Mouseover healing macros - some problems

[Bradykinn]

Hey. So i'm coming from wow and needing some help to fix problems with my mouseover macros. I'm experiencing some input lag, which i've been told is just how macros are in this game, but more concerningly it seems that 2-3% of my heals randomly redirect to myself. This isn't mis-targeting, or being out of range, or line of sight: I've noted cases where none of those were happening. Here's an example of one of the macros, very simple:

/micon "Essential Dignity"
/actionerror on
/merror off
/ac "Essential Dignity" <mo>

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide.

[Riyshn]

The lag is that you can't queue macro'd abilities, so it doesn't start casting until the first time you press the button after the current GCD/animation lock, instead of readying in the last .5 second or so.

That macro should never target yourself unless you actually mouseover yourself. Are you sure you don't have another line in there with [/ac "Essential Dignity" <t>]?

[Bradykinn]

Yes, those are the only lines.

[Taika]

I think it might direct it on yourself if for some reason it doesn't read you having a valid <mo> target (same thing happens when you cast a heal while having an enemy targeted). This sort of thing is also why it isn't generally recommended to use macros for healing (or pretty much anything) in this game.

[Riyshn]

Then my best guess is that your hand is sometimes twitching on the party list and causing you to heal the wrong person.

<t> in macros behaves the same way as not specifying a targeting at all; it will attempt to cast on your target, then if that is not valid for whatever reason it will attempt to cast on self, so that can cause some targeting mishaps. <mo> doesn't have a fallback target like that though.

This sort of thing is also why it isn't generally recommended to use macros for healing (or pretty much anything) in this game.

This hivemind annoys me. There are advantages and disadvantages of it. So long as you know how they work and can make the decision that the advantages are more valuable to you, they're fine. Especially for healing, which is really more about precision and timing than squeezing out every possible fraction of a GCD.

And the behavior you're describing is something that would still be there with click targeting anyway and should be impossible with <mo>.

[Taika]

This hivemind annoys me. There are advantages and disadvantages of it. So long as you know how they work and can make the decision that the advantages are more valuable to you, they're fine. Especially for healing, which is really more about precision and timing than squeezing out every possible fraction of a GCD.

It's just that I can't think of a situation in which using macros would be in any way beneficial over not using them. And I also don't see why healer jobs are any less about utilising every gcd and ocd as efficiently as possible than other jobs. This coming from a person who mained healer from 1.0 until the end of HW and healed with mouseovers through Coil 1.

[Bradykinn]

It's just that I can't think of a situation in which using macros would be in any way beneficial over not using them. And I also don't see why healer jobs are any less about utilising every gcd and ocd as efficiently as possible than other jobs. This coming from a person who mained healer from 1.0 until the end of HW and healed with mouseovers through Coil 1.

I agree with your sentiment re optimisation. I just cannot enjoy the alternative targeting methods, when i've spent a decade using mouseover healing. I tried them and would rather just quit the game then play like that, so i'm hoping it doesn't come down to that choice, and that i'll be able to improve upon the current macro problems.

[Bradykinn]

Then my best guess is that your hand is sometimes twitching on the party list and causing you to heal the wrong person.

I promise these cases aren't human error: I'm not saying I never do that, but i've replicated this problem while spam healing afk people in town.

On the macro discussion: The macros in this game are horrible and losing spell queueing sucks a ton, and i'd rather not use them. But I've got a decade of muscle memory from wow built in mouseover healing and no longer enjoy or wish to experience the click healing or targeting with the f keys that are my alternatives. If I could mouseover heal without using macros, i'd be all for ditching them, but as it is, I don't want to do f-key targeting or click healing.

[dragonseth07]

This hivemind annoys me. There are advantages and disadvantages of it. So long as you know how they work and can make the decision that the advantages are more valuable to you, they're fine. Especially for healing, which is really more about precision and timing than squeezing out every possible fraction of a GCD.

It's about should vs is.

The game (in my opinion) should have a good macro system. Macros should be usable in combat and not cost you GCD's. We should embrace macros, like the modern game this is.

But the game isn't that way. Macros have a huge cost to them that, generally, isn't worth paying. Any loss of GCD's is enormous, and SE knows it. That's why they keep macros this way, to keep them intentionally bad.

[Riyshn]

Well I mean, I'm looking at the SCH PoV of the world 4th clear of A12S here, and he seems to be fine with macros, so there must be something about using them...

I agree that macros on a DPS/Tank job are usually a bad idea because of the queuing. On a healer though, the ability to <mo> or <tt>/<f> your abilities is just really valuable.