Is delay allowed?

[sharpMouse]

If I:

1. Press something on main.
2. Wait a little (lets say, half a second).
3. Broadcast it to minion(s).

is this allowed by Blizzard?

This is needed for assist-macro because /assist command works only after some time. And the assist macro is needed for looting without mouse (in combination with IWT).

[EaTCarbS]

no.

[sharpMouse]

no.

Why? It doesn't break the rule "one press - one action". Any blue post about it?

* Step 2 (key up); set option to "Do not progress to the next step for 0.5 seconds"; send to leader only = /cast Devastate (or whatever spell you want)

Your step 2 is exactly like mine. It does a delay after real event. Why do you think that yours is better?

Also, splitting key event into down and up looks to be self-deception. I cannot find a bluepost now but I am pretty sure that Blizzard doesn't agree with this split. One key press is one event, with both down and up. You are not banned just because, as Lax said, multiply sendings are allowed if done at same time.

[Sservis]

Why? It doesn't break the rule "one press - one action". Any blue post about it?

Blizzard does not care about what tools players use and how they do things, they only care about what happens in terms of in-game behavior. Each broadcast action should have an immediately preceding user action at the time of the broadcast. A good specific quote on this is at https://www.dual-boxing.com/threads/...lues-on-Boxing (read the whole thread)

The moment that single keypress initiates a string of actions not normally possible via our base macro system for an individual character, then that is a different matter. It is also a separate offense.

Specifically, delays are not part of the base macro system. There are other similar quotes in that archived thread that pretty clearly call out delays as automation.

Your step 2 is exactly like mine. It does a delay after real event. Why do you think that yours is better?

Also, splitting key event into down and up looks to be self-deception. I cannot find a bluepost now but I am pretty sure that Blizzard doesn't agree with this split. One key press is one event, with both down and up. You are not banned just because, as Lax said, multiply sendings are allowed if done at same time.

Solutions I can think of

• Pausing the recognizing of events for a duration and spamming your single key. This is Ughmahedhurtz's solution, note that they could be successive downs.
• Leader on Down and rest on Up. This avoids the question of if Up/Down on the same character is one or two actions as there's a console option in game for which type of Key event fires the default bars. This is quite definitely legal as it simply mimics something you could configure in game.
• Two keybindings that you manually do in sequence. (or one you spam as in Ughmahedhurtz's solution)
• Loot-a-Rang for your specific example, only requires Engineering(1) If you were asking about something else, like chain CC, anti-afk or other things doable with delays, then this won't work.

Also, the linked thread of Blue quotes has a quote that clarifies keypress and release. Also not clear if specific policy has changed since then.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

If I:

1. Press something on main.
2. Wait a little (lets say, half a second).
3. Broadcast it to minion(s).

is this allowed by Blizzard?

This is needed for assist-macro because /assist command works only after some time. And the assist macro is needed for looting without mouse (in combination with IWT).

Not if the delayed action is automatically activated by software.

The way to do that with modern multiboxing software is via something like ISBoxer's steps.

For a mapped key (set to activate when pressed or released; assume this example is for a warrior):
* Step 1 (key down); sent to leader only = /cast Charge
* Step 2 (key up); set option to "Do not progress to the next step for 0.5 seconds"; send to leader only = /cast Devastate (or whatever spell you want)
* Step 3 (key down); send to all other characters = /assist {FTL}
* Step 4 (key up); send to all other characters = /doattackmacrothingshere

That means it requires an explicit action on the part of the user for each "action." Technically, you can combine steps 3 and 4 in the same step since you can do those in the same in-game macro, too.


The only exception to this is non-activated actions like (I think) chat messages, or showing an innerspace text message on the screen (which does not affect anything in game).

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Let me ask if I understand your position.

Via in-game macro or ISBoxer actions, when the user presses a single key:

/assist Foo
/startattack
/cast Devastate

which has three actions happen instantly when either the keydown or keyup hardware event is detected, is exactly the same thing as when the user presses a single key:

/assist Foo
/startattack
/cast Devastate
*DELAY*
does anything else in game

? Is that your assertion?

[Wubsie]

Your step 2 is exactly like mine. It does a delay after real event. Why do you think that yours is better?

Also, splitting key event into down and up looks to be self-deception. I cannot find a bluepost now but I am pretty sure that Blizzard doesn't agree with this split. One key press is one event, with both down and up. You are not banned just because, as Lax said, multiply sendings are allowed if done at same time.

The difference seems to me to be that the action is triggered without delay due to the input by the player. It does not execute the action automatically after the delay but rather stops the player from taking that action for a set time. Think of it like unbinding or disabling a key outside of the game for a set amount of time.

[sharpMouse]

rather stops the player from taking that action for a set time.

Actually I am doing the same. My program stops sending queue for some time and then continue to process sending queue.

I call it "delay" and may be it is wrong word but I guess Blizzard doesn't care about words.

[mbox_bob]

Actually I am doing the same. My program stops sending queue for some time and then continue to process sending queue.

I call it "delay" and may be it is wrong word but I guess Blizzard doesn't care about words.

Aye, they would not mince words. It would be called a bot. Because with enough stopping and continuing of the "sending queue", and the appropriate keystrokes being queued up, you could start it off, walk away from the computer, and the toon will continue to play the game all by itself. This is pretty much the definition of a bot.
You may not be taking it quite this far, but how are we to know? You yourself must realise all this already, otherwise you would have posed your question on Blizzard's forums.

I tend to agree multi step isboxer keymaps specially with "Do not progress to the next step for X time" is indeed the same as a delay

No, ISBoxer's implementation of "Do not progress....." is not the same. It does have a progression delay in the switching to the next step, within the ISBoxer configuration, however it DOES NOT EXECUTE the next step all by itself when that delay happens to have expired.
If you start a mapped key sequence in ISBoxer, and walk away from the keyboard, it will never finish that sequence, because it requires you to press the hotkey to progress the next available step. i.e. it stops sending any keystrokes to the game the moment you stop pressing keys on the keyboard.

[jinkobi]

If you're lazy- you can use an addon called Gnomesequencer. Looks like they have it for Classic also.

Basically it allows macros to use the old castsequence where pressing one macro/key can cycle through commands. Fully customization too.