In FFXI there was a huge list of spells that you had to choose from if you did not use macros. As a WHM it was highly inefficient. The macros solved that.

In FFXIV it is more efficient to not use macros than in FFXI, but it still sucks because of the AOE question popping up. Macros solve this.

When you macro a spell, even if you don't specify "/aoe" on or "/aoe off," your character starts casting the spell and the annoying green button doesn't come up. That button is for point-and-clickers that haven't figured out that the only way to do well as a mage in FFXIV and FFXI is to set up macros. Why is this such a point of contention?

My friends and I party together to fight mobs that are quite a bit higher than us most of the time (2 CON, 1 MRD). Usually we keep AOE off because we don't want to fight more than one thing at a time. However, sometimes another monster aggros us. If sleep doesn't work, we put AOE on and keep it on until one of the monsters is defeated. Because of this, I like AOE.

Now, my macros are not efficient. They can have up to 10 lines each but my longest ones are 3 lines because I don't want to get caught in the middle of a long macro in a battle. My Fire II macro is /ac "Fire II" <t>. That's it, no AOE specification. I would rather see a "Shift" line of macros because in battle, and in dealing with impatient Marauders when buffing, the most important thing is casting your spells quickly.

Even though my macros are wholly inefficient, I still smile every time I cast a spell with them and don't see that blasted green button.