The Lazy Paladin

[Koatanga]

While I don't recommend this in any way for your all-the-time tanking, I came up with somme ideas that give me more brain-time for watching what's going on in a fight when my own portion of the fight means I just stand there tanking.

First of all, a 939 macro. The macro casts Hammer, Judge, Hammer, Hammer, Shield. That leaves a gap between the two hammers for an extra move. That's where you throw in AS, Conc, or Wrath, depending upon what's available. I put a 6-second reset on it so if I do things manually for a bit I can switch back to the macro knowing it will start from the beginning.

I tried it out, but still had to watch for when I had that gap for the filler spell. This can distract my attention from the action, so I made some heads-up tools.

Using Power Auras, I have a spot pop up on my screen when I have 2 stacks of Holy Power. Since I will only have that once I have done Hammer, Judge, Hammer, Judge, it tells me when I have my gap. Then I set up another to show me when I have 3 stacks, so I can tell when I need to use a finisher (or just let the macro cast Shield).

In practice, this lets me spam my keybound macro for 5 of the 6 hits I need to do in the rotation, so I only need to pay attention to which of AS, Conc, or Wrath is ready for the other one.

The result is a lot more attention that I can pay to what is going on.

I do not recommend this for any circumstances where your rotation may need to change. I am not suggesting this is Our New Way Forward. I am just tossing this out as an idea for someone like me who herds cats (aka leads raids) and would like to have more brain time to get used to everything else that's new about this patch.

It is also useful for those with latency, because spamming a button will cast more efficiently than reacting to a cooldown. My target-dummy DPS went up by about 10% using this method, so I would expect a similar increase in threat.

Again, this is just for fights where you can just stand there and tank. You should have all your abilities sitting there redy to use outside of the macro so that you can adapt fluidly to changing circumstances. And, you should learn the muscle-memory of doing the rotation manually.

But if you used a 6 macro and a 9 macro in the last patch, this will help you to not hate your tank so much.

[Discus]

Thanks, I'll give the macro a try - I've tanked just once since the patch, it worked OK but was not fun to play (this is a game for fun) and I've played Ret since. I think where Blizz have slipped up is a complex spell combination system that builds up HP works fine for dps, but as a tank you have far more to watch and I personally I found watching my CDs, HP spell points AND the actual fight was impossible or at very least not enjoyable.

I'll try the macro approach and if that isn't better I'll do what ever other tankadin I know is doing, playing ret until Blizzard admit their mistake and improve things again. Retribution seems more fun than ever though.

[Palisade]

I found watching my CDs, HP spell points AND the actual fight was impossible or at very least not enjoyable.

Using Power Aura's set up to notify you of 3HoPo helped me immensely. Puts a big fat custom icon right in the middle of your screen when you are full up on holy power.

[wahr]

I attempted to use this macro of yours, and found the game refused to chain Hammer of the Righteous.

#showtooltip
/startattack
/castsequence [mod:alt] Consecration; reset=6 Hammer of the Righteous, Judgement, Hammer of the Righteous, Hammer of the Righteous, Shield of the Righteous

Actual behavior exhibited by the client is:
hammer
judge
hammer
->shield

even though hammer is entered twice.
the macro works as you outlined with crusader strike substituted in:

#showtooltip
/startattack
/castsequence [mod:alt] Consecration; reset=6 Crusader Strike, Judgement, Crusader Strike, Crusader Strike, Shield of the Righteous

Behavior from the client is proper:
c strike
judge
c strike
c strike
shield

anyone able to illuminate?