Hey all,
I've been trying to teach myself how to become a better PvP player for a while now. I no longer keyboard turn... I have a mouse with two easy-to-reach buttons that I bind to "control" and "alt"... and I have a few macros to heal teammates.
I watch a lot of twitch, and have heard a lot about 'focus macros'. What are they and why are they useful? How many macros should I have when I play feral/resto? Macros is the one thing I'm really lacking on these days.
Any advice at all on how to become more efficient, how to make useful macros, and how to become a better PvPer is really appreciated.
Thanks,
Eriy
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,mod:shift,harm,nodead][] fist of justice
This is my generic modifier focus macro. I use this for offensive utility and CC. This is a mod macro. Meaning that if, say, i press 4...i HOJ my target. If I hold shift and press 4....I HOJ my focus target.
This kind of macro allows me to minimize clutter and extra binds on my bars. As a feral/resto druid, you can use focus macros to, for instance, cyclone a target other than the person you damaging or healing without having to tab to them or click their portrait or use an arena frame targeting macro.
To use it, you have to set a focus target first though....which is basically a second targeting frame that allows you to observe another player friendly or not...You can see their cast bar as well as their buffs and debuffs. If you have your focus frame set on someone who can drop target with an ability, be sure to reset your focus frame before you attempt to use a focus macro. Priests will drop every time they spectral guise and nelfs when they smeld.
A focus kick can be really useful at times because a crappy healer/caster might not bother juking if they aren't being targeted directly by anyone.
I hope that helps.
/cast [@focus,mod:shift,harm,nodead][] fist of justice
This is my generic modifier focus macro. I use this for offensive utility and CC. This is a mod macro. Meaning that if, say, i press 4...i HOJ my target. If I hold shift and press 4....I HOJ my focus target.
This kind of macro allows me to minimize clutter and extra binds on my bars. As a feral/resto druid, you can use focus macros to, for instance, cyclone a target other than the person you damaging or healing without having to tab to them or click their portrait or use an arena frame targeting macro.
To use it, you have to set a focus target first though....which is basically a second targeting frame that allows you to observe another player friendly or not...You can see their cast bar as well as their buffs and debuffs. If you have your focus frame set on someone who can drop target with an ability, be sure to reset your focus frame before you attempt to use a focus macro. Priests will drop every time they spectral guise and nelfs when they smeld.
A focus kick can be really useful at times because a crappy healer/caster might not bother juking if they aren't being targeted directly by anyone.
I hope that helps.
A focus macro sets up a new target frame on your screen, like the one you use when throwing damage or heals at someone. The focus frame is like a secondary target that lets you easily keep track of a second player.
Some focus macros you might want.
The above macro you use when targeting a player you want to keep an eye on. Example: You're playing Rdruid and the enemy team has a mage. You target the mage an hit this macro to focus him so you can see when he casts polymorph at you.
The two above you would use so you could CC your focus target without losing your main target. Say you're feral, running at a Ele shaman and you see the healer casting heal. You can hit the focus skull bash to kick the enemy healer while you continue damage /targeting the shaman. Same with cyclone. lets you CC w/o de-targeting.
You might be interested in focus arena1,2,3 macros as well so you can quickly set focus target to an enemy arena player w/o having to click their frame/ gladius. Those look like:
Some focus macros you might want.
/focus
The above macro you use when targeting a player you want to keep an eye on. Example: You're playing Rdruid and the enemy team has a mage. You target the mage an hit this macro to focus him so you can see when he casts polymorph at you.
/cast [@focus] cyclone
/cast [@focus] Skull Bash
The two above you would use so you could CC your focus target without losing your main target. Say you're feral, running at a Ele shaman and you see the healer casting heal. You can hit the focus skull bash to kick the enemy healer while you continue damage /targeting the shaman. Same with cyclone. lets you CC w/o de-targeting.
You might be interested in focus arena1,2,3 macros as well so you can quickly set focus target to an enemy arena player w/o having to click their frame/ gladius. Those look like:
/focus arena1
/focus arena2
/focus arena3
Both very helpful so far. Thank you.
Do you normally keep the same focus target the whole game, and is this usually the healer?
Do you normally keep the same focus target the whole game, and is this usually the healer?
This might also be useful for you to use
This will swap your target to your focus and your focus to your target.
EX:
Target; DK
Focus: Paladin
Press macro
Target: Paladin
Focus; DK
Usually for quick swaps onto a target. No point in having the same player targeted and focused.
/target [@focus]
/targetlasttarget
/focus
/targetlasttargetThis will swap your target to your focus and your focus to your target.
EX:
Target; DK
Focus: Paladin
Press macro
Target: Paladin
Focus; DK
Usually for quick swaps onto a target. No point in having the same player targeted and focused.
As a healer I generally keep my focus on whoever I am worried about pumping out the most CC. If I'm against a double melee team I either put it on healer or the guy I should be CCing. Because your CC has no CD and part of being a Rdruid is using your CC you will probably want to swap around your focus more than I need to. But in general I put it on the guy I am worried about CCing me.
