Advanced macros?

[Irisjir Callard]

Is it possible to make a macro containing two or even three different spells, and chose which one to cast?

Example;

/ma "Regen III" <t>
/wait 1
/ma "Regen II" <t>
/wait 1
/ma "Regen" <t>

Being the macro I have in mind currently. (There is a reason I'm using <t> instead of <stpc>)

Using such a macro, I begin casting Regen 3 on whomever, and then recieve two messages about being unable to cast when the next two spells try to run through.

Alternately, I could use the macro while moving, have regen 3 interrupt, but cast regen 2 in it's place? The /wait timer is extremely short for a stunt like that, I'm not sure regen 3 would interrupt in time for regen 2 to begin casting. If I have a longer wait timer, I might cast regen III and regen I both, wasting the regen I.


So what if I use <stpc> to target people? Then I can simply escape out and not cast the lower tiers. Assuming I escape out of regen 2, can I cast regen 1 still, or does the whole command string die when I use the [esc] key? (From my Sneak/invis macro, I believe it does, I can't cast invis without first at least attempting to cast sneak)


This much said, is there a command I am missing, a "skip to next command' that I can use in conjuncture with such a macro, and effectively 'condense' several spell macros into one?


I can see quite a bit of use for something like this, for example, stacking na spells, silena, then parylana, then blindna, then poisona, then viruna, etc. Perhaps I could stack cure spells, that would be interesting, I currently have three slots devoted to cure spells, freeing up two of them would be incredibly loosening.

[Srxjo]

Re: Advanced macros?

i had 6 spells in one macro before lvl 51 when i got the elemental spells

/ma "Paralyze" <stnpc>
/ma "Slow" <stnpc>
/ma "Gravity" <stnpc>
/ma "Drown" <stnpc>
/ma "Poison II" <stnpc>
/ma "Dia II" <stnpc>
something like that

[Nakti]

Re: Advanced macros?

Assuming I escape out of regen 2, can I cast regen 1 still, or does the whole command string die when I use the [esc] key?

ESCing means the rest of the macro is ignored. So you wouldn't be able to cast Regen 1 if you ESC'd from Regen 2.

Currently, I'm playing around with macros like:

/ma Paralyna <st>
/wait 1
/ma Paralyze <lastst>

[Dracovivi]

Re: Advanced macros?

There is no way to 'skip' a line if the macros. I use something similar on some songs on my BRD. Helps reduce Macro space, so songs that would be doubled-up, Minuet, Ballad, etc. Although I think this only works for <me> targets as any reuse of the macro (unless done in the "unable to cast" 'lag' after cancel) will just start back at the beginning.

With how you have it setup though, if you cast Regen III on one member, next time you execute it will 'skip' regen III and attempt to cast Regen II, etc. Similiar to Srxjo's Debuffing macro.

@Nakti: curiousity.. why remove paralyze from something then attempt to re-paralyze? or was that just a quick example?

[Sabaron]

Re: Advanced macros?

You can do something along the lines of what Srxjo recommended or do something like this:

/recast "Regen III"
/ma "Regen III" <stpc>
/recast "Regen II"
/ma "Regen II" <stpc>
/recast "Regen"
/ma "Regen" <stpc>

Each sub-target command (either stpc or stnpc or just st) will "pause" the macro. If you press "Cancel" the macro continues without activating the command. However, I only use this in macros I want to cancel as most of my spells now contain Gear Swaps. I suppose with something like Regen that doesn't really have any swaps in it, it would be fine to do that if you wanted to graduate Regens. Not only does /recast tell you which spell you're casting, but how long you have to wait. I use it at the top of virtually every macro for a spell with a longer recast time (Refresh, Haste, Gravity, etc.).

Regen is one of the few spells I can think of that would be useful with the type of macro you're suggesting.

