Help with some basic macros

[Khatovar]

IWT In ISBoxer -
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...ith-Target-101
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...SBoxer-IWT-etc

it'll say things like, "choose the option you want from [the dropdown]." (or whatever.) But I don't know which option I want to do what I specifically want to do

Check the ISBoxer Wiki

"make everyone strafe or step forward/backward to break the follow command."

Okay, what specifically would this look like, in the context of a macro intended to assist the master toon and start attacking with a cast sequence of very basic attacks? (My toons are still low-level and most of the castsequence macros I've seen are for maximizing DPS at high levels.)

90% of what you are looking to do is NOT done with macros. Things like this are done in ISBoxer, there are no ingame macro commands for movement so it can't written into the game macro.


http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/3...n-DK-Manifesto
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...931#post367931
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...932#post367932

It appears that I can either write these macros in WoW and just set a key in ISBoxer to trigger them, or I can write them in ISBoxer?

With ISBoxer, you can write the macros wholly within ISBoxer. The issue is macros are not the extent of what multiboxing entails. Macros are only what can be done in the default game interface and that is only half of what needs to happen to multibox.

Think of it this way - there are Macros and there are Actions.

Macros are what you find all over WoWPedia. They're what everyone has in their macro panels - castsequences and the like. ISBoxer has the ability to configure this within its' own interface. Most other programs do not.

Actions are things like Interact with Target, movement, mouse usage, alternating key actions/"steps" {1st press sends FTL-Assist, second sends 1, third sends E...}. This can only be managed and configured in a multiboxing program.

You need both to multibox.


http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...ving-conflicts

1) When making follow and assist macros, how does "jamba-follow" differ from any other sort of follow? How does Jamba's functionality on this differ from ISBoxer's basic Alt-F and Alt-A commands (I can't seem to get Alt-A to work for assisting, regardless.)

Jamba works by allowing your master toon and slave toons to "speak" to each other and issue certain commands. When you use Jamba's Follow, Jamba is able to issue the command from the master to Jamba and Jamba tells the slaves to follow. Jamba's follow can also be variable based on your FTL settings.

Normal follow can NOT be issued to other toons. To use normal follow, you need the slaves to receive a keypress that either initiates a macro or keybinding within their own configuration to follow someone - IE, each slave needs a /follow party 1 {or FTL-variable} macro and a key passed to them to trigger the macro. Jamba's Follow does not require the additional macros or key passing.

I don't know how ISBoxer's follow is set up. I do know there is Jamba integration but I don't know the default settings or any of that.

In your newbie guide, you demonstrate three versions of follow macros: following a player by name, following a focus, or using Jamba's follow. How do I choose between these? What is the method that is going to enable my toons to follow the master toon with the least hassle? What does strobing do and when do I want it on or off?

The choice is personal opinion. As far as I'm concerned, I use Jamba's follow because I need Focus clear for crowd control and some other stuff. I am also no fond of target by name because if you happen to be around someone with a similar name, it can cause issues. Jamba's follow is also variable with FTL which most people like for the times they need to swap to a different leader.

2) I keep reading about follow and assist FTL but then all the macros I see have myriad other assist options. What is the best option here, and how do I use it? When I see something like, "/follow {FTL} is that the actual command I want in my macro, or is {FTL} a placeholder for something more specific (character name, slot, whatever) that I need to customize?

FTL is managed in ISBoxer, you won't be writing a macro for it.

FTL stands for Focusless Targetless Leaderless. It is designed so that you can use any toon in your team as the main and all the other toons will automatically update to the new leader. This is why there are tons of assist options - the assist/follow order changes based on who is the master character at the time.

3) When writing macros, is this something I want to do in game, in Jamba, or in ISBoxer? All three have the ability to create macros, and I doubt I want a hodge-podge of macros scattered all over the three options. Which should I be focusing on, and why?

I don't know many people who use Jamba's macros. They are not written the same way as a standard macro, they are designed to be used with variables so that the same macro can be used across several different teams instead of being specific to a single character.

You will either want to write them in ISBoxer or in the game. I can't speak to the usefulness of having them in ISBoxer since I've never used the feature.

Now, I have a macro for something like this with my hunter, but I don't understand it well enough to dissect it and apply it to the other toons. Let's analyze it:

First stop if you don't understand macros is Wowpedia's Understanding Macros. They also have a section on Helpful General Macros and a section on macros by class {either using the icons in the upper right box or here under U. You can check how a macro is supposed to work via Fitzcairn's Explain-o-matic.

/castsequence reset=target Serpent Sting,null
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,0,Concussive Shot
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,0,kill command
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,0,arcane shot
/castsequence reset=0.3 0,steady shot
/startattack
/targetenemy [noharm] [dead]

First line: Okay, I set what is happening here. This only casts the first time I press the hotkey, and then until the mob dies, it moves on to the rest of the macro. So I would create a similar line for Moonfire, Sunfire, and Flame Shock, on my druid and shammy, yes?

Not really. {Last I knew} Moonfire and Sunfire are only supposed to be cast in the appropriate "Phase" of a druid's solar/lunar power. You can't currently have both up. Flame Shock needs to be reapplied when it drops off the target. If you want effective DPS, you would have to time the abilities out like this

http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...l=1#post378834
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...l=1#post353548

But when it comes down to it, if you aren't doing anything difficult and you're just running quests, you don't need anything complicated. It's a waste of time in most cases to use much more than your biggest nuke or a couple fast casts "out in the world" since everything will be dead before your dots can tick more than twice. I don't even take my guys off follow most of the time when I'm running dailies or world quests.


continued below because of text-cap

[Chuyna]

IWT In ISBoxer -
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...ith-Target-101
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...SBoxer-IWT-etc

Thank you again, Khat, for taking the time to reply. That second one, in particular (I had already watched the video) has a link to a post with exactly the sort of detailed instruction I need to begin to figure out how to make this work (http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/3...l=1#post312469).

