Macros - ETA?

[fungihoujo]

I wouldn't mind them- I don't find them necessary for ranged classes, but they'd make playing my guardian and marauder waaaaaay easier.

[Smackethdown]

To be honest, I could care less if macros are implemented in game. The only reason i make this post is due to respect for the thread creator, Bald. He has reposted with a non bias and extremely imformative post. He has been polite and has presented himself properly. So I will be the one to come out and say that everyone who is opposing what he has to say in this thread is a COMPLETE DOUCHE. You are entitled to your opinion but make it worth reading. Educate yourself.

 

Macros won't hurt anything. If you think they will, give up your MMO career. They will come, regardless.

 

And don't be so naive as to believe macros add or, for that matter, remove skill. PvE lacks the need for skill so who cares if you use one button for it. As far as PvP goes, if you macro all to one button, you are a terrible PvP'er.

 

Excellent thread Bald.

 

LESS QQ MORE PEW PEW

[ashantia]

Hoping never , while macros can be fine the way it setup in like rift is way over the top and kills challenge of the game , wow also did have problems in the passed with macros could 1 shot ppl with mage macro in vannilla wow.

[netskink]

I prefer no Macros so everyone is always on an even footing. I just want the ability to mouseover all spells if they add a tick box in the preferences, like "enable mouseover casting on friendly target" and the same for enemies so I can flashbang someone without selecting them then flashing then slecting my target again, but as long as we are all in the smae boat im not to fussed. And no to Add-ons Id rather not get dependant on those things and keep my UI clean.

 

Some pop up notifiers on spells available off CD would be cool

 

No macro's makes it even? Not a all. No macros mean YOU can not do it, but I assure you someone else does. So, you are by your own choice playing in an uneven setup and don't know it. People are automating via programmable keyboard/mouse or via software.

 

I prefer they open up in game macros so we can all do them. Its your choice if you don't.

[Yodamoo]

The only way they could really make macros to be fair is to make them like Rift so you can put all your abilities in one button.

 

The reason i say this is simple....anyone with a mouse or keyboard with bindable buttons such as my G11 keyboard and my WoW mouse...so it only seems fair that they add full macros for everyone else to have the same advantage....not to mention they have released SWTOR mouse and keyboard that can do this as well so it would seem only right for them to make the macros that way too.

[Santiago]

Poor choice of words,

What i wanted to imply was its a convenience feature

 

And whats bad about that you may ask ? Well it generally starts a chain request for more convenience features some of which i have no doubt will make the game too easy. Furthermore im not risking the chance that adding convenience features ends up taking priority over actual needed features / content updates / bug fixes.

 

As long convenience features remain just that ie "priority 2" that in no way influences the the gameplay difficulty / mechanics id be fine with em but the odds that they will stay that way are slim

 

I think it's nuts to suggest that you shouldn't add a desired/desirable feature simply because it will only lead to requests for more... so what? The game needs macros, period. End of story. Without them it's less fun to play for many, if not most, players. And this doesn't mean macros have to be automation either. But being able to make a macro to say target your companion then cast a heal... should have been in from day 1.

 

Convenience features should be priority 1 not 2. Many games have folded because of the lack of such.

[GreymaneAlpha]

I think it's nuts to suggest that you shouldn't add a desired/desirable feature simply because it will only lead to requests for more... so what? The game needs macros, period. End of story. Without them it's less fun to play for many, if not most, players. And this doesn't mean macros have to be automation either. But being able to make a macro to say target your companion then cast a heal... should have been in from day 1.

 

Convenience features should be priority 1 not 2. Many games have folded because of the lack of such.

 

If they just copy-pasted WoW's macro system into this game, perhaps with a few slight changes (remove castsequence completely, for example), I would be extremely happy.

 

There would be no automation of combat, just a streamlining of ability use that would only lead to an increase in the skillcap in this game for things like using Guard in PvP ([@targettarget]) and reducing keybinds ([help] vs [harm]).

[Sneakypepper]

Autohotkey, Macrogamer, autoit, G15,

 

I solved this problem about 72 hrs into my playtime.....

 

You see, instead of crying about the problem and waiting for them to repair it, i took action on my own, bypassing BW's oversite and supplied myself with useful macros of my own design.

Just remember, NO automation, and NO sleep times. Those violate the TOS.

Edited March 8, 2012 by Sneakypepper

[GreymaneAlpha]

Autohotkey, Macrogamer, autoit, G15,

 

I solved this problem about 72 hrs into my playtime.....

 

You see, instead of crying about the problem and waiting for them to repair it, i took action on my own, bypassing BW's oversite and supplied myself with useful macros of my own design.

Just remember, NO automation, and NO sleep times. Those violate the TOS.

 

Do tell me how Autohotkey will replace [@targettarget] macros, or [help] vs [harm] context macros.

[Nichoice]

If they just copy-pasted WoW's macro system into this game, perhaps with a few slight changes (remove castsequence completely, for example), I would be extremely happy.[\QUOTE]

 

Agreed, I also do not wish the game to be reduced to a single button game where my entire rotation can be cast with a single press of a button. It should be known that I play a Sith Assassin, and the assassin in this game is unlike the conventional rogues of WoW as we are not restricted to a rotation of stuns when popping out of stealth. We still have the freedom to choose how we want to initiate combat. Having a cast sequence would not only reduce the game mechanics itself but also the class by restricting the class to a rotation. I.E. Low Slash, Thrash x 2, Discharge, Shock. (The assassins will know what I am talking about).

