Interact w/ Target in WoW (Some Basic Ethic Questions)

[Eskimz]

Hi guys,

I'm quite new to multi-boxing (or dual-boxing in my case), and I had some quick questions that I would appreciate clarification on if someone would be so kind.

1. Firstly: From what I understand, the only way to loot / interact with NPCs is to use the Interact w/ Target function and this can only be accessed through a keybinding right?
2. Second: Blizzard has a 1 action per key-press mentality in regards to multi-boxing ... However, you can count Key Down and Key Up as 2 separate inputs.

If both of these are true, then how would one go about making a single action that both assists my party lead + loots at the same time. I understand how to do this from a technical standpoint. I'm using Autohotkey by the way, so basically I would make a macro to assist and then fire that off in addition to whatever my "Interact w/ Target" key is. So technically it would be 2 "inputs" by Blizzard standards.

Is this the only way to do it and is that even allowed? Thank you for the insight from anyone that responds


- Eskimz

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Generally, I think there are three ways to make an object/NPC respond to you:

* Right-click (also left-click if you have the option configured, I think)
* Target it and then type /interact (this might be obsolete or something)
* Target it and press the key you bound to IWT in Blizzard's keybind options

From a technical standpoint, /assist is not an action as it doesn't affect anything in the game world. We've been using /assist or /target and variations of those since multiboxing began. It is, along with /follow, the core of making multiboxing actually work in WoW. Everything is built on /assist'ing the right person to target the correct object and then taking action on it. Nothing new, there.

A longer answer would be that what Blizzard is concerned about (for now) is automation. As long as your character requires you to press a button anytime you want it to do something, and it stops "doing stuff" when you stop pressing buttons, you're fine. The way it was put a while back was, consider if you have a popsicle stick across keys 1-6. If you press the popsicle stick once, it presses 6 buttons, but you're still only able to perform the actions that Blizzard's client allows to happen within that Global Cool-Down. Ergo, why they have the GCD. So, the client prevents you (as long as it only takes action when you are pressing or releasing a key) from doing things Blizzard doesn't want you to do, broadly speaking.

That said, I can't count the number of people I've heard talk about using one of the programmable keyboards or gamepads that presses a bunch of keys in sequence as long as you are holding down a button, which technically violates their policies, but I've never heard of anyone getting banned for doing it.

Short version is: don't be a dick or a cheater* and they pretty much won't care about your multiboxing. (* = ignore what the battle.net forum warriors think "cheating" is)

[Eskimz]

Thanks for the clarification Ughmahedhurtz. So basically it would be okay to have a macro with say /assist <Character Name> as well as an Interact w/ Target keybind and fire them off simultaneously with a keypress from Autohotkey ... seeing as /assist isn't affected by the GCD and doesn't really count as an action ... ?

Or another example being for controlling melee ... having a macro that uses an ability simultaneously at the same time it fires "Interact w/ Target" as well?

Is that correct?

P.S. I tried /interact doesn't seem to work and from my google-searching it appears there's no way to interact with a target through a "/ command" in-game. That's the main issue here, if there was a command I could input then I would simply be firing the macro and not having to fire the macro AND the "Interact w/ Target" command simultaneously ya know? That's what I'm worried about.

[JohnGabriel]

You can't get in trouble for doing too many actions at once. You can try to do too many, but as Ugh mentioned GCD wont let you.

Multiple actions on a single client is not strictly for multiboxing, it would include everyone. And that ethical line was crossed long ago. You've got gaming keyboards and mice with autofire and built in macros. I even heard there is an addon to use the xbox controller to play.

[WOWBOX40]

you can make stuff happen when you press the button down, and as you release it. So thats two per keypress. It doesnt need to be the same actions though for that spesific key each time you repeatably press the same button.

I will explain: f.ex i have one farming key that i have remapped with several hundred more steps. So all i have to is sit next to the pc or take the keyboard with me while i lay in bed and watch movies, while i casually press and release the same button over and over. Even though they are doing looots of different actions on each character, they do follow the rule of one press = max 1 action at a time.

