Some suggestions, mostly quality of life, obvious things

[Camate]

Hello,

I have yet another helping of UI comments from lead Hiroshi Minagawa to share with you all.

• Macros
  
  

  Please make it so we can indicate up to the second decimal place for macro /wait times.

  From a technological standpoint, this is possible to implement. Actually, up until midway through the Beta Test, it was possible to indicate up to the first decimal place. However, for the initial phases of FFXIV: ARR's operation, we decided to lower the degree of accuracy on this.
  
  The reason being that there was a concern that the convenience would exceed the purpose of the macro feature.
  
  Here is the macro feature policy for FFXIV:

  1. Do not make it so macros must be used.
  2. Minimizing and optimizing actions without error beyond that of human control is not allowed.
  3. Make it a support feature that can be used by people that are a bit shaky at controlling the game to ensure control, while not making it 100% optimized.
  4. The player makes the execution decision. We will not be implementing a feature where the macros makes its own decisions. For example: We will not be implementing a feature that executes things based on certain criteria (player status, enemy HP, certain actions, etc.)

  Due to the above reasoning, we limited the degree of accuracy for the wait times.
  
  Of course, there are games where the policies outlined above differ*, but we felt that this policy is the best for the current XIV.
  
  Naturally this doesn't mean that we keep it the way it is forever. We'll continue to make adjustments as we keep an eye on the situations happening in PvP and large-scale instanced raids, so please just keep the above policy in mind when offering feedback and making requests.
  
  *For example, we won't be having a gambit system like what was in FINAL FANTASY XII. The aims between the automated strategy system for XII and the control support macro feature of XIV are totally different.
• Submenu commands
  
  

  The order of the submenu options for inventory and the armory chest are different when the items can and cannot have materia melded to them, and it's easy to make mistakes. Could you make them all the same?

  We plan to make adjustments to the display order of subcommands sequentially and this will not only be limited to the materia aspect you pointed out.
  
  In regards to the grayed out display of commands, for MMOs, the below are mixed for the determination as to whether a command can be executed or not:

  • Commands that can only be decided on the client-side.
  • Commands that cannot be properly decided unless it's on the server-side.

  Thus, there are both commands that can be grayed out and those that cannot.
  
  We need the program to process all of the commands individually, and since it would be difficult to address every existing subcommand by patch 2.1 (there are more subcommands that will be implemented as well), we will be handling this sequentially. We understand the issue, but please give us a bit of time until we can address this.
• Cross hotbar and PS3 controls
  
  

  When I'm quickly using actions I set on the cross hotbar's direction pad, there are often times where when the action succeeds I target myself at the same time. The reason for this seems to be that depending on the timing, one press of the direction keys will sometimes be input as 2. Could you please make it so this does not happen?

  The reason for this is that there is a directional key repeat set when normally controlling in 3D, so this inevitably occurs due to the fact that it was programmed simply. Because of this, the phenomenon you have pointed out only occurs with the directional buttons and not the circle, square, triangle, and X buttons.
  
  In order to eliminate this issue, we need to add another button interpretation layer to the determination process. The XHB controls have a toggle mode and mixed mode, and the determination conditions are extremely complex, so there is concern about bugs if this is not adjusted extremely carefully. Once the work load for patch 2.1 has calmed down for the input lead, we will begin looking into ways to address this.
  
  *There is of course the method of placing a "stop directional key repeating" setting in the configuration, but we'd like to avoid this.
  

  Can you please make it so we can turn off actions for the L3 and R3 buttons for the PS3 controller?

  This has already been implemented on the development version of the game, so please hang in there until patch 2.1.
• Equipment comparison
  
  

  It's really hard to compare the stats of equipment I'm wearing and other equipment. Can you please make it so we can see the stats of both?

  Yes, we will be adding this feature.
  We'd like to implement this in patch 2.1, but there is a possibility that it will be pushed to patch 2.2.
  
  With the item sort feature that will be implemented in patch 2.1, it will be much easier than now to compare the item details, so there is a possibility that we prioritize other features first.
• LS, FC, and friend name plates
  
  

  Could you make it possible to change the color of the name plates for friends, LS members, and FC members?

  Amongst the information that is transmitted from the server to each character, there is no information included that determines members of the same FC or LS, so currently we cannot make the information for characters that should have their name plate colors changed client-side based only.
  
