Instance Viability

Greetings!

I've been dual boxing for a few months now. I've tried my hand at a few low level toons successfully. I've carebeared a few alts and that went well. Lately I have been doing some farming/leveling to get my hunter to 70. She just dinged 2 days ago. My priest has been 70 for quite some time and they seem to be a great pair for dualboxing. The problem I am having is deciding when it is a good idea to dualbox instances with my guild. Some of my guild mates are already pressuring me to fill in 2 spots in some instances, while a few others are understandably leery about it (myself included).

Farming/Grinding/Questing went well, but I want to move onto more of an instancing/raiding situation. I'm already doing Kara on regular basis with my holy/disc priest and working on gear for my hunter. Is it best to go do 'easier' instances for a while? At what point is the risk of having dualbox issues worth the pay off of going with my guild as 2 characters at once? I want to make sure to let them know that I am a little less effective than 2 separate players, but I want to work on making dual-instancing a viable option.

Tell them you would love to reduce the amount of people the guild needs to run a raid, but you need their help, and understanding, while you learn the ins and outs of playing two characters at the same time. Grab some guildmates and head into any instance where a single simple mistake won't instantly wipe the whole group. Try to get a commitment of at least one instance run a night, and that everyone understands the purpose of these trips is for you to learn. Make sure they understand you will be making mistakes, but set some clear goals that you and your guildmates know about.

For example, in three weeks time you will be able to consistently main heal without error and perform in the top 2 dps for a 5 man group. In 5 weeks time you will provide healing assistance without error and be in the same dps spot you were with your hunter before for raid instances. Extra points if you get guild leadership to take ownership of this project. See if you can get a couple more people to adopt the dual-boxing approach and train together.

If it doesn't work, you can tell your guild you tried it, but you weren't suited for it. You may find that by just pushing the issue back to the people that are calling for it makes them stop asking. Everyone loves to complain, but it is not uncommon that when you ask for some time to sit down with them and go over their issues they never call you back.

Make sure they understand that your ability to play two characters at once doesn't reflect the viability of the concept.

Starting out with your friends is a great way to 'learn' to effectively play mulitple roles in a group. Making mistakes in front of you friends and guildies shouldn't be that big of a deal as long as you have told them you are learning. Chances are you will pick it up quickly and eventually be quite effective for your friends. With hunter/priest I imagine your main focus will be healing, you can afford to be a little less effective on your DPS/CC role, especially if the rest of the group is effective in those roles.