Square Enix, please think about both Casual AND Hardcore crafters..

[NanaWiloh]

I want to address macro's here for a moment. Macro's are a form of input now during 2.0-3.0 high end crafts were made to HQ using rotations inputed into Maco's. The catch was that it you had to make several macro's which could be divided into two sets. The Starter's and the finishers, The starter macro's got things rolling. The finishing macro's did just as the name implies finished the craft, now depending on what you were crafting and the rotations with in those macro's you could easily have 4 different finishers. The one you would use would be determined by Craft condition and remaining CP. Like all high end crafting you need to be properly geared, melded,etc to be successful.

So far I have seen a level 80 2 star rotation that has too be divided between two macro's if you wish to use it with a macro rather then manual input. I am not sure if this still do able but actions that have condition requirements can also be triggered by a macro by simply removing <wait. number here> from the action in question. Doing this will cause the game to only trigger the action if its up and skip it if its down, as I said I dont know if you can still do this or not. Macro use does not make crafting easier it just takes away tedious button pushing. Has crafting gotten too easy I would say yes, its easier then it has been at any point. SE has said crafting actions are out of balance and changes are coming that will increase the difficulty of crafting End game crafts to HQ.

Depending on the changes everyone is going to be investing more time when it comes to crafting high end crafts to HQ. As for Macro's they are just a easy way to input commands, if you are someone who likes doing the inputs manually thats fine. I personally prefer the ease of a macro as it lets me do other things. Lets not be forcing our prefered form of inputing commands on others though, inputing commands manually does not make you some expert. I say this as there are plenty of crafters who make their own rotations and then tie them to macro's.

[CookiesNCreams]

Depending on the changes everyone is going to be investing more time when it comes to crafting high end crafts to HQ. As for Macro's they are just a easy way to input commands, if you are someone who likes doing the inputs manually thats fine. I personally prefer the ease of a macro as it lets me do other things. Lets not be forcing our prefered form of inputing commands on others though, inputing commands manually does not make you some expert. I say this as there are plenty of crafters who make their own rotations and then tie them to macro's.

Yes you're right, if it is possible to use macros to do the crafts and always (or almost always) get a HQ result, then it definitely makes sense to use macros. And it's pretty much impossible for me to play multiple accounts without macros lol.

But what I hope for, is that the changes in crafting and difficulty of end game crafts will be such that macros will be unable to consistently get a HQ result. Force crafters to actually understand crafting mechanics and be involved in each end game craft, rather than clicking a few macros and bam, an end game craft is done. As long as a few macros guarantee HQ results, crafting is nearly mindless, once you're geared properly and have a good rotation. Would raiding be fun if all you had to do was gear up and have two macros made for each boss? You just walk into a boss fight and click two macros and it's guaranteed to die?

What I would like is interactive crafting (for end game crafts), where crafting becomes something a player actually does... rather than something the game does for us (like it is now). It would be simple to make it so conditions change during crafting that make using macros impossible, for example if you perform a touch action at the wrong time, your CP drops by 100, if you perform a synthesis action at the wrong time, your durability decreases by 3x what it normally would, these are just examples. Bottom line - you fail the crafting mechanics, you need to rely on RNG to get HQ, but if you do everything correctly, HQ is guaranteed. It would force players to actually understand crafting and perform well in order to obtain HQ end game crafts. Perform all the correct crafting actions at the right time and you'll HQ, just like how in combat we need to perform the correct actions at the correct time in order to defeat bosses. Is it not logical that players should actually need to pay attention and understand crafting in order to successfully complete end game crafts?

[NanaWiloh]

Yes you're right, if it is possible to use macros to do the crafts and always (or almost always) get a HQ result, then it definitely makes sense to use macros. And it's pretty much impossible for me to play multiple accounts without macros lol.

But what I hope for, is that the changes in crafting and difficulty of end game crafts will be such that macros will be unable to consistently get a HQ result. Force crafters to actually understand crafting mechanics and be involved in each end game craft, rather than clicking a few macros and bam, an end game craft is done. As long as a few macros guarantee HQ results, crafting is nearly mindless, once you're geared properly and have a good rotation. Would raiding be fun if all you had to do was gear up and have two macros made for each boss? You just walk into a boss fight and click two macros and it's guaranteed to die?

What I would like is interactive crafting (for end game crafts), where crafting becomes something a player actually does... rather than something the game does for us (like it is now). It would be simple to make it so conditions change during crafting that make using macros impossible, for example if you perform a touch action at the wrong time, your CP drops by 100, if you perform a synthesis action at the wrong time, your durability decreases by 3x what it normally would, these are just examples. Bottom line - you fail the crafting mechanics, you need to rely on RNG to get HQ, but if you do everything correctly, HQ is guaranteed. It would force players to actually understand crafting and perform well in order to obtain HQ end game crafts. Perform all the correct crafting actions at the right time and you'll HQ, just like how in combat we need to perform the correct actions at the correct time in order to defeat bosses. Is it not logical that players should actually need to pay attention and understand crafting in order to successfully complete end game crafts?

Someone suggested something like what your mentioning once in a different thread its a double edge sword. There are far too many rotations in this game too try and force people to hit certain actions at certain times. No amount of programing is going to help the game recognize what would be the best action to use next. RNG and logic are polar opposites you cant make them get along one of them will always try to call the shots and screw over the other. Crafting has plenty of variables already just too many powerful ways to counter those variables. Comparing crafting to raiding really does not work as bosses with very few exceptions follow a set attack pattern. Once you know the attack pattern you can dance circles around the boss that is so long as the rest of the group can as well. I have had my fair share of trying to master this system and its a headache that makes raiding look like a joke. You need a crap ton of mats to practice crafting rotations, on top of having every cross class skill. Now imagine if raiding required every battle class leveled and a huge number of mats for you to practice your rotation.

As for Maco's removing them will not force anyone to learn anything as they are not what stop people from learning. Its the vast number of guides and information provided by players who master the system that stops people from learning. Rng will not solve the issue either as will it hurt everyone as it removes the benefit of knowledge. The rotations I have input them with a macro or manually does not matter the result is the same every time.

I appologize for my reply being all over the place. Didnt have all the wheels upstairs going when I posted.