Oooh new assist without focus macro!!

[Zzyzxx71]

OK you guys might have noticed for some damn reason I have don't like focus for some damn reason - maybe I'm trying to hold it in reserve for some other purpose... anyways..

ON WITH THE FUN STUFF!!

I was workin ZF with my shammy team of 4 and was dyin on the event (was havin fun tryin it anyways) - regardless was dyin a few times...

Those of you who've seen my prior thread on the "non-focus failover" macro have seen this...

/target [target=Shaboôm, nodead]; [target=Shabôom, nodead]; [target=Shabôôm, nodead]; [target=Shàboom, nodead];
/follow

OK but what happens when you're ALL dead and you wanna run back? Your guys don't follow you! YOU'RE ALL DEAD!!

Sooo... 1 easy addition...

/target [target=Shaboôm, nodead]; [target=Shabôom, nodead]; [target=Shabôôm, nodead]; [target=Shàboom, nodead]; [target=Shaboôm]
/follow

Translated?

/target [target=Main guy if he's alive]; [target=#2 if he's alive]; [target=#3 if he's alive]; [target=#4 if he's alive]; [target=Main guy - YOUR ALL DEAD]
/follow

Have fun!

[Eteocles]

You sir are a fucking genius. I can't believe we never thought of this before...and no sarcasm lol, that's simple enough that even I'd use that macro

[Dinkydau]

I haven't tried this yet, but it sounds good. Using focus has worked out well for me so far, but I'm not a big fan either. Focus seems to require an actual group for my setup to work properly. Your setup would work well perhaps in a setting like AV where you can't always be in the same group.

I just hate rewriting new commands and macros all over again. /barf

Thanks for putting it up though.

Johnny

[Zzyzxx71]

Test it out with one of your guys if you're interested in the "non-focus" mojo - I use these for my attack macros...

/cast [harm] [target=targettarget, harm] [] Chain Lightning

The only catch is you have to remember - your slaves (the non leaders) have to have the BRAIN targetted at all times. Hasn't been an issue, just something I've had to keep in mind when lookin at my groups targets.

that macro will cast X spell if you don't have a friendly targetted, but will cast the same spell on your friendlies target if you happen to have a friendly targetted.

setup the rest of your slaves offensive spells (or healing for that matter) using that format and you're set!

[Djarid]

why the empty condition at the end?

if you can;t harm your target with [harm] then the default action [] will also not harm it

please enlighten me if I have this wrong

[Moredots]

I also don't like focus targets and i use /assist main for my attack macros. My question is could we do a combination of your first macro set and the attack ones? Can you do one like this for example;

/target [target=Shaboôm, nodead]; [target=Shabôom, nodead]; [target=Shabôôm, nodead]; [target=Shàboom, nodead]; /cast [harm] [target=targettarget, harm] [] Chain Lightning

Wouldn't that solve our problem? Also I tend to get some shitty lag with just /assist main /cast FROSTSHOCK!!! It tends to not assist if I just targeted the mob / player on my main just before I try and cast.

Either way I'm going to try this macro for my follow and my attack / heal macros unless someone already knows it wont work.

[Dorffo]

i added that condition to my follow conditions the other day whilst making the GY run back to try Murmur again for the Xth attempt and was tired of typing /follow dorffo at the GY.

Awesome post!

[Zzyzxx71]

I also don't like focus targets and i use /assist main for my attack macros. My question is could we do a combination of your first macro set and the attack ones? Can you do one like this for example;

/target [target=Shaboôm, nodead]; [target=Shabôom, nodead]; [target=Shabôôm, nodead]; [target=Shàboom, nodead]; /cast [harm] [target=targettarget, harm] [] Chain Lightning

Wouldn't that solve our problem? Also I tend to get some shitty lag with just /assist main /cast FROSTSHOCK!!! It tends to not assist if I just targeted the mob / player on my main just before I try and cast.

Either way I'm going to try this macro for my follow and my attack / heal macros unless someone already knows it wont work.

I believe if you /assist main /cast frost shock, it'll change your target from your main to the mains target. Whereas

/cast [harm] [target=targettarget, harm] [] Frost Shock

will not change your target off your main, which is kind of the central philosophy with doing it this way.

