[Guide] Runes of Magic - Getting the most from Multi-Boxing

[Farleito]

Starting off from scratch...

So, you've decided to multi-box Runes of Magic, good for you! This guide was written a few weeks before the Chapter II expansion comes out so some of the details of this guide may no longer apply after the expansion goes live. I will do my best to update this guide when the expansion is released.

If you have never played Runes of Magic, and are reading this guide to help make a decision to play Runes of Magic or something else...keep in mind that Runes of Magic does not require a monthly subscription but it does have that MMORPG addictiveness along with an in-game Cash Shop (commonly referred to as 'CS') where you can purchase items to increase the amount of experience gained, enhance your weapons and much more. The cash shop requires the use of in-game diamonds which can be acquired by paying for them with real money or in-game gold (thru the auction house - exchanged with other players for gold).









Simple Boxing Macros and Techniques

• Following/Focusing

To follow your "main" character, you can use the following macro:

/script FollowUnit("party1");

(There are alternative ways of doing this; keep reading)

You can not target a player or unit by name. You must use "focus<1.2 or 3>", "party<1-6>", "target" or "player". I am not a big fan of using the RoM focus because it is reset each time you teleport, enter an instance, or die. If you wish to use the focus for following and assisting, you can assign a focus by using the following macro:

/script FocusUnit(n, "party1");    

where n is the focus number (you can select 1-3) and "party1" is the character to focus on. You could replace "party1" with "target" or any other clever ways to assign a focus. From here, you would then use "focus1" (or 2/3, depending on what you provided for n) in all other macros.

Example:

/script FocusUnit(1, "party1");
/script FollowUnit("focus1");

This is a very simple macro that will assist "party1", which is usually, but not always, the party leader.

/script AssistUnit("party1");

When forming groups, the group leader will always be party1, unless they leave the party and rejoin. In the event that you crash or disconnect and rejoin the party, you will be added to the last position. So, if you have invited other players into your group, typically after your boxing group has been established, they would be moved into the "party1" position and this will screw up your macros. This is rather annoying because if you are in an instance, and leave/disband party to correct it, you will be ported to the nearest graveyard.

Now, just make a macro, place it on an action bar and assign a keybinding for it. (on all toons) Spam this key to get them to follow and assist. I would like to add a comment that the AssistUnit happens *much* faster than it did in WoW.

• Collecting Loot

The easiest way to collect loot is to leave the "Attack" skill as actionbar item #1 and turn on click-to-move from the options menu along with auto-loot. Target a dead mob with your main and hit 1 to have your followers loot it. You could get clever and stagger your loots by adding increasing wait times to the following macro (provided by KrugSmash):

/run AssistUnit("party1")
/run if UnitIsDeadOrGhost("target") then UseSkill(1,1) end
/wait 1
/run FollowUnit("party1")

Keep in mind that if your bags are full, you obviously don't pick up the loot, and you may hold up the others from looting since only one toon can open the loot interface at a time. (See add-on: Loot Filter)

Note: You can "interact" with friendly NPCs (quest givers) by using the "attack" button. From there, you can auto-accept quests (See add-on: Streamline)

• Accepting and Completing Quests

Accepting Quests is no fun when you have to click "Accept Quest" on each toon. Unfortunately, you will still have to do this from time to time, specifically when more than one quest is offered. To make it easier, you can use the following macro (make it part of your spamable follow/assist macro):

/script AcceptQuest();

Completing Quests is just as easy (and just as hard in those multiple quest situations)

/script CompleteQuest();

One thing to keep in mind here is that if you choose not to accept/complete a quest, you must get out of interact range or you will still accept/complete the quest even if you press esc to close the dialog. When I'm scoping out my daily quest options, I'll choose to not accept a quest but hit my spam-follow key to leave and it will accept the quest.

Multi-boxing Software Solutions

• Keyclone

I personally use keyclone for this and I feel that it works well for this game. The only thing needed is to set the name of the application to "Runes of Magic" and you're off and running. Subscription: One-time fee.
(This space is reserved for any additional comments from Rob [author of Keyclone])

• Auto-Hotkey

From my experience using AHK while boxing in WoW, I had issues with resources over time. Not sure if the copy I had was buggy but it did do the job. I have never used it for RoM and since Frogster frowns upon multi-client scripting, I would shy away from it but only for this reason. Subscription: Free
(This space is reserved for any additional comments from an AHK representative)

• Innerspace

I have absolutely no experience with Innerspace, but that does not mean it should not be considered. <I would be happy to update these comments for Innerspace if anyone would like to write up some information about it.> Subscription: Monthly/Yearly (~$3-$4/month)
(This space is reserved for any additional comments from an Innerspace representative [Lax])

My Bags are full...

Bag space in RoM is valuable since you only get 2 bags for free. If you want more than 2, you need to "rent" them by using diamonds (7 diamonds for 3 days). Since most of the quests in this game are collection quests, you will acquire a ton of items.

