I added 2 macros to my hunter and already saw a big difference in my damage. For the macros that I made, I did not expect this much of a gain. I was doing ok damage but sitting near the bottom of the group in damage. I put in a few macros and now i’m sitting at the top of the charts. I even see myself pull way out ahead from time to time.
I think a big part of my problem was not attacking a new target very quickly. I changed my hunter’s mark and explosive shot buttons to also start auto shoot. What this does is get my character shooting when I mark a target or when I press my main attack even when its on cooldown. It also feels like I can mash my explosive shot button and when my target dies, it will pick a new target.
Here is what one of my new macros looks like.
#showtooltip Hunter's Mark /petattack /cast !Auto Shot /cast Hunter's Mark
You will notice the cast !auto shot. From what I can figure out, the exclamation point gets it started with out interfering with the next action. The result is it get a first shot off from auto shot as it casts the ability. This is more important for things that have a cast time but it also works here where this ability is not an attack on its own.
The exclamation causes it to not cast if its already active- thus ensuring that you don’t turn off auto attack by executing the macro again. Without it, you would be toggling Auto Shot each time you pressed that macro. The next ability fires immediately because no ability above it causes a global cooldown. The exclamation won’t modify that behavior.
Comment by Maso — March 10, 2010 @ 8:35 am
To elaborate slightly on Maso’s explanation, /cast X will TOGGLE the ability (like autoshot, autoattack, Heroic strike, Rune Strike, autowand, druid forms) so that hitting it twice will turn on, then immediately turn off your auto shot.
/cast Cat Form will turn your druid into a cat, then pressing it again will turn you into caster form again, while /cast !Cat Form will turn you into a cat, and then… nothing.
I also have picked up a hunter recently (74, now 76) to play with a friend, and I came into it feeling very frustrated, doing poor damage, not remembering which CDs I have to watch and which abilities to use in tight situation. After watching the hunter videos someone linked to your last post, and stealing a number of macros relevant to a leveling hunter, I found myself doing much more damage right away.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that in groups with replenishment, a spare BoW or mana totem, I do MUCh higher dps than grinding endlessly, where I have to utilize AotV constantly.
If you haven’t visited it, the EJ hunter dps guide is the place to go for look at the foundation. http://elitistjerks.com/f47/t43271-hunter_pve_dps_wotlk_updated_3_2_2_a/
Comment by Xaxziminrax II — March 10, 2010 @ 6:19 pm
Just a little clarification on the exclamation mark use.
/cast !cat form will always cast cat form whether you’re already in cat form or not. What it won’t do however is toggle it off if you’re already in cat form like it would do if the exclamation mark wasn’t there.
Its used a lot by druids to escape snares because it effectively allows you to go from cat form to cat form.
I assume its used in Kevmar’s macro so that if you use it and auto shot is already active it won’t toggle it off.
Comment by gabbaell — March 12, 2010 @ 7:44 am