As far as the empty qualifier, I don't know - I tested it briefly without it, and it didn't work, so I tossed it back in there. I haven't seen any downsides to it being there, and I got plenty of space left - nowhere near 255 characters yet. :)

[Moredots]

Ok thanks for the reply, I am going to try this out. I was really struggling with the lag or delay on my alts /assisting my main to cast spells. thanks :)

[Zzyzxx71]

I tested this out for 4 hours last night, and completed a clear of ZG with my 3 slaves never losing target off of my Brain. I'm still adding small touchups to the macros..

I'm slowly putting together a "Non Focus Manifesto" for those of you interested in multiboxing without using focus.

[kllrwlf]

Do you know if this would work in a BG setting?

Particularly in AV where all members spawned between 2 different GY.

Or would there need to be another (or replacement) flag [exists] ?

[Zzyzxx71]

I'll test it tonight - I've seen someone else using a variation on this theme but put 3 different "brain" toons in the front and differentiated with [exists] so it was indifferent to who was driving.

[wrs]

I tested this out for 4 hours last night, and completed a clear of ZG with my 3 slaves never losing target off of my Brain. I'm still adding small touchups to the macros..

I'm slowly putting together a "Non Focus Manifesto" for those of you interested in multiboxing without using focus.

[wrs]

I tested this out for 4 hours last night, and completed a clear of ZG with my 3 slaves never losing target off of my Brain. I'm still adding small touchups to the macros..

I'm slowly putting together a "Non Focus Manifesto" for those of you interested in multiboxing without using focus.
A very timely post for me as I am starting to work away from using focus for targeting. I am working on instancing with pally/mage/mage/lock/tree and want to use focus for managing cc, so I am in the process of rewriting macros.

I look forward to seeing the manifesto!

[Skrimshaw]

I have been testing several target follow macros and I find this to work very well.

/cleartarget
/target [target=Wãr, nodead,exists]; [target=Conquêst, nodead,exists]; [target=Famine, nodead,exists]
/focus
/follow
/stopmacro [nomodifier:ctrl,nodead]

Not sure if I need the last line in there but it seems to work so I left it in. This macro is of course on my last guy I control if everyone else is dead.

My attack macros are then as such.

/assist focus
/cast [target=focustarget, nodead, harm, exists] Chain Lightning ; Chain Lightning

I'm very new to dual boxing, but this seems to work for me.


I understand this is a non focus thread, but I would think you could eliminate the focus line on the main macro and change the /assist focus to /assist on the attacks.

[Zzyzxx71]

AHHH guys you're killin me here!! The idea is to NOT use focus. For targetting, following, anything. Zip, zot, nada, ziltch, nein, no focus - save it for something else!! (disclaimer: That's my opinion) I was thinking eventually doing a multi mage team, using a set of 3/4 buttons on an Xkeys to /assist leader/focus for sheeping... but focus is so powerful, I wanted to leave the option available.

I'd hate to get to a situation where I say to myself "damn a /focus2 would be nice".

Edit: In response to the focuser above me :P you could do this for your cast macros.. .kind big but it's all inclusive...

/target [target=#1, nodead]; [target=#2, nodead]; [target=#3, nodead]; [target=#4, nodead]; [target=#5, nodead]
/cast [target=targettarget, nodead, harm, exists] Chain Lightning ; Chain Lightning

Your failover is even built in.

[Basilikos]

You sir are a fucking genius.

This is important and must be emphasized. The OP is in fact brilliant.

@OP - you are a god.

[Zzyzxx71]

You sir are a fucking genius.

This is important and must be emphasized. The OP is in fact brilliant.

@OP - you are a god.

Wow I think I need a prop for my DB.com e-peen.

[Eteocles]

Hmm...been toying with this for a few minutes on my shamen and so far it seems to work...haven't tried with one or more of them dead yet(but horde're being quite brave today and ganking in town so I might be able to shortly lol) but so far it's been seamless targeting...the only complaint I have is that when I have no target, it targets myself...not really an issue yet but it could be an annoyance :p

[Djarid]

OK, I am a bit confused about this, what are the benefits of using target as the holder of your "main" instead of focus ?

seems that:

/follow focus = /follow target

/cast [target=focustarget] = /cast [target=targettarget]

assigning focus to retain a mob for CC = assigning target to retain a mob for CC

Basically target and focus are identical except that target is exposed to the default UI.

so what am I missing?

