So I hit 70 with my huntard (I am in nearly full greens anyway) and I go scouring forums and websites and my typical research binge to get some useful macros for doing various things, and they had me set up a focus for misdirecting, making macros based off who was set as my focus target. That got me thinking. Since holy raiding paladins more often than not are assigned to heal a single target, would making that target your focus, then making macros to automatically heal the focus make healing easier? I don't know, and I can't really find out until Tuesday at the earliest.
Since I'm inquisitive, I figured I'd see if there was anyone out there that currently uses the focus feature of the game to assist them in healing. Do you? If so, what macros do you use to take advantage of this? It might make an interesting addition to my pre-kara healing guide.
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- To focus or not to focus
To focus or not to focusFollow
I don't think there's any wholesale advantage to macroing heals on the focus, simply because I suspect everyone has a slightly different technique.
What I do is have all my keybound heals macroed with [target=mouseover, help] so I can do hovercasting over my raid frames (using Grid for that). I tend to have the tank on focus so I can click him back to target quickly, simply because the unitframes I'm using show more information on the main target. Mostly a bar estimating how much health will be regained once the spell hits, which helps keeping overhealing in check a bit.
But that's just one way to do it. To me, the risk of having heals macroed to a specific target, the focus in this case, is something I cannot take simply because when stuff get hectic, I might keep healing the wrong target. Doesn't mean it can't work for other people, though.
What I do is have all my keybound heals macroed with [target=mouseover, help] so I can do hovercasting over my raid frames (using Grid for that). I tend to have the tank on focus so I can click him back to target quickly, simply because the unitframes I'm using show more information on the main target. Mostly a bar estimating how much health will be regained once the spell hits, which helps keeping overhealing in check a bit.
But that's just one way to do it. To me, the risk of having heals macroed to a specific target, the focus in this case, is something I cannot take simply because when stuff get hectic, I might keep healing the wrong target. Doesn't mean it can't work for other people, though.
I do use focus and macro's.
I set the tank as focus.
My ui always shows the focus portret and it's target and normal target.
Macro's use nomodifier, shift and ctrl to distinguish between myself (save's a lot of time if you have to pop a quick heal on yourself without having to select or mouseover yourself/portret), the focus (tank) and partymembers.
Although it takes some getting used to, it is very nice having two targets selected (normal target and focus), seeying both there health and without having to do anything with mouse be able to heal the one of the other. In groups it is often the tank and 1 other that will need most healing.
Then again, i sometimes play on a pc with no macro setup and a simple HL on '1' and FoL on '2' and clicking the partylist for targets to heal is good enough.
I set the tank as focus.
My ui always shows the focus portret and it's target and normal target.
Macro's use nomodifier, shift and ctrl to distinguish between myself (save's a lot of time if you have to pop a quick heal on yourself without having to select or mouseover yourself/portret), the focus (tank) and partymembers.
Although it takes some getting used to, it is very nice having two targets selected (normal target and focus), seeying both there health and without having to do anything with mouse be able to heal the one of the other. In groups it is often the tank and 1 other that will need most healing.
Then again, i sometimes play on a pc with no macro setup and a simple HL on '1' and FoL on '2' and clicking the partylist for targets to heal is good enough.
if you are ever assigned "heal X and spot heal" then focus would be good. if you are just assigned "heal x" then i dont really see the point.
Focus has many many uses in PvP though. I think RPzip has a macro guide with focus macros in it, or you could always try wowwiki.
Focus has many many uses in PvP though. I think RPzip has a macro guide with focus macros in it, or you could always try wowwiki.
Focus targeting can be useful for healing the MT and I used to do it. Just remember that focus targeting resets after the focus target dies or you do. I sometime will forget to reassign my focus after a wipe, thus leading to another wipe. So now I use my mouseover target macro instead. =P
So basically what I'm gathering (and I'm finding this very informative) is that focusing is good, but making a mouseover macro is better. Then again I could make a macro that combined both... Hmm. Interesting.
A little background on me, I'm now in a guild that exclusively does BT/Hyjal and I'm having to COMPLETELY change the way I heal. Up until now I have done about 95% flash of light and now I'm having to do nearly 100% Holy Light (especially like on council), just due to spike damage, so I'm having to basically relearn how to play paladin, so I'm trying to make my life as easy as I can when healing.
Thanks a lot guys, keep up the replies if you have any input/opinions. This thread is pure win.
A little background on me, I'm now in a guild that exclusively does BT/Hyjal and I'm having to COMPLETELY change the way I heal. Up until now I have done about 95% flash of light and now I'm having to do nearly 100% Holy Light (especially like on council), just due to spike damage, so I'm having to basically relearn how to play paladin, so I'm trying to make my life as easy as I can when healing.
Thanks a lot guys, keep up the replies if you have any input/opinions. This thread is pure win.
Dilbrt wrote:
So basically what I'm gathering (and I'm finding this very informative) is that focusing is good, but making a mouseover macro is better. Then again I could make a macro that combined both...
Great idea about combining the two macros.
/cast [help][target=mouseover,help][target=focus] Holy Light
I'd have to confirm that this works, but I think that macro should cast Holy Light on mouseover of a friendly and if none exists, casts on your focus. If anyone notices a mistake, please correct me.
I'm at the point where FoL still gets the job done, but I'm wondering how good your mana efficiency is when forced to spam HL and how much mp5 you need to pull that off successfully.
BlackoutCC wrote:
I'm at the point where FoL still gets the job done, but I'm wondering how good your mana efficiency is when forced to spam HL and how much mp5 you need to pull that off successfully.
More than I have right now =\ I eat through 20+ super mana pots on a typical raid night. But I'm also the least geared paladin in my guild, I think nearly everyone else has 4-5 pieces of T6. But that's a different topic for another time. =p
As to your macro, I was thinking that you might have to use a modifier to combine both, have like alt+macro be focus and normal macro be mouseover... something like that. I'm not a real expert on designing macros but I'll try to figure something out.
Quote:
/cast [modifier:alt, target=focus,help] [target=mouseover,help] Holy Light
Gonna test this out tonight. You could easily change this out for flash of light or any other spell you use.
Quote:
#showtooltip Mana Tap
/cast [harm] Mana Tap
/clearfocus [target=noexists]
/focus [help]
/cast [harm] Mana Tap
/clearfocus [target=noexists]
/focus [help]
I'm using this to set the focus. Obviously it only works if you're a BE but I'm sure alliance could figure something out based on this.
Recent Visitors: 25
All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (25)
- Forums
- World of Warcraft
- Class Discussion
- To focus or not to focus
© 2024 Fanbyte LLC