FOCUS in WoW Classic: Need a Solution [HotKeyNet]

Hey all. First post.

I haven't been able to figure out how to use an alternative to focus in WoW Classic and HotKeyNet. I'm able to swap windows, but trying to figure out how to get all of my toons to assist the new lead toon hasn't been solved yet.

There have been examples of what people used to do on vanilla, but for some reason it doesn't work in Classic (that, or I haven't implemented it correctly). Here's an example of that variation of focus:

/script focus=UnitName("target")

Now, if I run the following line it doesn't do anything:

/script AssistByName(focus); CastSpellByName("Fireball"); TargetLastTarget()

The above lines were from a post made in May 2019, so I assume Blizz never decided to re-implement the focus functionality that people used back in the day.

So, back to the matter at hand. Given all of the familiar terms (WoW1, WoW2, w1, w2, etc.) used with HKN scripts, how have you guys managed to work around focus not being in WoW Classic?

Please don't post your entire script. Basically, I'm just interested in the relevant macros once you've switched your active window (say from WoW1 to WoW2). Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Hi @nerdgasm2045,

I think most people are targetting their master with their slaves and then having their slaves cast as follows:

/cast [@targetoftarget,harm,nodead]Fireball

So the master is in charge of all targetting and the slaves just nuke whatever the master is pointing at.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Boxen

Hi @nerdgasm2045,

I think most people are targetting their master with their slaves and then having their slaves cast as follows:

/cast [@targetoftarget,harm,nodead]Fireball

So the master is in charge of all targetting and the slaves just nuke whatever the master is pointing at.

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That works fine, but if you get cced in pvp it becomes restrictive. All of my problems will be solved if I can find a solution for the focus issue with Classic. Any wizards out there?

Hotkeynet has the possibility to use an If statement to do different actions based on which window is active.

from the HKN website: http://www.hotkeynet.com/ref/if.html

Code:

---

<Hotkey F1>
<If ActiveWinIs wow1>
        <SendLabel w1>                             
        <Key 1>
    <Else If ActiveWinIs wow2>
        <Sendlabel w2>
        <Key 2>
    <Else>
        <SendFocusWin>
        <Key %Trigger%>

---

Pretty self-explanatory, but you can see here an example of sending a different action from the same hotkey based on the currently active window. I see no reason why you could not expand this to cover all plausible active windows.


Here is also a post detailing how Fuzzyboy has set the same thing up in a manner, where it is easier to refer to your assist within the code, if you want to add it in to any other portion without having to write it all out long form again: https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/...-setup-for-HKN

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wubsie

Hotkeynet has the possibility to use an If statement to do different actions based on which window is active.

from the HKN website: http://www.hotkeynet.com/ref/if.html

Code:

---

<Hotkey F1>
                                  <If ActiveWinIs wow1>
        <SendLabel w1>                             
        <Key 1>
    <Else If ActiveWinIs wow2>
        <Sendlabel w2>
        <Key 2>
    <Else>
        <SendFocusWin>
        <Key %Trigger%>

---

Pretty self-explanatory, but you can see here and example of sending a different action from the same hotkey based on the currently active window. I see no reason why you could not expand this to cover all plausible active windows.


Here is also a post detailing how Fuzzyboy has set the same thing up in a manner, where it is easier to refer to your assist within the code, if you want to add it in to any other portion without having to write it all out long form again: https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/...-setup-for-HKN

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I've managed to cover the HKN side of things and just listed it in the title because so many people use ISBoxer. (I imagine that ISBoxer uses a completely different method for my inquiry.)

My main issue is macros within WoW or, specifically, to change focus so that all of the slave toons can assist the toon of my currently active window. How can people do this in Classic?

focus has been removed in classic

You could take a look in https://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/66-WoW-Classic and https://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/14-Macros-and-Addons and see what others do.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tin

focus has been removed in classic

You could take a look in https://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/66-WoW-Classic and https://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/14-Macros-and-Addons and see what others do.

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I've scoured 'em both, but no luck yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nerdgasm2045

I've managed to cover the HKN side of things and just listed it in the title because so many people use ISBoxer. (I imagine that ISBoxer uses a completely different method for my inquiry.)

My main issue is macros within WoW or, specifically, to change focus so that all of the slave toons can assist the toon of my currently active window. How can people do this in Classic?

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Perhaps I am just not following here, but why are you trying to set this up in the macros within WoW, when the exact thing you want exists on the multiboxing software side?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wubsie

Perhaps I am just not following here, but why are you trying to set this up in the macros within WoW, when the exact thing you want exists on the multiboxing software side?

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I don't see how it exists at the moment. Here's an example.

