Introduction + 5 Man Team!

[Esquire]

Hey DB Community -

Long time MMO-Boxer and WoW Player that has recently transitioned over to boxing a 5 man team.

I'm currently running War (54)/ Mage(60)/ Mage (54)/ Lock (54)/ Priest (54)

I'm very new to multiboxing on WoW but so far have EMA and a very basic VFX for clique heals via the Priest.

NOW: I'm reaching out for help on the following topics since I've mainly boosted the other 4 with my main mage -

1. What specs should I be using for each class under this setup (@ 54 and also @ 60)?
2. What utility can I add in addition to VFX heals to help improve my efficiency and power? (Via ISBoxer or Addons)
3. Are there any WoW Macros that I should be using?
4. Are there any ISBoxer specific setups that I should implement?
5. Where should I level 54-60? (My characters are very geared)
6. Is there a way to keep my 60 mage UI/Macros clean so I can easily switch over for raids/solo farm?

I'm sure I'll have more questions over time but figured this would be a great place to get things started for myself and others who may be starting up or looking to improve during a time we find ourselves at home a lot.

Thank you very much in advance and I look forward to discussing with you all!

-Esq

[nodoze]

Welcome and sounds like great progress so far. That is is a pretty solid team with good utility.

Soc from the ISBoxer Discord has on her twitch page recommended specs for boxers each of those classes (warrior, mage,lock, & priest): https://www.twitch.tv/isabellae/

Personally I had issues with VFX healing if things got too hurried I sometimes would send a healer off running and think repeater regions may be better/safer. I found sending all four arrow keys to the healer could stop the runaway so it isn't that bad (if you notice when it happens and react quick enough).

Regarding VFX my lead character is my skinner and I liked having VFX'es up to my main's screen to be able to see the mini-maps from my background herbalist, miner, and treasure hunter (dwarf racial) which allowed me to see all types of nodes from my main screen.

Regarding leveling from 54+, if you are horde many folk do the "Gorshak farm" which is a repeatable quest in BRD which I believe we originally discussed in these forums here. If you are Alliance you unfortunately don't have access to that quest but you can just focus on BRD and I think folk stay with the Gladiator areas until they feel things are pretty easy and then go further.

Best of luck to you!

[Wizeowel]

6. Is there a way to keep my 60 mage UI/Macros clean so I can easily switch over for raids/solo farm?

Absolutely. Instead of sending keypresses in your mapped keys, send macros instead. This way you can leave your normal UI intact.

Define them in Game Helpers, make a new macro set "Mage" and put your mage toon in the "Enable macros for ... these highlighted characters". This way you can make a macro set for each class, each using the same macro internal keybinds.

"Frostbolt" ctrl-shift-alt-1 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Frostbolt
"Frost Nova" ctrl-shift-alt-2 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Frost Nova
"Cone of Cold" ctrl-shift-alt-3 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Cone of Cold
"Arcane Explosion" ctrl-shift-alt-4 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Arcane Explosion
"Evocation" ctrl-shift-alt-5 /cast Evocation
"Polymorph" ctrl-shift-alt-6 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Polymorph
"Decurse" ctrl-shift-alt-7 /stopcasting [@mouseover,help,nodead] /cast [@mouseover,help,nodead] Remove Lesser Curse
"Blizzard" ctrl-shift-alt-8 /cast Blizzard
"Counterspell" ctrl-shift-alt-9 /stopcasting [harm,nodead] /cast [harm,nodead] Counterspell
etc

Then the mapped key for regular DPS has 1 action: Named WoW Macro "Frostbolt"
The mapped key for AOE DPS has 3 actions: Named WoW Macro "Frost Nova", Named WoW Macro "Cone of Cold", Named WoW Macro "Arcane Explosion"
etc

For the decurse macro to work, you will need to have identical party unitframes across all your toons (e.g sort alphabetically), and use ISBoxer's sync cursor action in a press/release key map. For blizzard to work, you can use ISBoxer's Next Click with VFX action, as demonstrated by MiRai in https://youtu.be/PsAIukHgWgo

[Esquire]

Thank you all so much for the information, tips, and all things of the sort to-date.

I'm going to spend considerable time doing ISBoxer, UI and Macro maintenance tomorrow and was hoping I might have a few friends here from the thread/DB community that would like to join me in Discord while I screenshare it and we talk about all things Multibox and Classic!

I'm a voice actor/commentator so I can promise at the very least silky smooth tones

Drop me your Discord tags or add me @ Esquire#1210 (Case sensitive)

[Otasi]

Absolutely. Instead of sending keypresses in your mapped keys, send macros instead. This way you can leave your normal UI intact.

