I realize there is a keyboards and mice thread, but I decided it's a big enough topic to warrant a seperate thread. (My first thread, let me know if I'm wrong!)

I just picked up a G15, and it's got all sorts of tricks it can do, apparently. My current wants for the programmable keys are:

Either just spam fireball quickly. I got one that spams fireball so fast that I disconnect from wow, but obviously, that's not what I was shooting for. I can also create a macro that spams it based on how fast I spammed it during a recording. But I want it to be faster than me (spam about every .01 second).

Or... Spam fireball every 3.0 seconds, 8 times. Then the ninth time use a scorch.

So... How would one do this?

Unattended gameplay is not allowed, everything else is fair game.

If you make a (hardware) macro that for example conjures 20 stacks of water, push it and go to the toilet or walk / alt-tab away, then that is unattended gameplay and not allowed. This can give you a ban. If you make that macro, press the button and you stay at your screen, then it is not unattended gameplay, and is ok, although it wouldn't really do much good.

Doing things that aren't doable with just in-game macros are a bit of a grey area. You are allowed to automate stuff, but you always need to be the one operating it, meaning you press the button and you are at the PC.

I normally just record the keystrokes then add the pauses in. My macro for Hyjal is hitting four keys with a 1.4 second pause. Each button has an ingame macro associated with it that that lifeblooms a tank.

Using the G15 to hammer a /castsequence macro is probably the easiest way of doing that.

Blizzard has stated at least once that using the G15 (including the macro functionality) is OK. Unattended gameplay is what will get you banned.

So you can script your /castsequence macros to keep scorch up, hammer shadowbolt, or even prep yourself for arena. If you're at the keyboard pretty much any macro you can come up with is fine, no matter how complicated.

What's NOT OK is stuff like using it to AFK in AV or skill up weapons while you make a sammich.

No, it is perfectly acceptable.

I've spent a long time on the UI/Macros forum, and while I can't find the specific texts within the EULA/TOS, Blue posts on this subject tend to indicate:

a. Every action in-game MUST correspond to a discrete action on the part of the user. Any macro that results in multiple actions from a single keystroke is not allowed.

b. You cannot do anything with third-party software/hardware that cannot be done by in-game means (an addon or macro). Because there is no way to automate spell-casts within the game, you cannot do so with your keyboard.

The example of hitting a key, conjuring 200 water while sitting at your computer is not acceptable. While it is attended game-play, it is still an abuse of 3rd party software.

Edit:

Sections 4(B) and 4(D) of the TOS are not really that explicit on this issue. Suffice it to say that if a person of authority believes that your macro is functioning like a "bot" or that what you've done violates the "spirit" of the game you could be in trouble.

Moral of the story: Macroing things isn't worth the risk of losing your account.

I've tried to get a more definite answer from Blizzard on the milder of those "repeat" macros - the one where you need to hold down the key and the macro only repeats the same single keypress every 10 ms. I'm not doing that through a G15, though, but rather through software called AutoHotkey.

There was no answer, at least on the Customer Service forum. I've seen others try in the last few weeks and still haven't found a blue ruling on this specific case. The kind of people that like to hang out in the CS forum tend to dislike that kind of macro, though, but that doesn't say much.

This is key spoofing and against the ToS. You're creating multiple hardware events from a single physical action, which is, in essence, a simplified version of botting.

Will it get you banned? Probably not. Is it something that could get you banned? Yes.

Basic rules to follow when dealing with the g15:

1. 1 key press = one hardware event = one in game action that triggers the gcd and/or several actions that do not trigger the GCD (ie anything possible in a macro or addon)
2. Do not use it to time things. (This one is one of those gray areas)
3. If it feels shady, don't do it.

It really depends on you and how much you think you can get away with, but remember that if you get banned, it'll be your own fault.

My own personal take on it is if I can't play the game from any computer I need to change my play style (goes for addons as well as hardware), but again that's just me.

There is nothing they can do to get you banned unless, as Preatorian said, you're using it to automate so much that you don't have to be there to complete tasks. As for macroing things to buff certain groups, make lots of water, etc, in a single keybinding, it won't ever get you banned because Blizzard can't tell. As long as you aren't using it to give you an unfair advantage then I don't see the problem in macroing a few simple actions.

This is distinct from one keystroke causing multiple actions on one character, which is automation. One keystroke causing action on 5 different accounts is still one keystroke corresponding to one action in the game world per account.