The Power of Macros or Wow, I Didn't Know You Could Do That

While talking to a newer player in my guild who has been trying to get better we drifted on to the topic of macros.  He has been using some macros he read about but when we moved on and I started to drift down memory lane talking about some of the macros I have used over the years he said, "I did not even know you could do that".

It was then that it occurred to me that while some people might know about macros, they might not know there are a lot of little uses that can be helpful as well.  I am no expert with writing macros.  As a matter of fact whenever I do look to make a new one I usually need to go look up if I am doing it right.

Sites like Fitzcairn's Macro Explain-o-matic, outside of sounding like something a gnome made that might just cause you severe bodily injury, is an excellent tool to tell you exactly what a macro does.  When writing a macro I use it to see if it would do what I intended it to do or I use it to explain a macro I found but am not sure what it does.  The explain-o-matic explains it automatically.  I guess that is how it got its name.  Boy are those gnomes cleaver naming things.  It is a gnome invention right?

I told him about macros I used to get achievements, like Kiss and Make Up in Ulduar.

/tar Sara
/kiss
/targetlasttarget

And with that one simple macro an easy achievement became that much easier.  Instead of having to target her when she was angry at me I just hit my kiss sara macro and went along with my duties without ever losing the actual target I was on.

The ability to do this amazed him.  He read about some macros as in putting abilities that do not trigger a global cooldown together.  About putting your on use trinket into a macro.  About some of the basic things we all might first run across while we are learning to play and trying to step up our game a little.  But it never once occurred to him that macros could be used for other things.

It is not like my kiss macro was a one hit wonder either.  There were other times I needed to kiss things and the macro made it easier.  Remember the frogs for a argent tournament quest you needed to do seemingly all the time?  I used a kiss macro for them too.  Better than feeling the fool trying to click on them as they were jumping around and missing.  Or thinking you clicked on one and just kissing the air.  Oh air, how I love thee so.  Admit it, you know you have done it before too.  Marcos are a wonderful thing.

Now, this person was someone that had intentions to be a tank and he was reading a lot on tanking and when I mentioned a couple of macros I used all the time on my tanks he said he never read of them.  I can't believe it.  Maybe he was looking in the wrong places, or he did see it but did not understand the macro and what it was doing.  Maybe the people that wrote what he was reading thought it was common knowledge and just did not mention it, who knows.  But I personally believe no tank should leave home without these two simple and useful macros that I told him to make.

/cast [@focus] Taunt

What this does is taunt the target I have set as my focus.  I use this in fights where there are a lot of adds and it can sometimes be hard to target the boss asap when a tank switch is needed.  It will switch your main target to the focus, which should be the boss, and it will taunt it.  No fumbling around with tab target, no trying to click on it and getting every mob in a pack of 20 except the one you are looking for.  It is a clear and simple hit this when it is my turn to take the boss button and I like that.  It makes it easy, foolproof.  I like easy and foolproof.

/cast [@focus] Pummel
/targetlasttarget

I've always been of the school that it is part of the tanks job to interrupt.  I know some people disagree, it is just the way I learned so it is how I play.  But tank or melee, this is a macro that is important in my opinion.  When you have a mob that needs to be interrupted but it is not the mob you are on, make sure it is your focus and when it is about to cast, hit this macro.  It was switch to that target to interrupt it and then immediately, without even noticing you switched, it will be back on the target you were working on.

Both these of course require the correct name of the spell for your class, but these are two simple little macros I have been using since I first tanked.  They never needed to changed and they have always been useful and for some odd reason he had never read of either of these on any sites.  Me, like the fool I am, thought things like this would be common sense.  But then again, I thought making a macro to kiss sara was common sense too and I was wrong.

It made me wonder if there were other macros out there people take for granted.  Simple easy macros that we use and never think about but really do make our lives easier.

I still use my camel macro whenever I am in uldum.  Sure I run silver dragon and NPC scan, but I have never even once in my life seen a camel in uldum so I take no chances.  When I am flying through there I tie my camel finding macro to something like ~ and just spam it hoping maybe, just maybe, it will pick up something that silver dragon or NPC scan misses.

/tar Mysterious Camel Figurine

Maybe one day it will actually target something and I too can become a camel hoarder.

Macros can have many uses.  For raids, for exploring, for interacting, for quests, for achievements, for kissing.  Some we take for granted and some we never thought of.  Maybe something you take for granted another person might have never thought about.  Maybe it is time we all investigate a little and find something new and perhaps powerful we can do with macros.

Any weird macros you have used to make something easier that you think others might have missed?