I’m curious if Multiboxing is just being banned in the retail version of the game and not in Classic. Since classic is suppose to be all about how it used to be does that mean multiboxing will continue to be allowed in Classic? I used to multibox, quit playing some time ago but just came back with the free weekend only to find multiboxing is getting the axe. Playing 1 character is just slow for me, I’m impatient and I enjoy pve with multiple accounts. I don’t care about pvp or farming mats so I’m not bothering anyone or getting any advantage over another player by multiboxing except I just enjoy the game. I’ve been trying to play 1 character and just find it extremely boring and frustrating.
I don’t mind if multiboxing is banned if that’s what Blizzard wants to do, but I think they should keep it in classic as that’s just how that game played in the beginning. =) Plus I would like to stick around a bit but not doing it for 1 account…its just uninteresting for me.
Multiboxing isn’t banned. Software that can be used is, and afaik that applies to Classic as well.
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3rd party software that copies key presses are being banned as a whole for both wow games.
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Multiboxing isn’t banned but the easiest method of doing so (key replication software) is in both Retail and Classic.
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Ya, I figured it would be banned for both. But was hoping. And I’m not about to sit here with multiple keyboards trying to play! lol It would be neat to see someone set up a rig that let you just hit multiple keyboards at the same time. Same idea but no use of software…lol
Blizzard should just open a server or two for multiboxers. That way they can play there with just other multiboxers and make everyone happy. Wouldn’t have to worry about people there complaining about it if everyone there was doing it! =)
Kind of off topic from this but i feel like a intelligent marketing move would have been to make the game F2P until November 22 and push existing game time passed that, Hook, line and sinker getting new and returning players hooked, they would experience the pre patch event and get majorly excited, but what do i know?
As multiple people have stated in this thread: multiboxing is not banned.
Input broadcasting software is what has been targeted by the policy change.
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I understand multiboxing is not banned. But I don’t know what else ot call it? multiboxing IS the software that broadcasts the keystrokes. Otherwise you’re just running around with 4 chars on follow doing nothing or you’re trying to play with 5 keyboards at the same time. This is to STOP multiboxing so you can call it what you will, I’m calling it a multibox ban! lol
No, multiboxing is simply the act of running multiple game clients at the same time.
Input broadcasting software allows a multiboxer to control all instances of the game with a single input.
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^^
You can still box all your characters if you have hardware setup and/or if you are playing split screen and tab between windows. As stated, it is only the software that is restricted.
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So what you’re saying is Blizzard’s stance on this is, Yes please pay us for 5 accounts that you can log into all at once but can only play 1 at a time…And some dumbasses out there are going to run around with multiple accounts just on follow doing nothing…or they’re going to try to use multiple keyboards to play each one ‘individually’…I can understand that multiboxing in itself is not banned. But the method of it being viable is. Unless Blizzard is planning on coming out with 1st party software for multiboxing?
They will just have to alt tab
There are hardware solutions that aren’t currently banned, though it’s possible an update to the policy will be made later to include it.
Or, as Ponykisses says, yes. They can alt-tab between clients.
And its not a blizzard thing a lot of mmos have been doing this to combat bots…honestly blizzard is late to the game compared to others
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Quite a few don’t allow multiple instance logins period. So yeah definitely not a wow thing. 
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Should have seen the (expletive storm) when eve online did it about a year ago
Oh I can imagine. Eve’s playerbase has always been… interesting, lol.
I think you are largely being responded to by folks who are, perhaps, less than neutral in their stance on the topic.
To clear this up, yeah, you are right… functionally speaking, multiboxing is banned in both places. Why everyone insists on arguing semantics with you is indicative of the same things as every other time people want to argue semantics.
With that said, I will give you the benefit of the doubt, and accept your assertion that you cannot enjoy the game any other way, and you would enjoy it all by yourself, to boot. Well, for every multiboxer that ‘just enjoys the carebear side of multiboxing’, I can show you at least a dozen that do it for a variety of neurotic and/or exploitative and/or socially destructive reasons.
So, if you want to say Blizz stands to lose money or something in this, where I think there is at least the silhouette of an argument to me made, that’s fine, but I think you could proactively evaluate it that Blizz is trying to save multiboxers from themselves, and make the game generally less wonky for the new players that ‘experience’ a multiboxer for the first time.
But yeah, back to the first thing, on this topic, you are more likely to be hit with a combination of hurt-feeling backlash and (irate?) IT leyfolk.
I know multiboxing is used mostly for neurotic purposes. My first experience was 5 shamans in BG’s. But that’s what made me try it. It looked cool.
I played MMO’s for years and never even heard of multiboxing til that moment. But once I tried it it completely changed the game, and there’s no going back. =) I still raided on one toon, multiboxing was just a way for me to level on easy mode basically. So I definitely understand there’s an advantage to multiboxing. But only because I found the wow community very toxic and difficult to play with. Multiboxing for me actually sacrificed many of the dungeons because I only raided with guild members in the big raids. So I actually lost out on alot of the game in the later expansions. Never ran any Myst’s dungeons until I was over leveled and just ran them to see them.
When I first saw it I wondered why it was allowed and did a lot of research before I tried it to make sure I wouldn’t be banned for it.
As Wow is getting on in age and has lost many of its players and struggles to find new players I can see why they would go after multiboxing now, and in such an ambiguous way. Not banning multiboxing but just saying the software can be used for cheating so we’re banning that. Blizzard certainly has to protect the game but I think going after multiboxing this late in the game is lame! But if they think it will save a few accounts good for them. Shows you though its not about the player experience, its about the money, which they are a business.
Wow is an amazing game, but squishing it like they have really steals the core of the game. Its like watching 30 sec recaps for 6 movies just to watch the 7th. So much that new players miss and will never get to see. And with the heart of the game dead, they’re going to be wondering why the game was loved so much to begin with!