Confused and unable to sheep :/

[Coltimar]

Ok, here is my setup:

1 pally tank
1 pally healer
1 shadow priest
1 warlock
1 mage

Complicated, but I like the composition. Here is what I am using for control:


/target focus
/follow
/assist
/stopcasting


So once I have my party I F2 (to select my pally tank) then I F6 (to set my pally tank as my clones focus) then I hit 9 (the key where this "Big Macro" above sits on the clones' action bar). This works well in that my party follows, nukes and heals just dandy. The trouble I am having is setting a different focus for my mage before combat so he can sheep right after the pull. I have tried a lot of combos listed in this section and under the macro codex on the wiki, but nothing will do it.

My main trouble now is that I have read so many posts about macros, focuses and nonfocusing sheeping that my head is swimming. Can someone please help me understand where my thinking is flawed? I really like the current setup I have for following and attacking, but CC is killing me, literally.

Thanks
Filrean

[Majestic_Clown]

macro for casting sheep

/cast [target=focustarget] sheep

http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Macro:Sheep

[kllrwlf]

You can also shorten it to:

/follow focus
/assist focus
/stopcasting

[Kaynin]

You can also shorten it to:

/follow focus
/assist focus
/stopcasting


I'd go for

/follow focus
/target focustarget

Since /assist will also start autoattack. (Although it can be disabled to autoattack in UI settings.) using /target focustarget does everything you want it to do, and nothing you don't want it to do. Only use assist on alts that melee, really.

And I'd have your stop casting emergency button elsewhere, not on your follow button. (Whilest not that important in pve, in pvp you don't want stop casting on your follow macro. :P So I reckon you don't want it in hefty pve situations either. For example, you're in a bossfight, he does some spell that causes your followers to break follow, yet ou need to move some, with some chars, or turn maybe, you spam your dps buttons and follow button for turing, you don't want to interrupt your mages cast every time. :P ) Ofcourse, in pve, it's not all -that- important to move stopcasting elsewhere, but should keep in mind. :)

That's for using your system, however....





For sheeping in PvE however. I'd go an entirely different approach with your entire macro set up, to be honest. Don't use focus, use /follow <toon1> etc macro's and

/target <toon1name>target (where <toon1name> is your main's name.)
/cast [nodead, harm] Fireball

And then when you start a pull, have a few buttons that make your alts focus some mobs. For example on your main you click the target you want sheeped. You then click your mage focus macro

/clearfocus
/target <toon1>target
/focus

And then once the fight starts and you want the sheep to go off. Click your mage's sheep button which would look like this.

/cast [target=focus, nodead, harm] Polymorph

[Coltimar]

And this will sheep the target of my focus (i.e. my brain's target)? That is how I understood this to work when I found it on the wiki. I need something to set a new focus for my mage so he can keep something sheeped throughout combat and still dps my main's target.

[Kaynin]

And this will sheep the target of my focus (i.e. my brain's target)? That is how I understood this to work when I found it on the wiki. I need something to set a new focus for my mage so he can keep something sheeped throughout combat and still dps my main's target.

*sigh* :P

Like I said in my post. The second half of it. Don't use focus for main <-> alt communication. So you have focus free for sheeping and such.. If I wasn't clear. search the forums about focus free targetting.

It's a complete overhaul of your macro-system. But can be made to work exactly the same. The -ONLY- difference is that you are unable to quickly make a new leader figure. Might be possible as well, but only ever worked with a focus system myself. Browse around.


(This is the only way to >reliably< and >conveniently< sheep targets through out the fight without having to retarget with your main. Name-targetting isn't effective due to some pulls having multiple mobs with the same name, + you'd need to alter your macro on every pull. :P)

[Coltimar]

Err, my reply wasn't in response to your post. I didn't see your post until now. For some reason the board isn't refreshing properly for me. Thanks for the reply, both in fact. I am having a bit of trouble getting your second suggestion to work, but I am going to try again later, when my head is clear.


And this will sheep the target of my focus (i.e. my brain's target)? That is how I understood this to work when I found it on the wiki. I need something to set a new focus for my mage so he can keep something sheeped throughout combat and still dps my main's target.

*sigh* :P

Like I said in my post. The second half of it. Don't use focus for main <-> alt communication. So you have focus free for sheeping and such.. If I wasn't clear. search the forums about focus free targetting.

It's a complete overhaul of your macro-system. But can be made to work exactly the same. The -ONLY- difference is that you are unable to quickly make a new leader figure. Might be possible as well, but only ever worked with a focus system myself. Browse around.


(This is the only way to >reliably< and >conveniently< sheep targets through out the fight without having to retarget with your main. Name-targetting isn't effective due to some pulls having multiple mobs with the same name, + you'd need to alter your macro on every pull. :P)

[Frosty]

I'm currently running 1 x pally, 1 x shaman and 3 x mages (Ignore my signature! :p ).

For following with the alts, I use

/target party1
/follow

For sheeping, I looked on the macro wiki and use something like:

Pally's keys:
Alt+1 = Mark current target with skull
Alt+2 = Mark current target with moon
Alt+3 = Mark current target with X

Mage1 keys:
Alt+1 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T

Mage2 keys:
Alt+2 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T



Mage3 keys:
Alt+3 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T


Then all 3 mages have Alt+4 = /cast [target=focus] Pollymorph.

This is all from memory..so some of my macros above could be wrong.. look in the macro wiki. :)

[Coltimar]

Kaynin, thanks. Your non-focus method works well for me. I just tried it out. I think focuses are best used supplementally.

[kllrwlf]

I'm currently running 1 x pally, 1 x shaman and 3 x mages (Ignore my signature! :p ).

For following with the alts, I use

/target party1
/follow

For sheeping, I looked on the macro wiki and use something like:

Pally's keys:
Alt+1 = Mark current target with skull
Alt+2 = Mark current target with moon
Alt+3 = Mark current target with X

Mage1 keys:
Alt+1 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T

Mage2 keys:
Alt+2 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T



Mage3 keys:
Alt+3 = /assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T


Then all 3 mages have Alt+4 = /cast [target=focus] Polymorph.

This is all from memory..so some of my macros above could be wrong.. look in the macro wiki. :)

This method isn't on the wiki, so I'll copy it over to it. :thumbsup:

[Frosty]

I'm currently running 1 x pally, 1 x shaman and 3 x mages (Ignore my signature! :p ).
<snip!>
This is all from memory..so some of my macros above could be wrong.. look in the macro wiki. :)

This method isn't on the wiki, so I'll copy it over to it. :thumbsup:


In that case you've motivated me to copy/paste my actual macros. :P

Pally Macros:


Alt+1 => /script SetRaidTargetIcon("target", 7);
Alt+2 => /script SetRaidTargetIcon("target", 8);
Alt+3 => /script SetRaidTargetIcon("target", 5);


Mage 1 Macros:


Alt+1 =>
/assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T

Alt+4 =>
#Showtooltip!
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph


Mage 2 Macros:


Alt+2 =>
/assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T

Alt+4 => #Showtooltip!
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph


Mage 3 Macros:


Alt+3 =>
/assist party1
/focus
/p Sheeping %T

Alt+4 => #Showtooltip!
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph


Hope this helps a little more than what I posted the first time. :D

[Simulacra]

I updated the macro : sheep section of the wiki earlier today - see option 5 for quick use of focus sheeping from your mains window
Method 5 - Mage support crowd control using targettarget and focus ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/wiki/index.php/Macro:Sheep#Method_5_-_Mage_support_crowd_control_using_targettarget_and _focus')