• What to keep (for levels < 30)

If you are new to the game, you can easily become overwelmed with the loot you pick up for the first few days. To keep this simple and short, I'll jump right into the items that are worth keeping:

• Tier 3 enhancement runes (i.e. Resistance III) You won't see these until higher levels.
• High-Durability items (over 100 - sell them on the AH or use them)
• Quest Items for quests that you are doing. Daily quest items drop even if you don't have the quest.
• Greens/Blues/Purples/Orange(<--keep dreaming)

• What to throw away (for levels < 30)
  
  • Production runes (Link Runes, Frost Runes, etc...) You will get thousands of these and since they are so common, you can buy them for practically nothing if you ever need them. For now, toss 'em.
  • Arrows and Ammunition (unless you play a class that needs them)
  • Left over quest items (the game doesn't always get rid of these for you)
  • Tier 1/2 enhancement runes (i.e. Magic I) It's not worth the bag/bank space to carry these around. If you have a piece of gear that you will eventually replace, go ahead and throw a rune in it. Otherwise, toss 'em.
  • When you hit level 30+, you will get an idea of what is worth keeping and what is worth tossing.
• What's the blue bag for?
  
  • From level 1-20, you can open the blue gift-bag for goodies. You will get a lot of healing/mana potions. Be sure to toss them when they are well below your actual level. No reason to waste the bag space.
  • I would recommend that you hold off from opening the bag until you know that you will be playing for a long period of time (over a weekend). You will get temporary 24-hour mounts that can help you get around more quickly. It would be a waste to open the bag and then go to bed since the this game uses live time, not played time.
  • 3x Experience Potions (100% increase to experience gained from combat)
  • 3x Experience Cherries (50% increase to experience gained from combat)
  • Transport Runes, Marking Ink, Golden Repair Hammers, Purified Fusion Stone, Arcane Charges...and a few other Item Shop Items. This is their "crack" samples. If you want more, you have to use diamonds, so use them sparingly.
  • Throw the Item Shop items into your Item Shop bag (the little red and white gift box when you open your bags). There is a special bag that holds these...don't waste your bag slots with these items.

[Farleito]

How do I get diamonds and what do I do with them?

Diamonds keep the game going. Since the game is free to play, the developers need a way to eat and support their families. Considering the game can be downloaded for free without any subscription fees, a purchase of 1000 diamonds is about the same as a WoW account purchase (not including the expansion packs). Depending on how many diamonds you purchase, you can get them for 3 cents to 5 cents per diamond. At times, they offer discounts and bonus diamonds on purchases for a period of time. If you are going to make a big purchase, try to wait for these times. I've noticed that they usually do it on the weekends.

• Getting around...the cheap way
  
  • As I mentioned earlier in the guide, hang on to your blue gift-bags until you are going to play for a while. Use the temporary mounts from the gift bag.
  • You can rent a mount from the "mount rental" NPC. It's 2000 gold for 2 hours, or 300 gold for 15 minutes.
  • A temporary mount (7 - 30 days) can be purchased with diamonds. I personally feel that this is a huge waste of diamonds since it's not permanent. If you can only afford a temporary mount, wait it out. Do not give in to this. Once your mount is gone...it's gone. Bye-bye diamonds.
  • A permanent mount can cost anywhere from 199 (60% increase speed) to ~380 (65% increase). If you're multi-boxing, they all need the same speed. Also, you want to be able to get away from PK's, right? Go for the fast mounts. It's well worth it.
  • ...and now... the cheap way - Wait for the mounts to go on sale! They go on sale (50% off) once every few weeks.
  • Keep in mind that all major towns have teleporters so that you don't have to run thru the entire town. All zones have a teleporter as well (Snoop). Be sure to take advantage of these to avoid wasting time running around.
• Useful cash shop items (for multi-boxing)
  
  • Party Experience Potion (30% increase to experience gained from combat). These last 1 hour and the party must be close to receive the buff when the potion is first used. You can make gold by inviting people into your party and applying the potion (assuming your not using all 6 spots).
  • Mounts - don't have to say much about this. It sucks to run everywhere.
  • Transportation Portal Runes. It is much cheaper to buy the portals than the individual transportation runes.
  • Big Angel's Sigh - Lets face it... when one character dies...they all die (unless you have a priest in your group). It sucks when one of your followers gains too much agro and gets killed. Do you a) ressurrect and run that one toon back? or b) Suicide the rest of them so they're all together again? If you're like me, and suicide the rest of them to keep things "even", the Big Angel's Sigh makes you immune to experience and talent point debt for a 24 hour duration. You don't feel so bad after a wipe or two.
• Gold to Diamond exchange
  
  • If you don't want to pay for diamonds with real money, you can purchase them thru the auction house using gold. Since Frogster implemented a 30-day holding period on diamond purchases (which prevents selling/gifting diamonds) the demand for diamonds has increased.
  • Using the auction house, there are two ways to acquire diamonds. Selling gold and buying diamonds. If you buy the diamond, you will be paying somebody elses asking price. On Grimdal, this is usually 30k gold per diamond because there are more people buying diamonds then selling them. The better thing to do is to sell your gold with an asking price of 1 diamond. I've been able to sell 15k gold in exchange for a diamond. 1 million gold (on average) would get you 55 diamonds. Since most people have to wait 30 days to buy gold with diamonds, they will pay whatever they can when it's available.
  • So, to recap...don't buy diamonds... sell gold instead. You get a better deal this way. If you're familiar with the Stock Market, it would be like a Market Order (buying diamonds) versus a LImit Order (selling gold). You can pay the "going rate", or set your own price and wait until somebody matches it.
• Rubies?
  
  • When you purchase item shop items, you get rubies. The ratio is 20:6. For 20 diamonds spent, you get 6 rubies. This allows you to purchase exclusive item shop items (such as vanity pets and costumes).