Hey guys. I made a macro for walking incase anyone needs to get around. Don't be carebear! Jump on the hardcore/genius gamer bandwagon. This macro only took me a minute to write because I have super fast typing abilities and a high IQ.
/select character (1);/select leg (r);/move 1 step;/select leg (l);/move 1 step; repeat
If you want to walk starting with the left leg instead of right it's not that hard, just change r for l. Stopping is just
Im sure if there was a manual available this would be explained. There used to be a manual and I think this was in it, but they closed the beta site to me when CB ended.
So it's like FF XI all over again. To expect from new players to programm macros from the get go is a kick in the balls right there. Unbelievable. Macros should be ADVANCED techniques for experienced players not a mandatory chore to achieve the simplest of things all other games handle either automatically or with one button. What the hell where they thinking? It's 2010!
Believe it or not there are gamers out there who don't want their hand held for everything. I for one am glad to see macros back in a newly released mmo. When there's no learning curve to a mmo than it's just another snoozefest like wow.
Wow. That is a pretty dumb statement. Because it takes a lot of work to go online and copy and paste someones else's macros. Macros are bad programming for a game. I'll go as far to say as "macros" for any game take away the actual playing, as you now rely on it instead of your actual playing.
So you already made all your macros right, and WILL NOT UNDER ANY circumstance look up how to make them or get help right? Because god forbid "you don't want any hand holding" No, you will go and find out on someone else's labor how and copy and paste like a sheep, but hey, its all good because this is "HARDCORE" mode because SE didn't make their interface any good. Don't ask any questions either. Hell remove the chat interface, because if you ask a question cause you don't know the answer someone is holding your hand.
Because all those players that created those nice UI's for WoW, AoC, and the 20 other games that all custom UI's all had it easy mode, because it was all actually programmed by Blizzard themselves and written off as some random. Get real. The interface is a pile of stinking crap. Anyone with a brain can figure that out.
There is a difference between hand holding and a intuitive interface. Not sure if SE is allowing custom UI's or not, but if they do this will alleviate all the problems as the communities can make something useable, again I think any game that you have to go out and download 30 different UI's to be useful is shoddy programming. There is enough games with custom UI's that show what basic information people want in regards to MMO's now and the programmers should look into that, since I imagine they game themselves on some of the games.
Why are u people even wasting your time on FF14. If you aren't interested vamos.
We are posting because we are interested and have gone through the trouble of getting the client to work or patch for days on end in some cases. Beeing interested does not equal being a fanboy however. Otherwise there wouldn't be a point to a discussion-forum now wouldn't it?
Believe it or not there are gamers out there who don't want their hand held for everything. I for one am glad to see macros back in a newly released mmo. When there's no learning curve to a mmo than it's just another snoozefest like wow.
Repeating this argument over and over again, doesn't make it right or even plausible. We're not talking about challenge here, just about basic functionality. MMOs should be about experiencing an epic storyline, epic quests, epic landscapes, epic Dungeons and Bossbattles. Theres absolutly nothing "epic", "hardcore" or "advanced" about battling bad UI-Design.
Of course writing macros isn't epic, nor is it hardcore or advanced. It is simply another level of complexity that should benefit those who take the time to learn it. MMOs aren't just about "epicness", they're also about a huge and complex system that takes time to learn and master.
Obviously, we have different ideas on what a mmo should be about.
I am glad that this game is too hard for stupid people. They already make MMO's for them.
lol u wouldnt be playing this game in the first place if u were super smart. U would be too busy figuring out how to defeat AIDS or build a space shuttle.
So it's like FF XI all over again. To expect from new players to programm macros from the get go is a kick in the balls right there. Unbelievable. Macros should be ADVANCED techniques for experienced players not a mandatory chore to achieve the simplest of things all other games handle either automatically or with one button. What the hell where they thinking? It's 2010!
Believe it or not there are gamers out there who don't want their hand held for everything. I for one am glad to see macros back in a newly released mmo. When there's no learning curve to a mmo than it's just another snoozefest like wow.
