISBoxer keymaps, exactly where do I go to do that?

Let say I'm trying to set up my ranged attacks for all 5 members. Let's say I want to use the 'A' key with ISBoxer to do all my ranged attacks with. (In-game, I use tgfh instead of wsad.) Is the following a good workable way to set up in-game keybindings for my ranged attacks:

Paladin:
A: Holy Shock
Shift A: Judgement
Cntrl A: Denounce

Priest:
A: Smite
Shift A: Shadow Word Pain

Shaman:
A: Earth Shock
Shift A: Lighting Bolt
Cntrl A: Frost Shock

Question 4: So, using the above list, would I set up ISBoxer with one mapped key -- key A. And would the properties of mapped key A list all 8 of those in-game keybindings? So the first time I press A, it does all of the above A actions, then when I press A again, it does all of the above Shift-A actions, then when I press A again, it does all the Cntrl-A actions? (btw, I am not asking for advice on what spells to use, I'm not even sure if these are the ones I will use in this order, these specific spells are just listed as an example.)

I have many other questions. But, I think that if I could get past this stage and get my mapped keys set up, many of the other questions would resolve themselves. I'm sorry this post is so long. And I really want to thank everyone for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for any help that people offer.

DL

I've been using ISBoxer for a couple months now and have the same background you do ( 3 boxed EQ with 3 computers, keyboard, Nostromo keypads, etc) so I agree it's overwhelming in the beginning but once you get the hang of things it all starts to make sense.

I can get you started until the more knowledgeable community members can answer what I can't or give you a better way to do it than I'm probably doing it.

First download an addon called Jamba.....this will take care of quest accepting, invites and a number of other things you mentioned. Very easy to setup and you can grab it on Curse.

When you setup ISBoxer using the wizard it automatically makes default keymaps for your characters so very little is required on your end to start playing. You can see all the default keymaps in ISBoxer in the keymap section "general" "control" "FTL DPS keys" they can be changed to whatever is better for you.

So with your main team you can simply place a spell in slot one of the action bar and when you press "1" they all cast it. So with your team smite in slot one with priest, lightening bolt in slot one with shammy's and they will cast those spells at your Pally's target everytime you press "1". That's all setup simply by using the wizard in ISBoxer. Throw heals for each character in slot 7 and when you press 7 they all cast heal on themselves, etc

As you level higher and start to add spells then you have choices to make for casting multiple spells using a single keymap. I'm currenty using only in game macros so for instance you would make a /castsequence macro for your priest and place that in the one slot and be able to cast Shadow Word: Pain followed by Smite. You have other options but at this point I think I'd just confuse you even more. Lots of good stickies on setting up macros

http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/3...to-Multiboxing

http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...tiboxing-Vol-2

Excellent video for setting up IWT

http://isboxer.com/index.php/videos/...ith-target-101

That should at least get you started :)

Start with: http://isboxer.com/index.php/quick-start
This gives you the basic keybinds/hotkeys for a lot of stuff.

My guide, which is linked in my signature, will get you the basic idea on how to edit/create your own mapped keys.
The Keymap/Mapped Key section will be useful, in how the toolkit works... which will get you a lot more comfortable doing your own thing.



When boxing with IS Boxer, you have two repeat/broadcast modes.
One is Repeater.
The other is Keymaps.
You can toggle these independently of each other.

Repeater is straight broadcasting, of the mouse and the keyboard to everyone.
Keymaps are groups of mapped keys, which are mostly actions with hot keys to activate them.
If both are on, Keymaps take precedence; If you have the letter "a" as the hotkey for an AoE ability... and you try to enter your password (literally "password") you'll find that "a" is not broadcast/repeated to the others while Keymaps are enabled.

In general:
Repeater On / Keymaps Off = Entering your password, or typing /dance on everyone at once... without your hotkeys getting in the way.
Keymaps On / Repeater Off = 98% of your play, in a typical game.
Both On = Clicking a portal or selecting talents, or dealing with an NPC... anytime your hotkeys won't interfere with the broadcasting.
Both Off = Chatting in the game, with your guild... without having five toons chat at once.

You can ask questions in the IRC, on the www.isboxer.com site; if you do, ask away and then stick around a little while... not everyone watches the IRC, but many have it open.
Any of the videos by MiRai are excellent resources as well.

The title says it once, but I'll say it again, thank you for the great help. I set up quite a few basic keybindings and set them up so they would broadcast in a helpful way. I had a mountain of fun. There are some stuff that I still need to learn. But, I know that many of these next hurdles I have seen explained in these forums/help guides. I just have to go through one by one and get each resolved. It is so exciting to be back dual boxing and I really appreciate all the help! DL

Also for your dps spells, start with simple castsequence rotations. If you're planning to do dungeons, for example, you don't want your healer dpsing when you press A, you want her to start casting basic no oom heals on your tank or doing nothing.

