Yes, I thought my next theory post was gonna be on paladin heals. Meh. I wanna experiment with at least one other class (probably druid, with their awesome HoT’s) before I do that, so I have a little more to base my ideas off of.
(Copy-Paste from <Neo Imperela> guild forums)
#showtooltip
/clearfocus [modifier][target=focus,dead][target=focus,noexists]
/focus [target=focus,noexists]
/script SetRaidTarget("focus", 5)
/stopcasting
/stopmacro [modifier:alt]
/cast [target=focus] Polymorph
/stopmacro [nogroup]
Sheeping <%f>
Basically what we have here is a macro that will improve mage DPS in groups by not requiring you to retarget your sheeped enemy. Basically before any pull, select the the mob you’re meant to sheep and alt-click this macro. That’ll set it as your focus. After that, you can select the main target, and simply use the macro while the main target is selected: it’ll sheep the mob you designated as your focus rather than the target.
The line /script SetRaidTarget (”focus”, 5) will put a moon raid symbol on your focus if you are the group leader. You can change the number for different raid symbols.
If that’s a little unclear, my apologies; if you have any questions feel free to ask
PART 2:
(Please forgive the pretentious tone throughout this post)
In addition, I’m gonna go ahead and expand a little bit on focus frames; if you haven’t played around with them as a CC class, I suggest it, as it makes it much easier to watch your CC while still playing effectively.
A focus is essentially a second target for you to work with. By default, your spells and abilities are used on your target, but, as in the above macro, your spells can be targeted on the focus.
The one drawback (an easily remedied one) is that Blizzard did not include a focus frame with the default UI, so you have to download a unit frames addon that includes a focus frame. I recommend X-Perl UnitFrames as a very good add-on with a focus frame, but if you want something that doesn’t modify all of your unit frames, there are mods available that simply add a focus frame to the default Blizzard UI. I know that at least one of these mods is available via WowAceUpdater.
If you set your addon up so that you can watch the buffs and debuffs on your focused mob, it’s much easier to refresh CC. For example, I have a focus frame located in the upper right corner of my screen, next to the minimap. I’ll include a screenshot here:
NOTE: IN THIS WORDPRESS TEMPLATE, YOU WILL NEED TO RIGHT CLICK THIS IMAGE AND CLICK “View Image” IN ORDER TO SEE WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT
As you may note, Polymorph has been cast on the focused mob–the mob in the upper-right hand corner. In this case, I’ve already set the mob as my focus and sheeped, so I’ve been watching the focus frame to see when Polymorph’s about to break. This also works for unreliable CC; you can instantly react to a broken Shackle or what have you by using a macro such as
/stopcasting
/cast [target=focus] Shackle Undead
if your focus is already set. This macro will interrupt your current spellcast and re-shackle the focused mob. This works wonders for any CC class, be they healer or DPS, as they can easily stay on their target while still maintaining CC. You’ll notice in my sample screenshot that I’m targeting the mob that needs to be burnt down first, while still keeping my sheep target CC’d effectively.
Focus is a wonderful tool for any CC class, and I highly recommend its use. It allows for much greater versatility in a fight. The macro that I included in my first post can be modified to work with any CC; for example, by replacing “Polymorph” with “Shackle Undead”, you can use this as a macro for shackling.
Mages: on a related note…
I also suggest making macros for spells like Ice Block, Spellsteal, and Counterspell:
/stopcasting
/cast (name of spell)
so that you can cast these spells instantly without waiting for your current spell to finish casting. This has proved helpful to me in many instances with casters, especially summoners, so that I can instantly interrupt a summon. This makes things especially easy in Blood Furnace. The Ice Block macro, I think, needs no explanation–everyone loves an instant panic button.
(Please forgive the pretentious tone throughout this post)
(end copy-paste)
Hope this was of some interest! I use this constantly when I’m in groups and highly recommend it to any CC class.
Right after Illhoof, on the way to chess, we were pulling the Spell Shades out onto that wooden platform…right before we pulled, Nathanielle accidentally backed off the ledge, Mymichelle levitated into some trash mobs to try and rez him, and Zerlan jumped down/died/ankhed in order to rez. Good times. 
