Macro-Fu Too
Part the A. Holy email-Fu! Ya come home, settle down, log into Gmail, and /wham-o! You wonder why we can’t reply to every email we get?
Part the B. Here’s a very simple macro to weave your Arcane Shots into your Steady Shot rotation, you BM hunters, you:
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent("UI_ERROR_MESSAGE");
/castsequence reset=3/combat Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot;
The first line is just for keeping your screen clear; it’s not necessary for functionality.
The second line will pop Arcane Shot whenever its cooldown is up, and will otherwise fire Steady Shot. One must still manually keep Serpent Sting applied.
Here’s a quick Recount of an out-of-mana DPS-run we did, blowing all cooldowns and using this macro:
If you have other ideas that you’ve tested — note we don’t want macro-theory here — please post them in the comments.
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32 Responses to “Macro-Fu Too”
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B…M…? Oh, I think I remember… What was it again?
BRK…finally the macro I needed for my crazy 3.0.8 days…before the patch to fix the patch. Now if I could only find the glue to hold my sanity together.
I admire the BRK Brain! go brain go!
What about fitting in Kill Shot?
Good macro. /pat
What about fitting in Serpent Sting?
Oh noes I might have to press three buttons!
thanks brk
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/console Sound_EnableSFX 0
/castrandom Arcane Shot, Null
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Steady Shot
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/console Sound_EnableSFX 1
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Here is what I use. It is the combonation of a survival explosive shot macro and my kill shot thread that I have been using. It works and all shots will fire, I have confirmed that. But I havent had time to check it on the dummies yet to make sure that they are firing at optimal time. I have read that one of the problem with doing the /castrandom solution to thread in the arcane shot is that it can sometimes get skipped and another steady shot might go off.
Not a good idea to thread in Serpent Sting. Better to cast in manualy. It is easy to weave into a /castsequence but if you have to move your macro is ruined. With mine it auto checks the best shot depending on availabilty with each press. I often use it in combonation with aspect of the cheetah to get a steady shot off between each geyser in phase two of Heigan in nax. Just make sure you can do the saftey dance well or your screwed.
BTW, mucho love BRK, I plan on having my tea out of a gorilladin mug quite soon.
I was just about to go looking for a macro like this, too. Awesome, I can’t wait to try it out.
…I’m totally counting it as a birthday present, too. <.<
Haukness, I’ve usually seen macros like yours done as
/cast Kill Shot
/castSEQUENCE reset=target/combat Arcane Shot, Null
/cast Steady Shot
(obviously with all the error clearing stuff as well).
The two key differences being:
1) Preference of Kill Shot to Arcane Shot when Kill Shot is available
2) castsequence rather than castrandom to prevent a bad string of random rolls from screwing things up, and with the reset there to make sure that on a new target or combat event, you always start with Arcane Shot.
Other than that, the general effect is still the same. Kill Shot’s special nature prevents it from stopping later casts in the happening from happening, and alternating with a “null” allows the macro to drop through the Arcane line every other attempt when Arcane is on cooldown.
It is worth noting, though, that neither of these options OR what BRK posted will make optimal use of your Arcane Shot cooldown — only hand weaving your shots can do that. However, these macros do make a nice semi-autopilot button for when your attention is divided.
Also, as has been said, trying to add in Serpent Sting to such a macro is not advisable. It is inefficient, but even if it wasn’t the cases for refreshing Serpent Sting are far too variable for any macro to be useful.
Hmmm, yeah I was aware of the weakness with the /castrandom. I was looking for something better and was going to pop some shots into a dummy later to see how inefficient my macro was. I will also have to try replacing it with the cast sequence zeroKFE, and see how that works out. Should be easy to compare since I am not looking to compare damage but procs and given a use of a limited ammount of ammo I can create a specific posibility for oportunities for the shot to go off. Of course this wont take into effect Kill Shot but like you said its nature prevents it from stopping later casts.
I will come back later this evening and post my results.
The optimum macro is being thrashed out in the forums guys. Come in and take a look. There’s errors in all the above suggestions, including BRK’s.
I can’t edit my prior comment for some reason. Here’s one of the better threads on the topic in the forums:
http://www.bigredkitty.net/forums/index.php?topic=2994.0
and this thread:
http://www.bigredkitty.net/forums/index.php?topic=3322.0
I wouldnt use that- if you have any lag, it won’t work and you’ll miss cooldowns. You’re better off using the addon tellmewhen and just have it put a big button on your head when you need to fire off an arcane.
As a MM Hunter who hand-weaves 4 shots plus Saronite Bombs/Hyperspeed Accelerators, I wonder why you kids need these damn macros.
Why, back in my day… *begin pre-BC Hunter raiding rant*
I actually agree with Rilgon. What the world has come to…
It took me about 30 minutes to remember how to do everything manually (after TBC’s worth of macros); including timing GCDs on LnL procs, not screwing the second ExS tick and perfect sting control, so I agree with the EJ statement on shot macros. Shot rotation macros are a thing of the past.
Oh and need I point out the obvious answer why they need the macro? Because they’re too used to facerolling to #1 on recount and their epics.
I topped damage on patchwerk10 tonight after 2 days as survival without setting foot in a raid. So I really don’t see the merit in “ZOMG MAH MACRO NO WERKING GIEF ME NEW ONE”.
P.S: A macro to “intelligently” determine whether to fire one shot or another based on cooldowns doesn’t exist. Stop trying.
