Macro Questions

[crowdx]

Hi all,
so I have a couple of questions about macros. I have been using some of the click macro's from the forum but I want to understand better what some of the requirements on them are, so here goes:
1. In a macro where I am using comma's to time the next casting of a spell, does a space at the end of the spell make any difference or what is the impact of spacing between comma's?
2. Null at the end of a macro? What does this do?
3. I have seen where a macro get's stuck, is this just due to clicking too fast/slow? Which is the safest, click a little slower or clicking faster? i.e. is it better to have slightly higher commas than needed or aim lower?
Thanks for all the help

[Solon]

1. No difference, spaces are just wasted space in my experience.

2. Null means the macro wont "wrap around" and restart. It is used to cast a spell only once every time the reset condition is met. ONLY meeting the reset condition starts the macro over. Thus
/castsequence [@target] reset=target Hunter's Mark;null would make that spell be cast once and only once every time you switched targets. Null warning: do not put null in a multiline macro using SDM (at least, possibly otherwise as well) as it will freeze up the macro, for example:

/castsequence [@target] reset=combat 696 pallytank sequence
/castsequence [@player] reset=combat Divine Shield;null has resulted in a macro advancement lockup for me, but seperating them into different "/click"ed buttons solves the issue. I am now removing my over length macros and rebuilding just because of this.

3. You can not use a click macro exactly as you saw it here as everyone clicks at a different rate. There is no safer speed. You need to customize the macros to fit YOUR personal speed. I use my mouse wheel to spam my macro, so I need tons of commas, some people click twice per second, who need far less. We don't get to see a lot of great macros used by some of these brilliant writers because some people don't get it, and the writers get tired of hearing how their macro "doesn't work gud enuf". Here is my method of timing my macros.

I go to a target dummy, just build one castsequence macro (using the ? icon), and place that where my clicker will hit it. I then take that same ability from my spellbook onto an unused button (allows me to watch the cooldown easily), then spam away at my clicker. If I see that the cooldown is up before the ? icon switches back to my spell, I remove 4 commas. If I see the ? switch to my spell before the cooldown is up I add 4 commas. I repeat the test until I get this spell timing correct. I then pick the next spell in line and start over. Repeat ad nauseum, or until all your spells are timed right for you.

I usually like my ability to be off cooldown for a fraction of a second before the macro calls it to make sure nothing below is waiting. YMMV.

[Fursphere]

We don't get to see a lot of great macros used by some of these brilliant writers because some people don't get it, and the writers get tired of hearing how their macro "doesn't work gud enuf

This need to be posted up for everyone to see.

[crowdx]

Thank you SOOOO much for this insight, this has given me so much insight into customizing the original excellent macros for my needs, i think this will make a huge difference.
Excellent stuff :)

[Solon]

Happy to help. If something else comes up on your click macros that needs clarification I would enjoy trying to help out. Maybe we will end up with a timing guide before long. :)

[crowdx]

As an update, one of the most useful points that was made in this thread is to use the original spell and the macro'ed spell and so you can visually see which youare clicks are doing, too fast or too slow. I did this and it gave me a pretty good dps.
The only thing I am seeing in dungeons vs the dummys is that on some fights I am getting much more dps than others (normally getting about 2k whereas some fights I have hit 3k on the best geared lock) . I presume this may have to do with the target and the mechanics of that target.
One last thing I am still seeing from time to time is the warlocks are stopping casting, I am not sure if they are losing focus or if the macro is sticking somewhere, hard to tell in a the middle of a fight :)
But again overall the information above was very useful and made it much easier to tweak individual macros.

[Fursphere]

One last thing I am still seeing from time to time is the warlocks are stopping casting, I am not sure if they are losing focus or if the macro is sticking somewhere, hard to tell in a the middle of a fight

If the warlock is destruction, this is most likely due to immolate / conflag. You need a reset on target function in your immolate macro, or this will happen.

[Drommon]

If the warlock is destruction, this is most likely due to immolate / conflag. You need a reset on target function in your immolate macro, or this will happen.

Or use a modifer like reset=combat/ctrl. You can also use reset=target/ctrl.

[crowdx]

Cool, I must try this when I get home, the locks are destruction and glyphed for the conflag.
It is something I am wondering about with Immolate and being glyphed for conflag, should I just let Immolate run it's full duration ?

[Solon]

That is a good reason to switch targets to another target dummy while testing macros, sometimes that will help you see a hang up. Make sure you have appropriate reset conditions. I can't help much more without actually seeing your macros.

[crowdx]

Well then here are the macros lol

The main spam macro and below the are listed as macro number = bar button

#showtooltip Incinerate
/Click MultiBarBottomRightButton1
/Click MultiBarBottomRightButton2
/Click MultiBarBottomRightButton3
/Click MultiBarBottomRightButton4
/Click MultiBarBottomRightButton5
/use 13
/use 14
/cast [pet:imp] Fire Bolt

MACRO 1
#show Curse of the Elements
/castsequence reset=target Curse of the Elements,Null


MACRO 2
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target Immolate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 3
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target Conflagrate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 4
showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target Chaos Bolt ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 5
#showtooltip Incinerate
/castsequence reset=target Incinerate

[Solon]

Some minor changes that I think might help:



MACRO 2
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=target/combat Immolate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 3
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat Conflagrate ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 4
showtooltip
/castsequence reset=combat Chaos Bolt ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

MACRO 5
/cast incinerateNo sense in resetting Confl and Chaos if they aren't ready in the middle of a battle if you can fall through to incin. It is said that ending with a pure /cast instead of /castsequence can speed up the casting of the final spell since everything falls through anyway and /cast does not wait for server confirmation.

[crowdx]

I will try this tonight when I get a chance to get online :-)