Don't mash in 2.3!
by V'Ming Chew 
Nov 5th 2007 at 9:30AM
Your character can be less effective if you mash buttons in 2.3, according to Altitis. You can also stop using the /stopcasting command in most macros.
In the 2.3 PTR patch notes, "client spell cast requests are now sent to the server even if your player is already casting another spell. This eliminates the need for /stopcasting in macros to compensate for latency."
What this means in English is that outside of global cooldown, your computer will try to send a new cast command to the server when you press a button, no matter what.
An important side-effect of this change is that button-mashing for spells with cast times longer than 1.5 seconds will be penalized more. This is because every time you punch that button, the global cooldown will be triggered every time. It will be 1.5 seconds later (or earlier if the server interrupts it in the event of a spellcast in progress) before your button presses will have any effect. This means little in casual play or grinding, but will have definite repercussions in time-sensitive scenarios such as Arenas, or some raids.
Currently, spells with long cast times can be spammed more effectively with the /stopcasting command and the Quartz addon. For example, my warlock uses the following macro to maximize shadow bolt dps:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Shadow Bolt
With the Quartz latency module, this macro can apparently increase dps by 5-20%, especially for players with high latency. This 'trick' overcomes the lag between you and the game server and allows your computer to send a new cast command, without waiting for the server's acknowledgement that the spell is done.
What does this change in 2.3 mean for players? It means that you can dump the macros for chain casting and go back to using normal spell buttons (those that you drag out of your spell book), as there is no need for the /stopcasting command for this purpose anymore.
When patch 2.3 goes live, the /stopcasting command is also not needed for macros that combine multiple abilities and spells.
For a more detailed, and more technical, explanation, check out Altitis' blog. Quartz is available here.
Clarification
Every button press of an ability that triggers the global cooldown (GCD) will trigger the cooldown come 2.3. However this doesn't mean that four quick button presses will net you six seconds of GCD. The server will check if an ability is in the progress of casting, and cancel the subsequent GCDs if that condition is true. If no casting is in progress on the server, GCD kicks in on your computer and it will be 1.5 seconds before you can cast anything else.
Effectively, the check for valid casts (outside of GCD) has moved from client-side to server-side.
Filed under: Patches, Add-Ons, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
kunukia Nov 5th 2007 9:37AM
Nice!
Dave Nov 5th 2007 9:42AM
I predict that this is gonna majorly screw with the vast majority of people who have absolutely no idea about stopcasting macros.
It's probably going to be major, major drama.
Ben Nov 5th 2007 9:58AM
The people this is REALLY going to screw are button spammers, and it's about time. Abilities triggered during global cooldown will now invoke another GCD. The "mash my spammable as quickly as possible" crowd are going to be stepping on their own, say, Sinister Strike.
Jack Spicer Nov 5th 2007 9:57AM
I would like some clarification on this article. You're saying that if you mash the button for a spell, every time you mash the button the global cooldown triggers? So what does that mean? That you have a 6 second global cooldown if you mash it 4 times?
Hank Nov 5th 2007 10:10AM
I'm wondering how this is going to affect my rogue; I don't use any macros for fighting; I just keep hitting the appropriate button for getting my knives bloody. Will i actually have to watch the shadow on my action bars to hit it again?
Ahoni Nov 5th 2007 10:12AM
I've only used the /stopcasting for using several abilities in one macro.
I learned how to minimize spell downtime once I got a mount. I realized quite by accident, that I could hit the auto-run button and start moving about 1/2 of a second before the cast bar completed the action for mounting. Quickly translated this to spellcasting. Casting shadowbolt takes 3 seconds. When the cast bar gets about 5/6 the way to the end, hit the button to cast another shadowbolt. About 1 in 5 I screw up and have to recast. I always thought people who needed a macro for this needed to L2Play.
Markymark Nov 5th 2007 10:40AM
@ 4 This doesnt screw over button mashers it just helps all those with stopcast macros.
Juneau Nov 5th 2007 10:30AM
This isn't going to affect things with less than a 1.5sec cast time, meaning you'll still be able to spam instant things like sinister strike or mangle.
Heraclea Nov 5th 2007 11:04AM
This is apparently yet another severe nerf to melee characters, who must check other things like targets being in range before most of their attacks fire. On the official Warrior forums, Sarennia of (ick) Tichondrius, a highly rated arena player, posted about how this apparently interfered with her attacks hitting:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2720553571&sid=1
hpavc Nov 5th 2007 11:25AM
"This doesnt screw over button mashers it just helps all those with stopcast macros."
No every button mash for spells (melee or otherwise) adds global cooldown even if the spell didn't cast.
