Macros - ETA?

[sithlordcip]

The game doesnt need macros at all, you can play fine without them and it takes more skill

[jedip_enguin]

The only thing I ever used macros for was for binding my active trinkets to my cooldowns, which I admit would be very handy as finding two more spots/keys on a crowded hotbar is a pain in the backside..

[Verain]

The game doesnt need macros at all, you can play fine without them and it takes more skill

 

It would take more skill if you had to press ALL the buttons three times for them to work.

 

Right now, my opener is consumable -> buff specific to the opener -> opener. That should be one button, thematically, practically, and it is on a Nostromo or other hardware with macros.

 

Skill. Pressing redundant buttons isn't skill. I bet you think think throwing a fireball in Street Fighter II is skill.

[Chomag]

The game doesnt need macros at all, you can play fine without them and it takes more skill

 

Ah, so that's what skill is. I always thought skill is about good situational awareness and knowing what ability to use and when to use.

 

I was wrong. Skill is about pressing 7 buttons in the right order.

[Twixted]

We are left with 3rd party peripherals to get it done until then.

 

is there a keybind for "target last target"?

Edited January 11, 2012 by Twixted

[Bald_Haliaeetus]

We have macros. They're called G15 keyboards or Autohotkey program. We don't need actual in-game macros, we have plenty of external ways to obtaining them, if you just look on the web.

 

3rd party macros do not function the same... I would also imagine that they could get you banned (though Im not positive of that), since you could fully automate certain game aspects using a 3rd party macro, such as the starfox sim.

[Bald_Haliaeetus]

The game doesnt need macros at all, you can play fine without them and it takes more skill

 

Playing with your elbows instead of fingers would take more skill; is that reason to engage in such a cumbersome playstyle?

 

If your answer to that is 'yes' then fine; if you choose to operate your computer with your elbows, that's not my concern. But don't tell me that a more dexterous method isn't needed.

[Jswizzle]

The term macro simply associates with automation. IE the software doing work for you. It might be convenient but in the old school days we called that cheating.

 

I have no issues if they add such a function. Just offering my perspective as an old school gamer.

[Valinoreon]

I agree with you, but I don't appreciate the green text. Just keep it white. It's easier to read.

 

lets keep this board racism free

[coldmoonrisen]

Personally I don't care what they do so long as they find some way to make healing more fun. If adding macros helps with that, then do it. I think a lot of people here often mistake difficulty for skill. As it stands now, healing mechanics are clunky and cumbersome, which equates to a sub-par experience.

[GreenReafer]

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

[kezki]

bump

 

we need macros asap..i am sorry but i don't want to have 5 action bars of same skills

[Twixted]

Mouseover healing isn't something the game needs. 1-2 button presses after a click is easy enough already.

 

Macros would be a welcome addition though. Nice to have multiple set up to go with keybinds.

 

Have fun staring at health bars instead of seeing the game.

[Bald_Haliaeetus]

Have fun staring at health bars instead of seeing the game.

 

Pretty much that. The targeting is so clunky that I'm spending a lot more time per target than I should be... it just isn't fun.

[Furad]

Ok, for someone that's never played WoW... What is mouse over healing and how do macros help?

[Catch_TwentyTwo]

I've always enjoyed healing in other MMOs, but I regret to say that it's rather cumbersome in SWTOR. The missing ingredient is mouseover functionality.

 

'course, mouseover healing may not be something that the SWTOR community as a whole cares about, but I'd be willing to bet that atleast a large portion of the healers out there would agree with me; and there's a plethora of other functions that macros serve... probably dont need to discuss the specifics, but there's no doubt that their inclusion into the game is going to be a very positive thing for most players.

 

I know it's been stated that macros would make it into the game at some point post-launch... any chance we could get some specifics of when that might be?

 

I'm nearing end-game with my 'main' and I'd like to heal with that character, but as it stands healing just isn't fun. I suppose I could put that char on hold for a while and just work on alts until mouseover functionality is provided, but that would be undesirable.

 

 

 

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

Sorry, but Macro's are a crutch for people who lack the ability to play the game properly.

[Gorgewall]

BioWare isn't going to do an ETA because everyone assumes that is a promise to deliver by said date. No one remembers that the E in ETA stands for ESTIMATED, aka not a sure thing, and could be changed or simply wrong.

 

Things will be done when they are done.

[Dekutanoth]

Sorry, but Macro's are a crutch for people who lack the ability to play the game properly.

 

No. It's not.

 

Healing with mouseover is a LOT easier than clicking each frame and then casting heals. Can I do it? Yes. Would it be easier with mouseovers? Of course. I fail to see how this is a crutch. If this is indeed a crutch, then you don't need TV remotes, you don't need a cell phone, you don't need a car, because you can just walk everywhere. Can you walk where you want to go? yes. Does a car make it easier? Of course.

