Multiboxing - breaking cover!

[Krimzin]

lol this is funny. If you are referring to 10+ accounts, I promise its not 2 macros.
Most run ISBoxer to handle all the binds.

[Raugnaut]

As a WM player, I LOVE encountering Multiboxxers - Especially those who only use multiboxing for farming, as they tend to have many low-ilvl "minions" as OP called it. I generally manage to get ~500 honor from them over 10 minutes - Kill lead, kill the rest, give him 2 minutes to get all his minions back together, repeat. Especially now with the Sliver of N'Zoth!

[shoegazing]

If you use entirely different classes, I assume you don't use keystroke duplication? If so, you are fine with me, tbh.

I think banning keystroke duplication programs would solve all the issues of fixing one player bringing along what is effectively 4 bots while also letting you be as skillful in jumping between windows and managing different abilities as you like.

I use keystroke duplication.

For example, some of my binds:

2 is sinister strike on my rogue, shield slam on warrior, fireball on mage, shadowbolt on warlock.

Shift 2 is also sinister strike on rogue, sunder armor on warrior, fireblast on mage, nothing on warlock

5 is sinister strike on rogue, heroic strike on warrior, fireball on mage, curse of agony on warlock

6 is slice and dice on rogue, battle shout on warrior, fireball on mage, siphon life on warlock

7 is feint on rogue, taunt on warrior, fireball on mage, curse of elements on warlock

Shift 4 is Hand of Justice. Shit 6 is Death Coil. 0 is polymorph last target. 9 is polymorph last target AND fear current target.

And many more of course, I won't type them all out.

Ctrl 1-5 casts holy light on each party member. Control 6-0 casts dispel on each party member. Alt 6-0 has my mage cast remove curse on each party member.

Only my number keys are broadcast to all clients.

I can also swap any character to my "main" active client with ctrl+alt+1 (rogue), ctrl+alt+2 (mage), etc

And then I have additional binds for each character that are only for that character. Swapping stances on warrior, plus challenging shout, shield wall, etc etc. Vanish Evasion Sprint Blade Flurry Adrenaline Rush etc on Rogue. Frost Nova, Blast Wave, etc on Mage.

Bottom line, if you think this is cheating you are dumb, Blizzard says it is not because it is one keypress -> one action per account. Additionally if you think it's easy to play this way, you're wrong, it's not rofl. It takes a lot of mental effort to tank, heal, and dps on 3 characters at the same time. Thinking about who is in the middle of a cast so that I can use some other bind on the other clients without causing a cast that I don't want. Managing the positioning with all 5 characters (don't want them all on follow always, sometimes need to split up for mechanics, to avoid aoe/cleave, etc). Learning strategies that work for each boss.

It is A LOT of work and when I first got started I wiped over and over again in easy dungeons like Deadmines and Stockades. But with practice I've gotten very good at it and now do speed clears of various level 60 dungeons.

BUT of course everyone on mmo-champion thinks multiboxing is just some guy with 20 accounts running around farming ores and herbs or griefing you in world PvP with 20 of the same class. It's sad honestly how biased people are against what they don't even understand on a surface level.

[Schattenlied]

Ah I see what you're saying now. Before I thought you were saying that in order to multibox you had to press a key and have multiple things happen (like a click and then a click and a drag) but you're just making the "multiple clicks are happening" argument

Multiple actions are happening off one button press, regardless of whatever bullshit Blizz makes up to justify allowing it for all the money they get.

A normal player presses 2, they get one frostbolt, you press 2, you get ten. How is this reasonable? How is it not pay to win?

All automation? So that would mean the addons that autosell grays too?

Sure, if it provides some sort of advantage at least, which multiboxing most certainly does.

luckily you don't get to make that determination lol

Unluckily, again. You're only in favor of it because you're benefiting from it.

Yes! I started in june, got any questions?

Having fun ruining the economy of your server?

Is something being won I'm not aware of?

wow.

