Astrologian Draw Macros

I'll be the first to admit the concept of a Draw macro sounds like the most horrible idea ever. I actually thought when I started playing the role- wow watch someone come out with a really rediculous macro that works counter to the entire intent of this ability. And for anyone reading this right now, it's probably that thought that brought you here to see how bad this is.

However, I thought of helpful way these could be used by those new to the AST role, and for party members without AST, to remember what these cards do. An AST and/or their party members might not find this helpful or necessary for long, but since this is seperate from the main Draw command you can choose when to use it vs. not, and when to stop using them altogether.

I'll give an example using one card; the principle is the same for all of them, and I've tested it out:

Name: Bole- Dmg Taken Down
Code:
/macroicon "The Bole"
/ac "Draw" <t>
/p The Bole card played on <t>- damage taken reduced by 10%

The way this works essentially is you use the regular draw command, and then you still have the choice of using Draw again to play the card without using the macro, or you can swap to a crosshotbar (for those of us with controllers) that have the name/icon of the card as the macro name, to remind you of what it does, and then the party text is to let the party member it was cast on know what it does so they can take the most advantage of the situation.

How can you add all those macros to one macro (so it could be on the same buttom with draw)

But... Its not that hard to remember what they do. It took me like 5 minutes. I looked at them, labeled them by colour, went into a fight and pulled Arrow and since its blue I forgot what it did exactly (between that and the Spear), so I checked again and was like "Well, their names make it easy" and since then I've remembered what they all do.

It would be helpful for everyone else who doesn't know, but imo it doesn't really matter because you are playing it on them and they should just accept that.

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Originally Posted by Superlol

How can you add all those macros to one macro (so it could be on the same buttom with draw)

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Actually these are seperate macros (one per card) that are on a seperate crossbar I can flip to really fast. The regular unmacro'd Draw command exists by itself on my main crossbar so I can use it to draw, and then use it again to use the card without having to use one of the macros to use the card if I don't feel like it.

And I agree it's not that hard to remember what these cards do, but I've heard from others who haven't played AST but have run dungeons with one that they seem to get random buffs and don't know what they are. When I did a dungeon as machinist I recognized like The Balance when I had it played on me as Damage Up, or when the Tank had The Bole, but if someone in a party has The Spear or The Arrow played on them and they don't have Astrologer, they probably won't know what that even means or get them mixed up without mousing over the symbol next to their name in combat. I figure eventually what these cards mean will be second nature to Astrologers and people in parties with them and at that point these would become obsolete.

As for how it's helpful to know what's cast on you- if you get the one to make TP cost go down 20% (Spire) you might increase utilization of high TP skills like Wide Volley on bard... or if you get the Spear and know your recast is shortened, might be a good time to use Enkindle on SMN with its long cool-down. So the message that goes to the party for that in the macro I use when I draw the Spear and play it says '... cooldowns on abilities you use during next 15s are 20% shorter'.

And I thought it was a nightmare when I macroed all my mudras... #EpicFail

Well, using macros for the draw skill seems too dificult, but maybe if you use them on that skill that holds the card indefinitely... (I think it's spare or something)

But my advice is: Don't try to make it more complicated than it already is. Macros are there to make it easy...

I was actually thinking of doing at this exact same way, but not for all the cards mainly just The Balance, as there has been a few times where I use it on someone and then it looks like they are taking a break probably not even realizing. So reminding someone like hey I just increased your attack output, I think could be helpful. The Ewer etc I don't think is as important.

not sure how to edit a post from my phone, was going to say I wasn't going to macro the actual draw command though, and instead just have it be a /party notice.

The only macro I made for draw (playing pc)
/micon "Draw"
/ac "Draw" <mo>
/ac "Draw" <me>

So I can easily use cards on myself without having the mouse over the ptlist and still if needed use cards on pt member without deselecting my healing target etc. The only downside to this macro is that if my mouse position isn't correct that I can accidentally use a card on me if I don't want to. But oh well.
I skipped on trying to notify the pt what card is active because I don't think its worth it. (at least not yet)

So I explicitly need to change to a different hot bar for each card?

Would be so much easier if we could write this under the hood.

http://i.imgur.com/WhxemTI.png
Learn it.
Live it.
Love it.

As far as letting your party know what card you've cast on them, it really shouldn't matter to much except for Spear, since they'll know they can use their cooldowns and have a reduced timer on them. Other then that the rest of the cards just add passive bonuses that help out in their normal rotations.

Personally the way I have it is I just use draw etc as normal and I have some chat macros to press, so if I feel like it and I just royal roaded a spear and pulled a balance, I can let them know they now all have 5% damage increase. I think if you want to have something to let the party know it would probably be an idea. :|a

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Healer's motto:

"There's a time to take damage. There's a time to deal it. There's a time to ignore all else and do your best to heal it... Then there's a time to laugh while they all BURN."

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love the siggy

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vid

http://i.imgur.com/WhxemTI.png

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...Except that RRed Arrow and Spear are now double duration and RRed Ewer/Spire are AoE buff...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

...Except that RRed Arrow and Spear are now double duration and RRed Ewer/Spire are AoE buff...

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It's a necro-thread, of sorts ... Not sure why.

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Originally Posted by RichardButte

...Except that RRed Arrow and Spear are now double duration and RRed Ewer/Spire are AoE buff...

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...Except that post was made all the way back in June...

So, I was just curious. Is there a way to macro AST so that when they use Draw for the second time, the macro can incorporate whichever card is drawn into a line of text? for example:

-Draw- "Cards, I call upon you now!"
The Bole

-Draw- "The Bole, I call upon you now!"

Also, if there is a way, could the macro be incorporated into the likes of RR or Spread??

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vid

http://i.imgur.com/WhxemTI.png
Learn it.
Live it.
Love it.

As far as letting your party know what card you've cast on them, it really shouldn't matter to much except for Spear, since they'll know they can use their cooldowns and have a reduced timer on them. Other then that the rest of the cards just add passive bonuses that help out in their normal rotations.

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That royal road effect on spear and ewer has been switched.

*sigh* No.

Don't use macros for your cards, in savage every card is useful, may not look like but with time you know. The best way is call on the voice chat, because the card use depends on the overall situation. So to play Astro well you need some team work.

im not asking about it so that i can alert people to the stat boost the cards give, im asking for pure aesthetic

Can you guys just let this topic die in peace already?

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Originally Posted by Lyrica_Ashtine

Can you guys just let this topic die in peace already?

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Er, no? I have a genuine need to know the information I asked about. I cant find info anywhere so i figured the best place to go would be the ffxiv forum, go figure...