Wow. That is a pretty dumb statement. Because it takes a lot of work to go online and copy and paste someones else's macros. Macros are bad programming for a game. I'll go as far to say as "macros" for any game take away the actual playing, as you now rely on it instead of your actual playing.
So you already made all your macros right, and WILL NOT UNDER ANY circumstance look up how to make them or get help right? Because god forbid "you don't want any hand holding"
In a robust macro system it becomes part of the game to create your own macros. However just from what Ive seen from this thread this macro system is not that robust, but then being simple it also doesnt qualify your position that it plays the game for you.
Of course writing macros isn't epic, nor is it hardcore or advanced. It is simply another level of complexity that should benefit those who take the time to learn it. MMOs aren't just about "epicness", they're also about a huge and complex system that takes time to learn and master.
Obviously, we have different ideas on what a mmo should be about.
"Complexity" and "beeing complicated" is not the same. We are talking about different layers of gamedesign here. Every MMO on the market is more or less complex, that's one of the benefits of the genre. This is nothing special. But it was already mentioned that the complexities should be in the content not in basic functionality. It is rewarding and well worth it to theorize about boss strategies, skills, gearing or how to go about a difficult quest or task. It is not fun however if i need a makro to change my weapon. The "content" of this task is in no way shape or form "complex", on the contrary: it's ridiculously simple and if it's a hassle to do these simple things it's becoming frustrating. Not because the Player is "too stupid" but because boring and simple tasks like this shouldn't stand in the way of the real game.
I never played Wow. Can you change classes in the field, and on the fly? Or do you have to log onto an alt? Can you equip and use skills from all the classes? When changing classes, is all of your gear needed instantly equipped? Are all of your skills unlocked usable at the press of a button? Or do you have to set certain primary skills? In the future FFXIV may have 20+ classes with possibly hundreds of skills to create custom builds. But they wish the playerbase to have the freedom to build roles within defined parameters. If there were no limits on equippable skills. In the end there would be little individuality. Correct me if I misread this thread. Is it being argued that the system should remember custom skill and gear sets for every class, and allow it in one button press? If this is the argument. How in the hell would SE know, what custom builfds you need for certain situations?
Guys, I know there is a lot of heated debate going on but lets keep this thread on topic (i.e. not devolving it to a back and forth on whether or not the game is too complicated or not).
It would be awesome if there was a UI feature that allowed us to create our presets such that I could say "click preset #1" and it would automatically equip items and actions. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is via macros.
I don't know why you all are arguing over macros in this game when it was clearly not meant to be played with a graphical client at all. You are obviously supposed to capture packets from the server and read them with a hex editor, write return packets bit by bit and then send them back. Bunch of sissies, phtt! Graphics are for noobs. You need to be more hardcore and less worried about actually enjoying your freetime. Babies!
(It is strange, I don't remember ordering a game called "Learn to fuck with Gamepads and Macros.")
So it's like FF XI all over again. To expect from new players to programm macros from the get go is a kick in the balls right there. Unbelievable. Macros should be ADVANCED techniques for experienced players not a mandatory chore to achieve the simplest of things all other games handle either automatically or with one button. What the hell where they thinking? It's 2010!
If you cannot follow the OP's instructions and write a couple of macros, then I don't want to game with you because you are a moron. The macro system allows for flexibility that is not available in other games. Is it a little harder than having dedicated buttons to push? Yes it is, but in exchange for having to use my brain, I get the ability to customize the game in any way I see fit. I made macros to change all my jobs and abilities in about 3 minutes, it's not even like it's actually difficult. You just have to want to play the game, and not have it played for you.
Every "moron" and their mother used scripting programs to execute macros in FFXI. It didn't take brains, everyone just copied everyone else. Writing macros is not playing the game, it's bypassing a poorly implemented system. Of course anyone that played XI would know that writing and maintaining scrips was half of the game, so perhaps SE is going that route again to a lesser degree of course.
