Sheep / Crowd Control In Classic

[Acidburning]

Trying new things when it comes to classic and placing a mage in my group.
Any brief pointers on a sheep / crowd control setup with ISBOXER and/ or macros?
I would have done this via focus target, but that won't be available.
I don't want to sheep pull. I plan on having druid tank pulling.

One thought I had. Mage acquires target to sheep prior to pull.
Use a separate key (ie: #5) is normal dps rotation minus the mage FTL and only casts sheep.
After sheep is successful, switch to normal dps key (ie: #1) that includes the mage dps rotation.

Is this a good way? Is there a better way?

[Fuzzyboy]

It's been a while since I've messed with macros, but I seem to remember it being possible to DPS a target, without targetting it. Something in the line of:

/cast [target=ptarty1target] frostbolt (assuming your tank is party1)

And then you could free up your main target to use for sheeping. I'm not a 100 percent sure that it works though.

[Tight]

I use to do it setting up a macro with party/raid symbols (star, cross ect.) if my memory serves me well, cant remember if it was classic or burning crusade its all a blur. But it was early though.

[Perrigrin]

I'm gonna try with:
1) AE when possible (2 mage + 1 lock group)
2) Pre set the targets on the mages, pull on tank and immediatly hit sheep button - reassist and DPS

I expect mobs to die so fast that I dont need to reapply CC - If that isnt true, I guess I'll need to rethink

[Lanser84]

I'm planning the same solution as Perrigrin. I'll have two "CC" buttons:
1) "everyone CC their current target" (for use just after teh pull as Perrigrin suggests)
2) "someone CC my current target" (for re-sheeping. round-robin among the mages) (obviously need to take-care not to break sheep...e.g. target only far-away targets, face my only melee char the other way, stop ranged DPS, etc.)

What happens if you cast polymorph on a target this is already sheeped? Does it extend the duration, do nothing, unsheep them? (And do banish/shackle/sleep/etc work the same way?)

[Quiding]

What happens if you cast polymorph on a target this is already sheeped? Does it extend the duration, do nothing, unsheep them? (And do banish/shackle/sleep/etc work the same way?)

Sheeps again, thats the problem if you have multiple sheeps up and you resheep with a mage that already has one sheeped, it'll break.

I think im gonna do a roundrobin assist for the 3 mages and sheep like that, as Perrigrin said I don't think resheeping will be as needed, still have to figure that out though.

[Tin]

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/55774-Possible-Macro-broadcast-for-each-slave-to-select-a-different-target?p=420430&viewfull=1#post420430

[waddles]

Sheeps again, thats the problem if you have multiple sheeps up and you resheep with a mage that already has one sheeped, it'll break.

If the mobs being sheeped have distinct names (I realize this may not often be the case, but sometimes it will be) then you can give each mage a macro that will map them to a specific mob. e.g. mage1 gets macro /target mobtosheep1 /cast sheep, mage2 gets macro /target mobtosheep2 /cast sheep, ...

I was messing around with this on live in WC and it worked. Obviously the additional need to modify one or more macros on your mages before a big pull is a downside.

But it does avoid the problem you expose, namely mage_j sheeping mage_i's mob and thereby breaking sheep on his mob. It also allows them to go dps mode right after the sheep, since the dps target will be whatever the master has targeted. It also simplifies re-sheeping. The master doesn't need to know anything. Just hit the macro and the mages automatically target the right mob and re-apply.

[Quiding]

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/55774-Possible-Macro-broadcast-for-each-slave-to-select-a-different-target?p=420430&viewfull=1#post420430
That would indeed work on retail, but they've removed that for classic.

EDIT: That being focus.

[gormless]

https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/55774-Possible-Macro-broadcast-for-each-slave-to-select-a-different-target?p=420430&viewfull=1#post420430

This one deals with Focus. That isn't available in classic unfortunately, right?

Edit: Ninja'd by 2 minutes going to make sure focus wasn't available. See quiding's answer.

[Twl231]

Tin, that's a phenomenal answer to the question. Does this work for Classic?

Walk me through this:

1. Mark targets
2. Hit Clear Focus
3. Sheep?

What parameters do we need to change in order to make this work for multiple mages?

Awww...saw the above posts of no focus....womp womp....took away focus, but didn't add in the macro capabilities we had in classic.

[Tin]

They have removed focus :( - I Remember I had it build into my UI x-pearl as there where no focus frame.

[gormless]

The way I understood it is that in original classic we had the ability to mimic focus using unique ID api's. When Focus was added to the default UI behavior we lost Unique ID access.

Now Focus is being removed from the default UI but the unique ID access is not being restored so we lose both.

