Macro Question Concerning Focus

I've started dual boxing warlocks. I'm trying to wrap my head around macros and in particular how to use focus. I think I have it correct currently, but I want to make sure there isn't another/easier way of doing it.

Basically what I want to happen is that I target a mob with my main and my other lock will nuke that mob continuously leaving my main the ability to switch mobs and nuke that one. In affect, I can be nuking 2 mobs at one time. This would be beneficial with fear and death coil when I get to that stage.

Anyway, what I currently have setup is I target a mob with my main. I hit a key that does an /assist main macro. Then, all my nuke macros are "/focus /cast [target=focus] spell"

Can I do that all in one macro or is the problem, which I ran in to, that I have /focus in each of my macros? I really don't like having to hit 2 keys to select a mob and then nuke.

Any assistance would be really appreciated.

Calling "/focus" with nothing after it sets your focus to your current target, so doing "/focus /cast [target=focus] spell", is functionally equivalent to just doing "/cast spell" (with the side-effect of having changed your focus).

But unless I misunderstand what you're trying to do, you don't really need to use focus. Once your second lock has done /assist, your main can switch targets and the secondary lock won't switch unless you hit assist again.

Hmm, that is true. I didn't think about it that way.

I guess what I'm looking for is a one button solution/macro for my second lock to target/cast which then frees up my main to target other mobs. I prefer not to have 2 buttons to accomplish that.

I got you covered. This is how I have my macros set up, and let me tell you I dont have to worry about nothing, no more /assist.

Toon1 (Main)
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus Toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon2
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon3
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon4

F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4


So When I'm on my main I hit F1 to /focus my self my alts will then focus me.

I run around and hit keys to cast spells. Now when I hit a key when I have a mob targeted my alt will also cast that spell without having to target the mob

Some macros I use

/cast [target=focustarget] Chain Lightning
/cast [target=focustarget] Earth Shock
/cast [target=focustarget] Frost Shock
/cast [target=focustarget] Lightning Bolt


You bind these to keys on all your characters you will have no problem with playing. This made the game so much easy.

I hope this helps you.

Ok, that gets rid of assist which is a BIG plus, but if my main changes targets won't the macros on my other characters change targets too? Since all my spells will be a macro consisting of "/cast [target=focustarget] spell" So if my main changes to mob #2 and I hit the shadowbolt hotkey which would normally cause both characters to cast now my second lock is casting on mob #2. Is that right?

I'm looking down the road for when I get fear. I don't want to single target fear a mob with both locks.

*edit: Disregard my question. I'm thinking too hard and making this more complicated than it has to be. Your macros are what I need. Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Diamndzngunz',index.php?page=Thread&postID=34875# post34875

I got you covered. This is how I have my macros set up, and let me tell you I dont have to worry about nothing, no more /assist.

Toon1 (Main)
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus Toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon2
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon3
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon4

F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

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Why do you need to follow anyone except your focus? The reason I ask is because i have keybound "t" to /follow focus, if my main dies i hit f2/t and everyone else follows the focus, this frees up f5 to f8 aswell as making it a little simpler.

Hey Opty! You're on my realm yay :D (bit off topic I know)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Tasty',index.php?page=Thread&postID=34969#post349 69

Hey Opty! You're on my realm yay :D (bit off topic I know)

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hey there alliance/horde? names pls
edit: ohh u must be tastydps/heals

Lol You've heard of me! I feel so proud :D but yeah alliance

edit: You have an @post on the forums and I don't :(

also saw this reply to a Multiboxers are losers type pvp thread which I thought was worth mentioning "Who's the loser, the person with enough disposable income to throw away at a hobby like this or the poor soul he affects so deeply that he has to cry about it on a public forum?"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'opt',index.php?page=Thread&postID=34968#post34968

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Diamndzngunz',index.php?page=Thread&postID=34875# post34875

I got you covered. This is how I have my macros set up, and let me tell you I dont have to worry about nothing, no more /assist.

Toon1 (Main)
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus Toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon2
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon3
F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

Toon4

F1 /focus Toon1
F2 /focus Toon2
F3 /focus Toon3
F4 /focus toon4

F5 /follow Toon1
F6 /follow Toon2
F7 /follow Toon3
F8 /follow Toon4

---

Why do you need to follow anyone except your focus? The reason I ask is because i have keybound "t" to /follow focus, if my main dies i hit f2/t and everyone else follows the focus, this frees up f5 to f8 aswell as making it a little simpler.

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Wow man I did not know that. Thanks I would love to free up more macrospace.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 'Diamndzngunz',index.php?page=Thread&postID=34989# post34989

Wow man I did not know that. Thanks I would love to free up more macrospace.

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One other thing is that if i get feared i run around spamming t and often will pick up my shamans that way

So I set this up last night, but I noticed something odd. Sometimes my 2nd lock would lose focus. I'd have to re-focus her so that she could cast. Any ideas on why focus is being lost?

That should not be happening. What key do you have set up for the focus? and how do you have the command written?

is it /focus

or

/focus toon

F1 is set on my main to /focus main. I then broadcast F1 to my second PC which is a macro that does /focus main.

Then each spell on my second lock is a macro of:

/cast [target=focustarget] spell


It works the majority of the time, but I was noticing that I do occasionally have to re-focus and I hit F1 to send the F1 keystroke to my 2nd alt.

