3 Manning Heroics, what can be done?

First I would just like to say hello to everybody! I have been lurking on these forums for well over a year now :rolleyes: and finally tried out multiboxing today with 3 trial accounts. I'm officially hooked. Though I won't be able to actually start till next summer, so that kind of sucks. After getting a taste I don't know if I will be able to wait that long without biting the bullet. But anyway, on to my questions.

I have read multiple posts on these forums about people successfully triple boxing heroics. I was wondering exactly what heroics are tri-boxable? What would be the gear required to even attempt heroics with only 3 characters? What would be the best group composition for this kind of goal?

Ok, so I don't have ANY experience with ANY of the Wotlk 5 man heroics, so I have no clue what is require (apart from what I have read here) to even begin to attempt them. From my understandings, if your tank is decently geared (ie. 535-540 defense+ and decent avoidance) you would be fine if the rest of your group was just in even the most basic of level equivalent gear. Now I would guess, that with only 3 characters, you would want not only your tank to be decently geared but also your other 2 characters. What are your views on this? For any of you who have actually attempted this sort of thing, what was your gear when you first started heroics? I assume you could also get by with only having your tank and healer decently geared, but again I have no experience with any of these encounters so I wouldn't know what to expect.

For those of you who have successfully tri-boxed heroics, what heroics have you cleared? For everybody, what heroics do think are conceivably tri-boxable?

For the composition of the group I was thinking of using some of the following dps/healer combinations to go along with a pally tank. I already have a 77 prot pally so that is my reason for using pally tank.

shamy dps/shamy heals
Single class, lots of totems meaning a fair amount of buffs, seems like a decent group. Earth shield is nice for damage mitigation. Shamys seem to be the multiboxers choice pick and they seem very powerful for dps. Not much personal experience with them though.

moonkin dps/tree heals
Single class, some decent buffs, also seems like a fair group. Personally I love tree healers. I have never played 1 but I have grouped with many and the multitude of abilities they posses is very nice. Not too sure on the ups and downs of a moonkin, not much experience with them.

hunter dps/tree heals
I have read many good things about this trinity, mainly pally+hunter because of similar cd's and spell rotations. The hunters pet would be nice to have if I ever needed an off-tank. Hunters are also tons of fun to play, love this class. This group seems though to be lacking in buffs. Same reason for tree as above.

shamy dps/tree heals
This is currently the group I am leaning toward, though I also am really favoring the hunter/tree combo. I have read some good things about shamy/pally/tree trinity and they seem to fit well together. Totems provide for some nice buffs, and same reason for tree as above.

Any other combination suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Would love to read what everybody thinks on this subject.

I have contemplated just going straight to 5boxing instead of 3boxing but I still have plenty of time before I make the final leap. I also figure I will just start out with 3 and see where that takes me, if I really want to go to 5, I'll decide what to do then. (4x wow + bc + wotlk is also a little expensive ^^" lol)

I think that basically sums up all of my current questions. I'm sure I'll have more though later on. (: Looking forward to getting to know everybody on this fantastic forum!

Thanks in advance for any help everybody! :D

EDIT - Oh and I hope this is in the right section, I couldn't decide between group composition and PvE Instances and Advanced Tactics because my questions are composed of both of them, kind of. lol ^_^

It's possible with the welfare gear, a good tank, and bloodlust. I accidentally 3 manned many bosses because a couple alts get stuck behind a corner and I don't notice until I'm already engaged. The real trick is having a tank that you don't have to spam heals on the entire fight - you'll go oom and do no DPS.

The problem will be getting geared enough to do the heroics 3 box. You'll likely have to pug your way through them just to get the gear so you can do it yourself. But by then you won't be getting anything useful out of them except some emblems.

If you absolutely can't get 5 accts up try making some friends to do the heroics with you or join a guild. Once you know the instances and people realize you make it easy they will start asking to go with you. No one likes risking the random pugs where you never know how many wipes you will get.

