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WoW Insider Show's look at multiboxing now available
Last Saturday on the weekly podcast, we used the whole show to take a look at multiboxing. We had multiboxer Xzin on, along with Adam Holisky from WoW Insider, Duncor of WoW Radio, and myself, and we chatted all about this strange and interesting way to play MMO games like World of Warcraft. We took a look first at the history of multiboxing, including how Xzin originally got interested in it. We examined how exactly it is done, including not only the equipment you need to make it work, but how much multiboxers pay in account fees. We talked with Xzin about the limits of PvE multiboxing, including class combinations and how far you can get running a raid group by yourself And in the second half of the show, we get into some of the controversy about multiboxing, including whether it's fair for multiboxers to take their characters into PvP, and whether Blizzard will ever change or reconsider their decision that multiboxing is legal And finally we talked about the future of multiboxing -- will any MMO game every actually embrace playing multiple accounts at a time as a gameplay mechanic? Pretty interesting stuff -- not only did we talk objectively about a lot of what multiboxing is, but we were able to debate a little bit about whether it's fair, or whether the game is meant to be played in strange ways like this. The show is now available for a listen over on the WoW Radio website, and of course on iTunes as well.If you have input on how the show went or anything else you'd like us to cover on the WoW Insider Show (especially any other guests you might like us to have on), leave a comment below or email us at theshow@wow.com. Next week we'll be back to normal on the show (we're planning to finally have a nice hardcore PvP chat), so stay tuned this weekend for more about our weekly podcast.
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WoW Insider Show: Special multiboxing edition this weekend with guest Xzin
Multiboxing -- we've mentioned it quite a few times here on WoW Insider, and it's always been a controversial subject. While the game is quite clearly not designed around players playing multiple characters at once, Blizzard has stated that they have no problem with it -- as long as people are paying for each account they use, and not using third-party programs to control their characters, Blizzard is fine with it.But I, Mike Schramm, personally have always been quite against the idea of multiboxing. Lots of folks have used macros and programming to control multiple characters all the way up to level 70 and beyond, and some have even taken teams of characters into PvP areas to win battlegrounds and gain honor, or even win the arena seasons, and all the rewards that come with that victory. In my opinion, that's a horrible mockery of the way the game was designed -- this is a social game that is meant to be played with other players, and to pit one person with five computers against a real-life team of five people just isn't fair or interesting. Sure, you might be able to control the movements of five characters with skilled programming and control, but the other team has to coordinate five human minds all together, a much harder and more interesting act, in my personal opinion. I am firmly against multiboxing -- it's not the way this game is meant to be played at all, and while Blizzard may be content to make more money off of someone paying for many accounts, I'm not content to be stuck in a game with them.Which is why, this Saturday on the WoW Insider Show over on WoW Radio (at 3:30pm EST), our guest will be Xzin, one of the most notorious (and popular) multiboxers the game has ever seen.
Multiboxing in formation with Xzin
Xzin, always ready to show off his multiboxing setups, sent us a video of movement tests for his 10 boxing group. Yeah.I don't know-- I don't really find this exciting at all. I mean, sure, there's a little bit of skill in actually coding this stuff all out and hooking it all together, but after you do that, what's the point? Isn't this close enough to botting that Blizzard would frown on it? Sure, if you pull this off, you'll be able to win a whole BG by yourself, but if I had a couple grand in cash to waste on all this stuff, I'd just hire Pandemic to come and do it for me.Are you guys interested in news about multiboxing or not? If there's a large group of you who finds this fascinating, I'm more than happy to post this stuff when we see it come through. But while I can see the skill in coordinating 10 computers to do your will, the results just don't thrill me that much.Thanks, Xzin!
All you need to know about multiboxing
Xzin, certainly World of Warcraft's master of multiboxing and the only one we know of to have reached Warlord rank in PvP with five characters, has been working on a resource to answer all of the questions he receives about mutliboxing and his own setup. It's an excellent getting started guide, but before you get reading, you need to be aware that it's a pricey proposition. If you're wanting to upgrade your current setup to a 5-box configuration, here's what you should plan to spend, according to Xzin: $2000: Four more desktop computers. $600: Four LCD monitors. Thank goodness they're cheap these days. $250: Monitor mounts, to get all of your new LCDs in a position where they're easily visible without needing to swing your head around. $400: Keyboard multicaster(s), which will send the output of one keyboard to multiple computers. $120: KVM, that allows you to swap which computer your keyboard and mouse are sending commands to. (You can get cheaper KVMs these days, but the one Zxin recommends is high quality.) $60: Y-mouse. Allows you to plug multiple keyboards/mice into a single machine. $120: X-keys. Programmable keyboard hotkeys. $400: Keyboard(s). $80: Mice. $200: Four copies of the game and expansion. This gives you a total of $4280 in expenses before you consider the cost of monthly subscriptions, increased electricity costs, etc... But if multiboxing is something you're interested in trying out, this is the guide to help you get started.
Multiboxing madness
I'm not sure I understand the idea behind multiboxing. I mean, is it really worth it to spend all that money and time just to completely rock a whole PvP battleground with 15 of your own toons, or down a raid boss all by your-- oh wait, maybe I do understand it. Still, if multiboxing is your thing, then these pictures, sent to us by the great Xzin himself (whom we interviewed a little while ago), are right up your alley. Not only are there some c-c-c-crazy monitor setups (I especially like the guy who tilted his EQ monitors around himself, like a little MMORPG womb), but you also get some neat screenshots, like the all-Shammy run of SL that Xzin did above-- bonus points on the tanking Earth Elementals, but I'll bet cash that zero Shaman gear dropped.Bobbo also sent us this Dual-Boxing.com forum thread, which gets just insane-- this guy runs 23 characters, and his girlfriend runs 23 sitting next to him for a total of 47 characters together (his picture actually shows 57 different WoW boxes, so that's at least $1000 right there, even without all the hardware). I can't imagine the amount of money and time going into something like that, but Blizzard nods vague approval to the whole thing, so more power to them, I guess. It seems like a completely different game than the one we know and love, but twinking is the same type of thing (a game of resources), and lots of us do that and have no problem with it. So multibox away, you crazy character-controlling overlords.
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Interview with Xzin: the man with ten arms
If you PVP on Alliance anywhere on Battlegroup Ruin (which includes Warsong, Argent Dawn, Lothar and Medivh, among others), you've probably run into Xzin. Most likely, you've seen him very briefly before your untimely death. You may have complained to your teammates about him. Perhaps you reported him to a GM. You could have even created one of the many "@Xzin" threads that litter the Magtheridon realm forums. You can do many, many things, but nothing will change the fact that you are dead. And the next time you see him, you will also be dead. Xzin plays a team consisting of one undead priest and four undead mages on Magtheridon-US. He runs five separate WoW accounts on five separate computers, controlling the characters through coordinated wireless keyboards. All the arcane/fire-specced mages follow the priest around and do coordinated damage while the holy-specced priest heals them. Any single player who attempts to take on the Zins will be instantly killed. The Zin Army reached Warlord status a couple months ago, and now Xzin, Azin, Bzin, Czin and Dzin are testing out PvP in the Burning Crusade Beta. WoW Insider caught up with Xzin between Arena bouts and asked him about his unique setup. (Edited to add video links.)
