Makes me wish i could program, or find the time/ability to learn how!@
My idea is have a program that lets you input your character names and define their roll and class.
Once this is done you can via a wizard create a series of WoW Macro commands that are preformatted and ready to be pasted into the game.
Has anyone ever thought about doing something like this ?
well this sounds kinda easy,
just store the macros with some placeholders for the characternames somewhere and then fill that out.
might give it a try, though i'm not really into macros and have cancelled my wow accounts. but anyways i want to do something with http://shoooes.net/ , so this might be a good purpose :)
razorbax not so long ago created a spreadsheet that did something along these lines ----> The Multi-boxing Macro Spreadsheet
Warning - plug for my software!
Have a look at our software (GameCommanderPro.com). It doesn't predefine everything, but it does make thinks a lot quicker and easier. The spell definition window gives you a point and click interface, and then generates all the macros and key binds etc to make it work.
ISBoxer also handles something very similar to this.
there's so many variables in what you're asking ... if you're boxing, are you using any FTL or focus methods? that totally changes how the macros are written. I used to code all my macros by hand with Hotkeynet for 9 months (great app btw) and had all my toons hardcoded to cast against my tank's target , but recently switched to ISboxer (for the awesome window-switching and aoe ground-targetting mouse repeating) and it will setup all your FTL or focus-based macros for you so you can switch to any toon and have the others auto-assist whichever char you're playing. been happy with it so far ...
In the interests of fairnest could I point out that 'window-switching and aoe ground-targetting mouse repeating' are perfectly possible with Hotkeynet, and that 'auto-assist whichever char you're playing' works fine too.
The programs I use for macro creation are:
Windows Explorer - Allows me to duplicate macros between charaters using just drag and drop.
NoteTab Light - Full Featured text editor, for use on those pesky .wtf files (in many cases you can set them to read only then do a /console reloadui, and you don't even need to restart WoW).
HotkeyNet - Lets me open the character's macro panes simultaneously, so I can type the same macro into each window on my slaves at the same time using keyboard broadcasting, or I can edit just one, then copy and paste the macro to the other slaves.
"window switching" is possible with any solution. The difference with ISBoxer is that instead of waiting around for the windows to switch, the switch happens instantly. You don't get that with HKN or other software.
Anyway, back to the topic, yes people have thought of this and there are fresh developments in the pipeline from myself and probably other authors as well.
I know the pain of starting up a new team is making new sets of macros for their new ablities and having to plug everything in.
Team Setup
Leader = HolyWizard, TANK, PALADIN
Minion1 = WarWizard, DPS, MAGE
Minion 2 = IceWIzard, DPS, MAGE
Minion3 = FireWizard, DPS, MAGE
Minion4 = LivingWizard, Restro, Shaman
Now as you setup each character the macro wizard changes to only include spells that class has
Example
DPS Macro for WarWizard
Macro 1
Follow Focus
/Focus HolyWizard
/Follow Focus
Macro 2
FireBall/FrostBolt
Spells to include in this macro? (Check Boxes)
Key Modifier? Check Boxes
/Assist or target=focustarget ?
Macro Created!
/assist focus
/cast [mod:shift] FireBall, FrostBolt
And just go down the list, this would make creating new teams a breeze or allow players to give ftl setups a try with a click of a few buttons
I've got to disagree about the pain of a new team being macro's...
Thanks to ISBoxer I actually have very few macro's I use anymore, in fact I can only think of two offhand... my assist macro, and my mount macro, which is only a macro to save keyspace and not multibox related...
I can setup a new team in under 5 minutes if my UI's already configured for them... under 30 for brand new toons and thats all UI configuration, getting my chat box the right size, unit frames where I like them, etc... none of it's vital to multiboxing except the unitframe positions for click-heals.