Why Don't More Multiboxers Raid?

[Mercurio]

I would like to see a OpenRaid guild with some of the PvE multi-boxing teams to do some raids with. I think a lot of people would like to rotate teams through lockouts. Likely help newbie people that cannot do a lot of content mixing with other people.

I haven't used OpenRaid that much, but something like that sounds fun! Fishbeak and I were talking about something similar this weekend.

[zenga]

Yep, the change they've made to raids recently are awesome for boxing! Now you can easily PuG past non-boxing friendly bosses, then make this toon lead and get the rest of your team in to do whatever you want!

While true it kinda defeats the reason of multiboxing for me. When I started with wow I started to multibox from day 1 (day 2 technically) and I cleared all 5m wotlk content before I teamed up with someone else (mind you I only killed the first boss in 2 instances for 2 or 3 weeks in a row before I was able to kill the next one). Only killing raidbosses on my own will ever mirror the satisfaction I got after finally killing the 2nd boss in the pit of saron while being stuck for weeks there. I've enjoyed this game a lot (and still do), but nothing beats my multiboxing times in WoTLK. But the step to box raids on my own is just too big that it's not worth all the hassle for me. But I can see that it's an individual thing whether you team up with others or not.

I'm willing to bet your analyses are pretty spot on, zenga. Since you are already figuring this stuff out in your head, spend a few minutes writing it down on the forums! Figuring out a decent strategy is half the battle for raiding boxers. Maybe I'll be able to prove your strategies work!

You have me pretty good with my balls there But sure thing if the opportunity is there I'm happy to contribute my ideas, regardless if they work or not.

One thing I was working on in the previous expansion (when I was still using isboxer) in order to make individual movement for complicated fights easier was a mixture of healing and loading different keymaps, I'll try to illustrate with an image (mind you I forgot the exact terminology isboxer is using):

mb.png
- the buttons on top (12345) are loading a different set of mapped keys if you click on them (e.g. boss1, boss2, ... or phase1 boss3 phase2 boss3 ...)
- the red is your standard grid, healbot, vuhdo raid frame
- the orange zone is your standard healing broadcasting (i.e. see it on your main and your healer actually heals them)
- the blue zone is a click zone for movement that corresponds with the keymaps on top, and this can be anything tailored made for a boss or boss phase without the need to later standard macro's keybinds

Example 1 where a toon gets a debuff and needs to move out of the group:
- clickbar 2 (is that the isboxer name) is active, and loads a set of mapped keys (keymap_boss1_phase2), when toon 4 gets a debuff (visual on your grid), then by clicking(+a key) the blue area on toon 4 his unit bar moveright activates for toon 4 until released

Example 2 where you want 3 groups to go to a different spot
- clickbar 3 is active and loads another set of mapped keys, clicking in a random blue unit frame will do nothing for the tanks, but group 2 will move left and group 3 right until released

The possibilities are endless, I also had a couple of those keys which would turn other active keymaps off.
Not sure if I explain myself clear, or if you have another way of moving, but I found this to be really easy to deal with movement fights when I used it for my challenge modes in MoP. It obviously involves a lot of micromanaging, but the idea behind it could be expanded for raids (esp those where you need to run out with a debuff). If I'm talking nonsense let me know and I'll try to be more clear.

[CDNProdigy]

Thanks for putting this in writing Zenga.

Funny that you brought this up because I was currently working some theory on something very similar for my own Isboxer setup because when I went into Highmaul for the first time I found my current setup lacking and quickly got punished as a result.

Good post.

[Toned]

I boxed all the raids in WOTLK / Cata ... Skipped most of MOP after the Auto Follow change.
I typically 4-5 box in actual raid groups, so I am able to clear all the content. I have a friend that I duo'd ICC w/ playing 2x 5 boxers... was fun times.

Highmaul is pretty easy to 4box... Flex is awesome for this.

[MiRai]

Finally getting around to posting in this thread, but...

I'd consider myself pretty casual when I multibox, and if I want to do things on a more serious level, then I'd probably just play solo. Don't get me wrong, if I had a bunch of characters that were geared and ready for raiding I would definitely want to try it, but because I'm so casual I don't always get that far and I've yet to have any "raid ready" characters that I multibox in any expansion yet.

