Thursday, January 20, 2011

Some Feral Macros

Over the holidays I picked up a Razer Naga. I have a full post coming in regards to how I feel about it, but suffice to say that it's been quite a shift in my play style. Among many other things, it's put me in a position where I'm using macros much more frequently than I used to.

On that note, I figured I could go over some of the macros I use.

Bear Form Macro
#showtooltip Bear Form
/cancelform [noform:1]
/dismount [mounted]
/cast [noform] Bear Form
This macro does 3 things. If I'm in any form except Bear form, I cancel out of it. If I'm mounted, I dismount. Finally, if I'm in caster form (no form) I shift to Bear. Where this macro differs from the standard Bear form button is if I'm already in Bear form, it won't get canceled. It also lets me shift out of flight form into the others when I'm not on the ground, which the game doesn't typically let you do. (Or at least used to not let you do...I don't know if that's true anymore since I always use this.)

I have a similar macro for Cat form. Just change the 1 in the second line to a 3. Then cast Cat Form on the last line.

Power Shift Macro
#showtooltip
/cancelform [modifier:shift]
/cast [form:3] !Cat Form
/cast [form:1] !Bear Form
Powershifting is a powerful mechanic. Any debuffs that impair your movement (or, when 4.06 drops, just those that slow it) can be cleared without losing form. One easy example is the poison the Empyrean Assassins in Vortex Pinnacle apply.) If you're Rage starved and have speced 3/3 into Furor, you can powershift for 10 free Rage.

The PvP applications should be obvious.

I also included a way to shift out of my Cat and Bear forms in this macro since I removed that from the buttons I use for those abilities and it was an occasional annoyance having to cast a spell to get out of form.

Interrupt/Stun Macro
#showtooltip
/cast [form:3] Skull Bash(Cat Form);[form:1,modifier:shift] Bash(Bear Form); [form:1] Skull Bash(Bear Form)
There's two things going on here. The first is that I can bind Skull Bash to the same button and have it work in both Cat and Bear forms. The second is that, when in Bear form, I can hold down shift and cast Bash instead for a quick stun.

I could also add [form:3,modifier:shift] Maim if I wanted to add my Cat form stun to this macro as well. But for now I've been keeping my combo finishers separate.

Cat DPS Macro
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift] Swipe(Cat Form); Shred
As a Cat your main attack is going to be Shred on a single target (often) and Swipe on large mob packs with low health (not so often). With this macro, I can bind both "main" attacks to the same button and just switch by holding the Shift key when fighting packs.

Stampeding Roar Macro
#showtooltip
/cast [form:3] Stampeding Roar(Cat Form)
/cast [form:1] Stampeding Roar(Bear Form)
Pretty basic. Allows me to use the proper Stampeding Roar regardless of form.

Stealth Macro (NElfs only)
#showtooltip
/cast [form:3, modifier:shift] Shadowmeld; [form:3] Prowl; [noform:3] Shadowmeld
With this Macro, I've bound both my stealth abilities to one button. In any form but Cat, I Shadowmeld. In Cat form, I Prowl by default, but Shadowmeld if I use the Shift key.

Taunt Macro
#showtooltip
/cast [modifier:shift] Challenging Roar; Growl
Similar to the Cat DPS Macro above, this one lets me put a frequently used and a lesser used taunt on the same button.

Speedy Travel Macro
#showtooltip
/cast [swimming] Aquatic Form; Travel Form
Another one that's pretty simple. It puts my non-flight travel forms on one button. If I'm in swimmable water, I'll shift into mutant seal form. Otherwise, cheetah.


As time goes on, I'm finding a few of these are less useful than I originally anticipated (I don't need the Skull Bash macro to handle both forms in my current setup). I'm also finding others that would be useful, like combining Rip and Ferocious Bite, or binding my defensive cooldowns (which I haven't done, but really should).

9 comments:

  1. There's room for much more intricate travel macros.

    /cast [swimming] Aquatic Form; [flyable, nocombat] Swift Flight Form; [noflyable,nocombat] Great White Kodo; Travel Form

    One button travel (replacing Grey White Kodo for whatever land mount you use). Admittedly this is slightly finicky with underwater mechanics and one needs to be aware of whether one is in combat or not what with mounts having a cast time.

    Great work regarding the other macros. Already using very similar macros for most of those abilities.

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  2. #showtooltip
    /cast [btn:2]Travel Form;[nostance:3,combat,nomod:shift/ctrl][mod:alt]!Bear Form;[mod:shift,stance:3]Dash;[combat,nomod:ctrl][indoors,nomod:ctrl][mod:shift]!Cat Form;[swimming]Aquatic Form;[flyable,nomod]Swift Flight Form;Swift Stormsaber

    for the complete powershift/travel macro.
    Is adapted for a bear, but could be rearranged for a cat as well. Powershifts for both bear and cat, dashes at shift for cat (or switches to cat if you have an alternate form/no form), handles underwater-mechanics as well as possible... you can force aquatic form under water with the ctrl-modifier even when in combat (otherwise, you get bear in combat even underwater)

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  3. This is definitely good if you're looking for an all-in-one macro. I used to use something like this before I became a mount collector. I had to switch to an addon (Coconuts) for those.

    I have considered moving Flight Form to my travel macro as a default when it's available and then including a modifier for when I do want to use Travel Form while not in combat (like when doing Archeology).

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  4. I use:

    /cast [nocombat] Prowl; [combat] Shadowmeld;

    This is much better for a cat stealth macro. I don't need Shadowmeld while in catform out of combat (since I can just use Prowl), while it gives me an easy "oh-shit" button while in combat to give me the equivalent to Vanish, without having to worry about combining it with an extra key modifier.

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  5. That's...actually much simpler. And I can't think of why it wouldn't be better than what I have. Other than throwing an error when you're out of combat, but not in cat form. Small hassle, though.

    Have I ever mentioned I sometimes over-complicate things for no reason?

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  6. I should explain that this macro is ONLY in my cat bar, therefore there's no concern about it throwing an error when not in catform. Same reason I don't put Mangle in my humanoid bar. ;)

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  7. you are sharing a useful information about your macros in the game and thanks for that.

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  8. Here's one I made, it works like this; when you hold ctrl it goes into cat form and skull bashes your focus, otherwise your target, and it goes into cat form and stealths if you're out of combat, and doesn't put you out of stealth or cat form if pressed twice

    #showtooltip
    /cast [stance:3,mod:ctrl,@focus] Skull Bash(Cat Form);[nomod,stance:3,combat] Skull Bash(Cat Form); [nomod,stance:3,nocombat] !Prowl; !Cat Form

    You can easily add more functionality for Bear Form or stampeding roar with a shift modifier if you so desire.

    ReplyDelete