Spamming macros for arcane

Tigertom · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:32 am

I find these 2 macros very usefull on my arcane mage.

This allows you to spam Arcane Blast without cliping Arcane Missiles

Quote:

#showtooltip Arcane Blast
/cast [nochanneling:Arcane Missiles] Arcane Blast

This allows you to spam Arcane Missiles without starting a new channel if you are already doing one.

Quote:

#showtooltip Arcane Missiles
/cast [nochanneling:Arcane Missiles] Arcane Missiles

Billÿ · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:00 am

I've read about these macros before and the problem is that you can start the queue of an Arcane Blast before the 5th missile (and still get the 5th one out) and because this macro won't let you do that you get a few hundredths of a second lost by the time the client has let you queue the AB. This is why these macros are considered a DPS loss but on the other hand if you can't get your rotation right you might as well do this.

Tigertom · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:32 am

well, i tried on the dummy 5-6 times, (not a huge test) but on average i would say i did ~500 more dps with the macros, but maybe im bad at timeing (if u can time it perfectly everytime billy im amazed, especially with hero+cooldowns when it matters the most) same thing with my shadow priest, i do more dps with the MF macro so i can spam it...

Billÿ · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 7:49 am

darknight411 wrote:

Using macros like nochanneling or notcasting (doesn't sound right but can't think of it off the top of my head), DO NOT queue spells because macro's are done client side while spells are queued server side. In addition, you can only queue spells after a spell that is casted not a spell that is channeled

Ex. if you try casting AM after ABlast, you'll queue AM. if you try casting AB after AM you'll either "clip" the the last tic of AM or else you'll have a few ms of downtime between your spells, you'll never queue the spell immediately after AB.

Using no channeling macro's is a dps loss because of the server side / client side interaction. Let's assume that you have 250ms latency, that you have no haste, that you are chain casting 5 second AM two times using your nochanneling macro, and that each AM does a total of 1000 damage.
s:ms
0:000 start casting
0:125 server receives instruction (125 = half the travel time to the server)
0:250 client starts channeling AM
5:000 client starts using macro, still channelilng
5:125 server says AM is over
5:250 client stops channeling, instruction sent
5:375 server receives instruction
5:500 client starts casting
10.375 server says AM is over
10:500 client stops channeling

Total damage done: 2000
Total time spent: 10.5 seconds
DPS: 190.476

If you had not been using your AM macro, you could overcome some of the time lost to latency. Let's say you can overcome 200ms
0:000 start casting
0:125 server receives instruction
0:250 client starts casting
*5:050 client sends command to start casting AM again
*5:125 server says AM is over
*5:175 server receives instruction
*5:250 client stops channeling
*5:300 client starts casting
*10:175 server says AM is over
*10:300 client stops channeling.

Total Damage Done: 2000
Total time spent: 10.3s
DPS: 194.174

Not using the macro just increased your dps by ~2%. You could argue that 2% isn't that much, but the argument is whether the difference is significant, it's about which is higher dps. How much latency you are able to shave off is a measure of player skill but using nochanneling macro's essentially tacks on your latency speed to your cast times which, depending on your latency, is either bad or terrible for your dps.

Link Here

I must add tho that my latency in raids ranges from 250-350ms.

Tigertom · **Posted:** Tue Jan 12, 2010 2:22 pm

Im not doubting its a dps loss theoretically billy, but for me i lose more dps from my reaction time, i just cant time AB to hit perfectly within 1000 of a second every cast.

Spamming macros for arcane

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