Sharp skill curve adding a tank to the mix?

[unseen]

I've been multiboxing 4 warlocks and a priest up to 70 where I already had some characters ready to throw into the mix (mage, warrior, paladin, druid) to set up a "proper" pve team.

I've done several instances with 4 warlocks and a priest so far and found it pretty manageable and fun. I went into mana-tombs in heroic mode just to see the difference and wiped twice just clearing the first three pulls in. Granted, my guys have trash gear - but considering how little my gear affects my demons I realized I will have to get a real tank.

So last night I got my protection warrior all set up, modified a few macros for my slaves to target off of him and I was set to go. I went through Shadow Labs in normal mode to get a feel for it and it was pretty rough going.

Here's the troubles I ran into:

1. I had to worry a lot more about placement, letting my tank run ahead. Previously this was a non-issue.
2. I would forget to take my guys off follow, leading them all right into melee range to be cleaved.
3. I would get so focused on my tank getting heals that I'd look up and notice nobody is dpsing.
4. I would be so focused on dpsing that my tank wouldn't get enough heals.
5. Num lock would be turned off, which meant no heals for my tank since my heals are bound to my number keys (I'm no longer in range to hear the heals going off, which was very helpful in my previous group composition) -- this wiped me twice.
6. I noticed a large drop in dps due to that 4th dpser not being there. He happens to be the best geared . (Additionally, that one warlock I'm missing already has 375 alchemy and herbalism.)

I'm going to keep trying this, but I've got to say moving from 2 classes to 3 has added a whole new level of complexity. Unless someone can confirm that a 4 warlock 1 priest team can do heroics in wotlk I think this is the only way I can really proceed. My plan was to be able to do heroics.

[Biz]

I wiped a LOT at first it just takes time to get used to. I have a spammable dps macro right next to a spammable healing macro which makes remembering to do both a lot easier.

[Dominian]

I've been multiboxing 4 warlocks and a priest up to 70 where I already had some characters ready to throw into the mix (mage, warrior, paladin, druid) to set up a "proper" pve team.

I've done several instances with 4 warlocks and a priest so far and found it pretty manageable and fun. I went into mana-tombs in heroic mode just to see the difference and wiped twice just clearing the first three pulls in. Granted, my guys have trash gear - but considering how little my gear affects my demons I realized I will have to get a real tank.

So last night I got my protection warrior all set up, modified a few macros for my slaves to target off of him and I was set to go. I went through Shadow Labs in normal mode to get a feel for it and it was pretty rough going.

Here's the troubles I ran into:

1. I had to worry a lot more about placement, letting my tank run ahead. Previously this was a non-issue.
2. I would forget to take my guys off follow, leading them all right into melee range to be cleaved.
3. I would get so focused on my tank getting heals that I'd look up and notice nobody is dpsing.
4. I would be so focused on dpsing that my tank wouldn't get enough heals.
5. Num lock would be turned off, which meant no heals for my tank since my heals are bound to my number keys (I'm no longer in range to hear the heals going off, which was very helpful in my previous group composition) -- this wiped me twice.
6. I noticed a large drop in dps due to that 4th dpser not being there. He happens to be the best geared . (Additionally, that one warlock I'm missing already has 375 alchemy and herbalism.)

I'm going to keep trying this, but I've got to say moving from 2 classes to 3 has added a whole new level of complexity. Unless someone can confirm that a 4 warlock 1 priest team can do heroics in wotlk I think this is the only way I can really proceed. My plan was to be able to do heroics.

Its always possible to do heroics if you outgear them enough but the easy way would be to use the paladin to tank instead of the warrior... Dont get me wrong, both can do it but its alot easier to make tank macro's with the paladin.

I would recomend ranged dps mage/warlock/boomkin druid..

Earth and moon vs curse of elements outrules each others so you dont realy need the druid but he does actually have some decent cc.. (hibernate)

[eqjoe]

I always set my arrow keys on my keyboard to pass only to my followers. If I want to break follow or move/face my team without following my tank, I simply use an arrow key. Bind a key and use it for both nukes on your dps casters and heals for your healer. That way, when you are nuking, you are healing. The thing to watch out for is healer aggro. Build is important here as well as mixing in "fade" if you are playing priest. I use TwoBoxToolKit so that my healer can whisper the tank when he is low on mana. I have mana pots in a toolbar with a key assigned that is not bound anywhere else for my priest.... I might change this and use a button on the ClickBoxer interface so that I can free up that key.