Need is a strong statement. Just as people enjoy many aspects of the game, macros is another fun element. The creation and use of macros is a part of the game, not necessarily a crutch.
Without Brks nifty little reset=3/combat addition to my castsequence, I use:
(Just because I like to have it all there.)
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:UnregisterEvent(”UI_ERROR_MESSAGE”);
/cast !Auto shot
/cast Kill Shot
/cast [target=pettarget, exists] Kill command
/castsequence Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot
just to add to the pre-tbc raiding hunters… you mean exactly what kind of skill required?
autoshoot – coffee-break till boss is dead aka the invincible molten “bore” style?
now on a serious note… I don’t overly value macros myself, after all this whole game seems easy enough for most ppl with a set of hands and eyes to perform well in from ever since the beta hit (well, yea, I was rogue back then but what… times change and so do accounts xD) so I simply don’t find them as crucial as some of my fellow hunters/whoever else (yes, grid-dances healers included sometimes o.O) do
but cheers it can be fun and fairly actionBUR-space saving when it comes to it xD
if you dont like shot macros, dont use them.
if you like shot macros, use them.
y so srs?
“As a MM Hunter who hand-weaves 4 shots plus Saronite Bombs/Hyperspeed Accelerators, I wonder why you kids need these damn macros.
Why, back in my day… *begin pre-BC Hunter raiding rant*”
That is amusing, for sure.
However:
I use macros because I DO have issues. I have MS and the fewer keys and combinations of keys I can use the better, because my fingers do not always hit simultaneously, or in the order I request. For just farming this is no problem, but I am thinking of starting to instance, and maybe even try raiding again…for that I do indeed need the macros.
Kunukia brings up an excellent point which generally eludes most people, and it’s nobody else’s business who uses macros and who doesn’t. People tend to gleefully proclaim their lack of reliance on macros as a way to somehow infer they are superior to their peers. But not every player has the capacity due to circumstance to play at what others might consider “peak” performance.
The macro system is a powerful and helpful tool for anyone to use as they see fit, and offers no advantage over those who choose to not use them. It’s there as personal choice and that choice has no bearing on anyone else.
Another point with macros is that u actually can pay attention what going on as instead watching your buttonbar and cooldowns all the time to hit the shots at first opportunity.
So who is helping the casters out now when they pull when now every hunter is rather watching his cooldowns instead of the action?
On another note i thought patches should make a game better not worse.
Jaylene – “Another point with macros is that u actually can pay attention what going on as instead watching your buttonbar and cooldowns all the time to hit the shots at first opportunity.”
This is my main reason for personally liking macros. I prefer to watch my character, my team mates and my targets than watching my buttons cool down.
I realise it’s possible to mentally time your shots, count down and such, but you know, when I’m playing, I’m chatting with guildies, talking to my other half sitting beside me, doing things other than watching buttons.
Macros are accommodating.
It’s a fair point on watching your casters and healers. I can pump out pretty good DPS if that’s all I’m concerned with but I like to keep an eye on team mates too. Although the other side of that argument is that macros can bind you down while keeping everything separate gives you more freedom.
Right, Noah. I always have all the individual shots somewhere clickable, if I want to use them, which makes things more flexible, or if I want to shift something for a specific fight. *cough*
Think…the King Mulgaur fight when there is one mob who must NOT lose their buff, and therefor there was a good long time that arcane shot must NOT be used on them.
**whimper**
Jaylene:
“Another point with macros is that u actually can pay attention what going on as instead watching your buttonbar and cooldowns all the time to hit the shots at first opportunity.”
And yet another point: using macros for multiple shots frees up more space on your action bars for other frequently used abilities.
I have never used any shot macros myself, but now that I’m raiding seriously, I’m really beginning to see their use. As it stands now in 3.0.8, my uninterrupted all-out single-target rotation (e.g., on Patch) involves six different keys, seven if you count Hunter’s Mark. If I can consolidate SS/KS or BW/KC into single buttons, that’s not just two fewer buttons to pay attention to, that’s two more spaces on my action bar for other stuff. Three, if someone comes up with a viable KS/AS/SS macro.
LOL kiss-ass macro.
http://elitistjerks.com/f74/t42747-shot_macros_you/
This post explains it better than I ever could.
@BRK
He’s not talking about macros in general, he’s about shot rotation macros. You know, what every serious hunter used in TBC because it offered an advantage over manual weaving.
That’s the difference. I’m pretty sure everyone uses at least some sort of macros (e.g. mount macro, MD macro, RF/CotW macro, etc), but going, as Relwin said, “I WANNA FACEROLL FOR DAMAGE HURRR” in wotlk is plain retarded.
Hi guys
I’m going to ask a stupid question here, but please bear with me
I have used the new macro (with arcane shots weaved in between the SS’s) but for some reason I have less overall DPS when compared to my normal 1:1 shot rotation…. How is this possible?
Should I be mashing the button endlessly, or should I actually time the shots on the cast bar before pressing the macro button again?
Please help
“If you have other ideas that you’ve tested — note we don’t want macro-theory here — please post them in the comments.”
GJ guys.
Hello BRK.
I just want to point out that Freezing Trap procs LnL regardless if it effects the mob or not.
That said, on fights where you do not want to be anywhere near melee range (ex: Patchwerk), you can use Freezing Arrow to proc your LnL.
It isn’t the best method / rotation for this talent but its an alternative to getting into melee range when the fight isn’t ideal for such technique.