Multiboxing
Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 7:15 pm
Please allow it! I have a lot of experience with this topic, in Vanguard and other games. I've done it all. And I'll share my findings.
PEQ TGC - it is an Everquest emulator which is very accurate, but they allow macroquest. So in that game I ran my own entire raid force. 18 characters all played together, and from my tank I would issue commands to any of them to do anything. It was fun, but it gets boring because there is not much challenge when you have your own entire raid. Especially if like me you prefer just doing dungeons.
In EQ Mac I ran a 6 box, but that did not allow any macroing. It was fun, challenging, but ultimately tedious and too much hard work. I never ran anywhere close to full potential because while I was grabbing aggro on the tank, then switching to chanter to slow, and then cleric to start healing, the other 3 characters were standing around doing nothing. It was ok but just not really fun, and it ruined grouping - in that nobody bothered to group.
In Shards of Dalaya (another EQ emulator but remade with slightly different content), they restricted it to 2 characters. This was really good, it meant that if you ended up solo, you could get by, no matter what class you were. Want to play a rogue but worried because you don't have a regular group? No problem, roll a pally or something as your second character and now your rogue can do some really meaningful 'soloing' when you don't have a group. It actually made soloing incredibly fun because you always had 2 characters so could do so much more than just kiting crocks in oasis or whatever. You could do almost anything and go almost anywhere, even group content in dungeons. It just meant you had to be really careful and go really slow. But it also really helped with grouping. Everyone REALLY wanted to group because the XP was so much faster like that, the gear drops were always better too because it flowed faster, and you were also not risking dying every minute too because a group is far safer. And it made grouping easier if anything, because you only needed 3 people to make a full group. And if another person eventually shows up, someone just drops one of their boxes which people were glad to do because it let them focus on their favorite. And again, if you had that rogue/pally combo I mentioned earlier, and some group just needed a tank, you could join it with your tank and hope to eventually swap your rogue later on if another tank shows up.
Al'kabor 2, EQ mac 2. This server is new and like copy of EQ mac, but they have limited it to 3 characters. In my opinion this is the perfect solution. It has all those advantages of the 2 box I mentioned previously, but it makes it so much more meaningful when you do end up soloing. The problem with just 2 characters is that min/max rules dictate the only real way to progress well like that, is to go with a tank and healer. But with 3 characters you can try far more interesting combinations. Or stick with tank/healer but instead of tediously chipping away at mobs, you can now have 1 dps to at least make it die this century. But it also means you HAVE to group to do dungeons properly and to make good XP.
Now for Vanguard, I played it all the way as a solo character (as I did with EQ), then came back and did it again as a 2 box. It was a lot more fun because it is just so much more engaging. It also meant that some of the weaker solo classes could solo much more easily, and with two strong classes that worked well together (DK and healer was fantastic), you could even do some group/dungeon content. If played Vanguard for about 6 years and if it wasn't for multiboxing, I never would have lasted even 2 years. I used to entire days without finding a group to come and join me at Dargun's Tomb, that's when I bought a second subscription and levelled up a second character, and suddenly I could start doing the questline by myself - albeit slowly and with lots of wipes. I still had to get a group to do the late stages but the game became a lot less boring thanks to 2 boxing. I then added a third character and it just got better again. I ended up restarting from level 1 with three new characters, my perfect little trio. Again questlines like Dargun's Tomb, I could do all of that by myself now, apart from the last step. It took me a very long time and it was dangerous, but I could do it and I enjoyed it. If you are a lonewolf type player then there is nothing better than playing like this. Eventually when the game dropped the subscription, I started playing as a 6 box. This was really fun too, it's like playing a classic party based RPG like Baldur's Gate or something, but in real time... very tense, very exciting, very involving, very fun. I found the same issue as EQ mac though, it was counter productive having 6 characters, because (especially in Vanguard) you have to focus on one character to really make them pull their weight. So having 6 characters was not any better than having 3 characters, I killed at more or less the same pace and in fact 3 was easier because I could focus more and had less micromanagement to do too.
Anyway, not sure if you have thought about boxing rules on this server but I just wanted to put in my plea early for this to be allowed. I don't really care what the limit is, 2 is fine for me, so is 3 4 5 or 6. I just don't want to have to play as 1 character again because once you have got the hang of multiboxing, it is hard to go back. Although if I could suggest a perfect number, I would say limit it to 2 or 3.
