2.2 Patch information about Macros

Great information on macros posted on the forums

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1778019289&pageNo=1&sid=1#0

Really useful information.  I should probably just post it all directly, but I don't know if that's really fair to those who found it all.  For now, just click through to the thread.

Patch Day!

So, today we have a patch day!

I will be reviewing macro information and posting anything notable that I find.

I remember reading something about Druid shapeshifting (cancel form) supposed to be being moved to client side, which means it can be used with /stopcasting. If this is true, I'll post updated shapeshift macros. UPDATE: It looks like this was moved to 2.3, and is NOT found in the 2.2 patch that came out today.

NEW Starcraft 2 unit review!

Ok, I fell prey to this.  I was looking on YouTube for any new Starcraft 2 information, and I happened upon THIS video.  I chuckled.  LOL.

New unexpected units!!!

World Series of Video Games - R. I. P.

So, I watched the WSVG on tv not to long ago. They featured some WoW arena action.

I was unimpressed.

The problem was in the way they covered the play-by-play. The announcers tried to call it like a football game or a wrestling match.

That's not going to work for gamers.

I was sitting there watching this thing, thinking to myself the whole time - How much is this guy hitting for? How much mana does that guy have left? What's this guy's spec? What's he wearing? What buffs does he have?

All I was getting is crap like "Oh, they're attacking {druid} now. Down he goes."

Until they understand what a gamer wants to hear, they're going to continue to screw this up.

Well, it looks like they didn't figure it out in time. WSVG has closed it's door. Shame. There was potential there.

Druid Wiki

Ok, this isn't directly related to macros, but my main is a druid so I find this information interesting.

There's a Wiki specifically for druids available at http://druid.wikispaces.com/

It's got some nice interesting stuff there.

Excellent information about Druid:Tree of Life

WoW Radio:World of Theorycraft recently did a show about resto Druids using Tree of Life Form with massive amounts of +healing to be some of the most powerful healers. It almost makes me want to drop feral myself and go back to being a pure healer. (nah... heh)

Well, today I also came across this post in the druid forum. Looks like someone calculated the maximum possible +healing a resto druid can currently gather.

Interesting :)

Another favorite Addon - Clique

I want to tell you about perhaps the most important addon you should have. It's Clique. If you have any spells, abilities, or items(bandages?) that you can use on party or raid members, then you should have Clique.

What does it do? It enables click-casting. Click-casting is when you cast a spell on target just by clicking on it's healthbar (usually while holding down shift, or ctrl, or alt, or a combination of these.)

Let me just give an example.

I'm on my priest in the BG. I'm partied with a Warrior and a Mage, and I'm targeting the enemy hunter that the warrior is attacking.
The warrior starts to take some damage, so I just right click on her healthbar, which causes me to cast Renew on her. This does NOT change my target - I'm still targeting the enemy hunter.
The mage in my group is also taking some damage, and I need to Flash Heal him. I hold down Alt and left-click on his healthbar and I cast Flash Heal.
Oh no, an enemy mage just sheeped my Warrior. I hold down Shift and left-click on my warrior's healthbar to cast Dispel Magic on the warrior to free her up.
My mage is still taking damage, so I decide I want to PW:Shield him. I hold down CTRL and SHIFT and left click him, and he's instantly shielded.

I hope you're getting the idea. I've got a bundle of spells that I can cast just by left or right clicking on the healthbars of my party members depending on what combination of modifier keys i'm holding down.

It's a little like playing a musical instrument. There are "chords" of keys you hold down to do various things.

I want to point out that I'm not a button clicker. By that, I mean that I hate clicking buttons on my action bar with my mouse to cast spells. I perfer to hotkey everything. Targeting a party or raid member, however, makes mouseclicking a necessary evil. There just isn't a more efficient way to select a raid member as the target of a spell than to click on their name in your party or in CT_RaidAssist's big block-o-names. Using Clique, I can combine the action of casting a spell and selecting the beneficiary of that spell in one motion.

Here's another useful example to illustrate the power of Clique.

I'm on my Druid raiding... whereever. I need to cast HoTs on a bunch of people.
I hold down CTRL and ALT...
I left-click warrior1
I left-click warrior2
I left-click rogue1
I left-click rogue2
etc...
I let go of CTRL and ALT.

