It's similar with latency issues...partly a matter of cost and ability. Setting up a latency-free network or even pulling a line to one's house can be a matter of paying more money for better connections or better equipment...this would also be an advantage in PVP should a lag spike hit. :P

I say it's fair enough...the cost goes up quite steeply so it's not something easily pulled off by just anybody.

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What exactly do people do with all these characters logged in at once? The only two things I can think of that would be remotely possible is bot farming with WoWGlider or something, or playing the AHs on different realms while they play their main. It doesn't seem possible to grind/quest/instance/pvp with two toons at the same time, much less five.

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Heck, if someone is dumb enough to spend a stupid amount of cash on something as pointless as this then good luck to them!!

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@2 l2research
Watch videos or read articles before posting dumb things.

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@Byron, read some of the articles and learn how they grind/quest/instance/pvp with two (hah, two, lrn2five) or more characters at the same time, it's actually quite interesting.
Multiboxing is entirely a matter of money and skill, as is much of WoW. If one have the money and skill to raid and progress through Illidan, they have earned their loot. Similarly, if they have the money and skill to 5-box a BG/arena/instance/ademantite node, they have again earned it.
Think of it as a 5 man team of players with perfect communication skills thanks to good funding.

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The same guy who is doing the multi boxing is the same guy who logs in his character of the opposing faction to eliminate competition, whether it be farming, questing, or grinding.

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In a sense its the same as twinking, spend time and effort explointing (to some extent) game mechanics to have some fun. Really I don't think its impacting that many people. Plus if Blizzard banned it, I would feel horrible about someone who spent thousands on their setup.

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Refer back to this earlier post: http://www.wowinsider.com/2006/12/15/interview-with-xzin-the-man-with-ten-arms/

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Wait, I just thought of something. Why when we see all these pictures of gold farming sweat shops are they not multiboxing?

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Yeah, a lot of folks have two accounts to gank-- I have two accounts to fend off gankers. A priest and a mage are a less than tempting target for a level 70 ganker, I have much better down time, I can level myself and I'm more useful to my guild.

I can also move trade supplies very quickly.

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"It doesn't seem possible to grind/quest/instance/pvp with two toons at the same time, much less five."

I can assure you, it is very possible :) I managed Warlord on all 5 at the same time.

You have to keep in mind that out of what, 8 million people playing WoW that perhaps a few hundred are 5 boxing. Of those, perhaps only a small subset actually PvP with their setup. I happen to be one of those players - and I greatly enjoy it. I don't expect multiboxing WoW to go away anytime soon. The amount of expense, effort, thought and setting up that needs to be done is pretty intense. Plus, there is no real inherent advantage over a well tuned 5 man group. In fact, you have LESS coordination and with the BC aoe effects, plenty of things to bring you down.

Blizzard loves it of course. I pay $150 per month.

In ANY game there will be people looking to find an edge. It is human nature. Some people get tricked out with purples. Some learn how to play their character in depth. Others practice teamwork and coordination. I multibox. I do it within the confines of the game though and in my opinion, I play by the rules. I have received numerous official opinions that confirm my beliefs. I own and never share my accounts (I leveled them myself) and I never sell gold or farm it. Bliz knows that - believe me, it is NOT worth my time to farm gold and sell it.

In short - I play the game in a way that may be a bit different than your average player. But I fail to see why that is so "wrong" or against the rules. I still have 5 characters to level up, 5 characters to gear up and 5 repair bills to pay. You better believe that I expect to roll with all 5.

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Sure its all fun and games until Blizz contacts you about giving that Epic gear and Gold over to your altaccount twink. They say they think you are trying to sell gold etc and ban both accounts for breaking TOS by selling gold to yourself. Then what are you gonna do?? Convince Blizz that you really need those 20 characters on that one realm? Hah! I cant get 10 characters to 70. I probably should look into teaming up with myself. It actually sounds like a good idea. Maybe get a bot on one account with the program used by Flintlocke's little buddy. Then I could play all day in instances etc with my holy pally and a priest and just grab some dpsers if I can't afford those other 3 accounts that month. Or maybe I could just lrn2twochar and actually play them.
That's my flamebait for the moment.. Bite at your own risk(warning Its Hot..).

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It's flamebait but it reeks of what most people "see" which is two computers - oh well they must be botting on one. Which is entirely not the case. You have a different play style of course when you are 5 boxing and yes, it does look a bit odd.

But still - botting and multiboxing are NOT the same thing. I encourage you to take a look at exactly what goes into a typical 5 boxing setup. sure, the $5,000 or so for starters but then you need to think about cooling your computers, how to power that many, monthly fees, setting up macros, custom UIs, custom keyboards, etc. Some people restore cars, some go boating, some play WoW. I choose to play WoW in my spare time and I enjoy the challenge of making all of these complex things function together. Sure, enjoy playing too - but the process of figuring it all out and putting it all together is also quite enjoyable as well.

Seriously though - don't expect every single player to be 5 boxing anytime soon. Even dual boxing, while much easier to do - is still quite involved to do with any reasonable skill - and some classes just do NOT lend themselves to boxing very well in combination.

So, a bit of sensationalism going on here for sure but I do urge people to avoid jumping to conclusions without understanding everything that goes into 5 boxing.

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Multi-boxing doesn't bother me in the least. Twinking drives me nuts: takes no extra skill, ruins pvp for new players, is generally obnoxious.

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i dont see anything wrong with it,and i doubt blizzard will either.theyre getting paid,right.my question to this, though,is...what about PVP realms,where you cant have a horde and alliance on the same realm,but obviously with more then one account this is possible.do you think blizzard will actually get on to players about that.obviously they dont want us communicating,or basically yelling at eachother all day for ganking.but with someone that has a horde and alliance,they can easily get mad at someone on there own faction and or not want them in the area and log on there other faction character and gank,camp,and truely harass someone..but would it ever progress to this point? or even bsaically being a spy..
example:having a alliance character in a okay guild,knowing theyre going to raid,what time and where.then you log onto your horde and plan a attack.

seems kind of rude,but ive had my share of rude players that ive come across on this game,and i really wouldnt put it pass them.

maybe if it ever escalated to this,then blizzard might actually do something.

have any of you that multi-box ever made two factions on the same realm that was PVP ??

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Hell if you got the skill, time and money to waste to do this, why the hell not? More power to ya, if i could afford to do the same, i probably would.

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Time and money? Bah, that's non-sense! You haven't seen Limeaide then (limeaide.net). Took me about 2 minutes to get both systems up and running, and it was cheap as hell! Got a new twink from lvl 1 to 29 in 1 day w/ it! =P

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You are right! I goggled "multiboxing" Limeaide.net came up, and I tried it. Dude, this is awesome!

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