Black Mage Help

Ok so I'm new to FFARR and I just unlocked my black Mage. I want to make macros a set for casting fire and a set for casting blizzard spells because I feel like it'll help me pay more attention to what's going on around me. Because right now all I can do is watch my hotbar and I miss out on everything around me. So I was wondering if someone could help me by making macros for it. I don't really understand how macros work. So if anyone has the time and wants to help I'd really appreciate it. Thank you.

Ehh....you really can't have macros to do your whole rotation for you. Macros are really only good for stringing together 2 or 3 actions and maybe some CDs in with them. For example, the only macro I have for my BLM is Flare-->Convert-->Swiftcast-->Flare. Other than that everything else is easily manageable on your own.

If you're having issues not taking your eyes off your hotbar, try moving it towards the top of your screen so you're staring straight ahead rather than down. Though quite honestly, at this point in the game you should be used to what keys to push without having to look and roughly how many Fire 1s it takes before you Tranpose/Blizzard 3.

Practice on some Training Dummys if it helps!

In general i avoid macros and sometimes they do not go off as well.
Only blm macro i use is for Aetherial Manipulation which at the top of my head cannot recall the code.
Aetherial Manipulation is great for when you do for instance T5 or even a certain mini boss in Halatili Hm that has a huge cone attack.
I will try and post tomorrow for you

a macro for Aetherial Manipulation, if i remember correctly how i've done mine, would be

Quote:

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/micon "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" <n>

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where "n" stands for any number from 2 to 8, that is the position order on your party list.
not 1, unless you want to teleport on yourself D:

as for other macros, there's not so much you can do as a BLM...
maybe you can macro together E4E and Virus, but apart from this one, I don't think BLMs really need macros.

anyway, what do you mean by "a set for casting fire", what did you have in mind?

the only thing that can help you, is playing the job.
you'll know how many fire spells you can cast until you run out of mana, you'll know how duty works, so you'll know when to move for an incoming AOE...

I don't use many on BLM but maybe this will help a bit to get you started.

If making a macro for a skill or ability use /micon "insertspellorabilityhere" <- this will use the icon of the ability or spell you are macroing so you can watch its CD.

/ac "x" <t><wait.x>

The above will use what ever action, /ac, you put as "x" on your target, <t>, follow by a wait, <wait.x>. The x in the <wait.x> represents seconds, so <wait.3> will tell your macro to wait 3 seconds

ex:
/micon "Atherial Manipulation"
/ac "Atherial Manipulation" <4><wait.2>
/ac "Manaward"<wait.1>
/ac "Manawall"

The above macro will use the icon and CD timer for Atherial manipulation. It will use Atherial Manipulation to get you to player 4 in your party list(with /psort or /partysort it puts the healers as player 3-5 depending on the duty), then it waits 2 seconds and uses manaward, waits a second then uses manawall.

This is just an example. You can look here for more >> CLICKY << or .... >> HERE <<

Hope it's not too confusing.

Syn


+1 to Defteros for beating me to the punch! ^.^

In BLM's case, if even one thing happens that throws off your Ice or Fire stacks (Primal leaving screen, for example) a macro would only be a hinderance as you would be forced to restart your entire rotation from the top rather than making, say, one or two moves. I have aetherial manipulation macroed but that's pretty much it. For most of my buffs I have them on a shared hotbar that I access through R2+L2 iirc, with all of my offensive Cooldowns being on my main hotbar. (Ps3 user)

The only macros you should be using on blackmage are simple utility macros. You don't need any crazy macros for swift-cast or flare or any of that seeing as everything is situational. You need to get in the habit of pressing your keys and know where everything is on your hot-bar. Luckly blackmage is one of the easier classes to play and learn.

Aetherial Manipulation - This macro lets you mouse over to a specific player, or always travel to a healer.

/micon "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" >mo>
/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" <4>

Eye for an Eye - This macro lets you cast eye for an eye on your main tank without having to target him/her.

/macroicon "Eye for an Eye"
/ac "Eye for an Eye" <tt>
/p Eye for an Eye Cast on <tt>

Thunder II - This macro allows you to either cast thunder II or thunder depending on how much MP you have at the end of a rotation. It's used so that you cast thunder regardless of your MP if it happens to be to low for thunder II.

/macroicon "Thunder II"
/ac "Thunder II" <t>
/ac "Thunder" <t>

I disagree with any macros using damage skills. It will slow your dps in best cases, and in worst cases you will straight up die. The SMN in my old static was using macros, until he started dying to blighted every time due to macros.

Utility macros as listed above are OK, but don't try to macro fire/ice rotations.

Don't use macros with wait times in them for any DoW/DoM.

If you have limited space and want to consolidate due to gamepad/controller, I combine swift cast and sleep, raging and quelling, blizzard 3 and transpose, scathe and lethargy, all 3 thunders.

Also, I have a hotbar across the top of my screen with all my cds on it, just so I can see what's up at any given time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xlree

/macroicon "Eye for an Eye"
/ac "Eye for an Eye" <tt>
/p Eye for an Eye Cast on <tt>

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This, and a similar one for Pasta Stasis, are the only macros I use on my blm, though I leave out the /p and add a <t> version in the line after the <tt> version, so I can do either option of putting it on the target of the mob I'm attacking or throw it on a specific target by targeting them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Aurelle_Delacroix

If you're having issues not taking your eyes off your hotbar, try moving it towards the top of your screen so you're staring straight ahead rather than down.

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I think there was a HUD thread around before but I've noticed that a lot of players have their hotbars set up so they make kind of "U" in the lower center of the screen. It means they have to be watching what is going on and all the buttons are clustered near each other. I think this assumes you are clicking on the skills though. That obviously wouldn't work with the crossbars and would take a lot of time to set up to use with hotkeys.