As a DPS I generally put it on the healer since I am normally hitting the person who can throw out the most CC. But you want to swap it around to keep your teammates out of CC / to throw out your CC.
You'll change your focus quite a bit, unless you want to just make a few of these (if you have space):
etc
EDIT: You can also merge multiple macros into one to save space, ex:
Also maybe this
Which will kick your focus if you have one set, otherwise it will kick your current target
As a DPS I generally put it on the healer since I am normally hitting the person who can throw out the most CC. But you want to swap it around to keep your teammates out of CC / to throw out your CC.
You'll change your focus quite a bit, unless you want to just make a few of these (if you have space):
/cast [@arena1] Cyclone
/cast [@arena2] Cyclone
/cast [@arena3] Skull Bash
/cast [@arena1] Faerie Fire
/cast [@focus] Entangling Roots
etc
EDIT: You can also merge multiple macros into one to save space, ex:
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt, @focus] Entangling Roots
/cast [mod:shift, @focus] Faerie Fire
/cast [nomod, @focus] Cyclone
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:alt, @arena1] Cyclone
/cast [mod:shift, @arena2] Cyclone
/cast [nomod, @arena3] Cyclone
Also maybe this
#showtooltip
/cast [@focus, exists] Skull Bash; Skull Bash
Which will kick your focus if you have one set, otherwise it will kick your current target
Awesome info. Switching focuses often seems confusing/difficult.
Where the heck do you put all these macros along with your normal spells for whoever you're targeting? Seems like there are so many?
Any other must-haves for arena, or simpler/more condensed ways of doing this?
Where the heck do you put all these macros along with your normal spells for whoever you're targeting? Seems like there are so many?
Any other must-haves for arena, or simpler/more condensed ways of doing this?
You are going to have a lot of keybinds, but you can help the bloat by using modifiers (cntrl, alt, shift) so that your binds 5 binds (1,2,3,4,5) become 15 (1,2,3,4,5 alt+1,2,3,4,5 shift+1,2,3,4,5).
Common binds include: 12345 qertyfghzxcv (17 binds)
Then add the modifiers to those (you can put them into macros or bind them to your ability bars) and you have 17x3 (if you're using shift and alt mods) binds for a total of 51 potential binds off those listed. If you have a multi button mouse you can bind stuff there (mouse button 1,2 + scroll wheel up,down etc).
It's a lot to take in at first and it will take you a long time to get used to it but you will find yourself improving quickly and things will feel smoother and easier.
Common binds include: 12345 qertyfghzxcv (17 binds)
Then add the modifiers to those (you can put them into macros or bind them to your ability bars) and you have 17x3 (if you're using shift and alt mods) binds for a total of 51 potential binds off those listed. If you have a multi button mouse you can bind stuff there (mouse button 1,2 + scroll wheel up,down etc).
It's a lot to take in at first and it will take you a long time to get used to it but you will find yourself improving quickly and things will feel smoother and easier.
Okay, thanks. It's a bit overwhelming at first for sure.
How do you make target frame/focus target frame bigger?
How do you make target frame/focus target frame bigger?
There is an option in the default ui options and then you can also use a script to make it bigger (I use a script)
The script I use is:
You put this into a macro and hit it every time you log in or /reload your ui. You can change the numbers in the parenthesis (1.4) to make it bigger or smaller.
The script I use is:
/script FocusFrame:SetScale(1.4)
You put this into a macro and hit it every time you log in or /reload your ui. You can change the numbers in the parenthesis (1.4) to make it bigger or smaller.
You can also be a noob and stick "/focus arenax" into one of your focus macros if you dont plan on changing focus often in a match. This can help with druids and priests who continually drop focus. I do this when I play a mongoloid melee class, like this DK or when i played a warrior.
Only problem is, you have to change the number before every arena match.
Only problem is, you have to change the number before every arena match.
Thank you.
12/16/2014 06:38 PMPosted by Traygus#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,mod:shift,harm,nodead][] fist of justice
This is my generic modifier focus macro. I use this for offensive utility and CC. This is a mod macro. Meaning that if, say, i press 4...i HOJ my target. If I hold shift and press 4....I HOJ my focus target.
This kind of macro allows me to minimize clutter and extra binds on my bars. As a feral/resto druid, you can use focus macros to, for instance, cyclone a target other than the person you damaging or healing without having to tab to them or click their portrait or use an arena frame targeting macro.
To use it, you have to set a focus target first though....which is basically a second targeting frame that allows you to observe another player friendly or not...You can see their cast bar as well as their buffs and debuffs. If you have your focus frame set on someone who can drop target with an ability, be sure to reset your focus frame before you attempt to use a focus macro. Priests will drop every time they spectral guise and nelfs when they smeld.
A focus kick can be really useful at times because a crappy healer/caster might not bother juking if they aren't being targeted directly by anyone.
I hope that helps.
Your macro doesn't work. I've tried it out for hex & it won't hex my focus...