Macro's...how to use...

[MikoMiy]

so i know they make comboing easyer
but i dont know how to get them up.. so if i could get some good marco set ups that would be grate something i could possably just copy and past over would be better thank you

[Bixby]

Some things to be aware of with the macros in this game (which are honestly not that great).

First, the text command glossary, so you know where to look for specifics.

Second, macros can make things easier, yes, but I'd highly recommend not using them for combos. In order to do that, for pretty much every class, you have to put /waits or <waits> (same thing, different syntax) in between each skill, and the macro system only handles whole seconds. (Either syntax will accept decimals, but /wait rounds them and <wait> truncates them.) With a base GCD of 2.5 seconds (lowered by skill/spell speed), that means the best you can do with macros is a 3-second wait, so you're building lowered DPS into those combos if you use macros. You also end up screwing yourself via inflexibility; Fire a macro, boss goes invulnerable, your macro keeps going, trying the next two skills, which is a waste.

Third, you can only ever have one macro running at a time. If you fire one macro, and it has a /wait in it, and you fire a second macro of any kind during that wait, your first macro is stopped wherever it is. It's even possible for a macro to interrupt itself, even without /waits, if you're spamming it enough and latency and circumstance align correctly; this is usually not a problem, but if it's really important to use CDs in a certain order, the CD-stacking type macro I post below can be problematic.

All that being said, there are a few common uses for macros outside of using them for combos.

One is communication, telling your party when you've used an important CD. The usefulness of this varies; if you're using a stun just for extra DPS on a boss where no one cares about stuns, it can get annoying seeing it pop up in chat every single time; but if you're part of a stun rotation, it's more important

/micon "Blunt Arrow"
/ac "Blunt Arrow" <t>
/p Just used Blunt Arrow on <t>!

Another is stacking all your off-GCD damage/defense buffs on one button. The way these work is that it will use the first ability that's available each time you press it. So if you use all your buffs at once, you can just spam the button until they're all up. If you use them one at a time, in between GCD moves, you hit it in between GCD moves until you see one buff pop up, then move on, and so on. The big disadvantages here are that you can't choose a specific buff at a specific time, and you can only see the icon for one of them, so you need somewhere else to track the other CDs. (Rearrange these in whatever priority order you want.)

/micon "Raging Strikes"
/ac "Raging Strikes"
/ac "Blood For Blood"
/ac "Internal Release"
/ac "Hawk's Eye"

Another that's ARC/BRD specific that a lot of people do is for getting lazy about Misery's End and Bloodletter. It's another spam-until-it-goes button, where it uses Misery's End if it's availble, Bloodletter if it's available, then the off-GCD move in question.

/micon "Heavy Shot"
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>

The idea is to do this for every one of your GCD attacks, so that whatever GCD attack you're using, you'll spam it and ME/BL will fire first. Be aware that if you can reliably hit those two skills on their own, this is a DPS loss vs. just doing it yourself. First, because you'll run into situations where both ME and BL are available, and the macro will make you use ME > BL > Heavy Shot, where the optimal use is ME > Heavy Shot > BL. Second, because macros can not queue the way raw abilities can. You can hit a raw ability from the spellbook around half a second early, at it will queue up and go off right on time. Macros can't do that, so you have to spam the button to get it to activate as close to the CD as possible, and it'll always be <your latency> late. This isn't nearly as bad a DPS loss as macroing combos on other classes, though.

If you want more specific suggestions, I'd say just google for "FFXIV <insert job here> macros" and see what other people are doing. Just be aware of the limitations of the system and what you're trading off for any convenience/ease you end up with.

[vanityobscene]

I see your main class is a Bard. Bards are, in my opinion, THE macro class because they can get away with macroing a bit more than others.

First thing's first, macro all of your buff cooldowns and set up a bar that shows them individually so you can see which are ready and which aren't. After a while you'll grow to know when each are ready regardless of this separate bar. But honestly, your buffs don't need to be spread out if you have them in the right order and cycle them.

Here's my macro:
/macroicon "Internal Release"
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
/ac "Raging Strikes" <me>
/ac "Hawk's Eye" <me>
/ac "Barrage" <me>
/ac "Featherfoot" <me>

Only ever spam this macro if there is a DPS race and you need Internal Release (for the crit) and Raging Strikes and Hawk's Eye for the damage boost. Any other time you should cycle them one at a time. What I mean by that is hit it, wait till it clocks off, hit it again, repeat. So it should be IR then RS then HE then Barrage and by the time you're done IR should be ready again. Hawk's Eye may come back on before Raging Strikes depending on what you do. This is fine. Also note that Internal Release and Featherfoot are both carried over from Pugilist. Featherfoot isn't that useful, but can be handy in a bind when you need to kite.

Next your attacks.
/macroicon "Straight Shot"
/ac "Straight Shot" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

/macroicon "Heavy Shot"
/ac "Heavy Shot" <t>
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

Other Note: Misery's End always goes before Bloodletter, this is because Bloodletter has an animation that lags you. Besides, Misery's End has higher potency and should always take priority over Bloodletter.

What both of these macros do is let you use SS and HS normally, while activating Bloodletter and Misery's End whenever they're available. Bloodletter should account for almost 50% of your attacks if you keep your DoTs (Venemous Bite and Windbite) up at all times. Don't macro your dots. There's no point.

