Macros! The Bane of the Game!

[Yodamoo]

So, to put it simple, Macros in this game are all but useless in combat. There are plenty of fun macros you can make to help out with unimportant and non time sensitive abilities though... The biggest complaint I see on forums is that they offer no queue up like you get when using an ability without macros before your current cast is done. This is already a bit of a dps loss but manageable if not for the worse issue.

Here is what I want to see. Macros that do what they should. A huge example for me is on my Red Mage. I have a macro that looks like this:

/micon "Verfire"
/ac "Verfire"
/ac "Verthunder"

The Idea is that when I get a proc of Verfire, it will use Verfire since it is obvilously first in the macro. Then when there is no proc, but I have a Dualcast proc on, it will cast an instant Verthunder. This still takes a good amount of paying attention and can still be screwed up easily enough, but for a player who is used to it and does it well it is quite nice!

Unfortunately, due to some weird way that macros run in this game, often times Verthunder will start to hard cast even with a Verfire Proc on and Verfire being first in the Macro. Fixing this would be a huge way to make macros more useful! As it is now, I can use this macro and it will do the job I want, but occasionally at a huge dps loss due to having to cancel my hard cast and hit the button again to use Verfire sometimes.

If the game even had some sort of "/stopcast Verthunder" type macro command, I could put that at the start and it would fix my issue too for the most part. There are options to making it work and I really see no downside. There are many examples like this on other jobs too and quite frankly I just use it because there are sooo many buttons on most jobs that any way of combining them into less buttons with smart macros would be a huge help.

The last thing I want to see in this game is Macros like in WoW where you can bind one mouse macro to spam all your buttons for you and be the best Ret pally on the server...But at the same time, some freedom to combine buttons and manipulate the macro system for Quality of Life would be amazing! I know there is a new expansion coming out and the devs probably have big important things to work on, but it would be so nice if they could just have someone working on ways to make macros better, more useful, more rewarding, and more fun!

Oh and while you're at it... /micon is nice and all but we really need macros to show the abilities Tooltip, not just it's icon. And make macro use the Queuing functionality of abilities. Sure it probably has some complications, maybe even related to why the macro sometimes caste Verthunder when I have a Verfire proc, But I know you guys have some smart devs who can figure it out and program it to work. Again, I don't want a cloned system of other games, but I will say, if they can do certain things in other games, I know you guys can do it too, so "It's not possible in FFXIV" doesn't fly as a response :P

Hopefully someone important glances at this and finds some validity in it. I love the game so much but, as someone who loves programing and code, Macros are so fun and useful and not being able to use them in an effective way is saddening and frustrating! Thanks guys!

[Kuroka]

That gets us back to the PvP system which some ppl deeply hate, while id say i want it as an option for pointless bloat.... You will NEVER cast Fire or Earth over flare or holy so they could combine that at least >_>

[Yodamoo]

Honestly forgot about that idea... The best way to solve this sort of issue is to make macros unnecessary in the first place. Flare and Holy seem slightly more situational so I'd be ok with leaving those alone, although I'm not high enough level to have them and try them out so maybe I'm wrong, but no one should ever want to cast Verthunder or Veraero when they have a proc of Verfire or Verstone. So simply combine them in game. If Verfire ready is active then the Verthunder button just becomes Verfire. Same idea as the melee abilities... If I have enough mamas, they become the enhanced ability. Verfire should simply be treated as an enhanced version of Verthunder.

Once again, this is just one example. There are many abilities on many jobs that could be reworked like this. There are simply too many buttons in many main rotations. Either fix macros so they are useful and can help reduce the button load, or fix the abilities themselves.

[Crux]

The last thing I want to see in this game is Macros like in WoW where you can bind one mouse macro to spam all your buttons for you and be the best Ret pally on the server...

You can already do this with classes like Bard. The macro system is quite robust already, they can't give it too much power or people will take advantage and basically create bots.

[Yodamoo]

You can already do this with classes like Bard. The macro system is quite robust already, they can't give it too much power or people will take advantage and basically create bots.

Admitedly I know very little about Bard. I am a Level 11 Archer so I don't even have Bard yet. That being said, I look at the first 2 abilities of Bard/Archer and can already see that you are wrong. Straight Shot is something that you will occasionally use off Cooldown for the buff and it is something that you also use with a Proc. Furthermore you have DoTs to manage. So unfortunately I don't see any validity in your point, which you failed to elaborate on at all.

Nothing I am asking for gives you any more "power". Everything I am asking for it Quality of Life. It clears up your bars and makes things more organized. It will fix a current system which straight up hinders a players DPS and makes it perform the same task without hindering players. The simple fact that I can have a Macro with 2 abilities in it and it will cast the second ability over the first sometimes, is Broken!