I don't doubt every single heroic can be 3 boxed if you overgear it. The hardest one would probably be occulus because of the last boss. My guess on the easiest would be Utgarde Keep. Nothing in there is very anti-low dps. You can take your time and as long as you don't run out of mana you should be fine.

I would definately use a shaman healer. I think your main problem will be maintaining mana to get through a whole boss fight. Using earth shield and riptide you will have alot of time in the 5 sec rule meaning you will regen your mana. Hots from a tree druid need to be kept rolling and with the different times they last you' be casting often to keep them up. Also you would be wasting the effectiveness of wild growth when you only have 3. Chain heal would be more efficient.

I would use a moonkin for the dps. Gives you an innervate and since you will only have 1 or 2 dps the eclipse procs would be easy to manage. With a sham+druid you can always switch the healing/dps/tank roles around and find out which you like better too. A hunter won't ever be able to switch to heals or tanking. Also a pally/sham/druid use 3 of the 4 armor classes so it will be easier and more fun to gear them.

My whole Multi-boxing career so to speak was geared towards 3 manning heroics and after the first day I gave up...

I use my T9 Pally Tank who needs no heals on trash and very little on bosses, but the problem was DPS. It was horribly slow.

Originally I used a Disc Priest and Boomkin I leveled via AV... the boomkin was doing sub 1k DPS due to gear (and probably me not using eclipse correctly) the priest had no mana regen, and spent most the time casting binding heal on herself and the druid as there's lots of random damage. As such, I was going oom every pull due to the low DPS.

I subbed out the Druid for my Hunter who's in mostly ilvl200 welfare epics... was a bit faster but still slow enough that I didn't think it worthwhile. As such, I'll most likely just go back to 2 boxing BG's for welfare PvP gear.

I'm considering 3boxing heroics with the 3 druids I'm leveling, but not in the traditional sense. I'm interested in stealth runs and switching out my rogue for one of the druids once and a while, but I don't know how successful this could be. I doubt any of the tank-n-spank bosses will be a problem at all, but how hard will it be getting to them is the question. This could be a complete failure or even more successful than the ezmode pally/shaman group imo.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

If you absolutely can't get 5 accts up try making some friends to do the heroics with you or join a guild. Once you know the instances and people realize you make it easy they will start asking to go with you. No one likes risking the random pugs where you never know how many wipes you will get.

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I'm sure getting 5 accounts up wouldn't be a problem. I'm still just not sure if I want to start out with 5, or work my way up to them. I also don't know how well my computer would be able to handle 5 accounts. I'm sure it would be fine but I may have to add more RAM to get decent performance. I still have about 6 months before I can actually start so I have plenty of time to think it over.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

I don't doubt every single heroic can be 3 boxed if you overgear it. The hardest one would probably be occulus because of the last boss. My guess on the easiest would be Utgarde Keep. Nothing in there is very anti-low dps. You can take your time and as long as you don't run out of mana you should be fine.

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So you think all heroics are potentially 3 boxable? I had thought the same thing but because of my lack of experience I wasn't positive. Its nice to know that you think they are all potentially doable with only 3, even if it means you have to over gear them just to be able to do them.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

I would definately use a shaman healer. I think your main problem will be maintaining mana to get through a whole boss fight. Using earth shield and riptide you will have alot of time in the 5 sec rule meaning you will regen your mana. Hots from a tree druid need to be kept rolling and with the different times they last you' be casting often to keep them up. Also you would be wasting the effectiveness of wild growth when you only have 3. Chain heal would be more efficient.

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Ya the main problem would be the healers mana. Thinking about it, a shaman healer would make more sens. Its abilities would be better utilized and mana shield would allow for much better mana regen then a tree.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

I would use a moonkin for the dps. Gives you an innervate and since you will only have 1 or 2 dps the eclipse procs would be easy to manage. With a sham+druid you can always switch the healing/dps/tank roles around and find out which you like better too. A hunter won't ever be able to switch to heals or tanking. Also a pally/sham/druid use 3 of the 4 armor classes so it will be easier and more fun to gear them.

