BLM macros

[lacrimosaangel]

Finally been perfecting my macros for BLM and as I think I'm pretty close to refining my rotation (just in time for the new skills- lolz) I figured I'd get some opinions here..

So, My usual rotation is Blizz3>Fire3>Fire (with F3 when proc ticks) until <600mp >blizz3
rinse repeat.

I throw in the standard Virus, lethargy and thunder2 between rotations while waiting for the ticks on blizz to regain max mp... But I have just started playing with flare as well, so do these sound okay? (playing on ps4 so the fewer x-bar changes I need the better!)

Macro: Flare

/micon "Flare"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me><wait.1>
/ac "Raging Strikes"<me><wait.1>
/ac "Flare" <t><wait.2>
/ac "Transpose" <me>
/p The end is near!


Macro: "defense"

/micon "Manaward"
/ac "manaward" <me><wait.1>
/ac "apocatastasis"<tt><wait.1>
/ac "manawall" <me>


Macro: "debuff"

/micon "virus"
/ac "virus" <t><wait.0.5>
/ac "lethargy"<t><wait.0.5>
/ac "thunder II" <t>

Macro: Run

/micon "Aetherial Manipulation"
/ac "aetherial manipulation"
/p Beam me up Scotty!


I've noticed that during casting, I can complete the rotations much faster than if I were to hit the buttons individually and as a general rule, I use flare while enemies are casting AoE or using abilities with a longer cast time (like the 5-headed dragon) so moving wouldn't be so much of an issue as they'll only be used every few rotations once the skills have fully cooled down..
The last one is a last-means of defense and as of yet, I have never had to use it!

The defence macro would also only be used during potential big-damage attacks..

Any ideas? Good setup? Bad setup?

[OneWingedSora]

What are you using Macros for ?

[lacrimosaangel]

I'm playing on ps4, so can only have 16 icons on the bar at once, so once I've included my main skills and abilities that I need for my rotation, it means I need to use the expanded bar a LOT for the debuffs/procs/defensive skills. I've noticed that quite often I'll mess up on a rotation because while I've been switching to the expanded bar, I've missed a proc and have to restart.

By using macros to chain things like swiftcast > flare, I can condense 2 or more skills into one slot, reducing the number of button pushes and therefore minimising the time needed for each rotation. It may only be a few fractions of a second, but they add up!

[Roxas_Andrade]

I'm playing on ps4,

By using macros to chain things like swiftcast > flare, I can condense 2 or more skills into one slot, reducing the number of button pushes and therefore minimising the time needed for each rotation. It may only be a few fractions of a second, but they add up!

OP, I think you will find some resistance from the comunity when talking about macros, since they cannot be queued and all. (You would waste time instead of saving it).
But as a macro user myself, I have some tips:

/micon "blizzard iii"
/ac "blizzard iii" <t>
/ac blizzard <t> <- This ensures that you will cast an ice spell even with low mp cause you messed up with fire, lol, and saves one slot

/micon flare
/ac swiftcast
/ac flare <t>
/ac convert <- Raging strikes is cool, but has uses other than flare (you could use it for single target rotation) an if it's on cooldown, with your current macro, you would wait 1 second that sometimes you don't have. With this macro, you can smash the button that you will use the skills instantly as they are availabe.

And regarding your defensive macro, my opinion (and my only) is that you should let go of it. All those skills should be used at the proper circumstance not all at the same time.

But I'd like to reinforce that everyone has his/her own playstyle and you're free to use your macros as you see fit. Remember that you can map another Xhotbar on the combination R2+L2 to have more slots and good gaming. ^.^

[Stupiduglytaru]

You know you have access to another 16 spaces? R2 + L2 and L2 + R2

Check hotbar settings in menu there no need to manually R1 through your hotbars

My main hot bar consists of fire III fire blizzard thunder I thunder III swiftcast sure cast lethargy transpose manaward scathe, i have placed blizzard III in the R2 } L2 bar located in same position as fire to keep movement fluid

2nd bar flare pots and other ability's

[StouterTaru]

Don't they have the L2+R2 and R2+L2 crossbar option on PS4?