A setup such as Ualaa is walking through in that post is something I understand and would actually work for me, so I'm trying to emulate it. It would be easy enough to use this method to have my hunter, druid and shammy step back and my monk melee using IWT.

I think I've been able to translate the instructions from the older version of ISBoxer clearly being used at the time of the post to what I'm working with. The only hang-up is with the second section, editing the DPS keys, because I don't have any DPS keys.

I can see these would now be under what is called "Combat" in the KeyMaps, but Combat is empty for me, so I'm looking for instructions on how to set up the DPS1, DPS2, etc keys Ualaa is referring to. Haven't found it yet, but still looking.

Even just following that detailed walk-through has given me a much better feel for what I'm working with and is allowing me to do some limited extrapolation into other contexts. My brain apparently just needs to see it spelled out in tiny baby-steps like that before I can begin to comprehend it.

http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...l=1#post378834
http://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/4...l=1#post353548

But when it comes down to it, if you aren't doing anything difficult and you're just running quests, you don't need anything complicated. It's a waste of time in most cases to use much more than your biggest nuke or a couple fast casts "out in the world" since everything will be dead before your dots can tick more than twice. I don't even take my guys off follow most of the time when I'm running dailies or world quests.

Yeah, I will definitely be tweaking my plan for how I work with it.

First off, don't put follow breaks in your DPS key. It will only come back to bite you later. Learn to micromanage and use additional keys for things like follow, break follow, buffing, etc. DPS keys should ONLY be for DPSing and IWT during combat {for melee toons only}. Most people use the arrow keys for slave movement and breaking follow. Start with that.

Yeah, like I said, that step-by-step process Ualaa outlined is exactly the sort of thing I need. Once I figure out what s/he's referring to in the second section, I think I'll be good to go for my first try at running something like this.

http://wowpedia.org/Castsequence

This is a reset=#. In this case, reset is using an idle timer of a third of a second {0.3}, so the macro won't reset until there is at least 1/3rd of a second between button presses OR it reaches the end of the line in the macro. The 0's are not part of the reset, they are equipment slots used to put in a delay so the macro has a chance to try the spell on the next line in the macro.

Okay, excellent. Thank you. In your option, which is better, doing it that way, or doing it with a comma-separated list?

Your toons are just going to keep running their personal sequences with no regard for what any other toon's sequence is doing. You don't need to and shouldn't attempt to "time out" the macros among your team to make the cast times match. It is futile because of latency, haste etc, and the attempt will only ruin your DPS/"rotation." Build everyone proper macros for their class/spec and don't worry about timing it perfectly, it simply won't ever happen - even on teams where everyone is the exact same class and spec.

Okay, awesome, good to know.

Thank you again for your time. I know it's a pain to read long messages and write long replies, and I appreciate the help very much.

[Khatovar]

Okay, excellent. Thank you. In your option, which is better, doing it that way, or doing it with a comma-separated list?

The reset conditions I use will normally vary depending on the needs I have for the spell or spells in the sequence. For things like DoTs and debuffs, I use a reset=target so that the macro goes back to the beginning whenever I start to attack a new mob and reapply the DoT's/etc.

Most of my "standard sequence" macros use reset=combat because many spells and abilities have a cooldown to them which will lock up castsequences and prevent them from casting anything until the spell's cooldown resets. I don't want to be in a position where I can't kill or pick up agro on a mob because all my early spells are still on cooldown, therefore I don't want my macros to reset until they reach the end of the sequence and/or cooldowns run down. Not having the macro reset until I leave combat is a solid way to ensure that my macros don't lock up at an inopportune time.

I also use modifiers for resets for certain things. Mostly for "nulled" sequences like I use for my DK. In her case, she wants to put her diseases up on a target only once, and because she can spread those diseases to any other mobs, she doesn't need to reapply them to every new target {thus the use of null}. But, sometimes diseases don't get spread or mobs come in late and I need to reapply diseases, so I can use a modifier like alt to force the macro to reset so she can reapply the debuffs again without having to leave combat first.

I'm not sure what you mean by "a comma-separated list." If you mean the original macro that used the 0,0,0,Spell set up, that's not really the same as reset conditions. The 0,0,0, part is just a means for allowing macros to "fall-thru" to the next line in the macro. Every time the macro reaches a 0, it has nothing to do in that line so the game has the opportunity to move to the next line down and trigger the spell there. I don't use this setup, so I can't speak to how useful it is compared to a priority cast setup/step.

If you mean a cast sequence like /castsequence spell, spell, different spell, big spell, another spell... and trying to time out spells that way - castsequences and reset conditionals are two different things. Resets are only for determining when a castsequence should start over. A reset conditional will not allow you to say "after I've activated this macro for X seconds, move to this macro or this line in the macro."

When it comes down to it, there are few, if any, classes left in WoW that use a hard-set "rotation" anymore. It is all priorities where you have spells that you should cast every time you can and some spells you only want to cast if X, Y and/or Z aren't available. This has, IMO, made things a lot easier because you don't need to sit there with a calculator, a slide-rule and a spreadsheet to figure out how many Lightning Bolts you should fit in before you can Lava Burst again. You can just make a few simple macros and call them in steps or via a priority cast system.