# World of Warcraft General Discussion

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [March 4, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294 "2009-03-04T17:44:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 506

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10101 "2010-03-22T21:37:16Z")

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> [@Bosstone](#):
>
> Not quite, it’s HAMMER…of the RIGHTEOUS!

Thanks, Eadric. 😃

> [@](#):
>
> Ret also has a Replenishment talent which is very strong; you get like 25% mana back every time you use a judgment, plus the Replenishment effect itself. You don’t need to judge Wisdom at all as Ret when soloing, better to use Light to get health. Wisdom is still useful in groups, since healing will be covered by the healer but mana gain is always useful.

Actually, I find that while soloing, the insta-cast Flash of Light that you get from Art of War is usually plenty to keep me topped off health-wise. I kind of like never running out of mana. 🙂

I was also terribly amused when running low on mana in breakneck heroics that I could judge Wisdom on spiders and frogs and other critters to get mana back. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10102 "2010-03-22T21:42:10Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> This is the sort of thing I mean when I say I want to start slow. I mean, cleansing is easy because I’m running Decursive, so if I have time, I just click the little red box. I’ve always had trouble with grabbing things back that I lose aggro on, even with my DK. There’s just so much going on around the screen that sometimes I have trouble identifying where the runaway is. Doesn’t Righteous Defense work that you can click the party member who’s being threatened and then do RD? So you’re taunting off a person instead of taunting directly?

My pally tank is only 66, so I can’t do 96969 yet because I don’t have Shield of Righteousness yet.

But you’re right about Righteous Defense. The way it used to work, you would have to target a mob and RD would taunt that mob plus up to five other mobs targeting the same player. Now, however, you can target the player directly which is much easier. I just click on any player who has taken aggro to cast RD on them and get the mobs back. The only downside is the cooldown.

I usually pull with Avenging Shield, and lay down Consecrate if there are more than two mobs. I don’t use AV in the middle of a fight but might use Consecrate if I don’t have the full attention of all the mobs. I keep Blessing of Sanctuary up and use Seal of Widsom and judge Wisdom, and never have mana problems.

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**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10103 "2010-03-22T21:49:07Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> I’ve always had trouble with grabbing things back that I lose aggro on, even with my DK. There’s just so much going on around the screen that sometimes I have trouble identifying where the runaway is.

I’d suggest picking up the Tidy Plates addon with its Threat Plates package. I just started using it on Sleu, and holy shit does it make my job easier. I can instantly see which mobs I have aggro on and which I don’t–their nameplates change size, color, and transparency to tell me which are which.

> [@](#):
>
> Doesn’t Righteous Defense work that you can click the party member who’s being threatened and then do RD? So you’re taunting off a person instead of taunting directly?

Correct. It’s one Pally ability I’m insanely jealous of.

> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> I was also terribly amused when running low on mana in breakneck heroics that I could judge Wisdom on spiders and frogs and other critters to get mana back. 🙂

And Warriors can Charge them for Rage. 😃

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**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10104 "2010-03-22T21:53:43Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> Doesn’t judging Wisdom get you mana back? My ret pally uses that all the time, and he almost never runs out of mana.

Only with a ret talent does the act of judging do anything. Otherwise, it’s hitting a target that has the Judgement of Wisdom debuff on it that grants mana, which is much less potent (and requires more time) than the ret effect you’re thinking of. For Prot, judgement debuffs also apply an attack speed debuff (a la icy touch / thunderclap) so it’s defensively useful as well, but as a threat button it’s nothing special and it’s definitely not a mana button unless you’re going to be whacking at the target for a long time.

> [@](#):
>
> Is it okay to pull with the shield and put down an initial Consecrate? Every pally tank I’ve ever seen does this, so I’m assuming you’re talking about using these abilities sparingly as the fight goes on. Yes?

