What do you think of cast-sequence macros?Follow

A cast sequence macro might make it easier, but won't make you a better player. That's my main issue. While I have used them in the past for convenience, I found that in the end it was better for my game play to learn muscle memory and reaction rather than rely on a sequence. Not to mention when they get "hung up" from swapping targets, missing, moving, etc.

I would suggest you figure out why it improved your output and correct your game play from there. But hey, just 2 pennies. =P

Cast sequence Macros are awesome as long as you understand how the macro works and how your rotation works without the macro. For some spells, it is a good idea to have them elsewhere within reach for if you would want to cast them out of sequence.

I usually cap my cast sequences at 3 spells, including repeats, unless it's an opener that I know is solid. One cool idea is to have multiple cast sequences so that you can do an opener, say 4 casts, then do a cast sequence that juggles a few nukes, and finally have a cast sequence setup to reapply debuffs, dots, etc.

It just takes some critical thinking and proper use of the 'reset' function. With that you can clean up your hotbars by a good amount!

I haven't had much luck putting together cast sequence macros for my characters. There always seemed to be a time when I'd want to cast a spell individually as well, so I ended up adding buttons instead of combining them.

However if you can consistently up your DPS by 10-15%, go for it.

Edited, May 31st 2011 4:55pm by someproteinguy

Cast-sequence macro for multi-dotting is win. Just need a spare button, cast sequence macro + auto tabbing an you are golden.

I can actually really see a good use for a castsequence for throwing DoTs on multiple targets. Also, for helping out, say, one's significant other who, try as she might, just isn't that good at this game. With a castsequence macro I built for her destro lock, she had better than average PuG DPS and avoided getting yelled at. Now I just need to get her to not stand in fire...

Yeah, GTFO is awesome. I'm pretty good about not standing in fire, but not perfect. It's saved my *** a few times.

So I came up with a compromise between a cast-sequence macro for my whole rotation and what I was doing before. I took the idea of using my synapse springs and JC trinket in the macro, and then VT and DP, and stuck that in one macro. And then I'm just going to use the rest of my spells manually. DP you can refresh pretty much whenever you want from what I've read, and it's not a DPS loss because of the talent that gives it direct damage. So now whenever I cast VT I cast DP right after it and that's helped my overall DoT uptime quite a bit. And I still have the macro for multi-dotting, and I've been practicing with that too.

Castsequence macros are a crutch and a bad one at that. In ideal situations (a.k.a. dummies) they'll equal your performance or slightly beat you if you still mess up your rotation. In any less than perfect situation they quickly start to crack and you ruin your dps by losing flexibility because no matter how "smart" a macro is, it still doesn't have a brain.

Macros probably wont ever take the same place on your bar than your normal spells. Macros are there for specific situations. For situations where they wont work, just ignore it and resume your normal spells.

That's a good point. But the trinket and the springs don't stack. I can use one after the buff from the other is finished, but they can't both be active at the same time. So what I was doing before was trying to pair up Archangel with the springs. Do you think it would be better to try and time my trinket with my Power Torrent proc? Springs has a 1 minute cd, Archangel is 1.5 minutes, trinket is 2 minutes, and power torrent has a 45 second internal cd I believe.

I'll be happy when I get my hands on Theralion's Mirror. On use trinkets are a pain and coordinating 4 different CD's (not including the shadowfiend) is tricky. =/

If your trinket is haste, yes, its better to time with Power Torrent.
Even better if you can time with Power Torrent + Volcanic Card int proc.
Yesterday I had PT + VC proc + Heroism + Jeweled Serpent use. Man...what a bump on my dps.

I'm not a big fan of castsequence macros. I would rather have good indicators of dots that are up, time left on them, and cooldowns, rather than blindly pressing one button.

No, I don't have a haste trinket. I've got the JC trinket and that crappy mastery one out of Stonecore. Been trying to get Witching Hourglass until I have both the DC and Theralion's Mirror. That does sound like it would be a pretty sexy bump though!

@jay: The way the macro was set up, I was able to get 100% uptime on SWP and DP, and 70-80% uptime on VT. That bugged me obviously, but it still was an increase in my dps from what I was doing before so it was hard to argue that the macro was a bad idea initially.

I think the overall perk of a long cast sequence macro like what my guildie helped me set up, is that you're only using one button for all your spells and you can just spam it. It does make things a lot easier. But like I said, I decided that I didn't care for using a macro for my entire rotation.

What I changed was just making a macro for VT and DP. That way when I refresh VT I can easily refresh DP at the same time, because as you said, DP is always a DPS increase. VT on the other hand, you don't want to refresh until it's just about to go off. Or at least that's what the folks at howtopriest.com have said. I still cast all my other spells manually, that way I can judge for myself when to clip MF for a MB cast and some of the other little tricks that you have to do manually. I played around on the target dummies quite a bit last night, and from what I could tell my simple CD/DoT macro was doing slightly better dps wise than the full rotation macro. Plus it doesn't have the issue of mucking up during high mobility fights which I'm sure will be a benefit as well.

I was using power auras I had set up until yesterday. I had had shadow timers receommended on the howtopriest.com forum, and I gave those a try and I like it better. They have timers for the DoTs and the orb/shadow buffs, as well as coloring them for a more instant visual cue when it's a good time to recast. They turn green when there's only a few seconds left, and then red when it's just about to fall off.

I have ForteXorcist set up for focus and non-target DoT tracking as well.