Evidence that Macros Do NOT Cause GCD Delay or Lost Casts

[Natalyah]

Care to share your macros?

[LilimoLimomo]

I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I am curious.

I get that an optimal player will be better without macros

With respect, this isn't true, and that's part of what I'm trying to communicate with this post. Because people have different strengths and weaknesses, and they may be optimal at some things will less optimal at others. So a player who is optimal at pressing their macros in the proper window but less optimal at finding space for and pressing 32 different buttons will do better with macros. But a player who is less optimal at pressing buttons in the proper window but more optimal at finding space for and pressing 32 different buttons will do better with normal actions. Neither of these setups is innately better than the other, both can be used to do all the content in the game. Also, it's worth saying this isn't black-and-white. A truly optimal player will recognize the places where macros can up their game and use macros for that, and they will recognize the places where normal actions can up their game and use macros for that.

but is there a point where a bad player can play “good enough” with macros?

It will depend on where we place the goalposts for the definitions of "bad player" and "good enough", but generally speaking, the answer is that it can. Will it? That depends on why the player is "bad". To offer just one example, I'm a controller player, and for the way my brain and body works, I would be bad at the game if I had to find a place on my controller for 32 different buttons and remembering where they are all tucked away (since the crosshotbar can only visually display 16 buttons at a time). I've tried a variety of different options in the game to try to make that work and it just doesn't for me; I know what move I want to use at the proper time, but the controller simply doesn't provide easy, intuitive access to that many different moves. Macros absolutely help me play at a higher level by allowing me to better customize my control layout so that the buttons I already want to press are readily available when I want to press them.

And are certain jobs more receptive/forgiving of macro-use?

I think this ends up coming down to personal preference, especially since there are so many different kinds of macros to make. Every class I play tends to have at least 5 macros, though.

Like Ninja jitsu presses are much faster by hand, I would think.

Because the cooldown on Jin, Ten, and Chi are so rapid, in my opinion these actions are actually great for macros; because you want to press these sequences of buttons with a quick rhythm, the shorter activation window of macros will generally be less of a downside. So you can, for example, make a macro that casts Chi when used with GCD available, but instead casts Mug when the GCD is unavailable. Thus, you have 1 button that can do 2 different things depending on the context in which you press it, reducing the number of necessary buttons on your hotbars by 1:

/macroicon "Chi"
/macroerror off
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Chi"
/ac "Mug"

But putting oGCDs (like assassinate) on GCDs so they fire when the GCD isn’t ready yet is better than the bad player just not using the oGCDs at all… right?

100%! ^^

[Mikey_R]

Because the cooldown on Jin, Ten, and Chi are so rapid, in my opinion these actions are actually great for macros; because you want to press these sequences of buttons with a quick rhythm, the shorter activation window of macros will generally be less of a downside. So you can, for example, make a macro that does Chi with GCD but Mug with oGCD.

Sorry, I had to check, you have Ninja at 90, how do you not know that you cannot put anything between the Mudras otherwise it straight up gives you bunny. In fact, with all GCDs with a recast time of 1 second or less, you won't be putting oGCD attacks after them, not only because it clips the GCD, but it is pointless to do. The other ones are Monk's Meditation, which you only use when disengaged, so the best you will do thunderclap and lose some GCD time there (which will be worth it depending on how far away you are), Dancers Steps, because you cannot physically use anything other than the steps and En Avant, of which En Avant does clip and Sage's Eukrasia, which, 99% of the time, is going to be followed by a Eukrasian GCD, which gives you a 1.5 second, no cast time spell to weave something into.

[Wyssahtyn]

So you can, for example, make a macro that does Chi with GCD but Mug with oGCD.

lol. lmao even.

[LilimoLimomo]

Care to share your macros?

I have nearly 200 macros at present, and they're on a PS5 console (in a different room) so it's not as simple as copying and pasting them. However, I'd be happy to share some. Is there anything specific you're looking for? Here's a sampler platter of macros I've compiled from the various pages of this thread:

All 10 Dragoon Combo Skills in Only 4 Crosshotbar buttons
Here's a video that shows the set of macros I'm probably most proud of, which puts all 10 of Dragoon's combo skills on only 4 controller buttons. The video shows both how it plays as well as all the macros and crosshotbars that make it happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsZo2iWJDrs

What's actually happening here is that when you press a combo macro, it copies the buttons from a different crosshotbar onto you current crosshotbar. In this way, you can make macros so that when you press combo 1 it populates your crosshotbar with combo 2, then when you press combo 2 it populates your crosshotbar with combo 3, and so on.

It's worth pointing out that there is a cost to this specific method: the buttons that are being copied have to be stored in a different crosshotbar. Luckily, these can be literally any other crosshotbar; if you prefer, you can store your Dragoon crosshotbar configurations in your extra Dragoon crosshotbars, but you could also store them on any other class, including any of the 8 crosshotbars on non-combat classes like Botanist or pre-job classes like Gladiator. In this way you're unlikely to run out of space, but the initial setup and any modifications you make down the road will be that much more involved.


Automatic Sharpcast after Ice Paradox:
/macroicon "Blizzard"
/macroerror off
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/ac "Blizzard"
/wait 1
/ac "Sharpcast"

This is a macro I use when playing Black Mage. When Blizzard is available, it just casts Blizzard, because Blizzard has a cast-time longer than 1 second, and thus Sharpcast doesn't get cast. But when Blizzard becomes Paradox, it becomes an instant-cast, and then a single-weave of Sharpcast follows Paradox. If you prefer using Sharpcast at other times, this probably isn't the macro for you, but I've been enjoying it.

