Gearing after preraid bis?

[Apatheist]

There's no reason at all you can't 5 box raids in classic if your composition is suitable and you can find a guild that isn't full of people who just have an irrational dislike for multiboxers. It's not like later expansions where your ability to box raids is limited by mechanics. There is no encounter in any classic raid tier that can't be easily managed while boxing. I would think mages would be a great class choice with this in mind. Stacking 6-8 mages in a raid is great with ignite stacks and decursing plays a big role in a lot of fights.

After you've proven yourself attendance-wise and if you take the time to farm gear/consumables most sensible raid leaders would view having 4-5 reliable DPS as a blessing while trying to fill 40 slots every week. Many guilds on retail already struggle with a 10-25 flex roster.

You might benefit from playing a single character and getting comfortable in a guild and then just offering to fill in when needed (which I'm pretty sure will happen a lot.) Once people see you can pull your weight while boxing I can't see why they wouldn't be happy to invite your alts again. Beats giving away loot to a pug or not being able to raid, right?