Multiboxing - Everything you need to know to get started

[mudfish]

After seeing how many people here use this guides from PMs, Ims, and replies I decided to put the guide up despite it's theft. Go crazy and have fun with your new projects

Intro:
This guide is intended to show you how to get started with multiboxing and give you a few tips to keep it successfully running. This guide assumes you DONT have any accounts open with play time. This guide also assumes your going to be Multiboxing 5 characters.

WARNING: If you don't have a steady cash flow or a good amount of money saved up, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! You will spend a lot of money

What is Multiboxing?
Simply put, Multiboxing is controlling multiple characters across several accounts in unison. This means all spells will be casted at the same time and everyone will move alike. You have probably seen this on your server as it has become more popular recently. Typically you control characters in sets of 2, 3, 4, and 5. If you go anywhere above that, you must have an above average sanity level then most

Sounds awesome, what can you with Multiboxing?
Most common reason for Multiboxing is for Pvp. However you can Pve and farm gold just as good. Ill give you an example of some of the best Multiboxing videos out there.

PvP
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgMsDGyCVE]YouTube - Aelli - Unstoppable! 2200+ Multiboxing[/ame]

PvE
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8uLUBEPB-U]YouTube - Veronika Heroic Magister's terrace 5-Box Shaman Multiboxing[/ame]

Whoa, I wasn't expecting that. So how would I make gold?
Anyway anyone else would, just with a huge upper hand, professions and dailies. While you can run instances by yourself like shown above that means all the loot is yours. No QQ'ing nubs wanting their gear, you can d/e it. No more rolling for nodes in instances and the best part... 5 sets of daily money a day

How are you supposed to control all the characters though?
You will use a program that sends any keystrokes on the Wow window your using, to any other instance of Wow open. So if you hit "2" on your main window, it will hit "2" for you on every other Wow window. Oh that and a series of macro hell

How godly does my computer need to be?
I run an AMD dual core 4400+, 2GB RAM, and a NVIDIA 8600 gt.

It depends on your standards of gameplay to decide if you can run it. But a good rule of thumb is, if you cant max your settings and keep a steady max fps then this may not be for you. (running 5 of course)

Ok! stop talking! Im ready to get started and pwn arena!
Eh, great in theory. However multiboxing takes alot of patience and hard work. If your the type of person that accepts nothing less then instant gratification, this isn't for you.

What you need:
-The materials for 5 accounts.
-Money to support the 5 accounts monthly.
-Keyclone (Solid ICE - the Official home of Keyclone)

Note: Please do NOT go looking for a Keyclone "crack". Pay for it. Its a one time payment of $20 and is well worth it. Similar to glider, I personally don't support cracks for this program. In my eyes, the people who develop these programs (glider, Keyclone, wow infinity etc) Have the same intent for the game as this site's purpose. In some cases they even use these forums. When you download these for free you are STEALING from the Mmowned community. With that said, go download all the music and movies you would like, just don't steal from Mmowned or PM me asking me for a key etc

Setting up Keyclone

For a complete guide goto: http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...ml#post1009716

Get it all installed and registered. Once thats done, open it up from the desktop shortcut.


It will something like this, pretty basic.


Theres not a whole lot you need to configure before getting started. All you really need to do is set up a "DO-NOT-PASS" list. All this means is a list you tell keyclone you DON'T want to send to each instance of Wow. These keys would be your control keys ( w,s,d,a,q,e) and any other keys such as prnt screen. To add keys just goto setup>do-not-pass and enter a key where it says "<enter a key here>"


You can now apply your changes and either minimize it for later or exit and open it later.

Setting up your character
After logging in your going to be prompted to choose a realm. If you already have one in mind good, but if not lets help you set your toons up from the beginning.

I. Choosing the realm
You have to narrow it down between Pvp and Pve.
PvP
These servers are pretty fun to play on. Getting to kill someone after hours of
monotonous leveling is a plus. However, As a multiboxer you get alot of hate.
there may be 70s trying to ghank you.
PvE
Less action for world Pvp. You can't be ghanked.

II. Choosing the faction
You'll have to narrow it down between Horde or Alliance.
Alliance
Server/battlegroup dependent for pvp
Horde
Server/battlegroup dependent for pvp

III. Choosing class/race
I prefer shamans. Burst damage and able to heal. Times that by 5 and you have a great setup for Pvp. You mostly go for whatever you want here. (Racials, looks, etc) What classes should I choose? | www.vboxing.net

IV. Choosing name
Choosing a name is entirely up to you but something to note is that using very similar names may throw off your opponents coordination in Pvp.

Display set up
While your going to be looking at one screen mostly, Its a plus to be able to see others incase your main dies and you need to take over with an alt. I use a second monitor to hold my other four screens and my main one to hold my main screen like this..


