Battle Command Design -PLEASE FIX IT

[Rydin]

the battle system though... is not one of it's selling points... period
In fact... Macro heavy battles are part of the reason FFXI wasn't the hit it could have been.
That type of battle turned A LOT of people off....
You can say "SE should please the FFXI crowd" but for every ex-FFXI player, there are 10 RPG gamers that SE wants to appeal to, and Menu based, macro heavy combat wont do it

That's your personal opinion; and XI probably did poorly b/c it was originally released to console. If it had been released to pc, originally, w/ a "tapped out" graphics engine, it would probably have made it up there w/ the, alleged, "greats." Anyway, OP doesn't want to *replace XIV's battle system w/ XI's...he wants to have the option for either. It's not asking for much.

No... it is horrid... A menu based system that is admittedly unintuitive. How do you know the system was bad? because no one used it... everyone used Macros.
So a new person starts the game. They go to fight Marmots. they can either Endure a clunky nested menu in 2012... OR... They can sit down and make a macro (making sure to get all syntax correct) before they ever fight anything.

OR....

They could just run outside and click the icon on the action bar that says "Vorpal Thrust" #IJS

Lastly... on a personal note.... battle macros leave me feeling disconnected from battle.
Gone are the days when you "issue commands" to your character....
Now.. You ARE your character... down to every swing of the sword or spell you use
Menu based combat is as far inside the box as you can get....
Challenge your brain to think outside it

Change isn't always better...I dunno why ppl think that "change" automatically = "win." The action bar isn't really "outside the box" either. Like you said yourself, virtually every other MMO out there already does something similar. So, that's a moot point.

This back and forth could go on all day. Think outside the box vs If it aint broke
Change doesn't always equal win... but in the video game world... YOU HAVE TO CHANGE. Going by your "If it aint broke... don't fix it" logic.. Every game would be super Mario Bros... or Pacman... or PONG....
Back when every RPG was turn based... One man (Akihiko Matsui) said I want FF4 to use an Action time bar (ATB) instead of being turn based... You're welcome
I've admitted the action bar can use an overhaul.. but a nested menu is NOT the way...

Hmmm....why don't they just have a configuration of both options come 2.0? This way the game can be enjoyed in either play style.

Im going to sound like a douche when I say this... and trust me... that is not my intention

I don't want man power and resources dedicated to such a pointless task

The nested Menu plus Macros battle system is an even more unintuitive version of what we have now.
Macros right now are exactly how Macros would be in that system.
Wasted time redoing the UI for relatively no change and worse functionality
Explain to me how Macros would be better (or even different) under this system?
A change is needed... but not that one