I never used scripts in FFXI, nor did many others I knew. We didn't even use Windower. We did just fine without them. So your entire post fails on that premise alone... this is why you should avoid generalizations. Or at least keep them to yourself.
I spent 10 minutes creating macros for my jobs, and that was it. I was done with them and never had to touch them again until I wanted to change something or add something new.
That said, if writing macros that take maybe a minute to create, at most, is enough to send some of you off the deep end the way it is (along with having to press 1 extra button to complete a task it seems), then all I can say is... I really hope you're not intending to play FFXIV. The fewer whiners I have to put on my blacklist, the better.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
This feature has been available since Alpha Testing, not here nor the official forum has a thread about it. Now a person makes a thread about it to share it with the community, and all of the sudden it's "pro this", "lazy that", "advanced something else" "bla bla bla" "whine whine whine".
Grow up people. If you don't like Macro's, don't friggin use them. If you do like them, you'll use them no doubt.
This feature has been available since Alpha Testing, not here nor the official forum has a thread about it. Now a person makes a thread about it to share it with the community, and all of the sudden it's "pro this", "lazy that", "advanced something else" "bla bla bla" "whine whine whine".
Grow up people. If you don't like Macro's, don't friggin use them. If you do like them, you'll use them no doubt.
It's just one more thing for the dedicated whiners to whine about. If it's not this, it would be something else.
Some people just need constant attention, I guess.
"If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road, and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Of course writing macros isn't epic, nor is it hardcore or advanced. It is simply another level of complexity that should benefit those who take the time to learn it. MMOs aren't just about "epicness", they're also about a huge and complex system that takes time to learn and master.
Obviously, we have different ideas on what a mmo should be about.
"Complexity" and "beeing complicated" is not the same. We are talking about different layers of gamedesign here. Every MMO on the market is more or less complex, that's one of the benefits of the genre. This is nothing special. But it was already mentioned that the complexities should be in the content not in basic functionality. It is rewarding and well worth it to theorize about boss strategies, skills, gearing or how to go about a difficult quest or task. It is not fun however if i need a makro to change my weapon. The "content" of this task is in no way shape or form "complex", on the contrary: it's ridiculously simple and if it's a hassle to do these simple things it's becoming frustrating. Not because the Player is "too stupid" but because boring and simple tasks like this shouldn't stand in the way of the real game.
No, not every mmo on the market is more or less complex. Wow is pathetically non-complex, and its many clones have copied the formula. There's nothing wrong with that formula, if that's what you like (and obviously there are many people that do like this formula). But for me, I found it boring and stagnant. What will I do in wow tonight? I'll raid one of those "epic" encounters. What will I be doing for the next few weeks? The next few months? The next few years? Yeah, raiding more of those "epic" encounters.
I actually LIKE having to do a little research on a game to learn how to play it. I LIKE learning what different macros are out there, I LIKE possibly making my own. I LIKE taking macros others have made and tweaking them for my own uses. I LIKE the fact that I have used hours of time to learn this stuff without even playing the game, because that's more game for me to enjoy when I actually do get around to playing it!
To me, VARIETY has always been the staple of a good mmo. Variety in battle, pvp, crafting, city bulding, politics, etc. I like 'em all. I also like time learning the mechanics of the game. That's all content to me. Obviously, it is not to you, and that is just fine. But I just can't help but think that you ALREADY have a game that's purely focused on just the epic stuff that you mentioned. It's called wow. Why are you not playing it? No macros, nothing but pure epic sauce. You've already got your dream game, now let us work on ours.
No, not every mmo on the market is more or less complex. Wow is pathetically non-complex, and its many clones have copied the formula. There's nothing wrong with that formula, if that's what you like (and obviously there are many people that do like this formula). But for me, I found it boring and stagnant. What will I do in wow tonight? I'll raid one of those "epic" encounters. What will I be doing for the next few weeks? The next few months? The next few years? Yeah, raiding more of those "epic" encounters.
