Quote Originally Posted by Packetdancer View Post
Mm... yes and no. The issue is that given how the hotbars work, it would likely have to be a second copy of the entire combo... or you would need a sort of hotbar action abstraction system (which I suspect is how the mod that consolidates combos in PvE likely works).

The latter would be the better approach, honestly. Especially because you could then functionally make it a 'build your own combo' system; instead of "here is a pre-made button that is your entire chain", you would just have a little hotbar-like list you could drag actions onto, then you'd drag the icon for that list onto a hotbar.
So, mods actually do... both. The consolidation macros, moreover, are just prepackaged forms of the second (in which you can consolidate whatever you want in whatever order you want, including both oGCDs and GCDs, even based on conditionals like targeting enemy, targeting friendly, or targeting nothing). (The super cheesy ones go further in conditional scripting, but the more basic ones are merely this.) They're effectively just how macros work in WoW, if not for WoW's own familiarly arbitrary restriction (against priority order GCDs -- whereas oGCDs, for whatever reason, are still allowed to be done all in one key), much like virtually any decent use of macros is arbitrary reemed in XIV.

That said... both would work fine. Having a separate per combo key or just... not screwing over macros.


I give you four buttons: Hard Slash, Syphon Strike, Souleater, and Souleater Combo. Maybe the last comes in its own "Combo Actions" section, or maybe it's just part of the same basic skills page.

Let's say, for the sake of fairness between those using consolidation or no consolidation, Syphon Strike and Souleater themselves are no longer trap buttons; instead, they literally can't activate until you reach their step.

If you put fewer than n steps of the combo on your bar including the combo key or n-1 buttons after starting placing discrete steps alongside the combo key in the missing one's place, the Actions and Trait menu will flash the remainder at you to remind you to slot them, but you could always just, say, do Hard -> Syphon -> {Combo} so that you could just default to hitting button 3 if you like. You can use both at the same time; it just reminds you to put in the combo and/or the missing steps if you're screwing yourself over.

(The only thing you can't manage under this new baseline functionality are conditionals, such as to cause Bloodspiller to replace your other weaponskills if you would otherwise overcap on your Blood Gauge.)

At base, only Hard Slash and Souleater Combo start off available, the latter of which literally shows Hard Slash.
  • You hit Hard Slash or Souleater Combo [Hard Slash] and... Syphon Strike lights up and becomes available, Hard Slash desaturates, and Souleater Combo then shows Syphon Strike. Souleater remains locked.
  • You hit Syphon Strike or Souleater Combo [Syphon Strike] and Syphon Strike, too, desaturates and again becomes locked, Souleater lights up and becomes available, and Souleater Combo then shows Souleater.
  • You hit Souleater or Souleater Combo [Souleater] and you return to the base state.

Those can work simultaneously. One can have one or the other, for any particular combo, or technically both. Want Ley Lines separate from Between the Lines, then just slot those two separately instead of using the pre-build consolidation.

(Sorry, accessibility is a thing I have come to take very, very seriously in game design.)
Same. I just think having no easily seen and graspable system could a missed opportunity for accessibility.

I'll gladly take a not-gutted macro system, but I think having some buttons/macros that are already there, quick to drag and drop, would not only create an easier alternative, but also a sort of welcoming mat for those later improved macros. (Naturally, also let players choose also to automatically drop in the consolidations instead of discrete keys (toggleable separately by type -- e.g., Necessary Sequences, Natural Sequences).