Accomplishments using ISBoxer with LOTRO

[creo]

Many (like me), may be curious what can actually be accomplished by a team controlled by a single player. I watched a couple of videos done by another player who uses ISBoxer and was inspired to increase my accounts and level up a team. But, I was not really sure what I would actually be able to do. So, for anyone who may be curious about the kinds of instances that are possible and what can be done I offer the following regarding what my team has been able to get done to date.

My current team consists of 5 level 65 RKs that I am running along with an in-game friend who plays a guardian. To date we have been able to complete the following instances:

Angmar:

CD / URU / BG all done at level, so in the level range of 48 through 53 while mobs conned blue (1 or 2 levels below our team) to orange (1 or 2 levels above our team)

Moria:

Skumfil - hard mode
Fil Gashan - hard mode
The Forges - hard mode
16th Hall - hard mode
The Grand Stairs - hard mode
Halls of Crafting

Mirkwood:

SG - All but final boss (still working on getting this one down). This is considered by many to be the hardest 6 man instance in the game and the final boss the hardest boss fight for a 6 man fellowship.

Skirmishes:

We have all skirmis unlocked except the last one which is unlocked by completing the latest book, and we are able to complete all at level on tier 1 (except survive the barrow downs - see note below)

Note: The skirmish "Survive the Barrow Downs" is an hour long challenge that gets progressively harder throughout the hour. The goal is to survive. If you kill mobs, they will respawn although there is a mob count cap that controls the total mobs you have at any given time. This cap increases as you get further along in the instance. To date, I have only seen this instance completed (survive full hour) on one of the current LOTRO servers. The current time record for Brandywine (the most busy of the LOTRO servers) was 26 minutes last I checked. Our record for this instance at level on tier 1 is 53 minutes and change (which eclipsed the previous server record of 25 minutes). So, we failed just a little less than 7 minutes from completing it on our best effort to date. We have completed all the deeds for a 6 man fellow in this instance (all except surviving the full hour that is) which includes going 30 minutes without participating in a CJ, going 30 minutes without killing a Lieutenant, along with various survival deeds. We are still working to perfect our strategy to get to the 60 minute mark...

Our most recent challenge is Helegrod as a 6 man fellowship. Helegrod is a 24 man Raid instance that is rather challenging to attempt at level (which is 50 with mobs that range as high as 53). Of course our team being at level 65 does have certain advantages in terms of morale and focused DPS, but again this is designed for a 24 man Raid and 2 real players controlling just 6 characters in game still makes for a interesting fight. Just last night we developed a strategy that allowed us to get past the 4th boss (the giants, the spiders, the drakes and the optional cold bear as the first 4 bosses) prior to gaunt man that summons Thorog (the final boss). The gaunt man was an easy tank and spank, but Thorog will be a bit of a challenge since he has a number of things that he can do which can potentially wipe even a full 24 man Raid. We are still hopeful that we can find a workable strategy to get us through Thorog, but even if we are not successful, to have been able to even get to him has been rather satisfying as an accomplishment.

All made possible by Innerspace and ISBoxer. What an indispensable tool for the multi-boxer...

So, give it a shot.... You may be surprised what you can actually accomplish...

Cheers,

creo

creo, i am thoroughly inspired by your exploits! I used to play LotRO back before Moria in a normal sized, non-multiboxing raiding kinship. Our best progression was clearing the Balrog, where I tanked as a guardian. It sounds like vast amounts have changed in the game since then, most notably the free to play (i had a lifetime sub anyways), and it makes me interested to take another look at the game.

I suppose I would have to dive into LotRO and see what kinds of things are configured through ISBoxer, but it still boggles my mind being able to properly control multiple toons in LotRO based upon how I recall the interface and game pace working.

cheers!

johnnyrags

It's a blast, I am only playing 2 characters right now and it's a huge change to how you view the game in totality. I will say the setup has quite a steep learning curve and it frustrated me quite a bit until I just sat down and figured it out with the help of a few people here and reading old posts. I make no claim to being an expert on it at this point, but I at least have all my keymaps figured out and most importantly are comfortable for me to use. It is getting used to the changes in how you play that is the hard part, but like anything else you do, practice makes perfect.

