Macro questions!

[decimo]

I had posted this in the hunter guide thread but was told it would be better to split it off so here goes:

I currently have a hand injury that's keeping me from using the full range of the keyboard for another 6ish weeks, I asked for suggestions on which spec to play with the least keybinds and was told MM. I ended up trying all three and I am just really hooked on BM, especially after taming Gara.

My question is this since: What skills can I macro together to minimize the amount of buttons I press? I can do 1-4, shift1-4, ctrl 1-4 somewhat okay and right now i have my traps and conc shot on ctrl1-4.

Could I do like Kill Command and Kills shot on the same key? Any tips/hints/suggestions are appreciated, I am 642 ilvl and can do like 17-20k dps but I feel like I should/could be doing more.

Here's my current keybinds if that helps any towards the suggestions: http://puu.sh/gtAny/777186261c.jpg http://puu.sh/gtAuR/6c170ce97b.jpg

Thanks!

[Sazda]

For your scenario, you can easily do:

#showtooltip EITHERONE
/cast Kill Command
/cast Kill Shot

This will do Kill Command when pressed, unless it is on CD and Kill Shot is available. The question here is which one you want to put into the #showtooltip at the top of the macro. You would need a WA2 string to keep track of the other one, so you know when it comes off CD.

There are not a lot of abilities that you could put on the same key, unless you are ok with losing some DPS in the process. What I mean is: Dire Beast for example. You could just macro this into everyone of your abilities, but sometimes you might want to delay it a tiny bit for the extra DPS it gives you on a priority target.

How about buttons Q, E, R, T, S, F, G, Z, X, C, V? I assume you move with W, A, D still, so at least some of those buttons should be easy to reach for you (and possibly with a modifier as well).

[SlippyCheeze]

You can't put Kill Shot and Kill Command on the same keybinding, no -- they are both on the GCD, and WoW deliberately prevents using two on-GCD abilities on the same keybinding. They (eg: Blizzard devs) deliberately want you to manually select which ability to use.

I normally wouldn't recommend something like this, because I expect it to get blocked by Blizzard at some point (as it violates their intent), but Gnome Sequencer uses a hack that you can change the macro text of a secure action button from a secure action button.

So you could potentially use that to achieve this goal.

That said, if you stick to Blink Strikes and Adaptation as your talents, your core abilities are: Kill Command, Kill Shot, Arcane Shot, Cobra Shot, Multi-Shot, and Barrage. You can add Explosive Trap in there if you feel enthused, but it isn't too much of a DPS loss to skip that.

I would probably place arcane / multi-shot on a modifier macro (eg: 1, control-1) since you don't use them concurrently. You could probably reasonably pack the two Kill things onto a single bind, as they are both rarely used because of the 6 and 10 second cooldowns.

I also agree with Sazda -- depending how long this is, the ESDF cluster for moving frees more "alphabet" keybinds close to your hand.

Alternately, a mouse with one or two side buttons could be a lifesaver here -- not too much work to change.

Finally, I'm pretty certain that http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/opie handlers are secure, which means you can potentially use that and the mouse in combination to add way more functionality to a single button.

Create a ring with your pet commands, for example, and bind it to "1". Then when you hold 1 down you get a menu of actions, move your mouse, release 1, and bam, the spell casts.

[waat]

For your scenario, you can easily do:

#showtooltip EITHERONE
/cast Kill Command
/cast Kill Shot

This will do Kill Command when pressed, unless it is on CD and Kill Shot is available. The question here is which one you want to put into the #showtooltip at the top of the macro. You would need a WA2 string to keep track of the other one, so you know when it comes off CD.

There are not a lot of abilities that you could put on the same key, unless you are ok with losing some DPS in the process. What I mean is: Dire Beast for example. You could just macro this into everyone of your abilities, but sometimes you might want to delay it a tiny bit for the extra DPS it gives you on a priority target.

How about buttons Q, E, R, T, S, F, G, Z, X, C, V? I assume you move with W, A, D still, so at least some of those buttons should be easy to reach for you (and possibly with a modifier as well).

That's not how macros work. Your macro will cast kill command if it's off cooldown, and nothing if it's not. It will never cast kill shot (unless you're not specced BM, then I think it will cast killshot only)

[Deleted]

As Sazda said, just macro KC and KS into one macro and you will cast KC and KS. You can't cast them at the same time, since they're on the GCD but when you have KC and KS up all you do is spam one button and it will cast KC (GCD) KS. After that you will have a cooldown on KS but you can still cast KC when it's off cooldown, same goes for KS.

[waat]

As Sazda said, just macro KC and KS into one macro and you will cast KC and KS. You can't cast them at the same time, since they're on the GCD but when you have KC and KS up all you do is spam one button and it will cast KC (GCD) KS. After that you will have a cooldown on KS but you can still cast KC when it's off cooldown, same goes for KS.

as slippycheese and i said, that doesn't work.

