Switching to multiple classes/roles

[Ozbert]

So far my multiboxing adventures have consisted of playing five of the same class and spec at a time - 5 elemental shamans, 5 BM hunters, 5 frost mages etc. This is pretty simple, I just have all toons do the same thing at the same time. Using this method the shammies were able to brute-force their way through TBC instances with burst DPS.

Now, I'm hearing that it's no longer possible to brute-force instances In Northrend. Now a proper tank is needed and probably a healer too. With that in mind, I've been levelling a prot pally over the last couple of weeks which I intend to substitute for one of my five elemental shamans and I'm also going to respec another shaman to resto. I'm hoping this will make a pretty solid group for doing Northrend 5-mans and eventually heroics.

However I'm a bit daunted by the prospect of trying to micromanage three different roles simultanously, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips. I'm thinking I'll probably have to create rotation macros for each role, a tanking rotation for the pally, a DPS rotation for the elementals and a healing rotation for the resto. I'll put them all on the same key and just spam this all the way through instances. Is that viable?

The other thing I'm wondering about is the level difference between the pally and four shammies. The pally hit 77 last night and I intend to take it to 80 and tank instances for my non-boxing guildies. The shammies are all 70 and have full rested, having been shelved since Wrath released. If a level 80 tanks instances for four level 70's are their XP gains going to be seriously crippled?

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated.

[Fuzzyboy]

There's a learning curve, but it's not that much harder than 5 of the same class. I made a post about my setup a while back but I can't seem to find it - you can find a copy here:

http://bitling.blogspot.com/2008/11/...ard-setup.html

It's a bit dated but it should help a bit. I think they key is to get your macros right and get some experience. Start with the easy instances until you have all the key memorized. That way you'll be able to respond to unforeseen things more intuitively. Good luck - it's well worth it :-)

[Fuzzyboy]

Heh, looks like my original thread was bumped. Anyway, here it is:

My macro/UI/keyboard setup (request - LONG)

[genocyde]

The one thing I can suggest from a 5 separate class team is: Don't bind your DPS / Tank / Healing spammer all to the same key. The sooner you get away from this the sooner you start achieving great things. I'm not saying it can't be done this way, but I can gaurantee you will wipe at least once when you get that Oh $#!+ moment and cannot react because you need to act separately. At least do Tank/Heals on one key and DPS on another.

This way you won't wipe to the first boss aggro dump because your tank was attacking and couldn't taunt cause you can't stop spamming heals which are on the same button as tanking and all your DPS was still throwing massive nukes while the tank had no say in the matter. (Ya, it's happened enough times I switched) If you start practicing individual control, you will probably find yourself refining a lot about your multi-class game.

I struggled through instances in northrend while leveling cause of this and now that I've switched I get invited to naxx10 as tank/3xdps/heals (not for all fights yet) with my guild.

[Bigfish]

However I'm a bit daunted by the prospect of trying to micromanage three different roles simultanously, and I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips. I'm thinking I'll probably have to create rotation macros for each role, a tanking rotation for the pally, a DPS rotation for the elementals and a healing rotation for the resto. I'll put them all on the same key and just spam this all the way through instances. Is that viable?

This is pretty much what I do, although I also keep a lot of extra buttons on my tank's bars so I can micro-manage as necesary.

[Svpernova09]

I run an oddly diverse group: DK Tank, Elemental Shaman, Shadow Priest, Balance Druid, Resto Druid.


I tank / dps with 9,8,7,6,5.
I heal with F6-F12, using F1-F5 to target who needs heals.
My DPS has 2 main macros, 1 /follow party1, and 2 /assist party1.
My Healer has the same macros as my DPS but another that I can bind to target a specific party member by name.
I use alt+F1-3, 5-12 for specific stuff to fire off. Such as totems, shadowform, Doomkin Form, decursing, poison removal, battle rez

Using ClickBoxer can make things really, really simple because you can just send a key directly to a wow instance and not worry about unbinding it on each system you DON'T want an action to fire off.

[moog]

I use alt+F1-3

I hope your finger doesn't step one to the right in mid-combat

[Svpernova09]

I use alt+F1-3

I hope your finger doesn't step one to the right in mid-combat

I haven't yet. :_D

I'm waiting to see if anyone asks why I skipped 4

[shaeman]

Hmmm - alt f4 is the ultimate oh shoot button

[Bloodcloud]

jep learned the hard way.
I had Greater heal on that button (macro with mod=alt) on F4

While in an instance my main suddenly logged out ...
that was confusing at first, then just a *DUH* and a long laugh

cheers