Well, finally, after 5 runs in Steamvaults as the CC hunter, I took the time to rearrange my full button bars, created the Macros that I had planned out, and fired ‘em up.
I then went out into the wilds of Terrokkar Forest, there to practise them, stress test them, and generally make a nuisance of myself to all the Spiders and Wolves and Moths drifting about.
Things did NOT go well.
The following are each of my original proposed Macros, followed by commentary and what I ended up with.
Macros
Original:Set Focus
/set focus=target
In testing, this did not work. It did not work at all. However, testing was interesting because neither did macro #2, the pull shot. So, was I getting a focus but just not shooting, or was I not getting a focus but it would shoot if I did?
I spent quite some time reading Kirks‘ awesome series of ‘How to write Macros’ posts (One, Two Three, Four…), none of which seemed to address my Focus issues… and then went on out into Terrokkar to figure it out on my own. In the end, the problem was quite simple… that is NOT how you assign a target to be the focus. At least not in my configuration. What you do is THIS:
New:Set Focus
/focus
That’s right. “/focus”. That’s all. And what is worse, I KNEW that. I knew that back in the old ‘raiding Molton Core in 40 mans’ as a resto druid, with the main tank as a focus and using numbered hotkeyed macros to heal him while spot healing the rest of my assigned party. Talk about ancient history!
Original:Pull Shot - Focus
/cast[target=focus] Arcane Shot (Rank 1)
/stopcasting
Once I had the Focus macro fixed, and was getting that lovely focus box coming up, I moved on to non-functional #2… Pull would not shoot. Not at all. So, was it my Spell name, or my targeting info? First thing I did was remove the qualifier… Made it just Arcane Shot. Nope, still nothing. Then I removed the special targeting, and made it a cut and dried “/cast Arcane Shot”. That worked fine… but not on my focus, of course. So, since the focus macro was hosed, was the [target=focus] the right syntax?.
Turns out that yes, that is the right syntax… but there MUST be a space between /cast and [target=focus]. The final macro that works looks like this:
New:Pull Shot - Focus
/cast [target=focus] Arcane Shot
/stopcasting
Ain’t that pretty?
Original:Restablish Aggro Shot
/cast[target=focus] Distracting Shot
After seeing what I learned on the Pull Shot macro, it becomes clear to see that this SHOULD look like:
New:Restablish Aggro Shot
/cast [target=focus] Distracting Shot
Original:Send Pet and Mark Target
/petattack
/cast Hunter’s Mark
This, thankfully, worked great. Yay!
However, I had two more macros that I ended up adding. The first, is one that was recommended to me in the comments by Jabari, for Misdirection. Applying what I had learned, I created:
New:Misdirect
/cast [target=tankname] Misdirection
I tested this one by using my pet’s name, Moonclaw. Total win. And lots of fun, too.
The other macro I created was to counteract an annoyance after I played with the Focus macro a bit….
Simply put, until I set a new Focus, the old one, even dead, hung around up there on my screen. And thus, the “Clear Focus” Macro was born:
New:Clear Focus
/clearfocus
Boy, that one was difficult, amiright? LoL.
There you go my friends… the macros I’ve made, playtested and proclaim quite fun for my hunter to use in 5 man groups… and heck, why not in raids too?. If you are a new 70 hunter like myself, then maybe the use of these macros could help clear some of the chaos from your life as well!
Even if they don’t, I hope that reading about the process has been entertaining, if not instructive.
Have fun everyone!
Entries (RSS)
December 9th, 2007 at 5:43 am
grin - I’ve not decided exactly what 5 is going to be, but you never know. After all, I did promise to discuss focus. And there are some things that need handled before I get to scripting. That said…
Arcane Shot(Rank 1) — no space between the spell and the rank. If you don’t specify rank, you get the highest rank. NOT good for a general pull shot.
