Training to use Click macros

[moosejaw]

Since timing is the critical aspect of maximizing click macros for best dps, I want to train myself to use a more consistant keypress beat. I have terrible timing in the heat of battle, as many of us do.

A Metronome would be perfect but I don't want to buy one. So I found one online.
Webmetronome is what I am going to use. Set your bpm to match your macros and train away.

120 bpm=2 keypress/second
180 bpm=3 keypress/second
and so on.

Have fun.

[Redbeard]

How do you combat uncontrollable variables such as lag etc? For example, say you have casters and with haste their GCD is down to 1 second, so you want to hit the button every 1 second... you hit it, your main casts... the other 4 are just a little slower due to latency. You click again in 1 second, first char casts, all others do nothing, because theyre still waiting on GCD, etc.

Just a contrived situation, just curious what your plan is.

[Ualaa]

I think if you're pressing multiple times per second, it won't make that much of a difference.

Personally, I used a stopwatch and spammed for 15 seconds.
Counted how many times I had pressed the key.
Personally I click twice per second, on average.

If you click say 2 times per second, then at most you wait half a second for something to happen because of the GCD.
If you were to click 5 times per second, a toon stuck on the GCD would only be delayed at most 0.20 seconds.

No system is perfect, but click macro's are far and away the best solution so far.

[moosejaw]

The metronome is meant as a guide to help your timing. Certainly going slower means your spammed spell/action will get cast more (the last line of click). Even at 2 presses per second you won't miss a cast with tons of haste. The point is to not spam too quickly and get the macro stuck on a long cooldown spell because you ripped through the comma's too fast.

I have to slow my self down at times. Mostly at the beginning of fights. I made the cast bars on the slaves as large as I could (ecasting bars) so I can see the difference in haste procs imediately when I glance at them. They are never in sync. I think slower keypressing is better with shaman because LB is so darn good. Not so sure with the mixed teams especially the Lock or Druid.

[suicidesspyder]

Lol. All i do is say on ym destro locks for example. I open with immolate, conflagrate, choas bolt then shadow bolt times 5. This way no matter how fast i blow thru the cds by the time i get to conflagrate then 10 sec cd is done and then for chaos bolt the 12 secs is done. I dont even think about it i do the math at the beggining and add one or two more casts that have a cast time and no cd to make sure my cds are all up so i can use it again. So i have no worry about not casting nething due to cd not being up. So just add in more spells with cast time and no cd and just click mash away.

[Ualaa]

If you're running x number of toons of the same class, you can go with a keybind per spell.
And then play them as if you were one boxing.

You could also generate a castsequence as easily as a click castsequence.
As your haste changes or you gain newer ranks of a spell with a different cast time, either would need to be adjusted.

I personally like the click castsequence because assuming you spam at a consistent rate, you can prioritize spells and have them recast just as they expire, or close enough anyway.
And you can easily mix any combination of dps, and have them each perform close to the efficiency of single boxing each.

With a click sequence, you'd look at the duration and recast time of your spells.
I'm assuming glyphed, Conflagrate does not consume Immolate.
I don't have durations in front of me, so I'm just picking numbers here.
Immolate lasts 15 seconds, Conflagrate can be cast every 12 seconds, Chaos Bolt every 18 seconds and Shadow Bolt every GCD.

You have 4 spells to prioritize.
Shadow Bolt is the fall through, which is clicked when others are on cooldown, so its the 4th spell.
Immolate is more important then Conflag since it needs to be up for Conflag to do anything.
Let's say you go Immolate - Conflagrate - Chaos Bolt - Shadow Bolt.

You put these macro's on the far right vertical cast bar.

Spam Macro.
#show Shadow Bolt
/cast [mod, target=focustarget] Shadowburn
/click MutliBarRightButton1
/click MutliBarRightButton2
/click MultiBarRightButton3
/click MultiBarRightButton4

On button 1.
#show
/castsequence [target=focustarget] Immolate

--- Counting Immolate as a keypress and assuming 15 seconds before it expires, put as many comma's into the sequence as (15 x your avg spam's per second).
--- If you spam at 4 clicks per second, then 4x15=60, which means 59 comma's after Immolate.

On Button 2:
#show
/castsequence [target=focustarget] Conflagrate,,,,

--- Again (4x12 = 48), which assumes 4 clicks per second and a 12 second recast delay.
--- So 47 comma's after Conflagrate.

Do the same deal with Chaos Bolt on button 3.

Then put Shadow Bolt on button 4.




The strength of this system is that as your haste increases, you might be able to cast six shadow bolts before another immolate instead of five.
Since the other spells are on cooldown and your click castsequence is on a comma, a shadow bolt is the fall through spell, and the system automatically casts another shadowbolt for you.

[Flekkie]

One way to get consistent timing:



..I'll just get my coat!

[Multibocks]

LOL!!! That is soooo wrong.

[Gadzooks]

Since timing is the critical aspect of maximizing click macros for best dps, I want to train myself to use a more consistant keypress beat. I have terrible timing in the heat of battle, as many of us do.

A Metronome would be perfect but I don't want to buy one. So I found one online.
Webmetronome is what I am going to use. Set your bpm to match your macros and train away.

120 bpm=2 keypress/second
180 bpm=3 keypress/second
and so on.

Have fun.

Not a bad idea - I can keep a beat from years and years of playing guitar, and if I can maintain the process for a week, I can make it a habit, and not even think about it. I'm close to that, I just havent played in 2 days. Also, count it out, out loud or in your head: "One two three ONE two three One two three".

I've found I have to do this, or the keyboard buffer fills up, and fills up fast. I've been keeping an eye on that, and 120 bpm seems to be the "sweet spot" for it - faster, and my key buffer fills up.

Actually, it's the key repeat software, ClonedKey, doing it. If I forget and spam in a fight, my characters will keep casting for up to and over a minute after - I lose dps and heals because the key repeat software not only clogs up, it slows down, and my toons are completely out of sequence. I thought it was a Mac thing, but when I was watching my toons trying to fire/heal after a fight, I stopped ClonedKey, and they stopped immediately.

So, I'm looking for alternatives. If I maintain 120bpm, I'm fine - any faster, I'm fooked. 120BPM, I get heals when I need them, and my dps skyrockets.

I was thinking of a "/stopcasting" button, but it has to get through to them first, so it's a no-go. Maybe a "no combat - stop casting" button, or final step in the macros?"

[Otlecs]

Wow. That would be intense. I'm a button spammer through and through and would be totally screwed if I had the buffering problem you have, Gadzooks.

Between varying haste rating across my team, pushbacks, interrupts and pressing the wrong key at the wrong time, any sort of rhythm goes out the window even before I come under stress!

A web-based metronome is an interesting idea though