Haha - I will admit, there's a special place in hell for the guy that tries to dualbox two characters.. XP'ing on both, in different parties.


Edit: Also I think that's just Tech's abilities as a THF.

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Simply dual boxing a crafting character in the towns can really get you ahead on this server. The moon phases and days effect skillups, hqs, etc. This can be a pita to be in town and around your crafting guild for, especially when you have leveling and missions to do.

Practice makes less sucky. Some people will never be Good at it, though.

For some people, it makes the game more engaging when juggling two characters at once.


Good macros make a lot of difference.

Like others have said, it takes a lot of practice. I've been dual boxing for 3 years now. It was frustrating at first, but at this point I can confidently say I do play 2 characters better than most people play solo. A good dual boxer brings a lot to a linkshell and a group, no matter what the event. That being said, don't expect to take up 2 spots in a party for both your characters and play them at 60% efficiency. That's not fair to your party. Stay within your limits and respect the time of the people you are playing with, and with time and practice you'll get better.

There are a few things you can do to make dual boxing easier. I have a dual monitor setup and I would recommend using the same screen for both characters, and not putting a character on each monitor. When you alt-tab, important information like Recast timers, HP/MP, buffs, etc are all in the exact same spot and you don't have to move your field of view at all. I would also recommend keeping similar macros between characters. For example, I have my idle set macros on support jobs on the same spot on the bar for both characters. Same thing with Ichi, Ni, Cure III and Stoneskin. These are little things you can do to make it easier on yourself. Just keep practicing and you can do a lot more in the game with 2 functional characters, for yourself and your friends.

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Fid: 75 DRK/RNG/COR/THF/BST/BRD/NIN
Mini: 75 RDM/PLD/BLM/BLU
https://www.topshelf.team/
2017 TS Fantasy Football Champion

Some really dumb macros that help tug an alt behind you.

/target YOURNAME
-Targets you, obviously.

/follow <t>
-Follow target, could be you or if you assist on a mob, has your alt run to the mob.

/assist YOURNAME
-Assists you so the alt targets the mob you're fighting.

etc. Make liberal use of similar commands. A dumb row of Cures, Hastes, and Status Cures with you targetted specifically doesn't hurt when dualboxing.

You can /follow YOURNAME without the target or assist part even. You can direct buffs and cures at yourself with no targeting involved. I have my "oh shit" macro on every macro bar of my rdm alt.
/ma "Cure IV" Aeroo

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My follow macro is dual purpose. Both for following me and for running to the mob to attack.

I'm pretty proficient at dual boxing, and depending on the situation can sometime do better with a support character because I know what action I need to do to support my main character immediately.

However, Nabutso does have a point, no matter how good you are at dual boxing, even if you can dual box better than others play one, you would've been playing one job better because you would have full focus and attention to that one character.

All in all, it's just a matter of preference. I like having a second character as support, but I always view it as an extra luxury rather than a necessity, and in recent months I rarely use it at all because I've learned to rely more on my allies and friends to do their job, and developing that level of trust with your teammates will make for a stronger/efficient group in the long run. In fact, our LS already have a rule that if there's not enough room in the alliance for all the characters, all alts are not permitted to be in the main alliance so as to allow as much participants as possible in the battle.

Since work is slow, I'm going to add my 2gil too. Dual boxing isn't hard. People are either good at the game, or they suck at the game. Those same people will either be good and 2boxing, or suck at it. There really is no middle ground with people.

2boxing is great for lowmanning stuff. I personally don't enjoy 2boxing. It makes the game feel more like a job. Also, there's no hecking way in hell I'm going through cop again.

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啦體恩的雨水主要下降在其原野中
Making gil starting out!
Nasomi troubleshooting!

This is the best reason to start multiboxing early. It is much easier to get the missions done at the same time than it is to do them twice. That said, you will need to pay attention to what jobs you choose so you can play them effectively (don't be both a blink tank and a kiter, or on add duty), and you may have to make the group.