How do you handle Healing

[cichard]

My self i handle healing 2 ways i have a cleric in group using macros that cast @focus set my tank as focus. then i use a Chloro mage to passive heal the party. Right now my spam key for dps and my tank is 1 i have 1 with several steps to send key strokes to target action groups. i have Tank Heals DPS action groups tank and heals get 1 spammed to their window the whole time. while it send in steps diffrent key strokes to the healer action group. first 3 heals are hots so each step casts the 3 hots then finaly step stays there for 6 seconds casting big heal then it starts over refreshing hots. so far its worked great in my balanced group of warrior mage mage cleric rogue i have all instances cleared up to and including KB.

[keth]

I have a click button bar that sets focus to each team member for the healers.

Then I have rotations set up in isboxer for each character and spec that advances through the main hotbar 1-7 keys right now. Some need more buttons, different delays for channelling, etc. They are all tied to the same single key for spamming. Think Ualaa had posted a guide how to do this.

I've been too lazy to make it nicer so for now I just turn off or on the proper spec hotkey in isboxer when I switch specs, which isn't that often, and some classes the same rotation works for several specs. At some point I'll make it all nice with buttons or hotkeys.

Then, I have hotkeys that are "AE DPS", "Single target dps", Healers On/off, etc. These just swap the main hotkey bar on the proper toons. "Healers off" simply goes to a blank bar for them to regen mana. When they're on, it's just spam heals tied to my single button, which is probably not as efficient as possible but works for me so far and haven't really had mana problems.

I have either warden hot rotation stack, or the biggest single heal on the bars, depending on spec. As needed, I just swap in some macros for cures, nukes, onto the bar, or fill it with heals. Then I have buttons 8-10 set up as emergency and ae heals, which I can mash individually as needed. Again a bit lazy of a setup but works so far.

My team is 2 rog, 2 cler, 1 war and I usually run 1 cleric as a dps build shaman/justicar which gives a lot of efficient passive heals, good group heal, as well as nice dps. One rog is usually bard and I flip it to heal spam or dps spam as needed. One cleric is pure heals, usually purifier. Surging flames is amazingly good for this setup, I rarely have to bother changing heal targets.

Only things I have issues with this team, are the ranged fights, as I've had trouble making one of the clerics do decent ranged dps without giving up too much healing, though I think it can be done with some work.I think if I was to redo things I'd have put a mage in for chloro awesomeness or better ranged dps as needed, maybe even instead of the warrior. I'm liking the rogue tank for the insta-mobility and ae summons. I know cab gets this too but I've not gotten a good setup for cabs going.

edit: seems they are adding ae summon to a warrior soul and fixing rog dps so with that i'll go back to war tank and rog dps.

[Oatboat]

They are supposedly working on the macro system.

Hopefully this will include @character ... since its kinda limited at the moment.

[cichard]

nice my setup works pretty good casting at focus and atm the steps are working pretty good but i do not use any channel spells cause i cant get this to work right. or no where to start. i wish they had a cast sequence macros and i wish they had stopmacro switch for like if channeling. i would like it to be able to do whne i spam 1 that it sends 1 then a pause 2 then a pause and so on just to 1 toon so that i can have diffrent spell rotations as it is right now each step with target action groups pauses but since im using so so dps rotations in spamable macros it working. but when i get 50 and i expect to do T1s im going to need each class to go to their own step at diffrent times.

[keth]

for channel spells just add an extra step in between your button advance that has nothing but a delay. So, for me for example, mouse button 1 presses a rotation on the bard that does, button 1 (do not advance for 1.5 seconds), no keys (do not advance for 2.5 seconds), button 2 (do not advance for 1.5 seconds). This gives me a full channel of cadence.

I left the 1.5 delay in there as default for rogue abilities GCD which isn't actually needed on the channel steps, just subtract it from your channel delay. I may tweak the GCD waiting too as there's some things I put in macros that don't fire GCD and I think you'd get more dps with less of a delay. Game can get laggy though with too fast key firing on all windows for me at least.

[cichard]

i understand that but if im using more then just a rog i have a mage that might still need to cast or my tank that needs to cast how do i make it so the channel spell caster doesnt advance to the next step and no key presses but everyone else advances. I want my spam 111111 to send 1 2 3 do not pass to the mage and maybe 1 2 3 3 3 4 to the rog and still 1 1 1 1 1 to the tank and chloro and 1 2 333333 to the cleric just spaming 1 and do these diffrent steps at diffrent times so i can time skill rotations on 3 diffrent dps heals and still use my tank macros.

