Cataclysm has brought with it new challengers for multiboxers and dps rotations. Almost every spec requires paying attention to procs or new resources (such as holy power and lightning shield charges) in order to maximise dps. Previously we have managed to closely simulate the dps achieved by a single player on multiple toons, but these changes are causing some problems.

Ret Pallies seem to be the most difficult case in question currently. For PvP I think the only real issue is being able to keep track of all holy power on all toons at once. Currently this is possible through Pitbull4. I just use a rotation of judgement and 2 crusader strikes to generate HP and once I have 3 charges then I have a separate button for TV on all toons.

PvE rotations are more difficult. As we know rets run on a first come first served priority rotation. Because these are dynamic, it is impossible to work them into a castsequence macro even with the /cast fallthrough trick. What I want to do is brainstorm different ways to get around this difficulty using addons such as Jamba and repeater tools like ISboxer.

There are 2 or 3 FCFS helper addons that are available currently. One shows an icon of the next skill to click. Another generates a new batch of skill buttons and flashes a green border around the best skill to click at any time. Another flashes the button which needs to be hit next.

I was wondering if it might be possible to combine an addon like this with something akin to the mouse repeater in isboxer.
ie. Use the addon which causes a flash of the action bar button as an indicator of where we want the mouse cursor to go. Bind a keypress which tells the cursor to go to a certain point on the screen defined by the particular colour of the flash used by the addon (hopefully a unique colour). Bind the release of this same key to click the left mouse button, activating the spell indicated by the addon.

Now I have no experience at all with writing addons so I have absolutely no idea whether this is a feasable idea. I am also aware that some people may see this sort of system as something approaching automation. It does not seem to violate Blizzards first commandment of one click, one action however. It does remind me a bit of some of the things people had tried to macro aimed AoE spells.

It would be interesting to see if anyone has other ideas on how we could get dynamic rotations to work in Cataclysm. It seems that the complexity of rotations has increased whilst the tools we have to perform them are lessened. If Blizz continues down its current path, it may be that all classes become as complex as rets and if this is the case, a new tool for performing dynamic rotations would be invaluable.

/muse about joe multiboxer...