Add-ons

- Automation (WoWInterface Downloads : Miscellaneous : Automaton)

Automaton is a lazy man's best friend. Automaton's mission is to automate as many small interface annoyances as possible, to unlock your true laziness. Use /auto or /automaton to enable or disable any of the included functionality:

* Filter - Always default to showing only available spells and skill at trainers
* Gossip - Navigates gossip and quest text for you.
* Group - Automatically accepts group invites from anyone in your guild or friends list.
* Loner - Decline guild invites.
* Mailer - Saves the Send To field of your mail, and Alt + Right Click an item in your inventory to mail that item.
* Queue - Joins battlegrounds queues automatically, can also join after a delay by using /auto queue delay.
* Plates - Show Target Plates (default is V button) when in combat, and hide when not in combat.
* Repair - Repairs all items any time you're at a vendor.
* Sell - Sell all gray items when interacting with vendor.
* Summon - Accepts summons automatically.
* Release - Release to ghost in battlegrounds.
* Rez - Automatically accepts resurrection requests you receive.
* Wuss - Supress duel invitations by declining them, like the wuss you are.

-Twobox Toolkit (WoWInterface Downloads : Ace: Miscellaneous : TwoBox Toolkit)

This mod provides a set of tools to help people like me who like to play 2 char at once. These tools are for the second char (bot). This mod uses the ACE2 library. All required libraries are included in this zip.

Features:
- Messages relay: Able to relay messages the Bot gets in Whister,Party,Guild,Raid and transfer them to your main via whisper.
- Follow: The bot will follow you upon using the /followme emote on him.
- Sticky Follow: Follow will be automatically resumed when the fight is over.
- Follow warning: The bot will warn you if he stops following.
- Pass Loot : The bot will auto pass on loot random window.
- Buff Warning: The bot will warn you when he loses a buff. (Durration for a buff to be warn can be set in options).
- Low Life Warning: The Bot will warn you when it health goes under a pre defined %.
- Low mana warning: The bot will warn you when it mana goes under a pre defined %.
- Mini map icon: With Options UI.
- Fubar compatible.
- Relay to channel : You can have the bot relay vis whispers or a defined channel

Optional Addons seen in the videos:

-Bongos (Bongos2 | World of Warcraft Addons | World of Warcraft @ Curse.com)

Bongos is an action bar replacement designed to be both low memory, and easy to setup. It is not as feature rich as other bar mods, but should include the features most commonly used.

-Pitbull (PitBull | World of Warcraft Addons | Curse)

PitBull is a Unit Frames addon that provides maximal customization and undergoes rigorous efficiency testing. It is created in a modular framework, which allows for mulitple authors to put their skills to work creating this great project.

It has support for many different kinds of units: player, target, pet, pet's target, target of target, target of target of target, focus, focus' target, party, party pets, party targets, party pet targets, raid, raid pets, raid targets, main tanks, main tank targets, main assists, main assist targets, etc.

Health text can be much more accurate if you have MobHealth (v3 recommended) or MobInfo2 installed.

A complete list of useful addons can be found at The Addon Codex - Macros and Addons - Dual-Boxing.com Community Forum


Getting ready ingame
Now that you have your addons up, go ahead and try logging in on all the characters to get ready configuring them, and mess with keyclone a bit

Steps before configuring keybindings/macros:

1. Go ahead and add all characters to all friends lists.
2. Turn all additional action bars on. (You really only need bongos/pitbull on your main)

Macros

The following macros need to be made on your MAIN toon.

/invite SLAVE1 
/invite SLAVE2
/invite SLAVE3
/invite SLAVE4

obviously this will invite your other toons (with automation running, they will auto accept if you are on their friends list.)

The following macros need to be made on your Slave toons.

/target focus
/follow
/assist
/stopcasting

You will use this all the time. This is the follow macro and the assist macro. These are the only two that are bare minimum. YOUR MACRO LIST WILL EXPAND!

Binding your keys
Now that you have your macros you need to bind them to keys across your slave toons. Do this by going to Main menu>Key bindings

You will find a whole list of things already bound keys and most unbound.

On your slave toons you need to bind your "follow/assist" macro to an easy-to-access key. I bind mine to F1 and put it in the top right of my action bar my the mini map like below.


Now that you have it bound and set to all 4 slaves, you need to do the final step in making this macro work. Setting your focus bind. A focus bind is a key you set on your slaves to set the group leader (your main) to your focus so this macro knows who to follow and assist.

To set your focus bind head to main menu>Key bindings again and scroll down to "Focus Target" I set mine to F12. Everytime you log in to box, target your main (after in party) and just hit F12.

Note: If your going to use the same keys as me your going to want to unbind your previous set F keys. They will do other stuff for your main like target self and other party members, open bags, etc.