[JamieW]

i understand that but if im using more then just a rog i have a mage that might still need to cast or my tank that needs to cast how do i make it so the channel spell caster doesnt advance to the next step and no key presses but everyone else advances. I want my spam 111111 to send 1 2 3 do not pass to the mage and maybe 1 2 3 3 3 4 to the rog and still 1 1 1 1 1 to the tank and chloro and 1 2 333333 to the cleric just spaming 1 and do these diffrent steps at diffrent times so i can time skill rotations on 3 diffrent dps heals and still use my tank macros.

I guess the question to ask of Lax is whether we can get ISBoxer to support multiple key maps from the same trigger key, so that you can setup a round-robin for 1 action target group with 1 key map, and then setup a different round-robin for a 2nd action target group with a 2nd key map, both tied to the same trigger keypress.

[Ualaa]

You can already have multiple mapped keys, with the same trigger/hotkey.

Ideally, one would start enabled, which is the default.
And the other would have the box checked to not load by default.

Then you have a two step toggle key.
That enables one and disables the other, on step 1.
And does the reverse on step 2.

You could load/unload entire Keymaps if you wanted, same principle.
I've seen the guide on using any key as a modifier.
It is essentially a two-step (execute on press or release) mapped key.
When you press the button/key, it unloads an entire Keymap and loads another.
And on release does the reverse.
So while the key/button is held, your alternative mapped keys (with the same hotkeys) run instead of the normal ones.

[Ualaa]

i understand that but if im using more then just a rog i have a mage that might still need to cast or my tank that needs to cast how do i make it so the channel spell caster doesnt advance to the next step and no key presses but everyone else advances. I want my spam 111111 to send 1 2 3 do not pass to the mage and maybe 1 2 3 3 3 4 to the rog and still 1 1 1 1 1 to the tank and chloro and 1 2 333333 to the cleric just spaming 1 and do these diffrent steps at diffrent times so i can time skill rotations on 3 diffrent dps heals and still use my tank macros.


I would have your main spammed key.
Which does a bunch of Do Mapped Key Actions, one per character on the team.

Then have those Do Mapped Key actions have multiple steps.
So your Mage can receive, on their Mapped Key...
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Check to do not advance for "x" seconds, possibly include reset to step 1 'x' seconds from first/most recent push.
Or possibly Do Not Advance, no timer... and then have another manual mapped key that resets the rotation to the start.

The spam mapped key has the rogue toon do:
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Step 4 = 3
Step 5 = 3
Step 6 = 4

[cichard]

I would have your main spammed key.
Which does a bunch of Do Mapped Key Actions, one per character on the team.

Then have those Do Mapped Key actions have multiple steps.
So your Mage can receive, on their Mapped Key...
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Check to do not advance for "x" seconds, possibly include reset to step 1 'x' seconds from first/most recent push.
Or possibly Do Not Advance, no timer... and then have another manual mapped key that resets the rotation to the start.

The spam mapped key has the rogue toon do:
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Step 4 = 3
Step 5 = 3
Step 6 = 4



I got this to work. I made atg for tank heals mage dps rouge dps and chloro. I made a new keymap called spam. Init had step to assist then to send 1 to the tank then do mapped key-rogue dps which was his complete rotation 9 steps in all. Repeated the process for mage dps and heals was able to use channeled skills in diffrent parts of the rotations. And my healer does a great job with keeping hots up and not refreshing them early. Overall its boosted my boss dps and my clerics mana eff. What I'm wrking on now is a way to switch my mages that is a chloro atg to mage dps atg for trash then back for boss fights.

[Ualaa]

Have a toggle mapped key, and use the: New Target Group Action

On Step 1, have your Mage join your Chloro group and leave the DPS group.
On Step 2, do the reverse.

Possibly also include a Pop Up Text action (Target: Current Window), on each step.
Just to let you know which group the toon in question is being placed in.



You'd likely want to combine this with two Do Mapped Key actions, in your spam key.
One for the Chloro Group, one for the Mage/DPS Group.
If you don't have toons in a group, it won't hurt to spam it as part of your spammed keys.
But since it is the same toon, The Mage/DPS might be:
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
While the Chloro might be
Step 1 = 5
... because you want them to do their heals, or whatever, instead of the mage/dps moves.

[cichard]

I would have your main spammed key.
Which does a bunch of Do Mapped Key Actions, one per character on the team.

Then have those Do Mapped Key actions have multiple steps.
So your Mage can receive, on their Mapped Key...
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Check to do not advance for "x" seconds, possibly include reset to step 1 'x' seconds from first/most recent push.
Or possibly Do Not Advance, no timer... and then have another manual mapped key that resets the rotation to the start.

