Need help perfecting a macro

[Niwashi]

I don't really recommend it, but there is a workaround for macroing a single combo or a couple closely related combos (with an A-B-C and A-B-D pattern, where they differ only on the final skill). You can't individually set a macro to a hotbar slot, but you can achieve the same effect provided you have a few spare hotbars you're not using. The workaround involves swapping out the entire bar. For instance, if you don't use hotbars 6, 7, or 8, you could set those up to have skills identical to your main hotbar on all but one slot, that one slot having one of 3 macros:

macro 1 on bar 6: says use skill A then copy bar 7 to bar 1.
macro 2 on bar 7: says use skill B then copy bar 8 to bar 1.
macro 3 on bar 8: says use skill C then copy bar 6 to bar 1.

While in combat, you'd stay on bar 1 (which would initially start out looking just like bar 6, with macro 1 on the slot you're using). Each time you use that slot, you're activating the skill and then swapping the bar with one that has the following skill in that same position.

Note: If you use this workaround, keep in mind that by having the skills in macros, you lose out on the ability to queue a skill just before your GCD is up. Plus you need to be sure you get back to the first skill in the pattern after any time the pattern is interrupted (whether that's by an attack failing, or by taking too long dealing with other mechanics, or whatever).

The biggest limitation, though, is probably the fact that it only really works well for a single combo and nearly all jobs have multiple combos to deal with. If you try macroing one of your combos, but at least two of its three skills need to be duplicated individually for use in other combos anyway, well then it doesn't really save space after all.

I guess you could combine 4 skills used in two 3-part combos (provided they differ only by the finishing skill) onto two slots if none of the 4 skills are used individually or in other combos, but it starts getting more cumbersome to set up. (For instance, you might have the R2+X slot set to the macros as listed above, and the R2+O slot empty on bar 6 & 7, but having an alternate 3rd skill macro on bar 8. That would let those two slots handle an A-B-C combo and an A-B-D combo.) Trying to get any more variations than that, though, could get tricky.