[Suggestion] Consolidating Equip Macros

[Rosina]

DRag... you eve ran a DOS pc? There are infact limits to what a pc can read digitaly.... Macros work the same from mud to mmo spaning from 1990s till now, no matter the game the macro systym is generally the same. Meaning 1 action per line. anymore and there can be confliction. Also if anyone read the interview SE has to really scrape space to give us a 5th expac.

[SharMarali]

Back to the original topic, I think out of all of the suggestions I've seen, the thing that would be most helpful and least likely to be exploited in some unexpected way would be if SE would allow us to save gearsets. Equip a set of gear, type /gearset "WAR WS" and that gearset is considered your WAR WS set. Equip another set of gear, type /gearset "WAR TP" and so on. Allow saving of something like 30 sets of gear (I know it wouldn't be enough for some people, but let's be realistic) and people can use /equip gearset "WAR TP" in their macros instead of a separate line for each piece of gear.

I would love to see something like this implemented. We're not asking for automation, we just want to be able to change equipment (if we choose to play that way) without hitting 3 macros.

[Byrth]

Don't think they should go full spellcast route. As far as I'm concerned, automated midcast etc is full on cheating.

I don't think they should design a system where some gear is only useful precast, some gear is only useful midcast, and some gear is only useful after the cast if they don't want to implement a way to automate those changes. I know we're all used to it, but how does hitting 2 macros to change our gear for actions (and then 2 macros to change back) make the game more enjoyable? How does having to macro gear instead of automating it make the game more enjoyable? Why does SE keep adding equipment that is inconsistent with the design of the game unless you automate equipment swaps?


Take Waltzes, for instance. The largest benefit of Waltzes over Cures (back when they were actually used) was that Waltzes are a close approximation of instant and cures take time. However, it takes time to swap to Waltz Potency equipment using in-game macros before using your Waltz and this really closes the gap between -Spellcasting Time Cures and Waltzes. Should you be TPing in your Waltz Potency gear when in a healing role? Should you just not bother getting Waltz Potency gear that you can't TP in? I'd hope that the answer to both of these questions is "No." The game needs an automated midcast (which is faster than vanilla macros) in order for the Waltz design to be reasonable.


Take Weapon Skills, for instance. People typically TP and WS in different sets, but in high Haste situations people with in-game macros end up TPing in their WS sets more often than they think (especially if they're using two macro swaps for WS gear). A round here or there, but in high haste situations any round in your WS set is going to take twice as long as in your TP set (75% Haste in TP set -> 50% Haste in WS set). If you have a 4-hit build in Voidwatch and one round every cycle is in your WS set, you take as long to get TP as a 5-hit (and do one melee swing less damage). If moving from a 5-hit to a 4-hit effectively increases your WS frequency (and thus net WS damage) by 33%, you have to wonder if it's even worth swapping gear for WSs on the vanilla client in high Haste situations. If you automate the swaps, it's entirely repeatable and you can be sure that your gear switches back to TP before the WS delay ends.

[Jackstin]

You don't need entire gear swaps to make use of precast and midcast. Just a couple will do, and are why the pieces exist in the first place. If you're trying to argue that this game has essentially been designed for spellcast you're kidding yourself.

On a slightly different note, how do you think the new UI will affect this, specifically the hot bar?

[cidbahamut]

You don't need entire gear swaps to make use of precast and midcast.

Then you're doing it wrong.

[FrankReynolds]

You don't need entire gear swaps to make use of precast and midcast. Just a couple will do, and are why the pieces exist in the first place. If you're trying to argue that this game has essentially been designed for spellcast you're kidding yourself.

On a slightly different note, how do you think the new UI will affect this, specifically the hot bar?

I don't think he was suggesting that they designed it for spellcast. I think he was implying that they did not take precautions when designing gear. I'm sure from SEs standpoint, we should all be making decisions about what gear to wear based on only being able to swap a few pieces. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for a very long time and probably never will be again. So when they design gear that is only good for fastcast and gear that has magic attack for example, instead of having people put the piece they like the best into their 5 gear lines, people make 2 macros or use spellcast, where SE thought they would choose between the two.

[Nala]

More specifically it makes no sense when you posses both the fast cast and the MAB peice to not use them both, its similar to choosing between haste gear and ws gear as a melee, why would you tp in ws gear or ws in tp gear because of a macro limitation?

People have long since decided max/min is the way to go, aka utilizing (or abusing depending on your stand point) the hell out of all gear that enhances anything you do.

[FrankReynolds]

More specifically it makes no sense when you posses both the fast cast and the MAB peice to not use them both, its similar to choosing between haste gear and ws gear as a melee, why would you tp in ws gear or ws in tp gear because of a macro limitation?

People have long since decided max/min is the way to go, aka utilizing (or abusing depending on your stand point) the hell out of all gear that enhances anything you do.

Basically boils down to this: They think you should have to choose the most important stat and stick with that. Spellcast and or intricate macro designs disagree.

I personally think they should both add gear that is good for multiple purposes (like the new stave) and give people more macro lines. Some better storage couldn't hurt either.

[Nala]

When scars first came out i thought they might have started to get it, gear that was almost if not nearly all purpose (empyrean sets), but they have since deviated and gone back to extremely situational gear again. for example enhance cure potency received, that necklace that gives slow when charmed, enhance cursna effect items, did they expect people to full time these peices??

Most of them did not offer any other support stats either, making their only use that exact situation. Further more how did they expect us to properly utilize these pieces? without spell cast to automate swapping them in for you, "one second on that cure, i need to get my curepotrec gear on..." furthermore considering spell cast is reactionary by itself you'd have to use another program on top of it to detect incoming outside influences (i could be mistaken i have no experience with that other program)

[Jackstin]

Basically boils down to this: They think you should have to choose the most important stat and stick with that. Spellcast and or intricate macro designs disagree.

I personally think they should both add gear that is good for multiple purposes (like the new stave) and give people more macro lines. Some better storage couldn't hurt either.

I agree. People are so obsessed with maximising performance that they are willing to resort to cheating. On the other hand most of the gear we see is situational, and given our gear swap options are so limited, it is little wonder that people do use windower. More multipurpose gear and a few more macro lines is exactly what I would prescribe.

But honestly, spellcast is an abuse. If SE gave us the kind of options that are being asked for in this thread, I could see a large number of people giving up on windower. However I don't see the spellcasters ever giving up their power.