If everything is set up, start up keyclone and hit your "follow/assist" key and run arround.

Basic grinding method
If your able to use your follow macro, run around untill you find a mob then hit your assist key. If all goes well, all your slaves will target the same mob as well. Attack it Play around with grinding for a while in a starting zone until you have it down.

Basic quest method
If you have a set up like mine this is really easy. With Automation running you can share the quests you pick up on your main and not have to worry about clicking anything on the slaves.

However, not all quests are sharable and this is where having a second monitor comes in handy. Simply mouse over and grab all the quests in your area for each toon before you go out and get to work.

If your using Questhelper (QuestHelper | World of Warcraft Addons | World of Warcraft @ Curse.com) you can enable party mode and track the progress of your slaves from your main.

Tips for Questing
-Quests where you have to kill alot of mobs are good. More you kill, the more xp you get even though it may seem long, almost never skip these types.

-Quests that require you to gather are decent. If they have a bad drop rate, you will be there for hours doing it x5. However you do still get good grinding xp.

-Quests that require a group are Awesome as you already have a full group and can easily complete it. Rarely ever a downside to these.

Instancing
This is a great way to get gear and get it for all your characters.

Instances should never be ran at entry level, you will get pwned simply put. Enter after you are the usual level or even a level higher. You will run them over, and over, and over. But dont worry, typically you can finish a run faster then any group ever could

If your having troubles instancing, go upgrade with greens from the AH if needed.

Tips and things to note

Main thing is, like i stated earlier, multiboxers get alot of hate. People that dont multibox see this as "cheating" and "unfair". Some will even go on to say "You suck so bad you need 5 characters to play". When you get that whisper just let out a little lol and move on.

Never use scammed accounts because you WILL get alot of attention and its possible for someone to see that your playing 5 accounts registered in different names. Then you get banned and you loose any work or money you have put into it already.

Be patient. It takes time to get down and master each element of Multiboxing.

Use your pause key when you talk in chat (the key to pause is "pause/break") this will stop any keys being sent to other instances of Wow.

Yeah multiboxing is awesome, i do it my self. Here is a tip. If you are tired of GMs constantly contacting you, checking to see if you are botting or not (due to reports) just "report your self" and notify them that you are a boxer and ask them to leave a note on your account name.

Resources
http://www.mmowned.com/forums/wow-gu...ml#post1009716
Portal - Dual-Boxing.com Community Forum
Main Page - Dual-Boxing Wiki
What classes should I choose? | www.vboxing.net

Enjoy your new expensive hobby

[Uncontrolable]

Nice man. +rep

[PaNiC RooM]

i love you now :P

[TinusNED]

I was thinking of making a guide like this, but now I see u have made a far more better one then I had in mind.
So +rep

[xburnthepalacesx]

Amazing guide.

Just be warned, while multiboxing is not illegal or bannable, if you are not the owner of ALL accounts, it becomes bannable due to account sharing.

IE: Be the account name for all 5 accounts or get banned when people report you (As alot will, assuring you it must be illegal).

I have a few friends that do this but haven't done it myself because 75$ a month is too much.

If you are thinking of buying accounts, tie them into the RAF program for bonus XP + all that fun stuff.

[neax1337]

I've once been a multi-boxer myself (got to 23 -.-')...

But this guide gave me new inspiration so I might go level up those again!

Very good guide, +rep!

[devmode]

+rep for the guide

Very nice guide and the warning at the top is totaly right, no$$ no mb, but the new RAF may help if you chain invite the accounts.

[Unholyshaman]

Yeah multiboxing is awesome, i do it my self. Here is a tip. If you are tired of GMs constantly contacting you, checking to see if you are botting or not (due to reports) just "report your self" and notify them that you are a boxer and ask them to leave a note on your account name.

[kazama]

why not useing auto hotkey for free?
AutoHotkey - Free Mouse and Keyboard Macro Program with Hotkeys and AutoText :P

[Chenquie]

Is it allowed to multibox now? I thought they implented so its not allowed anymore. >:<

[teknomuffin]

Great guide, I was wondering how to do this. Speaking of multiboxing, I got hit by 5 frosts shocks that hit me for 8k HP, and I was like... ?!?!?!?! And now I wanna try it.

[Enfeebleness]

+rep and favorite'd.


Hopefully will be able to try this some day ^^

[Gripen2]

I whas going to make a thread like this,
Anyway, Nice done.

[roryjoe]

What a great guide, clear and concise, just ace!

+2 rep!

[Moonlight]

Ah. Very nice guide, explains alot about Multiboxing +2 Rep.
And Remember to 'Recruit-A-Friend' Yourself. 3x Exp! + Free Gametime