PEQ TGC - it is an Everquest emulator which is very accurate, but they allow macroquest. So in that game I ran my own entire raid force. 18 characters all played together, and from my tank I would issue commands to any of them to do anything. It was fun, but it gets boring because there is not much challenge when you have your own entire raid. Especially if like me you prefer just doing dungeons.
In EQ Mac I ran a 6 box, but that did not allow any macroing. It was fun, challenging, but ultimately tedious and too much hard work. I never ran anywhere close to full potential because while I was grabbing aggro on the tank, then switching to chanter to slow, and then cleric to start healing, the other 3 characters were standing around doing nothing. It was ok but just not really fun, and it ruined grouping - in that nobody bothered to group.
In Shards of Dalaya (another EQ emulator but remade with slightly different content), they restricted it to 2 characters. This was really good, it meant that if you ended up solo, you could get by, no matter what class you were. Want to play a rogue but worried because you don't have a regular group? No problem, roll a pally or something as your second character and now your rogue can do some really meaningful 'soloing' when you don't have a group. It actually made soloing incredibly fun because you always had 2 characters so could do so much more than just kiting crocks in oasis or whatever. You could do almost anything and go almost anywhere, even group content in dungeons. It just meant you had to be really careful and go really slow. But it also really helped with grouping. Everyone REALLY wanted to group because the XP was so much faster like that, the gear drops were always better too because it flowed faster, and you were also not risking dying every minute too because a group is far safer. And it made grouping easier if anything, because you only needed 3 people to make a full group. And if another person eventually shows up, someone just drops one of their boxes which people were glad to do because it let them focus on their favorite. And again, if you had that rogue/pally combo I mentioned earlier, and some group just needed a tank, you could join it with your tank and hope to eventually swap your rogue later on if another tank shows up.
Al'kabor 2, EQ mac 2. This server is new and like copy of EQ mac, but they have limited it to 3 characters. In my opinion this is the perfect solution. It has all those advantages of the 2 box I mentioned previously, but it makes it so much more meaningful when you do end up soloing. The problem with just 2 characters is that min/max rules dictate the only real way to progress well like that, is to go with a tank and healer. But with 3 characters you can try far more interesting combinations. Or stick with tank/healer but instead of tediously chipping away at mobs, you can now have 1 dps to at least make it die this century. But it also means you HAVE to group to do dungeons properly and to make good XP.
Now for Vanguard, I played it all the way as a solo character (as I did with EQ), then came back and did it again as a 2 box. It was a lot more fun because it is just so much more engaging. It also meant that some of the weaker solo classes could solo much more easily, and with two strong classes that worked well together (DK and healer was fantastic), you could even do some group/dungeon content. If played Vanguard for about 6 years and if it wasn't for multiboxing, I never would have lasted even 2 years. I used to entire days without finding a group to come and join me at Dargun's Tomb, that's when I bought a second subscription and levelled up a second character, and suddenly I could start doing the questline by myself - albeit slowly and with lots of wipes. I still had to get a group to do the late stages but the game became a lot less boring thanks to 2 boxing. I then added a third character and it just got better again. I ended up restarting from level 1 with three new characters, my perfect little trio. Again questlines like Dargun's Tomb, I could do all of that by myself now, apart from the last step. It took me a very long time and it was dangerous, but I could do it and I enjoyed it. If you are a lonewolf type player then there is nothing better than playing like this. Eventually when the game dropped the subscription, I started playing as a 6 box. This was really fun too, it's like playing a classic party based RPG like Baldur's Gate or something, but in real time... very tense, very exciting, very involving, very fun. I found the same issue as EQ mac though, it was counter productive having 6 characters, because (especially in Vanguard) you have to focus on one character to really make them pull their weight. So having 6 characters was not any better than having 3 characters, I killed at more or less the same pace and in fact 3 was easier because I could focus more and had less micromanagement to do too.
Anyway, not sure if you have thought about boxing rules on this server but I just wanted to put in my plea early for this to be allowed. I don't really care what the limit is, 2 is fine for me, so is 3 4 5 or 6. I just don't want to have to play as 1 character again because once you have got the hang of multiboxing, it is hard to go back. Although if I could suggest a perfect number, I would say limit it to 2 or 3.