Swiftcast help?

I've been using Swiftcast for a while now in macros for various spells, but I'm at the point where I feel like I could adjust something. I either need to:

- Rewrite the macros (which is where I'm hoping the kind souls of the official forums could help)

or

- remove all the macros and learn how to use Swiftcast manually to best effect.

When Swiftcast is up the macros work just fine, but if I need to cast something (most notably on SMN because I have it paired with Shadow Flare) when it's still on cooldown, I go through a significant delay even when I try my best to queue it ahead of the GCD. Probably the worst situation is trying to help with raising only to forget that I'd blown it on Shadow Flare seconds ago and having an even bigger delay than raising already has.

So is there an effective way to use Swiftcast in macros or should I start learning to use it without?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ninster

- remove all the macros and learn how to use Swiftcast manually to best effect.

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I'd go with this. I don't play SMN, but I believe using it manually with what you see fits is better.

Use Swiftcast manually. It's only one extra button press per minute.

A just Shadow Flare macro is fine, as ground target abilities are the one class of abilities in the game that actually benefit from a speed boost by being macroed.

Trying to sequence actions with waits leaves the door open for things to fail, and doing double-press macros will slow you down significantly. Swiftcast being usable only once per minute, you don't want to waste it on the wrong ability because you didn't execute waits properly, or have it not actually save you any time because you're slowed down by a fiddly macro. The only way to be sure those Swiftcasts count is to do them manually.

If you're trying to save hotbar space, use the macro without a wait and use the key several times. Automating it with a single press invites interruption during the <wait>.

My swiftcast macros are structured like this:

/swiftcast
/raise
Wait 1
/raise

The second raise activates when swiftcast is up, the first one activates when it's not, and just hardcasts the spell without delay.

And by the way, you can't queue a macro the way you can normal abilities. That's the drawback of macros.

It's best to just use it manually, especially since you may want to use Shadowflare without Swiftcast and then save SC for something else (in SMN opener for example).

I have it macroed for raise but for double press rather than a wait; just two lines (use Swiftcast/use Raise) and I mash the button to raise someone. It works fine for me.

Then I also have it separately on my second hotbar for use with other spells, as I frequently swiftcast all kinds of things and want to be able to decide freely. I pretty much never want to hardcast raise unless there's no alternative, so I slapped them together in a macro to save me panicking looking for two buttons in a death situation.

As others have said, there's really no reason to have a /wait statement in your Swiftcast/Raise macro. Here's another good example - this one is nice, because it lets you see at a glance if Swiftcast is available:

/micon "Swiftcast"
/action "Swiftcast" <me>
/action "Raise" <t>

The /micon line causes the button to display the Swiftcast image on the button, along with its cooldown timer.

To explain why these sorts of waitless macros work, when actions are next to one another with no /wait statement, the computer will execute the first valid action in the bunch. In this case, on your first button press, since Swiftcast is available, it is a valid action and will be performed. Raise will not be performed on the first push. On the second push of the button, Swiftcast is now on cooldown, so it is no longer a valid action. So, the second action will be performed, instead - in this case, Raise.

Cooldowns aren't the only things that make an action invalid. Targets out of range, or incorrect for the ability, will also affect an action's validity. In the interests of saving space I used to come up with all kinds of macros that depended on circumstance to determine which action will be performed. For example, this "Shieldwork" macro:

/micon "Cover"
/action "Shield Bash" <t>
/action "Shield Lob" <t>
/action "Cover" <t>

If the target is a player, Shield Bash and Shield Lob become invalid, and Cover is used. If the target is a monster but the monster is at a distance, Shield Bash becomes invalid, so Shield Lob is used. If the target is a monster and is up close, Shield Bash is used.

For a while, I experimented with combining nukes and cures together:

/action "Stone" <t>
/action "Cure" <t>

This, however, doesn't work very well, since Cure never, ever becomes invalid. It works fine if you're targeting a player - Stone becomes invalid, and Cure is used instead. However, if the target is a monster, and if the monster is out of range or for some other reason the spell is an invalid action, you use Cure on yourself. This is almost always a waste of time and MP.

Now that I've gotten used to the double-grip cross-hotbar and the double-click cross-hotbar, though, this kind of macro-combining has become less necessary. There's really enough space for almost any action, with the most common actions placed on the main cross-hotbar. The Swiftcast Raise macro still isn't a bad idea, though - as was stated, hard-casting Raise is generally a last resort, and Swiftcast should be used if it is available.

One final note: There is a bit of danger with waitless macros, in that there IS a tiny gap of space between each command in the macro. I'd guess that the computer executes the commands roughly 1/10th of a second apart from one another. This means that if you have a lot of actions in the list, and you're mashing the button rapidly enough, you may wind up executing a command in the middle of the stack, rather than the top.

For example, suppose you had a macro like this, designed to use your most powerful Stone or Cure, depending on what your current level cap is, and whether you're targeting a player or a monster:

/action "Stone III" <t>
/action "Stone II" <t>
/action "Stone" <t>
/action "Cure II" <t>
/action "Cure" <t>

You're desperately trying to DPS a monster, so you're mashing this macro as fast as you can! Only - suddenly, out of the blue, you cast Cure II on yourself? Why? The monster's in range, and you have it targeted!

If we assume that the 1/10 of a second thing is correct, when you hit this macro, Stone III is attempted immediately, then Stone II at 1/10, then Stone at 2/10, then Cure II at 3/10, then Cure at 4/10. If you're mashing the button, and you happen to mash it 3/10 of a second before your previous Stone spell finished casting, then Stone III, Stone II, and Stone are all invalid (because another spell is currently being cast), and Cure II becomes the first valid action in the stack. Undesirable!

This could potentially happen with your Swiftcast Raise macro, as well. If you're mashing that macro, and happen to hit it 1/10 of a second before your previous action is done, it will skip Swiftcast and start hardcasting Raise. Honestly, though, this isn't a common enough or serious enough threat to make this macro unuseful (while it really does make the Cure/Stone combo unuseful!). On the rare occasions when it does crop up, just interrupt the hardcast Raise and hit the macro again.

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll do some playing around and see if I can't make things work smoother for me. I strangely enough have Swiftcast on my hotbar (in addition to the macro'd Resurrection and Shadow Flare), but it's currently in an awkward keybinding (I'm on PC and use Ctrl and Shift for modifiers for hotbars 2 and 3) that I just recently realized that I could probably swap with the keybinding for my limit break (which I can reach a lot easier).

If you happen to run into me on SMN in dungeons, I apologize if things get a bit derpy because of the change.