Moar Mouseover Macros!

Here's another thing I've done recent that I think really helps the flow of Affliction. In Cynwise's marvelous post several weeks ago on macros, there was a particular item he uses for PvP that really struck my PvE fancy. It was his simple, one line, mouseover macro for Fel Flame.

/cast [@mouseover,harm] Fel Flame; [harm] Fel Flame

What this does is simply cast Fel Flame on your mouseover target (if you can harm it), or, if you're not mousing over anything, on your current target. Great for getting rid of pesky totems. However, as someone who only rarely PvP's on my 'lock, it's probably not all that useful for me. Generally I only want to Fel Flame my target in order to refresh UA on the move, so it's situational at best.

Really, I've never used mouseovers a whole lot before. PvE is more about entering with a strategy, and part of that strategy involves knowing what to target. That's why we spend so much time marking. So it seemed like mouseovers were a more natural fit in the PvP world.

Yet, a few very nice uses came to mind eventually as I was playing, so I worked them out. The first one? Soul Swap. What about all those times when you want to just throw some DoTs on a boss add without really switching, or maybe you can start your DoTs on the "x" a smidge early even while you Drain the Soul of the skull. Soul Swap would seem like a natural fit for a mouseover in PvE, and I got this:

/cast [@mouseover,harm] Soul Swap; [harm] Soul Swap

Simple, eh? Just replaced the spell with what I wanted, then threw it on my bar. I didn't have anything else naturally bound to my SS spell, so it worked out like this for me. And the use! It's awesome. I have this bound to my "7" key. So I tap 7 once, the green ball flies to me, then I use my mouse to find the add, mouseover, and tap "7" again. Heck, usually when I know it's coming up, I can get my mouse ready so that it's 7, slide, 7 - super quick - and then I'm back on the main target.

It's really nice for dailies too. I'm out in the Highlands for the Wildhammer clan right now, and I'm toasting hoardies to get my insignia quota for the day. Dot the first up, mouseover-swap to a second guy. Basically, I kill them in convenient sets of two. Or, if I'm feeling really cocky, I'll just let the dots roll through on those two and repeat the process on another two. Throw in a shadowflame every now and then for good measure, and in a jiff I'm rolling in ale and dwarven hugs (which are a firm, open-handed slap on the arse) for saving the village.

The second semi-obvious use that reached up with a bony finger and tickled my sharded soul was a use with Curse of the Elements. If you're an Affliction Warlock specced into Jinx, then you don't want to be casting CotE on each and every trash mob. No, you want to find the last one that's going to die, cast it on him, and not worry about the rest of them. My CotE is cast using the "alt" key below my Haunt spell, so I modified that to look something like this:

/cast [nomod] Haunt
/cast [@mouseover,harm,mod:alt] Curse of the Elements; [harm,mod:alt] Curse of the Elements

This one's a little more complex, but not too terribly crazy. First, you can see I'm specifying a simple Haunt cast with no modifying buttons. Second, I append "mod:alt" onto what I would refer to as your "Preconditional Statement". That's just a complex way of saying "the crap in the brackets". It's interesting that you can set different preconditions, combining them by use of a simple comma, and then separating your larger conditional by a semicolon, which is what I've done in that second line. The conditional, if read out, would sound something like this:

If no modifier is pressed, cast Haunt.
Otherwise, If I'm mousing over something, I can harm it, and alt is depressed, cast CotE at my mouseover target; If that first conditional isn't passed, I can harm my target, and alt is depressed, cast CotE on my current target. (Since "@target" is the default for cast, though you can specific it if you desired).

Pretty interesting, no? What this allows me to do is when I'm on trash, find that last mark, which a lot of the times nowadays is my CC target (but which could be something else too), mouseover, and cast my curse. If we happen to be on a boss or other single target, I just don't point my mouse at anything and it's business as usual.

It gets even more useful when I have my focus frame displayed, so I don't have to hunt for a name plate, but just hover of my feared focus in the frame and pop him with my curse. CotE will not break fear (or sheep), so it's a great place to use it, as those are usually saved to last. It will break something like an ice trap, fwiw. I have used it on a banish target as well, but I've had mixed success. I do not believe Jinx will trigger from a banished mob. The curse will stick (provided you sneak it in before you banish), it just won't spread.

This has been incredibly useful in my PvE adventures. It does mean that you have to be a bit careful where your mouse is pointed. After all, you won't want to accidentally pull another group, but I haven't had any of those mishaps yet. Heck, I'm more likely to pull with my pet when he decides to take the long way around after we jumped from somewhere (I thought that was supposed to be fixed!).

