Project Lore: Five dudes. Four cameras. One World of Warcraft.

After yesterday’s post went live I received a few correspondences about macros.  Some players wanted to know how I created (or stole) this or that macro, others wanted to learn more about writing their own, and some didn’t even know what macros are.  What better way to follow that list of rogue (and other) macros than by explaining the basics of macro crafting.

First things first, what is a macro and why would you use them?  At the most basic level macros are a simple way to extend the functionality of the game, which is why players use them.  Because we are lazy.  To access the macro area type /m in the chat box.

One of the most basic macros that is often used is the ventrilo macro.

/g Server = my.ventriloserver.com
/g Port = 1337
/g Password = qwerty

By saving the information to a macro you’ll never have to type it out again!  Proof that the system is useful already.  Many of the macros I showed yesterday followed this design, simple yet useful commands to save time and enable my brain to focus on other things.  The DPS increase is also nice.

Clicking your spell buttons on your hotbar is actually the same as using a macro.  You can replace every single button with a macro that does the same thing, if you wanted.

/cast Stealth
/cast Renew
/cast Mortal Strike

Blizzard used to allow chaining of spells (hitting 2, 3, 4, 5 became one button), but the developers hated the idea of reducing certain classes to a single button through macros.  That time saving tactic, which caused brain-numbing boredom, was one of the first major changes to the macro system.  But you can still string certain things together, such as using a trinket before firing off a spell, or starting your auto attack ahead of an ability.

#showtooltip Mutilate
/startattack
/cast Mutilate

Believe it or not, by using this macro I sometimes eek out an extra swing ahead of my Mutilate.  Adding to my white damage and possibly applying an “extra” poison.

If you are just learning about the usefulness of macros now, don’t get discouraged that you’re behind the curve.  Previously macros where not saved server side, but on the local clients (your machine).  Being a player that plays on multiple machines, four at the moment, I hated having to rewrite my macros all the time, so I simply stopped using them.  My point is this, until I got really in to World of Warcraft a second time I never used macros.  This means that I’ve learned everything I know in the past few months.  Heck, I just learned this little diddy from Pegraath and Sylvie.

#showtooltip Mutilate

By using the #showtootip command and then the name of a spell, the spell’s icon will become the icon for the macro.  No need to scan through the cavalcade of icons in the list anymore!  Alternatively, if you select the ‘?’ icon, the first spell that is called will become the macro’s icon.  What a time-saver that was.

Most of my knowledge in macro crafting came from Blizzard’s own Macro guide (part one of one!).  And from just playing around with the system.  Unfortuantely, macro sites seem to come and go as often as UI changes.  The ones that do stay around aren’t update very often, usually around patches, or are a bit difficult to navigate.  Here are some links that proved helpful to me, or other readers.

• WoWWiki’s Useful Macros
• WoW Macros Warcraft
• ElitistJerks

Sparse, I know.

The bottom line is that macros can do (almost) anything you want them to. They can be incredibly powerful and complex, like the random mount macro, or simple time-saving announcements.  Either way, every player, hardcore or casual, can find a use for them.  Give em a try.

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