I'm not too clever with importing pics but here is the summary of WSG I finished minutes ago. Horde lost :-(( but as you will see, Darrwyn was top of the Horde contributors with both kills and damage.
Tried to enter a larger pic but it didn't end up any better.
Flexibility takes a big hit with cast sequence macro's, no matter how well written to try and cover all eventualities, as well as it feeling like it automates things far too much for my tastes.
Windolicker said:
Flexibility takes a big hit with cast sequence macro's, no matter how well written to try and cover all eventualities, as well as it feeling like it automates things far too much for my tastes.
I understand your flexibility issue. While I don't have a dedicated Arcane Shot or Cobra/Steady Shot key, I do have all the other shots (apart from Kill Command) within easy reach. The logic I use is:
Priority 1: Kill Shot… either Instant or Generate macro this is the first priority… if it is available, it will be shot!
Priority 2: Kill Command… as it uses Focus, it is only in the Instant macro, but goes off every 6 seconds
Priority 3: Survivability… I haven't mentioned it, a but I do have a "closed upon" option that disengages if possible, wing clips and raptor strikes if not
Priority 4: Damage… Everything I have in the Instant macro now causes damage
Priority 5: Focus… Everything in my regenerate macro restores focus, unless Kill Shot is availabke… Priority 1.
As for the automation feel… that is exactly what I am trying to achieve here… 50 year old reflexes are just not as sprightly as 20 or 30 something year old reflexes. I know there are some more senior players out there, I know a few… and as the USMC says, we have to adapt, and improvise.
And as I''ve always said, this is working for me; I've never once said others need to use these concepts. I am simply presenting the case that despite what all the "how to write a macro" guides say, there IS a way to have several GCD shots in one macro.
Cheers,
D
One of these days, Dar, I am going to test these for myself! It's cool to hear that you're having success with them.
I have decided to stop this thread here and now.
Despite looking like these macro concepts work, further testing has revealed they are unreliable.
I suggest anyone looking for macros look at Anj's thread: BM Shot Rotation, or Garwulf's Macro Guide.
Regards,
Darrwyn
In fact, Garwulf, so as not to confuse or mislead anyone, can you remove this thread completely, please?
Cheers,
D
Darwynn,
I started to move your post, then realized ti's two pages of effort from multiple people, all working together. There is no ego smacking, no on-upping, nothing. It's not confusing, it's just people hashing, contributing, and cooperating together. I'd suggest simply editing your first post to say something along the lines of "this is a work in progress, discovered THIS link works best now, however, this is all our testing."
So, post remains as a yet another example of excellent teamwork. That's not confusing in the least. <3
Okay, Niika convinced me to not give up entirely. I can't figure how to edit my first post (but that may change?) but I'll tell you what I'm up to now.
Darrwyn (Moon Guard, 50)
Darrwyn doesn't have Aspect of the Fox yet so he can't do the Aspect Dance to gain the mobility options that my 85 (now Predatoor, Jubei'Thos [changed from Goblin to Orc]) has so I'm trying to figure some new things out.
My macros are much more conservative, based around Anj's in his thread. However, I am experimenting with a new Kill Command/Kill Shot macro, but even then it's fairly straightforward.
#Showtooltip
/castsequence reset=6 Kill Command, Kill Shot
/petattack
I am finding in PVE, that if a second KC is warranted, it usually kills the enemy before needing the KS. However in BGs up against higher HP and Resilience, this isn't the case. Often it resets before the enemy is in Kill Shot range (<20% HP). However it's much easier to press the smae button a second time than it is for me to hit a different key, though I have KS further along on my action bars anyway.
