Bard macro

currently lvl 41.. Just wondering if this macro I use is not the best way to go about things. makes it kind of boring to play, but seems pretty efficient to me.

/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Barrage" <me>

I would put Misery's end first, then bloodletter second, then heavy shot. that way you're using the most effective skill when its available. I also have internal release and barrage in a separate macro for offensive buffs.

I would keep it like that, but put all the buffs in another macro.
Heavy shot is best to put first because then you use bloodletter and misery's end in between the global cool down

i would respectively disagree with Rikkustrife. if you put it the way I suggest you can still use misery's end and bloodletter on the GCD. but if you leave it how you have it now, it'll use heavy shot even if misery's end or bloodletter is available, which is inefficient dps-wise.

heh, I didn't think to put offensive buffs in separate macro.. I just had them out to use separate..
besides that, only thing I dislike about it is the annoying sound and "action not available" message on screen due to misery's end lol

you can turn off the option to get errors messages which will take care of the sound and "action not available" junk.

could you point me in the right direction? I spent a few minutes quickly looking for it, thought I found the correct option, but obviously wasnt it lol.

yeah I would like to know how to do that too. The closest I could figure out was to turn off the Recast Timer Errors, but that still doesn't help me turn off all the errors I get when I set up macroes the way you suggested.

um I can't remember exactly where it is. I know if you click on the gear icon on your chat box somewhere in there is an option to uncheck receiving error messages.

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Originally Posted by LexSunfire

...but if you leave it how you have it now, it'll use heavy shot even if misery's end or bloodletter is available, which is inefficient dps-wise.

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I don't think that's correct.
Heavy Shot isn't just 150 potency, you need to remember that it can also proc straighter shot.
You can only proc a "reset" of BL every 3 seconds, so there is virtually no way to miss a BL reset by prioritizing HS and always weaving BL.
However, if you fire BL while the GCD is up, you DO delay your GCD every single time.
And that is nearly always a dps loss.

The only reason you should ever prefer ME over HS when the GCD is up is if you know it's going to be the last shot before something dies.
So in my opinion, if you're going to macro BL/ME together with HS, HS should come first so that you can force your off-globals to weave instead of delaying your GCD.

/micon "Heavy Shot"
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

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Originally Posted by LexSunfire

um I can't remember exactly where it is. I know if you click on the gear icon on your chat box somewhere in there is an option to uncheck receiving error messages.

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Yeah that only eliminates the Recast Timer Error (which is the error you get if you try to cast an ability that is on cooldown). That does nothing for the Error you get when you are trying to activate two or more abilities simultaneously.

This is the style of macro that I use for each BRD attack:

/macroicon "Straight Shot"
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/wait
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

Because all my attacks are configured this way, Misery's End and Bloodletter are always used when they become available.

except that in your case wannabesuperman, that macro will prioritize Straight Shot. Which means that if Straight Shot is not on cooldown it will automatically cast that ability regardless of whether Misery's End or Bloodletter are available. (at least for the first part of the Macro). Thus it is far more efficient to put Misery's End first, followed by Bloodletter, followed by either Heavy Shot or Straight Shot, that way you always cast Misery's End if the Enemy is at 20% or less health (Which for most enemies will be a killing shot), and always hit Bloodletter before you start hitting your Global Cooldown attacks. This is way more efficient than trying to hit those abilities between Global Cooldowns, especially as Macro Icons do not demonstrate what abilities are on or off Cooldown.

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Originally Posted by Tharian

Yeah that only eliminates the Recast Timer Error (which is the error you get if you try to cast an ability that is on cooldown). That does nothing for the Error you get when you are trying to activate two or more abilities simultaneously.

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i use this macro all the time and have never gotten an error for trying to activate two or more abilities simultaneously. the only error I've ever gotten is "action is unavailable." and from my understanding of how the macro works, I don't see why you would get an error for activating two or more abilities simultaneously. of course, i'm not a macro master and may not completely understood. so it's possible that you might. I've just never gotten it.

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Originally Posted by Tharian

except that in your case wannabesuperman, that macro will prioritize Straight Shot. Which means that if Straight Shot is not on cooldown it will automatically cast that ability regardless of whether Misery's End or Bloodletter are available...

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You are mostly right. The only thing you're leaving out is that all my attacks are on this style of macro, so Misery's End and Bloodletter have already been used by my Heavy Shot macro.

I know this might sound odd, but Straight Shot should be prioritized before Misery's End or Bloodletter if the GCD is available, which is what this style of macro does.

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Originally Posted by wannabesuperman

This is the style of macro that I use for each BRD attack:

/macroicon "Straight Shot"
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/wait
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

Because all my attacks are configured this way, Misery's End and Bloodletter are always used when they become available.

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so, with that /wait in there, the macro won't try to use those abilities until they become available? even if you're just spamming the button?

also, the error only started one I added miserys end into it. never did it if bloodletter was on cooldown, I'm assuming its because misery's end is literally unavailable unless enemy hp<20%. kind of the same error if you go into a low level dungeon and try using an ability that's higher than the level sync.

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Originally Posted by TurboSol

so, with that /wait in there, the macro won't try to use those abilities until they become available? even if you're just spamming the button?

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I don't spam. I press the button for the attack I want, then the game fires that attack and immediately tries Misery's End and Bloodletter twice. If they are available, they are used. The "wait" just tells it to pause for 1 second, which fits between the GCD perfectly.

This macro won't work well if you spam the buttons.

ah, ok, I get it

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Originally Posted by wannabesuperman

You are mostly right. The only thing you're leaving out is that all my attacks are on this style of macro, so Misery's End and Bloodletter have already been used by my Heavy Shot macro.

I know this might sound odd, but Straight Shot should be prioritized before Misery's End or Bloodletter if the GCD is available, which is what this style of macro does.

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That actually sounds pretty awesome now that you describe it.

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Originally Posted by wannabesuperman

This macro won't work well if you spam the buttons.

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Which is kind of problematic though, since you can't queue these offensive macros like regular skills. If you're not spamming the macros repeatedly and instead waiting for the "right moment" to fire it right after the previous GCD ends you'll eventually waste (fractions of) seconds. I recall reading that the overall difference between hammering macros and using vanilla skills is minuscule, but timing one single button press without the aid of skill queue for every single GCD should, unless I'm mistaken, eventually waste dps.

When you have a macro set say straight shot
Blood letter
Misery's end
All are available... so I press once and S.S. will go off then again blood letter and then throw my dots in and the target is 20% hp ..... If I press that macro again. Will it will it do Misery's end before straight shot and blood lertter? Or just execute in order?

I tried macros when I started as well. The best option is to not use macros if you want to maximize your DPS. Not using macros is also (subjectively) more fun.