 

The assassin thrives on its versitility and the utilities that are availible to it and when and where they decide to pop those cooldowns. I want to keep that versitility

 

However, what I would like to see is being able to group two abilities together. E.g. Recklessness + Shock, Force Cloak + Vanish (The skill name escapes my mind at the moment as I am still at work).

 

Please try to see the distinction as to what I am trying to say. I know the two are similar, but in gameplay they are vastly different. All I am trying to achieve is for my bars not to look soo much like a cluster of spells yet trying to maintain the level of versitility and not undermine any of the classes in the game.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Nichoice

[FourTwent]

I feel that ANY macros that utilize even just 1 ability is too much.

 

Ya ya, it's convenience. So I'll let you go pick up some burger king while I cook my inch thick home made hamburger.

 

The only kind of macros I support at ones for emotes. Anything that includes an ability is just making the game TOO EASY for you. Dont cry if you have to 'work' to get results. . .that is if you think pressing 1, then 2 is really 'work' to you.

 

The example you gave with healing an ally and then attacking the hostile is too much imo. In essence you're complaining about playing the game. Talk about quality of life issues. If it's too easy, no one will come back.

 

I'm on the fence about mouse over healing. They did confirm it was coming, so I'll just have to get used to it. But since I found out I've been trying to rationalize it. They'd still have to click or move the mouse over to the player, so it's almost the same as clicking the raid frames for that person. What I dont want to see is a macro that says 'if x player is under 50% health then heal with Y ability'. That is too much.

[Vankris]

macro that i often use is wow type

 

 

#shield wall

/s Shield Wall activated

/cast shield wall

 

or

/cast [target=focus,nodead] misdirection

 

 

or

/cancelaura Hand of Protection (we have funny paladin in guild)

 

 

or

/target (name of the target)

 

 

or

/cast [target=mouseover] Taunt

 

 

or

/s interrupted done

/cast Pummel

 

 

none of my macro have more than one ability, they do have a "rotation", they basically cast one spell with text or target information. Some macro are just pure text, to raid lead.

 

/S MT: Player 1

/S OT: Player 2

/S group 3 : left

/S group 4 : middle

/S group 5 : right

 

you get the picture, it change from fight to fight but i don't have to retype instruction every single week.

[JakkFrost]

Thread is too long, so I don't know if anyone mentioned FFXI's macro system. It had a very user-friendly macro language that could encompass just about every mechanic in the game.

 

Granted it was pretty basic, considering the mouseover commands mentioned here, but then I'm not sure if that kind of functionality was available at the time the game was developed. I'm sure more functionality could be added and still make macros easy to write without having to go look them up.

 

In any case, the point of this is, when making a functional macro language, there no reason it can't be user-friendly as well. Not everyone has the near-coding-level of tech skills needed to write in, or even learn a macro language like wow's.

[Holden_Dissent]

Today's topic must be Macros.

 

And they said no combat macros already

[ferroz]

Today's topic must be Macros.

 

And they said no combat macros already

they've said yes to mouseover healing though... and that they don't consider that type of functionality to be a "macro".

 

So it remains to be seen whether we'll see any of the context specific macroing available.

 

edit: Also, SOE said that wasn't just hard, but impossible to increase the size of their bank; assuming that BW will never implement them just because they don't like them now is a bit silly.

Edited March 14, 2012 by ferroz

[Vincynt]

they've said yes to mouseover healing though... and that they don't consider that type of functionality to be a "macro".

Correct however they also said they were working on putting mouse over healing into the game and thusly I don't think it'll be anything but an interface upgrade. But hey, could be wrong.

 

So it remains to be seen whether we'll see any of the context specific macroing available.

They did specifically say "no combat macro's" so maybe we'll end up with a limited functionality to create buttons for calling things out in Flashpoints / Operations / Warzones.

[NinjaApacHe]

Surrender, fortunately they said NO MACROS at Guild Summit!!! YAHYYYYY

[twiggie]

Bioware: please take note of this thread!

 

This is an amazing post. Major kudos to the OP. I couldn't agree more with their vision on what to do/not to do with macros. It's a very reasonable blend between ease of use, yet still requires active, thoughtful participation from the player.

[Andryah]

[EDIT]

(and I hope this didn't come off as complaining - the game as a whole is outstanding, it just needs a bit of polish.)

 

Comes across more as a very long winded lecture on macros. I did not read it all in detail, I scanned it to get the key points.

 

Didn't they say they were going to address mouseover capability already??

 

As for macros, I've seen them in other MMOs.

 

I favor non-combat macros as they add convenience to chat emotes and other non-combat actions. This encourages RP and other social things in game.

 

I DO NOT favor any macro mechanics that make combat (that includes healing) eaiser and essentially brain dead button mashing.

 

I know healers have a tough job to do. But so do tanks and melee dps, and in some encounters even ranged dps. But players should have to think and react to what is going on and choose appropriate skills as they play. So healers should not get perks for them and the alone. Combat macros dumb it all down to the point where a gerbil on sedatives could play the game (cough, Rift, cough) and I don't want to see that ever in SWTOR.

[Devilpup]

I believe they should add macros because it is currently unfair! how you say? because of people like me who have gaming mouses with 10+ buttons