More Nits-n-Grits of Multi-Boxing WOW

As an addition to my earlier post on multi-boxing World of Warcraft, here are a few more details for a base setup.  Just some more technical items for people who’d like to give this a try.  I don’t have time to dress up the wording so excuse the direct approach of a bullet list.

Getting Started

• Choose your chars and their classes.  Decide which of them will be your main/leader.  That character is going to pull aggro so they need to be able to take a punch but that doesn’t mean for leveling purposes that it needs to be a real tank class.  Any class will do just understand they will get hit often and plan accordingly.
• Choose near identical names if you’re on a PVP server or will participate in Battlegrounds.  Sure, it may confuse you at times too in the beginning but it will make it much harder for opponents to identify who they want to focus fire down.  For that reason, I’m also keeping mine dressed the same since they can all wear cloth.  I haven’t done BGs yet but I plan to in the upper 30s.

I suggest using Keyclone to pass keys to all of your characters at a minimum.  However, there are many other great features you can use if you’re going to do this for several levels such as:

1. Defining do-not-pass keys – for me, these are activities reserved for the leader from whom all of my gaming encounters take place through.  Selecting combat targets, chatting with other players, opening mods, etc. are all mapped to keys that will not get passed to the passive/slave/following characters.
2. Establishing Override Settings – this is a keybind that pauses Keyclone.  I need this for chatting so that I’m not sending the stream of strokes to the others and macro work is done paused for the same reason.
3. Configuring the Maximizer – allows you to create a screen layout for your copies and say which character is loaded into which pane.  As far as I’m aware, you can’t do this unless you’ve created multiple copies of WOW as each one is mapped to a WOW.exe file. 
4. Using the Command Editor - You can go the additional route of mapping each to a character by providing the login name and you can use Keyclone to launch WOW, put characters in the correct pane and have the log-in name only, already sitting there.

None of this is as daunting as it may sound.  Keyclone has tutorials and videos explaining how to do all of this.  Start with the first two items and do the rest as your confidence with the software grows.

There Be Dragons Here for Clickers
Since the method I use depends on sending keystrokes across multiple characters, this isn’t a setup for clickers.  I use my usual am consistent about it in every game key binding setup.  I can jump into any game no matter how long I’ve been gone and fight with my character because the keyboard layout defines the base behavior.  Feel free to change the keys to your liking but this has served me well for 8 years, across all MMOs.  Being a touch typist doesn’t hurt and is probably why I went this route in the first place.

Saylah's Standard Key Binding Setup

• Keys A, S, D, F, G are primary combat skills and in the order of frequency, meaning that skills with cool downs are F & G.  Whereas A is my opener and S is the follow-on action.  In the case of multi-boxing, these are both multi-action macros using the /castsequence command which I’ll show later.
• Keys Z, X, C, V, B are self-buff, self-heal and “Oh shit” skills where Z is the key used to do all preparation type buffs for combat.  Again these are macros with casting sequences and short duration buffs are first so they can be re-applied without sequencing through longer buffs.
• Keys Q, W, E, R, T are situational skills and spells with the longest timers out toward R & T.
• Keys 1 to 5 are macro to exchange buffs across the party.  Remember Z does everyone’s self buffing but you’ll want to share beneficial buffs.  I use keys 1 to 5 for that purpose.  When I press 1 everyone who has a valid/shareable buff applies it to Party member #1 and so on, down the line.
• F1 to F5 keys contain macros that establish the leader and assumes you’re always in a party.  The macros clears current focus target, sets to Party number matching the F key, so F1 sets focus to Party1.  Each char has the same commands in their F1 to F5 keys so that even the leader has him/her own self set as the focus until you select their combat target.
• V & B keys are mapped to step forward and backward respectively to break "follow".  This lets me move the Priests close enough to assist in combat but run the Mage even closer to pull without them following her, so she can cast, freeze the mob if needed then move back to help nuke it down without taking a scratch.  I use this on bosses or if I want to pull packs to AOE down.
• Other keys are TAB for “oh shit” skills like fear and blink, hyphen for mounting, equal for drinking and forward slash for self-selection

Reserved keys executed only on the character I’m controlling, meaning their black listed in Keyclone.

