Can we just make macros officially added into the game?

[PotatoTree]

Edit: I meant to say "crafting macros" and not just macros.

At this point a lot of crafters are probably using macros to craft. This means either constructing your own macro, or going to a crafting website and grabbing a macro from there.

However this is suboptimal from a gameplay perspective because:
1. Going to a 3rd party site is annoying, I have to tab to it and interact with a website to play the game.
2. A macro kind of sucks due to the 15 line limit and if there is lag your craft might mess up.
3. Sure you can "craft it yourself" but people would rather just add extra wait delays or have multiple crafting macro pages for a single craft. Why even have this disconnect at all, it's basically all in the game now anyway.

I suggest just adding a crafting rotation builder into the game. I should be able to drag my crafting abilities onto a queue, and then execute the queue just like I do with a macro. Maybe also allow people to share their queues by linking it within the game or something. We should also have the ability to save our rotations, name them, etc.

[Jojoya]

Edit: I meant to say "crafting macros" and not just macros.

At this point a lot of crafters are probably using macros to craft. This means either constructing your own macro, or going to a crafting website and grabbing a macro from there.

However this is suboptimal from a gameplay perspective because:
1. Going to a 3rd party site is annoying, I have to tab to it and interact with a website to play the game.
2. A macro kind of sucks due to the 15 line limit and if there is lag your craft might mess up.
3. Sure you can "craft it yourself" but people would rather just add extra wait delays or have multiple crafting macro pages for a single craft. Why even have this disconnect at all, it's basically all in the game now anyway.

I suggest just adding a crafting rotation builder into the game. I should be able to drag my crafting abilities onto a queue, and then execute the queue just like I do with a macro. Maybe also allow people to share their queues by linking it within the game or something. We should also have the ability to save our rotations, name them, etc.

I feel like I might be missing something you're trying to include in your suggestion. How is what you're suggesting any different from creating a macro, beyond having a drag-and-drop to add actions instead of typing them in?

If lag is causing problems with macros, it's going to cause problems with any other queue system as well. Other queue systems would also have a limit on the number of actions that could be placed in queue to prevent exploiters from crashing servers with an excessive number of commands submitted at one time.

A macro already is a saved rotation that you can name. If you want to test the rotation without using materials to see if it works, we have the Trial Synthesis button to do that now.

I'm trying to figure out what makes your suggestion different from simply creating a macro.

[PotatoTree]

To clarify, the difference with my suggestion is that there is no need to type out the macro yourself, or go to a third party website like Teamcraft to generate the macro. Teamcraft also has the crafting simulator, that along with a rotation builder should be added into the game.

Basically I'm saying take what Teamcraft has and add it to the game. Teamcraft can still serve a purpose for being a community to share rotations, but the actual mechanisms and UI should be in the game too.

[PrimeAnubis]

To clarify, the difference with my suggestion is that there is no need to type out the macro yourself, or go to a third party website like Teamcraft to generate the macro. Teamcraft also has the crafting simulator, that along with a rotation builder should be added into the game.

Basically I'm saying take what Teamcraft has and add it to the game. Teamcraft can still serve a purpose for being a community to share rotations, but the actual mechanisms and UI should be in the game too.

The rotations you see on Teamcraft are made by other players. I also fail to see what you're trying to suggest. Unless you're trying to implement Teamcraft into FF?

"Maybe also allow people to share their queues by linking it within the game or something."- I'm sure there's a forum post for people to share crafting macros. Also you can make a fellowship/linkshell and share macros in-game.

"A macro kind of sucks due to the 15 line limit and if there is lag your craft might mess up."- Only thing I agree about with this statement is that 15 lines aren't enough.

"Going to a 3rd party site is annoying, I have to tab to it and interact with a website to play the game."- By third party, I'm assuming Teamcraft? Just buy another monitor?

" Sure you can "craft it yourself" but people would rather just add extra wait delays or have multiple crafting macro pages for a single craft. Why even have this disconnect at all, it's basically all in the game now anyway."- What are you even talking about here?