I actually LIKE having to do a little research on a game to learn how to play it. I LIKE learning what different macros are out there, I LIKE possibly making my own. I LIKE taking macros others have made and tweaking them for my own uses. I LIKE the fact that I have used hours of time to learn this stuff without even playing the game, because that's more game for me to enjoy when I actually do get around to playing it!
To me, VARIETY has always been the staple of a good mmo. Variety in battle, pvp, crafting, city bulding, politics, etc. I like 'em all. I also like time learning the mechanics of the game. That's all content to me. Obviously, it is not to you, and that is just fine. But I just can't help but think that you ALREADY have a game that's purely focused on just the epic stuff that you mentioned. It's called wow. Why are you not playing it? No macros, nothing but pure epic sauce. You've already got your dream game, now let us work on ours.
Ok, so you won't answer to my posting (which had nothing to do with wow) and instead turn to wow-bashing again. This is so tiresome, i really don't know what to say anymore.
I definitely agree with clubmaster on this. And I find it disappointing how fanboys in this topic defend such bad choices that SE Has made. UI is terrible. Having a bad, unresponsive, inefficient UI doesn't mean it is 'complex'. It just means it is unreponsive, and inefficient. Macros for most MMO's are used for advance actions, the fact that one must use macro's for the most basic of actions in FFXIV's UI speaks of bad design. I'm surprised at the amount of arrogance that some of the people here have.
Of course writing macros isn't epic, nor is it hardcore or advanced. It is simply another level of complexity that should benefit those who take the time to learn it. MMOs aren't just about "epicness", they're also about a huge and complex system that takes time to learn and master.
Obviously, we have different ideas on what a mmo should be about.
"Complexity" and "beeing complicated" is not the same. We are talking about different layers of gamedesign here. Every MMO on the market is more or less complex, that's one of the benefits of the genre. This is nothing special. But it was already mentioned that the complexities should be in the content not in basic functionality. It is rewarding and well worth it to theorize about boss strategies, skills, gearing or how to go about a difficult quest or task. It is not fun however if i need a makro to change my weapon. The "content" of this task is in no way shape or form "complex", on the contrary: it's ridiculously simple and if it's a hassle to do these simple things it's becoming frustrating. Not because the Player is "too stupid" but because boring and simple tasks like this shouldn't stand in the way of the real game.
While the notion of equipping items and equipping actions is simple. In this context, its actually really complex. Its not like other MMOs where you can have as many actions hotkeyed as you want. There are rules in place here that make it a complex design issue.
For one, the game determines your "class" via what you have equipped. The actions that you can use are determined via your "class". Throw in action points (these limit your ability to equip actions) and its quite daunting. Throw in the fact that you can equip actions that are outside of your class in some instances (you can equip "Cure" even though you are currently a "Gladiator")
The game unequips actions that aren't valid. For example, you have "Arbor Call" equipped, which is a botanist action. It requires botanist to be your class in order to use. You equip a cane, which is a conjury weapon. The game automatically unslots "Arbor Call". However, it doesn't do the reverse - that is - it doesn't equip valid actions.
It would be nice if there was a equipment and action preset UI feature that would allow you to graphically assign gear and actions to a given preset. The macro system, while "advanced" does provide this functionality quite nicely. I would argue that the amount of time taken to create such a macro would be the same amount of time to set up a preset graphically - should it ever exist.
Having some professional software design experience, when it comes time to release a product, certain features get cut. I imagine designing a UI feature to support a more streamline "job-switching" experience was cut because macros solved that very issue. "Do we spend money developing something the client can already do? Or do we put this in the backlog and actually fix bugs?" I'm not saying I think Macros are the end-all solution for this, but for now, they will have to do.
Lastly, if you are not enjoying FF14, that is perfectly fine. This thread was created to provide a bit of know-how to those that would like to switch jobs quickly and improve their game playing experience - as it is frustrating when you come across a tree prime for harvesting and you start fumbling with your inventory just so you can get some resources - only to remuck with your inventory so you can kill rodents again.
