My Adventures in Multi-boxing LOTRO

So I finally got my new team of 1 guard, 1 mini and 4 hunters to level 20 and have started to run GB and skirms (again). I have Mor_on's script running and am able to do all the gaming fundamentals describe in his guide - I have all my clients set up and running smoothly and my PC barely even complains in the toughest most congested traffic areas of the f2p game world. All in all just smooth stable performance and I'm really digging it. Much respect and thanks to everyone who helped me out and props to Lax for the software that made it possible even for an old fuddy duddy like me to box like an immersion kid.

A few things I would like to adapt is the fellowship maneuver config (either tankers or the skill bar one) and I think I would like to take the mini out of the hunters skill_rotation routine. Also, I want to control when the mini hits his heal rotation and have some control of who he targets, independently from the hunters melee rotation. maybe even the ability to move him separate as well - I don't know.

The mini is the one that dies first when I wipe - linked maybe? And I noticed that his heals often grab aggro from my guard on the mobs I haven't locked yet. So until my guard levels and learns better taunts and AOE attacks I need to keep my mini out of harms way.

I got the house to myself this weekend and working this out is on the agenda - anyone got any suggestion or experiences to share?

Maybe you should focus your skill rotaions on the guardian und adapt the mini/hunter rotaions to that, so that you can concentrate on holding the aggro.
Also put the guardian skill "Challenge" (you should have it with lvl20) to an emergency button so you can regrab aggro when you lose it.
In later levels the mini can also use "Still as death" if he is in danger.

When you concentrate on holding aggro with the guardian, you should be able to concentrate on healing him so you don't bother the targeting problem with the mini. Put the healing keys out of the standard rotations on separate keys (I use Razer Naga keys, you could also use a left hand keypad) and heal when neccessary.

Additional hint: Give the guardian some time for initial tanking the mobs, so he can stabilize the aggro. Use reactive and non-reactive shield (!) skills because they build up more aggro then other skills.

Thanks for the pep talk Ghostwire - I took your advice and re-thought my strategy - before i started boxing I always played tanks - My main (not the tank i box with) is a 75 guard - I was so caught up in getting my team working that i put my tank skillz in the back seat - didnt take me long to realize that i was playing my team like all the huntards and heal happy minis that drove me nuts when i Pug'd. I had a break through with the maze GB and Ill never have problems with the mini boss and his worms again - the twins are no problem now either - I just hold off on my team and get the bosses aggro - then grab each add as they pop up - basically ignoring the boss and have my team blow away each add as i tab target through them and stick a few in the boss inbetween adds - havent wiped since i started to /tank prperly. thanks for the reminder

I am having a problem with the next instance - I cant get passes the part where you have to kill 4 barrow candles (or whatever those glowing will-o-wisp-like things are) at the same time - any body getting through this boxing or do i have to recruit another live player to help me be in 4 places at once?

well eggnog and turkey is effecting my typing and spelling so i think ill stop here - thanks again

W

[Kaische]

Your first text passage reminded me of myself: I play a minstrel as my main and it confuses me everytime to think ''out of the box'' when im multiboxing and drive the team with a guardian

Okay, the trick in the third instance of Great Barrow is this: you have to aggro (!) all the appearing wisp-thingies as fast as possible... okay not that fast, but fast! You can take your time to kill them, but you have to catch them quick.
Your Main on one side and 1-2 ranged with autoattack enabled (or use your ''select nearest NPC'' keymap and attack then) on the other side should handle it, then grab all aggro with our Guardian and voila.... boss incoming

I am having a problem with the next instance - I cant get passes the part where you have to kill 4 barrow candles (or whatever those glowing will-o-wisp-like things are) at the same time - any body getting through this boxing or do i have to recruit another live player to help me be in 4 places at once?

As Kaische mentioned, you don't need to kill each wave within the timer, just tag and aggro them. So you just need to figure out a sequence that tags those final four in time. Just knowing that it's doable is half the battle won

I spread my team out (four hunters, mini, guard) and allow each hunter to auto-target on the nearest mob. Then I run around with the guard and mini helping out whichever hunter is lagging on DPS or needs healing. It usually takes me a couple tries to find the proper position for each hunter so the spawn point is inside his frontal attack cone.

okay - so yeah - it took me a few tries but i managed to do it and take out the boss - Im proud of my team - my guard bit it but the boys hung in and out lasted the nasties - /rush

It took a leap of faith - i just positioned my hunters where i thought I covered most of the spacial area and when the boss says "now kill all four" or whatever i switch quickly between each hunter screen and hit Tab and 1 as fast i could and kept cycling through until i either ran out of time or it became obvious that I had tagged them all - took 2 or 3 times but done is done. Ill prolly avoid this instance in the future as i don't need the Barrow marks anymore - My team has all the armor and other than just the challenge of beating the boss (and I did) I dont know why i would go back - of course later on I might need to start doing GB again for Sup 3rd marks - I dont know how im gonna get a reliable source of Sup 3rd marks - the school and library (where i used to farm those marks) may not be doable boxing? - I dont see how Im gonna put out the fires on each side of the wall and keep the mobbed aggro'd in the other area all at the same time - oh well cross that bridge when I get there

thanks for the tips
W