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I like the idea of using a moonkin as a dps instead. Like you said I could also switch them all around and see what I like best. I also like that they each use different kinds of gear so gearing them wouldn't be as much of a pain.

I played around with the 3 trial accounts a little more yesterday and think I may try and see what its like with 5 later today or tomorrow.

While I'm talking about 5 accounts I might as well ask if you guys think my system could handle them. Here are my computers specs:
Intel i7 920 cpu still clocked at 2.66ghz
Asus p6t motherboard
6gb of ram
2 x 500gb hard drives in Raid1
and a gtx 275 1792mb graphics card
I assume it could handle 5 but what would be the performance expected? Main would have all graphics set to high except shadows and slaves would be at minimal settings. From what I have gathered they would play fine, until I hit northrend. Then the performance might drop dramatically. Oh and if its any consolation the slaves would be split on a 26" monitor and the main would be separate on a 17".

The more I think about it the more I start to think I should just go with 5 right from the start, and avoid any hassle down the road. I would like to be completely independent of others, and with only 3 that might not be the case. Though I'm still not sure if I want to jump right in with 5. At least I have plenty of time to decide what I want to do. lol

Thanks in advance for all your help everybody! ^_^

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Originally Posted by SketchBookStyle

While I'm talking about 5 accounts I might as well ask if you guys think my system could handle them. Here are my computers specs:
Intel i7 920 cpu still clocked at 2.66ghz
Asus p6t motherboard
6gb of ram
2 x 500gb hard drives in Raid1
and a gtx 275 1792mb graphics card
I assume it could handle 5 but what would be the performance expected? Main would have all graphics set to high except shadows and slaves would be at minimal settings. From what I have gathered they would play fine, until I hit northrend. Then the performance might drop dramatically. Oh and if its any consolation the slaves would be split on a 26" monitor and the main would be separate on a 17".

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up the ram to 12gb and running 5 will be no problem, you should see 50-60 on the main and 30-50 on the 4 others

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Originally Posted by SketchBookStyle

I'm sure getting 5 accounts up wouldn't be a problem. I'm still just not sure if I want to start out with 5, or work my way up to them. I also don't know how well my computer would be able to handle 5 accounts. I'm sure it would be fine but I may have to add more RAM to get decent performance. I still have about 6 months before I can actually start so I have plenty of time to think it over.

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If I had to start over completely I would start up 5 RaF accounts and level them to 60 solely in the old world instances. Get all the quests for each one before you go and you will only have to clear each instance once or twice because of the RaF xp. It's not as fast as boosting but it is so much more fun than boosting or questing. It will give you great boxing experience so you wont have any problem when you get to the newer stuff.

I suggest you start the rest of the trial accounts to have 5 total and quest to about 13. At 13 you can run RFC for some fun and learning how to do all the tanking/dps/healing yourself. At 17ish you can do wailing caverns and deadmines and around 18-20 you should be able to do shadowfang keep. You'll be able to do all this without paying anymore at all. You can go to Org or IF during peak hours to see how you computer can handle 5 accounts. The only place worse than those areas is dalaran.

I think your computer will be fine. I ran a worse cpu with 4gb ram and a 1gb ram vid card and was fine everywhere but dalaran.

And remember when you buy 4 new vanilla wows you get 4 free months with them plus 4 more free later from the recruiting.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

If I had to start over completely I would start up 5 RaF accounts and level them to 60 solely in the old world instances. Get all the quests for each one before you go and you will only have to clear each instance once or twice because of the RaF xp. It's not as fast as boosting but it is so much more fun than boosting or questing. It will give you great boxing experience so you wont have any problem when you get to the newer stuff.