One more thing: I know that colors are fun, but not all of use use the "Light" skin on FFXIOnline.com. I find the "Dark" skin easier on my eyes, and purple text does not show up on it, so I had to Select your post in order to read it. I would recommend using the Auto-color whenever possible. If you need to use color for emphasis, try colors that will show up on both screens--saturated greens, reds, and orange show up well on both. Blue and Purple are hard to see on the Dark skin and Yellow and low-saturation colors are hard to see on the Light skin.

[Nakti]

Re: Advanced macros?

@Nakti: curiousity.. why remove paralyze from something then attempt to re-paralyze? or was that just a quick example?

The macro is a way to either Paralyna a PC or Paralyze an NPC.

If my sub-target is a PT member, it casts Paralyna and won't do anything with Paralyze.

If my sub-target is a mob, I get an error for Paralyna and then it starts casting Paralyze.

I'm still playing around with it though. I just hit level 51 and I'm trying to decide how to handle /equip main "Ice Staff" for Paralyze. I may not care if I end up equipping the staff if I'm Paralyna-ing.

/ma Paralyna <st>
/wait 1
/ma Paralyze <lastst>
/equip main "Ice Staff"

Regardless of which spell is cast, the staff gets equipped. But if I use <stnpc> instead of <lastst>, that's an extra second or two before Paralyze casts. Hmm...

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Advanced macros?

One more thing: I know that colors are fun, but not all of use use the "Light" skin on FFXIOnline.com. I find the "Dark" skin easier on my eyes, and purple text does not show up on it, so I had to Select your post in order to read it. I would recommend using the Auto-color whenever possible. If you need to use color for emphasis, try colors that will show up on both screens--saturated greens, reds, and orange show up well on both. Blue and Purple are hard to see on the Dark skin and Yellow and low-saturation colors are hard to see on the Light skin.

Actually, my computer auto-formats my posts for me, it's a neat little web tool I downloaded. Helps me keep my characters seperate in RP forums because each one uses a different color of text. I accidentally left that turned on and didn't bother to edit it out.

So that's also where the centering came from. I usually just use the default settings for forums like this that have different skins.










On another note, I also am curious about the parylana/paralize macro. The use I can see for it is combining debuffing and status removal into one macro set, for example,

/ma "Silena" <whatever>
/wait whatever
/ma "Silence" <whateverprevioustargetwas>

Might be useful with a NIN against a BLM mob. You can use the same macro to silence the mob as you use to silena the nin, since you will recieve a 'cannot attack' response to the silence for the nin and the silence on the BLM mob, even IF silena goes through, it will have no effect since you're only going to silence a mob if it's not silenced ANYWAY.

But I can't really think of any situations where I'm doing enough debuffing AND status removal to justify making a macro along those lines...although the idea is FASCANATING.

[Dracovivi]

Re: Advanced macros?

Maybe in the situations where the mobs casts silence on the tank, therefor you may want to :
/ma Silena <p#>
/wait 4
/ma Silence <bt>
But ya.. idk

[Feba]

Re: Advanced macros?

the point of the macro using st is to not have to rely on t targets.


And <bt> is incredibly dangerous and should rarely be used.

[Lasareth]

Re: Advanced macros?

Feebs shouldn't be put in with other unrelated spells on the same macro, in my opinion. You'll want to gear swap later on and just a few equip changes alone can fill your macro up before you know what happens.

Advanced macros... hm...

The only practical macro that I use that can be considered "advanced" is a recast macro (for those of us who don't have functional windowers.) Sabaron's post is an example of a recast macro.

That way you can spam it without having to change equips every time you hit it, and still be on the ball with knowing when recast is up. It's also handy if you have an echo or a /p (god forbid) in the macro. You can stick the echo in after the stpc so you don't drive yourself (or others) crazy. Personally I find it real useful on haste and refresh macros, so I can keep up with who I've refreshed (In case I think I might've missed someone).

On <bt>, the only place it should be is in a macro that is as follows:

-/ta <bt>

Never use it anywhere else.

Keep quick spells like silena and other na spells to <t>. Use your F-keys to target players quickly and get the spell off. Sometimes timing is crucial and you can't be putzing around with a st macro. Have I ever HAD to use st macros? No. Function keys and BT macros do it just fine for me. If I'm in a situation where I need to sleep a link on rdm, I just go to the spell list and cast it (it's near the bottom, really hard to not click it).