A useful macro for Bards (or any ranged dps class that's still learning the ropes) is target assist.
/as <f>

For that to work you need to focus target the tank, and from there hit that macro and you'll automatically target the tank's target. This helps you refrain from missing the correct target but becomes less useful toward endgame.

As a bard, on any mob of three or less, you should be using your DoTs on everything to maximise your damage over time. Don't worry about the tank, they should be able to hold threat. Having dots up on all of the mobs means that your bloodletter is available more often as well. So dot 1, 2, 3, then go back to one and reapply dots. If a tank marks a target, dot once, then focus down the primary. Anymore than 3 and that's AOE territory. Wide Volley, then Rain of Death or Quick Nock if they come up. Flaming Arrow is always good to drop on a mob. Don't worry about TP, you have a song for that, but do make sure you keep straight shot up at all times for the crit chance.

Finally, do not try to macro Shadowbind or Blunt Arrow, but learn when to use them. Shadowbind is useful if your tank loses hate to a healer and you need to stop a mob from attacking them. Blunt Arrow is to silence and interrupts casts, but not skills. Eg. in TBCOB: Turn 1, Blunt Arrow stops the move High Voltage on the ADS.

Once you've made all of your macros you need to set them to your hotbars, which is as simple as dragging and dropping the icons. Straight Shot, Heavy Shot, Venomous Bite and Windbite should be grouped close, then blunt arrow, then your buff macro.

Your AOE damage attacks need no macros, and neither do your songs.

Addendum: Don't be fased about getting Blood For Blood, I haven't bothered with it and my DPS comes out a head and shoulders above my companion Bards. Good bard DPS comes down to knowing how to maximise your skills to the fullest and blood for blood is non-essential.

[MikoMiy]

thank you all for all the info

[BatHead]

I have a question. how essential are macros? Can I get away without using them?

[vanityobscene]

I have a question. how essential are macros? Can I get away without using them?

Macros are an aid more than a staple. Many people advise against using macros no matter your class. Bards are an exception to that rule because macros streamline their DPS which lets you focus on your movement and support skills more.

Buff macros are a good idea a lot of the time, just because they take that part out of the thought process. You can get away without using any macros if that's what you prefer. There's no problem if you don't like them.

While macros can be beneficial, the more you use macros the less adaptable your rotations are. So personally I think, depending on your class, there is a balance between usefulness and adaptability.

For example my Summoner, I use a buff macro, a macro for Pet AoE damage to happen when I use Bane, and have Garuda's "Contagion" macrod to Bio so that my DoT length gets extended when available. Or as I illustrated above, my Bard has a few macros but the bulk of the abilities are not macrod (i.e. the songs, the AoEs, Blunt Arrow and Shadowbind).

[Bixby]

I have a question. how essential are macros? Can I get away without using them?

Partly it depends on the class and your control scheme. Between my Warrior and Monk, I only have one macro: to announce when I'm using Provoke on Warrior. And honestly, that's not necessary for like 90% of fights.

On my healers, I use target-of-target macros for my damage spells so I can keep my party members targeted and still toss out some damage when I'm not healing. I could just switch targets back and forth; the GCD really does leave enough time. But it's so much less hassle not to have to.

But I'm using a razer nostromo and a logitech g600 mouse, so I have keybinds like crazy, and I don't have trouble hitting the things I need when I need them. Under a more limited control scheme, or with other constraints, macros might be more worthwhile.

I look at it like this: If you can do it (whatever "it" is) reliably and accurately without a macro, you're probably better off that way. If you can't get it right for whatever reason, and a macro helps you get it right, macro it up.

Macros do a bit more than just combat stuff, though, too. I've got macros to swap around hotbars just to save space (I have 3 hotbars for the gear sets for all jobs, but only 1 hotbar visible at any time), one to hide/display HUD elements (I really don't need to see my duty list or inventory grid or gil or XP bar when I'm fighting a boss), etc. Again, not essential, but daggum handy.

[ROFL-kopter89]

Some macros are really useful, especially for healers. Such as:

/micon "Raise"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/wait 1
/ac "Raise" <t>
/p Raising <t>, Swiftcast used <se.2>

Uses Swiftcast, then Raise (or use Resurrect for SCH/SMN) and tells the other Healer you've raised and used your Swiftcast.
My Benediction is set to a macro too, just so the other Healer knows I've used my big heal and they don't need to heal that person for the time being.
One macro I've found useful lately is:
/p <mp> mp remaining, Mage's Ballad please!
Shows the party how much mp I have left and requests MB from a BRD. Saves me having to take my eye off the party to type asking for Ballad.

For my BRD, Blunt Shot is on macro for coil so any other BRD knows I've used my silence.

They can be useful in situations, but the majority of the time it's just better to use the skills manually. The Heavy Shot/Bloodletter/Misery's End combo macro for BRD is just lazy xD

[Naryoril]

I have a question. how essential are macros? Can I get away without using them?

In this game the question isn't "Can i get away without using macros?" but "With how many macros can i get away?" Some macros are good for convenience (for example protect and stoneskin on the first 4 members of a party), some can save you a slot or two on the hotbar (for example for monk switching between Fists of Earth and Fists of Fire), but the rest hampers your flexibility too much imo. Saving space on the hotbar is more of an issue when you are playing with a controller.