An issue with multi-classing in classic

Hi there all, I’m new here and his is my first post. Brief background about me, I started multiboxing 5 priests in legion and into bfa and made a ton of gold and had a lot of fun. However, classic-wotlk is way more exciting in my opinion so needless to say I’m pumped to do multiboxing in classic.

im still undecided on what comp I will be running, I know my main will be a warrior so that’s 100% a slot taken. I initially thought that 5x warrior would be fine but these forums made me think that dungeon grinding is the way to go. Therefore, I don’t think 5x warriors would work would it? I am taking off 2 weeks of work so I should be able to hit 60 before I go back.

so I’ve seen a lot of posts about warrior and shaman which I think sounds awesome, but then it got me thinking well having a mage for ports and a warlock for summons would be nice. And then I realized doing all the class quests for totems, stances, and demons would be really inefficient due to them being in all different areas. This is a huge turnoff for me, and I also feel like I would play my characters to their potential if I played 5x of something or 1x and 4x of another. However, obviously synergies and whatnot might make up for this but I’ve never multi classes and feel like I might be better off sticking with 5 warriors. Thoughts?

I'm no expert on classic/vanilla, but from what I've gathered a traditional trinity setup seems ideal for dungeon clearing. Personally I would go for a mixture of armor types as well since personal loot is not a thing as to minimize the amount of pointless loot drops, but that's down to preference.

You are correct in that, in general, when you add more classes, roles and specs, you either increase how much you need to rely on your setup and/or how much micro management is required to get the most out of your team. However, I don't think a fully mixed team is not going to be achievable in classic. Some classes like rogues and ferals are probably problematic to work with, but others might be just fine. Again, I never played vanilla so I'm not 100% certain as to how rotations were then compared to today. What I think it comes down to is finding the right balance between efficiency, utility and fun for you,

There are also certain classes that you don't have to do the class quests on until later. In a full group set up, most of your classes can just get their first class quest and then be done. Warrior (stances at 10/30) and Shaman (totems at 4/10/20/30) are the only ones with "required" class quests beyond the first one offered around level 10 for a boxing group. In that vein, my opinion is that only the shaman adds a rather burdensome addition to a boxing team. A group of warrior/paladin/priest/mage/warlock, for example, would only need to do Warrior defense stance at 10 and zerk at 30 and Paladin redemption at 12. The rest can easily be ignored until much later when traveling is easier.

I'd say the level 30 felhunter quest for Warlocks is also mandatory. Dispel/interrupt is pretty huge.

One thing that actually can work, is 4 hunters + a healer. I once leveled a group like that through instances to level 30 something, it wasn't really very difficult, there was so much damage going out that stuff tended to die before the pets got chewed up. The pets just chain taunt, swapping agro, and if they die, you have a mouse over res macro. Healer does what it can.

I don't know/think it's ideal, but, it worked for me in vanilla in an entertaining way. Likewise, a warlock would work as well, as a voidwalker is an even stronger tank than any animal pets.

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Originally Posted by Mercbeast

One thing that actually can work, is 4 hunters + a healer. I once leveled a group like that through instances to level 30 something, it wasn't really very difficult, there was so much damage going out that stuff tended to die before the pets got chewed up. The pets just chain taunt, swapping agro, and if they die, you have a mouse over res macro. Healer does what it can.

I don't know/think it's ideal, but, it worked for me in vanilla in an entertaining way. Likewise, a warlock would work as well, as a voidwalker is an even stronger tank than any animal pets.

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Did you ever try 3 Hunters and a Druid and Healer (could be a second druid but likely Priest would be better).

If the content is challenging &/or you need a stronger tank your Druid could go Bear.

If a stronger tank than the pets isn't needed the Druid could go cat.

If all were Night Elves you could setup some nice ambushes... You could have the Bear lead chaser(s) like a "flag runner" to the Hunters who then all surprisingly open up on the chaser(s) from stealth. If the chaser(s) react in time and start to focus a hunter or the bear gets into trouble then the Priest steps out of the shadows to CC/heal/dps...

Hunters work pretty well in PvE. I just find them horrible to box in PvP. You get jumped by a couple of melee and you have to struggle for the first 5-10 seconds of the fight just getting your characters out of the dead zone to start doing some damage.

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Originally Posted by Matty

I am taking off 2 weeks of work so I should be able to hit 60 before I go back.

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Does this mean you think you will hit 60 in 2 weeks time?

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Originally Posted by omegared

Does this mean you think you will hit 60 in 2 weeks time?

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If he's playing full days then 2 weeks should be enough time to hit 60.

My first 2 toons to 60 were dual-boxed warlocks. Easy mode. Then I leveled up 2 more almost exclusively doing dungeons with 2 of my friends. One played the tank. One played healer and mage (he was used to 5-boxing so stepping down to 2 was relaxing) and I played rogue/warlock. If I had it to do over I would never have picked this combo. Trying to stay behind the target and manage a cast cycle was challenging. If it was a fight where you had to move a lot to survive someone was going to die. That being said, the rogue usually did the most damage so MAYBE I should have gone dual rogues... At the time we wanted the extra CC that came with a warlock (mages could CC humanoids, warlocks could CC demons).