  *As there would be a fluctuation of areas where what each player is doing is not related to FC or LS members, we would need to have the game determine the information transmitted from the server. While it would be possible for the client to recognize those on your friends list and black list through indirect name matching, there is a concern for lag while in towns.
  
  While we could address this by adding this information to the information that is transmitted for characters displayed on your map, this would increase the amount of information transmitted from the zone servers and is tied to the overall performance of the game. As we are placing a heavy emphasis currently on program speed and stability, we cannot look into this and other transmitted information expansion just yet.
  
  We will be analyzing the stress trends of operational data a bit more and once we proceed with counter measures for this we can start looking at these requests.

[Eekiki]

When I'm quickly using actions I set on the cross hotbar's direction pad, there are often times where when the action succeeds I target myself at the same time. The reason for this seems to be that depending on the timing, one press of the direction keys will sometimes be input as 2. Could you please make it so this does not happen?

Good to know I'm not the only person that this happens to. It always happens at the worst times, like when I'm off-tanking Garuda and trying to quickly target and pull her red line add.

[Zfz]

Regarding item compare:

With the item sort feature that will be implemented in patch 2.1, it will be much easier than now to compare the item details, so there is a possibility that we prioritize other features first.

To Mr. Minagawa:

Are you even serious? So many players asking for this since beta. Probably since alpha even. And you still think we don't know what we want. It's no priority?

How does item sort ever help with comparing what I'm wearing to an item in my bag? I still have to move my mouse between the two places, or I still have to remember 6 stats at a glance and then find the one item I want to compare to, and add/subtract the 6 stats.

Please reconsider your priority on this. Unless you have tried leveling 3 combat classes at the same time with 2 other classes at different levels and GREEDed gear for different levels.

Or even better: tell me how item sort even helps at all when I try to compare the gear I'm currently wearing to the gear that an NPC in front of me is selling.

Please put parallel item examination/comparison in 2.1. Or at least incorporate all stats (instead of just basic armor values) in all gear item tooltips.

[Cabalabob]

• Macros
  
  

This is a shame, I personally only want to see decimals in macros for my combos, I use the cross hotbar and it gets really cluttered with my skill/spells/abilities so I really want to make macros to cut some of the clutter. But losing .5 seconds per skill/spell is a really big loss when you think about it.

For example my PLD, on the cross hot bar I get 4 slots taken up setting fast blade, savage blade, rage of halone and riot blade. If I had macros I could cut this down to 2 slots (halone combo and riot combo). But I don't have macros because i have to set /wait 3 instead of /wait 2.5. meaning im losing .5 seconds on the halone combo per skill so 1 second over all. If I do the halone combo 5 times per battle (not an unreasonable assumption). I'm losing 5 seconds. That's 2 more halone combos I could have performed if I'd been able to add decimals to macros.

[KittenJitsu]

For example my PLD, on the cross hot bar I get 4 slots taken up setting fast blade, savage blade, rage of halone and riot blade. If I had macros I could cut this down to 2 slots (halone combo and riot combo). But I don't have macros because i have to set /wait 3 instead of /wait 2.5. meaning im losing .5 seconds on the halone combo per skill so 1 second over all. If I do the halone combo 5 times per battle (not an unreasonable assumption).

I am not sure why it is not working at 2.5 seconds for you, but my macro for 2.5s works just fine. Let's say, however, if my GCD is 2.48 seconds then my macro will not register the .48. It must be 2.5. I believe that is what he was talking about. People want to set macro /wait timers to .00 decimal so the macro will register the .48. What some players may not realize is that macro execution is slower than humans. So even if the macro is set up exactly right, your reaction will always be faster than the macros. They did this on purpose so you have to be more involved than macro spamming like in WoW.

In conclusion macros are still very useful and will clear up a lot of your hotkey slots. For example as a PLD you have 7-10 defense buffs at end-game. To easily clear this up you can create one macro to cast all 7 buffs in one slot. I personally do this and love it. I also have a macro set up so when I cast fast blade I will cast Fight or Flight or bloodbath after a .5 second delay. Macro is a life savior for OCD organizational purposes.