Edit: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/focus-was-in-vanilla-please-fix-the-api/188182 Long post requesting focus to be added back in some form with history and explanation.

[dalo199]

The way I understood it is that in original classic we had the ability to mimic focus using unique ID api's. When Focus was added to the default UI behavior we lost Unique ID access.

Now Focus is being removed from the default UI but the unique ID access is not being restored so we lose both.

Edit: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/focus-was-in-vanilla-please-fix-the-api/188182 Long post requesting focus to be added back in some form with history and explanation.

Oh crap I didnt know that was hoping we would get a focus addon

[xandorz]

I think I came up with a solution that kinda works to use a lot of CC and easily CC again after it breaks (tested in retail and worked there):

CC character targets its CC target.
CC hotkey uses CC on current target.

Dmg hotkey looks like this:
/assist LeaderName
/cast DamageSpell
/targetlasttarget

Hotkey 1 = frostbolt, no macro. Casts it on its current target. This is the CC key, I tested it on lvl 1 mages so didn't have Polymorph.
Hotkey 2 = frostbolt with the macro. Casts it on the leaders target without losing its target, spammable also without losing target.

I am not sure how well it would work to make it work with any character as leader (FTL), might work or it might cause some delay between assist and the damage spell which might mess up its CC target. I am not sure. (if it is only 1 ability used for damage, like Frostbolt or Shadow Bolt, then in AHK/HKN it should be possible to make 5 macros and send a different macro based on active window. Or 1 macro but send a different modifier to the macro to assist different characters. It might be possible for ISBoxer to do something like /assist {FTL}. Idk really.)

Targetting enemies would be done by using a round robin key to assist leader.

[Acidburning]

edit: removed. Already addressed.

[brcosm]

I've been experimenting with round-robin key maps for my group. I'm running 4 warriors + 1 shaman and I've got a similar setup for Charge, Pummel, and Intimidating Shout. What I want to accomplish is an FTL style mapping that assists the active window, interacts with that target, and then performs the relevant ability in a round robin type fashion. The one quirk that complicates things is that I don't want what other characters in the action group to assist or interact with their target. This seems like it would be similar for a mage group.

Here is how I set it up. I suspect this configuration is sub-optimal so I'd love some feedback on how to improve it.

1) I created an Action Target Group and put my 4 warriors in it. It is called "Warriors"
2) I setup a Mapped Key in the Custom Hotkeys for each "rotational ability" with 2 steps. It actives on press and release with a 1 second reset
3) I added 4 actions to the first step:
a. Turn click to move on with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
b. Use the WoW macro /assist FTL with target : Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin, slot ID boxes checked
c. Use the IWT variable keystroke with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
d. Used the key with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
4) The only action in the second step turns click to move off

Let's say my charge key is D. I can be driving from my shaman and initiate combat with a group of 4 enemies by targeting each of them and hitting D. Each warrior will charge a different enemy and subsequent charges won't cause the other warriors to change targets.

For pummeling I can be on any slot and just hit my pummel hotkey to have whoever is next in the rotation target my active slots target, IWT it and pummel while the other characters in the group continue doing whatever they were.

[Acidburning]

I've been experimenting with round-robin key maps for my group. I'm running 4 warriors + 1 shaman and I've got a similar setup for Charge, Pummel, and Intimidating Shout. What I want to accomplish is an FTL style mapping that assists the active window, interacts with that target, and then performs the relevant ability in a round robin type fashion. The one quirk that complicates things is that I don't want what other characters in the action group to assist or interact with their target. This seems like it would be similar for a mage group.

Here is how I set it up. I suspect this configuration is sub-optimal so I'd love some feedback on how to improve it.

1) I created an Action Target Group and put my 4 warriors in it. It is called "Warriors"
2) I setup a Mapped Key in the Custom Hotkeys for each "rotational ability" with 2 steps. It actives on press and release with a 1 second reset
3) I added 4 actions to the first step:
a. Turn click to move on with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
b. Use the WoW macro /assist FTL with target : Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin, slot ID boxes checked
c. Use the IWT variable keystroke with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
d. Used the key with target: Group (all of): Warriors and round-robin checked
4) The only action in the second step turns click to move off

Let's say my charge key is D. I can be driving from my shaman and initiate combat with a group of 4 enemies by targeting each of them and hitting D. Each warrior will charge a different enemy and subsequent charges won't cause the other warriors to change targets.

For pummeling I can be on any slot and just hit my pummel hotkey to have whoever is next in the rotation target my active slots target, IWT it and pummel while the other characters in the group continue doing whatever they were.

Looking forward to trying this in classic. Thanks for sharing.