I never used scripts in FFXI, nor did many others I knew. We didn't even use Windower. We did just fine without them. So your entire post fails on that premise alone... this is why you should avoid generalizations. Or at least keep them to yourself.
I spent 10 minutes creating macros for my jobs, and that was it. I was done with them and never had to touch them again until I wanted to change something or add something new.
That said, if writing macros that take maybe a minute to create, at most, is enough to send some of you off the deep end the way it is (along with having to press 1 extra button to complete a task it seems), then all I can say is... I really hope you're not intending to play FFXIV. The fewer whiners I have to put on my blacklist, the better.
You missunderstand opinion and critique for whining. Happens all the time here so it's ok.
Also everyone i knew used scripts, aka Spellcast, as it was the most efficient way of min/maxing we had. It's not possible to do so with the intended 6 lines of space that the game offered you. When you create such an intricate system of changing every piece of gear to fully maximize the threat mechanics, spell potency, and damage output but limit the system with poor implementation, players resort to 3rd party apps. While yes, it is the players choice at that point, I'd rather they evolve the system internally.
Again, it's a matter of play styles i suppose and what you want to get out of it.
My point is: It should be sufficient to arrange equipment and skills ONCE. A game that basically allows you to do all the available classes just by switching your weapon, it should be common sense that the corresponding equipment sets and action bars are saved and applied as soon as the specific weapon catagory is equipped. This is not that hard to do.
Example: Your're an Archer and therefore have the bow equipped. You arrange your skills on the skill bar and equip the corresponding gear for that class. Then you equip One-Hand Sword. Because how the class-system works, the game should be able of knowing, that once you equipped a sword you changed from Archer to Gladiator. As soon as your sword is equipped the action bars should empty out, so that the Gladiatzor Skills can be alloted to the skillbar slots as you like it. Same with gear. As Soon as you switch back to Archer, the Actionbars should be filled with the archerskills again as you left them before you switched to the sword. For a jobsystem like this, things like that should by common sense for a gamedesigner.
This isn't "hand-holding" because skillpriority and geararrangements are completly up to you. It's just basic functionallity. If the gamedesigners don't want you to switch fast midbattle, then don't allow it or apply a castingtime to gearchange. It's all really simple.
So it's like FF XI all over again. To expect from new players to programm macros from the get go is a kick in the balls right there. Unbelievable. Macros should be ADVANCED techniques for experienced players not a mandatory chore to achieve the simplest of things all other games handle either automatically or with one button. What the hell where they thinking? It's 2010!
It took me all of 5 minutes to look the macro commands up on the internet and enter them in. If that's what you call "Advanced techniques", then maybe you ought to start with coloring books and work your way up.
The game has so little guidance you find youself needing to alt tab out all the time to look things up. I don't have a issue with this other then you can't alt tab out of the game without a crash and it ruins the flow of the game.
Hold on, I think you are on to something here We all know that the main reason for open beta is to test how much the servers can take. So to deal with server load, SE makes the game with frustrating mechanics and do not provide any instructions ingame on how to do anything making players have to alt tab out to search on the net. Then make the game so it crashes anytime you alt tab out thus reducing the load on the servers......my god its BRILLIANT!!! I think you might have just stumbled on the entire reason for this open beta.
The macro system in this game is simple as hell, there is no way you could have trouble with this system. It took me 5 minutes to do it as well, now i update my macro everytime i get a new skill, i rearrange the order, i wrote them all down in note pad so i can remember them for quick usage if need be.
I use macros for skills, swapping classes, swapping gear, its not difficult and if you think it is advance programming feel free to pm me and i will break it down for you.
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Comments
Hey guys. I made a macro for walking incase anyone needs to get around. Don't be carebear! Jump on the hardcore/genius gamer bandwagon. This macro only took me a minute to write because I have super fast typing abilities and a high IQ.
/select character (1);/select leg (r);/move 1 step;/select leg (l);/move 1 step; repeat
If you want to walk starting with the left leg instead of right it's not that hard, just change r for l. Stopping is just
/stop macro
Im sure if there was a manual available this would be explained. There used to be a manual and I think this was in it, but they closed the beta site to me when CB ended.
edit: thanks for the explanation btw. cheers
Why are u people even wasting your time on FF14. If you aren't interested vamos.
I love snails.
I love every kinda snail.
I just want to hug them all, but I cant.
Cant hug every snail.
Wow. That is a pretty dumb statement. Because it takes a lot of work to go online and copy and paste someones else's macros. Macros are bad programming for a game. I'll go as far to say as "macros" for any game take away the actual playing, as you now rely on it instead of your actual playing.
So you already made all your macros right, and WILL NOT UNDER ANY circumstance look up how to make them or get help right? Because god forbid "you don't want any hand holding" No, you will go and find out on someone else's labor how and copy and paste like a sheep, but hey, its all good because this is "HARDCORE" mode because SE didn't make their interface any good. Don't ask any questions either. Hell remove the chat interface, because if you ask a question cause you don't know the answer someone is holding your hand.
Because all those players that created those nice UI's for WoW, AoC, and the 20 other games that all custom UI's all had it easy mode, because it was all actually programmed by Blizzard themselves and written off as some random. Get real. The interface is a pile of stinking crap. Anyone with a brain can figure that out.
There is a difference between hand holding and a intuitive interface. Not sure if SE is allowing custom UI's or not, but if they do this will alleviate all the problems as the communities can make something useable, again I think any game that you have to go out and download 30 different UI's to be useful is shoddy programming. There is enough games with custom UI's that show what basic information people want in regards to MMO's now and the programmers should look into that, since I imagine they game themselves on some of the games.
We are posting because we are interested and have gone through the trouble of getting the client to work or patch for days on end in some cases. Beeing interested does not equal being a fanboy however. Otherwise there wouldn't be a point to a discussion-forum now wouldn't it?
Of course writing macros isn't epic, nor is it hardcore or advanced. It is simply another level of complexity that should benefit those who take the time to learn it. MMOs aren't just about "epicness", they're also about a huge and complex system that takes time to learn and master.
Obviously, we have different ideas on what a mmo should be about.
lol u wouldnt be playing this game in the first place if u were super smart. U would be too busy figuring out how to defeat AIDS or build a space shuttle.In a robust macro system it becomes part of the game to create your own macros. However just from what Ive seen from this thread this macro system is not that robust, but then being simple it also doesnt qualify your position that it plays the game for you.
"Complexity" and "beeing complicated" is not the same. We are talking about different layers of gamedesign here. Every MMO on the market is more or less complex, that's one of the benefits of the genre. This is nothing special. But it was already mentioned that the complexities should be in the content not in basic functionality. It is rewarding and well worth it to theorize about boss strategies, skills, gearing or how to go about a difficult quest or task. It is not fun however if i need a makro to change my weapon. The "content" of this task is in no way shape or form "complex", on the contrary: it's ridiculously simple and if it's a hassle to do these simple things it's becoming frustrating. Not because the Player is "too stupid" but because boring and simple tasks like this shouldn't stand in the way of the real game.
Can you change classes in the field, and on the fly? Or do you have to log onto an alt?
Can you equip and use skills from all the classes?
When changing classes, is all of your gear needed instantly equipped?
Are all of your skills unlocked usable at the press of a button? Or do you have to set certain primary skills?
In the future FFXIV may have 20+ classes with possibly hundreds of skills to create custom builds.
But they wish the playerbase to have the freedom to build roles within defined parameters.
If there were no limits on equippable skills. In the end there would be little individuality.
Correct me if I misread this thread.
Is it being argued that the system should remember custom skill and gear sets for every class, and allow it in one button press?
If this is the argument. How in the hell would SE know, what custom builfds you need for certain situations?
Guys, I know there is a lot of heated debate going on but lets keep this thread on topic (i.e. not devolving it to a back and forth on whether or not the game is too complicated or not).
It would be awesome if there was a UI feature that allowed us to create our presets such that I could say "click preset #1" and it would automatically equip items and actions. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is via macros.
I don't know why you all are arguing over macros in this game when it was clearly not meant to be played with a graphical client at all. You are obviously supposed to capture packets from the server and read them with a hex editor, write return packets bit by bit and then send them back. Bunch of sissies, phtt! Graphics are for noobs. You need to be more hardcore and less worried about actually enjoying your freetime. Babies!
(It is strange, I don't remember ordering a game called "Learn to fuck with Gamepads and Macros.")
All die, so die well.
i like this guy (above me)
I never used scripts in FFXI, nor did many others I knew. We didn't even use Windower. We did just fine without them. So your entire post fails on that premise alone... this is why you should avoid generalizations. Or at least keep them to yourself.
I spent 10 minutes creating macros for my jobs, and that was it. I was done with them and never had to touch them again until I wanted to change something or add something new.
That said, if writing macros that take maybe a minute to create, at most, is enough to send some of you off the deep end the way it is (along with having to press 1 extra button to complete a task it seems), then all I can say is... I really hope you're not intending to play FFXIV. The fewer whiners I have to put on my blacklist, the better.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
Oooh this is funny.
This feature has been available since Alpha Testing, not here nor the official forum has a thread about it. Now a person makes a thread about it to share it with the community, and all of the sudden it's "pro this", "lazy that", "advanced something else" "bla bla bla" "whine whine whine".
Grow up people. If you don't like Macro's, don't friggin use them. If you do like them, you'll use them no doubt.
It's just one more thing for the dedicated whiners to whine about. If it's not this, it would be something else.
Some people just need constant attention, I guess.
and the cash shop selling asphalt..." - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops
No, not every mmo on the market is more or less complex. Wow is pathetically non-complex, and its many clones have copied the formula. There's nothing wrong with that formula, if that's what you like (and obviously there are many people that do like this formula). But for me, I found it boring and stagnant. What will I do in wow tonight? I'll raid one of those "epic" encounters. What will I be doing for the next few weeks? The next few months? The next few years? Yeah, raiding more of those "epic" encounters.
I actually LIKE having to do a little research on a game to learn how to play it. I LIKE learning what different macros are out there, I LIKE possibly making my own. I LIKE taking macros others have made and tweaking them for my own uses. I LIKE the fact that I have used hours of time to learn this stuff without even playing the game, because that's more game for me to enjoy when I actually do get around to playing it!
To me, VARIETY has always been the staple of a good mmo. Variety in battle, pvp, crafting, city bulding, politics, etc. I like 'em all. I also like time learning the mechanics of the game. That's all content to me. Obviously, it is not to you, and that is just fine. But I just can't help but think that you ALREADY have a game that's purely focused on just the epic stuff that you mentioned. It's called wow. Why are you not playing it? No macros, nothing but pure epic sauce. You've already got your dream game, now let us work on ours.
I don't give a rats ass about FFXIV, but anyone that's delusional to the point that thinking that macros are elite or hardcore is just wrong.
Macros are the least skillfull or hardcore feature possible, it basically means the developers let the players 1 button smash for alot of actions.
Macroing is preety much an automatism, preety much just a way to "cheat" for people that don't want to have a balanced gameplay.
And in this case a way for developers to have an excuse for not having some features in game.
Ok, so you won't answer to my posting (which had nothing to do with wow) and instead turn to wow-bashing again. This is so tiresome, i really don't know what to say anymore.
I definitely agree with clubmaster on this. And I find it disappointing how fanboys in this topic defend such bad choices that SE Has made. UI is terrible. Having a bad, unresponsive, inefficient UI doesn't mean it is 'complex'. It just means it is unreponsive, and inefficient. Macros for most MMO's are used for advance actions, the fact that one must use macro's for the most basic of actions in FFXIV's UI speaks of bad design. I'm surprised at the amount of arrogance that some of the people here have.
While the notion of equipping items and equipping actions is simple. In this context, its actually really complex. Its not like other MMOs where you can have as many actions hotkeyed as you want. There are rules in place here that make it a complex design issue.