[IgnatiusCrumwald]

This is a shame, I personally only want to see decimals in macros for my combos, I use the cross hotbar and it gets really cluttered with my skill/spells/abilities so I really want to make macros to cut some of the clutter. But losing .5 seconds per skill/spell is a really big loss when you think about it.

I have found ways around this but I'm not sharing because, PvP is coming and I like to have slight advantages.

The solution is super facepalm simple, once you figure it out.

[Soukyuu]

From a technological standpoint, this is possible to implement. Actually, up until midway through the Beta Test, it was possible to indicate up to the first decimal place. However, for the initial phases of FFXIV: ARR's operation, we decided to lower the degree of accuracy on this.

The reason being that there was a concern that the convenience would exceed the purpose of the macro feature.

Here is the macro feature policy for FFXIV:
Do not make it so macros must be used.
Minimizing and optimizing actions without error beyond that of human control is not allowed.
Make it a support feature that can be used by people that are a bit shaky at controlling the game to ensure control, while not making it 100% optimized.
The player makes the execution decision. We will not be implementing a feature where the macros makes its own decisions. For example: We will not be implementing a feature that executes things based on certain criteria (player status, enemy HP, certain actions, etc.)
Due to the above reasoning, we limited the degree of accuracy for the wait times.

Of course, there are games where the policies outlined above differ*, but we felt that this policy is the best for the current XIV.

Naturally this doesn't mean that we keep it the way it is forever. We'll continue to make adjustments as we keep an eye on the situations happening in PvP and large-scale instanced raids, so please just keep the above policy in mind when offering feedback and making requests.

*For example, we won't be having a gambit system like what was in FINAL FANTASY XII. The aims between the automated strategy system for XII and the control support macro feature of XIV are totally different.

While I understand the reasoning behind that, it's still quite silly the macro system is not in sync with the default GCD of the game. At least make it 0.5s accuracy, since that will only make it execute skills asap on default 2.5s GCD. Having to lose more than 0.5s on macros makes them useless for most scenarios (e.g. a quick raise without having to waste a second slot for Swiftcast on a gamepad)

[Haibel]

Please make it so we can indicate up to the second decimal place for macro /wait times.

From a technological standpoint, this is possible to implement. Actually, up until midway through the Beta Test, it was possible to indicate up to the first decimal place. However, for the initial phases of FFXIV: ARR's operation, we decided to lower the degree of accuracy on this.

The reason being that there was a concern that the convenience would exceed the purpose of the macro feature.

Here is the macro feature policy for FFXIV:

Do not make it so macros must be used.
Minimizing and optimizing actions without error beyond that of human control is not allowed.
Make it a support feature that can be used by people that are a bit shaky at controlling the game to ensure control, while not making it 100% optimized.
The player makes the execution decision. We will not be implementing a feature where the macros makes its own decisions. For example: We will not be implementing a feature that executes things based on certain criteria (player status, enemy HP, certain actions, etc.)

Due to the above reasoning, we limited the degree of accuracy for the wait times.

Of course, there are games where the policies outlined above differ*, but we felt that this policy is the best for the current XIV.

Naturally this doesn't mean that we keep it the way it is forever. We'll continue to make adjustments as we keep an eye on the situations happening in PvP and large-scale instanced raids, so please just keep the above policy in mind when offering feedback and making requests.

*For example, we won't be having a gambit system like what was in FINAL FANTASY XII. The aims between the automated strategy system for XII and the control support macro feature of XIV are totally different.

Add-on's can't get here soon enough then. This is totally the wrong approach. XI's macros were too limited, so in came windower
that took up for the slack. Something SE couldn't do anything about unless they wanted to ban 50% of the playerbase.
The macro lines are not so limited in this game, which is a good thing; However, this policy isn't even consistent across all classes in the game.
pug/mnk do not need to put in wait times because all their actions are dependent on other actions. they can just list their actions in series and
spam a button. The whole point for many of us is to consolidate actions, not automate.

[Volkai]

Hello,

I have yet another helping of UI comments from lead Hiroshi Minagawa to share with you all.

• Macros
  
  

Considering the way the game has changed and grown in the years since this, I have to wonder if it might be fine for /wait or <wait.n> to now recognize tenths of a second, if it doesn't already? (And I'm having difficulty finding if this has ever changed.) Not being able to do so puts anyone relying on macros at a strong disadvantage when using skill speed or spell speed as part of their gear.