My easy controller setup for WAR

[whiskeybravo]

but you have time to die and get rezzed?

That's a slight misrepresentation but I'll entertain for a few seconds. It has a cascading effect. If I delayed anything on DRG, I don't get full potency of buffs, I could lose BotD from even a 1 sec delay at certain points, or even on WAR it might make it more difficult or downright impossible to land 3 FCs under berserk. Why risk all that when all it takes is getting used to a wider setup? If all it takes is a slight adjustment of pressing a button, that's the same as a slight adjustment of your hotbars to be better optimized. As in the provoke example, when you need to provoke you need it to go off immediately, not spam the button 5 times hoping it goes off in time. Again, I make due with just a few, but they still have their problems. And when you say "I've never had a problem in hundreds of attempts" I'm calling BS lol

[Giantbane]

Macros still suffer from animation lock, which is annoying. If you hit an attack, then hit foresight while the attack is animation locked, a normal ability will queue up foresight and just execute it after the attack is over. If the ability is in a macro it just gets ignored so you have to make sure you're not animation locked when you hit it. So there is a small loss in reaction time by using the macro. It can be a little problematic if things are hectic, you need to make absolutely sure you're not locked out when using the ability (or you just have to mash on it).

It's actually a really annoying property of macros and I wish SE could something about that. Maybe have a <queue> modifier or something for macro commands which would make it work like a normally pressed ability.

[HoodRat]

I only use 2 hotbars, including the half hotbars from R2+L2 and L2+R2 and I don't have to put all my skills in macros to have enough room. I don't understand the problem.

[Ralvenom]

Second off, the macros: we're gonna make some compound mashcros to condense abilities

NO! BAD OP! This is a terrible idea. Never do this.

[karateorangutang]

That's a slight misrepresentation but I'll entertain for a few seconds. It has a cascading effect. If I delayed anything on DRG, I don't get full potency of buffs, I could lose BotD from even a 1 sec delay at certain points, or even on WAR it might make it more difficult or downright impossible to land 3 FCs under berserk. Why risk all that when all it takes is getting used to a wider setup? If all it takes is a slight adjustment of pressing a button, that's the same as a slight adjustment of your hotbars to be better optimized. As in the provoke example, when you need to provoke you need it to go off immediately, not spam the button 5 times hoping it goes off in time. Again, I make due with just a few, but they still have their problems. And when you say "I've never had a problem in hundreds of attempts" I'm calling BS lol

Ok so to the point of my retort, that was simply my bad sense of humor at work and wasn't meant to offend. So allow me to entertain you for a minute.

We all know macros suffer from animation lock. I'm not arguing otherwise. It's tested and proven in the game engine. I too try to limit my macro's and make them in such a way so they are less hindering.

First off, I would never macro provoke or any ability that would be necessary to pull a mob from anyone else.
Secondly, animation can be overcome with simple timing. If your accustomed to playing games with tight twitch timing, this game as an absurdly large animation lock window. Its is literally more than a half a second, which is years in most game engines. Overcoming that is as simple act of timing your presses to not interfere with the queue, which honestly isn't that hard. Even with ping changes that only makes it easier as information is sent slower so it would happen even less.

That being said for some it could be a greater risk. I get that it doesn't work for everyone, but that doesn't mean it can't be the better option for some. I'd rather time a button than smash another button and look for abilities on the fly.

Additionally, 3 FC's is not a difficult feat. It's easy to achieve with a good 1.5 second grace window at the end. With Astro buffs it's even good enough to throw a fracture at the end. Honestly server ping is a bigger issue than macro's will ever be.

[nssixn6]

I should note that the order of the condensed macros is optimized for TFCing. If there isn't an add phase or tank swap coming up. Vengeance is wasted/burned for a Wrath stack. If big damage is coming I burn the RI/A macro.

My TFC is: HS,M,SE,HS,SS,BB, HS, Beserk, FC, M, SE, HS, RI/A or V, SS, BB, FC, Infuriate, FC, Frac, pac (or WP if bard sets up right)

As for the Mercy Stroke/ Tomahawk thing, it works because both action are context sensitive.
If gcd is still refreshing, Tomahawk is impossible, so it is ignored. If the the target is out of melee range, but below 20%, still on gcd, then nothing happens. If the target is below 20%, in melee range, then ms is used.

[RocheKat]

I only use 2 hotbars, including the half hotbars from R2+L2 and L2+R2 and I don't have to put all my skills in macros to have enough room. I don't understand the problem.

This is what I was going to say... and I don't use extended cross bars.

[Izsha]

Macros: generally bad, but a handful of exceptions.
Macros with 2-4 abilities on 1 button: Terribad. Stop. Dont. Please!

Unchained and zerk on 1 button? Gratz you can never use berzerk by itself when you need to because it will trigger unchained. Vengence and foresight? Now you can't use for sight without burning vengence for no reason.

Macros like this completely destroy your ability to use the right ability at the right time because it's a giant bundled mess in the name of 'convenience' and that's before we even touch the delay issues that have already been pointed out. Please don't encourage this kind of restrictive gameplay. All it does is limit you ability to play well.