Learning Curve

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Good questions. I'm sure we all have variable opinions. I'll share my 2 cents.

How long does it take to get to where playing multiple characters is second nature?
As you noted, some of it is setup (ISBoxer makes things a LOT easier) but a lot of it is relearning how to play a new game. The base mechanics are the same but, for example, your weaknesses as a 5-boxer are not the same weaknesses you would have as 5 individual players. For example, 5-man PUGs have trouble coordinating attacks and burning cooldowns when needed. As a 5-boxer, you never have to question whether someone is going to assist the tank when needed or wonder when someone is going to burn cooldowns and pull aggro. You also have a much easier time predicting when an alt is going to pull aggro or your tank is going to lose aggro because your rotations are 100% consistent versus random players.

Healing is another area where you don't have the same weaknesses as a 5-man PUG. You know when random adds spawn and you're casting certain spells that certain players constantly get aggro, so you can plan ahead for which one will need heals and which parts of the fight are going to need specific types of heals.

It's fascinating stuff. I would guess most people probably take about 3-4 weeks of play to get familiar with a single class multibox setup (e.g.: all 5 elemental shaman or 5 blood DKs or 5 hunters). The complexity goes up significantly when you start throwing multiple classes together. If you're not already familiar with the class mechanics in WoW solo and in groups, it will take that much longer.

Is there a standard class/spec that is sort of like training wheels for dual-boxing?
Well, not really, though Hunters are awesome questing classes as you have both tanks and ranged DPS and healers and crowd-control all rolled into one class, more or less. They don't scale so well in instances but for questing and farming, I can't think of an easier class to start with. I'll admit to some bias as I've always loved my WoW hunters, in spite of all the buff/nerf/buff/nerf/LOL/nerf/WTF/nerf/buff/redesign/nerf/buff/nerf/OMG SCREW YOU GUYS I'M GOING HOME crap they've done to them over the years. If you'd prefer casters, shaman is a great choice as you have 15-minute hearth, rez, heals, dps/AoE, tanks on cooldowns, some crowd-control, and a pretty good melee option for speeding up questing. Plus, shammies have been done to death so there isn't much new under the sun to learn about them that you can't find referenced here on our awesome forums.


In the end, you'll find it gets easier to play different classes as you get better at figuring out your weaknesses and strengths as a multiboxer, and everyone is slightly different depending on your playstyle and chosen screen layouts/macros/etc. Don't get too wrapped up in using any one person's setup as gospel -- you might discover something nobody else thought of, or tweak something everyone thought was the best way to do something so it's a bit more efficient.

That's half the fun of multiboxing: discovering what works and what doesn't.

Good luck!