Question on combat/tanking macro fired off same key.

I couldn't decide if whether to put this in the new mb area or macro, as it is I'm sure quite newbish.

Finally decided it was more newbish, but I apologize if I should have placed it in the Macro section.


I've been trying to learn more about macro's and I'm trying to do something that I assume is easy yet I'm kind of flailing.

I want to have a spammable priority macro that would work with a macro that always fires spells in the same order (regardless if key is spammed or not).

By that I mean something along the lines of

DPS macro.

1) If Spell 1 is up cast spell
2) Else if Spell 2 is up cast spell
3) else cast spell.

Tank macro
1) Holy Shield
2) hammer of Righteous
3) Judgement
4) SoR
etc.

I want to be able to spam it at variable rates yet have it always work and cast the highest priority spell or for the tank the next one in the series.

So,

From what I understand with just having a series of /cast macros wouldn't work as if the first cast works then the macro stops, and if it isn't ready it won't advance either?

So then there is the /castsequence macro. but say for the following

/castsequence SpellA, SpellB, SpellC.

This one gets hung up until a spell can cast.

I've seen once that add empty statements, to give a kind of timing for say recasting a buff every X seconds. But I want it to work correctly whether I hit it a few times, or mash it.

Then I thought about a series of /castsequence macros in a /click macro, but then I got confused if that would work at all.


Are these things even possible? am I missing some important fact that makes wanting to do this silly?

Basically what I'm wanting it to have my tanking macro , dps macros all firing off the same key but working correctly for both scenarios with the issues of cast time and different key mashing speeds/

Sorry if I missed a relevant post, I searched a bit and found quite a bit to help me understand macros better but didn't seem to answer my question specifically.

Tyval

I may have misunderstood your post, but basically if you are asking if you can make one button with all your spells in it, and the game will just cast them as they come up......then no, what you're asking is not possible. If it were, everyone would just play with one button.

What you have seen is how boxers basically approximate things, with the /castsequence <somespell>,,,,,,,,,<somespell>,,,,,,,

etc etc, and the use of click macros and other such things.

As you noticed, while you can put some things into macros, and their triggering will not end the macro (using trinkets, etc), most macros will stop once they have encountered:

a spell/something they cannot do
a spell/something they CAN do

People have come up with some great tricks on the board using click and castsequences with gaps and such, so look around and you'll find a lot of great things, and tons of macros approaching the optimal, but what you're asking for (the superbutton) is not a possibility.

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1) If Spell 1 is up cast spell
2) Else if Spell 2 is up cast spell
3) else cast spell.

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There is no way to do this, the game can not make decisions for you. You need to decide when to use what.

Quote:

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I want to be able to spam it at variable rates yet have it always work and cast the highest priority spell or for the tank the next one in the series.

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Welcome to the give and take of multiboxing. You can set up click macros to try and account for the variations in your spam speed, but you will not find a means of making a macro fully compensate for the actions you take. You're going to have to throttle yourself, the game can't do it for you.

Look at How to Use Click Macros and the Click Macro Compendium.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyval

1) If Spell 1 is up cast spell
2) Else if Spell 2 is up cast spell
3) else cast spell.

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Not exactly that but the best i think you could do for this is

macro 1 - The one that goes on your spamming button
/click <button 1>
/click <button 2>
/click <button 3>

macro 2 - Sits on <button 1>
/castsequence <reset=1> Spell 1,,

macro 3 - Sits on <button 2>
/castsequence <reset=1> ,Spell 2,

macro 4 - Sits on <button 3>
/castsequence <reset=1> ,,Spell 3

The only thing you would need to do is ensure you hit the button at least 3 times everytime you hit it. That way if you take a couple of seconds off and spell 1 is still on cooldown then spell 2 will cast. But if spell 2 is also on cooldown then spell 3 will still go off.
By the same token spamming it constantly will always cast the spells in order Spell 1, Spell 2, Spell 3. Sometimes you will be quite unlucky with timing and spell 1 will come off cooldown just after your sequence trys to cast it, but nothign you can do about that.


As for your tanking macro that just sounds like a straight cast sequence, but like the DPS one above if you break it down into a /click and /castsequence set then it wont get hung up on spells on cooldown as long as you press the key at least as many times as you have spells each time.

Ah,

That all makes sense now, with the whole /castsequence spell,,,,,, etc. I thought maybe I was missing something...


Think I can still get what I want roughly with a few click macros with cast sequence and adding maybe adding using more than one key for things.

One key for tanking sequence , and then maybe one or 2 keys for casting.

Currently for my healer I have about 6keys/modifiers for handling the various spells, but can probably start collapsing that down some.


Thanks for the info!

