sooo /Castsequence?

[KagatoAC]

I've been playing this game since the Beta and very very rarely do I use Macros. but I wanted to make a couple for an experiment, only to discover that there is no version of /castsequence or anything like it that I can find except the horrible /wait.

is there any kind of a workaround? or a reason why the ability is not in?

in case you don't know what it does in WoW, you use cast sequence when you want abilities to go off in a specific order, but only as you press the button.

[Squintina]

I've been playing this game since the Beta and very very rarely do I use Macros. but I wanted to make a couple for an experiment, only to discover that there is no version of /castsequence or anything like it that I can find except the horrible /wait.

is there any kind of a workaround? or a reason why the ability is not in?

in case you don't know what it does in WoW, you use cast sequence when you want abilities to go off in a specific order, but only as you press the button.

No, you'll need to use wait. However, you don't have to use /wait. They added the ability to put wait in the same line as the action.
ex: /action Swiftcast <me> <wait.1>

[KagatoAC]

yeah unfortunately /wait doesn't seem to work anywhere near fast enough, there appears to be no way to shorten the time between actions as it rounds it off automatically.

[Saevel]

The macro system is intentionally not as programmatic as WoW. You can automate a few actions, but it will never "play the game for you." The devs posted their internal design principles for macro creation at some point and a lot of them seemed to be centered around avoiding commands that included some logic or automated decision-making on the client.

The only real options you have at the moment are to write something that is always executed from top to bottom, with a wait command to handle the GCD if necessary.

[Myrhn]

The macro system we have here is the same system as the macros in FFXI, not surprise.

[Squintina]

Just adding. The other option, if you're doing a sequence where skills are disabled due to CD, then you can sort of do cast sequence.

Like if you have
skill 1 (high cd)
skill 2 (slightly lower cd)
skill 3

(with NO <wait> or /wait)

Then if you use the macro with skill 1, if you use the macro again while its cd is up, it will obviously fail to do skill 1 and do skill 2.
Likewise if both skill 1 and skill 2 are under cd, using the macro again will only do skill 3. And if all 3 skills are available (no CD), then it would only do skill 1 because of the lack of a wait making the other 2 skills not act due to GCD.

So..if you found a sequence like that, you can sort of imitate the /castsequence macro as long as cds are manageable.

[KagatoAC]

I vaguely remember having some fairly detailed macros for my Red Mage back in FFXI, like changing gear, convert, cure III, divine seal etc. and I don't remember the horrible wait times, but it could just be 10+ year old rose colored glasses

either way I'll make do, I just keep praying for some expansions of the system.

[Niwashi]

I've heard of some players setting up something like this by swapping out the entire hotbar. Use some extra hotbars that aren't needed (like some of the later hotbars for DoL classes) to store multiple versions of your main hotbar that vary only on a single slot. For instance, setting BTN hotbars 5, 6, and 7 up to mirror your hotbar 1 skills for one of your battle classes. BTN hotbar 5 would have a macro in slot 1 saying use skill A and then copy BTN hotbar 6 onto your main hotbar. On that one, the same slot has a macro saying to use skill B and then copy BTN hotbar 7 onto your main hotbar. That one in turn has it use skill C and then swap back to the original hotbar as stored on BTN 5.

That approach does take care of making the same button iterate over different skills in order. It has some drawbacks, though, in the fact that it cannot alter that pattern. If one of your skills fails to land, so the next skill in the sequence doesn't proc, your hotbar still switches to that next skill regardless. It's why I've never used this pattern myself (well, that and the fact that it seems like a pain to set up in the first place).

[radioactive_lego]

I've heard of some players setting up something like this by swapping out the entire hotbar. Use some extra hotbars that aren't needed (like some of the later hotbars for DoL classes) to store multiple versions of your main hotbar that vary only on a single slot. For instance, setting BTN hotbars 5, 6, and 7 up to mirror your hotbar 1 skills for one of your battle classes. BTN hotbar 5 would have a macro in slot 1 saying use skill A and then copy BTN hotbar 6 onto your main hotbar. On that one, the same slot has a macro saying to use skill B and then copy BTN hotbar 7 onto your main hotbar. That one in turn has it use skill C and then swap back to the original hotbar as stored on BTN 5.

.... hotbar still switches to that next skill regardless. It's why I've never used this pattern myself (well, that and the fact that it seems like a pain to set up in the first place).

Right on the money.
To be clear, here's how you set that up, assuming you want your skill chain or cast sequence to be on your "x" button on your controller. For the purposes of this example I'll use the PLD aggro skill chain.

step 1: Make yor #1 hotbar just the way you like it, but leaving the "X" spot blank for that skill chain.*
step 2: Use the command line "/chotbar copy current 1 current 2"
step 3: Use the command line "/chotbar copy current 1 current 3"
step 4: Make the following macro in the user macro section:

a.
/micon "fast blade"
/ac "fast blade"
/chotbar change 2

b.
/micon "savage blade"
/ac "savage blade"
/chotbar change 3

c.
/micon "rage of halone"
/ac "rage of halone"
/chotbar change 1

step 5: Place these macros in the blank "x" spaces on your chotbar; a. on 1, b. on 2, c. on 3.
step 6: Check your work. Always verify your chotbars are switching appropriately, then test your skill chain on a slightly lower level mob, so you can get the "feel" for timing them properly.

* I suggest having an "interrupt" button that returns you to the start point. This is so, if for whatever reason, your skill chain was ruined you can start again with minimal loss. Otherwise you'll have to fast forward the "x" button a time or two to reset your chain to the beginning.

Since the 16 skills you place on these 3 hotbars willl be pretty static, I also recommend the use of the "double shoulder press" chotbar for not often used, but very useful skills. This is the best way to have access to skills without hard switching your hotbar and screwing up the rotation of your new sequenced skills.

Lastly, I suggest going here:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...os-with-hotbar
And upvoting the suggestion and leaving a positive comment. This would enable everything I said above but without having to switch hotbars. The action change would come from switching macros on a single hotbar.