MB in general: finances, playability, etc

[ShasVa]

I am still considering using five shamans (four elem & one resto, or just five elem) to multibox my way through WoW. However I have some other things to consider too:

Playability/Longevity
Leveling 1-60 will probably only take a few days to a week. Leveling 61-85 will probably not take too long either if I worked on it (Xmas holidays coming up n all). But once I hit 85, what then: Grind at BGs, arenas and dungeons until all 5 shamans have the right gear?

Finance/Costs
I'm Australian so I'll refer to AUD for currency. One account will cost $15.40 per month. That is about $77 per month for 5 accounts. That then comes to a total of about $930 per year. Just wondering if such cost is worth it!?
I am unemployed (FYI, I get money but it's not stereotypical dole/welfare/handouts, it applies to my medical condition) so I don't earn that much. However I am generally good with my money, so it is possible I could manage all 5 shammies. I mean, I once juggled a credit card whilst paying rent and bills when I was living away from home, way before I was interested in WoW.

Hardware
Not a great concern like the above points, but worth mentioning. The PC I will receive soon will be quite capable of playing WoW. The video card (MSI's HD5770 Hawk edition) has multiple ports, so hooking up two displays won't pose a problem (HDMI for main display, VGA for slave display). Main will control the primary shammy, the slave will control four 800x600 windows for the other four shammies.

I guess what I'm trying to get at, is that I would like some advice for multiboxing five accounts. I have no doubt it would be very fun to do - I've seen videos on Youtube and its just amazing what the combined powers can do.

If anyone could help me out I would really appreciate it. If none of this is possible, doable, or worth it, I will most likely end up stopping playing WoW.

[pinki104]

if i didnt have a job i wouldnt do it but its all upto you in the end

[ShasVa]

I've not had a job since 2002 (long story, involves Aspergers). But having said that I've acquired somewhere over 20000AUD+ of stuff over that time - TVs, game consoles, furniture, toys, even scrapped up 1.5K to go on a holiday last year!

I don't deny that I (usually) have financial sense. I've just been questioning why I want to do this, what it will achieve (if anything)...

...and why I seem to be questioning my own willpower. After reading and seeing many WoW-addiction stories, I've been worried that I would get addicted too.

I've been addicted to things in the past: video games, power rangers, pokemon (obsessed too), but I got through those. Why should WoW be any different!

I'm sorry if this goes beyond the scope of "General Discussion". Don't think I know what I want right now.

[Tim]

Everybody needs to have fun in life, so just compare WoW to other things fun in life, and then tally up the monthly cost and compare them against other things.

For example, if I go to dinner and movie with another, the total cost of that just once is well over the cost for 5x WoWs for a month. Another example, one weekend of bar hopping is typically 1/2 a year of 5 boxing WoW

[Ualaa]

From a gaming point of view, the team will do two things in general.
- PvE play, which includes questing to level up, running instances and eventually heroics for gear, possibly participating in raids (one toon, or the group).
- PvP play, which could be arena, the new rated battlegrounds, or normal unrated battlegrounds.



I would really consider 4x Shaman (Elemental Spec) and 1x Paladin or Druid, for a first team. The Paladin can be your tank for PvE and spec healer for PvP. The Druid is even more flexible: tank for PvE, and either healer or boomkin for PvP.

By having a toon who could tank, you can use the Looking For Dungeon tool, which is a major plus.



Definitely take advantage of the Recruit a Friend.
Send the invite from your existing account (or first account, if starting five new ones).
Have the second account use the link to create their account; upgrade to a retail version of the game at that point.
Have the second account send an invite to the third, and repeat.

Go:
A > B > C > D > E

Where A is your existing account if you have one. Otherwise it is the first account.
With RAF, BCDE will each grant free levels to the account that referred them (note E will not receive any). They even grant free levels, based on levels they received from granting, ie, they cascade.

During RAF, only concern yourself with getting a lot of teams to 60th. I'll recommend 5x Druids, Priests, Shaman, Paladin, Warlocks, Mages. You don't have to do that many, but it doesn't hurt to have the characters. Druids, Paladins, Death Knights (start at 55th for this class, but you need a 55+ character on the account first) and Warriors can be tanks. Druids, Priests, Shaman and Paladin can be healers. Warriors generally suck to be boxed, but you can drive with them, if you like them as a tank. I've also omitted hunters and rogues; both can be fun, but generally aren't strong boxed.

If you have a tank or AoE toon for boosting, have them on the first account (A). Group them with BCDE, and run them through instances for very fast leveling. If you don't have existing toons, then level Druids or Paladins first and take them to ~65 or so, see if you can do the Hellfire and Zangamarsh instances for gearing. Concentrate mostly on the toon on Account A. Once geared a little, they'll boost the others to at least the mid 50's, and they can quest the rest of the way up.

Lots of toons is good; it gets you the option of tradeskills or stacking cooldowns (for passive gold), and opens the door for additional teams down the road, if anything excites you.



From a cost point of view, it's up to you if it's worth it.

My cell phone bill each month is a little higher then my 5x warcraft habit.
My roommate spends $1500 a month, on average, on his radio control cars/helicopters and racing them; I spend $75 a month on my hobby.

I work seasonally; my $75 gets me ~300 hours of entertainment, when I'm "into" warcraft. Even when I'm not, I can log in here and there, at any time of the day or night.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by Ualaa

My roommate spends $1500 a month, on average, on his radio control cars/helicopters and racing them;

Do his helicopters fire nukes? Jesus for that price, they better either be able to destroy whole civilizations, or make me sandwiches in under a minute.

[Ualaa]

Well, he basically has a full shop in the porch, and will frequently buy a kit and replace all the plastic parts with aluminum. He has made his own tires, etc. The battery packs are expensive, and don't hold as strong of a charge over time; if you want to be competitive you need to replace them fairly regularly.

Pretty sure it is the tinkering around and fabrication of parts to improve performance that is the fun part. Racing is good too, he does both gas and electric. He's got electric cars that aren't even three inches long, that can break 100 miles per hour in under 3 seconds. Turning is more a challenge then the maximum speed.

The helicopter isn't raced, but there's lots of tricks like flying upside down, which reverses all of your controls. A minor crash, where you lose a rotor blade or such, might set you back $50 or so. If a more important part goes, you might be looking at $300 or whatever. I believe his helicopters have ranged from $1500 to $5000, and he has six or seven models with different capabilities.



Warcraft isn't a very expensive hobby, in comparison. You're not dependent upon good weather and wind conditions. You can play a lot more hours per month, and be warm (in the winter) or cool (air conditioned in the summer) while doing it. Even factoring in the expansions for those who 10 box (I only 5-box), it is a fraction of other hobbies, in terms of price.

[EaTCarbS]

I was slightly intimidated by multiboxing when I first started. "How am I going to tank, dps, and heal at the same time?"

Don't let things like this discourage you; its surprising what you find out you can do.

[ShasVa]

Sorry for wasting server space with this topic people. I've made my decision - I'm stopping playing WoW for good.
All HDD space containing WoW files has been zero-filled, and I'm planning to smash my authenticator and game discs to pieces with a sledgehammer. It is over now.
Good luck in all your future WoW endeavours.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by ShasVa

Sorry for wasting server space with this topic people. I've made my decision - I'm stopping playing WoW for good.
All HDD space containing WoW files has been zero-filled, and I'm planning to smash my authenticator and game discs to pieces with a sledgehammer. It is over now.
Good luck in all your future WoW endeavours.

Sucks to hear that, but if you have a spare microwave and have you haven't yet destroyed all traces of WoW....