Newbie looking for honest answers

[Xitium]

Hello everyone. As you might have guessed from my title I am new to this idea. I have not started multiboxing yet I had a few questions that I thought you guys/gals may be able to answer for me.

My biggest concern currently is cost. I might be willing to spend the $20 for pwnbox and I have another copy of WoW but only upgraded thru BC. (I bought it for my wife and she won't play) So the inital start up costs are covered and the monthly fee isn't a real set back but I need to know if its worth it. I understand that worth is subjective so I will ask my questions and that will help me decide the worth.

1) Can I run both copies of the game from the same computer? I have a Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8 Ghz, running windows vista 64bit. I have 4gb of ram and an Nvidia 9800GT. I have a 22inch WS monitor so I hope thats enough screen real estate. Will I have to run my graphics at a bad resolution to play effectively?

2) I've done some reading and I think I would want to duo box to start mostly for cost reasons but what is the best combo? It looks like Shamans are favored for learning.

3) What kind of end game content is viable for MB'ing? Is it good for PvE or PvP only? I don't care much for PvP but can't imagine I can do a whole lot in heroic dungeons with 2 shaman but I don't know.

4) Will this be faster or slower than quest grinding for leveling?

I'm sure I could go on but those are my main thoughts.

[Teál]

Welcome and Well Met!

I run 3 copies on a very similar setup with no issues at all.

You can pick any combo you wish... I like the idea of a tank/healer if you plan on doing much instance work. It is much easier to find 3 dps than a tank or healer.

You can multibox anything really... there are folks that can 5box the 10man naxx... so not to worry about that.

Quests are the fastest way to level to 60... maybe even beyond that in my exp... especially if you are not on RAF

[Bubba]

I run 2 toons ATM on an E2200 with 2G Ram and a GT8600 and 2 monitors fairly well with no problems, except when I hit populated areas. I suggest working out the kinks with 2 established toons to get your targeting and such down before you go. Its taken me a bit to get AOE targeting down. Im about ready to try 5 man team. Need new setup though.

[TRoN]

Hi Xitium

You have your answers already but here's my two cents.

1. Yes. You can easily run 4 instances of the game (maybe 5) with your system.

2. As Teál said, you can run any combo and a Tank/Healer duo could be more valuable and more fun at long term when you begin to group to do instances with your mates.

Pala/Priest or Pala/Shaman or Pala/Druid (here you can swap roles).

Pala is the best choice for a tank. He can heal aswell and, with the proper build, you can solo/duo most of the instances of your level.

BUT, I advise you to begin with 2 Shammans. You'll have same spells, same macros, same timmings. It's a lot more easier to set up and will help you to understand some basics. Later, you'll have a chance to make other groups and try different aproaches and different combos.

3. Game content. You can do whatever you want/like to do. Run instances, farm for money/items, gather ores/herbs, skin, fish... Multibox toons are not different from your main char. They have their own lives, their professions, they can go solo, etc. Let's say, when togheter they are... powerfull

You'll need some experience to PVP with a MB team. But you'll find yourself willing to do it sooner or later

4. Leveling. Again, do it as you were leveling a single toon. Questing-while-killing is the most eficient. Avoid collecting quests (you need to loot 20 items for A then 20 items for B - No way!) Choose your quests wisely. No stupid travelling. Focus in one zone then move to another and stay there. Try to do instances with your friends. They will find cool to team with you if you get your job done with your toons.

I hope this will help you. And welcome to the club.

/cheer

[Xitium]

Thanks all for your answers. I have taken the plunge. I bought pwnboxer last night and started two level 1 shaman.

I was told to get Jamba so I did and tried to get that working with mixed results.

I ran two instances of the game from a single location but I was wondering if I should make a copy and run that for the second toon. I created the macros suggested in the pwnboxer video and they work great. One thing I would like to know is how do you handle gather quests with multiple toons? Seems kind of a pain to switch back to the slave to loot might not be any other way tho. One thing that I think would be awesome would be a quick key combo to switch the pwnboxer window settings... for example I like to run with master very large but would want to be able to quickly switch to the slave and make the master window tiny.

[Poyzon]

I was wondering if I should make a copy and run that for the second toon.

I've found this to be a personal preference. If you have the 2nd copy on another drive, you will probably see some performance benefits. It's really not required though.

how do you handle gather quests with multiple toons?

Go read the thread titled: Interact with Target(Very Useful). In a nutshell, you can select a corpse with your main, force your slaves to assist and then broadcast your hotkey for "Interact with Target" to loot the corpse.

Personally, I hate gather quests that require N of a certain poop drop. They take too much time.

One thing that I think would be awesome would be a quick key combo to switch the pwnboxer window settings.

Look at Enable fast game switch in the PwnBoxer UI. You can configure a keystroke to swap windows between your main and one of the slaves.

[Bubba]

Drop quests are a pain if the drops are not available to all toons, but if they drop for all toons such as a special item from the guy you kill it is good. Also in instances the drops seem to work out enough for all. And some are chain quests that have great rewards but a long chain of poop. So its a tradeoff.

Basically it depends on you view of the game. Some like me enjoy leveling and the flavor of the quests along the way. Others want to get to level 80 now 85 as soon as possible, a race to the end. But now you are at the end what do you do? Make money? Get epics? Do PVP? Endless instances? Or try to boost your skills or go after some of the esoteric achievements like 100 mounts to get the elusive but beuatiful mount at the end. To me the end is a letdown.

[TRoN]

Originally Posted by Xitium

Thanks all for your answers. I have taken the plunge. I bought pwnboxer last night and started two level 1 shaman.

Great. Welcome to the club

Originally Posted by Xitium

One thing I would like to know is how do you handle gather quests with multiple toons? Seems kind of a pain to switch back to the slave to loot might not be any other way tho.

Jamba is the key. You can set it up according to your needs (see Jamba Quest module in interface/addons/jamba, following the ingame menu). Since you have 2 Shammies you'll probably want them to get the same quest rewards. There's a 'Mirror quest rewards' (or something like that... check Jamba setup as I told). So, you just need to select (right click) the NPC on both windows (you can do that easily even if your slave has a tiny window) and do your choices on the main char. The slave will follow the actions even if the NPC has some conversation before it presents the rewards.

/cheer