Can I justify the cost? Dunno...

[falsfire3401]

So here's my situation currently...

I have two accounts, both WotLK, and not RAF'ed at all (were created ages ago). Currently dual-boxing without RAF a prot pally + holy priest duo on shadowsong horde. About to hit 60 and park 'em to wait for the cheap epic land and basic fliers in 3.2

When I do that, I've already got a 3rd unused vanilla wow cd key ready for RAF action. The plan is to RAF from account2->account3 and then use my 80 orc hunter to boost two sets of toons thru instances to 60, then grant 59 levels to a 5th toon on account2. Presto! 5 new 60's ready for action. They too will want/need to wait for 3.2 to get cheaper mounts.

Since 3.2 will probably still be awhile away, and I have friends playing alliance on a diff. PvE realm, I'd like to actually try triple-boxing.

Herein lies the problem: I do not want to triple-box where my account1 toon will NOT have RAF and account2 and account3 toons will...for obvious reasons, the team would get out of balance pretty fast and I want faster leveling, I don't want to do the long slow 1-60 non-RAF grind again...ever.

So I'd have to RAF in a fourth account (there's another $20 spent, and then another $25 to transfer the toon once 60+ from account4->account1).

Being alliance, I can't do the typical 3x shaman team, since I'd then have to spent yet another $40 to buy TBC x2 for the RAF'ed accounts.

Big question...can I justify spending $45 just to experience triple-box RAF leveling? (Class problems solved below for a non-shaman group)


As to classes, I decided...what male human wouldn't want two night elf females following him around everywhere? So that led to me obviously thinking a tank and 2 healer/dps hybrids. Since I already have a L62 warrior on that realm (alliance side), it wouldn't make sense to make yet another warrior, so I'd make him a pally tank. Problem with the hybrids, is the two cute little NE girls would end up being giant chickens from level 40 onward...not so hot. So I've kinda decided if I do this, I'll go against the grain and try something a little more difficult...a human prot pally and two NE female rogues (which would be strange given that I already have a level 80 human female rogue on another realm I'm planning to transfer to Hydraxis lol). Shadow priests would also be an overlap...I have a 66 human priest that will be transferring to the realm too lol. I suppose I could try something bizarre like 2x NE hunters with their pets tanking and a human male dpser like a warlock or mage.

Thoughts on 1x human, 2x NE group composition that will not utilize a warrior, priest, or rogue?


Oh and of course, all significant levels will be celebrated by a ding party in their skivvies in the "hot tub" IE a moonwell somewhere.

[Jubber]

This is not really a question we can answer for you. Justifying costs is something personal. You either can or can't, we don't have enough information about you personally to answer that question.

[falsfire3401]

Well I really wanna try the > 2 box thing, so I'll probably take the plunge when the time comes.

I've kinda worked out the team too. It'll be a male human mage (only class I won't have 60+ at the time), and two NE female hunters (one dps pet, one tank pet).

Total cost works out to more than that initially stated over time, it's not just $45 but an additional $20 to upgrade the 3rd account to TBC when they ding 60, then another $45cdn to upgrade 3rd account to WotLK at level 70, but at least these costs are all spread out over time, it's not an all-at-once thing.


Just worrying how the wife will react when she sees I'm spending 3 monthly fees on WOW lol I'll probably switch all three accounts (that I'll keep, 4th account is a throwaway account) to the 3-month billing cycle, rotating so that one is billed each month.

[kintamago]

I would have to agree with Jubber on this and say we cannot really make that decision for you. I would say stay with a few accounts and slowly build on more if you find yourself enjoying it. I originally played only one account for ages, added a second to see if I would like it and then finally hit five late last year. I might hit wife aggro, which no defense rating will protect me from, if I try to add anymore so 5 will have to stay my limit. The point being is it might be wise to start small and toy around with the different race/class mechanics. If you find yourself really enjoying it and would like to dabble with more go for it. The time thing should not be an issue as once you have higher level toons you can just boost them quick enough through instances. However, I have seen a post somewhere that gave a rundown of maximizing your RAF time. I would do a quick search for that if you are really interested in that asapect.

Hope that kind of helps you

[Ualaa]

You know what your finances are.

You have an income of some sort.
You have fixed expenses which should be paid first.

The difference is what you have to play with.
Savings of some sort should be part of the fixed expense section.

Anyway, the remainder and what portion you'd be willing to spend on wow are up to you.

The initial cost of a battlechest, ie Classic WoW + Burning Crusade is relatively cheap.
Even adding in Wrath of the Lich King, its all a one-time expense.

The true cost is the subscription, which is basically 15us/18can per month per account.
Cheaper with multiple months at once, but then you need to know you won't be burnt out etc.

You can compare entertainment in warcraft to other forms of entertainment.
Reading in the library, is free.
Five boxing warcraft, is about 75/month.
Going to the movies once a week, about 80/month.
A co-worker gets plastered at the bar... 300, every Saturday.
Roommates dad races radio controlled cars competitively, neat getting some to 85 mph, but 1500-2000/month.

Warcraft is virtually as many hours a month as you'd desire to invest.
The library is as well.
The movies are only 90 minutes to two hours a week.

Still not sure what you have as discretionary income.

[lordmythic]

I'm in the same boat as the OP and about to cross the threshold to 3 accounts....maybe 5 in the future. My personal justification to avoid wife aggro is the fact that I gave up comic books about 2 years ago when my first child was born. That used to be an average 60-65$ a week (250$ a month!) and since then I've only brought a couple of xbox games and my usual MMO accounts. You know what.. I'm going for it.

[mmcookies]

If you're finding that you have to justify the cost to yourself, it can lead to a need to continually prove that worth during gameplay, which might get in the way of having fun.

Assuming that having fun is your goal here, I personally find it easier to wait until your financial situation is such that the cost is trivial.