I was thinking of a similar thing with the f1-5 keys, but for healing. f1 bongo bound all heal aggorar, f2 all heal agg.. and so forth. Until chain heal. I don't understand the healing macro, and I'm not asking for explanation. I just found a way to overcome the problem with an oh crap need to heal. Previously F1 etc, would target not the same guy for each toon. so ya...probly clear before, and I over worded it

my 2 penne'th ;)

I avoid target=focustarget in DPS macros like the plague as I feel I lose a lot of flexibility with it. Let me explain, no there is too much, let me sum up.

I have my G1 - 5 keys bound to focus Party 1 -5 (by name)
I have my G 7-11 keys bound to target focustarget (1 per client client) this allows me to uniquely assign targets for my clones
I bind ` (the key next to 1) to assist focus on all clients

This gives me the focus fire option with a button that is close to hand for emergencies but also a simple means of pre-planning encounters

I also have my numpad keys bound to heals (on my 3 box shaman) so that any character can heal any other with a quick keypress.

1 = Char 1 heals char 1
2 = char 1 heals char 2
3 = char 1 heals char 3
4 = char 2 heals char 1
5 = char 2 heals char 2
6 = char 2 heals char 3
7 = char 3 heals char 1
8 = char 3 heals char 2
9 = char 3 heals char 3

0 = all heal focustargetfocus


but with 5 characters now, I am going to have to really rethink that ;) any suggestions?

Yeah I know I will have to get an X-keys! ;)

These are the macros I use for targeting:

1. Set focus to the first non-nead, non-mind-controlled character
/focus [target=aeara,help,nodead]; [target=aebra,help,nodead]; [target=aecra,help,nodead]; [target=aedra,help,nodead]; [target=aeera,help,nodead]

2. Attack either the minion's target or the main's target (same for all damage spells)
/cast [harm,nodead] Lightning Bolt; [target=focustarget] Lightning Bolt

3. Heal either the minion's target, the main's target, or the main (same for all healing spells)
/cast [help,nodead] Lesser Healing Wave(Rank 4); [target=focustarget,help,nodead] Lesser Healing Wave(Rank 4); [target=focus] Lesser Healing Wave(Rank 4)

4. Target the main's target: /target focustarget

5. A set of 4 macros for /target aebra, aecra, aedra, aeera

6. A macro to /cleartarget

Explanation: because of how the game shuffles information between the client and the server, using focustarget rather than an /assist macro is faster and more reliable, especially if you're playing on the opposite coast from the server, at 300-400 ms lag. Most of the time, my minions have no targets, and will attack whoever the main is attacking, and heal the main, via focustarget.

For more complex fights, I can hand out a target for them to burn down in advance, via the target-main's-target macro. Since they now have a target, they will burn this down first, then return to attacking the main's target unless I assign them a new one. I don't end up needing this option much, but it is handy.

When a specific minion pulls aggro or gets hit by some attack, I hit one of my four specific-target macros, and then cast a heal. Because the minions have targets now, the heal will go to that target rather than the main. Once I'm done, I hit the cleartarget macro to reset them to healing the main. If I need to heal a target that I don't have a minion /target macro for, I can target it with my main and either use my target-main's-target macro (for more long-term healing) or just throw out a quick heal thanks to the [target=focustarget,help,nodead] condition in the healing macros.

The important thing here is that 'target' is being used like a 'focus' for the minions. So it's important that the minions' targets be cleared most of the time, which takes a little bit of getting used to. Once you do, it works very smoothly.

Ok, I'm back. Apparently what I'm doing isn't working and for some odd reason completely stopped working last night. The first thing I do after grouping my 2 warlocks is have my second warlock do this macro (my main Warlock's name is Kelseer):

Code:

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/focus Kelseer

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Once focus has been established, ALL my spell macros are the same:

Code:

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#showtooltip
/cast [target=focustarget] Curse of Agony

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Code:

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#showtooltip
/cast [target=focustarget] Corruption

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So, last night for some reason ALL spells stopped working except for Curse of Agony and Drain Soul. Shadowbolt, Corruption and Immolate wouldn't cast. Kept saying I had no target. Even after hitting F1 (my focus hotkey) and SHOWING that my main warlock was the focus I still couldn't cast spells. At this point, I don't know what's best to do. I thought about putting a:

Code:

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/focus Kelseer

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command in each of my spell macros, but I'm not sure if that will interfere with anything.

Any suggestions?

*edit: Oh, one other thing I forgot to mention. My 2nd warlock continually loses her focus. What causes a character to lose their focus?

Make sure you don't have 'focus' on the minions bound to any key you're hitting on the main; it's probably best to un-bind focus completely on the minions.

My focus macro is F1. On both characters, that corresponds to

Code:

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/focus Kelseer

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I have no reason to F1 for any thing other than to focus.

I don't mean your focus macro, but WoW's built-in focus keybinding. Check the keybindings on each of your minions to see if anything is bound to the 'focus target' action and un-bind it.

I unbound all targeting functions on my minion and still nothing.

*edit: More troubleshooting. If I make my macro:

Code:

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#showtooltip
/focus Kelseer
/cast [target=focustarget] Corruption

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it STILL won't work. Focus is set as evidence by the 4 spells that do work through macros. Also, if I go to my minions screen and type out the exact same command, it works. And if it makes any difference, I'm using HotkeyNet to broadcast my keystrokes. I'm at a complete loss here.