I have really enjoyed having 10 accounts for the last 18 months or so.

Shortly after WotLK came out I was able to accomplish my goal of soloing most of Naxx. Doing so back then in blues was quite an experience - each boss presented unique challenges and was quite a bit of fun to overcome. The gear upgrades that these got my fledgling teams were great rewards and motivators to see if I could add another boss to my resume each week.

Unfortunately, the days of 10-man solo raiding for upgrades are long past for me.

I was looking forward to Ulduar until I figured out that Bliz had decided to throw out all the mechanics of the game to this point and add in a "fun" vehicle-based first boss that (at least initially) was unboxable. Even doing a few bosses in Ulduar in PuGs playing only one toon, I figured out that Bliz had made the bosses past Flame Leviathan very movement intensive. I never cared for Ulduar and never really ran it much (even solo).

TOC was (and is) a lot of fun, with five quick bosses that give (gave?) great upgrades. However, those bosses are not soloable by a 10-boxer, either. I ran ToC on most of my 20 toons most weeks there for a while till they all had the major upgrades. It was a great way to learn the ins and outs of classes that I had previously only used a small portion of their key abilities with boxing.

ICC is fun to PuG too - I got all 10 of my ally toons through it last week - but I don't think it would be soloable, either (maybe Marrowgar?)


So solo raiding hasn't been on a 10-boxers play card since Naxx, but I still enjoy having 10 accounts. Benefits include:
  • Playing one team when the other got a crappy daily heroic and is waiting for the 15 min cooldown
  • Watching for good ICC raids in Dalaran trade while the other team is doing a heroic
  • Soloing the weekly raids
  • Playing more than five toons when running a 25-man raid with guildies (I played six when we downed Ony 25)
  • Playing the AH while solo raiding
  • Playing the AH while running a heroic on the other team
  • Soloing ICC10 trash for rep and rings for twice the benefit and at twice the speed I could if 5-boxing
  • Being able to hit one button and produce 10 epic gems transmutes at one time
  • Providing flexibility to swap out basically whatever combination of classes I want to take to... whatever
Now that my 10 alliance toons have 5.3K GS, I might be able to solo some of Ulduar with sheer force of gear. I've thought about doing so, but I'm honestly not sure I have the skill (or mental bandwidth) to do it and it would provide me with absolutely nothing in the way of advancement of my toons. Maybe if I get really bored one day I'll try.

I may drop down to 5-boxing some day, but I'm blessed in that my wants are very few and my salary far exceeds what I spend on myself. So the money isn't really a concern and this is my only real cash splurge.

Is the extra money worth going to 10-boxing for you? Can you prove my assumptions wrong and find a way to 10-box Ulduar, ToC, or even ICC?

I hope whatever you do you have as much fun as I have had.