[Simulacra]

OK, I am a bit confused about this, what are the benefits of using target as the holder of your "main" instead of focus ?

seems that:

/follow focus = /follow target

/cast [target=focustarget] = /cast [target=targettarget]

assigning focus to retain a mob for CC = assigning target to retain a mob for CC

Basically target and focus are identical except that target is exposed to the default UI.

so what am I missing?me too - I use focus for follow and damage spells, target for cc. If I swap them around what's the benefit? Just asking - I know I'm probably missing something fundamental

[Steph]

In a nutshell, you have two targets that you can save per character: the focus variable, and the primary target. It does not matter if you click it, /assist or do whatever else to have the character select the target.

I currently do use /focus and [target=focustarget] for normal targetting and the regular target for CC, but only on the char that does the CC. Example, I want to sheep something. I select the to be sheeped mob as target on the mage's client. Since the mage never /assists or targets anything with focustarget, that mob will stay his target and default target for /cast polymorph whenever I hit the sheep button. Now, there is one drawback to this, and that is that when the main char is MCed, polymorphed or feared, target=focustarget does not work. In fact, sometimes I have to deselect the target on the main, reselect it, and only then my dps chars will fire again.

By doing it as the OP says, both the kill target AND the potential CC target can be saved on the dps characters, as their normal and their focus targets. That means CC on the main char does not interrupt DPS. Besides that, there is no difference to my knowledge.

[Zzyzxx71]

Basically, I'm saving focus for bigger and better things. :)


Hmm...been toying with this for a few minutes on my shamen and so far it seems to work...haven't tried with one or more of them dead yet(but horde're being quite brave today and ganking in town so I might be able to shortly lol) but so far it's been seamless targeting...the only complaint I have is that when I have no target, it targets myself...not really an issue yet but it could be an annoyance :p

Don't use the macros for your primary brain toon, just use standard "out of the spellbook" spells, or "/stopcasting /cast spell" macros... but yes, after failover, it will target yourself first, easy enough though, I'm a tab or mouse targetter myself.

[Djarid]

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade but this is the way many have been doing it already.

Focus has to be explicitly set and it is difficult to accidentally lose it through an errant keystroke (tab, t, y, r etc) which is why focus became the de facto place holder for the targetting character but that doesn't mean it is never used for anything else when CCing you just set your focus to focustarget and once it is no longer needed reassign it back to the primary.

I'm sorry but I still can't see what is so innovative in this. Let me explain how I work.

using 1 macro I can assign any of my characters to the focus on every account and also promote them to party leader, This lets me use
[
target=focustarget, harm][target=party1target][] for the targetting options on Direct Damage Spells
I also have a macro set to
/assist focus but I intend to modify it to
/focus [target=focus,help][target=party1] Thanks to Vyndree for the overloading of party1 with focus for battlegrounds. I have individual macros for each character that will independently set their target to the targetter's, I could just as easily add a macro to set their focus based on the targetter's target

So for my targetter I can use Party1 in normal PVE / PVP if raid leader, Focus if not raid leader in PVP

[Eteocles]

Lemme bold something very very important in response, Djarid: "AHHH guys you're killin me here!! The idea is to NOT use focus. For targetting, following, anything. Zip, zot, nada, ziltch, nein, no focus - save it for something else!!"

This macro enables you to change the lead if your main dies and is a simpler, baby step up to the complex main-focus-switch macro you describe :p And in my practice last night, the targeting seemed ALOT more response via /target [target=main] /assist than it did via Focus; the upsides are that I don't have to target and type /focus every time I log on, and the macro ALSO lets me continue to have non-tab control if my main dies, and it seems to NOT have the delay of waiting for the Focus' target to update; Focus is a static window and it's target seems to take a sec to update, whereas if I targeted someone specifically, their targeting updates much more instantly.

I had to wait awhile before hitting /assist with my old focus macro and now I'm able to acquire new targets much fasterthan before and used it to my advantage in pvp last night when a half dozen 70s showed up at Nesingwary :P WIth my focus macro I'd have lost because of the time taken to update target to alts lol

Also, Party1 is different for each char due to the way party orders work; I avoid it like the plague personally lol but that's just me

[Zzyzxx71]

I'm neither claiming innovation nor credit for this. The no focus, party/raid independant macro "family" per se as far as multiboxing goes hasn't had a central repository for information (at least not one that I can see).

