Targeting question

This seems like a simple question, but I am just overloaded by the different options for making my slaves target the same target as my main (for general running around, not instances).

Is the generally preferred method a 2-key approach, where every time you attack with slaves you would hit macro 1 to target (based on focus and/or assist according to your preference, followed by macro/button 2 to attack, or do most people build a one button method where every hotkey includes the macro commands to pick the right target before casting the spell?

I would really appreciate some advice on what people have found to be the best method in PvE. Thanks!

I use focus targeting, so at the top of every damage macro I have "/assist focus" to acquire a target. One keypress is all it takes for me.

My slave is a healing priest, but she does contribute dps. I have three macros on her to do this.

Macro1:
/cast [target=party1target] Shadow Word: Pain

Macro2:
/cast [target=party1target] Smite

Macro3:
/cast [target=party1target] Holy Fire


When I want her to wand, since you have to actually have a target to wand or else it'll only shoot once, I use a two-liner:
/target party1target
/cast Shoot



So in short form, yes you can (and probably should) combine targeting and the spell casting in one macro.

It kind of depends on the situation.

I typically use the 1 key approach now but there have times where I used manual targeting (2 button) for the primary DD spells and used 1 button assists for interrupting casters.

The situation was I had a Prot Paly tanking (main) and 4 Ele Shaman DPS'n in instances. Since adds where part of the run the best way I found (at the time) was to manually target the Lighting Bolts (primary DD) and to Hammer (stun) to stop healers/nukers. This allowed me to continue to pummel the primary target but still be able to switch targets with my main to stun while tanking.

For more grinding levels I prefer the 1 key setup.

I use 1 key to assist and another key to damage, I must admit though that there havent been many situations where it would make a difference to have it all on 1 key. The main times it is useful though is if a pack has a caster and I want to nuke him down while my pala tanks the rest of the melee guys.

I have always used the F2 button my /assist (main) macro and then the attack button to be honest and it has always worked fine for me i didnt really think that there was a way to do a one button command for that and attack unless you may attempt to do a cast sequence and go from there with the other commands that you want but I dont know if that will work on the /assist ability and tie in the commands as well

from the stickies:

[Keyclone] step-by-step wow macro setup (level 2.0)

using the focus based macros allows you to have a single key press from your main to fire, as the target is built into the macros.

i usually keep a "/assist focus" macro so i can force my alts to sync targets

Thanks everyone for the replies. It seems like the majority lean towards a single button approach, although I was looking for something that frees up focus as I am still considering a mage team. I think I am going to go for the Party Leader Assist method in the nearby guide. Everyone has been so helpful since I joined. Really appreciate it!

Focusless, targetless, 'leaderless' setup

try that! it's versatile/modular but requires patience. i spent 2 weeks in and out just thinking about how i'm going to implement this system and a week or so of testing and troubleshooting. there's quite a few helpful tutorials here in d-b to help you out. in any case, we're all here to guide you thru it.

for me, the main advantage of FTL vs /assist (focus or no-focus) system wasn't so much the ability to cc via focus (as it is jamba-able) but the ability to swap members in and out with a change of name in the macros-cache.txt of every toon (simple batch file to open them all up makes this painless).

ok if your going to use an all mage team then i suggest using a /assist macro instead of focus cause then you can use the following macro for your focus

#showtooltip
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/script SetRaidTarget("focus", 1)
/cast [target=focus]Polymorph
/stopmacro [nogroup]
/s --== Sheeping and Marking "%t" ==--

Which does the following

1. Clear your focus if your old focus target is dead
2. Clear your focus if your old focus target doesn't exist anymore
3. Set your focus on what you have targeted if you don't have a focus already
4. Place a Star marker over the head of the focus target (if you are group/raid leader/assistant)
5. Polymorph the Focus target
6. Announce the sheeping.

Successfully got the assist method up and running (so that, much as you suggested Drecan, I could use focus for sheeping). Thanks for the hint about the raid target script for setting the star too. I much prefer to do things through macros as opposed to keybindings, so I can save them in macaroon and import them to new characters. Appreciate everyone's advice.