So mouseovers are one of the new tricks that Cataclysm has seen me put into my bag. I'd never used them prior to this expansion, and never really felt the need. Now, however, I don't think I could live without these two. What new code has Cata seen you pulling out of your macro closet?

Warlock Macro Update... Again

The Azerothian Weather Service (AWS) has confirmed a Rain of Fire in the Warlock CC Posting province.  They are classifying it as a full Deluge. 

As such, I've picked up a thing here or there and returned to modify some of my macros.  Warlocks are, apparently, now the upper echelon of Crown Control.  I wanted to pass along the changes in case you're a weather lover like I am.

I'm also honing my Spanish since we leave on a vacation to Mexico in a little less than two weeks. 

Numero Uno
I have never been a pet micro-manager.  The concept is abhorrent to me.  If I wanted to micro-manage a pet, I'd go demo.  Or BM Hunter.  (/shudder)  However, with the increased emphasis on Warlock CC, I could no longer ignore the issue that my pet, on defensive, kept wanting to attack the damn CC target since I'd lead off with that.  So I did what I should have done a long time ago, I added a simple "petattack" line to one of my spells.  I generally lead off with Corruption, so that's where I did the work.  You may want a different spell, which is fine.  Also on this, you can see that I'm triggering my trinkets.  I use the slot numbers so that when I switch in and out gear, the macro doesn't need updated (like if you were to use the item name).  

#showtooltip Corruption
/use 13
/use 14
/cast [nomod] Corruption
/cast [mod:alt] Bane of Agony
/petattack target

That's it.  I don't need any more.  This sends my pet in to attack the target I've put Corruption on until it is dead.  I then leave the pet set to passive to avoid any CC-breaking unpleasantness.  The only down side is that I do have to pay attention and sick him on the next target, since normally I soul swap over my DoTs.  This is acceptable to me for now.

Numero Dos
Sort of a corollary to uno, if you are an engineer, you may be looking for a clever way to macro your Nitro Boost.  I used to have a button I could hit for my boots, then they switched it to belt and that broke.  I had to play around with numbers to find it (a quick google search yielded no results), so I wanted to make note of it.  If you're looking to use the item in your belt slot, use the following:

/use 6

I even chose a speedy-looking icon.  This is for my DK though, so the Warlock is a lie on this one.  I wouldn't think many 'locks are engineers, but I've heard of crazier things.

Numero Tres
Finally, I decided to further complicate my CC macro(s).  I added mouseover capability.  It kept happening where I'd have my CC target targeted, successfully pacify it, then fail at clicking over to skull for one reason or another.  Really annoying to just have plopped Corruption on your CC target, let me tell you.  If it's banish, not so bad, but if it's fear... ugh.

Mouseover solves this by letting me focus the correct guy without clicking.  I also bound one of my button slots to the "F" key, and I swap in the Banish or Fear version depending on my target.  Previously, I'd been clicking, but it makes it a lot nicer to not have to. 

#show Fear
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus, noexists][target=focus, dead] mouseover
/cast [target=focus] Fear
/clearfocus [mod:alt]

The change from before is that I basically just replaced the "/focus" line with a new one that triggers on mouseover.  Now the only tricky part is mousing over the correct target if I don't have a good vantage point.  I think I can handle that.

Uno mas cerveza por favor.  Gracias.  Donde esta el bano? 

Macro Christmas to You, Too!

I promised a quick update on my UI and some examples of the macros I use, so here it is.  How's that for an intro?  Busy pre-xmas week is busy, but I wanted to get these things out there as I'm sure we'll all squeeze in some gaming time over the holidays.  It may be the perfect time to rework our UI's to fit those new widescreen monitors we're all getting (right, RIGHT?!) and streamline our buttons so we can program them all to our super-spiffy new mice and keyboards.  Or just time for an overhaul with the old stuff :-(.

Anyway, I'll pass along a picture of my current setup first.  I cleaned it up a bit from the old one here, but I didn't number all the addons like I did in that post.  If you're interested in what addons I'm using, check out the linked post.  The addons remain relatively unchanged.  I did add "Guppet" recently, for summoning random mounts and pets.  So far I've been pleased with that.  Otherwise, Auctionator is perhaps the other change I've made.  The rest has been pretty static. 