This is not meant to be a slight against those who use focus or those who use any other means of control, just a discussion/information store for those who desire to experiment with/use this form of control. I have (albiet the possibility is very remote) aspirations of using my shammies with my guild in various raids in the (most likely) very distant future, I've imagined some very unique duties I could accomplish that would require focus. If my methods already included focus, I'd be limited in how I accomplish those raid duties.

Again, in no way am I saying it's better, just different.

[Djarid]

Sorry Zzyzxx71,

It wasn't meant as an attack, just frustration on my part because I thought I was missing out on something and couldn't see what it was ;) I am striving to improve my setup so when I see people lauding an alternative system I like to see what I can take from it to better my environment but I was struggling to see how this was an improvement.

There are many ways to skin a cat and yours is as effective as any here.

Dj

[Eteocles]

Indeed and fair enough...I do applaud this find though as it's solved a major issue for me(main dying, alts no longer able to move/turn easily) without being a super-complex, multi-key focus-switch macro when I don't have any hotkeys to spare...I just replaced my old big-button macro and now it works great lol; thanks either way :p Made an improvement for me if nothing else, and there are indeed plenty of other ways to skin said cat, this one's just a deceptively simple but surprisingly helpful way.

[Zzyzxx71]

I'm still working on the manifesto, it's 90% complete (although not quite a manifesto, more a "tiny ass fucking blurb"). There's only 1 issue I still have to whip, and that's a default healing format for healing.

Using the target=targettarget format, it works great while your MAIN brain is up. The main brain heals his target, your slaves heal your MAIN BRAINS target. Easy enough. OK so now your brain dies. Switch to Slave #1, hit F1 to reset your slaves target to the new slave.

The catch is this.... Slave #1 has the target=targettarget macro setup for healing... meaning he targets a group member, heals, and HEALS THE TARGETS TARGET, which is ALWAYS the NEW brain. Ugh. not that big of a deal with chain heal, but with a direct single target heal, the new brain is ALWAYS healing the new brain.

I doubt I'll be able to correct this. I may need more time in instances to see if this is really going to be an issue, typically when the main brain diesIt turns into a DPS race anyways in the hopes of having 1 alive to rez.

Any comments, contributions, insites, ideas on this? Remember, no focus, no "party1" in the macros. The idea is KISS.

[Dorffo]

Any comments, contributions, insites, ideas on this? Remember, no focus, no "party1" in the macros. The idea is KISS.

Have you thought about setting up a "main" action bar alternative on each of your clones that mimics your normal main's actionbars (so no target=targettarget). So for normal everyday stuff, you run around as is but each clone has say actionbar page2 setup so that they can be the main as well.

When brain dies, the switch focus macro would just need to be tweaked to pull up the appropriate action bar page on the new brain (and/or conversely reset the actionbar page on your clones if your main is ressed or whatnot).

edit:: it occurs to me that the actionbar switch would probably need to be separate (or a bunch of conditionals), maybe not so viable.


(if that makes sense)

[Zzyzxx71]

Needed to get home to post this, but this is my healing macro format... not sure WHY it works, but it works..

/cast [target=targettarget, help] [] Lesser Healing Wave

[yarr]

here's an idea, just throwing it out there (i'm not using it atm, im one of those noobs using focus)

you may want to put [nodead, noharm] instead of just [nodead] or however the syntax allows. Because when your main gets MC'ed, you won't be able to assist him.

This is actually potentially a great solution to the MC dilemma some of us have had.

Not sure if its possible to extend it to include hex/polymorph (until blizzard adds a noCC'ed variable lol!)

[kllrwlf]

I did some testing and can't figure out how to make this work.

Have 3 toons (or more, but 3 for the test) all in a party and all alive and not in combat.

Have Toon1 (main toon) at one end of Shatt.

Toon2 and Toon3 together at the other end.

Have a macro for Toon3, that says, follow Toon1 or follow Toon2.

What's happening is that Toon3 is targeting Toon1 and doing nothing. It's able to target Toon1 because they are all in the same party.

