So what's your multibox?

[jdpatt]

Just curious what everyone's using.

I returned to EQ in January from a 3 year absence, and started playing with my Rogue/Cleric/Druid/Beastlord (70/69/66/62 at the time, respectively). I'd been trying to catch up without skipping too much content, and found the rogue's tanking abilities weren't up to par outside of PoP zones. I added a friend's (retired from EQ) warrior to handle tougher content and free up my rogue's dps. Since I was already doing 5 at this point, I PL'd a mage to have a full group (and for CoH/Pet). Currently I'm 6-boxing and progressing through TSS and just starting TBS. I hope to be well into SoF by the time the next expansion goes live, although I'm told my tank could use a LOT of AC before I head there. I figure I'll finish camping a full set of TSS group armor for all my toons (only a couple pieces left to go now), and then start working through TBS for whatever upgrades I can get there.

So mine's a Rogue/Cleric/Druid/Beastlord/Warrior/Mage...what's yours?

Dave

[Kriyn Nutzforcatnip]

Currently my group can either be made of Shm/Rogue/Mage or Shm/Rogue/War depending on the other members of the group. I'm usually with my brother who boxes a Pal/Shm/Wiz so we do plenty of dps regardless.

[Naluken]

SK, SHM, CLR, though I also have a 78 BST on the CLR account as well as a 55 Mage and 64 Chanter.

[dindaur]

i very rarely run my box team, but i have a pal sham cler monk

[Grungloe]

Paladin, shaman, and sometimes monk.

As I progress w/ gear though, I am finding myself loading the shaman less and less.

[Khael]

I used to just run Paladin/Bard, but I've recently added a Ranger that isn't quite up to par just yet, and whenever I do stuff that requires more healing than my Paladin can handle, I bring on my friend's Shaman or our shared Cleric-bot. I like the combo of Paladin/Bard quite a bit - they fill out almost all requirements of a perfect duo (only lacking a bit in DPS and Healing - but those two can be remedied easily by most classes).

[HawklordXegony]

Warrior
Shaman or Enchanter (99% shaman)
Rogue
Cleric
Druid
Wizard

Good DPS, good utility although I do wish for a mage and a puller some days. I'm doing Crystallos squires so I guess I'm an end-game group boxer. When I can get my wife to play she plays cleric, wizard, and druid.

[ariowen]

Ranger/Cleric/Shaman

Ranger is TSS raid-level geared
Cleric is a mix of Katta and SoF group/Anguish and TSS raid level
Shaman is a mix of Katta/SoF/DoD group level

I do well for this combo, as I have trioed in SoF tier 3 zones and while rough it is doable.

[Cromagnon]

Myself, I am running a 2 box of 76 Warrior (buffed to about 18.5k hp / 2.6k ac / 360ish AAs / Group Gear Only) and a 76 Druid (11.5k mana / 265ish AAs / Group gear only).

Love the druid vs a cleric, due to all around utility, and usually have a few Clerics that I do group with, and can relegate the druid to utility / dps in those cases.

Not to mention, a druid is great for dpsing/healing and not having to change targets, just keep tank targeted, use your aoe Rain spells (if ya have questions on how best to use these let me know ), and when mana is high and need to dump, toss that Fernspur line on the tank for low agro(almost none, and can cast without leaving rest state like heals sometimes) and unresistable dmg in almost all cases, without ever having to take your tank off your target box!

Really do enjoy this two box, and given the slow proc 2hb warriors get, have been able to 2box vald named, severag, dire etc. Not great feats for most, but was for me, like I said, no raiding drops at all for either.

-Crom

[Drazeena]

I run with my:

80 SK
75 monk
68 shammy

I usually just duo with the sk/shammy and bring the monk on board if I need to do some serious DPS, I fund that the sk can hold agro all day long with his ae agro and, man, the mobs really hate him when I cast lingering sloth with my shammy on him!Even when the spell is resisted (more often than not) it seems to generate a good deal of hate.

[St_HotPants]

I have only two accounts, but I have 3 "boxing" setups:

1. 80 Rogue (main, 20k/3.1k unbuffed) + 80 Shaman (16k/16k)
2. 80 Bard + 80 Shaman
3. 72 Mage + 80 Shaman

Rogue/Bard/Mage are all on the same account and what I play outside of raids depends on what mood I am in. Right now the mage is still in transition from fun project to viable current content 2-box.