Define them in Game Helpers, make a new macro set "Mage" and put your mage toon in the "Enable macros for ... these highlighted characters". This way you can make a macro set for each class, each using the same macro internal keybinds.

"Frostbolt" ctrl-shift-alt-1 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Frostbolt
"Frost Nova" ctrl-shift-alt-2 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Frost Nova
"Cone of Cold" ctrl-shift-alt-3 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Cone of Cold
"Arcane Explosion" ctrl-shift-alt-4 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Arcane Explosion
"Evocation" ctrl-shift-alt-5 /cast Evocation
"Polymorph" ctrl-shift-alt-6 /cast [nochanneling,nodead] Polymorph
"Decurse" ctrl-shift-alt-7 /stopcasting [@mouseover,help,nodead] /cast [@mouseover,help,nodead] Remove Lesser Curse
"Blizzard" ctrl-shift-alt-8 /cast Blizzard
"Counterspell" ctrl-shift-alt-9 /stopcasting [harm,nodead] /cast [harm,nodead] Counterspell
etc

Then the mapped key for regular DPS has 1 action: Named WoW Macro "Frostbolt"
The mapped key for AOE DPS has 3 actions: Named WoW Macro "Frost Nova", Named WoW Macro "Cone of Cold", Named WoW Macro "Arcane Explosion"
etc

For the decurse macro to work, you will need to have identical party unitframes across all your toons (e.g sort alphabetically), and use ISBoxer's sync cursor action in a press/release key map. For blizzard to work, you can use ISBoxer's Next Click with VFX action, as demonstrated by MiRai in https://youtu.be/PsAIukHgWgo

Hi, I'm new to this and saw your macro setup. I setup the Game Helper macros, but didn't know if I should have /click button name selected and put in the skill name.

Also I'm alittle confused on the section after the game helper setup. Mainly the mapped keys and how to set that up in Keys Maps.

And also how it translate to in-game. I mean I don't want to spam ctrl-shift-alt-1 for frost bolt, hurting my hands. Is there something I need to do in wow client itself to make it easier to perform frostbolt with a single key press?

[Wizeowel]

Hi, I'm new to this and saw your macro setup. I setup the Game Helper macros, but didn't know if I should have /click button name selected and put in the skill name.

Also I'm alittle confused on the section after the game helper setup. Mainly the mapped keys and how to set that up in Keys Maps.

And also how it translate to in-game. I mean I don't want to spam ctrl-shift-alt-1 for frost bolt, hurting my hands. Is there something I need to do in wow client itself to make it easier to perform frostbolt with a single key press?

No, you don't need to fill anything in /click button name.

For mapped keys, you could watch some of Mirai's videos on setting up ISBoxer. Especially the ones that explain the Pro Setup.
https://youtu.be/iqHaH4gbrmo

It's not the idea to spam ctrl-alt-shift-1 yourself. The idea is to make a mapped key with a keybind of your choice that calls this macro. The reason to use ctrl-alt-shift combo is so that the macro binding does not interfere with other bindings you may have.

Usually you will have a "DPS" mapped key for all your toons, and if you use the advanced target groups then each class can have a different set of actions for their DPS, and again a different set of actions for AOE, etc.

[Fuii]

Personally I had issues with VFX healing if things got too hurried I sometimes would send a healer off running and think repeater regions may be better/safer. I found sending all four arrow keys to the healer could stop the runaway so it isn't that bad (if you notice when it happens and react quick enough).

Using VFX healing you should avoid enabling the "sending keystrokes" options, especially if you are controlling from a movement heavy character like a warrior.

Because when you move your warrior and start to hover over the VFX heal zone, the movement keystroke will be broadcasted to the healer, thus moving him.
And sometimes the movement key remains broadcasted even after removing the mouse from the VFX zone.

Personally I'm using neither VFX nor RRs.
Instead I've rebuild the clique addon features into ISBoxer via a combination of the "sync cursor action" + mouseover macros directly in ISBoxer.