Any suggestion?

I tried [nodead, exists] and [nodead] and [exists] but with the same result.

This is basically a test for when you are in AV, and all of your toons have spawned, but split up at 2 different GYs.

[Zzyzxx71]

The [noharm] is a damn good idea. I just started getting into situationw where the main is being MC'd and in one instance the rest of the guys KILLED my main. Was really sucky.

Anyone know if there's a nodifier for [inrange] or something to the effect? That would be the key to what the above poster is talking about I believe.

[Eteocles]

Kllr that's because your lead was alive, just out of range; nodead != norange ;p(and no I don't think there's an "in range" modifier); I haven't been able to properly test it yet because my shamen haven't died yet and I only die in pvp on my boomkins mostly(hush zin) and their names make it too hard for me to tell if I'm using the right window as the main or not lol

That said, this macro HAS saved me alot of time; no longer do I Have to manually set /focus every time I log on, just hit the macro and go, and it works fine while all 3 are dead at the GY. It seems to respond better MOST of the time than my focus macros did as well, less delay between target updates(though it still exists and always will)

[JD50]

If you don't use focus, and you are constantly targeting your main, what are you using to keep track of your CC'd target?

Also, what are you using to keep DPSing the same target when your main switches targets to grab aggro? Someone else mentioned a macro for this in another thread that I've been using, but it wouldn't work if you are constantly targeting your main.

[Zzyzxx71]

If you don't use focus, and you are constantly targeting your main, what are you using to keep track of your CC'd target?

Also, what are you using to keep DPSing the same target when your main switches targets to grab aggro? Someone else mentioned a macro for this in another thread that I've been using, but it wouldn't work if you are constantly targeting your main.

What CCd target? I run 4 shamans right now. I never claimed this was the end all be all solution for all group makeups. If you need focus, use it. The nice part of the nofocus credo is that focus is STILL THERE. It's usable, available, free to do with as you please. As far as aggro, with 4 shamans aggro tends to bounce around a lot. I ran mana tombs the other night and setup macros (and yes, used focus) for the first time. If it hadn't been available to me, I wouldn't have been able to use it.

I think something should be made clear that hasn't been touched on. This thread and the upcoming manifesto has absolutely nothing to do with some kind of malformed hatred towards focus - quite the opposite actually. It's the potential POWER and flexibility of focus that made me initially hesitant to use it. I wanted to save is as my ICBM in my pocket. Eventually there will be this situation where "how the fuck is that multiboxer guy gonna do THAT??" comes up and I'll be able to say - FOCUS!!! Why? Because it'll still be an unused, untapped tool. :)

[JD50]

Aaahhhh....Ok, that makes sense. I thought I might have been missing out on a good macro or something that would still leave focus free for me when I CC something.

[Eteocles]

I use this /target 1nodead 2nodead etc macro on all my chars now, much more effective than /tar focus /assist focus etc since I can just log on, hit hotkey, and bam, everyone's following the lead toon, and if he dies, the next in line takes over as leader with no special hotkeys/macros needed beyond this one. And yeah, /focus is still free to use on other things like sheep targets; leave your /cast Polymorph [target=focus] and set /focus to the mob you want poly'd, and this macro will still work as a follow/assist lead char without "needing" focus; aka, this macro lets you do the usual full assists and dps without the Lead char hogging Focus

[Zzyzxx71]

Eteocles you've taken it one step further. I still don't have the whole sequence worked in to every macro but that would be the completion of the process.

[Eteocles]

Every macro? I only have 1 and that's it =x alt + 3 = /tar names /assist /follow /stopcasting, everything else = plain old boring matching hotkeys...all you need really

[Zzyzxx71]

We need to hop in a vent and compare notes dude.

[Irondar]

Hi Guys,

I have now odopted the targettarget rather than focus, I find this much better as it means I can use focus for CC or Banish etc.. on my locks

Currently boxing 1 mage 2x warlocks, my wife plays the priest ;)

I am going to document all my macros addons etc.., as when i found when i was starting out there is no complete setup list.

The cast [harm] [target=targettarget] nuke, works great as well beacuse i can still do individual targetting on either of my alts and then I just switch them back to my main target by hitting the follow hotkey.