I think I just have a hard time dedicating so much time to a game these days when I feel that I can be doing more productive things, like honing my video editing skills, learning how to program, or just whatever else. I highly doubt I'll ever quit multiboxing unless it gets outlawed in every game that I'd want to do it in, but I just have generally less time to dedicate to constantly wiping over and over (although I do really like the "figuring things out" aspect of multiboxing).

It takes too much skill.
If I am the person that is being held up as being uberskilled, I beg to differ. I don't have particularly fast reactions and it is embarrassing how basic my ISBoxer setup is. I'm certain somebody like Mirai or Lax would be able to do wonders and somebody like Ellay could run circles around me in PvP.

I'm flattered.

[dougie700]

I would love to be able to Raid 10man

But I think the restraints at this moment in time for me are time and resources, at the moment i get around 2 - 3 hours a day on the game, 90% of this time is spent doing garrison missions across 35 toons, yes that time has reduced significantly by using the idea's that you posted in your other thread.

I was able to do my 10 man group at the same time while i had 16gb memory (but wife's pc memory gave up the ghost and for the moment i have had to lend her 8 gig of mine (love I know )) and even then it struggled along, now my pc really struggles with anything over 6 accounts.

But to answer some of the questions

Raiding is too hard.
Yes and no lol, I would love to be able to raid, but in a way I think it is hard, but then a raid is something designed for 10 indivduals +, but people like yourself and other give us all hope that we van do something similar.

It takes too much skill.
yes, regardless what you say, you still need a level of skill and dexterity to move around 10 toons at once

Getting sufficient gear to get started is too hard.
This statement can be true, if I can only gave 2- 3hours a day to wow then I need to priorotise my time, spend nearly 2 hours in an LFR queue is not time well spent, as my followers are starting to get their ilvls up, the chances of getting gear from missions seems the better alternative, but seeing as i only have 6 toons at max level, and the next nearest at lvl 92 i need to spent time leveling / grinding on those.

I don't want to optimize macros.
Its not that I don't want to optimize my macro's, its that I simply do not have a clue, how or where to start, at the momment when it comes to Toons i feel I am a "jack of all classes, master of none!", which is why I rely on the posts within this forum or I would still be running around killing lvl 2 boars.

I can't afford a great computer.
Definetly not, but maybe an option for me is to upgrade my wife's, so it will run 5 accounts, but then I an knackerd when she wants on her computer lol

I guess when i first started boxing It was so that I could solo dungeons and farm mounts, yes that challenge has moved up. I am spending £100 a month now on subs for 10 accounts, and really with a baby on the way, how much longer can you justify that.

Don't get me wrong Merc, I am not having a go at you, I was just trying to answer the questions that you originally posted, as if you had asked me personally. I love the vids that you post and are a great motivator for me.

I would love to see your isboxer profile so I could see how you have set things up.

Whats the spec on your 2 pc's?

Dougie

[Mercurio]

Thanks for your very detailed reply. Helps me see some other perspectives. A couple of comments:

1) I get around 2 - 3 hours a day on the game, 90% of this time is spent doing garrison missions across 35 toons

2) Getting sufficient gear to get started is too hard.
This statement can be true, if I can only gave 2- 3hours a day to wow then I need to priorotise my time, spend nearly 2 hours in an LFR queue is not time well spent, as my followers are starting to get their ilvls up, the chances of getting gear from missions seems the better alternative, but seeing as i only have 6 toons at max level, and the next nearest at lvl 92 i need to spent time leveling / grinding on those.

3) I don't want to optimize macros.
Its not that I don't want to optimize my macro's, its that I simply do not have a clue, how or where to start, at the momment when it comes to Toons i feel I am a "jack of all classes, master of none!", which is why I rely on the posts within this forum or I would still be running around killing lvl 2 boars.

4) I guess when i first started boxing It was so that I could solo dungeons and farm mounts, yes that challenge has moved up. I am spending £100 a month now on subs for 10 accounts, and really with a baby on the way, how much longer can you justify that.

5) I love the vids that you post and are a great motivator for me.

6)Whats the spec on your 2 pc's?

Dougie

1 - Doing missions takes quite a bit of time initially. After a while when you have quite a few followers at 645+ ilvl, they take almost no time at all. I probably spend about 10 mins a day on missions for a team of ten toons now since so few of the missions are worth doing. I don't do the gold ones, my toons are purple so don't need the XP ones, and they have all the 645 gear. Really the only ones I do are the Highmaul ones and garrison resource ones.