[Skaara]

Sorry, but Macro's are a crutch for people who lack the ability to play the game properly.

 

Sorry, but you sound like someone who has been out performed by someone using macros and you're just bitter. In reality you are the bad player by not using every possibility to increase your character. By the way, macros are already in the game and you can't stop it.

 

1. g15 keyboards

2. naga mice

3. n52te

4. autohotkey

5. xpadder

 

and there are several other ways - Bioware will have to release macros to level the playing field for other players who don't have other means.

[Dekutanoth]

Sorry, but you sound like someone who has been out performed by someone using macros and you're just bitter. In reality you are the bad player by not using every possibility to increase your character. By the way, macros are already in the game and you can't stop it.

 

1. g15 keyboards

2. naga mice

3. n52te

4. autohotkey

5. xpadder

 

and there are several other ways - Bioware will have to release macros to level the playing field for other players who don't have other means.

 

Indeed. The Razer Naga is the most ingenious piece of hardware I've ever bought. I have my main quickslot bound to keys 1-0, bottom quickslot to shift+1-0, and side quickslot is alt+1-0. It makes life SO much easier. Should BioWare detect razer naga mice, and ban the players using them?

[Ageizm]

Sorry, but you sound like someone who has been out performed by someone using macros and you're just bitter. In reality you are the bad player by not using every possibility to increase your character. By the way, macros are already in the game and you can't stop it.

 

1. g15 keyboards

2. naga mice

3. n52te

4. autohotkey

5. xpadder

 

and there are several other ways - Bioware will have to release macros to level the playing field for other players who don't have other means.

 

Emphasis added

 

Pretty much this!

[Gorgewall]

There's a difference between simplistic macros like being able to bind a command to put a raid icon on your target, and the stuff in WoW that made early Decursive possible. You'll recall that Blizzard basically had to chop out a bunch of their command and macro functionality to prevent Decursive from working because it allowed flawless raid healing by pressing a single button which automatically parsed your entire raid's health data, distance, debuff status, class role, and used the most appropriate heal on them given the situation.

 

One button raiding. Macros can be dangerous when they lead to that. But I doubt BioWare is going to give anyone functionality near what made that stuff possible.

[Furad]

So this is how I would play a caster/healer in DAoC -

 

http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j374/Furadi/zzzzzzheal.jpg

 

The red arrow obviously points to the group window. If I'm healing I'm watching that for health and for the bars to change colors indicating different cures ore demezzes I might need.

 

To heal I would just click the name in the group window and use the appropriate spell on the quick bar with my left hand.

 

How much is this different from what you guys are talking about?

[Skaara]

There's a difference between simplistic macros like being able to bind a command to put a raid icon on your target, and the stuff in WoW that made early Decursive possible. You'll recall that Blizzard basically had to chop out a bunch of their command and macro functionality to prevent Decursive from working because it allowed flawless raid healing by pressing a single button which automatically parsed your entire raid's health data, distance, debuff status, class role, and used the most appropriate heal on them given the situation.

 

One button raiding. Macros can be dangerous when they lead to that. But I doubt BioWare is going to give anyone functionality near what made that stuff possible.

 

I would agree with this. I know myself in other games I mainly just used macros for targeting and simple stuff like using a off the gcd ability with a on the gcd ability to save time. I'm not going to intentionally lower my dps, healing, whatever just because some people have some personal vendetta against addons/macros/etc....

[Maoxx]

It is odd to me that they basically licensed out there game name to one of the big gaming keyboard/mouse companies (I forget which) and yes it does do Macros. Not to mention if you possess any other kind of gaming mouse/keyboard then again they do allow macros.

 

In my case I use a Logitech G700 Wireless, I have every extra button set to Ctr + 1 - 7 so I can make more use of my skills without killing my hands with all the skills we have to use. Funnily enough I could program that mouse to do those 1 button commands with relative ease as I'm sure that SWTOR keyboard and mouse can do as well. I don't use it for one very simple reason though and its one alot of you anti-macro people don't think about. Things happen that can throw that one button macro out of whack, rather easily. If they don't want people having one button do a whole string of commands in one press, do exactly what WoW did and disable the wait X seconds command. The only way you could have a one button macro in WoW, was to do a cast sequence macro, and it was ineffecient as like I said it could easily get messed up due to either encounter mechanics, you having to do something else on the fly, or just running out of resources to name a few.

 

So my thinking is this if your gonna already allow 3rd party macro's like that to work. Why not just bite the bullet and allow us to use em in game with limited commands. There are plenty of short macro's that would flat out be a god send to have, especially for situational abilites aka Pommel Strike, Kick or whatever their mirror is for Guardians.

 

Just my 2 cents.