[Malevicton]

You wanna use raging strikes earlier than right before flare. Flare macro in general is gonna slow you down.

You're gonna waste cooldowns with the defense one. Manawall/ward are practically never useful at the same time. Same with the debuffs one, you'll want to manage virus and lethargy independently; they're both debuffs but they serve very different mechanical purposes.

AM macro is actually a good call. I'd have the macro target your healer to save you time targeting.

Also, don't just always virus/lethargy during your umbral phase. No offense, but I have no idea where you got the impression that that was standard. That's a loss of dps and utility (odds are that virus/lethargy aren't gonna just happen to be useful then) Do your fire rotation, then blizz3>thunder1>blizz1>fire3>back to pewpewpew. If you get a fast mana tic you can even skip the blizz1.

[lacrimosaangel]

AM macro is actually a good call. I'd have the macro target your healer to save you time targeting.

Also, don't just always virus/lethargy during your umbral phase. No offense, but I have no idea where you got the impression that that was standard.

Thank you ^_^ I have it set to <3> because my party list is organised in a way that the healer would be n.3 on the list... unless there is a direct macro command for healer rather than party member number?

Oh no, I didn't mean to insinuate that virus/lethargy during umbral was normal, it's just worked out that more often than not, that's when the cooldown finishes and I'm able to use them as I like to keep them active through the whole fight where possible, but don't want to mess up my rotation! I will see how I get on with slotting it inbetween blizz spells though, thanks!

Snip

Thanks ^_^ I wasn't sure about the defensive one, tbh, I rarely, if ever use those skills (except manaward during some trials) So I just threw them together experimenting with things, I will let that one go and use them individually as and when I see the need.

You know you have access to another 16 spaces? R2 + L2 and L2 + R2

Yep, I'm using them, but again, I'm finding that sometimes I need access to my expanded in microseconds and hitting the wrong L2/R2 combo or my finger slipping can mean the difference between getting hit by AoE or not! I still use it, but for my Flare rotation eg.. I have each set of 4 attributed to particular "groups" of skills and the flare rotation would mean accessing 3 groups of skills - too many button pushes!

Snip

Noted, thanks ^^ I'll take the party commands out, though tbh, I party a lot with my FC and we're always messing around!

I use transpose after flare always as it's the quickest way to gain mana back to restart my rotation, I don't like relying on pots as they generally have such a low mp regain and I'd still end up either spamming blizz I or waiting for mp regain..

As for how fast it is, I played around with the flare macro and to be honest, the way it is set up is the same order I would cast the spells manually, and I don't really understand how it could be seen as wasting time, when it is MUCH faster than I could do it myself? when manually accessing all the skills, it takes a good 2-3 seconds more than this macro does?

[Garotte14]

I understand where you're coming from, but you're issue just sounds to me like you are relying on macros to do the work which is in turn not allowing to get better and faster at doing it manually. You practice at it and then it becomes muscle memory and you will be much faster than any macro. I also think you are over complicating your hotbars. You should have on your main hotbar fire 1, 2 and 3, transpose, thunder 1 or 2 (depending on which you use) and thunder 3, swiftcast, flare, blizzard 1 and 3. That's it. Those are the abilities you are constantly using in your rotation, single target or aoe. You don't need an aoe hotbar and a single target hotbar and then a buff hotbar and all these macros. I just gave you 10 skills. That leaves 6 on your hotbar to put whatever you want on there. The rest of your skills have cooldowns and you use them situationally. You still have 8 or 16 more slots on your expanded that you can put buffs/debuffs in. My only point is we are honestly trying to help and I think you just need to get in there and start practicing. You'll be far better off in the long run.

[m3eansean]

DPS macros are bad for GCD abilites, please do not use them if you are serious about your DPS output. You will always put out much lower DPS than a person who can manually perform the skills.

It is like this by design.