Utilizing /click to run concurrent castsequences

[Bigfish]

This thread is intended to document the method for using multiple castsequences in a single button push. Its primary purpose is for classes who have to cast an occasional dot or debuff but need to spam a direct damage spell in the mean time. For example, a mage who has to refresh scorch, or a Druid who needs to keep insect Swarm and Moonfire up while spamming wrath/starfire in the mean time, or a paladin who wants to refresh a seal at the begining of a fight, and recast that seal at the end of its life. I won't go over the specific coding of each class, unless there is a demand for it. I believe everyone who utilizes macros should understand how and why they work.

This method require's no add-ons, and can be done with the base Ui.

This post will be broken down in to three sections: 1. /click functionality and syntax, 2. incorporating delays in to /castsequences, and 3. Calling multiple macros from a single macro.

Part 1. /Click and you.

First off, credit goes to Vyndree for posting how to use /click. I never would have figured this out if she hadn't pointed out how to do it.

/click is basically a method for clicking multiple buttons at once. It is built in to the base UI. If, for example, you were to type "/click ActionButton1" it would behave as if you had clicked the first button on your base action bar, or had pressed "1" on your keyboard. Action buttons go from 1 to 12, and the appropriate number should be subsitited for which button you want to call. The syntax changes if you are using multiple action bars (which should be 100% of players).

The Syntax is as follows:

/Click ActionButton1  -- clicks the called button on the main action bar
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton1 -- Clicks the called button of the bottom left action bar
/click MultiBarBottomRightButton1 -- Clicks the called button of the bottom right action bar
/click MultiBarLeftButton1 -- Clicks the called button of the left sidebar action bar
/click MultiBarRightButton1 -- Clicks the called button of the right sidebar action bar

Part 2. Incorporating delays in to your castsequences.

Using castsequence, you can create delays between when spells will fire. For example, you are a druid wanting to cast insect swarm every 18 seconds. You would use a macro with the code:

/castsequence reset=target Insect Swarm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

What this does is allows you to spam the macro, and insect swarm will only cast once every 18 seconds.

Disclaimer: This assumes you press the button 5 times per second. If you press the button faster or slower, you will need to adjust the number of commas to Keystrokes/second times seconds between casts.

Part 3. Calling Multiple Macros from a single Macro.

Now that our tools are layed out, I will go over how to combine them in to a working macro.

First things first, we'll need to set up all the macros we will be calling. I'm going to go off a druid example of someone wanting to maintain two dots while casting a direct damage spell in between.

First up, the Macros:

//Macro1 - the multicall macro   //since we are calling 3 potential actions, we'll be using 3 /clicks.
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton1
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton2
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton3

//Macro2 - Insect Swarm
/castsequence reset=target Insect Swarm,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

//Macro3 - Moonfire
/castsequence reset=target Moonfire,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

//Macro4 - Wrath
/cast Wrath

Once the macros are set up, by putting Macro1 on the left most button of your main action bar, and Macro2, 3, and 4 on the bottom left action bar (in that order from left to right, mind you), all three sequences can be called at once.

By spamming 1, the macro will play out as follows: Insect Swarm is cast, Moonfire is cast, wrath, wrath, wrath, etc until the 12 seconds it take for moonfire's artificial cooldown to expire is up, at which point it is cast again. A few more wraths will fire off until the 18 second mark hits, at which point Insect Swarm will be reapplied. This will continue for as long as you have mana and a target.

The macro functions in the following manner: when it is clicked the first time, it click the first button in the sequence, insect swarm. It is available, and so it casts. Moonfire and Wrath do not get cast, as a valid cast has already gone through for that click, and the global cool down is still up. Once the global cool down is up, macro1 will pass without casting anything, and Macro2 will cast Moonfire. Again, Macro3 doesn't do anything because a valid action has already been taken. Onec the GCD has passed again, Macro1 and 2 will pass with nothing being cast, and Macro3 will cast Wrath. Macro1 and 2 will continue to pass until one or the other runs out of delay commas, and they become an available cast again, which SHOULD be just as the initial DoT expires.

Using this type of functionality, you can create various concurrent castsequences to take some of the hassle out of micro-managing DoTs and Short term buffs. If there are any questions, please post them and I'll answer as best I can.

[Owltoid]

Wow, very interesting and a very clear explanation. Thanks!