•     Backspace for selecting closest enemy
•     Back slash for closest friendly
•     Enter key to start chat
•     Logitech G15 Extended Keys to initiate party chat, guild chat, yell, etc.

The rest of the keys are used as needed for things like, my “Create Group” macro, everyone using their Hearthstone, using potions and things of that sort.

In my opinion, this is where you’ll spend a bulk of your setup time – establishing the layout that is best for you, how you play and the classes you’ve elected to multi-box.  For me, I just went with what I’ve always done since I’ve been anal about keyboard setups from day one in games.

Choreographing Combat

Coordinating your combat skills/spells is the next big hurdle.

• Having a good idea about the class mechanics up front will go a LONG way. 
• Sequencing skills so that high threat ones aren’t used by the followers until the main has aggro is important. 
• Trying to match cast times is important if you use macros that execute a sequence of skills. 
• Coordinating what each class would do in a situation, if they were all separate players, takes some time and experimentation.  Sometimes you won’t know what you want them to do until the situation happens, you do something different and take corrective action afterward so you’ll be better prepared the next time.

An example just to get you thinking:
I have a Mage and two Priests.  At what obvious points is the Mage likely to need healing during combat? 

• And when she does, do I want two people to heal her?  Stack two Renews which are instant cast and get them back to doing DPS quickly? 
• Or pull one off DPS to perform a larger heal, leaving two fighting until the other Priest returns to combat?

I decided that if the Mage does Frost Nova she needs to be healed:

1. She’s proactively locking mobs in place for Blizzard AOE or
2. Defensively locking a target (s) to avoid taking damage. 

Either way, she probably needs at least Renew (instant cast heal over time).   When she’s casting Blizzard she needs to be bubbled to avoid damage interruption.  One priest bubbling (Power Word: Shield) while the other applies Renew is a reasonable reaction.

Another example
The trio is running through a zone and someone pulls aggro but I don’t want to stop and fight.  I’m merely in route to somewhere.  OR I’m in combat fighting and someone other than the Mage pulls aggro what do I want to happen?

1. In either case, first thing is Frost Nova from the Mage to freeze nearby mobs in place. 
2. If Frost Nova is on cool down or it fails,
   
   1. X key is used - this key ALWAYS contains my class’ most potent protective abilities, chained in a macro with the least aggressive maneuver first.  In this case, on the first X press, the Mage does nothing and the Priests Renew themselves. 
   2. A second press and the Priests bubble themselves and the Mage does too using Mana Shield.
   3. A third press of the X key means it’s a little more complicated.  The Mage blinks away so I can turn around and see what’s going on, while the first Priest uses Psychic Scream (AOE Fear) to clear the field.  Sometimes that’s enough.  It gives the Priests time to catch me or I run back to them and Frost Nova things in place and Blizzard them down.  OR it’s really bad news.  Perhaps the AOE Fear pulled things I can’t kill. 
   4. 4th desperation pushing of the X key kicks off the 2nd Priest’s Psychic Scream and we run like hell.

While running, I’ll try to find line-of-sight opportunities or places where the mob-pathing will cause problems and slow down whatever is pursuing us.  At that point, I can turn and fight or cut a Priest loose as a sacrifice fly – let them devour one character then come back and resurrect her using the other Priest.

It’s these sorts of scenarios you have to eventually work out.  It’s very much like choreographing a dance routine that you then map to keys.  Or like choreographing fight scenes in movies.  *smile*

Must Love Macros
Almost nothing is done by just putting spells on a shortcut bar when multi-boxing, other than drinking, mounting and stuff like that.  I used macros when I was only controlling one character to cut down on the amount of shortcut bars and keys.  With multi-boxing it’s even more necessary.  You have to ensure everyone is attacking the same target, which is the focus target’s target, not what’s closest to them.  It’s a focus fire game unless all hell breaks loose, in which case, I have a macro that allows everyone to select whatever is closest to them and fight for dear life.  I’ve yet to put that macro into use. *Shudder*

For lessons on writing macros visit the WOW forums and WOWWiki.  Both contain lots of useful advice and sample macros.  Here are some of my base ones as examples:

Create Group Macro – Leader/Main always creates the party

/invite Allysiaa
/invite Alysisia

Z key – Mage self buffing

/castsequence [target=player] Amplify Magic, Arcane Intellect, Frost Armor

1 to 4 keys – Apply buffs to others by party member
    /castsequence [target=Party1] Amplify Magic, Arcane Intellect

F1 key – establishes the Mage as the leader; I have one for each char
/clearfocus
/Focus Alysiaa
/Target Focus

Q key – Follow and assist leader
 /Target Focus
/follow focus
/assist focus

A key – Leader Initiates Combat
/startattack
/castsequence reset=5/combat Fireball, Frostbolt, Frostbolt, Frostbolt

A key – Followers Join Combat. 

