- Note: This post is not to discuss whether or not people should multibox, whether or not using programs like ISBoxer is ‘cheating’ or for comments about any moral decisions this brings about. Instead it’s to inform those who may be considering multiboxing but are unsure of where to start.
A comment from my last post asked about my multibox setup so I thought I’d go into some details about it. It’s VERY simple, I believe in the KISS method – keep it simple, silly. There’s already a lot to keep in mind with multiboxing, so I don’t like a lot of extras or clutter.
I used RAF (recruit a friend) to start up my accounts. Purchased BFA on sale. I use ISBoxer, which is software that allows you to broadcast your commands across all game windows. You’re allowed to do this within Blizzard’s rules as long as you are not automated the input – you must physically be at your keyboard hitting keys. I can’t stress this enough.
ISBoxer is not free, but it has a low price point. There are other programs that can do similar, and there are some without costs but I’ve never bothered looking into it because ISBoxer does everything I want it to do and it has lots of support. The discord is active, and I lurk there often to learn little tidbits of information that I wouldn’t have otherwise known.
Again, sticking with KISS – I use the WoW wizard to set up my team. ISBoxer installed, click the wizard, and it does the rest for me. I load my team from the ISBoxer menu, and it opens all 5 characters. Once they’re all in game, shift+alt+i invites them all to my group (remember to have the ISBoxer addon enabled). I turn on broadcast (shift+alt+r), accept the invitation (you can also automatically do this with an addon called EMA), and I’m set.
My team is hunters, and I use GSE to do all of my attacks. I looked up macros on WoW Lazy Macros, and import it into GSE. The 1 key on every character is a GSE macro of attacks. The number 2 key on every character is either fetch, or engineering loot a rang depending. I have a few other things hotkeyed, mounts, specials, nothing too drastic. The actual farming part is easy, spamming my GSE macro with broadcast enabled means all 5 characters will spam their 1 key. Remember, YOU must be physically hitting those keys. You can’t leave and go make a sandwich, that would be considered automating and it’s against the TSO. ISBoxer is perfectly within reason to use, there are tons of posts about it, as long as you are using it correctly. GSE is also perfectly fine to use, it doesn’t create any macros outside the scope of the game, and you have to be pushing buttons to trigger it. I’ve bound my middle thumb button on my mouse to the 1 key, so as I push down on that button, the GSE attack macro triggers.
Harvesting is slightly different, and takes a bit more coordination. I have a team of druids for that one, and I don’t have any special macros I use. I continue to use ISBoxer to broadcast my key input to the other 4 characters, but that’s about it. What matters here is the order you do things in. I tend to press my mount button (usually = on my hotbar), press follow (alt+r in ISBoxer), turn broadcast on, jump on everyone so they leap off the ground, turn broadcast off, fly to the node, dismount so everyone falls to the ground in a row due to follow, turn broadcast on, harvest, rinse repeat. It’s a process, and it takes time to get it down. I also don’t really enjoy harvesting that much, so I don’t spend a lot of time doing it.
That’s it. No fancy macros, no really involved programs aside from ISBoxer. You can use weakaura triggers to tell you when you’ve stopped following the leader and to inform you if someone else is around killing in your area, but honestly I don’t bother. I’m only playing 5 characters, not 16-40+ that I see others doing.
The most important thing for me, was to watch others multiboxing and then to learn their methods. There are a lot of amazing people involved in this community, and you have to have a certain amount of respect for one another so you’re not stepping all over each others toes. If there’s someone in the area I want to box in, I move on. Phase to a different place, pick a different farm. That way it doesn’t waste either of our time.
Practice. Practice. Practice. You’ll get better with time, and it does take time.