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I will definitely have to keep this in mind when I level up any groups. I had originally just planed on boosting them up through instances, but that does sound like a lot of fun.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

I suggest you start the rest of the trial accounts to have 5 total and quest to about 13. At 13 you can run RFC for some fun and learning how to do all the tanking/dps/healing yourself. At 17ish you can do wailing caverns and deadmines and around 18-20 you should be able to do shadowfang keep. You'll be able to do all this without paying anymore at all. You can go to Org or IF during peak hours to see how you computer can handle 5 accounts. The only place worse than those areas is dalaran.

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I will have to try this out. I created 2 more trial accounts and was running around with 5 toons earlier. I must say it was rather enjoyable. I'm running 5 trial accounts though so no grouping (my main account is deactivated for the first couple months of school) I'll see how I like 5 and report back later. Oh, and my computer seems to be handling them all just fine for now.

Okay, well I got to playing around with 5 toons a little more the past couple days and think I have decided to just go with 5 from the start. It was just too much fun! I managed to get somebody to group my toons and ran DM with them. My setup was pally tank, priest heals, and 3x druid dps. I wiped a couple times, mostly because I have never done this instance at the level it was intended to be done. But after I figured out the basics it was a blast! A completely different gaming experience. The entire time my main was sitting high at around 60fps and the slaves would go between 25-40. So my computer seems to be able to handle then just fine for now.

Now comes the hard part... group composition choice! :D I'm thinking I want to maybe start out with the classic pally + 4 shamans. I'm also considering going straight to the deep end and rolling a mixed group. pally tank, shaman heals, warlock dps, moonkin dps, and mage dps, or something along the lines of that.

I have a couple questions on 5 man groups though. What would you recommend I start with? I'm not afraid to start out with a harder team, like a mixed group, but I'm also looking for a team that will compliment itself. Preferably all caster dps too. Any recommendations on this? I'm still not very savvy on what class and what specs build on each other to compliment dps/heal output. Any advice on this would be great. I know that a moonkin brings a strong +spell damage buff to the group, can't remeber what it is though, so that would most likely be 1 dps of choice. I'm not sure what healer would be better, a priest or a shaman. I'm thinking shaman because priests are too squishy and require a lot more attention. As for the other dps, what 2 caster classes compliment each others dps output and arent too hard to box?

Honestly I think I would kind of prefer a mixed group setup compared to something like the pally + 4 shamans. Though the shman group does win out in simplicities sake. Oh, and I probably should mention that my entire goal is strictly PvE, not PvP. I have never really been into PvP much but have always loved the PvE side of just about any game.

Thanks everybody!

Go with the mixed team you selected. I'm sure you could swap one class for another and it wont make a huge difference at the end of the day.

It probably wont be as easy to work with as the pally 4 shammy, but I'm certain you could make it work.
(others have).

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

If I had to start over completely I would start up 5 RaF accounts and level them to 60 solely in the old world instances. Get all the quests for each one before you go and you will only have to clear each instance once or twice because of the RaF xp. It's not as fast as boosting but it is so much more fun than boosting or questing. It will give you great boxing experience so you wont have any problem when you get to the newer stuff.

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I think I might just be getting anal here, but wouldn't you start 4 RAF accounts with one of the 5 being an already established account so you can get the RAF XP?

If you can afford to 5 box why try it with only 3? It would be a pain to have 3 lvl 80s then try to get 5 man teams. As others stated DPS would be low and the fights would take forever and running out of mana may actually shorten the fight (with a wipe of course).

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Originally Posted by blast3r

If you can afford to 5 box why try it with only 3? It would be a pain to have 3 lvl 80s then try to get 5 man teams. As others stated DPS would be low and the fights would take forever and running out of mana may actually shorten the fight (with a wipe of course).

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Just read your last post! Good choice!

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

If I had to start over completely I would start up 5 RaF accounts and level them to 60 solely in the old world instances.

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Important part bolded.