If you already have the PC capable of displaying 2 or more characters without falling on it's face, then you can 2 (or more) box quite easily and inexpensively. ISB makes all the difference and I don't think Lax overcharges for it at all, considering what it can do. Used to be a few years back the multi boxing was an expensive proposition, but with Lax's and others software it's not anymore. Lax has been doing this for a long time, I used to read about Lavish software back when I was playing EQ1 on 2 separate PC's. That's at least 10 years ago hehe.

But just to make a point of all this, I decided to make a 2 hunter team and catch them up to my solo hunter, so I could then start to 3 box. Man, what difference playing 2 characters at the same time makes. I mean my biggest problem is trying to fit in all the shots that hunter has in it's repertory. Mobs just die too quickly. I am sure that as I progress in levels mobs get tougher, but sheesh I sure hope so, this is awesome firepower. I find myself giggling sometimes. I know, terrible, right? I can't wait to get 3 characters. Then I might start lol for real.

But just to make a point of all this, I decided to make a 2 hunter team and catch them up to my solo hunter, so I could then start to 3 box. Man, what difference playing 2 characters at the same time makes. I mean my biggest problem is trying to fit in all the shots that hunter has in it's repertory. Mobs just die too quickly. I am sure that as I progress in levels mobs get tougher, but sheesh I sure hope so, this is awesome firepower. I find myself giggling sometimes. I know, terrible, right? I can't wait to get 3 characters. Then I might start lol for real.

I'm having the same problem. It's way worse with 6 characters, as things just explode before a fight even starts. My hunter, more so than any other class, is having a hard time getting Penetrating shots off for the class deed. I've manged to get most of my other characters (Guard/Minstrel/Captain/LM/RK) to cycle through enough abilities to make good progress on the class deeds, but finding enough places where things live long enough to get enough focus for a Penetrating shot makes it tough. The Rune Keeper having ranged, on the move insta cast spells on the other hand is my MVP. Maybe now that my party is level 20, I'll start rolling some instances with some elites etc.

To help fix the problem I setup a some routines in ISBoxer that will let me tweak/debug all my cycles. I have 'R' bound to just cycle the DPS of one character (which i can set in the ISBoxer, but could easily tweak it to adjust off key presses) and just mash the key like I would normally. I manged to fix some serious issue with my LM not doing anything because some of his earlier skills were timed very poorly.



Back on-topic: I am curious to see what I can pull off with my mixed party. I have a total of 4 characters that can drop heals, and a good mix of melee and ranged/tactical damage.

ShadowKntSDS

I don't know if this will help you or not concerning the Hunter problems but I tried this and it works pretty good. I adjusted my routine to include "focus" at the beginning. I put it on one of my quickslots (number 12) and hit that before I start shooting. Focus in itself is a class deed, so you kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak. That gives you plenty of focus to get off a Penetrating shot. Works great.

ShadowKntSDS

I don't know if this will help you or not concerning the Hunter problems but I tried this and it works pretty good. I adjusted my routine to include "focus" at the beginning. I put it on one of my quickslots (number 12) and hit that before I start shooting. Focus in itself is a class deed, so you kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak. That gives you plenty of focus to get off a Penetrating shot. Works great.

The "Focus" skill has a 3s induction, by which time I could have done a quick shot and a swift bow for 3 focus (and there is a deed for swift bow). Half the time, normal mobs are already dead by then =p. The class deed is on "Intent Concentration" not Focus, which is on a 3m cooldown. I should get off my laziness, and at least add Intent Concentration to my rotation, so at least every 3 minute i get a free PS in there. I will probably manually add in a button for Focus, so I have it for harder pulls.