[Sshimi]

Hi all,

I've been boxing my SHM and SK for the last week or so:

Currently
48 Shaman
52 Shadowknight

Thinking of adding another account for a 3box with either
Magician (Pet / Toys)
Wizard (Burst DPS / Ports)
Cleric (Undead / Buffs / Rez)

[Grungloe]

[Kiru]

I box cleric + chanty on Xegony, ranger + bard on FV, and I have a new druid for my bard on Stromm to duo with, although I'm currently PLing her using my shaman (I PLed her using my 59 bard up to 52, then switched to shaman to PL to 58 and plan on getting her to 60 before resuming duoing with bard).

[Nerun]

My wife and I box together, but I usually end up running 4 of our 6 toons...

Me:
80 Shaman
79 Monk
78 SK
70 Mage

Her:
76 Cleric
77 Chanter

We decided to add the mage because it seems like it's virtually impossible to equip the monk with better than ~26/19 weapons without raiding, and we don't really raid. Right now we're working to AA and gear up to bridge the gap between elaborate cultural armor and T2 SoF armor so we have a chance at camping steam cores. Unfortunately we're finding that we can easily box in BMK, but mobs like Crawtooth pretty much destroy us, so it's difficult to actually 'seal the deal' and get upgrades. We'll figure it out, though!

[Kilgaroz]

War/brd/shm or whatever a group needs as I have access to the accounts of several guildys. Combo's great for most content, reasonable dps and healing and having the warrior's innate damage mitigation, tanking discs and hands-off agro suits me very well. For anything but Crystallos, just add dps and you're golden.

[Grants]

Comp 1:
Paladin
Cleric
Monk

Comp 2:
Shaman
Mage
Bard.

Can do any group content with my setup. Squires in Crystallos, Shyra etc.

[Kinak]

I used to run shaman + Paladin, with equivalent gear of demiplane.
Currently I run Shaman which is Solt/SoF geared with a zerker who has group SoF gear. Just use the zerker as a tank, and shaman mainly compensates for his suckymoto tanking abilities. Either just have aggro switch between both while meleeing, or just use lots of mana to heal zerker and still lay on the dps.

[Jarcey Heyokah]

80 SHM
80 SHD
70 MAG

[Kakimor]

see sig

[Mitsuko]

Both my wife and I 3 box.

I personally box:

80 Necromancer
80 Paladin
80 Cleric

My wife boxes:

80 Beastlord
80 Druid
80 Mage

All of our Toons are on their own computers. Our toons are relatively low on AA's, averaging about 350 each. Gear is a mix of TSS raid/Cultural for the Paladin and SoF/blackburrow/Guk gear for the rest.

[Tolfu]

Haven't been here in a while and I sometimes take long EQ breaks. Nice to see a site with a multi-boxing section for Everquest, the one forum I found devoted to multi-boxing is pretty much all WoW people. Anyway I have:

Rogue lvl85 1010AA's
Shaman lvl82 180AA's
Warrior lvl80 and working towards 700+AA's before I start leveling again
Cleric lvl 82 180AA's
Druid lvl81 180AA's
Enchanter lvl76 130AA's and working on AA's till 400
Bard lvl76 20AA's or so..working on AA's till 400
Mage lvl81 210AA's and gonna work AA's till 500
Mage lvl65 125AA's and working AA's till 500

Yes, 9 accounts. I do not use any third party software other then winEQ2, this is straight up ironman hardware boxing. Other then auto-repeat using n52's and G15's to do backstabs, kicks,taunts and very occasionally heals, nothing is automated and certainly not scripted. I considered getting a 10th account so I could have 3 mages. I have enough hardware to support 12 accounts individually. My rogue and bard is run on my main computer and flipped back and fourth with WinEQ2. I use a G15 on the main comp. and a G-Key is set to do backstabs for me constantly. My warrior sits off to the left and I use a regular keyboard and an n52 to control him. Basically I put him where I want, then hit the n52 so that he is constantly taunting and kicking, run a mob near towards him and when it's close enough for him to bow the mob, I tap an n52 key and he does /autofire and usually mobs start running straight to my warrior. Then I tap n52 for incite lines of abilities. Hard agro and good almost zero fuss mob set-up each time. My cleric, shaman, druid, enchanter, mage and mage all have their own X-Keys Pro 58 keys.