Also, in regards to the buttons, I broke down what I had last week.  Well, in the course of my cleanup, I combined a few more spells.  Basically, I consolidated my AoE spells to one button, using alt to swap between them.  I also put Demon Soul/Shadow Ward on a button, and made a simple Buff spellcasting macro.  I'll run through some examples of what I did after the pic.

Yes, I was being capture by a Red Dragon when I took this.

Combining those spells freed up a couple slots on my top bar.  My numbers start with the corruption icon and proceed to the right.  There is a vertical bar on the left that contains CC, Portals, and Summoning.  My pet stuff would go in the empty area between the two bars.  It's just off because right now I'm "in a vehicle" or something.  You can also see the grayed out profession bar way up top.  Like I said, if you're curious about an addon, hit up the linked post above.  If you can't find it there, feel free to ask.  For this post, I mainly wanted to deliver on some example macros that may help you consolidate.

First, I'll copy the macro I use to double up on a button.  I've mentioned that I like to use alt as my modifier, so that's reflected in the macros.  Here's the one combining Demon Soul and Shadow Ward:

#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Demon Soul
/cast [mod:alt] Shadow Ward

The hash command just let's the tool tip for the first (nomod) spell be shown.  I use this in conjunction with the "?" icon, so that I know what I'm pushing at a glance.  The cast command can be used very simply.  In this case, I just specify either no button press or "alt" button press to dictate which spell to cast.  Very simple.  If I wanted to combine my AoE spells, which I did, it'd look something like this:


#showtooltip
/cast [nomod] Seed of Corruption
/cast [mod:alt] Rain of Fire

You do not need to specify the rank, but you do need to get the spelling right.  I believe you can hold a button and click on spells to get the game to enter it for you, but I always just do it manually.

The second pair of macros I wanted to share is a slight modification of my previously published Banish Focus and Fear Focus macros.  Basically, these will allow you to cast an initial CC while setting that target to focus.  Then, as long as that target lives, you can click the button without swapping targets, and CC will be recast on your focus.  Makes it easy to chain Fear/Banish while killing something else.  If the focus target has died or despawned, it will clear.  Recently, I added the option to hold alt to clear your focus so that I had a manual option of clearing it prior to the mob dying.  I've found that functionality to come in handy on occasion.

#show Banish
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Banish
/clearfocus [mod:alt]

And in a separate macro:

#show Fear
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Fear
/clearfocus [mod:alt]

Finally, I wanted to pass along a more complex "cast sequence" macro that I use to buff.  With the cast sequence command, you can list spells so that subsequent button presses work through a predefined list of spells, one press at a time.  I spice it up a bit here by adding button mods so that the sequence does different things when holding no buttons, the shift button, or the alt button.  For no mod and alt mod, I don't really do a sequence, it's just a way of condensing my previously seen "cast" commands.  For the Shift button, I cycle through both my Fel Armor and Soul Link buffs.  I find those two to be useful to remember to cast after a death.  This isn't the best use of a cast sequence, but I thought it made a good example:


#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomod] Life Tap; [mod:Shift] Fel Armor, Soul Link; [mod:alt] Soul Harvest;

Hopefully these will be useful to some of you, either as springboards to de-clutter your own UI, or straight copy/pastes to use.  They all work well in the current iteration of the game, and I don't foresee future patches really breaking these.  They're really pretty simple as far as macros go, though there's always a chance that Blizz changes their code and breaks them.  Most of these I've been using since TBC though, so I have high confidence in them.  Let me know if you guys have any questions, and I'll get back to you after Christmas.  Until then, consider this your gift!  (Hey, it's better than coal, right?)

The Last Macro You'll Ever Wear

As promised, today I'm going to share a pair of macros that I should have shared a long time ago. Apologies, but selfishness is in my nature as a Warlock. It happens, and really, the macros are the same, the only difference being to swap the spell used by the button. I find these two invaluable in any sort of CC situation, and they can really make you appear to be a badass in my opinion. In fact, I often find myself offering to CC extra things out of pure desire to make use of these macros and thereby appear formidable.

Like: "Look at his masterful use of the macro.  He is most surely a powerful warlock.  He fears no mob."
To which I reply: "But of course.  Seeth thou not my mighty bolts of shadow?  Pay no attention to thy banishéd mobs."

Or: "CC? Wtf is that newb?  Better not affect your deeps."
To which I reply: "Don't worry, Child of Wrath, it shan't."

