This is an outdated Wrath guide. In Cataclysm WoW has a built-in Lock & Load warning.
Patch 3.0.8 brought us a lot of new Survival hunters, myself included. Survival is awesomesauce, but Lock and Load… it’s just so hard to tell when it procs, especially with that wee tiny symbol over your head. The solution? Get an addon to let you know in huge letters and with a sound effect!
So I imagine there are a lot of addons that can warn you when Lock and Load procs. The one I use is MikScrollingBattleText. It doesn’t warn by default, but it’s easy enough to set it up to warn us. This guide will walk you through how to configure MikScrollingBattleText to warn all you SV hunters of Lock & Load procs.
There are three basic steps: downloading the addon, disabling all the fancy stuff the addon does, and then configuring lock and load. If you already have it, just skip to step 3.
Step 1: Download and Install Addon
You can download MikScrollingBattleText Here. I just use the manual install. Download, open it up, and drag the folders into your Addon folder (found in C: > Program Files > World of Warcraft > Interface > Addons).
Step 2: Disable Everything
For this guide I’m basically going to show you how to disable all the great stuff about MikScrollingBattleText. The problem is that it defaults with WAY more stuff going on than you want. I highly encourage you to look around and decide what you’d like to use and what you don’t want to use. In the meantime, this will let you worry about it later and focus on Lock & Load.
To begin with, type /msbt to open up the control panel.
Select “General” on the left. In the lower right corner, check all of the boxes. This will ensure that combat text displays as normal.
Then click on Events in the left menu. There is a drop-down for Event Category with five categories of events. Use the Toggle All button to uncheck all of them in each category. This will keep you from getting swamped with crazy info. This is also where I suggest you spend some time poking around to get the settings you want.
Step 3: Create a Trigger for Lock and Load
Okay, now down to business. Select the Triggers option on the left menu, then click on the Add New Trigger button.
Type the warning that you would like to have appear in the middle of your screen when Lock and Load procs. I use simply, Lock and Load. Then click Okay.
In the next screen, click Add Event.
The Main Event should be Aura Application (this is probably the default). Then click on the little wrench/screwdriver icon to the left of “Skill Name – is Equal To – Unkown”
For the Parameter, just type in Lock and Load. Then click Save.
What we just did there is tell MikScrollingBattleText to make a trigger anytime the skill called “Lock and Load” happens. We’ve done all the heavy lifting now, but there is a couple more things you should do. Go back to the Triggers screen, make sure your new Lock and Load trigger is checked. To the right of it we see a series of icons. You can click on the big blue A to change the font setting and make the text as big as you want.
But first, click on the wrench/screwdriver icon here so we can tell it to play a sound.
Make sure your settings look like what is shown here below. You have very few sound options, and I found that the Low Mana sound caught my attention the best. Of course it also has the side effect of getting me excited when my mana actually is low and I hear the sound and think for a second that L&L just procced, but then I notice I don’t have the giant text in the middle of my screen.
When you’re all set up this will play a sound and put a giant message across your screen to warn you every time Lock and Load procs. It looks something like this:
OUTSTANDING THIS ROCKS
Great just what I was looking for.
Do u know if it’s possible to let MikScrollingBattleText let me know if Serpent Sting is ready to be applied to the target?
Indead SV rocks
I dont use scrolling text, but using this mod activates all scrolling text, all i want it to do is show me when LnL procs. How do i fix this?
^^ Figured it out =P
curse has put up a really light-weight lock and load addon- you have to configure some of it with a text file (read the comments on the download page) but it’s perfect if all you want is an alert when LnL is ready:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/lockandload.aspx
This addon Is awesomesauce!
The only thing is I dont know how to move around the battle text.
I have 3 actionbars at the bottom of my screen and everytime Explosive shot or kill shot is up it will display it, which i like. The problem is that it pops up under my action bars. (I use CT bar mod BTW)
http://www.bigredkitty.net/2009/02/03/genius/
cant figure it out for life of me..