Also remember when you start a group up that if you have a paladin on your main account already(I think I remember you saying that) that you might want to use a different tank so you have other options at 80. If you end up boosting your only option will be a DK. If you level through with the group you can use a warrior or a druid but you will probably have one of them on another account.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

Also remember when you start a group up that if you have a paladin on your main account already(I think I remember you saying that) that you might want to use a different tank so you have other options at 80. If you end up boosting your only option will be a DK. If you level through with the group you can use a warrior or a druid but you will probably have one of them on another account.

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Yes I do have a 77 pally already, as well as a 74 dk. Both are actually specd for tanking lol. Here is kind of what I was planning.

First, before I even start boxing, I plan to level my pally to 80 and get her geared for 25 man content. When I start up my first team I think I have decided to go with with moonkin dps, shaman dps, mage dps, shaman heals, and a bear tank (for more options later on like you suggested). I will level them all up together to 60 and, if RAF xp hasn't been increased to level 70, stop there. I will then take advantage of what RAF time I have left and boost up as many toons as I can with my pally. My end goal would be to have a nice variety of 60s to experiment with. After RAF time has expired, or whenever I get tired of boosting, I will continue to level my main team up. I will probably quest from 60-70. From 70-80 though I plan to run instances, all the way. Instancing is my main reason for even considering multiboxing. I love the PvE side of the game and never tire of instancing. Sure it will be slow, but that doesn't bother me. I want to take my time and just have fun. Not to mention the fact that after my team reaches 80 they should be completely geared for heroics.

I hope that makes some sense. What do you think? Also, what do you think of the group composition (pally tank, moonkin shaman mage dps, shaman heals)? Any suggestions?

Thanks again for all the help! I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. ^_^

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Originally Posted by SketchBookStyle

I hope that makes some sense. What do you think? Also, what do you think of the group composition (pally tank, moonkin shaman mage dps, shaman heals)? Any suggestions?

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A shadow priest would add stam, spirit, and shadow protection buffs as well as mana regen with vampiric touch. It also has some nice easy aoe damage with mind sear. If you switched out your shaman dps for one you could still have most of your totems from your resto sham. It would be the same group I use now and I like it.

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Originally Posted by Smoooth

A shadow priest would add stam, spirit, and shadow protection buffs as well as mana regen with vampiric touch. It also has some nice easy aoe damage with mind sear. If you switched out your shaman dps for one you could still have most of your totems from your resto sham. It would be the same group I use now and I like it.

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would the gain in buffs be worth the loss in totems? namely the loss of Totem of Wrath? How do you like your group with the priest? What is the groups synergy like? I had considered a shadow priest but thought that another shaman would add more the the group as a hole.

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Originally Posted by SketchBookStyle

would the gain in buffs be worth the loss in totems? namely the loss of Totem of Wrath? How do you like your group with the priest? What is the groups synergy like? I had considered a shadow priest but thought that another shaman would add more the the group as a hole.

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I wouldn't drop the shaman for a shadow priest. That doesn't make much sense at all imo. You're not going to be mana hungry in 5 mans... Having mana totem makes up for vamp embrace and allows your second shaman to drop clensing totem. Stam buff isn't that important. Shadow protection isn't something you stop the presses for. Spirit buff is cool when there, but have you really ever cared when you didn't? I'd rather take a single totem of wrath to a 5 man than a shadow priest tbqh. Not to mention everything else the elem shaman brings. Shadow priests suck.

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Originally Posted by SketchBookStyle

would the gain in buffs be worth the loss in totems? namely the loss of Totem of Wrath? How do you like your group with the priest? What is the groups synergy like? I had considered a shadow priest but thought that another shaman would add more the the group as a hole.

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Don't over value totem of wrath. You will already have a flametongue totem for 144 spell power. This doesn't stack with the totem of wrath spell power. As for the crit chance you will have heart of the crusader from your pally which doesn't stack with ToW. You will get some spell power from it but I think all the other things priests can do make it a better choice. I forgot about fear ward too. Fear ward > tremor totem in pve.