Few question from a newbie

[Dzonatan]

After watching lots of video's, reading lots of guides, and seriously thinking abaut how WoTLK is "solo'able" and PuGs, I came to conclusion thats starting multiboxing would be a nice idea. But even so I still have some doubts and I hope some of you might help me with them.

1) In a long run 5 shamans alone wont do when it comes to heroics... so Im thinking of doing Prot Pally ,3x Ele Shamans, Resto Shaman. Im sure that kind of team would defently succed in PvE but I have doubts abaut PvP. Any comments on this one?

2) Im planing to do software multiboxing since its the only way I can afford to. I already have my keyclone, but still I need a good PC with GForce FX 8600, Inter Core Duo 2.0, 3GB Ram in order to succesfully run it with 5 WoWs. Is it wise? Im sure hardware way exceeds the software in some way, Does anyone know how?

3) But before all this Im nto going to but 5 WoWs untill I test it all on some privs. Does anyone knows a good private server where people dont mind MBs? I doubt it since they dont make money out of it as Blizz do xD

[Enndo]

Even though a few people might disagree, with the availability of kick ass high end parts at great prices now a days I don't really see a point to hardware boxing, but I'm not by any means a professional on the subject. But seriously for the price of 5 pc's that can run 1 wow on each you can build a single machine capable of running 10 wows at once lol.

[Turenn]

1. A paladin and 3 ele and 1 resto shammie works great in PvE, you'll be able to do more or less all 5 man content in the game. As for PvP a group of 1 holy paladin and 4 ele shammies works great. or just drop the paladin when you are pvping.

2. I have tried both hardware and software boxing, and I personally think that software boxing is the superior option. It does require a better system though, but you can take advantage of PiP, so it will be easier to switch your main for collection quests and stuff like that. And it is cheaper.

3. Private servers are illegal and it will not be discussed on this site. Get some trial accounts if you want to do some testing before committing to 5 accounts. Remember to follow all of blizzards rules to the letter, as a multiboxer you have much more focus on yourself, and sooner or later you will be reported. And make sure ALL of the accounts are in your name!

Good Luck.

[Kalahan]

If you want to test your system use a few trial accounts, that way you don't have to waste your recruit a friend things if it doesn't work out and you can get a picture of how well your machine and internet connection work on the real servers (I've messed about with private serves before and they perform very differently to the real ones).
Going off youe specs that computer should cope running 5 instances of WoW no problem (I started off with a computer not quite as powerful as that and it worked fine, mostly) though you may find that you'll have to drop the graphics settings and resolution of your slave accounts. Having a multi hardware solution isn't necessary to get a better performance anymore, if you just upgrade the GFX card, drop some more RAM in it and go for a 64 bit OS (so the extra RAM can be used, XP and Vista 32bit can only address up to 4GB and that includes whatever you have on your GFX card) you'll see major improvments, but I do think your current machine will do fine. A more pressing concern is your display, if you have dual monitors then you're probably good to go but trying to multibox with one monitor is a pain.

[Dzonatan]

Even though a few people might disagree, with the availability of kick ass high end parts at great prices now a days I don't really see a point to hardware boxing, but I'm not by any means a professional on the subject. But seriously for the price of 5 pc's that can run 1 wow on each you can build a single machine capable of running 10 wows at once lol.

Thats pretty much exactly what I was suspecting, im assured Xzin knows what he's talking abaut but 5k$?!?! Thats 13,5k Z?otych (polish currency) and I would have to work whole year on my parents pot, without spending a penny (Grosz for my country currency matter). Im not really sure how it does exceeds above normal software method but if its just for pimpy look like Adidas expensive shoes, then nty.

1. A paladin and 3 ele and 1 resto shammie works great in PvE, you'll be able to do more or less all 5 man content in the game. As for PvP a group of 1 holy paladin and 4 ele shammies works great. or just drop the paladin when you are pvping.

2. I have tried both hardware and software boxing, and I personally think that software boxing is the superior option. It does require a better system though, but you can take advantage of PiP, so it will be easier to switch your main for collection quests and stuff like that. And it is cheaper.