I've recently downloaded ISBoxer and I have to say, this tool would have made things much easier. That being said, I'd still go 3X identical range DPS. Priest/Warrior/MageX3, Priest/Warrior/WarlockX3, etc. MAYBE I would mix mages with warlocks. But definitely don't mix range/melee DPS. Movement was the hardest thing to handle. Bosses that threw you around, ran around, forced you to run, etc. were a nightmare.

For "easy mode" I'd go with 5 warlocks. For a big step up in survivability I'd go 4 warlocks and a healer. With ISBoxer this would not be a big step up in difficulty (I really can't say enough positive things about that piece of software). There will be fights where these teams will simply not perform as well as priest/warrior/WarlockX3 but they require much less skill. So it really depends on your personal skill ceiling AND your tolerance to it. Not everyone who can manage it enjoys doing so. For 2 wow expansions I did not dual box at all and I have to say I actually enjoyed the game more. ISBoxer reduces the annoyances, but it does not completely remove them.

My advice:

If you haven't ever tried a tank/healer/3XDPS setup I strongly recommend trying one before classic comes out. Try a yellow or green dungeon, keep aggro with the tank, keep everyone healed while you DPS down the mobs, beat the boss. If that's too much for you, try 4XWarlocks and a priest. If that's too much (unlikely unless you are a strictly casual player and/or aren't willing to get the right hardware/software) or you don't enjoy it (more likely) then go with 5xWarlocks.

The other thing you might want to consider is raiding. If you have any interest in Raids that will complicate your choice. For me I'm only interested in healing for raids, so getting 5XWarlocks to 60 is not going to scratch that itch.

Thank you all for the replies and feedback. I’ll add a bit more information about my intentions. I will be playing on a pve server and have no ambition to multibox pvp, I mainly want to use multiboxing to be able to grind out gear for my main without competition and to make lots of gold. My main is going to be a raider and pvp whenever battlegrounds end up releasing in p3. I am heavily leaning towards the 3x war 2x shaman comp, but it’s so hard to not have a warlock and mage in group for fast traveling. The dream scenario of clearing brd, all my characters bags are full to the brim, and my mage portals a couple out, sell their stuff to a vendor, bank, all that and then have the remaining 3 summon them back and repeat. Running back to that dungeon as a horde would take a long long time. However, I feel like it would be very challenging to play a port war, mage, lock x and healer all at once. Would 4x lock and war be fine for farming like brd scholo and strat?

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Originally Posted by Matty

Thank you all for the replies and feedback. I’ll add a bit more information about my intentions. I will be playing on a pve server and have no ambition to multibox pvp, I mainly want to use multiboxing to be able to grind out gear for my main without competition and to make lots of gold. My main is going to be a raider and pvp whenever battlegrounds end up releasing in p3. I am heavily leaning towards the 3x war 2x shaman comp, but it’s so hard to not have a warlock and mage in group for fast traveling. The dream scenario of clearing brd, all my characters bags are full to the brim, and my mage portals a couple out, sell their stuff to a vendor, bank, all that and then have the remaining 3 summon them back and repeat. Running back to that dungeon as a horde would take a long long time. However, I feel like it would be very challenging to play a port war, mage, lock x and healer all at once. Would 4x lock and war be fine for farming like brd scholo and strat?

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I think you are overthinking it man. I am running War / Priest / Mage / Mage / Lock. Casters setup with clever cast sequences should be able to do their DPS rotation in 2-3 buttons. Priest will heal using the VFX click healing think. Warrior will be controlled as main char. Should be very easy to handle - this is classic not BFA.

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Originally Posted by Yani

I think you are overthinking it man. I am running War / Priest / Mage / Mage / Lock. Casters setup with clever cast sequences should be able to do their DPS rotation in 2-3 buttons. Priest will heal using the VFX click healing think. Warrior will be controlled as main char. Should be very easy to handle - this is classic not BFA.

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I probably am overthinking it haha, nothing else to do for the next 70+ days besides think :p

I will have to look into the vfx click heal setup. What warlock pet do you plan on using for end game dungeons? I feel like leveling up in the open world with that comp would just absolutely blast through mobs with 4x wand shots, I would probably just have my warrior follow and not mess with him much since stuff would die so fast, maybe just IWT him so he can loot them lol and pilot from a caster.

war/mage/2xlock/priest might be what I go for due to 2 free mounts for a total of ~1200 saved gold if you consider that epic warlock mount quest when it’s released runs about 500 gold instead of 1000. Also 2x summons for getting back to dungeon and I could do an imp for blood pct and something else on the other warlock. Man I’m getting hype just thinking about it.

and to answer a question asked earlier I’ll be no lifting during my 2 weeks off so probably 14 days straight of 16-18 hour sessions :)

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Originally Posted by Matty

What warlock pet do you plan on using for end game dungeons?

