Managing Spells and Macros Help

[Marakii]

So, as stated in my other post, currently at lvl 18 BLM and going to start lvling WHM as subjob. THere are many spells to be used and so far I have macro'd all my BLM spells except Warp.

As I lvl my WHM from the beginning, I can use Macro Set 3 since I wont have a need for my BLM spells off the bat. But as I am using both sets of spells for WHM and BLM at the same time (for example when Im 18BLM/9WHM), how do you guys manage your spells since you cannot have them all fit on one set of Macros?

Are there certain spells you just dont macro or keep in another set? For example, I may not need Cure available in first macro set for easy access as it would not primarily be my function in a party if we have a primary healer and I'm DD. But it would be useful as a backup esp if I need to heal myself or another in a pinch.

Or do you keep all your BLM spells in one set, WHM spells in set 2, and when you need to use a spell you just hold "cntrl" or "alt" and hit down key to change sets? Seems like you could accidently cast some wrong spells if you kept doing this.

Or do you keep the most handy spells in set 1 regardless if they are WHM or BLM spells? For example, have your most commonly used DD spells, Blink, Stoneskin, and etc. in one set, and your underused BLM and WHM spells int he second set? Only issue i see with this is it would depend on what your fighting and if your are performing backup healing responsibilites. If this is what you do, do you have an example of what should be in your first macro set?

[Mog]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Heres what I do....

1-6, assign elements to. 1= stone, 2= water, etc.

For ctrl, make them single spells, and for alt, make them aga spells.

EX. ctrl 1= Stone, alt 3= Aeroga.

As for 7-10, play around with them. Maybe assign Cure to one of them and assign enfeebles to the rest. As you level up, your options will broaden and you'll be able to do more with your macros.

I myself have it set to do Drain and Aspir for ctrl 9, shock burn and choke for ctrl 7, etc.. I generally stack my enfeebles, so whichever one's go together, assign all of them to one macro.


Edit:

As for whm-specific spells, I keep that in a separate macro altogether. You can put Cure 3 or so in your blm macros, but generally, you're going to want to keep them seperate.

Overall, I would tell you to save sets 1-4 for blm, and work down from set 10 with whm. Blm is going to have a lot of important spells that you'll be able to use over the course of time, so you're going to want to save space for them.

[Marakii]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Brilliant, I feel a little stupid for not thinking of sticking certain spells together. Using 1, 2, 3, and 4 for the different element spells makes perfect sense. Up to now Ive been macroing them in the order I get them, lol.

Having WHM spells in set 10 allows me to hit "up" arrow immediately without scycling through the sets to get to them. Another nice one.

Thanks for the info! Does everyone elsehandle them this way too?

[Nazo]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

For me, I mostly macro timing-critical spells and often used ones. When landing magic bursts, cures etc. timing is essential so I macro those, does it really matter if I take an extra second to choose an elemental enfeeble from my spell list? Not really, and I'm not likely to cast them a lot in each battle so those don't get macro'd.

I only use 1 macro set for each job (or job combo, I have a different one for my pt whm and my solo whm/nin as the priorities are different). It's easy to get muddled in battle trying to switch macro sets and teleporting my party out of the battle instead of curing them when tired one evening was enough to convince me that multiple sets are not for me!

[Simatumma]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

I mainly use 1 macro set for each job as well, though I have been thinking of making a second for BLM because my Staff swap macros take up almost a whole set.

Here is an example of how mine are set up.
Ctrl1 equips my earth staff ctrl2-7 are equiping water through dark
my Alt on the same macro set will equip the correct staff for the right element that i'm casting
like Alt1 equip earth staff and casts stone3

I use the ctrls for equiping the right staff for elemental enfeebles / normal enfeebles and alts for general casting and MBing

Sorry if this is a bit confusing but I'm late for work

[Marakii]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Great stuff. One quick question (dont have multiple elemental staffs yet).

What would be the Macro for changing staffs to cast spell? For example:

/Equip "Earth Staff" (dont know macro for equipping)
/wait 2
/ma Stone <t>

And I know we get spells that weaken targets vs. certain elements. You would use that in a macro also? For example:

/ma Shock (not saying thats what shock does)
/wait 3
/ma Lightning

[Mog]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Great stuff. One quick question (dont have multiple elemental staffs yet).

What would be the Macro for changing staffs to cast spell? For example:

/Equip "Earth Staff" (dont know macro for equipping)
/wait 2
/ma Stone <t>

And I know we get spells that weaken targets vs. certain elements. You would use that in a macro also? For example:

/ma Shock (not saying thats what shock does)
/wait 3
/ma Lightning

/equip Main "Earth Staff"
/ma "thunder" <t>

equipping something does not infringe on your spell casting, so you don't need to use /wait.

As for enfeebles, shock, burn, and choke have entirely different purposes. They're able to reduce the mind, intelligence, and something else (can't think of it) of the enemy, which ultimately, makes your spells get less resisted and hit for more damage. They are able to stack, and I have all three in one macro.

[Visper]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

I do it Ctrl is curing/whm spells (use macro lines 1-3)

and

Alt is for BLM spells (macro lines 1-5)
1 line for enfeebles
1 line for -ga spells (most up to date like -ga 1 or 2)
1 line for AM
1 line for Tier 2 nukes
1 line for Tier 3 nukes
(soon to be adding Tier 4 nukes)

All other spells i just select from the magic menu.

I do have a line (line 9) where I have all my Teles and Warp macros.