Banish Macro
Let's start with the banish macro:

#show Banish
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Banish

Going line by line:

1. We start by showing the Banish tooltip and icon (select the ? when you create it)
2. Clears our focus if the target is either dead or doesn't exist
3. Sets our focus to our current target as long as there is no current focus 
4. Casts banish on the focused target

So it operates something like this...  We select our banish target and then hit the button once.  If we're in range, it will start to cast banish right away, but lets pretend for a moment we're setting this up before a pull.  In that case, it will merely set your focus to the target and warn you that it's not in range.  Then we select the skull and prepare for the pull.  Once the pull commences, we hit this button again and a banish will cast on the focused target, all without switching from the skull allowing us to open up with our normal DPS rotation.  We can not DPS as normal, keeping an eye on our focused target (as long as you have your focus displayed in your raid frames) for if/when it breaks banish.

Say it's a long fight and the target breaks banish.  That's fine, just hit the button again and you'll recast on your focus, again without switching.  Simple right?  It's almost like you're barely doing anything, yet you can keep that sucker locked down and still carry on DPS'ing as usual.

Also important to note, due to recent changes in mechanics, be aware in order to reapply banish, you will have to wait out it's duration.  Casting banish again before the original cast has worn out will cause the target to be un-banished.  Alternatively, you could use this knowledge to strategically release your target when the tanks are ready to pick it up.

Fear Macro

#show Fear
/clearfocus [target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/cast [target=focus] Fear

Nothing tricky here, just the same macro from above where "fear" replaces "banish", allowing you to use this button the same way you would your banish macro.  Chain fear: ftw.  Chain fear without paying a whole lot of attention to the mob: ftW.  Big bold "W" is for "Warlock".  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

That's all there really is to them.  Use 'em for PvE.  Use 'em for PvP.  Use 'em for Faction Champs (which is still neither, IMO).  Hell, use 'em purely to annoy that Druid that you're dueling in the middle of Dalaran and go /inspect the epeening hardcore raider over there while he goes to write an OP note on the official forums and get our CC nerfed some more.  We'll write our own damn spells, Blizz.

Pop It Like It's Trinkety (Or Something)

I felt compelled to share another macro. This one is what I have bound to my "1" button as shown in previous posts. It is extremely useful for two reasons. The first, and easiest, is that it binds two spells to one key. The second is that it pops your trinket whenever they become ready to use. Keeping your trinkets in use is a cheap way to get a little DPS boost. Here is the actual macro text:

#showtooltip
/use Dark Iron Smoking Pipe
/use Scryer's Bloodgem
/cast [nomod] Corruption
/cast [mod:alt] Curse of Agony

• Line 1: I've mentioned the showtooltip command in the past, so we will waste no time on it. This isn't really a functional part of the macro, it is just nice to have.
• Line 2: The /use command is how to pop a trinket or any item that has a "Use:" function. I insert the correct name of my trinket, but you could refer to the slot numbers here. I was too lazy to look up the slot numbers, but the command would look something like: /use 14 or /use 13. I just looked those up, so they should be correct and maybe I'll switch them myself later tonight.
• Line 3: Same deal as 2.
• Line 4: This is a modified cast command. The part in the brackets tells you what modifier will be used, in this case it is "nomod" meaning this is my default spell for that button (and the default picture if you choose the ? icon). You can actually specify the rank of the spell, and if you hold left click in your spellbook and click on the spell while making your macro, you will see the name come up "Corruption (Rank #)". If you removed the part in parenthesis like I did, it will automatically cast the highest ranking spell. It may be useful to downrank in other cases, but I normally do not. The only spell I used to downrank was Curse of Recklessness (to help control fear).
• Line 5: Same as 4, except modified to use the "alt" key. Thus, when I hold down alt, the picture should change (if using the "?" icon) and I will cast CoA. Same deal with rankings here.

And that's it. Drag the icon from where you create it to your button bar, and you're good to go. I like having my trinkets on this button for a number of reasons.

First, for trash, you will probably only get one trinket "pop" for the duration of the fight. As explained, I try to spread Corruption around, so I'm hitting this button a lot. Thus, whenever I possibly can have a trinket up, it will be used.

Second, one of these two spells are almost always the first spells I cast. This is when I would like to pop my trinkets anyways in order to give my DoTs the greatest possible benefit. For people who prefer to pop them before the shadowbolt filler, you may want to make a macro with "use" on that spell.