You're in WoW Classic semi-afk eating a sandwich when a rogue pops out and kills your lead toon in a couple of hits. You hit your keybind to switch windows (again, Hotkeynet), swapping from WoW1 to WoW2. Now, at this point, how will your slave toons know to /assist the toon controlled by the WoW2 window?

The in-game macros for retail can easily be set to /focus Name and /assist focus, but there is no direct focus option in Classic. The example listed before simply shows how to broadcast keys within HKN based on the currently active and background windows, but that doesn't address the issue of the characters within the game not knowing that the currently active toon needs to be assisted (via /assist Name, to know what to target).

I don't just want to keep a setup where one toon is the leader, all of the macros reflect that, and if it dies then your team becomes useless. I'd like to be able to swap windows and have the characters be able to assist the newly active leader on-the-fly for wpvp. Blizz seems to have removed any sort of focus functionality, both the 2.0+ /focus and vanilla /script variants, and so I've been wondering how people can swap windows to a new lead and have their toons know how to assist the new leader. Maybe it's impossible since most people just use ISBoxer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nerdgasm2045

You're in WoW Classic semi-afk eating a sandwich when a rogue pops out and kills your lead toon in a couple of hits. You hit your keybind to switch windows (again, Hotkeynet), swapping from WoW1 to WoW2. Now, at this point, how will your slave toons know to /assist the toon controlled by the WoW2 window?

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Because you would be sending a different keystroke to your clients based on which client you are leading from. Those keys then can be bound to separate /follow and /assist macros per character so they always assist the character in the currently active window when the hotkey is pressed. Focus is not required for this functionality.

E.g.

You are leading from Toon1. Your follow key sends "1" to all other windows. "1" is bound to "/follow Toon1".

You switch to leading from Toon2. The same follow hotkey now sends "2" to all the other windows, which is bound to "/follow Toon2".

Rinse and repeat for as many toons as you'd like. Same exact hotkey, they always follow whoever you are leading from.

Get the basic idea? This is exactly what ISBoxer does as well. It just sets all this up for you. It's called an FTL setup which stands for Focusless Targetless Leaderless, meaning none of those are required for controlling assisting and/or following for the setup. Using focus for this is rather old school and hasn't really been a thing since... a decade or so ago or in games where direct assisting or following through macros is not available.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Wubsie

Because you would be sending a different keystroke to your clients based on which client you are leading from. Those keys then can be bound to separate /follow and /assist macros per character so they always assist the character in the currently active window when the hotkey is pressed. Focus is not required for this functionality.

E.g.

You are leading from Toon1. Your follow key sends "1" to all other windows. "1" is bound to "/follow Toon1".

You switch to leading from Toon2. The same follow hotkey now sends "2" to all the other windows, which is bound to "/follow Toon2".

Rinse and repeat for as many toons as you'd like. Same exact hotkey, they always follow whoever you are leading from.

Get the basic idea? This is exactly what ISBoxer does as well. It just sets all this up for you. It's called an FTL setup which stands for Focusless Targetless Leaderless, meaning none of those are required for controlling assisting and/or following for the setup. Using focus for this is rather old school and hasn't really been a thing since... a decade or so ago or in games where direct assisting or following through macros is not available.

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Hrm. I thought of this a number of times, but it felt so unappealing to make several macros for the same function. Yeah, I totally get the broadcasting change based on which window is active, that's the whole point of using the activewinis and else arguments. I was just hoping for a more elegant solution and just assumed one was out there... guess not, and back to the clutter it is for now.

Thanks for the responses, guys. It seems I'll just have to anticipate clearing up my bars in Classic TBC. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nerdgasm2045

Hrm. I thought of this a number of times, but it felt so unappealing to make several macros for the same function. Yeah, I totally get the broadcasting change based on which window is active, that's the whole point of using the activewinis and else arguments. I was just hoping for a more elegant solution and just assumed one was out there... guess not, and back to the clutter it is for now. Thanks for the responses, guys. It seems I'll just have to anticipate clearing up my bars in Classic TBC. ;)

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Well, you could consolidate them in to a single macro by using the modifiers that can be used within WoW macros.

E.g. Have your follow key do the following:

Code:

---

If leading from Toon1:  Send "1"
If leading from Toon2:  Send "Shift+1"
If leading from Toon3:  Send "Alt+Shift+1"

---

Then your follow macro would be bound to "1" and have something like:

Code:

---

/follow [nomod] Toon1
/follow [mod:shift] Toon2
/follow [mod:altshift] Toon3

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1 button, 1 macro, follow enabled for 3 characters based on who is leading.