Yep. Although honestly I hardly ever use Avenger’s Shield as the opening move, either. It costs upwards of a fifth of your mana by itself, the jump distance between targets frequently fails to cover more scattered group spawns, and I find the snare to frequently be undesirable. Once you’re familiar with the cleave distance on HAMMER OF THE RIGHTEOUS it does an admirable job of initial group aggro. Higher damage, 4 targets (you want its glyph) and low mana cost. Captain America is useful for additional frontloading, but if you’re having mana issues it’s the first thing to go. It’s also your only real anti-caster tool in heroics, so is handy to save for that use, too.

> [@](#):
>
> Doesn’t Righteous Defense work that you can click the party member who’s being threatened and then do RD? So you’re taunting off a person instead of taunting directly?

Yes, that’s exactly how RD works. Even if you target an enemy with it, what it’s really doing is casting on who that enemy is attacking, not the enemy itself. It makes UI widgets like an aggro alert on unit frames to be very helpful - you can cut out the middleman of the enemy and just directly taunt off the person you want to rescue. And grabbing multiple enemies at once isn’t bad either!

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**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10105 "2010-03-22T22:00:15Z")

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> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#):
>
> I’d suggest picking up the Tidy Plates addon with its Threat Plates package. I just started using it on Sleu, and holy shit does it make my job easier. I can instantly see which mobs I have aggro on and which I don’t–their nameplates change size, color, and transparency to tell me which are which.

Yep, I’ve got that, so it should make things easier. I still haven’t gotten the hang of easily picking out the one I need to taunt, though.

One place where Tidy Plates is great is doing Blood Queen–turn on friendly nameplates, set it to no overlap, and suddenly finding my bite target is easy-peasy!

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**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10106 "2010-03-22T22:28:49Z")

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> [@Mekhazzio](#):
>
> It makes UI widgets like an aggro alert on unit frames to be very helpful - you can cut out the middleman of the enemy and just directly taunt off the person you want to rescue. And grabbing multiple enemies at once isn’t bad either!

Word. I haven’t done any serious pally tanking yet, but I’ve got Grid and GridClickSets set up so that if anyone but me has a red aggro border, I can tap a button over their unit frame and drop RD.

I think maybe that’s why tanking has me so nervous. I’m so used to healing and playing whack-a-mole on Grid, I hate to have to leave it to actually look at the main screen. 😛

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**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\
**Post date:** [March 22, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10107 "2010-03-22T22:40:58Z")

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Mm. I forgot the other point I meant to mention, that an unbelievable number of PUG paladin tanks seem to not realize:

When you are casting a spell with a cast-time, you can no longer block, dodge, parry or autoattack (in fact, it resets your swing timer). This means heals **and exorcism**. Defensively, casting exorcism while you’re being meleed by enemies is not just shooting yourself in the foot, it’s blowing your foot off with a shotgun, and it’s usually a loss in dps/threat to boot. It takes exquisite timing against single slow-swinging undead enemies to ever be a good idea. Just don’t do it, and do the world a favor and explain this to people you see doing it.

/petpeeve.

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**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10108 "2010-03-23T01:21:40Z")

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W…Was it something I said?

Just logged on Ginsusan for a minute and found she’d been de-guilded. Something happen?

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**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10109 "2010-03-23T02:20:11Z")

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Way back yonder one of my ingame gurus (Amberholy) formed this guild for me, but apparently dropped out as a member when he stopped playing as much.

Joining with him at the time was a guy named blackajah, and when I just now checked, he was listed as guild leader, even though he too, is no longer playing.

So… the guild is still active, and I’ve kinda been toying around with the idea of opening it up to recruit folks like myself, who are a tad challenged with the game.

So I need to find out how to get rid of the present guild leader and put myself in that position, and also, can I deposit stuff like spare change and items I can’t use in the guild vault, even though there may just be one member: me?