Edit:
Also Shock has no affect on Lightning, Shock is an Enfeeble that lowers Mind on the mob so other enfeebles stick better (like burn so ur nukes land better)

[Icemage]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Generally speaking for XP parties as a BLM, you aren't casting every spell in the book, so I set my macros up like this:

Ctrl/L1 set: Offensive

Generic Nuke 1*
Generic Nuke 2*
Magic Burst 1*
Magic Burst 2*
Stun
Drain
Aspir
Bio I/II
<t> {Found it!}: <pos>!
/target <bt>

Alt/R1 set: Support/Enfeeble/Defensive

Elemental Enfeeble 1*
Elemental Enfeeble 2*
Cure I
Cure II (replaced by Regen eventually)
Cure III
Blink
Stoneskin
Gear swap: MP/resting
Gear swap: INT/nuking
Miscellaneous*

* These are edited based on party and what I'm doing and fighting.

I keep a second partial set of macros directly next to this set for Elemental Seal, Sleep/Sleep II/Sleepga/Sleepga II, Escape, Tractor, and Warp II.


Icemage

[Murphie]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

The most important thing in macro setting is that you have things in a configuration that you are most comfortable with. Play around with the placement of your macros until you find what works best for you.^^

This is how I do things:

For WHM I keep things simple. I knew I was only going to take it to 40 (although I suppose I could take it to 42), so I mapped out my macros accordingly.

I don't macro Bar-spells, and I don't macro any buffs save for Haste (so I can easily see my recast on it). I also don't macro Banishes. I'm a fast typist, so I can either type in /ma BarwatTAB <me>, or just open up my magic menu and cast from there. But everyone's style is different.

CTRL: Cure Cure2 Cure3 Regen Curaga Curaga2 Dia Paralyze Slow Silence

ALT: Poisona Paralyna Blindna Silena Cursna Erase Viruna Stona Haste RestMacro

For BLM, things I stretch my spells into two Macro Palettes. I probably could have crammed the necessities into one palette, but I like symmetry.

CTRL: Stone Water Aero Fire Blizzard Thunder

ALT: Poison Blind Bind Bio Sleep Sleepga Aspir Drain RestMacro

On the palette below that I have my -ga spells and elemental enfeebles.

CTRL: Stonega Waterga Aeroga Firaga Blizzaga

ALT: Shock Rasp Choke Frost Burn Drown

This way, I just have to cycle up or down a palette in order to reach the spells that I need at that particular moment. Perhaps if I were to take BLM further than 40 I'd switch things up, but this is what worked best for me.

[Chveya]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

I really need to reorganize my BLM macros, but I keep forgetting and by the time I join an exp party, its too late to say "Hey guys, wait a half hour while I write all new macros!" ^^

Here's how mine are set up, and it's worked fairly well so far:

Alt Line
[Burn] [Choke] [Shock] [Rasp] [Frost] [Drown] [Drain] [Aspir] [MP<call>] [RestMacro]

Ctrl Line
[Elem Seal] [Fire] [Thunder] [Blizzard] [StoneII] [WaterII] [AeroII] [Sleep] [CureII] [Escape]

The Alt Line gets changed a lot, depending on which elemental enfeebs I'm using. I replace the unnecessary ones with other enfeebs like Blind, Poison, or Slow depending on what the WHM/RDM/NIN is doing.

I really like the idea of combining each set of 3 elemental enfeebs in a macro, but I am hesitant to commit to that much casting at once, although I suppose could use a /recast macro or something to interrupt if I needed to cancel. I have been meaning to reorganize the Alt Line mainly because I want more enfeebs set up without having to edit in macros according to different party setups.

[Dux]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

In the end it all comes down to personal preference and what you like to do each fight.

I use the following setup for my BLM.

Set 9
[Aero III] [Water III ] [Fire III] [Thunder III] [Blizzard III ] [Stone IV] [Shock] [Chocke] [Burn] [Resting Equip]
[Aeroga III] [Waterga II] [Firaga II] [Thundaga II] [Blizzaga II] [Stonega III] [Bind][Gravity] [Dispel]

Set 10
[Aero IV] [Water IV] [Fire IV] [Thunder IV] [Blizzard IV] [Rasp] [Frost] [Poison] [Bio] [Blind]
[Stun] [Waterga III] [Firaga III] [Thundaga III] [Blizzaga III] [Drown] [Drain][Aspir] [Sleep II] [Sleepga II]

Set 1
WHM Macros here.

[Simatumma]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

I'm sure you've noticed alot of people have something called a "rest macro", this is something that you should get use to doing. Just make a macro (mine is in ctrl0) and title it rest or heal then put /heal in it. Later on when you get a dark staff(+10mp per tick while healing) you can add in /equip main "Dark Staff" and already be use to resting with that macro. You can also put mana regen food in the macro
example:
Line 1: /use "Ginger Cookie"
Line 2: /heal

The less you have to change about the way you do things later on will make your job alot easier.

[Marakii]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Nice! Never would have thought to do that. Ill have to bookmark this post Right now lvling WHM so when I am ready to switch back I think ill use these ideas!

I'm sure you've noticed alot of people have something called a "rest macro", this is something that you should get use to doing. Just make a macro (mine is in ctrl0) and title it rest or heal then put /heal in it. Later on when you get a dark staff(+10mp per tick while healing) you can add in /equip main "Dark Staff" and already be use to resting with that macro. You can also put mana regen food in the macro
example:
Line 1: /use "Ginger Cookie"
Line 2: /heal

The less you have to change about the way you do things later on will make your job alot easier.

[Chveya]

Re: Managing Spells and Macros Help

Question for Mog or anyone else who stacks enfeebles in one macro: what is the wait time I need to write in between castings for elemental enfeebs? Thanks in advance!


edited to add:

This is the rest macro I used when I was eating Ginger cookies

/item "Ginger Cookies" <me>
/wait 2
/heal

The macro didn't work for me without the /wait 2, because it was trying to simultaneously perform both item usage and healing, which cannot happen.