I have also managed to incorporate Bestial Wrath in with my Arcane Shot macro
#showtooltip Arcane Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/castsequence Bestial Wrath
/cast Arcane Shot
/petattack
If Bestial Wrath is available, it seems to trigger it. I chose to put it with my Arcane Shot, because that is my preferred shot if Bestial Wrath is up. I will be experimenting with adding Fervor in the BW sequence too, to see how that goes, but I don't like the idea of triggering it if it isn't needed. I might experiment with it in the Steady Shot macro. I'll report more on that later…
The other major thing I've done, is base my keybinds around my signature shot Kill Command, instead of my main spam, Arcane Shot. I now have:
F1 Blow Cooldowns
F2 Hunter's Mark, send in the pet, Serpent Sting
F3 Will of the Forsaken (or getaway trinket)
F4 Tranquilizing Shot & Widow Venom in a castsequence… I usually shoot both one after another
1 Steady Shot
2 Concussive Shot
3 Kill Command & Kill Shot sequence macro
4 Arcane Shot
5 Serpent Sting (just in case I miss with the Mark macro)
6 Kill Shot
7 Trap Launcher F5-F8 are Freeze Trap, Explosive Trap, Ice Trap, Immolation Trap respectively
Q Feign Death
Shift W Scare beast
E Bestial Wrath
R Interupt – Scatter Shot
T Multi Shot
Y Fervor (though I want this key for Camoflague at 85 so I will be moving it)
F Swiftness Potion
Z health Pot
X Mend Pet
V Aspect switch
Shift S Disengage/Wing Clip
I am VERY eager to hear how others set themselves up. So please share your keybinds…. please?
Cheers,
D
I've figured out why I THOUGHT seemingly clever macros like:
/castsequence Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot
/cast Kill Command
were working... at the end of the last shot in the sequence, the shot with the /cast command would fire off. However if there was more than a handful of shots in the sequence, the /cast command would be delayed accordingly. This concept worked well with short macros where the sequenced shots fit into or just outside the /cast cooldown, but trying them with more complex and longer sequences caused them to delay the /cast shot to the degree the enemy was often dead before it could be fired off.
(Sorry for the long sentence!)
These days I only use two (2) castsequence macros:
DBUFF
/castsequence reset=9/target Tranquilising Shot, Widow Venom, Tranquilising Shot, Tranqilizing Shot, Tranquilizing Shot
This allows me to attempt to dispell a few buffs on the target and grief his/her healing to boot.
MARK
/castsequence reset=target Hunter's Mark, Serpent Sting, Concussive Shot
/petattack
I rarely get to the third shot in the seqence, but it's there in case I am chasing... faster to hit the same key again than hit another key. (I've deliberately left out Auto Shot so I can wait until my pet is on target before firing off the Serpent Sting so I don't draw agro in the world. In BGs, I'd just fire it off.
Everything else is single shot or alternate shot macros. I found some good (recently added) new ones in the comments following Garwulf's Macro Guide, so I recommend reading it, even if you've read it recently.
I 've come up with:
#showtooltip Kill Command
/cast [@pet,exists] Kill Command; [@target,exists] Arcane Shot; Mend Pet
This macro is not in the guide or the comments but is inspired by them!
IF my pet is within melee range,
THEN Kill Command is cast,
ELSE,
IF I have a valid target,
THEN an Arcane Shot is cast
ELSE,
my pet gets some love.
Can't wait to test it!
There's also some macros for healing and firing off pet attacks too, so it's well worth a reread.
Cheers,
D
I'm glad you are working this through, Darwynn, and trying your best to put forth good information that is working for you, and accepting of the feedback you are getting and trying to learn from it. Its like the right pants don't fit all (tell that to the guy in plaid running ad-rampant this morning!) different situations fit for different folks.
Hi all,
(Niika, I DO NOT get the plaid reference... nobody I MEAN NOBODY in Australia wears plaid pants!)
I spent some time last night going through all my macros and updating them so they look pretty much like those presented in Garwulf's Macro guide, and some of the associated comments. I have kept a couple of castsequence macros for convenience as discussed in previous post (38).
I have created another macro just for pet special abilities. I have simply put various special (and some not-so-special) abilities into one macro and if all else fails, Mend Pet is cast. I don't have access to my macros at the moment so I'll post it later on. As I get more pets with special abilities I'll just add them to the macro. In last night's testing (Twin Peaks, Predatoor, Jubei'Thos), my Chimera (I use Chimera for flag battlegrounds) was using Froststorm Breath every time I told him to (unless it was on cooldown) and was very effective. I also topped the Horde for killing blows, and came in around 3rd for damage done so it was a good test for my revamped macros and setup.
