Hotkeys and Macros: Using Your Abilities To The Fullest

[Dankone]

Many people are not playing as well as they could in this game simply because their hotbars are poorly set up and they are not using macros. If you don't know what a macro is, it's a button that is used like an ability, except you can control what it does. It can contain up to 255 characters, and the code inside of them is executed just as if it were typed out and entered as chat (there are a few exceptions to this, eg, when a macro has a "/stopmacro (condition)" statement). Here is an example of a macro I use on my paladin:

/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead,help] Flash of Light; Flash of Light

I use this macro on my Retribution paladin. My focus is usually the tank (A focus is a saved target. You can set your target as a focus by typing /focus, or as of 3.0.2 you can right click a player's portrait and click "Set Focus"). As I was saying, I usually save the tank as my focus, and so when I execute this macro it recognizes that I wish to cast Flash of Light, but before it does it checks conditions. Think of commas as "and"s.
Literally, what this macro does is this:

The target of the spell will be the focus, if it exists, if it is alive, and if it is friendly.

If the conditions are true (All must be true to evaluate true), then Flash of Light will be fast on the target. If not, however, Flash of Light will be cast on the paladin if you have auto self cast on, or the mouse will turn blue, waiting for a target to be passed. There are many other ways to do macros, and I won't waste my time writing my own. There are TONS of resources to find macro help. WoWWiki has a very nice guide that has helped me a bunch: Making a macro - WoWWiki - Your guide to the World of Warcraft
In addition, you may wish to check out your class forum. Most of them have a stickey with macros in them. Now, however, I'll go on to the meat of this topic: keybinds.

I've played World of Warcraft since retail launched, and for much of that time I was in the dark as to how to bind keys. The purpose of binding keys is to spend less time fumbling for a button either on an obscure part of the keyboard (out of the usual reach of your left hand) or by clicking on it. I'm sure you have heard the derogatory term "clicker" before, referring to one who clicks most if not all of their abilities. The key to binding effectively is to put your most used abilities on your easiest reachable keys. For me, that is 1-6, R, T, F, G, `, and two special mouse buttons on my Dynex, Mouse4 and Mouse5. Note that many people love to bind things to Q and E, but strafing is already ingrained in my mind :P. Back to the topic. For example, on my Death Knight:

1 = Blood Strike
2 = Scourge Strike (Bound with trinket and Blood Fury)
3 = Plague Strike
4 = Icy Touch
5 = Pestilence OR Chains of Ice (PvE or PvP)
6 = Death and Decay OR Mark of Blood (PvE or PvP)
R = PvP Trinket
T = Icebound Fortitude
F = Blood Tap+Rune Tap
G = Death Grip+Gnaw
` = Death Coil
Mouse3 (Scroll Wheel Click) = Auto run
Mouse4 = Rune Strike
Mouse5 = Mind Freeze/Strangulate conditional macro

You can also use modifiers like CRTL and ALT. I have these bound on my death knight:

CTRL-4 = Death Strike
CTRL-5 = Anti-Magic Zone
ALT-` = Unholy Blight (When I'm specced for PvE)
CTRL-` = Gargoyle+Empower Rune Weapon

You can bind keys by pressing ESC and hitting "Key Bindings". Scroll down until you see MultiActionBar settings if you wish to bind something on a bar other than your main spell bar, or go to Action Bar Functions if you wish to bind to your main spell bar. I recommend doing custom key binds on the "Key 2" tab for your main bar, because some time you may wish to use the usual number instead of the custom bind. Bars are numbered 1-12 left to right, or descending from the top. To bind, click the Key tab you wish to edit in the row of the button you wish to bind do, hold down any modifiers you may wish to combine a key with, and press the key. EG:

I want to bind Multi-Shot to action bar 3 (The one above your main bar), in the third space. I click the bar under Key1 in the row of "BottomLeft Action Button 3". Since I wish to bind it to CTRL and F, I hold down CTRL and press F and click OK. The bind is now saved and ready to use.

I trust this guide has been comprehensive enough that you will not find any confusing passages anywhere. If you are confused, or want something clarified, please post in this thread.

Finally, I reiterate:

-Bind your most used skills in the most reachable places. Interrupts are most important, as they must be used in the blink of an eye.
-Use macros! They can be very powerful, and shave seconds off your reaction time.

And a final word of advice to the horrible PvPers I keep seeing...

-Turn by holding down your right mouse button and moving. Turning with A and D (or arrow keys) is too slow!
-Do not try to escape by holding S. Turn with your mouse and use W. You go much slower walking backwards.

EDITED for numerous grammatical and spelling errors.

[Hazardan]

I don't really use Macros that much, but the addon Bartender 4 has an easy key binding feature that is great for newbs like me. You just hover over a move on your action bar, and press the key/key(s)/key sequence you want to bind it too.

[Bloody Rayne]

i used macros back in the day when i had my PoM Pyro mage ahhh the good days