Tyval

Once you learn to keep a consistent rate of pressing the spam key, your DPS will be godlike =)

The click macros are a priority system, assuming you click/spam them at a consistent speed.
And also assuming you tweak them for the correct number of commas based on your spam speed.
You'll need to choose your reset conditions carefully.
If you go with reset=combat, the macros will work flawlessly, but you'll sometimes not place a dot on a new target.
If you go with reset=target, the macro can get stuck if your spell has a recast delay such as Flame Shock for a shaman.
You'll want a spell without any recast delays, as the fall-through spell.




For the tanking macro.
Take a look at the 96969 macros.

They aren't a priority based system.
But, since every spell is instant cast... there's no need for click to overcome your latency.

If you go with three 8/9 second delay spells.
And interweave the two 6 second recast delay spells.
You'll keep the five chosen abilities up.
And recast them just as they expire.

Thanks all for your help.

Especially considering how poorly written my question and response was, I reread what I had written and was pondering if I was on crack when I wrote it. :).


Just dawned on me I was being dense (after reading Ualaa's response I was like oh ya :) ). If I I spam the tank macro it will work just fine as it will hang on the next one in the list (using cast sequence) so would actually work with my dps macro.

I do think I will take Holy Ground out and use that separately, I find I like to place it and have more control when it goes off.

I'm starting to get excited, I took a bit of a break, but came back and my group is now tank-77 , dps-76 and healer still 80 L) so heroics are looming in front of me. Should motivate me to get the last bit.

I figure I'll run the lvl 80 dungeons in normal to get what tank gear I can, then try and pick up a few crafted and then hit the heroics.

Starting to work on the list ordering of heroic mobs as i start. Been doing quite a bit of reading/searching. I figure there are probably posts that talk about starting order most folks did when taking on heroics.

From what I've read and remember from doing the heroics I'm thinking

DK seems doable early on.
UK seems another one to start on.
Nexus (maybe some of the named)

I've heard folks mention Gundrak, though still working on the snake guy, I can make it through it in normal mode but I don't think I'm doing the snake guy correctly as it is pretty iffy. had an issue with the little snakes and getting constricted. I was tanking in the doorway of the spiral ramp, I think I've read clearing the other named and then pulling there works well.

Any thoughts on this? Anyone remember the order they did when gearing up the very first time?

I should be in blues from quests/dungeons with a few crafted epics on my tank. My healer will be in ilvl 200-213 epics.

Tyval

I had never played wow when i started multiboxing back in november. So obviously never had seen the dungeons. Today i'd say i'm pretty well geared, though i used a not some common way to gear up: AV. Doing tons of AV to get honor, buy pvp pieces with it (spell power is spell power in the end). This way i got some decent dps. I only spent gold on BOE's for my tank, nothing big, just blue's and maybe a cheap epic. And then trying to kill easy bosses to get the first piece of T9. I know i could 've used the lfd tool and get carried, but i want to do it myself.

I killed the 2 bosses in gundrak near each entrance (skipping the one who throws the puddles). First boss in occulus. First boss in the nexus, First 2 bosses in DK. First 2 bosses in utgarde pinnacle are very easy too. It took some practice before i could beat the prince in utgarde keep. Which gave netted me about 10 emblems a day. As i practised i could kill more and more bosses and complete my first HC. And then basically the fun starts: you just only get better and better gear, and things become easier.

As for the gundrak snake boss: spread your toons out a few yards from the stairs, tank on top of the stairs. Put down magma totems, when there are a few snakes, use fire nova, and use thunderstorm. No snake should stay alive. Refresh your magma totems when they are gone.

So when you say top of stairs, you mean pull up to the top of the spiral ramp or at the little stairs leading to the ramp? Good tip about having AoEs ready, I didn't make use of fire nova etc. Also this means I need everyone somewhat close to the tank so the aoes hit everyone(fire nova etc)?

Oh one other question, where do the new instances (IC and ToC) fit into the mix.

I'm guessing the regular versions are certainly tougher than say regular HoL?

Can I go into the regular versions while I'm starting my gear up for heroics?

Tyval.

Just wondering - is there an addon that would help players keep a consistent rhythm when using /click /castsequence macros? Something like a visual metronome...

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Originally Posted by Tyval

So when you say top of stairs, you mean pull up to the top of the spiral ramp or at the little stairs leading to the ramp? Good tip about having AoEs ready, I didn't make use of fire nova etc. Also this means I need everyone somewhat close to the tank so the aoes hit everyone(fire nova etc)?.

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This is the snake boss. He is dead now but he should be between the tank and the jamba team frame. That's where i stand the whole fight. The adds snakes run to the shammies, never had them attacking my tank. They wrap you up if you don't kill them. But magma + firenova + thunderstorm should be enough. If you feel like it you can also kill all friendly snakes beforehand, they have only 42 health. But thats a rather tedious job to do :D

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5...0210214630.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tyval

Oh one other question, where do the new instances (IC and ToC) fit into the mix.

I'm guessing the regular versions are certainly tougher than say regular HoL?