Another thank you to Niika who urged me not simply to abandon this thread, even though a lot of my ideas prooved unworkable. It is a record of testing and reviewing that I hope helps others as much as it has helped me.
Cheers,
D
sometimes ya have to turn the ice cream crank one more go round before it's good and ready.
The plaid pants reference was for a golf spammer who ran through these forums this weekend. I deleted a ton of posts and moved a whole ton off to holding. Golfers wear the most terribad outfits.
I just couldn't help myself! (Oh no! He's at it again!)
Despite the relative success of using separate keybinds for all skills and abilities out in the world, in the hustle bustle, topsy turvy, dog eat dog, kill or be killed realm of PvP… it felt unwieldy.
Sooooooooo…..
I now open with
#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/cast !Auto Shot
/castsequence reset=target/combat/12 Hunter's Mark, Serpent Sting, Kill Command
/cast Intimidation
/petattack
and follow up with one of the following three (3) macros depending on focus
hiFocus (>90%)
#showtooltip Arcane Shot
/castsequence [@target,exists] Multi-Shot, Arcane Shot; targetenemyplayer [exists]; Mend Pet
/cast [@pet,exists] Kill Command; Mend Pet
/cast !Auto Shot
/petattack
The boost the Multi-Shot received recently has certainly made it viable in a PvP setting where I concentrate my WoWtime. As long as a target exists, a Multi-Shot, Arcane Shot, Focus ring-a-rosie will continue while Focus is available. If the target dies, it selects a new player target. Do not be tempted to swap this for targetenemy if you are thinking of using it in PvE. In PvP it won't matter much, but it can (and does) select the next target and if you're spamming, you'll be firing shots at the new target whether you meant to or not! Bestial Wrath makes MS nearly half price, so with BW this hits hard. If the target dies and a new player target can't be selected, my pet gets some love. After the initial sequence, and then when off cooldown, Kill Command will be cast if my pet is within melee range, else, love time for the pet.
loFocus (<40%)
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence [@target,exists] Steady Shot; targetenemyplayer [exists]; Mend Pet
/cast [@pet,exists] Concussive Shot; Mend Pet
/cast !Auto Shot /petattack
/cast Rapid Fire
This macro only uses focus regenerating or focus neutral shots and will restore lost focus fast if on Rapid Fire. I find concussive shot is very helpful among slower, cast shots; but you probably won't need it in a PvE environment. Many prefer to have a boost button with Rapid Fire in it, but I find I forget about it, so I factor all my boosts into my regular shots and use Bestial Wrath as my prime time!
midFocus (>40%<90%)
#showtooltip
/castsequence Steady Shot,Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Serpent Sting, Steady Shot
/cast [@target,exists] Kill Shot; targetenemyplayer [exists]; Mend Pet
/cast [@pet,exists] Kill Command
/cast !Auto Shot
/petattack
This sequence allows for 3 shots between Kill Commands (adjust depending on your haste) and if Kill Shot becomes available, should send that off. There will be Focus drain, especially when Kill Command is followed by, or follows an Arcane Shot which may happen, despite the design of the sequence to minimise that. Serpent Sting is also reapplied. At higher levels, using Cobra Shot instead of Steady Shot will allow either another Arcane, or something else you may wish to throw in such as a Tranq Shot. If Kill Command is available, this should fire it off. If not, if Kill Command is off cooldown, that should go off.
Kill Shot has it's own keybind as do other usefull shots like Widow Venom and Tranq Shot, and traps of course.
As always this is a work in progress, but this set up gave me my very first top of the scorecard apearance in a 60-64 Alterac Valley at level 60! A confidence boost indeed. I'd topped Horde before, but this was el supremo!
Cheers,
D
Just hit Level 62 and went into Eye of the Storm 60-64...
Correction...
midFocus wasn't working as I thought it should so I've removed the Kill Shot cast and thus it is now:
midFocus (>40%<90%)
#showtooltip
/castsequence Steady Shot,Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Serpent Sting, Steady Shot
/cast [@pet,exists] Kill Command; Mend Pet
/cast !Auto Shot
/petattack
Cheers,
D