Any way toavoid the delay between switching targets?

Hello everyone, I have only been multiboxig for a few days now but I have 3 shaman who are lvl 40. Iv been having problems creating healing macros andim wonderingif there is a etter way other then /target=focustarget? Currently im using this for everything and having the main be the focus but I have to wait a second after switching targets to healor attack. Im not sure if this is pretty much something a multiboxer has to get use to or if i can do something so i dont have this delay. It makes it really hard to pvp thanks in advance for any advice.

in simple terms, no - there is no way to avoid the target switching delay.

You see, the internet is a big place, and some places are closer to the Wow datacentres than others. Also, the different technologies (adsl as a good example) takes it's toll on the packet roundtrip (the delay from when you press a command, until it reaches the wow-servers)

When multiboxing, you have multiple Wow's running. So when you keypress something to all your clients, they all act at the same time. On your screen, it may look like your toons are "out of sync", like if you jump, your main jumps first, then your slaves. People you meet in the game, will see all your characters jump exactly at the same time.

The reason for this is the game has a builtin delay. This delay is several hundred miliseconds. If this delay was missing, then anyone with a fibreconnection would at any given time be able to react faster than people on an adsl connection. The difference being up to 10 times as fast, depending on time of day, ISP, solar radiation (ok, maybe not, but you get the idea). The delay equalizes the inherent delay for everyone, as long as your own delay is below 250-300 ms, you are essentially "fine". It may still feel like slight lag, but ingame, your character reacts as fast as anyone else.

So what does this mean for targetting and assisting ? Well, you tab-target on your main, and the command goes to the wow servers. 200-400ms later, this new target is forwarded back to your toons from the wowservers. This takes another 200-400ms.

There is no way to avoid this. BUT! you can build your macros around this. Say you make a healmacro, that goes like /cast [target=focustargettarget] Lesser Healing Wave (assuming your main is your focus) - then your toons will heal the target of the target your mainchar has.

Therefore, the delay is almost gone, because you dont have to switch targets, the mob whom your mainchar is targetting has allready done this for you in the game.

When you get chainheal, you should also make a series of macros, that heal the "next" char in your party. So you cast chainheal "in a circle" - this also has no delay, because the macro allready has the targets defined.

For combat targetswitching, you should practice switching target, when you "feel" that the volley of lightning bolts you are in midcast of, are enough to kill the target. This will give your toons enough time to see the target change of your main.

I can recommend enabling the focusframe (if you have pitbull, or other alternative unitframes) and ofc target and targettarget of focusframe. This will give you a visual representation on your slaves, of when the new target has been aquired.

I hope this helps. :)

Thanks for the reply, I can see where target=focustargettarget can be helpfull in pvp or even pve. Instead of using my main to target a toon to heal i set up my macros so the target is already predefined and I think ill have a much better this way.