Can I go into the regular versions while I'm starting my gear up for heroics?

Tyval.

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You can go in the regulars and reset as many times as you want (believe the reset cooldown is 12;5 minutes).
Halls of Light is indeed a rather easy one. It took a while before i was able to get safe past the trash though (the elementals, slug or something; and the walk between the statues where you can be feared). But the bosses aren't too hard.

If you can be arsed to do the jousting, toc normal is nice to farm some gear. Personally i hate the jousting so i skipped that place. And i'd say that the ICC normal instances are harder than most easy heroics, for sure because it requires lots of movement. Which is normal as you get better rewards. For sure the trash can be a pain in the first Forge of souls if you don't have enough dps. The casters are far from eachother and hardly move, not to mention they seem to have a weird aggro table. When not killing them quick enough, you can lose a toon now and then. But it's definately worth it to go in and try. There is some great loot overthere.

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Originally Posted by Qbox

Just wondering - is there an addon that would help players keep a consistent rhythm when using /click /castsequence macros? Something like a visual metronome...

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the way i did it was using an simple text editor, use a stop watch and spam a key for 10 seconds, past the output to this site to count it and divide by 10. Do it several times and write down your results. Do the same for 20 seconds (and divide by 20 obviously), 40 and 60 seconds. It should give you a very accurate clicking rate per second.

Yeah, I've timed my own keypresses, and usually I'm fairly accurate - but when things get more intense than usual (accidentally pulling the whole room), I find myself clicking too fast and getting out of synch with the macros. :-)

Well it's the same with a woman. Self control is everything when the heat hits the fan :P

Hmm... maybe I should get a metronome for that too...

When I started to multibox the snake boss, I would actually pull him up to the top of the ramp near the entrance. I would position my casters on the opposite side of the ramp and my tank would tank him right at the top of the ramp. That's the method I use to get the achievement for that boss too.

For my pally, I would pull and then bubble run up to the ramp. For my druid: regrowth, moonfire, cat, sprint to top of ramp, &bear form. On my DK, my minion takes one for the team. I summon him and set him to defensive, then taunt and run up the ramp. The minion will attack the boss and get one shotted, however that gives me a few seconds head start and I only take damage from the poison that the snake boss shoots at me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Qbox

Yeah, I've timed my own keypresses, and usually I'm fairly accurate - but when things get more intense than usual (accidentally pulling the whole room), I find myself clicking too fast and getting out of synch with the macros. :-)

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the nice thing about a /click macro is that clicking a bit faster or slower than normal is not a big problem, at most your dps may lower by 10%.

when spamming too fast it might reset a macro to quickly before the cooldown is reset resulting in at max 1 second of your character doing nothing before it continues.

when spamming too slow it will cause the spells with cooldowns macro's to reset slower causing you to spam more lightning bolts before the next chain lightning. so while still doing dps it isnt optimal but not detrimental.

Thanks for the tips and the picture of setup for snake boy.

I'll try the on the stairs position and the top of ramp one and see which works best for me.

I'll also switch to click macros for my casters, probably should have done that a while ago anyway *blushes*.

I got hmm lava burst? a level ago but haven't really incorporated it into my sequence effectively.

Hopefully the practice i"m doing in the instances now, (and on the normal lvl 80 dungeons will help with pre-heroic gear as well as MB skill).

Tyval

I've got another noobish question,


I want to have a couple different formation keys, to spread out my team for fights where being together is bad bad bad :). Figure a diamond one and then a straight line.

read up on the wiki and advice giving to me earlier but then was confused.

Talked about simply binding different movements to same keys on different characters, so say I hit p and that is forward on one, sideways on another.

This works but as there seems to be a a max of 2 different keybindings per action, I mess up my other key bindings.

I currently have normal movement, and then strafe already bound to 2 different keys.

This made me think I'm being dense about something, (also I thought I read about somehow getting two movement keys bound to 1) that is hit one key and strafe and go forward for a diagonal movement.

So what am I missing here.

I assume I could have a couple different keys bound to different formations. do folks use a combo of macros and key bindings?

Thanks for helping me still apparently noobish ways.

Tyval

What you want is Key Remapping, or whatever it is called in the software you are using.
Basically, you push something in the active window and it becomes something else in the other windows.

That way, you can leave WASD, QE, and the Arrow Keys on their default bindings.
But set it so that when you push "P", it sends W to one, A to another, S to another and D to the last.
For a line, you'd want two keys probably, or a two step mapped key if you can assign different actions to the same key on subsequent presses. The first will move two toons forward and two toons backwards; the second will move one of each in their respective directions.
You could also have a macro, where each toon (other then the front toon) auto follows a different toon, which will make your line.

Ah!

That explains why I was confused, required a 3rd thing I wasn't thinking about.

Thanks much as always.

Some day I will have to buy you a beer :).

Tyval