Importance of macros?

[Scarleoni]

Hello:

I am newish to tanking. I am proud to say that I am starting to work through Heroics and early Kara. One area I have not touched are macros (apart from offering services in trade chat). Also, I use the arrow keys for movement and will not change that. I'll be doing heroics and raids 1-3 times a week.

To the point:

Will it greatly enhance my tanking if I start using macros and keybinds? If so, what should I really focus on. Again, I am not interested in turning my gaming into a science (that is not fun for me), but wouldn't mind a couple macros so I don't need to click, click, click just to say, perhaps, intercept or beserker rage.

If this area is covered in detail elsewhere, no need for a lengthy response, just direct me to that location.

[Matthew]

This is subjective really, and personal taste for the most part.

I know a guy who clicks slow cooldowns, uses only 1-0 and his mouse, and hits 1000-1200TPS pre-SSC.

I personally avoid as many macro's as possible. For thre simple reason that I like to try and condition myself to react quickly and multi-task as much as possible.

I currently have 2 macros I use on a regular basis and they are:

A zerkstance, zerker rage, defensive stance macro - reason is for the nightbane fight, although I've gotten VERY fast at switching stances and popping it manually as well.

A macro to change a button from shield bash to pummel if I'm in zerker stance - this saves button space and lets me have the same spell interupt key no matter the stance.

Overall, be selective, people bloat with too many macros and then fail to perform when they need to be more dynamic.

EDIT: Update coming with more info...

[Scarleoni]

Thanks!

[Pinnick]

As is the case with most warrior macros the macros I use are for quick stance changing. These can be very useful especially if you are a hotkey player (non-clicker).

Specifically, I have macros which take me into each stance... for example, in defensive I have a macro which will take me to battle and then overpower. Then I have simple stance change macros which take me from zerk>defensive and one that takes me from defensive>zerk.

[Bruizer]

I've always been a keyboard player, so I added my stances to the button bar and keybound them. Most other actions are keybound as well, so a fear dance would basically be three keypresses (Def -> Berk -> Berk Rage -> Def). Leaves me free do use the same stuff for an intercept rather than having to have macros tied to specific combinations of actions.

You'll have to react quickly no matter which means you use.

[Taelas]

I have the same setup as Bruizer -- keybinding stances allows for more freedom than the more limited macros allow. I don't need a Berserker Rage macro, for instance -- I just hit shift+3, t, shift+2, which takes me to Berserker Stance, uses Berserker Rage, and takes me back into Defensive Stance.

[Oda]

Only macro I use these days is one that binds Shield Slam and Heroic Strike to the same key. I used to have it pre-2.3 to save on the extra space, though I've since removed Sunder from my bars. Of course, I'm used to it by now, so I've stuck with it.

However, I've gone through varying degrees of using macros for tanking. The hard and fast rule for tanking, IMO, is to keep non-macroed versions of your attacks somewhere on your bars for easy access. For example, I now have Heroic Strike on my action bar, and I keep a non-macroed Shield Slam button near my macroed one, and I'll switch them if I'm doing 5-mans for some extra control.

Also, I like F1-F3 for my stances, although I play on a laptop, which puts the keys conveniently next to my fingers.

[Teadrinker]

i have every tanking ability in a macro with shield block so i can be exceptionally lazy about the whole ordeal, they all also queue heroic strike if i hold down shift and use them. saves my sanity by allowing me to concentrate on active abilities instead of just rolling my head across the keyboard the whole time like i used to.