1st press down = all target any mobs in front of them and attack with instant damage dot.
2nd release = same as nr 1.
10th = some do same as 1st but one toon loots and one drops a aoe heal.
Etc
Etc
All jumps to prevent going afk and sometimes lootarang toy hangs/they wont loot, so have to jump to fix it.
Etc
Etc
Sky is the limit of combinations.

Yes there are keyboards and gamecontrollers that will make it possible to press down a button and they will spam 24/7, but dont do it. You will get banned, as blizzard can detect the presses down to the millisecond. And your real world fingers wouldnt be able to press in such a regular pattern anyway, for any lenght of time. Its easy for them to spot.

I played intensly for many hours almost daily for a week and my arms where shattered from my neck and down out in the fingers. Lots of pain. It took a month before i could play again. Now i only do a couple hours max rarely.

And if a GM contacts you while you play and you dont answer. . they prob would figure out you are essesially botting and ban you on the spot.

Personally i bought several big mirrors setup so i can see my main characters full screen window clear as day while im in bed

i once got the idea to somehow "cast/send" the monitorsignal of the main window so that it will show up up in the corner of my big living room tv...but i havent gotten to that yet. Then i wouldnt need the mirrors.

And i have expressivly told Blizzard that if they want to contact me via ingame, they have to do it thru my main battlenet account only. As i will have no chance to actually see if they contact me on the others, since their gamewindows are so small and i might be in bed haha.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

Thanks for the clarification Ughmahedhurtz. So basically it would be okay to have a macro with say /assist <Character Name> as well as an Interact w/ Target keybind and fire them off simultaneously with a keypress from Autohotkey ... seeing as /assist isn't affected by the GCD and doesn't really count as an action ... ?

Or another example being for controlling melee ... having a macro that uses an ability simultaneously at the same time it fires "Interact w/ Target" as well?

Is that correct?

Yes, those are all fine and in use by others for quite some time now.

P.S. I tried /interact doesn't seem to work and from my google-searching it appears there's no way to interact with a target through a "/ command" in-game. That's the main issue here, if there was a command I could input then I would simply be firing the macro and not having to fire the macro AND the "Interact w/ Target" command simultaneously ya know? That's what I'm worried about.

My research says they made the command for this bindable to a key only as it's a secure action, mostly to prevent scripted things useful to botters. So no way to macro it.

[Eskimz]

Thanks for the replies guys. I got the info I needed .. greatly appreciate yall’s time / insight.

- Eskimz

[MadMilitia]

All that line was intended to say from Blizzard is that YOU triggered both the key down and key up events by issuing the command with your finger.

It's no different than an auto-fire button that YOU press and then YOU release. You are initiating all points of contact with the interface which issues the commands to the game.

What they don't want is for example a toggle where you turn on fishing and then go to work for 8 hours a day.

[Kruschpakx4]

I fought my way through this discussion back in season 8 and came to the conclusion that we can set a key (by software) to press a wow macro and interact with target at the same time as long as there is no delay recorded inbetween

the salt was real back then , my macro post got even deleted by mods as no one really knew what was going on

quote from lax (isboxer dude) eventually educated everyone:

"I love it when people are so certain about this because of that post that said "1 Key = 1 Action"! It's taken out of context every single time.

Several GM sources, both in the US and EU, have confirmed to different players that it is just fine for one key to spam multiple keys. What they don't want is for you to press a key, then it jumps around and keeps doing your rotation for you (i.e. botting, requiring continuous/delayed action). The GM who said "1 key = 1 action" was trying to explain the difference between botting and not botting. Spamming keys isn't anything like botting, trust me! They're just confirming for you all what I've been trying to explain to people for a year and a half

Like Bettysue pointed out, and like I explained in another section a few days ago, ISBoxer separates the FTL Assist part from the spell cast part, by pressing multiple keys. Gameplay-wise, this is functionally no different than creating dozens of macros. By separating it, you specifically do not need to create a macro for every spell (or /castsequence, etc) you want to use with auto-assist. That's it, there's no "unfair advantage" simply by having one key press multiple keys at that instant.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled thread. "

[valkry]

I used to press my macro for assisting my lead character then press my "interact" keybind, now with a razer keyboard I macrco both actions to the same keybind. Use the popsicle stick theory, if you can achieve it with a popsicle stick, it's allowed.