You have lots of options. Part of the fun is figuring out what works for you and downing that BossMob.


-j

[DgtlSorcrs]

I've been multiboxing a Prot pally, Holy Priest, and Arcane Mage together for some time, so I'm quite used to a tank in the mix.

For my $0.02 worth, I'll tell you how I manage... the tank is my master. I just couldn't conceive of running into battle any other way. All my other toons have /assist TANK_NAME /cast SOME SPELL macros set up for their "opener" dps. Every time I change targets on my tank, I can just whack that to focus fire on the new mob. If I then want to switch tank to something else, I just use other spells than the one with the /assist.

My setup for entering combat is to stop just outside of aggro range, then hit a quick "backstep" on my slaves to get them to stick where they are, then range or face pull with the pally... range if Im not worried about aoe/cleave, face if I am.

Nice thing with a pally is that if my slaves start to pull aggro on something, I hit consecrate and my "follow me" button, and suddenly my squishies are right next to me in my consecrate, and the mobs generally tend to forget about them and go for my pally.

I've also had luck when I was first leveling my priest using a rogue/priest combo. There, I had the rogue stealth, the priest would pull with shadow word pain, and when the mob came running, the rogue would cehap shot and I'd dps like hell, hoping to kill them before they murdered either. It was a lot dicier than runnin in with my pally, but it worked.

Either way, for me, there's no way I'd have a tank/mele on any by the master. With everyone else following, they're automatically "on point" and I have the least amount of repositioning to do when combat begins.

Hope that helps.

[TheBigBB]

What I do is I have my own buttons for the tank and I play the tank just like I was single-boxing it. I have the followers use the arrow keys to move, and I tap backwards whenever they need to stay back. You get used to adding in the DPS and healing more and more as you play, but just make sure you're not selling your tanking short, and make sure to get in the habit of leaving the others back a long ways.

[Hachoo]

Its always possible to do heroics if you outgear them enough but the easy way would be to use the paladin to tank instead of the warrior... Dont get me wrong, both can do it but its alot easier to make tank macro's with the paladin.

Post 3.0, I strongly disagree. Warrior tanking is easy now.

Paladin's still bring more to the group as far as synergy goes though.

Warrior tanking might be easier post 3.0 and also much more AoE capable but its still nowhere near as easy as a paladin. With a paladin you really only have to ever push 1 button to tank, and you don't really have to move at all. Warriors are nowhere near this easy, even post-3.0.

[Ellay]

I've been thinking about adding a tank to the mix, and 5 boxing just for the sheer fun of it. PvE is 100x more enjoyable and really getting into it with this expansion. I think it is highly due to the encounters being more intriguing and that tanking got a LOT easier.

The biggest bang for your buck is an Unholy DK because they add 13% damage to the group.
If you prefer a different tank, you can drop a Shaman and place a Boomkin which some have used with great success.

[Sam DeathWalker]

It has been my experience that you must pick classes based on their ability to do ONE thing great. You only get one key to mash basically when multiboxing. Tie the priest heal key to the mage nuke key and the warrior tank key (whatever they do besides attack). Write a single macro using the best ability you have and then spam the key.

/castrandom works well for this.

People who figure they can move from one keyboard to another and do multiple things with different classes are in for a hard time. Im not saying its impossible, espiacally with only 5, but you are going to run into some issues for sure.

[Vyndree]

As for the "learning curve" question....

I would say from easiest to hardest...
1) same class, same spec
2) similar roles (role = ranged DPS/melee DPS/tank/healer)
3) multiple roles

The more roles you add, the more you have to think about.

If you mix and match 5 different ranged DPS classes, in your head you're still thinking about DPSing. Nothing more. It's easier with the same specced classes because you don't have to worry about different cooldowns and cast times -- but still, you have one goal: dps.
If you add a healer, you now have to think not only about DPSing, but keeping people alive. (However, doing ezmode questing or outgearing an instance will be less work because you generally don't have to worry about anyone dying.)
Add a tank and no healer, same thing as above. Thinking about holding threat/damage mitigation and DPSing simultaneously.
Add both a tank and a healer to your DPS and you're now thinking about THREE things at once: keeping people alive, DPSing, and holding threat/mitigation


So, of course it's harder to do 3 roles than just 1. How hard? That depends on your personal skill level, motivation, and goals for the group. Normal instances? Pretty easy. Heroics? Hard. Raids? OMFG. (at the correct gear/level ofc)