I also have a set focus hot key per lock, which sets my mains target to focus on the alts. This is then can then be used for banish (when i get it) on my alts and sheep on my main.

This means i can plan a multimob fight in an instance and have all alts targetting etc.. then just spam my nukes etc.. :) As an example against 3 mobs!! (I take two Voidwalkers in instances) I can make alt1's target one mob my mains focus another, and my mains primary target the other mob. Alt2 still targetting through main. I then send in pets and sheep one mob - Then press follow all alts, now they all target through main, start nuking, sheep (focus), nuke, etc... Then swap to the mob with the voidwalker, press 6 to send in alt 2's VW and start nuking, sheep (focus). Then once dead finish of Sheep'd toon :)

I also adapted the skinning macro, hence just skin my mains target with auto loot on the alt.

God I love macros now, started making loads for my other characters, especially the druid for mouseover heals etc.. plus keybindings much quicker than mouse clicks - Don't know how i managed to level without it :)

Hope this makes some sense ;) Also guys if you have any suggestions or critisms fire away I am very new to this and would appreciate the input!!

Scott

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1x Undead mage lvl 17, 2x lUndead ock lvl 17 - Xeiona, Xeionab, Xeionac
1 x Undead Priest - Slyvenia - (The wife's toon and character support ;))
1 x lvl 61 Tauren Druid - Xeionar
1x lvl 70 NE BM hunter - Driondar - Full Epic Arena set - Looking for Arena Partner!!!
1 x lvl 19 Twink Gnome Rogue - Dirondar
1 x lvl 49 Twink Dwarf BM hunter - Irondar
XPS 720 H2C - Running 3 instances of wow + Keyclone.

All on Argent Dawn - EU

[Hypermoo]

Thank you for this thread. It is great.

I am now using this on all my guys (azq, ozq, ezq, izq, uzq):

/cleartarget
/target [target=Azq, nomodifier]; [target=Ozq, mod:shift]; [target=Ezq, mod:ctrl];[target=izq, mod:alt];
/follow

Basically, there are times you want to use a different character as your main, even if your normal main is still alive. This lets you switch mains with 1 button, which is especially useful for quests that involve looting, or if your brain is CCed. Also, slight modifications can be made to do things like splitting dps, or pulling with your brain, while others continue to dps. I haven't tested this extensively yet, but it works well so far.

One problem is that I don't know how to use other modifiers (shift+ctrl). With 5 guys 'nomod, shift, ctrl, and alt' are not enough.

[Maz]

One problem is that I don't know how to use other modifiers (shift+ctrl). With 5 guys 'nomod, shift, ctrl, and alt' are not enough.
I haven't tested this but try:

/cleartarget
/target [target=Azq, nomodifier]; [target=Ozq, mod:shift,nomod:ctrl]; [target=Ezq, mod:ctrl,nomod:shift];[target=izq, mod:alt];[target=uzq, mod:ctrl,mod:shift];
/follow

[Hypermoo]

One problem is that I don't know how to use other modifiers (shift+ctrl). With 5 guys 'nomod, shift, ctrl, and alt' are not enough.
I haven't tested this but try:

/cleartarget
/target [target=Azq, nomodifier]; [target=Ozq, mod:shift,nomod:ctrl]; [target=Ezq, mod:ctrl,nomod:shift];[target=izq, mod:alt];[target=uzq, mod:ctrl,mod:shift];
/follow

That works. Thank you. I'm new to this macro stuff, so I don't know all the tricks.

I'm not sure if targeting self is the best idea (i.e. azq targeting azq), but it seems ok so far.

[Zzyzxx71]

Ok there was some question as to how this operated in BG's if you're not in the same group.

PERFECTION. It's completely ignorant of group assignment, hell it's so good I've ran around shatt doing odds and ends after logging in for 20 minutes failing to realize they aren't even grouped yet.

[Icetech]

is there a way to start melee with target=targettarget?

[shockbeta]

is there a way to start melee with target=targettarget?
There's a setting in the interface options menu under combat named "Auto Attack on Assist. Tooltip states: Automatically attack a target when you aquire it by using "/assist" so I assume if you could get /assist in the macro then you could.

[Simulacra]

If you don't use focus, and you are constantly targeting your main, what are you using to keep track of your CC'd target?

