Make more slots for macros

Hey Akronik,

We will first take a look at how we can reduce the amount of macros that seem mandatory.
One of the ways we can accomplish this is by improving how certain abilities work.
For example, one of the most common macros that players tend to use is the simple /stopcasting command added to a normal interrupt ability, like Counterspell.
What we can do here is to make sure that Counterspell starts to behave like this by default.
After we’re done with all the trimming and pruning, we expect that macros will become a bit more efficient and hopefully we’ll be able to reduce some of the clutter/redundancy that currently exists.

18/02/2014 10:58Posted by Ellgar

i can't speak for every melee, but /startattack is the most common for me.

Definitely a very common one. We'll try to look into all these sort of situations where there is potential for improvement.

I'd just like to state that we will be very cautious about any changes that we decide to apply, changing the default behaviour of any ability is not to be taken lightly.
Players will get used to certain mechanics after almost 10 years. There are some foundations, some core mechanics that we all take for granted in WoW, and we need to be extremely careful about those, we don't want to make anyone feel like they suddenly don't master their class anymore, or create a very long period of adaptation. For any changes to happen, they need to feel just right, and what feels right is usually absorbed by players pretty fast.
So, in those cases where we can see that nearly everyone is using a macro to change the default behaviour of an ability, well, that's a great indicator of what probably feels right.

18/02/2014 11:03Posted by Hakarin

/cancelaura for stuff like Ice Block

That's a tricky one in my opinion, there's probably a lot of players that like the safety of being able to spam Ice Block or DS.
It's a great macro and it's very useful for those who don't spam their abilities, but it can cause players to remove their protections earlier than intended.
Having /cancelaura as a macro allows players the freedom to choose their favourite default behaviour, adding it to the ability by default would remove that choice. (/stopattack exists, /dontcancelaura doesn't)

18/02/2014 11:16Posted by Thornaxx

Wouldn't it be an idea to add more macro space meanwhile? I'm sure that a lot of PvPers would like to see this - atleast I definitely would.

Yes, I mean, it wouldn't be harmful to increase it ofc, but unfortunately we're not looking into adding more macro slots at this moment, primarily due to technical restrictions.

Pardon my necro, but... Great news everyone!
We have some updated information about what's happening to macros in 6.0 that I think you might enjoy:

Increased number of general macro slots (100 slots, up from 36).

New conditional has been added. Example:
/cast [talent:3/1] Ring of Frost; [talent:3/2] Ice Ward; [talent:3/3] Frostjaw

20/06/2014 13:42Posted by Hertog

Then you would just cast the spell that comes with the chosen talent in that tier. Wouldn't that be a lot shorter? Macro length is very restricted already...

You can do more with it this way, since you're not restricted to specific spells.

20/06/2014 13:54Posted by Erca

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

<3

Have a great weekend everyone!