Sure! Multiboxers sleep, botters don't, you have a problem with bots not multiboxers

Wrong, I have a problem with both. Whether bots do it or a person actively does it, they are still flooding the AH with a bunch of additional shit that would otherwise not be there and fucking up the economy.

[Sevarin]

Additionally if you think it's easy to play this way, you're wrong, it's not rofl. It takes a lot of mental effort to tank, heal, and dps on 3 characters at the same time.

what you do sounds like a big ol' pain in the butt. generally the multiboxers i see run around as 1 class/spec, which i imagine is far far easier since its all the same rotation, though im not sure if latency would cause issues. im assuming not, considering the button press should go to all accounts at the same time.

[Drusin]

Multiple actions are happening off one button press, regardless of whatever bullshit Blizz makes up to justify allowing it for all the money they get.

A normal player presses 2, they get one frostbolt, you press 2, you get ten. How is this reasonable? How is it not pay to win?

One action per account.

Sure, if it provides some sort of advantage at least, which multiboxing most certainly does.

So do auto sell addons

Unluckily, again. You're only in favor of it because you're benefiting from it.

Started in June, from 2007 till 2020 I didn't care if people multiboxed either

Having fun ruining the economy of your server?

I don't destroy any economy because I don't farm

wow.

What's being won?

Wrong, I have a problem with both. Whether bots do it or a person actively does it, they are still flooding the AH with a bunch of additional shit that would otherwise not be there and fucking up the economy.

I've yet to be shown, in the 16 years multiboxing has been allowed, any evidence of any economy fucked up. Might you have some?

[shoegazing]

what you do sounds like a big ol' pain in the butt. generally the multiboxers i see run around as 1 class/spec, which i imagine is far far easier since its all the same rotation, though im not sure if latency would cause issues. im assuming not, considering the button press should go to all accounts at the same time.

What I do is a lot more fun and interesting.

I would get bored so quickly if I played 5x shamans or priest + 4x mages which are the most common and easy multiboxing comps in classic.

[Schattenlied]

One action per account.

Which is more than the one action period full stop that was outlined in the ToS, which they arbitrarily changed for multiboxers because of all the subscription money they get paid.

They press frostbolt they get one frostbolt, you press frostbolt you get ten frostbolts. This is not reasonable.

So do auto sell addons

K

Started in June, from 2007 till 2020 I didn't care if people multiboxed either

Because you always wanted to, likely, and planned to do so when you could.

I don't destroy any economy because I don't farm

Sure.

What's being won?

Gold? Loot? PvP fights?

I've yet to be shown, in the 16 years multiboxing has been allowed, any evidence of any economy fucked up. Might you have some?

yes you have, you just ignore it.

[holywhiskers]

The one big take away here for everyone should be to have Interact with Target bound in their own keybinding options. Catching the Freehold pig, using Warlock gates, there's more reasons I'm forgetting right now I'm sure but it's very useful.

[shoegazing]

Because you always wanted to, likely, and planned to do so when you could.

Yeah that's it they probably spent 13 years with a singular focus on trying to save a few extra dollars each month to multibox

You sound so ridiculous lmao

First of all the impact to the economy is solely due to Blizzard's idiotic design decision to have each node harvestable by every account. Nobody would care if it went back to how it was for most of WoW's history where the node gets consumed once a single character uses it.

Oh, you're mad that a multiboxer can make 5x as much gold farming dungeons because they don't have to share loot? Did you also consider the fact that their expenditures are also 5x as much for gear, enchants, repairs, leveling professions, consumables, etc. Do you also consider that they spend 5x as much buying other people's goods on the AH?

If you encounter 5 players in WPvP each playing one account, do you expect to win? Why then would you expect any different when you encounter 5 accounts controlled by a single player? In fact your chances vs. the multiboxer are greater, because controlling multiple characters is far more difficult than 5 players each controlling a single character.

And the biggest laugh at all is that you insist this is somehow against ToS -- despite the fact that Blizzard who wrote the ToS says it isn't.