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Imp probably for pet, I will probably spec the lock destro to more easily match the mages rotation and I think it is probably better for AOE and single target.

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Originally Posted by Matty

I feel like leveling up in the open world with that comp would just absolutely blast through mobs with 4x wand shots, I would probably just have my warrior follow and not mess with him much since stuff would die so fast, maybe just IWT him so he can loot them lol and pilot from a caster.

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See I am thinking of using him the warrior to run round collecting mobs / keeping them off the casters, while popping them in a semi stationary position nuking things from a distance. Hence controlling from the warrior seems easier for me. I have not done much testing with this though, and without beta access I won't get much of a chance. I will resub a month before release on retail and test things out there though, see what feels best.

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Originally Posted by Matty

war/mage/2xlock/priest might be what I go for due to 2 free mounts for a total of ~1200 saved gold if you consider that epic warlock mount quest when it’s released runs about 500 gold instead of 1000. Also 2x summons for getting back to dungeon and I could do an imp for blood pct and something else on the other warlock. Man I’m getting hype just thinking about it.

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I personally don't see much point of double warlock. Gold is going to be the least of your concerns multiboxing if you do it properly, and I think double mage will give you a much easier time in dungeons. I personally don't see any benefit to double warlock, just another set of soul shards to manage.

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Originally Posted by Yani

I personally don't see much point of double warlock. Gold is going to be the least of your concerns multiboxing if you do it properly, and I think double mage will give you a much easier time in dungeons. I personally don't see any benefit to double warlock, just another set of soul shards to manage.

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I plan on doing 2 pallies, 2 locks, 1 mage, but could be convinced to do 2 mages 1 lock instead for dps

My reason for doing 2 locks (beside getting 2 cheaper _level 40_ riding in the initial no gold environment) is that I think 1 lock can do the improved healthstones and imp while the other can focus on other pets (don't the buff stack?)

Also that's 2 soulstones etc

But is warlock dmg significantly worse than mage and all the above utility not worth it ?

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Originally Posted by Moorea

But is warlock dmg significantly worse than mage and all the above utility not worth it ?

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Another use I can think of for two warlocks over two mages is having different pets. One could have an imp out for blood pact and fire shield and the other could have a felhunter for interrupts and an offensive dispel. Quite a few mobs have annoying buffs that it's useful to be able to remove.

In MC/BWL mages are higher ST DPS than warlocks but in dungeons you can use your DoT's and attack with your pets so they're about the same or even higher. AE-wise, mages are a bit easier to play since coc/arcane explosion are instant and don't need to be targeted. Warlocks have to ground target rain of fire or take significant damage from hellfire that will need to be healed which will be a drain on your paladins mana.

Has anyone tested if the [@player] condition works for ground targeted skills yet? That would make things a bit simpler.

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Originally Posted by Moorea

I plan on doing 2 pallies, 2 locks, 1 mage, but could be convinced to do 2 mages 1 lock instead for dps

My reason for doing 2 locks (beside getting 2 cheaper _level 40_ riding in the initial no gold environment) is that I think 1 lock can do the improved healthstones and imp while the other can focus on other pets (don't the buff stack?)

Also that's 2 soulstones etc

But is warlock dmg significantly worse than mage and all the above utility not worth it ?

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Personally I don't think so, I think if I was min-maxing I would take 3 mages. But I think I can just about justify the utility of one, but with sub-optimal rotations from multiboxing, I reckon I'll need the double mages just to carry the damage.

With a mage over a warlock you also gain a much safer and flexible CC and a counterspell.

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Has anyone tested if the [@player] condition works for ground targeted skills yet? That would make things a bit simpler.

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Use VFX, Mirai's video covers this really well; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsAIukHgWgo

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Originally Posted by Yani

Use VFX, Mirai's video covers this really well; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsAIukHgWgo

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I'm just curious if [@player] works. It would make things a lot easier to macro when you're mindlessly grinding dungeons.

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Originally Posted by Apatheist

I'm just curious if [@player] works. It would make things a lot easier to macro when you're mindlessly grinding dungeons.

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@Player does work, not sure you'd want to use it for mages & warlocks though surely?

If you’re mages or warlock are closely stacked, press a key bind to reset camera and then do a @cursor macro for blizzard and rain of fire, would work I would think

If you would use a macro to reset your camera, then there's no real reason not to do it with a slot swap macro, assuming camera settings have the same console commands in classic as retail.
I use slot swap macros to set my camera to normal (Only horizontal when moving) for the slot I'm in and follow (Always adjust camera) in my other 4 slots. MiRai has a good video on the basics of slot swap macros with their pros and cons, don't have the link off hand though.
/console cameraSmoothStyle 1 < Horizontal when moving
/console cameraSmoothStyle 2 < Always