Thanks

Q

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**Author:** ![shinto46](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@shinto46](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shinto46)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10110 "2010-03-23T04:10:31Z")

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> [@Quasimodem](#):
>
> Way back yonder one of my ingame gurus (Amberholy) formed this guild for me, but apparently dropped out as a member when he stopped playing as much.
> 
> Joining with him at the time was a guy named blackajah, and when I just now checked, he was listed as guild leader, even though he too, is no longer playing.
> 
> So… the guild is still active, and I’ve kinda been toying around with the idea of opening it up to recruit folks like myself, who are a tad challenged with the game.
> 
> So I need to find out how to get rid of the present guild leader and put myself in that position, and also, can I deposit stuff like spare change and items I can’t use in the guild vault, even though there may just be one member: me?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Q

Unfortunately you can’t take over the guild as the guild leader unless the current guild leader logs in and passes control to you. ☹

You can however type /gquit to remove yourself and then visit the guild master in a capital city to purchase a charter. Stormwind Visitor Center near the main gate is one.

Then you can name the guild whatever you want and have complete control over every aspect of guild management, guild bank, tabberd design, etc.

To start the guild you will need 9 charter signatures from other players and then return to the guild master to ratify the charter. I bet you can get the 9 signatures pretty easy from the folks on here if you set up a time and date to meet with you on your server.

If the other people in the guild do not play anymore and you have contributed items to the guild bank be sure to withdraw them if you choose to form your own guild.

Good luck Quasi.

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**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10111 "2010-03-23T04:49:04Z")

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[Path 3.3.3](http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html) is scheduled to hit tomorrow.

I’m happiest about the Mangle buff. The debuff has been extended from 12 seconds up to 60 seconds. That’ll make it easier as Cat Form to keep max DPS rolling.

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**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10112 "2010-03-23T05:20:02Z")

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Hooray! We popped my raid cherry tonight! BDL ran Naxx 10-man tonight, with my on my pally Keliraeda, and I ended up with the [Sapphiron’s Demise](http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=572), [The Plague Quarter](http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=566), and [Momma Said Knock You Out](http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=1997) achievements. Sadly, though, I didn’t see a single piece of DPS plate drop. I ended up with [Frostblight Pauldrons](http://www.wowhead.com/?item=39198), which is healing plate, so maybe I’ll dual-spec to Holy or something later on.

On the human pally side, Eilyssana has been saving up her gold, hoping to purchase upgrades for her pants and gloves (she’s still wearing Wyrmrest rep pants and Kirin Tor (I think) rep gloves), but after many weeks no such upgrades have been forthcoming on the AH (not much out there in the way of BoE or crafted plate pants and gloves, I guess). So she paid a visit to Harold Winston in Dalaran and dropped some gold on a [Ring of the Kirin Tor](http://www.wowhead.com/?item=44935) and stuck a Greater Assault (+40AP) enchant on it. She had been wearing a matched pair of [Scarlet Signets](http://www.wowhead.com/?item=45809), which are PvP rings, so it was good to finally replace one of them (though I’ve kept it to continue wearing when in my PvP spec). And the Dal teleport is nice. Now I just need to figure out a good place to reset my hearth, cuz I’ve also got the Argent Tournament tabard for the teleport up there. Hard to decide, though, since I’m pretty much done with questing on this toon, having completed Northrend Loremaster. I suppose I could use my hearthstone while I’m plugging away at Loremaster of Outland and Loremaster of Kalimdor…

Anyway, once I get in some raid and Heroic experience with Keliraeda and the BDL, I’ll feel more confident about doing random PUGs on Eilyssana. As it is, she’s achieved a GearScore of something like 4288 without ever setting foot in a raid or Heroic dungeon, which is apparently high enough for Ulduar … 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10113 "2010-03-23T09:43:18Z")

