Are there any combat macro's that actually work?

[Hanayumi]

This was like way way back in HW days, so im sure the community has gotten better along with jobs being simpler now, but vaguely remember something about like well over 60% of players input buttons slower than what macro can do with something like 1/2 that input wrong skills or clipping too often. So meh, do whatever youre comfortable with i just wouldnt advise you doing so with anything beyond Ex.

[Absurdity]

It's an option in the game. It's up to the individual how they play.

It's also an option to only have half of your skills on your hotbar, doesn't make it a good one.

[dspguy]

Works fine for my needs. Guess this guy manages too!

https://www.famitsu.com/news/202208/20272583.html

The reason to not macro any GCD is because you can't queue them up. There is a tiny window before your GCD comes up where you can hit the GCD and have it "queue up" on the server so it is executed right when the GCD timer comes up. Macros with GCDs don't work that way. Spam it all day, but over time, you clip your GCDs by enough time to make it highly inefficient.

But you are right, you can play however you want.

Also, I could do only 75% of what I should do at work and expect the rest of my team to pick up the slack to complete the project. It would be just enough to not be vote-kicked off the team.

[Liam_Harper]

Combat macros get a lot of hate in this game (understandably so, the system is terrible), that often people will just outright state "never use them" without really knowing why or how big of a loss it really is. They just parrot what they saw on the Balance and feel smart.

Macro'ing oGCD's is generally fine. Things like mouseover heals, ground target macros, shirk macros, they all work fine.
Always repeat the /action line in your macro as many times as possible. This repeats the command multiple times and increases the chance it goes through. Macro speed actually depends on framerate, so if you run at a high fps, capping it to something lower will increase this window.
These oGCD macros are generally weaved between GCD's so lack of queuing isn't an issue, but they're still macros and might have their moments they don't go off. As always try playing without them first and if you find a macro increases your performance, no reason not to.
I use mouseover heal macros myself, they very rarely fail for me and I've had no issue with them in Savage.

GCD macros don't queue which is why they aren't recommended. You have to mash them and if you try to tie an oGCD to them (Let's say... Hakaze + Shinten), you'll only get a single weave in addition to lack of queuing.
How much do you really lose though if you macro a GCD? Let's say a taboo macro like macroing Glare to hit the boss so you can target the party. Probably a few percent, 5% at most. Not the end of the world to be honest and most players lose more uptime dropping rotation on mechanics, fumbling buttons, not using pots/food/materia.
I'd really ask yourself "can I learn to play without if I really tried?", if it's worth having to mash the button more and how often does it fail or misfire? If it still works fine for you and helps you focus better on other things, it's ok. It won't hold groups back at all by itself unless you're min ilv or week one raiding. Just understand the downsides and don't overuse it, one or two buttons is plenty, more means heavy losses.

One macro to absolutely avoid is trying to string multiple different buttons together. Yes, this includes the community accepted Swiftcast + Raise, but also things like macroing Mudra or GCD combos. This is because macros with a <wait> command have a minimum wait time of 1 second. It doesn't matter if you type <wait0.00001>, it'll delay for 1 second between each action. This, combined with no queuing, does add up to sizable losses. These macros are also prone to disruption. If you're struggling with gameplay you're better off finding other ways to simplify your rotation that would result in smaller losses or consider a different job.

Yea works fine, totally, you're not sandbagging every group you're in. Surely.

I've tested it myself and the infamous One-Button-Summoner actually works, landing high purple logs in Normal and uptime of up to 98%, which is honestly better than most of the playerbase. So not sandbagging groups.

I don't recommend it personally because Summoner is very easy to play and 6-10 minutes of mashing a button fast is a pain. Downtime tends to disrupt the macro, as well as trying to weave in utility like Surecast or Addle, although it is recoverable. Really wasn't a fun playstyle and clunky. But it works and you won't hold groups back.

[Remolia]

It's also an option to only have half of your skills on your hotbar, doesn't make it a good one.

yes, coz u use key bindings, and other half of spells are on ur hidden bars.

[Raven2014]

I've tested it myself and the infamous One-Button-Summoner actually works, landing high purple logs in Normal and uptime of up to 98%, which is honestly better than most of the playerbase. So not sandbagging groups.

That's not the samething though. The One-Button-Summoner are hot-bar-switching macro, and UI macro is fine because they don't have delay like GCD macro. All that do on Summoner is you only spam one button, but you still manually activate every ability that fire, just now you hitting 1 button instead of 6-7 different ones. The one the other post showed for his BRD actually made to queue their abilities for them ... which is ... pretty much a no no.

It's an option in the game. It's up to the individual how they play.

Totally agree and that's fair, but know that if you present your "play style" to the public, it's also fair that other will have their opinion about it.

What you're doing is fine as long as the content is also fine with a person just go AFKing ... which is what the article you linked said. The other poster is also correct with the "sandbag" term if these macro are used in content where "meaningful" contribution from "all" participant are neccessary.

[Shinkuno]

There is? /10 char

the little up and down arrow next to hotbar 1

[Shinkuno]

The reason to not macro any GCD is because you can't queue them up. There is a tiny window before your GCD comes up where you can hit the GCD and have it "queue up" on the server so it is executed right when the GCD timer comes up. Macros with GCDs don't work that way. Spam it all day, but over time, you clip your GCDs by enough time to make it highly inefficient.

But you are right, you can play however you want.

Also, I could do only 75% of what I should do at work and expect the rest of my team to pick up the slack to complete the project. It would be just enough to not be vote-kicked off the team.

Well there is a guy that made a purple parsing dragoon 1 button rotation macro. Its inefficent most of the time, but there are alot of people playing this game where clipping the gcds is the least of their worries so having a 1 button rotation macro actually increases their dps

[warnymphsz]

My only combat macros are the ones that switch my main hotbar around. I keep single target abilities on one and AoEs on the other, and swap between them as needed.

what is that macro? i'm new to the game

[vetch]

The reason to not macro any GCD is because you can't queue them up. There is a tiny window before your GCD comes up where you can hit the GCD and have it "queue up" on the server so it is executed right when the GCD timer comes up. Macros with GCDs don't work that way. Spam it all day, but over time, you clip your GCDs by enough time to make it highly inefficient.

This is true when you're using macros to try to combine skills, but single-skill macros with one action repeated on 10-12 lines can still sort of pseudo-queue even though they can't use the proper, normal skillqueue. Because macros send the lines sequentially instead of firing them all at once, they will re-send the action request over and over, every frame until it fires or runs out of lines.

This allows it to be used the same way a normal skill is used with minimal uptime loss, making it great for tasks like enabling mouseover healing/buffing with instants & oGCDs, or making a reminder timer by adding a <wait> followed by an /echo message with a sound effect to remind you to refresh a debuff. I have one of those macros for my reaper debuff and it works like the regular skill.