castsequence lowers dps big time. 500dps loss

[maxel]

So this explains it. I was noticing something very similar on my lock and mage dps comparisons. The mages with just a /cast frostbolt macro were far outpacing my lock in the conversion of Gear to DPS while he was using a castsequence.

Perhaps the solution lies in more fancy macros with branching? What I mean is maybe make the macros simple and without castsequence altogether, but have the last line hit a new bar or move back to the start. Let's say we want a 3 sequence spell rotation Flame Shock >> Lava Burst >> Lightning Bolt >> LB >> LB. We could do the following:

Bar 1 - Button 1:
/cast [target=focus] Flame Shock
/changeactionbar 2

Bar 1 - Button 2:
/cast [target=focus] Lightning Bolt

Bar 5 - Button 1:
/cast [target=focus] Lava Burst
/changeactionbar 1

Assuming you've bound the keys for Button 1 and 2 to 1 and 2 your sequence would now be spam 1 > 1 > 2 > 2 > 2 > etc

I'm at work and unable to test and throwing out some brainstorming. Would this work?

FWIW I used the above code on my warlock and mages and it did in fact work and add about 500dps to both sets of characters. Here's what I have:

On each toon I have my primary bar and my switch bar (action bar 5) as well as 2 buttons we'll call them setup 1/2 and primary 1/2 for a total of 4 buttons:

Warlock:
Bar 1 Button 1: (Setup 1)
#showtooltip curse of the elements
/assist party1
/use 13
/use 14
/pet attack
/castsequence reset=300/combat/target Curse of the Elements, GarbageSpell
/changeactionbar 5


Bar 1 Button 2: (Primary 1)
#showtooltip Shadow Bolt
/assist party1
/use 13
/use 14
/pet attack
/cast Shadow Bolt

Bar 5 Button 1: (Setup 2)
#showtooltip Corruption
/assist party1
/use 13
/use 14
/pet attack
/cast Corruption

Bar 5 Button 2: (Primary 2)
#showtooltip
/cast Life Tap
/changeactionbar 1

My tapping sequence is now 1 > 1 > 2 > 2 > 2 > 2 (Repeat until corruption is falling off then start over

I also have 2 frost mages their sequence is as follows:
Bar 1 Button 1 (Setup 1)
#showtooltip Ice Lance
/assist Party1
/use 13
/use 14
/petattack
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Ice Lance
/changeactionbar 5

Bar 1 Button 2 (Primary 1)
#showtooltip FrostBolt
/assist Party1
/use 13
/use 14
/petattack
/cast Icy Veins
/cast FrostBolt

Bar 5 Button 1 (Setup 2)
#showtooltip Summon Water Elemental
/castsequence reset=144 Summon Water Elemental, Cold Snap

Bar 5 Button 2 (Primary 2)
#showtooltip FrostBolt
/assist Party1
/use 13
/use 14
/petattack
/cast Icy Veins
/cast FrostBolt
/changeactionbar 1

This uses the same castsequence as the warlock and bumped their dps from 1200ish to 1700 on a good streak. Keep in mind when I say bumped I really mean bumped. I have been performing the same benchmarks over the last year trying to maximize my dps and in 5 minutes of testing alone I can tell already that there is a ton of merit to the statement that castsequence does in fact lower dps.