The Beginning

The first thing I realised once I started playing was how -different- it was having 5 toons. Is it weird to feel jealous when one of your characters get a green drop while the others just stand and watch?

Secondly the graphics (on highest) setting on my new comp was pretty decent and there was no more jerky lag though my internet did give me some problems sometimes

Also, having 5 characters made doing almost every quest line and profession possible, although immediately I realised that training the skills would take titanic efforts

Quickly, I selected my main as the person to receive first dips on any new loot. Loots rules were as such. Any major improvement (>7 item levels) would be given to my main. Otherwise it would trickle down stepwise (2-3-4-5) to my other toons. My main would be skinning/Mining while my 2nd alt would pick up the scraps with enchanting. I was tempted to raise my characters with tailoring (which can later be DE-ed) but I wasn't sure if I had the cash. On hindsight I should have picked 1-2 to do so. (but by then I gave all my cloth away sigh)

Of course that led to much protests from alts 3-5 which gained almost no loot except from quests. Using my massive powers of dictatorship I ruthlessly quelled any arguments or potential bycotts from my alts. There would be no dissension in my ranks.

The draenei starting area couldn't be more frustrating for a multiboxers. Alot of quest lines could not be open simply for the fact that there are alot of collection quests! I soon learned why mboxers avoid collection quests like a plague. It took nearly 1/2 an hour to finish -one- collection quest. Thank goodness for RAF bonuses!!

Rules for levelling while questing

1) Follow the normal quest sequence with your main

2) In any case, alts always just simply take kill quests

3) Get a macro ASAP to share quests and accept them

4) Don't need to be greedy - it is fine to keep your main 1-2 levels ahead of everyone else. Eventually it all evens out. RAF bonus ensures killing mobs is a fine way to level as well

5) Elite quests are easy with 5 people :)

6) Avoid collection quests like a plague! But read carefully! some quests just simply need you to collect a single crystal from a source - those are doable easily

I don't think there's a need to go much into details about level 1-15 levelling. /Playsequence /follow /cast lightning bolt /follow. See copper -> mine. See dead animal -> skin. Ooo green shiny rewards! Take, wear.

However, I must say that doing shaman totem quests nearly killed my patience AND my brain cells. Argh! I 'm glad I finally got it over with! Running around aimlessly for hours to finish 1 (ok, 4X1) Totem quests got my really really grouchy.

To avoid recounting such terribly painful moments, I'll just look at the bright side and say that I was happy with my Earth and Fire totems once the quest was done. It was truly a nice reward for a multiboxer :) Wading completely through mobs with 8 totems and a paladin was definitely very far from difficult. As a hint too, shaman totem quest chains give ALOT of exp for the character, and they literally overtook my main character by 2 whole levels. It took me a while to balance things again.

I may be oversimplifying the thought, macro, and questing process with a few simple paragraphs, but once you get the hang of things, it just glides along pretty easily. Apart from the few 'oooohs' and 'ahhhhs' from other players that pass by you, it was a genuinely refreshing experience.