Simple simple simple.

If you're not using Clique, you should be.

New favorite Addons

I've recently been testing out a pair of timer mods that I've fallen in love with...

First, there's Quartz. This is a casting timer bar replacement addon that does some awesome stuff. It replaces the default blizzard casting progress bar, but it shows some really great info such as casting time, time left, latency, spell name, spell icon, etc. It also shows you what your target is casting.

Above and beyond that, it also shows you timers for the buffs or debuffs on your target. This is awesome for me when I'm playing my druid because - as a bear tank - it's incredibly valuable to be able to see easily how much time is left on my lacerate debuff, my demo roar, and my mangle. As a mage, it lets me see how long I have on my sheep, Frost Nova, Frost Bite, etc. Since the game only gives you duration data on your own buffs/debuffs, it really helps to identify those buffs/debuffs that belong to me.

Second is Cooldown Timers 2. This is an Ace2 mod that has a brilliant configuration scheme. What it does is monitor your abilities and items with a cooldown and shows a progress bar for each one. Also, when a cooldown ends, it alerts you with text on screen and a pleasant sound. When you install it, there are some boxes in the middle of your screen - just drag those to some nice spots and shift-left click the boxes to lock them down. I suggest casting some spells that use cooldowns before you lock them down so you can see how it will look before you lock it.

Very very awesome mods. :)

Mage BG macros

So, I got my Mage up to 28 and took him to AB a few times. He was just cannon fodder in WSG at 19, but my survival is much better at 29 due to better survival tools (mana shield, blink, etc)

So, one very important macro I've been using alot is my Counterspell macro. It's very simple, but very powerful.

/stopcasting
/cast Counterspell

Another critically important macro that I use in the 29 BG's is this one:

/use [target=player, nochanneling] Heavy Runecloth Bandage

Hehehe The trick is that you can USE a Heavy Runecloth Bandage as long as you can get your first aid up to 225; you just can't make them yourself. AFAIK, there is no level requirement for first aid up to 225. It just takes an investment. HRB can heal 2000 damage in 8 seconds. Since my health is only 500, I can heal to full in 2 seconds with these. Unfortuntely, as a mage, my mana is my health (with liberal use of mana shield), and noone can simply "heal" my mana back. /cry I shoulda been a 'lock.

Macro of the Day

Here is my Macro of the day:

This is for my shadow priest. I specifically spec'd into improved mind blast only enough to reduce it's cooldown to exactly 6 seconds for this macro.

/startattack
/castsequence [nochanneling] reset=5 Mind Blast, Mind Flay, Mind Flay;

Ok, here's what it does:

First, it ensures that I'm in combat with my target. If I'm not swinging my staff, I should be.
Next, it

Next, it starts casting Mind Blast if I'm not in the middle of channelling a spell (such as Mind Flay). Once Mind Blast is finished casting, Mind Blast starts cooldown at exactly 6 seconds.

Next, the macro starts casting Mind Flay. Mind Flay is a channeled spell, and lasts 3 seconds (if not interupted).

Next, it casts Mind Flay again. Since I spam this button rapidly, the two back-to-back Mind Flays are seamless, and to the target it looks like I've got a 6 second long Mind Flay.

Since the macro features [nochanneling], the macro itself will not interupt Mind Flay so even when I spam the button continuously, the Mind Flay's execute smoothly.

The 5 second reset makes sure that if I stop spamming the key before both Mind Flay's are cast, the macro will reset by the time Mind Blast is up again.

On occasion, I need to snare a target indefinately (WSG ftw!). To do that, I use a variation of the macro that is bound to the same key plus Alt. Here's that macro:

/cast [nochanneling] Mind Flay

This one very simply only casts Mind Flay, but it does it continuously. If I get hit, it recasts it instantly (assuming I'm rapidly spamming the button) so to the target, it appears that he can't break my Mind Flay snare. Oddly enough, my enemies seem to hate that. :P If they manage to hit me during the global cooldown, (first half of Mind Flay), then it appears to break the Mind Flay stream for a short moment, but it recasts as soon as GCD is done.

This same concept works with other single target channeled spells like Arcane Missiles and the Night Elf' priest's Starshards.

Enjoy