It's like having...is having...58 hotkeys with picture ICONS to show what the button does. My cleric also has an n52 besides the X-keys since X-keys cannot auto-repeat. Clerics n52 is just so I can have the cleric cast complete heals over and over with a toggle. I almost never use it, but it's there as an option. My mage, mage, enchanter and druid are also controled with an X-Key's 20 key keypad. Just like the one in pic, but smaller, with 20 keys and it's PS/2 instead of USB. This 20 keypad is hooked up to a vetra multiplexor which will take one keyboard input and distribute it to 4 computers at the same time...not a KVM. KVM's are switchs, vetra does not switch, it broadcast. It is there because these 4 classes are very similar in control in most cases. I hit one key on the 20 keypad and my mage, mage and chanter sends in pets while the druid snares. I hit another key and all 4 will cast a nuke. I hit another key and they cast nukes from different timer.

I have decided to continue leveling my cleric, shaman and druid to 85 for better buffs. All others will stay at current levels and do AA's till at least 400 minimum, except warrior needs probably 700+ to get all defensives done and a few offensive to help with agro, bard...I don't know, enchanter maybe just 300 and then back to leveling, mages...I want them to nuke hard, stay under the agro radar have pets that can offtank and more..so at least 500 AA's and doubtfull that will be enough, but I'll see as I go.

I don't make use of my bard for much other then /melody. Using bard, rogue and warrior is difficult. I am not sure if /melody is a good enough reason to keep him. Have thoughts of making a 3rd mage on his account to have 3 mages in the mix. 3 mage air pets add nice dps and helps with tanking, not to mention the mage nukes are pretty good. Also thought of just making a 10th account, but would need to get another X-keys probably...or not. Really just need one mage with individual control or two...just in case the other 1 could run off the broadcaster and a simple keyboard.

[BrieThecheese]

Wow Tolfu. . . that is quite the setup you have there! i can barely handle two boxing

[Keltsete]

[Tolfu]

Yah, it kinda grew over the years. Played just my rogue for a year or so when EQ first came out, then 2000 or 2001, started my shaman to duo with my rogue. Mobs run away too much and rogue sucks as tank, so made a druid for snare and more heals ( I like running from zone to zone, still do it when I just play my rogue...druid wasn't made for ports really). Newer content and rogue getting worse and worse as tank, so made a cleric for more heals. Then I made a chanter because all the healers were going OOM healing my "tank". Now I was at 5 accounts and I thought..might as well go 6. So I made the (first) mage for coth and DPS. Newer content and finally the admitting that no way I continue using my rogue as tank for anything other then very low end exp. grind, so I started the warrior on the enchanter account. This is where it went crazy (assuming you didn't think I was already there)..after getting my warrior all geared up in elegant and reading about people grouping for bazu augs, I thought maybe I could do it, but would need more healing power and a FD/fade pull class, so account 7 and 8 were started and I made the bard and a second cleric. Leveled both to lvl70 then saw that SoD gear was probably a better option and I would probably be easier to get, so stopped the second cleric and started a second mage...because other then raid stuff, my one cleric was fine and if not, there are always merc healers. And then decided since I already have 8 accounts, might as well make one more and bring it to a nice #9 so that I could split them up to 3 box per group +3 mercs per group for 18 toons. So, I started a new account and moved my chanter to it. Now more changes.

Just started a new Shadowknight and mage to replace my warrior and bard. Playing the rogue, bard and warrior is just too much effort. Bard is almost useless other then /melody and I just don't use him for pulling as much I thought I was going to and when I do, it's a pain in the ass that requires me to redo alot of things. Warrior is getting replaced mainly because I rushed him to lvl80, with zero AA's and it's a pain to get AA's (compared to lvl51, 55, 61.....anyway) now. I believe I will be able to level a brand new shadowknight from 1 to 80 with 1000+ AA's (maxing AA's out at lowest levels possible) faster then I can get my lvl80 warrior with 350AA's to lvl80 with 1000+ AA's. Plus, shadowknight will be able to do the more difficult pulls on his own. Which will simplify things for me as I won't have my rogue pulling, tank assisting off the rogue, build agro..etc. Will just be SK pulls, starts tanking, move rog to assist. I don't think SK will be a better tank then warrior, but wasn't like the content I was grinding on was close to one rounding my warrior, so just a little more healing effort if anything. Plus, SK should grab agro alot better, so I can do more DPS. With defiant armor, gearing up won't be too bad either, although my warrior was in full elegant crafted stuff...although no lastblood type augs.