This is another one I found which Is VERY tweakable may I add…Have fun with it! Atm im trying to figure out why so many hunters say they have like 4kdps in same gear im wearing practically and im right around 3kish unbuffed
Try Proculas…………
i’ve been using this and yes you can get it tell you to reapply serpent sting, and a whole bunch of other things. This is very nice.
Had to change that font tho….
I suggest “Shot proc” addon downloaded from curse. It’s very nice for players who suffer from low FPS.
I hhave tried to set this up and have had some difficulty with 2 things, first I want to place the lock and load notification down in the static area not in the notification area, I check the correct box but it stays in the notification scroll area and I often miss it secondly the sound does not go off, Any suggestions?
How do you get it show when Serpent Sting runs out?
Do the exact same setup as with the LnL proc, except for SS you want to set it as a notification of Aura Removal for your target (as opposed to Aura application of you). Make sense?
The only thing I find is that it tells you when ANY SS has been removed, not just yours. So if you are running with 3, 4 or 5 more Hunters, its going to spam you with it when they fall off. There may be a way around it, but I haven’t figured it out yet.
AWESOME! I recently hit 80 and repec’d to SV. I was trying to configure MSCT to alert me of LnL but just couldn’t figure it out. This guide helped me immensely.
LnL is such a huge part of SV hunter dps that im surprised more hunters don’t use some sort of alert mod like this to utilize LnL to its fullest potential.
thank you for this and lots of other goodies I’ve gotten from your site.
Hi again, I was wondering if anyone knew how to set up MSCT with a sound file specifically for Black Arrow cooldown. So far I haven’t figured it out.
I really liked this guide. But today I found a Lock and Load warning addon that, well, is much smaller than this one. It is just for the Lock and Load warning. I have not yet tried it but will do soon. I don’t believe it has a sound either. But since I have very little ram, only 1 Gb, I try to use as few or small addons I can. And I don’t need any other messages MSBT gives. http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/lock-and-load-buddy.aspx
I accidentally deleted the skill name is equal to unknown part and cant get it back..does that matter or should i just reload msbt?
Thanks and this site rocks!!
NVM-got it…but i am getting warnings on black arrow, multi shot, explosive…everything…hmmmm
@ Quori
If you set an exception parameter to go prevent it from going off more than say every 15s for an unglyphed SS then it will only go off around the time your SS should be running out (obv increase this time if you have the glyoh)
Isnt there an option to have wow’s native combat text do this? i know my other procs show up…
If anyone is looking for something just a little bit different–I use an add on called Power Auras that gives me great visual and sound when lock and load procs as well as when I need to refresh serpent sting or add hunter’s mark, etc. I like it a lot.
I’ve found that I like using ClassTimers to warn me about Lock and Load.
I disabled all the “Player” (you) warnings except for Lock and Load.Then unchecked the “Lock” box along the topto move the bar anchors around and placed the Player bar right at my characters feet. When it procs, not only does it give me a countdown bar, but it also adds a (2) when there’s two stacks, that goes away once I use a stack, then the bar disappears when I use the second stack.
I then use the Pet portion to track Mend Pet and Feed Pet.
The Target section, I have set up for Hunter’s Mark, Serpent Sting and Black Arrow.
I never miss my LnL procs since I started using this set up. Lately I’ve been trying to find a sure way to track my Exp Shot ticks so as to time my shots during LnL as close as possible without clipping and without resorting to weaving an Aimed or Steady shot between them.
This is awesome and works great! While I was setting this up I also set up a warning to let me know I was still in Aspect of the Viper. There are probably other addons better at helping with this, but setting up a trigger is easy.
Event – Mana Change
2 conditions
Unit ID is equal to you
Threshold is equal to 100 (%)
6 exceptions
Buff active is equal to Aspect of the Dragonhawk
Buff active is equal to Aspect of the Cheetah
Buff active is equal to Aspect of the Monkey
Buff active is equal to Aspect of the Beast
Buff active is equal to Aspect of the Wild
Trigger recently fired is less than 5
If Aspect of the Viper is up and Mana hits 100% a message like “Viper is still on!” (or whatever you want) can warn you visually and with sound. There is the option of adding your own sound file rather than using one of the few defaults. The exceptions prevent the trigger from firing if you are in any other aspect and if it fired less than 5 seconds prior.