By the way, I’m playing with what might be a sneaky macro for hunters. If it works - still testing - it lets me use a macro to shift my targeting between four mobs while a battle is raging, using my keyboard. Not tab-targeting, but (this) gets me mob A and (this) gets me mob B and (this) gets me mob C and (that) gets me mob D. Oh, need to slap C so I can trap? (this).
If, of course, it works.
Kirk
priestlyendeavors.wordpress.com
December 9th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
A Fellow guildy who plays a Priest had a Macro for shackling. I believe it was a single button that would do the following.
If no focus is set and you have a target, Set it as the focus.
If Focus is set and exists, Shackle.
If Focus is set and does not exist, clear focus.
I cant remember how this works exactly but I will get it off him as I think you could put some more ligic into your macro’s.
I think you would be able to come up with something that can Set and Clear focus as well as attack the focus target.
Here is an example from wowwiki that can do a little more with just a single click.
Uber Pet Macro
This macro got its name on the WoW Hunter Forums a while back, basically this is just a one-button pet control macro. This macro only requires that you have the spells Call Pet & Revive Pet, or simply, a Hunter’s Pet. Also, this macro will use your player’s Focus marker.
How the Macro works… If your pet is dead: You will cast Revive Pet. If your pet is not summoned: You will cast Call Pet. If you are not focused: You will focus on your target and your pet will be sent to attack it. If you are focused: You will clear focus and your pet will be recalled to follow you.
In less technical terms… If your pet is dead or missing: Your pet will be revived or summoned. If your pet is not attacking: Your pet will attack your target. If your pet is attacking: Your pet will stop attacking and return to your side. Hunter’s Mark will be cast on the target
/cast [nopet] Call Pet;[target=pet,dead]Revive Pet
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead]
/focus [target=focus,exists]player;target
/clearfocus [target=focus,noharm]
/petattack [target=focus,exists]
/petfollow [target=focus,noexists]
/cast Hunter’s Mark
Taken from http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros/Hunter
Razor
threedruidnoob.blogspot.com
December 9th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
These are my 2 favorite macros:
This one is for feeding my pet the food I want without haveing to get into my bags.
/cast Feed Pet
/use [type of food]
The other macro is for keeping track of my shot rotation in one handy button.
/castsequence reset=target/combat [shot], [shot], [shot]
My shot rotation is arcane, multi, steady, steady. By the time I’ve gotten to the second steady (with autoshot in between each one) my multi cooldown is up!
I hope you like these.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I’d be wary using Arcane Shot Rank 1 as my pull shot, as almost any aggro produced after the shot (say someone drinking a mana potion) will be enough to steer your mob in their direction. You have feign death and tanks have taunt, go ahead and build a little threat.
December 10th, 2007 at 10:35 am
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December 10th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Matthew, that’s exactly WHY rank 1 arcane shot is an excellent pull shot.
If someone in your group is drinking - they’re still out of combat. No aggro. But the tank doesn’t have to use any major cooldowns, you don’t have to use major cooldowns…
It’s the next best thing to a body pull, gets the mob(s) you want to fight away from the other mobs, and short of MD puts them in the loving arms of your tank who then needs pretty close to zero effort to gather their attention.
Besides, if a mob DOES ignore the tank, that’s what your pet is for. Or you can bring it back to you with just about anything and then FD - because you didn’t use it already. Whatever trips your trigger.
Remember the purpose of the pull is not to start damage. It’s to position the targets so your party can apply maximum controlled damage without interruption. So you don’t have more mobs than your tank can control. So your healer can keep everyone alive.
Kirk
priestlyendeavors.wordpress.com
December 10th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Oh, meant to say. Tested that multi-target macro and… rats.
Kirk
December 10th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I’m sorry to hear your macro came to a bad end, Kirk. Still, thanks to your posts I learned a huge amount!
December 11th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
For the focus macro I use
/focus
/clearfocus
in the same macro, it sets my focus if I have something targeted, and clears it if I don’t have anything targeted.
Also, you might want one for Concussive Shot at your focus, that has bought me hours worth of cooldown on my traps so far.