Update: Showing Off

I mentioned long ago that I was encouraged (as a multiboxer) to show off a bit whenever in town. Of course, this appeals to my ego, as it would to any of yours, but it actually serves a more social purpose.

You see, on some servers, multiboxers are spit on. All the time. Everywhere they go. The GMs know them personally due to all the reports. (even if a GM has already verified that you're not breaking the ULA, they HAVE to follow through with every report.) They are corpse camped everywhere they go. People hate them.

This used to be the norm, but that's slowing changing. Here's a good reason why.

Boxers realized that when they made their exploits (bad choice of words... no?) public, it gave a chance for the "nice" people to get involved... You fan out in Org, drop 20 totems on the ground, light up your shield, pop your dps trinkets (to light up your fists), turn into 5 doggies and start to do the doggie dance with your front paws on fire. People LOVE it. It's fun.



You immediately draw a huge crowd, and very rarely does anyone say anything nasty. And when they do, at least in my case, about 12 folks speak up and say "Shut up man! He's not cheating! That's Boom. That's the Twenty Totems!" :)

You're bound to piss people off when you either ruin their day in a BG, or worse, you find them flagged while doing quests, and hit them with 5 simultaneous CLs from behind, melting their gear to their flesh, and sending them off to have a conversation with the GY Angel. But if you've built up a good relationship with your server's community, they'll come to your rescue when someone decides to get mean.

After 65 levels, I have to agree. This plan worked insanely well. My group has become beloved by both Horde and Alliance. I went out of my way to help anyone who looked like they needed it, Horde or not. Being a nice guy, and putting on a show once in a while does wonders.



If you plan to multibox, "Have fun when in town" is some of the best advice I can give you to ensure you enjoy yourself each time you log in.

Boom

Multiboxing The Ring of Blood

Anyone who has a 70, knows what the Ring of Blood is. But for those of you in the cheap seats, it's an arena found in Nagrand, that's watched over by a little goblin named Gurgthock, and his prized warrior, Mogor the Ogre.

You see, Gurgthock, being the enterprising goblin he is, has decided to use the abandoned arena to hold some gladiator style grudge matches, and you're his latest challenger.

After talking to the goblin and accepting his first challenge, you're warned to get your butt into the ring asap. After a few moments, the first boss appears. You fight, you win, you talk to the goblin, he gives you gold and lewts. Then you head back into the ring for another fight. This goes on for a total of 6 fights, including a final showdown with Mogor the Ogre.

Everyone loves this quest series because of the payout. In 6 quick battles, you end up netting 60, 66, 10x [Super Healing Potion] and 10x [Super Mana Potion], and your choice of 6 pimptacular weapons. The weapon of choice for Elemental Shaman is the Battle Mages Baton.

There's a healing mace (Mogor's Anointing Club) but by that time I already had a damage mace with more +spell on it, and the staff works great for questing, where you rarely risk physical damage, requiring a shield.

The Ring of Blood quest series isn't available until you hit level 65, so as soon as I did, that's exactly where I went. Now as a 70 Warrior, I get tapped by my guild mates to tank the Ring of Blood on a regular basis. The fights are tough enough to justify a good tank, and a dedicated healer... I had neither this time. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do it, but for that staff, I was willing to give it a try.

It's a regular event to find another group already doing the Ring of Blood, and this visit was no different. When I arrived, a group of Alliance were fighting the last boss. Following my own advice, I immediatly spanned out the boys, dropped totems and let loose the wrath of nature. It was fun. The boss suddenly took a huge hit, and after a couple lighting bolts the boss fell.



I was suddenly surrounded by a group of cheering Alliance from the guild, SI Kaldorei. I cheered them back then took a risk with a /wait emote. I ran to the quest giver and started my first fight. Sure enough, their tiny gnome warrior named Longstreet went rushing in to tank for me. He was supported by his healing and dps support, Alardoren, Corrann and Leonidise.

They were gracious enough to stay around and help me finished all 6 fights. THANKS SI KALDOREI! :)

So with my Battle Mage's Batons in hand... I headed back to the instance grind. It was time to hit up Mana Tombs.

Boom

Boom

Multiboxing the Slave Pens: I Need a Bath

Seriously, as a guy with more than his share of allergies growing up, nothing makes my skin crawl more than Coilfang Reservoir. Don't get me wrong. I love the place. It's bright, upbeat, entertaining and creatively designed.

But when you're killing mobs with moss and gunk hanging off them, and running around in murky water full of crazy looking mushrooms, I just can't help reaching for the Benadryl.



The first 5 man instance in Coilfang is The Slave Pens. It's rated at 62-64, so I figured at 64 I'd do ok.

I buffed the boys up with some Water Breathing, and dove deep into Serpent Lake where we found the nefarious subterranean pumping station, operated by the sinister Naga. The place is rumored to be operated by none other then Lady Vashj herself. But we won't be seeing her today. (thank Thrall for that.)

The Slave Pens are maintained by three bosses. The first one I ran into was Mennu the Betrayer. I almost pulled him not knowing he was a boss, as he's just a tiny Broken Draenei, and doesn't look very imposing. Turns out, he isn't.

He's supposed to be difficult, but at 64, my DPS just melted him down. We looted, and moved on.



Next up was a ginormous Makrura named, Rokmar the Crakler. The dude's a giant crab, but with a name like that, I was more likely to wear his t-shirt then kill him. But as it turns out, he wouldn't give us any phat lewts unless we did.

Brimming with ego from the quick work I made of the first boss, I just dropped my totems and pulled. I forgot about this guy's crazy bleed. It ticks for 900 per second, and won't stop until the poor sap gets a FULL heal. So I noticed a shammie taking damage and did a quick CH, but that didn't top him off, so the bleed continued. I eventually dropped him with 4 shammies left alive, only to watch a second one die from the bleed a few moments later.

Ah well.. He did drop a pretty cool looking healing mace, the Coilfang Hammer of Renewal, which I'll someday display on a shelf in my player housing. :)

The last boss is the reason I came here. He's a giant Bog Lord named Quagmirran. Admit it, the dude looks sweet. (He's in the banner image at the beginning of this post.) When you get to his room he's submerged in a deep pond, assumedly wrinkled as a prune by now.

Before you throw a stone in the pond to get his attention, I suggest first you talk to a Night Elf who's trapped in a cage. If you free him, three Naga will come rushing in, which are easily dispatched. After that, the NE will grant you a buff that gives you +110 to Nature Resist, and +5% to all stats! WOOT! This is important, because Quag has a nature based AoE and Poison.

After setting up I wandered just close enough for the beast to know we were there. This is my favorite part... you see, I love theatrics. I love the power in dropping twenty totems in front of a mob, just before I blow his insides out with lightning. It's fun. And Quag, when activated, doesn't just run at you, he walks up this huge underwater ramp, slowly revealing just how freak'n huge he is. It's beautiful.



The fight was a quick one. The NR buff really paid off, and I was able to just burn him to a crisp... but not before he stomped three of my boys. >.<

Slave Pens wasn't much of a challenge, but I couldn't help but giggle each time I took down a boss "on my own". Multiboxing really shines in instances. You'll remember running them in the past as a "normal" player, and each part where you previously wiped because that pug you picked up was afk, or where someone's pet went running off and decided to bite a bosses ankle before you were ready. You never deal with that when you multibox...

Unless you're the one who does the biting. :)

Boom