Third, for boss fights, I almost never update Corruption, but I do have to update CoA every 24s. Again, this aligns well with the cool down of my trinkets and keeps them popped almost constantly when they're ready. You may be asking, then, what if they're not ready? Well in that case you get that annoying little message "Item is not ready" at the top of your screen. I just ignore it, but it can be disabled as well if it gets in your way. The key here is that it doesn't cause your macro to get "stuck" and will still cast your spells.

All in all, this is a very simple macro that is a good "lead off" hitter for any cast sequence, depending on your play style. I use a similar structure on many other buttons to place multiple spells on one key. Modifiers are the shizznit.

Where Your Sequence, Dude?

So yesterday I gave sort of a “behind the scenes” look at generating a cast sequence. It isn’t necessarily maximized or “the best”, but if you understand why you’re casting spells in a certain order, you can be more flexible as the situation calls for it.

It also looks to me as if we're being led away from a sequence that can be programmed to one key in a macro. Blizz seems to be making affliction Warlocks more dependant on DoT timers by giving us a lot more to juggle that doesn’t necessarily fit well together. It is certainly going to take a lot more brain power to keep up all of our DoTs. It would seem to require hitting multiple keys in quick succession while keeping an eye on a DoT timer in order to keep up a solid complement of DoTs on a mob.

Blizz, however, seems to share our concerns with this post from Ghostcrawler:

We think the complex rotation is very hard to pull off in PvE too and seems to almost mandate a mod, which is a problem. We have some long-term plans to change Affliction around a little bit.

So, depending on how long term "long term" is... this all may be a crock. However, hopefully I can give you some good insight into how to mess around with a sequence of your own. It doesn't have to be completely math intensive, and can help you be better overall by understanding how to choose spells in certain situations.

So with all that being said, let’s get to the meat of this post: implementing a cast sequence.

In the past, I had a simple linear sequence that I put up and then was careful not to clip CoA when I used it. Sure, I had some downtime, but it was pretty efficient and easy. On complicated fights, it wasn't very hard to hit the one button to make sure everything was kept up pretty well and my DPS and Damage Done reflected the benefits of this. I posted the macro in an earlier post if you are curious.

For better or worse, spell mechanics have been added that really muck up a single macro like that, further strengthening the benefits of using multiple buttons for a sequence. The following is how I attempt to make the sequence I chose manageable in a raid environment.

First, let’s take a look at how my button bar is set up:

There are some significant changes from when I last posted a picture of my bar. Mostly, I moved my wande and fire spells off the number keys and up to just a clickable area. Here’s a quick look on what is on each of my number buttons:

1. Contains a macro that pops either of my trinkets when they are ready, while also casting Corruption or (alt modified) Curse of Agony.
2. Casts Shadow Bolt or (alt modified) Soul Fire.
3. Contains my cast sequence macro previously mentioned. I have modified it at this time to cast only Unstable Affliction and Siphon Life. Modifying with alt allows you to just cast UA.
4. Casts Haunt or (alt modified) Curse of the Elements.
5. Contains a macro that puts all three Drain spells on one button. Default is Drain Soul, alt is Drain Life, shift is Drain Mana.
6. Soulshatter. IMO a must for those times when you “accidentally” pull aggro.
7. Contains a macro that binds all types of fear to one button. Default is Death Coil, alt is Howl of Terror, shift is normal Fear.
8. Rain of Fire
9. Seed of Corruption
10. Contains a macro binding a couple utility spells to one button. Default is Life Tap, alt is Demonic Pact (or Demon Tap as I call it), shift is Fel Armor.
11. The last two buttons are just the two kinds of pots. I like to keep these at hand for emergencies. I have seen some good macros that let you pop a pot and healthstone, but since I use Necrosis, my stones are handled elsewhere.

It is important to note that I use alt extensively. Depending on your addons, you cannot use Shift for the first 6 buttons as it will shift bars on you. Thus, for 5 I don’t really use Drain Mana, but it does make the button clickable if I ever need it. This is also why my fears reside on 7, since there is no “bar 7” to flip to, I can use shift in the same manner I use alt. Also, I cannot use Control because that is how you access your pet bar. Again, this behavior changes with addons, but that’s how mine works.

Also, I will try and post a few of those macros at later dates if anyone is interested. In this post I’m trying to just focus on what goes where.

Okay, so now that you have an idea of my set up, tomorrow I’ll tell you how I use it in several common situations. I actually have it all written out, but it appears to me to be far too long to make just one post. I really did mean to post it all today as promised, but after I had said all that I wanted to… ZOMG it’s long. I’ll schedule it to post tomorrow at noon, so tune in then for the exciting conclusion!

