My Complete Three Computer - Five Toon Setup

Having trolled the forums numerous days and hours looking for and finding advice from many users, I decided to put up all of my setup. This includes hardware information as well as software used, macros, applications and playstyle. I hope that it will help some of the newer users as finding somethings here in the forums can be frustrating. There are only a couple of other posts that I've been able to find like this. Many are hardware specific and I've not found many that try to wrap up everything in one post. Sorry for any mis-spellings and lack of information in any particular area... Hey I'm playing WoW now... I'll check back the next time I'm at work. :)

Hardware
Computer1
Home Built Intel Q6600 Quad Core@2.4GHz
Windows XP
3 Megs RAM
Multi SATA 7200 RPM hard drives (no raid)
Nvidia GT 7950 with 512 megs
Hanns-G HG281D Monitor 28" of pure HDMI joy. :)
Microsoft Natural Keyboard
Logitech wired Mx510 mouse
- I started out multi-boxing playing three, then five accounts on this one machine. Three is OK for this setup, but five is just too much.


Computer2
Dell Inspiron 1720 Laptop
Intel T7300@2GHz Duo
Windows XP
Two 7200 RPM hard drives (no raid)
Nvidia 8600GT 256 Megs
DEll E207WFP 20" monitor (Horizontal) - Trying to find a mount to set this particular monitor up vertically as I didn't realize it wouldn't go into this configuration when I bought it online.


Computer3
Dell Optiplex 755
Windows Vista
4 Megs RAM
Single 7200 RPM SATA drive
Dell 2005FPW 20" (Vertical)
Nvidia 8600GT 256 Megs


BTW, just to let you know, I buy all my Dell stuff through the Dell outlet... Never pay full price. www.dell.com/outlet All other hardware purchases for me come from Newegg.

Xkeys Professional
I've only recently gotten this so I'm still in the process of setting it up for the most part. I use off the wall keystroke combinations to utilize it. As an example, I assign the following macro the the keystroke combo of "ALT CTRL F1" and assign it to a button on Bongos. I program the same keystroke combo into Xkeys Professional for any given key so when I press that button, the assigned macro runs.

/cast Beastial Wrath


Software
WoW Mods for Multi-boxing

- Two-Box Toolkit - Excellent Utility for keeping your toons on follow after combat.

- Bongos - Bar utility for additional slots.

- Questhelper - Assists with quests locations.

- Healbot - I use this and assign left/right mouse buttons to cast whatever heal I want when clicking on a toon.

- Grid - Also used as a source to notice when one of my toons has stopped following using the distance check. I keep it in the upper section of my main toon's screen.

- Focusframe - Allows me to see that all my toons are focused on the correct leader.

- Autobar - Although not really needed for multiboxing, it makes it quick and easy for me to select food, drink, bandages, etc from one quick bar located in the same place on every screen.

- Smartbuff - Acts as a reminder to put out buffs as well as makes it easy to buff everyone in the party.

- AnnoyingBuffReminder - Another mod to remind me to do some other style buffs such as Aspect of the Hawk (when not on) or Auras for pallys.


Application Software for Multi-boxing

Kavoom! KVM - Allows me to type in any window of any of the three computers I'm using without having to do anything. Three licenses, one for each machine.

Kavoom! KM - Allows me to move my mouse to any of the three monitors I'm using and immediately take control of any WoW window. Three licenses, one for each machine.

Keyclone - Allows me to send the same commands from my one keyboard to all WoW windows on each of the three computers. Three licenses, one for each machine.
- On two of the systems, I use the maximizer function to setup the screens.
- I utilize the white list on the Do-Not-Pass function to only pass those commands that I utilize.

World of Warcraft - On each machine, I play all instances of WoW from one directory instead of having multiple installations of the game. I make all changes to each account on my main system and then utilize "xcopy" to copy the changed files to networked shares on the other two machines.


Macros and Button Setup
I have several five toon teams, but all are basically setup the same. I'll use my Druid/Hunters group as an example.

- To allow me to switch leaders easily, I have macros setup for each of my five toons on the F6 through F10 Function keys. I assign these macros under the player specific macros in WoW.

Here is an example of one:

#CowGirl
/tb master cowgirl
/focus cowgirl
/follow focus

Line 1 is purely a description
Line 2 utilizes a function of the Twobox Toolkit feature to set the leader (thus for everyone else to follow the leader)
Line 3 sets the focus for the group
Line 4 tells everyone to follow the focused leader


- On all my setups, I use the "X" key to have all my following toons target the leader's target with this macro. I place this macro in the general macros area within WoW as all of my toons use it.

/assist focus
/cast [target=focustarget, exists, dead] Skinning

Line 1 - All the party members target the leader's target
Line 2 - I always have a skinner in the party and if it's not the normal leader, it allows another toon to skin with minimal effort.


- On my five button mouse, I map the front thumb button to this macro. (I do this by mapping the "Shift Y" key to the mouse button using Logitech software and mapping the macro to "Shift Y" This forces all the toons to follow the leader even if in combat. This is helpful when the mobs have run past you are you just need to get everyone out of a particular area in a hurry. Also in general macros.

/follow focus


- On the Bongos button bar, I add the follow macro to a button, but do not assign a key to it.

/tb sticky

This allows me to simply click on the macro to enable/disable following using the Twobox Toolkit. I use this when I change leaders to turn off follow on the new leader and to turn on follow on the old leader. Also in general macros.


- Right next to the sticky button I have the following macro (again, not assigned to a key). Not really required, but I still use it for a safety net type function.

/followme

I press this button as well when doing the leadership change in order to utilize the Twobox Toolkit to tell all the toons to follow a new leader. (This doesn't work if your leader has another target selected for some reason or another. Just clear the toon's
target before using it.)


- When using a like function amongst the same class type, I create macros like this and assign each to the same key. This allows each toon to utilize that spell separately from each other.

Example, I assign the following macros to the "B" key on each of my four hunters. When I press the "B" key once, hunter1 fires concussive shot, pressing "B" again has hunter2 fire concussive shot, etc... Using the reset=combat function resets the sequence each time I come out of combat. Be sure to add a space after the last comma.

Hunter1
/castsequence reset=combat Concussive Shot, , ,

Hunter2
/castsequence reset=combat , Concussive Shot, ,

Hunter3
/castsequence reset=combat , , Concussive Shot,

Hunter4
/castsequence reset=combat , , , Concussive Shot



Playstyle

I find it easiest to mainly use my druid to control the hunter group. This way I can use Healbot to throw out heals as needed. I'm specced down the Feral Combat tree to improved leader of the pack to give an additional means of healing in combat. The other reason is that I need lots o' Bear armor when I pull healing agro. The exception to this rule is when I play my Pally/ShamanX4 team. I control the flow with the Pally as the Shaman are just generally standing away from the action throwing down some heat and occasional heals.

For pets I use Gorillas for PvE as they have Thunderstomp which is an AOE type function to pull in multiple mobs. I put thorns on each of them to get a little more agro when being attacked. My goal is to try not to pull agro from them when healing. Typically before a boss fight each Hunter will cast Mend Pet in order to give some healing to their pets before combat starts.

Two of my hunters are specced Beastmaster and two are specced Markmanship in order to give me the best of both worlds.

Hope this helps... Have fun. :thumbsup: