Macro Help

[Murphie]

Re: Macro Help

That's when I hit ALT+M and select Stoneskin. My macro palettes are too full as it is. :p

[Nazo]

Re: Macro Help

I use <t> exclusively except for ones that are cast on myself. Adding st adds a bit extra to my cast time I don't need and as a whm I'm only going to be engaging the mobs in skill-ups / non-critical situations anyway.
All my jobs have a /ta <bt> macro at alt-1 to quickly target a mob without casting in case it grabs the wrong one.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Macro Help

That's when I hit ALT+M and select Stoneskin. My macro palettes are too full as it is. :p

Of what?

Not to sound like a snob or anything...

I hear tons of whitemages complaining about a shortage of macro space, and yet in one macro set (twenty functions worth basically, ctrl and alt 1-0) I have managed to fit everything I need and a bunch of things I don't.

As for /ta <bt> I use f8 . It doesn't always target the mob you want, but then again neither does <bt> I beleive [shift] f8 will tab through nearby mobs, however.

[Nazo]

Re: Macro Help

Doesn't f8 just target the nearest mob? As I usually try to stand out of range it's quite often there are other mobs nearer to me than the one we're fighting.

[Ellipses]

Re: Macro Help

The only time /ta <bt> isn't 100% reliable is when your party has claimed more than one mob. If your party has claimed more than one mob, you'd best be on your toes about what you're doing anyway.

[samarium]

Re: Macro Help

Of what?

Not to sound like a snob or anything...

I hear tons of whitemages complaining about a shortage of macro space, and yet in one macro set (twenty functions worth basically, ctrl and alt 1-0) I have managed to fit everything I need and a bunch of things I don't.

As for /ta <bt> I use f8 . It doesn't always target the mob you want, but then again neither does <bt> I beleive [shift] f8 will tab through nearby mobs, however.

May as well join in.

Haste, status cures, regen, healing magic, enfeebles, blink, stoneskin, and a report macro for overzealous pullers.

I manually use the magic menu for bar-spells and Protectra.

To be honest, I could use one page and just keep 2 or 3 status cures and change them based on our prey, but I feel better prepared to deal with the unexpected by keeping them all on.

Much of the time, in situations where <bt> doesn't work right (links), I'm far too busy healing the rest of the party to worry about doing anything offensive.

-sam

[Ellipses]

Re: Macro Help

Since this is turning into another all-around discussion...

I have four macro pallettes on WHM. For each one, the Ctrl bar is the same: Cures, Regens, Erase, Haste, Silena, and... something else. The Alt sets are: Buffs, Debuffs, Nukes, and -na spells. The -na set also has my /heal on and /heal off macros with gear swaps.

I use <stpc> and <stnpc>, because they let me keep the main mob targeted at all times to watch its health and be ready to reapply debuffs or whatever.

[samarium]

Re: Macro Help

Since this is turning into another all-around discussion...

I have four macro pallettes on WHM. For each one, the Ctrl bar is the same: Cures, Regens, Erase, Haste, Silena, and... something else. The Alt sets are: Buffs, Debuffs, Nukes, and -na spells. The -na set also has my /heal on and /heal off macros with gear swaps.

I use <stpc> and <stnpc>, because they let me keep the main mob targeted at all times to watch its health and be ready to reapply debuffs or whatever.

I use 3 total. One set for parties, one set for soloing (Aquaveil, more of the debuffs, some BLM enfeebles like Sleep), and one general-use set for teleports and enhancing skillup.

-sam

[Ellipses]

Re: Macro Help

/nod

I should add that I am a bastion of inefficiency and laziness re: the magic menu.

[Murphie]

Re: Macro Help

Of what?

Not to sound like a snob or anything...

I hear tons of whitemages complaining about a shortage of macro space, and yet in one macro set (twenty functions worth basically, ctrl and alt 1-0) I have managed to fit everything I need and a bunch of things I don't.

As for /ta <bt> I use f8 . It doesn't always target the mob you want, but then again neither does <bt> I beleive [shift] f8 will tab through nearby mobs, however.

Full of things that I think are more important to me than a self targetting spell like Stoneskin. Isn't this essentially the same argument on both sides?

I level a lot of jobs. That means I don't have a lot of space for extraneous WHM macros.

I use <t> exclusively except for ones that are cast on myself. Adding st adds a bit extra to my cast time I don't need and as a whm I'm only going to be engaging the mobs in skill-ups / non-critical situations anyway.
All my jobs have a /ta <bt> macro at alt-1 to quickly target a mob without casting in case it grabs the wrong one.

I haven't found that <st> or <stpc> creates any discernable difference in my casting time. Generally the <st> is the same mob I just cast a spell on a bit ago, and <stpc> is easily selected via the F keys, so it works really well for me. If you have a different system that works better for you, that's all that matters.^^

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Macro Help

Report macro is something I've never had, if i need a MP report I make it up off the top of my head.


So I suppose this discussion has gone about as far as it can, really. Aelathir hit the nail on the head when he said "Things I think are more important".

Personally, what I think is important is a weaker cure spell, a stronger cure spell, a protectra-shellra (pure laziness right there, as there's no situation I know that demands split-second protectra), a regen, a silena, a haste, a stoneskin, and two variable -na spells (includes Erase).

I also think Flash and Dia are important, but Slow and Paralyze are not...since I usually have a RDM doing those for me.

I think echo drops are important, yet I don't have a macro for them...although I admit I should.

I think having a resting macro swap and a standing and working macro swap are important, even though I could easily do the resting stuff by hand.

I think having an emergency Sleep macro is important, even though it never gets used, because 99% of the time I have a BLM AND a RDM ahead of me in the Sleep chain.

So yeah. You could argue that my macros are full of excess fat and I have important things that I've left out.



But the bottom line, that I don't think anyone can make an argument against, is that it's what I'm USED TO.

I set up these macros back when I only had ten spells to macro anyway. Actually, I think I only had about eight...

Looking at them going across the board, it would make sense to put Silena and my other two -na macros together. They're not. Silena is control 7, while what's currently stona is control 5 and what's currently erase is control 0. Control 9 is haste, but control 6 is regen, and those two are usually linked by a common cycle.

But it's what I'm used to. If I rearranged them, I'd be hitting control 6 and erasing people nonstop trying to put up regen. It might make more sense, but I still wouldn't gut-react with it.

[Murphie]

Re: Macro Help

Well yeah, that's pretty much it. Whatever works best for you as a mage (or any job, really) is just that. What works best for you. The nice thing about this game is that it doesn't force us to learn just one way of doing everything. As long as we get our spells cast when we need them to be, and get our Job Abilities off when appropriate, that's all that matters.^^

[Nazo]

Re: Macro Help

I haven't found that <st> or <stpc> creates any discernable difference in my casting time. Generally the <st> is the same mob I just cast a spell on a bit ago, and <stpc> is easily selected via the F keys, so it works really well for me. If you have a different system that works better for you, that's all that matters.^^

Oh totally, there's no right or wrong in these things, as long as you aren't spamming party chat with ridiculous comments every spell anyway...

I didn't mean that stpc caused delay generally, it's just that I'm rubbish with it, having to use the extra keystroke to confirm it. I have it on some of my rdm macros and when things go wrong I'm often guilty of hammering on my keyboard wondering why my spells aren't casting when it's because I haven't hit enter...

[samarium]

Re: Macro Help

Oh totally, there's no right or wrong in these things, as long as you aren't spamming party chat with ridiculous comments every spell anyway...

I didn't mean that stpc caused delay generally, it's just that I'm rubbish with it, having to use the extra keystroke to confirm it. I have it on some of my rdm macros and when things go wrong I'm often guilty of hammering on my keyboard wondering why my spells aren't casting when it's because I haven't hit enter...

Heh... two things to say.

First about the extra keystroke - it's just something you get used to. I've been using <stpc> since level 33, I find it helpful to be able to 'cue up' the next spell I'd like to cast, and know it'll go off with one keypress instead of press macro - did it work? no? press macro again. I'm used to it enough that it also doesn't cause me any additional delay in emergency cures.

Second... I knew someone once who had super-annoying sayings in their macros. In shout.

-sam

[Ichiba]

Re: Macro Help

I pretty much just use:
/ma "Cure (or II, III, etc)" <t>
/p [Casting Spell] <t> [Cure]

/ma "[insert spell name here" <t> or <me> (depending on if you want the spell cast on your target or yourself)

a good one for food is:

/item "Ginger Cookie (or whatever you want)" <me>

When I target party members I just use my analog stick on my controller Much easier then trying to click them individually... believe me.. Lol.

Double Post Edited:

I knew someone once who had super-annoying sayings in their macros. In shout.

-sam

xD Hahaha, yeah... there was this one war I partied with.. his provoke macro (in both say and party chat) was: "Hehehehe time to play!"