2 - LFR doesn't take long at all. With two healers and eight DPS (I convert my tanks to DPS for LFR) my queues are less than five minutes and doing the first wing takes about 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes for the second wing. After doing it once for the legendary quest, I typically avoid the third (one boss) wing.
One other thing, after ebony posted her message about them taking away questing whilst in a raid, I took one team of ten from 93 through 100 in about nine hours. Knowing all the quests, using exp boosting pots the whole time (they've been sitting on 93 for a while collecting 500 garrison resources every few days), and collecting lots of treasures made the leveling process blow by.

3 - My macros are posted in the following thread - I'd advise just using those as they do pretty darn well: http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/5...-Macro-Library

4 - That I completely understand. Real life always comes before WoW.

5 - Good, I'm happy you enjoy them!

6 - They are both about three years old, though I upgraded one with a few new parts recently:
Intel i7 920 2.67 GH
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
Windows 7 64-bit
16 GB RAM
and
Intel i7 3930 3.20 GHz
Nvidea GeForce GTX 560
Windows 7 64-bit
32 GB RAM

One has an SSD, the other just a normal spinning drive.

Hope that helps!

[valkry]

I don't have the time to anymore. Even had to downgrade from 10 boxing to 4-5. I'm even only just gearing up my priest team now and haven't even started lvling my shammies yet. Sucks to have a more time consuming job in rl

[Exityz]

I am currently leveling to 90, then I will be upgrading to WOD and start raiding. However, i'm only 5 boxing at the moment untill I can get a better computer, or a additional one.

[wakasm]

Here are some reasons why I currently don't raid. Although I keep trying to get myself to a point to do it. I was really close with Cata, and feel like I'll be very close in WoD assuming I don't burn out.

Issue One:
Just general time. Working 40-60 hours a week makes it harder (for me) to get to the point of raiding. I hope multiboxing stays around forever so that the day I can have more time, I can dive right into it. I really feel like in 5 years, I'll be financially stable enough to make this happen... but until then... work is work!

Issue Two:
This is a dumb one... but the whole 8 accounts on one B-Net thing bugs me to no end. I have no idea why. Every single patch I hope to see they increase this to 10. I feel like it this happened, I would put in 200% more energy into trying to raid. Even though I have a second bnet account (well 4 with diablo), there is just something about knowing that a lot of my account specific stuff won't work with my other bnet account always deflates me a little bit.

Issue Three:
I don't feel I am a great MMO player. Even though BC, WoTLK, Cata (skipped MOP), and WoD so far, I've been able to clear most 5-man content... I always feel like I'm gimped by my game knowledge. Macros are almost always someone elses. I research a lot of stuff, but it's almost always someone elses. I learn more about playing the game from peopel multiboxing than I do from PLAYING the game. I feel like this limits me as far as even simple things, like boosting my DPS, or playing smarter. It's not just a lack of effort... I just think that a lot of gaming things come more naturally to others than it does to me as far as being elite goes. I do the best that I can, but find out people are doing it 3 times better than me. I am not sure if it's a mechanical skill thing, a mental one, or what.

Issue Four:
I feel like I am always 2 steps behind in the multiboxing software (isboxer). Whenever I get stuck, I generally can solve the problem mentally, but struggle implementing it in the software. This is where people like Mirai and Lax come in and constantly make me feel like I'm a noob (which is a good thing), because they solve these issues inside the software that I can only solve conceptually outside of the software. It's very polarizing to know there is a better way to do something, but not to be able to implement it, just to find out there was an easy way to implement it.

Issue Five:
I get too caught up on completion-ism sometimes. And when I try, I try too hard. I'm definitely a try-hard lol. WoW Achievements do not help this.

Issue Six:
I play too many other games. This is probably the biggest soul sucking aspect, which is probably related to issue one (being time). My gaming backlog is so long... and sometimes that gets me demotivated, which is usually when I take a break form multiboxing. (But I always seem to come back)

Issue Seven:
I think I'm too slow. If it takes you 9 hours to level, then it probably took me 18. I am not always keeping my eye on the most efficient way of doing things. Which probably seems counter-intuitive to how a multiboxer is.