Some players may wonder why there's so much repetition in this macro. Basically, if you put the same action multiple times in a macro, that in effect creates a queue window for the macro you've made. Each attempt at casting the spell takes a very short amount of time (according to Sindele's data, each line takes 1 frame to execute), and the more you have in a row, the larger the window within which your spell tries to cast will be. I recommend this technique for any GCD macro, and it can help oGCD's as well depending on when you like to press your buttons; depending on your circumstances, you may prefer more repeats or fewer repeats to get the timing just right for you.


GCD and oGCD's on the same button:
Pressing this macro makes it so Ruin II is cast if GCD is available, but if not then it'll do Energy Drain if you have Aetherflow charges, otherwise it will cast Aetherflow. The repeated Ruin II lines not only act as a "queue" for Ruin II, but also for the other oGCD's as well. Technically there's a downside where Energy Drain and Aetherflow will always be "queued" for all of the Ruin II frames, and thus they will always have a short cast delay, but I've found that this doesn't matter at all for single-weaves, and depending on when you press buttons and your framerate you might be able to get it working for double-weaves. I'd recommend giving it a shot, probably adding more Ruin II or removing them to see if you can get it to line up with your preferences.

/macroicon "Ruin II"
/macroerror off
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Energy Drain"
/ac "Aetherflow"


If there's anything more specific you're looking for, let me know and I'd be happy to help!

[LilimoLimomo]

Sorry, I had to check, you have Ninja at 90, how do you not know that you cannot put anything between the Mudras otherwise it straight up gives you bunny.

With respect, you've misunderstood the purpose of this macro, so let me explain. The intent of this macro is not that you cast Chi and then follow it up with Mug. Rather, you have 1 button that can do 2 things.

So when you're doing your standard combo with other buttons and you decide you want to use Mug, you press this macro.

And in a totally separate circumstance when you want to cast Chi, you press this same exact macro.

This reduces the number of buttons on your crosshotbar by 1. That's the benefit.

Hope that clears this up!

[Mikey_R]

With respect, you've misunderstood the purpose of this macro, so let me explain. The intent of this macro is not that you cast Chi and then follow it up with Mug. Rather, you have 1 button that can do 2 things.

So when you're doing your standard combo with other buttons and you decide you want to use Mug, you press this macro.

And in a totally separate circumstance when you want to cast Chi, you press this same exact macro.

This reduces the number of buttons on your crosshotbar by 1. That's the benefit.

Hope that clears this up!

To which I say, why would you run the risk of messing up a mudra due to macro shenanigans and not just put it on a different button? An idea there would be to put it on Meisui, something that has a very specific activation and can only be used in that instance and is used in the same 120 second window that Mug is used in, just at a different time. Or, if you really want it on a GCD, stick it on a Raiju. just, do not, stick ANY mudras on a macro, that is probably one of the few things I will say no, there are much much better things you attach an action to that don't pose a risk of messing up a core element of the job.

Now:

/macroicon "Ruin II"
/macroerror off
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Ruin II"
/ac "Energy Drain"
/ac "Aetherflow"

As an FYI, there is a chance this will fail as if it is one of the later Ruin 2s that is activated, the macro will continue on and try and activate Energy Drain and Aetherflow, but you are still in the animation lock for Ruin 2.

[Deceptus]

Like Ninja jitsu presses are much faster by hand, I would think. But putting oGCDs (like assassinate) on GCDs so they fire when the GCD isn’t ready yet is better than the bad player just not using the oGCDs at all… right?

One of the more important things that makes a "bad" player "decent" is to always be casting something and keep your OGCD CD's rolling.

A "good" player optimizes that to try to hit buff windows when they can

a "great" player never misses a gcd and never misses a buff window. Everything is perfectly aligned.

Certain macros can absolutely make "bad" players "decent". Not good, but a step above a bad player.

For example:

Astrologians will never NOT use Minor Arcana and Play Crown in any other order. Ever. So it can literally be a QoL issue to macro:

Minor Arcana / Crown Play Macro
/micon "Minor Arcana"
/ac "Crown Play"
/ac "Minor Arcana"

One press preps the Lord / Lady the next press fires it off.

There are multiple buttons in the game that do this (DRG with Jump > Mirage Dive is another). One action requires a certain previous action and they could easily be combined into a single button that just simply changes but the job design team leaves us with button bloat instead of dynamic skills.

[vetch]

As an FYI, there is a chance this will fail as if it is one of the later Ruin 2s that is activated, the macro will continue on and try and activate Energy Drain and Aetherflow, but you are still in the animation lock for Ruin 2.

That's not a failure because that's not what the macro is meant to do. The point of that macro is not to press it once and have it cast two skills, it's to have it activate a different single ability depending on the timing of its use. It's supposed to not cast an oGCD if it successfully casts Ruin 2.

[Natalyah]

If there's anything more specific you're looking for, let me know and I'd be happy to help!

I use this for my Bard to split it into fewer buttons, tell me what you think (songs are on their own keybinds ofc)

Single target

/macroicon "Heavy Shot"
/targetenemy
/macroicon "Heavy Shot"
/macroerror off
/actionerror off
/ac "raging strikes"
/ac "Bloodletter"
/ac "Straight Shot"
/ac "Heavy Shot"
/ac barrage
/ac "empyreal arrow"
/ac "bloodletter"
/ac sidewinder
/ac "refulgent arrow"

aoe

/macroicon "Quick Nock"
/targetenemy
/macroerror off
/actionerror off
/ac "Rain of Death"
/ac "empyreal arrow"
/ac "Shadowbite"
/ac "Quick Nock"
/ac sidewinder
/ac "refulgent arrow"

Dots

/macroicon "venomous bite"
/macroerror off
/actionerror off
/ac "venomous bite" <wait.3>
/ac "Windbite"

For me that's a lot less buttons. Wish I could make something for Paladin,but I imagine that's too complex.