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> [@winterhawk11](#):
>
> Any pally tanks out there who could give me some advice?
> 
> My paladin alt is now 80, and I’ve been running him through instances as ret because (a) I leveled him from 70 to 80 as ret and I’m used to it now, and (b) his tank set isn’t very good and I’m nervous about trying to tank PUGs. But now I’d really like to start (his tank set is still not that great, but it’s not completely abysmal, either). Oh–and as far as what I leveled him as before–he got from 1-60 as the second half of a dual-boxed ‘refer a friend’ team, so he essentially did nothing. I leveled him from 60-70 as Prot, but never tanked anything.
> 
> Everybody tells me how easy pally tanking is compared to DK tanking (my main alt is a blood DK raid tank who does ICC25 and has the 10-man Kingslayer title, so I have the basic _concept_ of tanking down) but…help! I’ve been reading up on it and I think I get the whole ‘9696 rotation’ idea, but what I don’t get is the basic process of pally tanking (what do you start with? How do you deal with mana issues?) and also which other abilities are important enough that I need to have them readily available. It seems like I’ve got a ton of potentially useful abilities, and I feel like a 2-year-old presented with a whole table full of toys. My head asplode!
> 
> So…any pally tanks out there want to give me a few pointers? Pally tanking 101? Ideally I’d like to start slow, get used to the main abilities, and then slowly add in the others. I plan on starting out with non-heroic instances (though I’ve heard there are problems with pally tanks who outgear what they’re tanking, as mana becomes an issue).
> 
> I guess I shouldn’t have waited until I got to 80 to start tanking, but…there you are. I want my insta-queues. 🙂

Blessing of Sanctuary, Seal of Vengeance and Devotion Aura up.

Pop **Divine Plea** – this returns you 25% of your mana but the beauty for Prot pallys is that if you take the Talent Guarded by the Light (and you should) it is refreshed when you hit an enemy. Say hello to no more mana issues. Also you must get the glyph – 3% reduced damage when DP is up which it always should be, sweet.  
Open with **Avenger’s Shield** – this is high threat and hits 3 targets. Make sure you max out the talent Shield of the Templar which will add a silence effect.  
– Picking up the glyph will make it hit one extra target which is useful.  
Pop **Holy Shield** - Increases Block value which also returns mana from BoS.  
**Shield of Righteousness** – Great damage make sure you tab target to keep all the mobs interested  
\*\*Judge \*\*– depends on the make up of your group which one. Take the talent Judgements of the Just to reduce the melee speed of the target.  
**Hammer of the Righteous**  
\*\*Consecrate \*\*– more threat and AoE damage.  
**Shield of Righteousness**  
**Holy Shield**

Rinse and repeat. For your other glyph I’d suggest Righteous Defense.

As others have said I don’t think you have to stick to this religiously I found that getting into a habit when you pull is good but after that my rotation usually goes out of the window as I taunt runners, cleanse, cast hands etc.

Here is a useful all-in-one Taunt macro:

#showtooltip  
/cast [@mouseover,help], [@target,help] Righteous Defense  
/cast Hand of Reckoning

which does the following:

If the unit your mouse is currently over is a friend and is not dead then:  
Cast Righteous Defense on the unit your mouse is currently over  
Else, if the currently targeted unit is a friend and is not dead then:  
Cast Righteous Defense on the currently targeted unit  
Else, if moseover is an enemy and is not dead then:  
Cast Hand of Reckoning on moseover  
Else, if the currently targeted unit is an enemy and is not dead then:  
Cast Hand of Reckoning on the currently targeted unit  
Otherwise:  
Cast Hand of Reckoning on the currently targeted unit

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10114 "2010-03-23T09:52:55Z")

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OK, how do macros work, and should I be using them as a prot warr?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10115 "2010-03-23T10:01:04Z")

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Whoops in my post above this:

– Picking up the glyph will make it hit one extra target which is useful.

should be

**Hammer of the Righteous** – Picking up the glyph will make it hit one extra target which is useful.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10116 "2010-03-23T10:08:55Z")

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> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> OK, how do macros work, and should I be using them as a prot warr?