/startattack
/castsequence [target=focustarget,exists] reset=10 ,   Holy Fire, Smite, Smite

Note the lone comma after “reset=10” this is a blank command that allows the Mage to cast on the first key press, while the Priests do nothing.  This lets me start combat with the Mage pulling the mob to gain aggro.

In the X, protect/escape example I gave earlier, this is how you control when an action is taken by the character.  You place do nothing fillers in the delimiter sequencing of the macro for each character.  This means that the macros aren’t always the same for each of my Priests, when I want one to do something on the first press, while the other does something on the next press.  You negate taking an action in that slot of the sequence.

S Key - Priest version of heavy attack

/startattack
/castsequence [target=focustarget,exists] reset=10 Mind Blast, Vampiric Embrace, Shadow Word: Pain, Devouring Plague, Fade

I lead with Mind Blast for the occasions when I start combat with the S key.  The Priest DOTs (all those other spells in the macro) are instant cast which would have them pulling first-hit aggro instead of the Mage.

Additionally, I like to use Fade, not so much for dumping Priest aggro, but as a visual queue that the S key macro sequence has ended.  It's a warning that Mind Blast is next up, if I rotate thru again.  Mind Blast is one of the longest cool down spells on the Priest.  I might want to wait another second or two to ensure it’s off cool down before resuming with the S key sequence.  Perhaps I'll use the W key for a click or two then resume with S if the target is still alive.

W key - Slow Down Charley macro on the Priests while the Mage is doing Arcane Blast in her macro
/castsequence [target=focustarget,exists] Mind Flay, Mind Flay

C key - Priest Heal Mage

1st Priest heals Mage – note the empty comma at the end
/castsequence [target=Alysiaa] Renew,

2nd Priest heals Mage – note the empty comma at the front
/castsequence [target=Alysiaa]  , Renew

Combat in general

With 3 versus 1, most things are dead two presses into the A key.  For larger game, like when I feel like taking on mobs 5 to 6 levels higher, we have to bring out the DOTs and skills with cool downs. That's where my S key comes into play.

The S key is used after two press of the A key.  This allows the Mage to gain aggro and the Priests to put up Holy Fire which has a DOT component. 

How things play out on a higher level single mob encounter:

A - (Mage makes first hit to get aggro, Priests do nothing)
A - (Mage slows target with Frostbolt, Priests cast Holy Fire)
D - (Mage freezes mob in place, 1st Priest Renews Mage, 2nd Priest Bubbles Mage)
B, B - Trio takes a two steps back to start nuking in earnest…
S – Starts high powered DPS macro (Frostbolt and Mind Blast x2)
C – 1st Priest renews Mage if necessary
S – DPS continues
C – 2nd Priest Renews Mage if necessary
S - Keep pressing until it's dead Or…
W – Channeled spells across the trio for instant damage that finishes mobs off.

Plus intermingle...

• Single X press anytime necessary so the Priests Renew themselves
• 2nd pressing of X key trio bubbles themselves
• 0 key for trio to use Draenei racial self-heal that's instant cast
• Single G key for 1st Priest to use group heal
• 2nd pressing of G key for 2nd Priest to use group heal
• F key for trio AOE (Arcane Explosion & Holy Nova) - usually a finisher after Mage's Blizzard when I'm AOE farming but is also finisher/heal all opportunity.

Ultimately, until much higher in level I decided against a dedicated healer.  Best damage mitigation is a dead target.  I trade off healing to keep the mana evenly balanced in case of emergency.

Whew, that's all I've got in my head on the subject.  Hope this is helpful. I must away now.  I'm closing in on finishing the re-write of ACT I in my screenplay, which I must complete this week.  Enjoy!