For one, the game determines your "class" via what you have equipped. The actions that you can use are determined via your "class". Throw in action points (these limit your ability to equip actions) and its quite daunting. Throw in the fact that you can equip actions that are outside of your class in some instances (you can equip "Cure" even though you are currently a "Gladiator")
The game unequips actions that aren't valid. For example, you have "Arbor Call" equipped, which is a botanist action. It requires botanist to be your class in order to use. You equip a cane, which is a conjury weapon. The game automatically unslots "Arbor Call". However, it doesn't do the reverse - that is - it doesn't equip valid actions.
It would be nice if there was a equipment and action preset UI feature that would allow you to graphically assign gear and actions to a given preset. The macro system, while "advanced" does provide this functionality quite nicely. I would argue that the amount of time taken to create such a macro would be the same amount of time to set up a preset graphically - should it ever exist.
Having some professional software design experience, when it comes time to release a product, certain features get cut. I imagine designing a UI feature to support a more streamline "job-switching" experience was cut because macros solved that very issue. "Do we spend money developing something the client can already do? Or do we put this in the backlog and actually fix bugs?" I'm not saying I think Macros are the end-all solution for this, but for now, they will have to do.
Lastly, if you are not enjoying FF14, that is perfectly fine. This thread was created to provide a bit of know-how to those that would like to switch jobs quickly and improve their game playing experience - as it is frustrating when you come across a tree prime for harvesting and you start fumbling with your inventory just so you can get some resources - only to remuck with your inventory so you can kill rodents again.
You missunderstand opinion and critique for whining. Happens all the time here so it's ok.
Also everyone i knew used scripts, aka Spellcast, as it was the most efficient way of min/maxing we had. It's not possible to do so with the intended 6 lines of space that the game offered you. When you create such an intricate system of changing every piece of gear to fully maximize the threat mechanics, spell potency, and damage output but limit the system with poor implementation, players resort to 3rd party apps. While yes, it is the players choice at that point, I'd rather they evolve the system internally.
Again, it's a matter of play styles i suppose and what you want to get out of it.
My point is: It should be sufficient to arrange equipment and skills ONCE. A game that basically allows you to do all the available classes just by switching your weapon, it should be common sense that the corresponding equipment sets and action bars are saved and applied as soon as the specific weapon catagory is equipped. This is not that hard to do.
Example: Your're an Archer and therefore have the bow equipped. You arrange your skills on the skill bar and equip the corresponding gear for that class. Then you equip One-Hand Sword. Because how the class-system works, the game should be able of knowing, that once you equipped a sword you changed from Archer to Gladiator. As soon as your sword is equipped the action bars should empty out, so that the Gladiatzor Skills can be alloted to the skillbar slots as you like it. Same with gear. As Soon as you switch back to Archer, the Actionbars should be filled with the archerskills again as you left them before you switched to the sword. For a jobsystem like this, things like that should by common sense for a gamedesigner.
This isn't "hand-holding" because skillpriority and geararrangements are completly up to you. It's just basic functionallity. If the gamedesigners don't want you to switch fast midbattle, then don't allow it or apply a castingtime to gearchange. It's all really simple.
Hold on, I think you are on to something here We all know that the main reason for open beta is to test how much the servers can take. So to deal with server load, SE makes the game with frustrating mechanics and do not provide any instructions ingame on how to do anything making players have to alt tab out to search on the net. Then make the game so it crashes anytime you alt tab out thus reducing the load on the servers......my god its BRILLIANT!!! I think you might have just stumbled on the entire reason for this open beta.
The Brave Do Not Fear The Grave
The macro system in this game is simple as hell, there is no way you could have trouble with this system. It took me 5 minutes to do it as well, now i update my macro everytime i get a new skill, i rearrange the order, i wrote them all down in note pad so i can remember them for quick usage if need be.
I use macros for skills, swapping classes, swapping gear, its not difficult and if you think it is advance programming feel free to pm me and i will break it down for you.
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