The spam mapped key has the rogue toon do:
Step 1 = 1
Step 2 = 2
Step 3 = 3
Step 4 = 3
Step 5 = 3
Step 6 = 4

U are awsome ill try this out also do u think id be able to set a kepress in this so that it could hit a macro t switch roles at the same time its chaning atg?

[Ualaa]

I would think so.
Whatever the keybind is to switch roles.

Have a... Keystroke Action > New Keystroke Action >
And on the same step.... New Target Group Action.

[cichard]

awsome
ty man

[keth]

That's pretty much what I was saying I do. All the rotations for all the toons are set to the same hotkey in isboxer (ctrl sh q) which I then have mapped to a mouse key on a razer naga. They all fire at once on the mouse key press and isboxer supports that fine it seems. I've had some trouble getting character sets to work though as I run 2 toons on another computer and it doesn't seem to always detect where they are correctly. Need to play with that more, but for now I did the quick dirty way of just turn off the "bard" button and turn on the "ranger" button for example when I swap specs or dps modes.

[cichard]

That's pretty much what I was saying I do. All the rotations for all the toons are set to the same hotkey in isboxer (ctrl sh q) which I then have mapped to a mouse key on a razer naga. They all fire at once on the mouse key press and isboxer supports that fine it seems. I've had some trouble getting character sets to work though as I run 2 toons on another computer and it doesn't seem to always detect where they are correctly. Need to play with that more, but for now I did the quick dirty way of just turn off the "bard" button and turn on the "ranger" button for example when I swap specs or dps modes.

this is my set up now
Action Target Group
Heals
Tank
Ranger
Mage
Chloro

Non Combat
Mapped keys
Follow
Assist
Ranger Rotation
Mage Rotation
Chloro Rotation
Heals Rotation
Change ATG

Combat
Spam
Steps
1
Actions
1-Tank(which is my macro for single target tanking)
Do Assist in Non-combat Key Map->all other
Do Ranger Rotation in Non-Combat Key Map-> Ranger
Do Mage Rotation in Non-Combat Key Map-> Mage
Do Chloro in Non Combat Key Map->Chloro
Do Heals in Non-Combat Key Map->Heals

6(AoE Skills for DPS and AoE tanking skills)
Steps
1
Actions
Do Assist in Non-Combat Key Map-> all other
6->Mage
6->Self
6-> Ranger
Do Heals in Non-combat Key Map->Heals
Do Chloro in Non-combat Key Map->Chloro

7(Another AoE for Mages and Aoe Finisher for Rogue)
Steps
1
Actions
Do Assist in Non-Combat Key Map-> all other
7->Mage
7->Self
7-> Ranger
Do Heals in Non-combat Key Map->Heals
Do Chloro in Non-combat Key Map->Chloro

Now for Chaning my Chloro from Heals to DPS for trash then back to heals for Boss fights i made a new Key map called Change ATG

Change ATG
Steps
1
Actions
Join Group Chloro->2(My Chloro is in slot 2)
Shift+alt+F12->2(hotkey on her bar to switch to Roles in game to Chloro)
Popup Text->Self(lets me know Switched to Chloro)
2
Actions
Join Group Mage ->2
Shift+alt+F11->2(in game Hot key to switch to DPS spec)
Popup Text-> self(lets me know Switched to DPS spec)

Each one of the diffrent rotation specs have all the timmings set so that they can do Channel spells and use the correct rotation with spell cast times to optimise dps it seems to be working great.

[cichard]

Now how would i go about setting up a hot key to reset the spell rotation for when we switch targets and what not to start it over from the begining. or at the end of combat i can hit it to start hte next pull fresh.

[Ualaa]

Keymap Actions > New Mapped Key Step Action >


Then set the Target, Keymap, Mapped Key, and what step you'd like them to be on.
Presumably, put everyone onto Step 1 of their mapped keys.
So one action for each toon that you want to reset to Step 1.

This would be your manual reset.

You could build into the mapped keys themselves.
To reset to Step 1, "x" seconds from the last (most recent) press... if you're sure that 10 seconds (or whatever) of not spamming your spam key (or pressing it at all) constitutes an end to combat.

[cichard]

ah ok i get it cool ill try that out next what do you think of how i have it setup up there above?

[Ualaa]

Looks to be a good set up.

You have a single spam key.
That has everyone do the best macro/sequence you can devise, without actually manually doing everyone's rotations.

