Question on macros and ogc skills

[Layla-chan]

It actually depends on the kind of macro. If it is a simple "/action" macro then yes your DPS could suffer as explained by the posters above. On the other hand, using a substitution macro, one that uses "/crosshotbar" or "/hotbar", can remove GCD delays at the cost of more complexity and less flexibility. It really depends on what you want to happen.

For example, as a bard, I have Pallisade and Nature's Minnie as simple "/action" macros because I cannot use a target placeholder (<tt>, <t>, etc) on substitution macros, yet I do not mind the potential DPS loss because using either as a normal skill will cause a DPS loss for me anyway, and in my opinion the miniscule loss in DPS is offset by the help the tank and healers receive from me.

On the other hand (and I think a lot of bards will lift their eyebrows at this) I have a substitution macro for Straight Shot; this produces no discernable GCD delay for me, yet it sounds an alarm when I have around six seconds left for the buff, so I can just forget about it the rest of the time...unless I use either my Pallisade or Nature's Minnie macro, both of which also make an alarm and force-resets my Straight Shot macro, informing me I have to look closer at my Straight Shot buff from theron.