There's already an excellent guide for making macros and a catalog of the options at WoWWiki's Making A Macro page.
If you're an absolute beginner and want to get in on the helpful world of macros, go ahead and click that link, read that page (or at least make sure you understand how to do most basic functions) then come back here.
I'll be discussing habits that I personally use and have seen friends use to make life easier using macros. If you've ever said to yourself, "Wow, macros seem amazing! But where do I start?" then you've reached the right blog post.
Use #showtooltip
Adding #showtooltip as the first line in a macro will let you read the spell tooltip by hovering over it. In a macro like the following:
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:shift] Frostbolt; Fireball
...you will get to read the Fireball tooltip naturally, and the Frostbolt tooltip when you hold down shift. You won't have to open up the spellbook and find them to see how much damage they do or what their mana cost is.
Also, if you choose the giant question mark icon, it will show the spell icon naturally... and the icon will change! In the above example, it would show the fireball icon normally, and then the frostbolt one if you hold down shift!
Choose icons that stand out
If you have an ability that you MUST be watching the cooldown on, macro it, give it the #showtooltip line, and choose an icon that's bright and you can't miss. For an arcane or frost mage, a bright red or green icon will stand out wonderfully.
Keep in mind that if all your macros use bright icons, your bars will be overwhelming to look at, and nothing will stand out at all! I would only suggest three bright/noticeable icons at most. Two or even just one is further recommended.
Group spells that don't trigger the global cooldown
Trinkets, Potions, Arcane Power, Heroic Strike... These can be grouped together and used in one macro. My example is as follows:
/cast Arcane Power
/use Potion of Wild Magic
/use Mark of the War Prisoner
/use Mana Sapphire
/cast Icy Veins
/cast Arcane Blast
Only the final spell in this macro triggers the global cooldown.
Using this will activate my AP and IV, use my trinket and an offensive potion, restore some mana using a mana gem, then start casting an Arcane Blast. I named this macro "Combust" and gave it a bright red icon. You might guess why! Be sure your tank has adequate threat lead before using...
Use left and right mouse buttons for out-of-combat buffs
The abilities you don't have keybound (the very select few!) can be grouped by using [mouse:1] for left click and [mouse:2] for right click. Using those pesky paladin buffs as our example:
#showtooltip
/cast [mouse:1] Greater Blessing of Might; [mouse:2] Blessing of Might
to take it one step further, we could remove [mouse:2]. That way, if you keybind it, or click it with a third mouse button, it will still cast something.
/startattacking!
Melee and hunters should change all of their primary offensive abilities to have /startattack as the last line - or first line if the ability has a cast time. (I'm looking at you, Steady Shot!)
/cast Icy Touch
/startattack
It's that simple!
That's it for now. Put em to use, find some more, and comment if you have any good ones I haven't posted!
Showing posts with label mouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mouse. Show all posts
Setting up keybindings
Many players underuse their keyboards while playing WoW. Using keybindings is a vital way to speed up your responsiveness and awareness to the game. It can be the difference between a 1900 and a 2100 arena rating, or the difference between 2000 and 2300 dps in a raid.
Clicking your action bars with your mouse is only okay in a very limited number of scenarios. Spells you would never use in combat or in a panic situation are spells that you don't have to keybind. Silly macros for things like /target Xaxziminrax /kiss are okay to click. Long-term buffs, rogue poisons, mage portals... these are things you would not use in an emergency, so it's okay to leave them as mouse-clicked.
Resurrection spells, food and water, and short-term buffs (Warrior shouts, shaman elemental shields, mage and warlock fire/frost/shadow wards, hunter aspects) are all things that you should keybind. All these spells are cast either while in combat, right before you enter combat, or right after you leave combat.
An entire well-written, with-pictures article has already been posted, and I won't reinvent the wheel. Take a look at TankSpot's General Keybinds for some detail on how and why to bind.
After you've read that over, there are a few more things to mention.
The numpad is a fabulous way to have all your buffs and non-combat spells in order. I use the big "zero" button to use my Mana Strudels because its easy to find and I can just start spamming it the moment I think I'm about to leave combat. I use 1-9 on the numpad for my buffs. With 3 different mage armors, 30 and a 60 minute intellect buffs, dampen/amplify magic, and two conjure food spells, I'm really glad to have such an out of the way yet easy to remember section of keys. You can even put your hearthstone over there! It's not that hard to remember, "Seven means Dalaran." And then you still have plus and minus, asterik and slash left over for whatever you desire.
I also use backslash. On all my keyboards, it's below Backspace and above Enter and it's really big so its easy to find. I have a non-emergency but vital spell bound there. Shattering Throw, Evocation, or Fire Elemental Totem are good choices because they will be used fairly infrequently, but are still important enough that you'll want to have quick access to them.
Remember: Take it slow at first. Don't overwhelm yourself! Frustration is not the way to go, and even if it takes you a whole month just to remember two spells on your keyboard... that's better than nothing, and will give you a definite edge against people who haven't any bound!
Clicking your action bars with your mouse is only okay in a very limited number of scenarios. Spells you would never use in combat or in a panic situation are spells that you don't have to keybind. Silly macros for things like /target Xaxziminrax /kiss are okay to click. Long-term buffs, rogue poisons, mage portals... these are things you would not use in an emergency, so it's okay to leave them as mouse-clicked.
Resurrection spells, food and water, and short-term buffs (Warrior shouts, shaman elemental shields, mage and warlock fire/frost/shadow wards, hunter aspects) are all things that you should keybind. All these spells are cast either while in combat, right before you enter combat, or right after you leave combat.
An entire well-written, with-pictures article has already been posted, and I won't reinvent the wheel. Take a look at TankSpot's General Keybinds for some detail on how and why to bind.
After you've read that over, there are a few more things to mention.
The numpad is a fabulous way to have all your buffs and non-combat spells in order. I use the big "zero" button to use my Mana Strudels because its easy to find and I can just start spamming it the moment I think I'm about to leave combat. I use 1-9 on the numpad for my buffs. With 3 different mage armors, 30 and a 60 minute intellect buffs, dampen/amplify magic, and two conjure food spells, I'm really glad to have such an out of the way yet easy to remember section of keys. You can even put your hearthstone over there! It's not that hard to remember, "Seven means Dalaran." And then you still have plus and minus, asterik and slash left over for whatever you desire.
I also use backslash. On all my keyboards, it's below Backspace and above Enter and it's really big so its easy to find. I have a non-emergency but vital spell bound there. Shattering Throw, Evocation, or Fire Elemental Totem are good choices because they will be used fairly infrequently, but are still important enough that you'll want to have quick access to them.
Remember: Take it slow at first. Don't overwhelm yourself! Frustration is not the way to go, and even if it takes you a whole month just to remember two spells on your keyboard... that's better than nothing, and will give you a definite edge against people who haven't any bound!
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