Maleable Macros: Cast Sequence for Aff'locks

I wrote in some previous posts about my "Cast Sequence" macro, so I wanted to show what I've been using. I created this macro to be able to put all my DoTs on one button to make refreshing easier. As I noted previously, I like to add "shortcuts" in there so I can maximize up-time without taking up my entire button bar.

So to start, here is what my button bar actually looks like:


Obviously, I have more buttons scattered around my screen, but these are the "essentials", IMO. From left to right we have: "Shoot" to activate my wand, Shadow Bolt/Soul Fire macro, DoT macro, Fire spells macro, Drain spells macro, Soulshatter, Fear spells macro, Rain of Fire, Seed of Corruption, life tap/fel armor macro, health pot, mana pot. As you can see, this keeps a good majority of my spells at "fingers reach", so if things go south in a battle, I have a number of options available without rearranging bars or anything.

The button of particular interest today is bound to "3", and is my DoT macro. The actual macro text reads like this (feel free to copy and paste it in your own game, choose the ? icon and WoW will automatically insert the next spell up):

#showtooltip
/castsequence [nomod] reset=target/ Haunt, Curse of Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Siphon Life
/cast [mod:Shift] Haunt
/castsequence [mod:alt] reset=target/ Corruption, Unstable Affliction, Siphon Life

Okay, now lets break this thing down for those of you who aren't "macro savvy".

#showtooltip -> this just allows WoW to display the tooltip of whatever spell is coming up. This is the same tooltip you would see if you moused over a normal button.

/castsequence #1 -> the castsquence command looks for a few things. First, you can specify a modifier button (the default is none if you forget to add it). This is the part in brackets. I specify "nomod" to make it clear, and make sure there is no confusion between WoW and me. The next bit the command looks for is "when do you want to reset the sequence?" There are numerous things you could put in here, but I'm only interested in starting fresh on each target (i.e. whenever you change what you're targeting, the sequence resets), thus "reset=target". You may want to specify other criteria (i.e. reset=10), and I'm not going to pretend to know what all can go in there. In the past, another bit that I've used is to input a number there, which causes the sequence to reset after that many seconds. You can also specify multiple reset conditions, but again, I don't use that a whole lot personally. I'm mainly a fan of using "target". The "/" indicates that your modifier section is done, and now you can just list the spells you want to use in order. This is what finishes of that line for me, tweak this line as you tweak your spell rotation. This is where I'll rearrange things in order to test what works best.

/cast -> the cast command also looks for a modifier. Again, this is specified in brackets and you can see I use the "shift" button for this one. This allows me to quickly refresh Haunt whenever I want by just pressing shift to bring up the button and then clicking on it. Take care depending on what UI you're using, hitting "shift-3" may cause you to rotate to the 3rd action bar, and not cast your spell, which is why I click. Clicking will always work. I mainly use this so I don't have to have an extra button for those times I muck up my normal rotation and need to keep haunt up.

/cast sequence #2 -> similar to the first cast sequence, except this one uses the "alt" key as a modifier. Thus, if I were to hold down "alt" and spam the "3" button, this is the sequence I would expect to occur. This button basically allows me to skip the curse part of my normal sequence, in case I'm responsible for using a different curse (say CotE or CoD). This also comes in handy when you've refreshed haunt, but refreshing CoA isn't ready yet (the last tick hasn't occurred).

I've spoken before about not cutting off CoA, and that remains to be the only DoT that has such a limitation. I was reading some forums yesterday where a Blizz employee (blue-style) commented that Haunt's cooldown is going to be lowered from 10s to 8s and that refreshing before it comes up will caust the previous haunt to return and heal you, the refresh. Thus, clipping isn't an issue for Haunt. This is good for simplifying our cast rotation, as manuevering around CoA is hard enough.

And that is all. Kind of a long-winded explanation, but this is my main button during most fights. As an aff'lock, on most fights you will want to keep up your Dots and fling some s-bolts as much as possible. With my current set up, this lets me use my left hand to do all of these, leaving my right hand to be able to click or look around or whatever with the mouse. For AoE pulls I'll shift my hand over to the AoE section of my bar and play in a similar manner.

Did you find this helpful? What other macros would you like to see? I know when I was looking around for how to do these, it was sometimes difficult to get warlock specific macros. Feel free to comment with questions and perhaps I can explain further.