Lastly, are you asking for premade macros that you can click from the Actions & Traits menu? If so there would be no fun or enjoyment in crafting. Making your own macros is also fun. Plus you have +100 slots for custom macros. Usually one unique macro is enough for +50 crafts.

[Jojoya]

To clarify, the difference with my suggestion is that there is no need to type out the macro yourself, or go to a third party website like Teamcraft to generate the macro. Teamcraft also has the crafting simulator, that along with a rotation builder should be added into the game.

Basically I'm saying take what Teamcraft has and add it to the game. Teamcraft can still serve a purpose for being a community to share rotations, but the actual mechanisms and UI should be in the game too.

I don't see having the game save every single rotation a player has ever created and putting it into a database for other players to browse as being all that helpful or even realistic. That would be a large amount of information that SE would have to store on the game servers and allow players to query at random. The game already struggles with existing queries.

Most players don't realize rotations rely heavily on your stats. A rotation that works for one may fail for another if there's a small difference in stats. It would likely lead to complaints of "SE, why isn't that posted rotation working for me? You allowed it to be displayed in an official game database so it's supposed to work - fix it!"

Nor should it be encouraged - players should be taking the time to learn and understand how crafting works. They're not going to do that if they're blindly copying what other players do. SE can't control what players choose to do at third party sites but that doesn't mean that all those things should be incorporated directly into the game.

I would like it if SE could expand Trial Synthesis to work more like Teamcraft's rotation test system (display a step log, allow us to back out steps without forcing us to completely reset) but don't know if that's realistic to implement in a game setting. Maybe they could set it up so it only worked on the player's client while in trial mode? That would be a question for those who know the game's programming.

[Liam_Harper]

The easiest QoL would be a simple DoH macro builder. You get 15 slots (more if the coding could handle it), you drag your crafting abilities into it in the correct order, press "Done" and it creates a macro. Makes things a bit easier for ps4/5 users.

Trial Synthesis could be given an option to eliminate Good and Excellent procs too.

[AmiableApkallu]

I think there are two separate issues here:

1. Creating a macro: Some sort of drag-and-drop system would be preferable to typing out skill names by hand.

2. <wait>s and lag: Some sort of execution system that waited for a step to complete before moving on to the next one would be preferable to whatever it is the game does currently.

As a "casual" crafter, I don't need or want much more than that. I'm not sure that I'd trust a macro that I didn't create myself to be appropriate for my gear and unlocked skills.

[PotatoTree]

"Going to a 3rd party site is annoying, I have to tab to it and interact with a website to play the game."- By third party, I'm assuming Teamcraft? Just buy another monitor?

" Sure you can "craft it yourself" but people would rather just add extra wait delays or have multiple crafting macro pages for a single craft. Why even have this disconnect at all, it's basically all in the game now anyway."- What are you even talking about here?

Lastly, are you asking for premade macros that you can click from the Actions & Traits menu? If so there would be no fun or enjoyment in crafting. Making your own macros is also fun. Plus you have +100 slots for custom macros. Usually one unique macro is enough for +50 crafts.

In my opinion, a game requiring a second monitor to play in order access info is not great gameplay. Having to buy a second monitor is a bad solution, but surely this was more of a sarcastic suggestion? I'm sure SE is aware of this since they have tried to reduce the amount of time the player has to tab out with things like gathering (search gathering location) and crafting (search by crafting method, trial synth, etc).

I'm talking about the <wait.3> etc that you need to specifically set per action.

The point is crafting is already just a macro game. SE should just embrace it by improving the UI.

I think there are two separate issues here:

1. Creating a macro: Some sort of drag-and-drop system would be preferable to typing out skill names by hand.

2. <wait>s and lag: Some sort of execution system that waited for a step to complete before moving on to the next one would be preferable to whatever it is the game does currently.

As a "casual" crafter, I don't need or want much more than that. I'm not sure that I'd trust a macro that I didn't create myself to be appropriate for my gear and unlocked skills.

Yes this is what I would like. I'm not asking for all of Teamcraft to be put in ffxiv. Just update the UI.