Introduction
NerfedButtons lets you define
prioritised and
conditional
ability/item/macro lists for your hotbar slots. NerfedButtons will
automatically ensure that the highest priority ability/item/macro that
passes its conditions in a pre-defined sequence is bound to a hotbar slot at any time.
Or more succinctly: NerfedButtons allows you to assign a conditional sequence of abilities to each hotbar slot.
Conditional Sequencing Explained
First thing to understand is that NerfedButtons is a conditional
sequencer.
The WAR game-client will perform
basic checks on each ability in your sequence every 10th of a second. If the first ability fails any of these basic checks
then the second ability is
tested (and so on) until we arrive at an ability that is; in range, not cooling down, etc... NerfedButtons then
updates the hotbar slot with the first ability in your sequence that does not fail any checks.
In addition the the basic in-game checks NerfedButtons allows you to add all manner of additional checks to the abilities in your sequences.
Simple Sequence Example
Lets take a simple 2 ability Bright Wizard sequence to explain what we mean:
Example Sequence : [Ignite] [Detonate]
- Examining the description of the [Ignite] ability provides us with the following list of conditions WAR itself performs before enabling [Ignite] for use:
- You have 35 Action Points
- The ability is not on cooldown (No cooldown)
- The target is within 100 feet
The [Ignite] ability has no cooldown, therefore the ability will always be enabled as long as you have 35 or more Action Point.
In fact [Detonate] has a higher Action Point requirement than [Ignite] therefore the current sequence will never get past the [Ignite] ability in its current form!
-
Examining the description of the [Detonate] ability provides us
with the following list of conditions WAR itself performs before
enabling [Detonate] for use:
- You have 40 Action Points
- The ability is not on cooldown (10s cooldown)
- The target is within 80 feet
- Target must be Hexed
The big thing of note here is that [Detonate] will only be enabled if the target is Hexed. Good thing [Ignite] places a Hex on your target!
To get this sequence to work we need to tell WAR to not use [Ignite] if the target is already under the effects of the [Ignite] hex. This is where the NerfedButtons checks come into play...
Don't worry if you don't understand the
/nb add ......
commands used below as yet, they are just there for reference. You'll learn more
about the syntax to configure your sequences later in this tutorial.
NerfedButtons allows you to tag your own additional checks
onto each ability in your sequence. A full list of checks can be found in the
Checks Reference Manual. Some obvious options include:
- Adding a 9 second VirtualCooldown check to the [Ignite] ability so when its on cooldown we will progress to the next ability in the sequence.
/nb add 1 [Ignite]cd:9[Detonate]
- Adding a Condition check to the [Ignite] ability so if the target is already under the effects
of any Hex then it will not try and reapply it and instead continue to
the next ability int he sequence.
/nb add 1 [Ignite]con:hex:-:e[Detonate]
- Adding a Stack check to the [Ignite] ability so if the target is already under the effects of [Ignite] then it will not try and reapply it and instead continue to the next ability in the sequence.
/nb add 1 [Ignite]st:1:s:e[Detonate]
Which is the most suitable very much depends on what you are trying to achieve:
Option 1 has an obvious failing in that a VirtualCooldown check does not know if your [Ignite] got disrupted or removed. You could get yourself into a situation where you've cast [Ignite] on your target, the target cures itself of your Hex and you've got to wait until your VirtualCooldown expires before you can do anything else (as [Ignite] will be on cooldown asn [Detonate] won't work as you don't have a Hex on your target).
Option 2 is much more interesting in that we are now actively checking to see if the target is afflicted by a Hex. If they are afflicted then we disable the [Ignite] ability and [Detonate] can be used. Problem we have here of course is that Detonate has a in-built 10 second cooldown, meaning that if someone else out there is hexing lots of targets, you'll be standing around doing nothing most of the time waiting for [Detonate] to refresh...
This brings us to probably the best option in this case, Option 3 where we can check if the target is under the effect of [Ignite] itself. We can also use this check to the check to only taking account [Ignite] effects cast by ourselves (there courld be another Bright Wizard out there spamming [Ignite] too).
Remember: This is not a basic sequencer! If your first ability is always valid and has no cooldown then you will never see the second ability...
WAR built-in Checks
A number of conditional checks are built into WAR by default and are performed on all abilities. These include:
- Is the ability waiting for its cooldown?
- Is the ability in range?
- Can the ability be used from my current position relative to the target (to the side, behind etc.)?
Each of these checks is made against each ability (highest priority
first) every 10th of a second. If the first ability fails any checks
then the second ability is
tested until we arrive at an ability that is; not cooling down, is in
range, and my character is in the correct position. NerfedButtons then updates the hotbar slot with the appropriate ability from your sequence.
Make sense... hopefully :)
NerfedButtons Configurable Checks
NerfedButtons support a VERY large number of configurable checks. These include:
- number of instances (stack) of ability already on target cast by self or others.
- hp/ap/career mechanic value
- presence of a condition
- presence of an effect
- presence of your pet
- career of a target
- archetype of a target
- ...
and much MUCH more!
For an online web view see the Check Reference Manual, or to get the fully up to date list in-game use the /nb checks command.
Some of these checks are more useful than others, but all have their place. The stack check is probably the most used due to its sheer flexibility, it can limit an ability that applies an effect on your target to only being used once (Rune Priest Rune Of Regeneration ability is a good example as the effect doesn't stack) or use it to keep a stack of an ability effect on your target that does stack (maybe a stack of 3 when using the the Witch Hunter Fervor ability).
/nb add 1 [Rune Of Regeneration]st:1:s[Grungni's Gift]/nb add 1 [Fervor]st:3:s[Absolution][Razor Strike]
Note: the 2 examples above do not have a target or pre-expiry duration parameters for the stack check. This is because these are optional parameters. More on this later.
Whats next?
The rest of the tutorial takes you through the each of the NerfedButtons commands and checks explaining their usage.
Have fun!
-NerfedWar