Your shaman probably want to start with something like /castsequence reset=combat lava burst, lighting bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt, earth shock

You don't want to be having to hard cast individual segments of a rotation on top of every thing else you are doing at the same time in a dungeon. You don't need the highest optimal dps, just something that works well and is fire and forget. Take a look at the macros and 2 step macros that people are using to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Add new abilities as you find the need for them (I personally find that using clique to bind a few of my tank abilities is helpful) but go slow, you definitely don't want to overwhelm yourself with trying to imagine everything you could possibly need before you've even hit dungeons. I wouldn't suggest adding more than one or two abilities per day as you level. (by abilities I mean across the team... for example you'll probably want a round robin silence/interrupt as an early key which would cast wind shear for shaman and rebuke for the pally).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by luxlunae

Also for your dps spells, start with simple castsequence rotations. If you're planning to do dungeons, for example, you don't want your healer dpsing when you press A, you want her to start casting basic no oom heals on your tank or doing nothing.

Your shaman probably want to start with something like /castsequence reset=combat lava burst, lighting bolt, lightning bolt, lightning bolt, earth shock

You don't want to be having to hard cast individual segments of a rotation on top of every thing else you are doing at the same time in a dungeon. You don't need the highest optimal dps, just something that works well and is fire and forget. Take a look at the macros and 2 step macros that people are using to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Add new abilities as you find the need for them (I personally find that using clique to bind a few of my tank abilities is helpful) but go slow, you definitely don't want to overwhelm yourself with trying to imagine everything you could possibly need before you've even hit dungeons. I wouldn't suggest adding more than one or two abilities per day as you level. (by abilities I mean across the team... for example you'll probably want a round robin silence/interrupt as an early key which would cast wind shear for shaman and rebuke for the pally).

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This has become my problem. I wiped 6 times on the second boss of Stormstout Brewery last night with a group of 87's ( Prot Pally, Resto SH, Ele SH x3) with 400 plus ilvl gear. I'm simply having to micromanage to much and the fight turns into my tank trying to grab aggro while my healer heals and my dps goes down to nothing. VideoFX healing seems to be my weakest link and I'm not sure what my healing solution will be. I currently have simple /castsequence macros and casting everything else alone ( Ascendance, Unleash Elements, totems etc). That works fine for questing and trash, not so great for boss fights.

As a beginner when you start to look at your options it does become overwhelming because everyone seems to have a different way that works for them and you have to many options. I'm using ISBoxer so I can setup a priority system, use the swap actionbar setup or use in game macros as I have been doing to this point. Is it worth it taking the time to learn how to setup ISBoxer for a priority system or going with the CLS Pro System? Are swapping action bars going to give me any advantage over an in game macro like...

/cast Ascendance
/castsequence spell, spell, spell, etc
/cast Unleash Elements

This is where the confusion comes in for me. There is plenty of info for the beginner to learn how to do things but figuring out which route to take to accomplish your goals (in my case MoP heroics) isn't as easy. I'm not sure if this post gets put in the same category as people asking what class they should play in the WoW forums (the answer being whatever class you want to play) or if there is a "better" method depending on your experience and goals.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Criels

Is it worth it taking the time to learn how to setup ISBoxer for a priority system or going with the CLS Pro System? Are swapping action bars going to give me any advantage over an in game macro like...

/cast Ascendance
/castsequence spell, spell, spell, etc
/cast Unleash Elements

This is where the confusion comes in for me. There is plenty of info for the beginner to learn how to do things but figuring out which route to take to accomplish your goals (in my case MoP heroics) isn't as easy. I'm not sure if this post gets put in the same category as people asking what class they should play in the WoW forums (the answer being whatever class you want to play) or if there is a "better" method depending on your experience and goals.

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It is almost always worth the time to learn how to use more advanced methods once you have the basics down. You say -

Quote:

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I currently have simple /castsequence macros and casting everything else alone ( Ascendance, Unleash Elements, totems etc).

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That's a lot to be hardcasting. Honestly, I have about 3 "core" buttons I use at any given time. 2 is my normal spam, Tab is my normal spam with IWT, 3 is my normal spam + cooldowns. Everything I need is in those. Riptides on my whole party, totems, shields, procs... Yes, I have tons of other buttons I use as well and I do a lot with mouseover because I use HotKeyNet instead of ISBoxer so I don't have things like VideoFX. But the point is we have the ability to set up a lot of things in our multiboxing software that reduces micromanagement.

The advantage of learning to use a setup like priority casting in ISBoxer is that instead of 1 just being

Code:

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/cast Ascendance
 /castsequence spell, spell, spell, etc
 /cast Unleash Elements

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1 can become

Code:

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/cast Ascendance
 /castsequence spell, spell, spell, etc
 /cast Unleash Elements

/castsequence totem, totem, totem, totem

/cast proc

/cast long cooldown spell

/castsequence reset=target just need once spell, null

/cast racials or something

/dance

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Plus you don't have to worry that anyone is out of sync and not ready to use whatever you are currently hardcasting. You stick it under a priority system or something like that and they use it when they can, and it's less to keep track of.

If you are feeling like you are ready to move to the next level with ISBoxer... HOWTO: Configure ISBoxer Like a Pro