You fail at basic logic and critical thinking.

[Schattenlied]

You fail at basic logic and critical thinking.

Automation is against the terms of service, multiboxing requires automation to function, therefore multiboxing shouldn't be allowed. I never said multiboxing was against the TOS, I said it should be, I said quite specifically that they put an exception in for multiboxers, don't blatantly misrepresent my statements.

[shoegazing]

Automation is against the terms of service, multiboxing requires automation to function, therefore multiboxing shouldn't be allowed. I never said multiboxing was against the TOS, I said it should be, I said quite specifically that they put an exception in for multiboxers, don't blatantly misrepresent my statements.

So if I physically split my keyboard output and send it to two PCs, you define this as "automation" ? Have you really thought thought this through?

[Schattenlied]

So if I physically split my keyboard output and send it to two PCs, you define this as "automation" ? Have you really thought thought this through?

Yes, and yes.

[shoegazing]

Yes, and yes.

Ok, I have my keyboard connected to two PCs but it doesn't broadcast to both at the same time. Instead I have a certain button which swaps/toggles which PC receives the input.

So now I have a keybind on the 2nd character to follow the 1st character, additionally I have all my binds on the 2nd character setup as macros that do `/assist character1 /cast spell`

So now to cast frostbolt on both characters I simply press 2 -> toggle -> 2 in rapid succession.

I can easily and effectively multibox with this setup. Is it still "automation" ? Which part of the setup is automation? Surely it's not automation to use follow and assist macros?

Do you realize yet how ridiculous your argument is, or are you going to double down on bad logic so that I can expose your sloppy thinking further? I'm 5 steps ahead and have all my counterexamples mapped out already....

Oooh, here's a good one, I get 40 of these bad boys:



And arrange them in a 5x8 tightly packed grid. Each single key keyboard is attached to a separate PC, each one is bound to Arcane Explosion. I now place a flat piece of plywood on top of the grid, so that I can depress all keys simultaneously by simple pressing down on the plywood.

I put 39 mages on follow and run around spamming 40 arcane explosions at the same time. And, it's 40 key presses, 40 actions. Where is the automation?

[Schattenlied]

Is it still "automation" ?

One key press, one action, this fits that therefore it is not automation.

I'm 5 steps ahead and have all my counterexamples mapped out already....

It's not 5 steps ahead if you went off in the wrong direction.

[ketsui]

people who whine about multi boxing are the same people who refuse to wear masks

[shoegazing]

One key press, one action, this fits that therefore it is not automation.



It's not 5 steps ahead if you went off in the wrong direction.

OK, so now with the setup I described above I'm effectively (and quite easily) multiboxing 40 mages running around spamming arcane explosion.

If you try to ban software which broadcasts keystrokes (which you can't effectively do, because multiboxing software creates separate VMs which looks to Blizzard like separate PCs receiving separate keyboard inputs) then every multiboxer will simply move to the kind of setup I just described using simple mechanical devices and you are back at square 1.

You barely inconvenienced the multiboxers, they adapted quite easily, in fact you even encouraged them to play more braindead and degenerate setups like "oops, all mages"

[cparle87]

I'm not herbing or mining (which is a retail only problem, and btw it would be very easy for Blizzard to fix that whole problem)

Thing is if they did that then they'd have to deal with the "wah someone beat me to the node and made it despawn before I could get it, shit game!" guys again.

[Factcheck]

Multiboxing is fine, seeing squads of multiboxing druids flying around and taking all the herbs and killing my main way of money in the game is not.

[ketsui]

Multiboxing is fine, seeing squads of multiboxing druids flying around and taking all the herbs and killing my main way of money in the game is not.

Here is the big secret. 1 person hitting your node is the same as 100. So if they were just doing it with one char you would still lose it.

Also I do feel bad for people who farm this late in their real life career. I assume most players are like me and have a career now and should easily be able to afford a token and let the minimum wage kids farm for you