While this is prob the most advanced it is the most flexible, because:
- no sources/viewers to be configured
- works with self/target/target of target frames too without adjustments
- group size does not matter
- compatible with group and raid without adjustments
- only 1 group/raidframe visible
- full interaction functionality for the controlled toon on the group/raid frames

1. What specs should I be using for each class under this setup (@ 54 and also @ 60)?

Warrior - Fury/Prot spec
Mage - Burning Ice spec for flexibilty (fire single target, ice for aoe) - https://classicdb.ch/?talent#oZtgM0cZViM0kbtAo
Warlock - no clue of WL
Priest - Disc/Heal - https://classicdb.ch/?talent#bxMGsAVoodxtcc

2. What utility can I add in addition to VFX heals to help improve my efficiency and power? (Via ISBoxer or Addons)

I have 6 keybinds for my priest - all dynamical, no one is bound to a specific char.
Greater Heal, Flash Heal, HoT, Shield, Power Infusion, Rezz
Smallest Greater heal, 2nd highest flash.

3. Are there any WoW Macros that I should be using?

If you are using the Addon Clique, no healing relating macros are necessary.
Your WL should have a castsequence-macro to cast different stuff via the same button (curse of elements, spell 1, spell 2, spell 3 etc.)
See question #6 for more

4. Are there any ISBoxer specific setups that I should implement?

Hard to say without looking at your setup or a specific topic you need help with.
That's more of an trial&error area and pretty individual.

5. Where should I level 54-60? (My characters are very geared)

Stratholme the undead area between main and back entrance has great mob packs 55-58 level mobs, that yield big XP/hr when properly farmed + Argent Dawn rep.

6. Is there a way to keep my 60 mage UI/Macros clean so I can easily switch over for raids/solo farm?

I'm only using 1 visible bar - the main one - and cycle through the different bar-pages via Shift + 1 to 6.
Page 5 contains all my abilities mapped in ISboxer. You can place up to 4 abilties in a single button/macro that can fire Independent - or max 3 if using my way with paging paging - by using the modifiers ctrl/shift/alt.

This is what my page 5 bar looks like.



Based with modifier is pressed, the actual action is changing.
And with simple hotkey sending in ISboxer you can trigger them.

The macro for such a 3-action button looks like this:

#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Fire Blast
/cast [mod:alt] Cone of Cold
/cast [mod:ctrl] Frost Nova

This way you can use your primary action bar for "single player" or w/e circumstance you intend.
While multiboxing all actions for all my toons are controlled via ISboxer and the macros on page 5, so it does not matter which toon I'm controlling, how many are in the group, how the main bar looks like etc.

[nodoze]

Using VFX healing you should avoid enabling the "sending keystrokes" options, especially if you are controlling from a movement heavy character like a warrior.

Because when you move your warrior and start to hover over the VFX heal zone, the movement keystroke will be broadcasted to the healer, thus moving him.
And sometimes the movement key remains broadcasted even after removing the mouse from the VFX zone.

Personally I'm using neither VFX nor RRs.
Instead I've rebuild the clique addon features into ISBoxer via a combination of the "sync cursor action" + mouseover macros directly in ISBoxer.

While this is prob the most advanced it is the most flexible. ...

Thanks. Though I understood what was happening and why it was happening I didn't type all of it out in my response above and your description is both apt and concise and helpful for those not familiar with the issue(s) (and you are correct in that it was most painful when driving from the warrior).

In my case my main was my Paladin and I use VuhDo to both heal, cleanse, and buff and have lots of keystroke modifiers in use to be able to do all of that from my mouse. Your points are valid and I considered other types of setups though in the end it was more important to me to keep all of my actions when farming solo consistent with how I would be doing it in dungeons/raids with other people and thus needed to send keystrokes. Ultimately I figured it better to personally deal with the idiosyncrasies of that setup when solo so I could be better when with others...

[Fuii]

In my case my main was my Paladin and I use VuhDo to both heal, cleanse, and buff and have lots of keystroke modifiers in use to be able to do all of that from my mouse. Your points are valid and I considered other types of setups though in the end it was more important to me to keep all of my actions when farming solo consistent with how I would be doing it in dungeons/raids with other people and thus needed to send keystrokes. Ultimately I figured it better to personally deal with the idiosyncrasies of that setup when solo so I could be better when with others...

I'm using ISBoxer for single play too, simply due to the advanced stuff you can do... ISB is like a standalone addon, combining lots of other addons if you know how to configure it.

Just created a different character set with standard 1 to 0 combat keys and a full size window layout, alongside some macros and clickbars in ISB.

[nodoze]

I'm using ISBoxer for single play too, simply due to the advanced stuff you can do... ISB is like a standalone addon, combining lots of other addons if you know how to configure it.

Just created a different character set with standard 1 to 0 combat keys and a full size window layout, alongside some macros and clickbars in ISB.

LoL yeah I also do ISboxer to even run just a single client in most games I play.