Perform: what are your initial thoughts?

[illutian]

Pretty happy with it not having macros personally. Especially since I don't want to have to turn off all other player effects for other pcs just to not here that. It's a lot easier to spam and I would be hearing it a lot more in dungeons and macro'd to abilities as well.

Well, with the option to mute 'Perform Spells' (which is what I would call it in the Options). I would welcome being able to macro it to abilities.

...I mean, just imagine drumming out Highway to Hell during the final phase of a boss for a BRD attack 'song'. Or Thundercats (theme song) when buffing.

Basically, actually making Bards a real Bard; using music to bolster their allies, and weaken their foes!

((Note: From the Bards that I've run with I don't hear any kind of music while their buffs are on me....they [the buffs] just kind of show up and that's it. There's no "Bard feel" to it. At least with this the player could choose to RP as a true bard. ))

[Aldora]

I gave the new "Perform" feature a go as well and i must say that it's surpisingly fun to do. (^_^ ) It takes a bit of practice, but still. /thumbsup

My first attempt at "Night in the Brume".

[Fawkes]

I wish the animation was less over the top. I looks like they animated it for only one note to be played and not for notes to be played in sequence.

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

They intentionally made it so you can't use macros with the perform actions because they want people to actually develop their skill as an in game musician instead of just copy / pasting macros from the internet.

[Reinha]

They intentionally made it so you can't use macros with the perform actions because they want people to actually develop their skill as an in game musician instead of just copy / pasting macros from the internet.

Macros aren't just for copying though, they are also for creating your own things. I have no musical background whatsoever so I don't remember what each note sounds like. It makes creating songs really difficult when most of my effort goes into finding a key that doesn't clash with the previous one. If I wanted to learn music properly I would buy a real instrument and get lessons, not mess with a game system with horrendous timing and combat job keybinds.

If there was a way to save my melodies and have them played without mistakes, I would enjoy and use this feature. It doesn't have to be our current macro system. Special hotbars with a "play all notes" button would work fine. Then I could place the notes on the bars and play the whole thing in rhythm.

[Ferth]

With only being able to play one note at once, not being able to create macros with the performance actions, and having to cannibalize my actual bard hot bars I feel like this was implemented by an intern.

[Lorielle]

I don't get why people would want to macro this kind of feature. The notes are quarter notes and as such how macros work in the game, you need a full second(pretty much another quarter note). So playing anything song that is Eighth Note or lower wouldn't work at all. While I'm not playing FF music solely, I'm well on the way to putting together one of my more favorite songs, Lilium.

[Skivvy]

I don't get why people would want to macro this kind of feature. The notes are quarter notes and as such how macros work in the game, you need a full second(pretty much another quarter note). So playing anything song that is Eighth Note or lower wouldn't work at all. While I'm not playing FF music solely, I'm well on the way to putting together one of my more favorite songs, Lilium.

Not everyone enjoys music in the same way. For some, the actual performance may be what they enjoy most. Others may just like hearing music. Also have to keep in mind that not everyone may be able to read/play music, and so this could give them the opportunity to partake in the fun.

GW2's musical community took an incredibly snobby turn when it came to macro users. I really hope this community is more understanding about it, but I'm not holding my breath.

They intentionally made it so you can't use macros with the perform actions because they want people to actually develop their skill as an in game musician instead of just copy / pasting macros from the internet.

There is no way to know their intent behind currently not allowing macros. It could very well just be a half-assed implementation - sort of like no separate UI for all the notes.

[Lorielle]

Not everyone enjoys music in the same way. For some, the actual performance may be what they enjoy most. Others may just like hearing music. Also have to keep in mind that not everyone may be able to read/play music, and so this could give them the opportunity to partake in the fun.

GW2's musical community took an incredibly snobby turn when it came to macro users. I really hope this community is more understanding about it, but I'm not holding my breath.

It doesn't take much effort to cross reference. Even then, you typically can play things by the ear. But that's not the point I was getting at, it's just how the game's macro work. You'll end up putting in One Note, Rest, One Note for the majority of anything. In turn, ruin what you want to enjoy whether it's by performance or simply hearing it.

[Skivvy]

It doesn't take much effort to cross reference. Even then, you typically can play things by the ear. But that's not the point I was getting at, it's just how the game's macro work. You'll end up putting in One Note, Rest, One Note for the majority of anything. In turn, ruin what you want to enjoy whether it's by performance or simply hearing it.

This is where outside macros would have to come into play. With the <wait> system as is, you are correct that songs would not sound right if done with an in-game macro.

It would be nice if SE would make a statement to allow outside help for the use of Music only, much like ANet did. Or at least turn a semi-blind-eye to them like they do with parsers and windower back in the day.