You have also built a toggle into it.
So you can have a toon act one way or another, whichever is more advantageous for the situation.

Using the same principle, you can adapt for whatever.



Then a few other keys, for specific things.
Like the AoE.
You could treat these the same as the previous, if you needed to.
With each calling other stuff.

Or if one process is good, all your AoE things on set of keys.
Then go with that.

[cichard]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7_SKRJZd7g Hey a new vid of my new click bar UI and explanation

[Oatboat]

That looks really good! I need to take a little time to set mine up cleaner, currently i dont use click bars just healing macros.

of course i dont run a dedicated healer so there isnt a huge need for it.

[cichard]

Thanks ya it is awsome im loving it im doing RD right now ill post some RF vids when im done

[Krago]

Cichard, I notice you don't have the FTL macros on your action bars visible.
I assume they are hidden away?

Reason, I ask, is that when I tried to hide them away initially they either didn't work or got removed.
If this is working properly now, awesome.

[cichard]

i dont have FTL macros i only have 1 macro to follow Cleavez for the fact that i dont PVP i never really switch off of my tank.

[Krago]

i dont have FTL macros i only have 1 macro to follow Cleavez for the fact that i dont PVP i never really switch off of my tank.

Ah, that would explain it, thanks!

Also, very nice setup, you have motivated me to clean mine up. :)

[cichard]

Ah, that would explain it, thanks!

Also, very nice setup, you have motivated me to clean mine up. :)

Thanks alot I really like the setup im going to make 1 more click bar with resmacros in them so that if im in combat it will use a battle res if im out of combat it will use the normal res.

[Alge]

Cichard, I notice you don't have the FTL macros on your action bars visible.
I assume they are hidden away?

Reason, I ask, is that when I tried to hide them away initially they either didn't work or got removed.
If this is working properly now, awesome.

Those macros must be on an action bar that is enabled. This means you can't set RIFT to use 1 side bar, put your macros on that bar, and then set RIFT back to use no side bars. In that case those macros don't work. I'm pretty sure you also can't disable that bar in Edit Layout.

What I do to avoid this is to leave the side bars enabled but turn make them as small as possible and turn their opacity right down using Edit Layout. I rarely change anything on those bars so this works well for me. YMMV.

[keth]

Finally got around to changing my healing setup. Mindless spam just isn't cutting it on deeper bosses in experts, runs out of mana early.

I started to try to use berserker's mark based setup, but I'm so short on macros it was going to be difficult. Then I came up with something I think is simpler that I know has been mentioned before but may not be obvious to set up for everyone.

First of all, anyone who doesn't know this, convert your group to raid frames and you can then see a red box around who has agro, as well as rearrange the group order to anything you like. You lose mana bars but I'll be setting up video feeds for that.

Edit: Tried this with click bars overlaid with repeater region and it worked great for awhile but then it started prioritizing the click bar on top of the repeater and no longer worked at all, the repeater would stop showing up. Not sure if there's a setting to fix. If so please do let me know. Or maybe it's a fix we could ask for - a priority setting? To get it working though I changed to a little more complicated and less elegant setup as follows:

First you'll need key binds that call your heal rotations, or single heals, which are linked to mouse1, mouse2, ctrl mouse1 etc. Heals will need to be macrod in rift as "cast @mouseover blah".

Then, you need a mapped key that turns those binds on and off with mapped key action states. This key needs 2 steps, one for "on", one for "off". Make sure to set it to advance to next step when pressed or released.

Then, create a repeater region, and set the "mapped key on enter/exit" to your key map action state bind.

You can set up an action target group of "healers" or whatever to keep the clicks to those characters only if you want.

Now, when you mouse over your group bar, it should turn the clicks into heals from your healers targeted at the proper character.

Also, I still have a simple "mindless tank spam" key that just needs one macro instead of the focus bar I used to have, for one-key tank spam heals when I need my mouse for other things. If you're not short on macros like me you could still have a focus bar or multiple hotkeys to handle this. I *think* but haven't tested you could also just make every macro have a fall back "cast blah" that would then let you click someone once and press a key to keep healing that target (just remember to only let the repeater region work on the healers, otherwise dps will be losing target).

Note: this works best if you're running all on one box and all windows match up, but I did have some success with 2 computers and manually fiddling with the repeater regions and raid frame locations on each character.

Another note: still having a few problems with sometimes the keys not turning off properly. For now just mapping it to extra mouse keys. At least it's still mouseover healing that I can expand to raid groups etc. Straght click bar buttons seem a lot more reliable but aren't as easy to expand and require retyping macros every time you change group characters.