PLD Advice - Skill bloating?

[Noldornir]

I only use 3 Macros in total:

Stance Swap:
/macroicon "shield oath"
/ac "shield oath"
/ac "sword oath"

As stated above WILL work thre's just one Downside and we have to understand ho a Macro Works in order to figure it out:

The Macro will attempt to perform the first command then the second then so on (micon is not accounted since it only gives the macro the wanted icon).

If you have no stance and press the macro:

-You will go into shield oath (first command is shield oath)
-You will enter in a GCD for 2,5 secs
-You will attempt to use sword oath but since there's no WAIT command it will be executed immediatly after the shield oath so can't be performed
RESULT= you will go in shield oath

If you have sword oath and use the macro the same will happen since the first command (shield oath) will also remove sword oath.

If you are already in shield oath:

-The first command will be executed REMOVING THE TANK STANCE (you'll be with no oath for a brief moment)
-Since the first command only deactivated a toogle it won't need a GCD
-Sword oath can be executed

You'll find yourself in sword oath.

DOWNSIDE to be noted:

If you are in shield oath and use the macro you will loose all your oath gauge. So it's better to make use of it beforhand.

You can revert the behaviour reverting the macro but I find this better (I won't loose any gauge when i skip from sword to shield)

Another macro I use is bulwark+anticipation.

Bulwark alone is cool but not that strong, awareness is even worst. If used togheter they are really neat tho!

Bulwark will greatly increas your block rate but critical hits cannot be blocked. Awareness will make you immune to criticals. Works really well where you are going to receive many hits (ex. many many adds, big pulls, etc.).
You could also use awareness+anticipation for a weaker version with a smaller recast time

My third macro is set on the R3 button and it's non skill-related; it marks the enemy i want the DPS to hit with a number.

I wouldn't advise any other macro tho, there are several reasons:

-They are NOT situational

-They do make you loose time (wait command can accept 3 seconds, you loose 0.5 secs/GCD which translates in a free skill every 5)

-They CANT be enqueued (you need to wait your GCD to actually expire while plain skills can be enqueued 0.5 secs before use)

-They DO NOT take into account your positions; how many times do you (let's say) begin a combo, move to avoid boss AOE, wait a sec for said AOE to pass, move back into enemy and END the combo. The macro WOULD try to execute the command while you are far and you'll have to start over again.)

-They can't have in-between skills unless you always perform em (Shield Lob - FLASH -Fast blade - Riot Blade - FLASH - Rage of Halone) is what often happens when pulling a small group. Maybe one DPS got the wrong add (the one you are NOT targetting) maybe the healer casted regen too soon, maybe a ton of reasons sometimes you'll need the second flash (not always). Flash will not interrupt your combo (it will only slows it for the GCD) but in a macro is Always cast or never while you want to decide given from circumstances.

I kinda like that defensive CD macro from Nedkel

/macroicon "sentinel"
/ac "sentinel"
/ac "rampart"
/ac "bulwark"
/ac "convalescence"
/ac "anticipation"

But I would NEVER use it alone REMOVING the skills from my bars (in too many occasions i'll want a specific skill not a random one) and so it's more a tool like "I won't forget to have an oGCD up" button then a "any defensive skill replacement" button IMHO.

[Chrono_Rising]

I kinda like that defensive CD macro from Nedkel


But I would NEVER use it alone REMOVING the skills from my bars (in too many occasions i'll want a specific skill not a random one) and so it's more a tool like "I won't forget to have an oGCD up" button then a "any defensive skill replacement" button IMHO.

Yeah, the problem with this is that if you use it as an extra button, it is literally an extra button duplicating what you already have on your hot bar which adds to the button bloat problem the OP asked about. On its own, this button can cause issues from loss of control. If I need sentinel later but it is currently up and I don't have my solo buttons then the macro will force my sentinel use. If I want something for fluff mitigation but not necessarily need it for a tank buster, I may not want to pop sentinel immediately, and rampart may be better suited for what I'm looking for (20 seconds of fluff). Ordering doesn't help here, in a different order of macro, if Rampart is up and I need sentinel then I'll be forced to pop both blowing both my CD's when I only needed the second. The solution is to use the solo buttons. There are some good macro's, like intervention to your cotank, or shirk to your cotank that make your targeting easier, but in general pairing of abilities does more harm than good.

Right now we have more than enough room with 3 hotbars that have button input patterns to call them up and dismiss them quickly, and I don't think this issue will go away in 5.0 so its probably good practice to start getting use to it.