When i was Surv i used Power Auras addon, really great, noticed Frostheim also have it in some of his videos.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/powerauras-classic.aspx
Quite easy to figure out once you’ve become familiar with the basics. I just had a yellow symbol to come forth around my character when it had procced so i could manage my shots without losing the proc =). Since i’m a Marksman now, i use it to notify me when i dont have Trueshot Aura active. Try it, it works magically.
Luv PowA, so just wanted to tell ya’ll ’bout it.
Here is the one I use
http://wow.curseforge.com/addons/lock-and-reloaded/
works really well and the graphic is really cool looking.
Matt “code”
I just discovered this blog and will be adding it to my reading list right away
FWIW I use cooldown timers2 and have set up a specific bar for when LnL procs and placed it front and centre on my UI. What I like is that it also shows me how long have to activate the proc before it will run out which helps with shot prioritisation. At least that’s the way it seems to work from my observations. I confess to not being the most savvy player when it comes to this kind of thing.
Hi . ” Lock and Load Warning Addon ” work in BM and MM ?
to have a notification when your serpent sting has faded:
Main event Aura Removal
Receipent Unit Affiliation – Is Equal To – Target
Skill Name – Is Equal To – Serpent Sting
Source Unit Name – Is Equal To –
Translation of the code: From your target the debuff called “Serpent Sting” which you have applied has faded
Tested with the help of some friendly hunters.
ack, the stuff after “Source Unit Name – Is Equal To – ” got removed. It should say your character’s name. Since it track’s where the debuff comes from.
this has stopped working as of patch 3.3. i think the problem is that its not being displayed in the combat log anymore, so msbt doesnt notice it. is there any other way to get a sound notification of this event?
frost can we make the same trigger like lock and load but this time it is for improved steady shot?
I have tried to make it using Lock and Load guide but it seems it just did not work:(
Somebody above asked if there was any way to play a sound….
check out power auras. It’s discussed on the addons guide on this site. watcher is great too.
power auras and watcher also both work in 3.3
Just got Lock and ReLoaded off curse for my new SV build and it works like a charm.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/lock-and-reloaded.aspx
when i type /msbt i get an error saying it is not in the options…can you pleas ehelp
So how does this affect this all?
http://outdps.com/2010/03/04/lock-and-load-weve-been-doing-it-wrong/
https://sites.google.com/a/moonsaberrider.org/hunterdps/lock-and-load
We discussed this on a recent podcast — basically if you go in and look at the results, you’ll see that this was using a t9 set (which yielded a 14 dps difference).
The short version is the dps difference is small enough that you won’t notice it either way; however, aimed shot is the one shot you should weave in between explosives on lock & load.
Nice addons, just one thing…damage form the pets is always showing in the right side, and i dont know how to take it out.. any hints?? Thanks
There is also another way u can do this, if u use a text to speach Internet thing (soz but can’t remerber the name of it) u can add sound to ur proc’s like ” lock & load is up” and the voice file will tell u when it proc’s , or u can just wait for shotgun cocking sound effect that comes with the proc like I do
Ive been out of the loop for a bit, what do I do when LnL Procs again? Is it Expl. shot, Expl. shot, Expl. shot???
OK…so, I did some reading, 2XExpl. Shot, waiting for cooldown of first before firing second. I don’t have Aimed shot to fire in between, what else could I use to ensure I dont fire my 2nd expl shot too soon?
Cykor, you can use something to time Explosive Shot. I use NeedToKnow, because I run a lot of different alts and it’s useful to have an add-on that can be configured to track a very wide range of timed events. I set up a bar for Lock and Load (the buff on the player) and also Explosive Shot (the debuff on the target). NeedToKnow doesn’t show latency, but it gives a very clear visual indicator that your Explosive Shot dot is over.
This add-on is also good for showing Mend Pet, Serpent Sting etc. and it can be set up to show a set of bars anywhere on your screen. The only danger is setting up so many bars that you get overwhelmed by information, but I started using it for dots on Shadowpriest and Warlock, and it’s great for priority rotations.