[Bigfish]

Alternative Functionality for Protection Paladins

This is what I use as a spam button on my Protection Paladin. It keeps my Seal up, uses large cooldown abilities such as Avenger's Shield, Avenging Wrath, etc on 50% of GCDs, and rotates a 9/6/9 6/9 castsequence as a default.

//Macro1 - the multicall macro   //since we are calling 3 potential actions, we'll be using 3 /clicks.
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton1
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton2
/click MultiBarBottomLeftButton3

//Macro2 - Seal
/castsequence reset=combat Seal of Vengeance,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

//Macro3 - High Cooldown
/castrandom exorcism, cleanse, hammer of wrath, Avenging wrath, Avenger's Shield,,,,,

//Macro4 - 9/6/9/6/9
/castsequence reset=9 Holy shield,Judgement of Wisdom,consecration,Hammer of the Righteous,Shield of Righteousness,judgment of wisdom,holy shield,hammer of the righteous,consecration,judgment of wisdom,shield of righteousness,hammer of the righteous

It refreshes Seal of Vengeance about every 60 seconds (would be every 120, but it hit the 255 character limit at ~60), runs through most of the moderate cooldown spells, and if nothing else is up, it rotates through 9/6/9/6/9.

Edit: The Seals portion is redundant now that seals last half an hour. It doesn't need to be included.

[zanthor]

Just a thought here, you are going through an aweful lot of work in the making of macro's to get around a limitation they specifically put into macro's... I would personally consider this to fall into the very dark gray area right next to exploiting.

[Bigfish]

Just a thought here, you are going through an aweful lot of work in the making of macro's to get around a limitation they specifically put into macro's... I would personally consider this to fall into the very dark gray area right next to exploiting.

What limitation are you referring to? You CAN run 2 different castsequences in a single macro, though it gets messy. The character limit is a data-space issue, not a hard imposed character limit, or you wouldn't be able to use add ons to get around the 255 character limit. This isn't a matter of doing anything outside of what the base UI is capable of. Its simple utilizing functionality.

At best, its perfectly fine. At worst, its another incoming minimap-ping-targetted-aoe fix.

Edit: While I'm thinking about it, if there is serious doubt, go ask on the Blizz forums.

[Khatovar]

So how do these click macros stack up in the spectrum of manual casting vs. castsequence vs. castrandom? Anyone done any serious testing of it?

Example, my hunters want to cast arcane shot, multi shot and chimera shot whenever they are off cooldown. Because of haste procs, castsequence doesn't work very well. Castrandom sometimes misses casting directly off the cooldown, sometimes taking several extra "tries" to hit things off cooldown. Having to heal on my main doesn't allow much leway for manual shot weaving.

It *seems* like I can use this to artifically create a much easier, almost perfect shotweaving setup. I'll have to give this a try at some point this weekend. I really do hate to see my DPS suffer because my poor little fingers cramp up too much trying to heal, hehe.

[Bigfish]

So how do these click macros stack up in the spectrum of manual casting vs. castsequence vs. castrandom? Anyone done any serious testing of it?

I've been using it for several weeks on characters that have complicated recasts, like my lock, paladin, warrior, druid, and shaman. Thus far I've maintained some manner of /castrandom for my hunter and her DPS has been fine. I'd have to look in to shot weaving to work out the best scenario for this.

[Owltoid]

I really like this idea and am going to implement it this weekend, with a few modifications. Currently I spam my DPS macro and don't usually press my castsequence DoT macro. With this /click I will just put a reset=target as well as a rough estimate of my click rate using ",". I will likely put enough "," in there so that my DoTs are not being applied too quickly, as it wouldn't be very useful for trash mobs, but I do want it to reset after some amount of time in case I'm fighting a boss where multiple refreshing of DoTs will be needed.

[zanthor]

but I do want it to reset after some amount of time in case I'm fighting a boss where multiple refreshing of DoTs will be needed.

Remember, Reset = 2 will reset after TWO seconds of NOT pressing that castsequence. It will NEVER reset if you hit the button 5x a second, it will just hit the end and recycle.

[Owltoid]

but I do want it to reset after some amount of time in case I'm fighting a boss where multiple refreshing of DoTs will be needed.

Remember, Reset = 2 will reset after TWO seconds of NOT pressing that castsequence. It will NEVER reset if you hit the button 5x a second, it will just hit the end and recycle.

Heh, yeah, I learned that less over the past two days. I meant I will try to include enough "," to eat up an appropriate amount of time where DoTs are not reapplied to trash mobs but are applied to bosses.