[Dirdie]

I broke 3 fingers on my left hand while they were healing i picked up a razer naga and was able to continue to play with 1.5 hands. might want to look into that route

[SlippyCheeze]

as slippycheese and i said, that doesn't work.

...and `/castsequence` was deliberately nerfed by Blizzard so that it can't do it either. They are very, very specific: the game designers want you to press separate keys to trigger these things. They make it specifically and deliberately hard to create a macro to decide anything WRT cooldowns.

This is exactly why I expect gnomesequencer to go, because it works around that limitation in a clever way, and Blizzard don't want you to be able to do that, so bam, like `/castsequence` was broken I expect that to be.

Right now it works, though, so if you really, really, really want to do this and don't mind that it is technically a ToS violation (but, I think, one unlikely to result in account sanctions since it *technically* conforms to the "if you can do it in the macro API it is legal" words, if not their intent), go ahead and use it.

[xquizite]

The only one I can think of right now is to do kill command and bestial wrath. If set bonus procs you run the risk of losing some of bw duration but this would be rare.

[Sazda]

The only one I can think of right now is to do kill command and bestial wrath. If set bonus procs you run the risk of losing some of bw duration but this would be rare.

Do not want to do that, because it will always cast the Kill Command before the BW is active. (no matter which order you put them in)

[waat]

Do not want to do that, because it will always cast the Kill Command before the BW is active. (no matter which order you put them in)

Where'd you get that?

[Sazda]

Where'd you get that?

Pretty sure we had a topic about that just a few days ago, which explained why macro'ing BW to KC is a bad idea.

[waat]

Pretty sure we had a topic about that just a few days ago, which explained why macro'ing BW to KC is a bad idea.

It is a bad idea but as far as I can tell it does work fine most of the time. I have them bound together and a separate bind without BW for when 2pc procs early or I want to hold BW for some other reason.

[xquizite]

Do not want to do that, because it will always cast the Kill Command before the BW is active. (no matter which order you put them in)

This is wrong, i've tested it myself and saw the damage being applied as well as the proper order in the combat logs with time stamps.

The reason its not ideal and i said it wasn't is due to the chance to get a reset on the first KC the second KC could clip your BW and you would lose uptime. Keep in mind this is a thread about macros not about min maxing.

[Sazda]

Thanks for the clarification guys. I am really curious where I got this idea from then. Maybe it could have to do with latency, so it works for some people but not for others. I cannot seem to find the topic from a few weeks ago where we discussed this here. The overlapping is a problem, I agree. You can overcome it though if you use a modifier for BW within the macro. (so it casts both if the modifier is pressed, but only KC if not).

[Deleted]

I broke 3 fingers on my left hand while they were healing i picked up a razer naga and was able to continue to play with 1.5 hands. might want to look into that route

I agree, even if you don't like the naga. I use a Revoltec FightMouse Elite (which doesn't seem to be available in the US, but you get the idea - mousewheel left/middle/right, 1 top button, 2 side buttons) and I can easily fit every ability+potions etc. on 1-4 + ^ + r + 4-5 mouse buttons with modifiers. (Shift-)F1-F4 for some spells I rarely use in combat (Cheetah/Pack, Trap Launcher, Distracting Shot, Camouflage...).

[dexx]

This is exactly why I expect gnomesequencer to go, because it works around that limitation in a clever way, and Blizzard don't want you to be able to do that, so bam, like `/castsequence` was broken I expect that to be.

Another option is an automatic key sender that comes with the likes of Razer keyboards/mice. They work well with classes that have a fixed rotation rather than those needing situational use of abilities. Say you're a MM hunter. If your target is under 20% health, you want to use Kill shot. Next priority is to use Chimaera shot on cooldown (if you have the focus). Next is Aimed Shot (if you have the focus). Lastly Steady Shot to build focus. You could bind these actions to keys 1 to 4. Your auto key program is set to send '1 2 3 4' when X is pressed. You'd adjust the delay between each key to best suit your latency.

[Firebyrd]

Another option is an automatic key sender that comes with the likes of Razer keyboards/mice. They work well with classes that have a fixed rotation rather than those needing situational use of abilities. Say you're a MM hunter. If your target is under 20% health, you want to use Kill shot. Next priority is to use Chimaera shot on cooldown (if you have the focus). Next is Aimed Shot (if you have the focus). Lastly Steady Shot to build focus. You could bind these actions to keys 1 to 4. Your auto key program is set to send '1 2 3 4' when X is pressed. You'd adjust the delay between each key to best suit your latency.

Why are you necroing a thread in order to advocate doing something that's against the ToS?

[Freerunz]

Here's my current keybinds if that helps any towards the suggestions: http://puu.sh/gtAny/777186261c.jpg http://puu.sh/gtAuR/6c170ce97b.jpg

Try to manage your key bindings, may be this simple guide will help you:


P.S. The best use of macro is additions to your main skills like /petattack to kill command, /stopcasting or /cancelaura deterrence - to remove detr buff etc.
This guide will help you: Hunter macros