So spamming mortal strike over and over to get it to cast at the moment the cooldown is up is counterproductive as it will actually cause GCD delay.
Casting a fireball and while the casting bar is moving and mashing fireblast to unload the moment the ball leaves your hands ... introduces a GCD delay and is counterproductive.
So the 'spell not ready yet', 'item not ready yet',' 'need more rage', 'need more energy', 'cannot do that yet' are likely all introducing a 1.5 delay to the mix.
I feel quite sad for people tanking, a sucky job just got suckier.
Watch a LOTRO video for what combat will look like.
stormlocke Nov 5th 2007 11:28AM
Good update. This was one issue that many players discovered in PTR for 2.3 that caused their DPS to go down quite a bit... due to the renewal of GCD.
slunk Nov 5th 2007 12:55PM
I learned button mashing in EQ. I played a rogue and I really only had the backstab ability. Since that 95% percent of what I did, I mashed it all the time.
I now do this with everyone one of my characters. If this goes through, I guess I'm going to have to find a game that is friendly to my mashing.
Girl Meets WoW Nov 5th 2007 12:57PM
Just keep in mind that almost every PTR patch has had a change to spellcasting mechanics. There's supposed to be another one in the next build.
Hugh "Nomad" Hancock Nov 5th 2007 1:03PM
Just gotta say - this has to be one of my favourite WoWInsider images ever.
Rich Nov 5th 2007 1:04PM
So much for ever getting out of a rogue's stunlock again.
Poormojo Nov 5th 2007 2:08PM
This is relaly going to screw over people with bad lag or latency, or anyone in a dense BG.
Will this trigger if say I'm slightly out of range and try to melee? This is a huge change to the entire philosophy behind how we play WoW.
DassonKT Nov 5th 2007 1:14PM
I'm sorry, but this whole button mashing = global cool down = lower DPS/HPS is utter garbage. V'Ming Chew, did you even test this on the PTR?
The button press is still sent regardless if the GCD being active or not. I was spamming the button press for my pallies holy light and clicking as fast as I could with the mouse as well on both live and PTR.
On live, the cast would complete, the cast bar would start to fade and then a new spell would start up. On the PTR it was a solid cast bar without ever having any delay what so ever (humanly detectable) between spells. It was a solid cast bar that never faded after casting a spell.
To confirm it's not just a damage thing I tested it on my shaman and got the exact same results with lightning bolt.
This change is a good thing for casters and button mashers.
clozer Nov 5th 2007 1:46PM
Blizzard, if it ain't broke don't don't fix it.
As a rogue this makes me furious. Livid. It's complete FUBAR. It might actually be enough of a nuisance to not enjoy playing my class anymore. Especially since our class is designed as the 'button masher' class. All our moves are based on split second timing and reaction, we don't have the luxury of the 2 second cast time to pace things.
Now amongst other things I need to pay attention to when I arena or raid... I now have to be aware of when my global cooldowns end? Goodbye DPS. How could Blizzard change such a major game design that people for years have used, practiced, perfected, and adjusted to!?
@4 WTF? What does it matter what style of play people choose. It's not like you can hear me mash backstab after backstab, where the loud banging of my keyboard would 'potentially' deafen you. Are you a member of the SPCA for Keyboard abuse or something? What the hell do you care? Overall this is a nerf to you pal if you ever group with rogues/warriors.
Gwaendar_Altitis Nov 5th 2007 2:24PM
One word of clarification, mashing too early doesn't give you a full Global Cooldown, "only" the time required for the first too early command to reach the server and then recieve a GCD cancel command back - twice your latency.
@9 posted a link to a thread where two videos can be found in the first post, they show exactly what happens. At several points in the game, if you watch the warrior's buttons, you see a GCD animation start and get interrupted 10-33% through. That's when the cancel signal reaches the client back.
@16 did YOU test this on the current PTR? At the time of the thread linked by @9, which had all changes fully implemented as per the new design (check the thread linked in my own blog post on this matter), only the first press gets sent to the server. Any action you try to take between that first too early press and the moment the server sends back a cancellation notice is denied by the client who believes to be under the GCD. Again, this is perfectly apparent in the vids linked to by @9. Last but not least Slouken very clearly blueposted that it was intended to desincentivize button mashing.
Please do your homework before flaming blindly AND spreading misinformation. Unless a new PTR build has hit the servers since Friday which reverted the change, the behaviour is exactly as described by the OP, by me, blueposted by Slouken, and reported as issues by countless PTR testers.
wnussbau Nov 5th 2007 4:33PM
If i understand this correctly then mashing buttons gives a larger gap between casts than timing it with a mod like quartz but is better than waiting until the visual cast bar completes on your client.