Sabaron's macro is a nice idea, but you'll never get a regen 1 off with it unless both others are currently recasting. Sometimes regen 1 is all you need and you really shouldn't waste mp on a 2 or 3 (not to mention 2 and 3 have outrageous cast times). That's the problem with stacking spells... You might accidentally hit enter on your first spell and whoops, your tank just died because you were in the middle of casting a spell.

Just my 2 cents...

[Macht]

Re: Advanced macros?

You know FFXI allows you maintain two targets if you use a <t> target.

For example:

/ma "Paralyna" <stpc>
/wait 4
/ma "Paralyze" <t>

In this you main target should be <t> and second would be <stpc>, when you use <lastst> it'll refference the <st> target.

With this if you've initially selected the mob it has the hard target, while <st> does a soft targeting. At least that is how it was a few years ago. If not anymore then all my BLM macro's are no good now. >.>

Really though if you are doing a paralyna and paralyze macro then wouldn't something like the following work better?

/ma "paralyze" <stnpc>
/ma "paralyna" <stpc>

Avoid that wait macro paralyze is placed first to make the spell an offensive/defensive design. Meaning that you can attempt to attack to the mob first debuffing, then assist a player that may need paralyna. Then of course depends on how it's more frequently used. If you need to paralyna more and just have paralyzing the mob as after-thought then switch the two around.

[Lasareth]

Re: Advanced macros?

The idea of having two currently selected target has a lot of utility, especially in beseiged (where people and npcs mysteriously disappear from time to time). However, how would someone swap in mnd equipment into that type of macro? If you want to paralyna someone, you want mp over mnd, and if you want to paralyze something you want mnd over mp (unless you're talking a huge amount of mp loss from swapping).

The only ways you can equip swap with those types of macros are:

/equip
/ma "paralyze" <stnpc>
/ma "paralyna" <stpc>

Consequence: Lose mp if you equip past max

/ma "paralyze" <stnpc>
/equip
/ma "paralyna" <stpc>

or

/ma "paralyze" <stnpc>
/ma "paralyna" <stpc>
/equip

Consequence- you're never in your mp set upon casting paralyna.

/ma "paralyna" <stpc>
/ma "paralyze" <stnpc>
/equip

Consequence- You always paralyna someone before you can paralyze an enemy.

It's just not practical and forces you to make another macro to swap to a mnd set, which is contradictory to the idea of having a single consolidated macro. That's not to say mnd macros are bad... but there's a world of problems that comes from every possible permutation of what you guys are wanting, which I think only overcomplicates things, not simplifies them.

[Feba]

Re: Advanced macros?

I used to use seperate macros for my ele staves, since it was easier to select the spell from a list, then simply tap a G key.

[Nakti]

Re: Advanced macros?

The Paralyna/Paralyze macro can be done many ways (although it's a shame to only be limited to 6 lines).

My primary use for it would be to cast one spell or the other. Not both. I don't think I've ever cast both spells in succession.

/ma Paralyna <st>
/wait 1
/ma Paralyze <lastst>
/equip

If I omit "/wait 1" Paralyze won't cast properly. I could change <lastst> to <stnpc> and remove /wait (as Macht said).

/ma Paralyna <st>
/ma Paralyze <stnpc>
/equip

<stnpc> adds another couple seconds of delay. I put Paralyna first because I think it's more important to remove status effects than to debuff the mob.

IIRC, equipment changes which cause "blinking" also lose the sub-targeting arrow. So that's another thing to consider.

[Alshandra]

Re: Advanced macros?

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question, but how exactly does <lastst> <stnpc> <stpc> etc work? What exactly is it targeting? I have only really ever used <t>, it might sound newbish, but the F keys work for me, I have never had an issue with targeting mobs/party members/etc.

I worked out what /echo does from a thread where someone posted a good Provoke macro, but what does /recast do?