Need advice from fellow Bards

[Jnjeff]

Hi, I've been playing a bard from the first day of FFXIV. I love playing a range class. Ok, enough of the crap and get to the main point.
I am slowly progressing through coil now, and is currently at T4. I'm wondering if I'm doing anything wrong because I do not want to bring the whole group down just because i sucked.

Here's my macro for all the skills
/ac "Haymaker" <t>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>

/ac "Haymaker" <t>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>

/ac "Haymaker" <t>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Venomous Bite" <t>

/ac "Haymaker" <t>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Wind Bite" <t>

/ac "Hawk's Eye" <me>
/ac "Raging Strikes" <me>
/ac "Blood for Blood" <me>
/ac "Barrage" <me>
/ac "Quelling Strikes" <me>

I spam all buffs before starting my attacks which I read some where, saying that, we should activate 2 buffs, GCD skill, follow by another 2 buffs, and then GCD skill again to get the best out of it.

I noticed that i need some buffs up and some not to at specify phase/time, therefore I will be doing minor adjustments here and there to be able to deal the maximum dps.
Is there anything I should change to improve myself? P.S. I spam/mash buttons rather than waiting for 2.5sec GCD

[pandabearcat]

Please read the macro thread here:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...8051-BRD-macro

It is literally on the front page D=

[Jnjeff]

Please read the macro thread here:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...8051-BRD-macro

It is literally on the front page D=

I've read all pages of the thread, I just need advice on how/what to do to improve.
Its ok now, I've done lots of changes to my set up and tried on training dummies. I will try it out myself. Thanks for your reply.

[KaosKeith]

Get ride of haymaker because as a ranged dps you should not be getting hit by anything so having a skill that relies on dodge is pretty useless. also some people complaining that using macros can slow down their dps due to some stutter or lag thing. if this happens to you you may want to rethink your macros or not use them. for some extra burst dps you can use dex potions. as for turn 4 you should really come up with a strategy with your group.

[Anonydort]

here's better advice: don't use macros and git gud

[Garnatian]

Never use macros.

Outside pure utility macros, they are not worth using.

[Kakaarato]

Never use macros.

Outside pure utility macros, they are not worth using.

Don't listen to this guy. I pill out 200+ DPS on t4 as brd and I use macros oh yea amd on a controller . But yeah get rid of haymaker and have mantra and second wind in there.

[saber_alter]

my macros:
/macroicon bloodletter
/ac bloodletter <t>
/ac "Misery's end" <t>
/ac "heavy shot" <t>
self explanatory.

/macroicon barrage
/ac "internal release" <me>
/ac barrage <me>
(barrage + release is awesome)

/macroicon "hawk's eye"
/ac "raging strikes" <me>
/ac "hawk's eye" <me>
(you normally use these at the same time, so why not.)

/macroicon "second wind"
/ac "featherfoot" <me>
/ac "second wind" <me>
(holy s*** macro)

/macricon "repelling shot"
/ac "repelling shot" <t>
/ac "shadowbind" <t>
(follow a retreat with a bind, or bind something without retreating)

i would get rid of haymaker though. its pretty useless for bards.

(use blood for blood, invigorate, featherfoot, second wind, internal release. featherfoot can be switched out for feint or mantra)

[Thailer]

Don't listen to this guy. I pill out 200+ DPS on t4 as brd and I use macros oh yea amd on a controller . But yeah get rid of haymaker and have mantra and second wind in there.

I second this minus the controller part

[Garnatian]

Don't listen to this guy. I pill out 200+ DPS on t4 as brd and I use macros oh yea amd on a controller . But yeah get rid of haymaker and have mantra and second wind in there.

Ignorance at its finest.

All macros do is decrease your DPS. This is absolute fact. Their only purpose is to help those who aren't good enough to manage their abilities without them.

Macros, unlike regular abilities cannot be queued. When you use a skill approx. 0.5s before the ability is ready to be used, it is queued up by the server and when the ability is capable of being used, it is used instantly. A macro on the other hand cannot be queued, meaning your ability isn't used until the button press following the ability being used, which is susceptible to lag etc. This means you will miss out on quite a few GCDs worth of abilities in every boss fight.