[HawklordXegony]

That's sort of how I got to the 6-box stage, too. Wife used to play 3 chars but she faded out so I was left playing the whole group. I use Nostromo n50 pads for the wizard and druid just for the convenience of not having to have full keyboards in reach. I don't even have any hotkeys to speak of. I just use the keypads for the usual 0-9 numbers. I have 6 PCs. I can't imagine trying to do it flipping boxes.

[jdpatt]

So how do those keypads work with Everquest? I'm very interested in what I've read here, but always thought that Everquest wouldn't work with hardware like this (I thought it was just for WoW).

My understanding is that whichever instance is active is the one that receives all of the commands. Would it be possible, with those keypads/keyboards, to, for example, have a rogue backstabbing and evading, a warrior taunting, and a cleric doing a heal rotation, all on the same computer, simultaneously?

I've been multiboxing with a combination of hardware (i.e. multiple computers/monitors) and software (WinEq2, if that counts as "software"), but always have felt that I'm not optimizing my dps on my rogue while I'm focusing on keeping aggro on warror and casting debuffs and offensive/defensive spells with my other toons. The in-game macros help somewhat (as in, druid can debuff, pause, snare, pause, dot, pause, dot, pause), but the in-game macros don't work as well for a rogue or warrior, who need to keep chain backstabbing/evading or taunting, respectively. Pretty much, every time I focus on a caster alt, I'm losing aggro on the warrior and dps on my rogue...I'd like to remedy this, if possible.

Can you offer any insight, or direct me to a webpage that discusses the use of this type of hardware specifically with Everquest? I'd love to learn more.

Thanks,
Dave

[Tolfu]

I am a pure hardware boxer. The way I use all those keypads never runs into an issue of ...which window is active as I only have the one per computer. I have very little info on software boxing as I always thought it was alot of hassle and not as reliable since whenever EQ patches....'other' software stop working. I do know that, as you have said whichever instance is active recieves the control input from the keyboards and I do know that hotkeynet and innerspace can force all instances to be perceived as active. if you are already paying for windeq2, then you can get innerspace, since it's from the same people that made wineq2. Note that innerspace is also used to macro script EQ...although innerspace itself does not. Weather innerspace and hotkeynet is considered a third part software by SoE and against the rules.....I don't know. I am a pure hardware boxer for a lot of reasons and one of them is that SoE does not consider anything I use agaisnt the rules. A site devoted to MMO boxing is dualboxing.com . It is over flowing with WoW boxers and not so much of anyone else, although many things that are used to box WoW will work with EQ as well.

[Bigcat Daddy-o]

SOF I boxed
Shm/pal/Mage/druid/monk. Spent a lot of time in FM, so monk or druid could pull and used mage COH as an emergency pulling tool.

This expac I am doing Shm/dru/monk. Really found I needed an indoor puller this expac so the monk bumped the mage off of the team. WIth mercs, this was doable by outsourcing my tanking and healing to them. I find that I can play a lot longer running mercs, as 5 boxing pretty much mentally exhausts me after a couple of hours max.

Contemplating moving the mage to monk account and alternating playing him based on if I have a puller friend available or not. I miss mage. I find them quite fun to play.

Apparently it's fifty bucks to do that now though. Used to be 25. gougers...

[Tolfu]

Tore everything down, almost got things back up and running although not optimal. Will be days if not a week to set things up correctly.






Tried using multiplicty, still one issue to work through, but if I can get around that....will be great. Being able to control all of my computers (each screen has it's own computer) simply by moving my mouse cursor to that computer will be epic. Much better then hitting a button on a KVM...although I will keep the KVM going as well since it provides a central ext. HDD for all computers on the KVM...plus it allows me to have a second mouse/keyboard for each computer on the KVM.