Also, what are you using to keep DPSing the same target when your main switches targets to grab aggro? Someone else mentioned a macro for this in another thread that I've been using, but it wouldn't work if you are constantly targeting your main.

What CCd target? I run 4 shamans right now. I never claimed this was the end all be all solution for all group makeups. If you need focus, use it. The nice part of the nofocus credo is that focus is STILL THERE. It's usable, available, free to do with as you please. As far as aggro, with 4 shamans aggro tends to bounce around a lot. I ran mana tombs the other night and setup macros (and yes, used focus) for the first time. If it hadn't been available to me, I wouldn't have been able to use it.

I think something should be made clear that hasn't been touched on. This thread and the upcoming manifesto has absolutely nothing to do with some kind of malformed hatred towards focus - quite the opposite actually. It's the potential POWER and flexibility of focus that made me initially hesitant to use it. I wanted to save is as my ICBM in my pocket. Eventually there will be this situation where "how the fuck is that multiboxer guy gonna do THAT??" comes up and I'll be able to say - FOCUS!!! Why? Because it'll still be an unused, untapped tool. :)I have 3 mages, 1 priest and a pally (brain) if I use the targettarget approach does this mean that I can select a target on my main and invoke a macro on a mage to set my brains current target to the mages focus for cc? then again on the next mob for the next mage and so on, then lastly target my brains mob for mage dps? If so that would be amazing

edit: after some playing around yes.
my follow macro is now (I only put the brain in as it was a quick test):
/target [target=Aztrid];
/follow

my focus macro on the mage window bound to numpad 1:
/focus [target=targettarget,exists] target

my sheep macro on the mage window bound to numpad 2:
/#showtooltip Polymorph
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph

so I select a target with my pally and hit numpad 1, the mob is now focussed for the mage
I select another mob for dps
I hit 2 and the mage sheeps the focussed mob and is still able to use targettarget for dps and everything else

and I never left the pallys' window :)
so for the other 2 mages I can have 2 separate keybinds to their focus and sheep macros or a round robin on numpad 1 maybe - round robin maybe be messy so I'll go for sep keybinds >.< that'll take up G1 to G6 on my G15 keyboard - oh well it's worth it

thanks for the targettarget - the OP is awesome

edit: adding some search words so ppl can find it as it looks like this thread is dead and I looked for a solution for months with ppl saying it wasn' t possible
sheep polymorph seduce cc mage focus

[kitss]

Thank you for all this information. All the QA throughout has given me the knowledge of macros I was looking for.

I will be implementing this formation over the next couple of days and will submit my results.

[blast3r]

I was using this for a while but found it to be a pain sometimes. Think when i was using my priest as a main. The priest dies but stays in sort of an alive state so that you can heal for about 30 seconds or so. In this case your toons sit there trying to follow the kinda dead priest.

[Ken]

Suppose you have characters A, B, C and D. Suppose the 'focus' order is A -> B -> C -> D, so if A dies, B takes over, etc. This is a huge problem when A dies and B + C are on low health. In such scenario (which happens quite often) you actually want to switch to D, because he has more health and will live longer. By switching to the character that lives longer you will have to switch less and thus lose less time.

You will also have to add an "exists" check, because otherwise this setup will fail whenever you remove someone from your team to replace with a friend's character.

[Pardall]

Hmm I am using focus since my first day of boxing, and yesterday I tried the Rocket Car Parts quest in Thousand Needles (I skipped with my first team) and was a pain in the ass, as I was trying to control a slave being as main and just didn't work, as the macros are all focused based on the main's actions, targets, etc.

Yes, I changed focus of them all, but anyway macros didn't work, because is based on focus. Anyway, a big mess.

I will try this. I am just worried about pet.

For the Warlock pet, I once used (warlock Smash DPS Key):


/petattack
/castsequence [target=focustarget] blahhh..


Then the pet just took a random target, as he is not taking focustarget, only the castsequence. I changed then to:


/assist focus
/petattack
/castsequence blahhh..


And it is working nice.
So I now may try how the pet can attack the same target if the "Smashing DPS" goes to your idea, WITHOUT changing targets:


/petattack
/castsequence [target=targettarget] blahhh..


I will test if /petattack [target=targettarget] works. Otherwise, I have no idea.