3. Private servers are illegal and it will not be discussed on this site. Get some trial accounts if you want to do some testing before committing to 5 accounts. Remember to follow all of blizzards rules to the letter, as a multiboxer you have much more focus on yourself, and sooner or later you will be reported. And make sure ALL of the accounts are in your name!

Good Luck.

1) well thats PvE down but PvP. Since the Achivments system droped in I always had this mania to complete them all with is practictly impossible. While droping the Pally would be a good idea in BG, that would make things a bit tedious in Arena since I would have to drop a extra Shammy as well in order to 3v3. But then agian I might as well do it like Aeli and find myself a other player who plays a pally and tag along. But back to PvE it isnt as snazzy and awsome as I believed. Raiding might be a pain especially in fights with require moving.

2) Whats a PiP?

3) All snazzy and cool but I used my trial long ago... Looks like I'll have to make few new mails in order to pull them off agian

If you want to test your system use a few trial accounts, that way you don't have to waste your recruit a friend things if it doesn't work out and you can get a picture of how well your machine and internet connection work on the real servers (I've messed about with private serves before and they perform very differently to the real ones).
Going off youe specs that computer should cope running 5 instances of WoW no problem (I started off with a computer not quite as powerful as that and it worked fine, mostly) though you may find that you'll have to drop the graphics settings and resolution of your slave accounts. Having a multi hardware solution isn't necessary to get a better performance anymore, if you just upgrade the GFX card, drop some more RAM in it and go for a 64 bit OS (so the extra RAM can be used, XP and Vista 32bit can only address up to 4GB and that includes whatever you have on your GFX card) you'll see major improvments, but I do think your current machine will do fine. A more pressing concern is your display, if you have dual monitors then you're probably good to go but trying to multibox with one monitor is a pain.

Truth is that I tested the 5x WoWs at my friends PC with has GForce FX 8600, Dual core 2.0, 4GB RAM and all WoWs on minimal settings (that was abaut 2 months ago) and everything went real smooth. Anyway I take it as that my Windows XP Home Edition might not be what it takes unless my slave acc's will be on minimal settings and the master account is on high ones.

Other then that There are 2 other things that dont give me peace of mind

1) Cursor management - Some classes has those point and click AoE Spells and I also heard of a program that copy's the position and clicks to all WoW Instances.. Do you guys know what was the name of it? cuz I forgot >_>

2) In with way a single monitor multibox is inferior to dual monitors? Unless the diffrence is fatal, I will have to bother looking for parts and graphic card than will work on 2 monitors.

[Kalahan]

2) In with way a single monitor multibox is inferior to dual monitors? Unless the diffrence is fatal, I will have to bother looking for parts and graphic card than will work on 2 monitors.

If you have dual (or more) monitors then you can see the slave clients as well as your main one and being able to see them and access them quickly becomes very important, especially in PvP. I did find that for levelling early on I could get away with only one monitor, though my computer groanded and strained at the constant maximizing and minimizing of screens (but I only had 2 gig of ram at the time which likely caused that). Give it a try with one screen for the time being, just upgrade your machine when you need to/can afford to, you might find a method that works well for you that way, personally Iwould truggle to go back to one screen, I just like being able to see the slaves too much.
Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Btw, if you need more trial accounts just go to hotmail to yahoo and sign up for one and use that, easy extra accounts.

[Coltimar]

You can use the same e-mail account for different trial account, right?

[Dzonatan]

You can use the same e-mail account for different trial account, right?

There is a limit to how many trial accouts you can have per email.

[Turenn]

I've had 8 trial accounts on the same email no problem, only downside is that there is a limit to how many accounts you can create from one IP adr. I had to pop over to a friend and open a few there. I think the limit is 4 accounts.

[Taliesin]

Yeah, don't worry about be forced to open more accounts from different IPs, but still use the same email. You're not circumventing any rules or regulations. They just put that in place to try and slow down all the botters/spammers that just create accounts and spam on Trade channel. Same principle behind Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, etc, preventing you from opening a bunch of new accounts all at once.