Converting to 10man boxer in Cataclysm?

[Mercurio]

Yes, I think I'll be 10-boxing in Cata. Of course, I've been 10-boxing for more than a year and a half

And I did hit a new milestone this weekend - after getting a few more toons somewhat geared up, doing some server/faction changes, and setting up macros...

I soloed three teams through VoA10!

And they all one-shot it, which I was really happy with - I didn't lose a single toon in any of my three runs. I was surprised at this, especially since one team has tanks that are well below the expected level of gear (one at 4200, the other at 4900 gear score).

Too bad there was only 1 usable drop out of the six, but I'm sure I'll have better RNG luck this week.

As I continue to mess around with 10-boxing, I am coming to the conclusion that success has surprisingly little to do with gear - maybe 80% preparation/strategy/execution and only 20% gear. A couple of examples of this:

• Theradin got through the first 4 bosses in ICC solo with toons that are a good 500-600 lower in gear score than my best team, but that best team (with gear scores of 5500-5600) tried Morrowgar for an hour or so, and the best I did was get him to 74% (LOL). Of course, I went in there on a whim and hadn't done any planning (crap strategy, great gear).
• It took me about 5 hours of wiping to Algalon with my 5500 GS team before I finally downed him the first time (great gear, imprecise strategy), and just this weekend one-shotted him with a sub-5K gear score team (crap gear, honed strategy).

I hope strategy can continue to overcome the tough things they throw at us in Cat.

[Toned]

Lol that's sick...

You should work on TOC and ICC on your mainteam see if you can push pass the first 4 ! ICC got another 5% buff

[wyofiddler]

Holy crap Mercurio, you make me want to 10-box right now! Even with the obvious challenges you mention, that sounds like so much fun.

......Of course, I would have to ding 8 more toons to 80, and gear them out, and buy a couple more comps, and upgrade my internet service, and..... yeah.

I guess I'll focus on getting my first team to 80 and clearing all the heroics first.

[Mercurio]

It's been fun to work toward the 3 10-box team thing for the last couple of months but this has meant I haven't made time to try any ICC or ToC stuff.

Now that I've done that and gotten VoA10x3 down (sooner than expected), I need to start in on ICC or ToC. I'm pretty sure I'm not as skilled as Theradin, but even if I can only figure out a few bosses, it should be hella fun to be able to do them multiple times per week while working my way up to more.

Of course, I may find that no matter how many times I try I just can't get past Beasts (ToC) or Morrowgar (ICC), but it is fun to dream. And I now have enough toons that I can have fun partnering up with other boxers to try stuff while still working on solo progression if needed. I'll be excited to try it all out!

[Redbeard]

No I wont be moving to 10 boxing... I hope they continue making more things accessible to groups.

[MiRai]

• It took me about 5 hours of wiping to Algalon with my 5500 GS team before I finally downed him the first time (great gear, imprecise strategy), and just this weekend one-shotted him with a sub-5K gear score team (crap gear, honed strategy).

Is this a typo or should I be /bowing down to you? Algalon is the hardmode only Ulduar boss.

[TheFailTrain]

I will be keeping my 10 man team in cata as well. I have a feeling that the first tier of raid content will be pretty easy. Even if its not faceroll I am sure it can be done with a little dedication. I remember when everyone on the forums (including myself) thought that ICC would be impossible to box until Theradin posted his videos.

Also Mercurio I started working on Morrowgar about 2 weeks ago and my best attempt is 50% without flasks or hero. I am hoping that with the new ICC buff I will be able to get him this weekend. I have failed around 30 times on him so far.

[Mercurio]

Is this a typo or should I be /bowing down to you? Algalon is the hardmode only Ulduar boss.

Oops, so maybe I meant Toravon Gets so confusing with all those three syllable bosses whose names end in "on".

[Mercurio]

Also Mercurio I started working on Morrowgar about 2 weeks ago and my best attempt is 50% without flasks or hero. I am hoping that with the new ICC buff I will be able to get him this weekend. I have failed around 30 times on him so far.

Ouch. Well, if you figure it out, be sure and post your strategy if it differs from Theradin's. I'll do the same. Good luck on getting him!

[Tonuss]

I won't go to 10-boxing in Cata, though I have the accounts if I wanted to. I've been playing with guildies and friends again lately and have only 5-boxed to complete the occasional group quest or do some PLing.

I suspect that 10-boxers will do well in Cataclysm if they keep the changes that they announced, where 10 and 25-man zones will be matched in difficulty and provide the same level items. I think that right now, there are four "tiers of difficulty" in WotLK raiding. 10 man normal, 25 man normal, 10 man HM and 25 man HM. The 10 man normal is, for the most part, designed to allow just about everyone to see all of the content (and if you can't do it, they'll continue to buff you until you can). From there it thins out the player base a bit.

If Blizzard is continuing its decision to give everyone as much access to content as possible (and I believe that they will) then going with two levels of difficulty (normal and HM, regardless of raid size) means that you'll have normal modes that are quite easy to complete, and heroic modes that are very difficult. I suspect that they may also continue to implement the progressive raid-wide zone buff that they added with ICC.

As a 10-boxer, you'll have a normal 10-man that is designed for soft-core raiders and gets easier over time (via the buff). I'm sure that they'll continue to add challenges that split a raid's attention, and this will require some serious multi-tasking on the part of a boxer. But it will not surprise me to see 10-boxers completing raid content in Cataclysm. I'd be more surprised if they didn't.