You don’t have to use them no but they can make some things easier. All they are are slash commands that can be executed by a key press so anything you can do with slash commands (like /dance which will make your toon dance) can be done with a quick click.

Here is a good guide on making a macro: [How To: make a Macro](http://www.wowwiki.com/HOWTO:_Make_a_Macro)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10117 "2010-03-23T10:25:23Z")

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> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> OK, how do macros work, and should I be using them as a prot warr?

[wowwiki.com](http://www.wowwiki.com/UI_Beginners_Guide#Macros)starts you out on macro stuffs. That link goes to the beginner’s guide, and if you muck about in the macros category there’re a bunch more articles including [class-specific macro compilations](http://www.wowwiki.com/Useful_macros_for_warriors) that’re probably mostly up to date.

Macros let you bind a series of actions to a single hotkey – as long as the only action that uses up a GCD is the _last_ action, you’ll be good to go. They can also be tweaked to conditionally detect states such as who you’re mousing over, whether you’re in/out of combat, mounted, etc.

I can’t speak for prot wars, but I’d be pretty surprised if you guys don’t find it easier to macro various moves. For example, as a MM hunter in PvE, I bind Silencing Shot (which doesn’t use a GCD) to almost every shot I have.

\*\*martu’s \*\*already explained what the macro he uses does for pallies, but I’ll add on a bit more about the syntax itself.

> [@](#):
>
> Here is a useful all-in-one Taunt macro:
> 
> #showtooltip  
> /cast [@mouseover,help], [@target,help] Righteous Defense  
> /cast Hand of Reckoning

- The #showtooltip bit pops up the tooltip for the active spell up in the macro at the moment, so you’re not trying to remember all the names you gave your macros or what spell a given macro has queued/.
- The @mouseover and @target denote the object on which the macro bases its logicking. @mouseover means mouseover, @target means the unit you have targeted. The ‘help’ addendum means that the macro will furthermore fire only when the unit’s friendly.
- /cast and /use do the same thing: call the spell in question by name. Just make sure you have it spelled right 😉

If you’re curious, you can also try cranking macros through this site: [http://www.wow.com/2009/09/03/the-explain-o-matic-will-explain-your-macros/](http://www.wow.com/2009/09/03/the-explain-o-matic-will-explain-your-macros/) – it’s not perfect but it’s still very nice for debugging.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10118 "2010-03-23T10:38:58Z")

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I was going to ask what GCD meant, but I had a brainwave - global cooldown?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![martu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@martu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/martu)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10119 "2010-03-23T10:54:06Z")

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> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#):
>
> I was going to ask what GCD meant, but I had a brainwave - global cooldown?

Yep.

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**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-of-warcraft-general-discussion/488294/10120 "2010-03-23T13:10:51Z")

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> [@lizardling](#):
>
> Macros let you bind a series of actions to a single hotkey – as long as the only action that uses up a GCD is the _last_ action, you’ll be good to go.

This doesn’t matter. Macros execute all the commands simultaneously. It doesn’t matter if the command that triggers a GCD is the last, first, or seventh, just so long as it’s the _only_ command that triggers a GCD in the entire macro.

A basic macro for Warriors is to couple their usual actions with Heroic Strike. Since Heroic Strike modifies your next melee attack, it doesn’t trigger GCD, and as long as you’re generating enough rage you always want to be hitting Heroic Strike. So it’s not a bad idea to make up a bunch of macros like:

/cast Cleave  
/cast Heroic Strike

/cast Thunder Clap  
/cast Heroic Strike

/cast Shield Slam  
/cast Heroic Strike

And so on. Then replace your special ability buttons on your bar with those macros and throw away your Heroic Strike button. All you’ll have to worry about are your special abilities; Heroic Strike will always be queued up. That’s a very basic example, and there’s more interesting things you can do with macros, but it’s a good introduction to them.

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