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Hey guys,
I am a long time FFXI player who took complete advantage of the macro system.
I have been implementing macros in FFXIV but they just dont feel as useful as FFXI. It feels as if I should be using the hot bar. I mean they are nice because I can stack abilities before spells that otherwise might not get taken advantage of (ie dark seal before a spell)
What do you guys use, and any tips on getting used to the hot bar?
FWIW I use a gamepad to play.
Hot Bar. Macros are for gear swapping as far as I go.
I also use a gamepad and I consistently use both.
I do use macros not only to change classes/jobs/gear, but I have a few targeting ones too.
When duoing with my husband, I've found /assist <stpc> very useful. It lets me quickly select what player I'd like to assist, and then automatically target the mob they are working on. I also have some utility macros like /echo <pos> so I can quickly get my position on the map. I also use /clock to know what the real local time is when I'm playing.
With the UI changes coming in 2.0, It won't matter as much.
Its my understanding that in 2.0 you will be able to put some of your macro's on your hot bar. Not only that, but you will be able to choose to have all three hot bars up and visible at the same time rather than just one. UI will be changing and will make macros easier to use from the sounds of it. Once Mannequins come in to play, you won't need macros for changing classes/jobs/gear anymore.
As I got higher with THM, I realized I need to make macros. Macros are attatched to the hot bar so using the controller is an easy. Most seem to recommend that MACRO spells are the AlT CNTRL keys while reg spells are the main bar. On the controller (if usign the 360) they are the left and right triggers. on other controllers it's the bottom set of buttons.
Once you start hitting 38 in thm and blm. Single hand weapons and neck peices are elemental based to increase damage. So you will need to take thunder icons and make it a macro to equip the matching wand and neck peice and cast....
Personally I can't stand the hotbar, I hate switching between pages always have in any MMO. (Thankfully apparently you will be able to display multiple hotbars and drag/drop you macros/skills/items to them in 2.0) So I just have my hotbar on page 1 and macro everything else ;x
Very simpel with a controller or gaming keyboard to fast ast macros. I personally don't like the a typical Wow/Rift/ everythign else bars that block a large portion of the screen. It can take as much time to mouse over to those icons. Usign a controller with 4 top buttons allows you to alt / cntrl with left or right triggers to get to stuff fast. IF you set and lien them up right you can chain spells very fast. click Trigger click and done.
I Macro my Tier 1 spells, and non-essential skills.
So my Hot bar is 1:Thundaga, 2:Thundara, 3:Fira, 4:Firaga, 5:Freeze(cause pending on tank im always pushing red at times) then i have my timers 7: parsimony 8:Dark seal 9:Resonance 0:Excrutiate. 5/6 i toggle between what i need at the time of run. this way i can hit my Macro for Tier 1, and see on hot bar my combo tiers are ready, and I know when i can pop my enhancements when they come off cooldown. Macro's will almost always be faster than controller. maybe not by much. hell you can even say by .3 seconds, but You get instant gratification. Pushing down over over, when a spell misses, or something happens and you need to get to that blizzaga real fast, or find your sleep. its more versitile. if all goes perfect, you can use controller and tap right along with your "ideal setup" and not loose anytime, but when in a pinch, and sleep is hot bar 5, and your in your combo and hotbar 1, your risk chance of panic mode overshot of clicking over, or having to swap down or up. pending that you know your macro's eyes free from playing to much FFXI back in the day. When i main whm, i feel slower and more frantic trying to get my cures off, as BLM trying to spam as much spells as possible not so much cause timers make up for having to swap up or down, left or right. I think there is more quick versitility, but in a no suprises fight, controller can sit on par. though as a heavy Macro user, I would like to see 1 alt/cntrl macro set for each job. though i find it faster to use hotbar when it comes to more weapon skills. Hence the "Alt 2" thunder, tap 8, tap 2, for my thunder, darkseal thundara combo, then i can tap 7 for parsimony and hit thundaga. though a controller user could have it set up in a line, Thunder, darkseal, thundara, parsimony,thundaga and not loose a beat on Keyboard user, but if I guess, as i think about it, if you can find the ideal setup perhaps cntrl would be just as fast. Though the ability to have a timer list on the side, would help improve both cntrl and macro/keyboard users while saving real estate on screen.
But i do feel the way, Macro's are not as useful as FFXI, but I only utilize hotbar 1, because hitting up to get to hotbar 3 is just not in the symetrics of my brain, I tend to wanna go down twice to hotbar three, instead of pushing up 1, and i end up over shooting going to fast and end up on wrong hotbar, pushing wrong action command.
I only use macros for gear swaps, and some abilities that require 2 such as sacred prism + stoneskin. Also my bard songs are macro.