Macro goodness

[Draghixia]

<div></div>Shadow-X you rock, I never had my syntax correct for macros untill I saw your examples and recovered 6 buttons off my hotbars because of you.   Particulary my:  /autoatack 0 /useability Stalk /useability Shadowflame Had 0 misses with that last night where 3/5 was average before.  Made all the difference in those down to the last hit types of fights which now leave me about 1/3 health left.  Har! <div></div>

[kyshander]

I was going to setup my macros because of that post, but have been too lazy <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> It's good to see that we can get great results.... Definetly have to get my lazy butt moving on this!

[Shadow-X]

<P>Glad to hear the post helped (I'm learning how valuable hotbar real estate can be).  </P> <P>I'll keep working on other macros as I progress and I'd love to see what else you guys come up with.</P> <P>(BTW, I wonder if a mod can move these posts over to the Useful Ranger Macros thread to keep things tidy :smileywink: )</P> <P>Message Edited by Shadow-X on <SPAN class=date_text>03-23-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>03:40 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Shadow-X on <span class=date_text>03-23-2005</span> <span class=time_text>03:46 PM</span>

[Sotaudi]

<DIV>Hotbar realestate is important.  However, bear in mind that if you remove the actual skills from your hotbar, you will not be able to quicky visually tell when a skill is available again.  This is one reason careful planning needs to be undertaken in determining what goes on your hotbar setup.  I have found that for skill that are combat related, I do not want to have only macros referencing them on my active toolbars since I cannot instantly tell if the skill is ready to be recast.  Therefore, I reserve very few hotbar slots for macros in favor of keeping the actual skills on my hotbars.</DIV>

[Shadow-X]

<P><BR> </P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sotaudi wrote:<BR> <DIV>Hotbar realestate is important.  However, bear in mind that if you remove the actual skills from your hotbar, you will not be able to quicky visually tell when a skill is available again.  This is one reason careful planning needs to be undertaken in determining what goes on your hotbar setup.  I have found that for skill that are combat related, I do not want to have only macros referencing them on my active toolbars since I cannot instantly tell if the skill is ready to be recast.  Therefore, I reserve very few hotbar slots for macros in favor of keeping the actual skills on my hotbars.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>That's a good point.  I've removed a few skills from my active "Combat Hotbars" but only buffs - so I still have a visual indicator of whether they are active or not.  I suppose I could run into trouble if I ever canceled a buff and then wanted to recast it but so far I've not had a problem.</P> <P>Obviously, removing combat arts from the hotbar in favor of macros could reduce your effectiveness if you're not careful.</P>

[Draghixia]

That's why I keep the longest refreshing skill related to the macro on bar #2 right below its related macro.  Lets me know when it's good to go. <div></div>

[Sotaudi]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Shadow-X wrote:<BR> <P><BR> </P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sotaudi wrote:<BR> <DIV>Hotbar realestate is important.  However, bear in mind that if you remove the actual skills from your hotbar, you will not be able to quicky visually tell when a skill is available again.  This is one reason careful planning needs to be undertaken in determining what goes on your hotbar setup.  I have found that for skill that are combat related, I do not want to have only macros referencing them on my active toolbars since I cannot instantly tell if the skill is ready to be recast.  Therefore, I reserve very few hotbar slots for macros in favor of keeping the actual skills on my hotbars.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>That's a good point.  I've removed a few skills from my active "Combat Hotbars" but only buffs - so I still have a visual indicator of whether they are active or not.  I suppose I could run into trouble if I ever canceled a buff and then wanted to recast it but so far I've not had a problem.</P> <P>Obviously, removing combat arts from the hotbar in favor of macros could reduce your effectiveness if you're not careful.</P><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>As what Draghixia says, it is nice when you can keep the macro and the related skill(s) close to each other, but you do need to carefully decide what needs to be available and what you can live without on your active hotbars.  I find my Illusionist's setup to be helpful in illustrating a way to balance this.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>He has two spells he uses frequently, Breeze (power regen buff) and Veil of the Unseen (invis spell).  Both spells can be cast on my Illusionist or on someone else.  Breeze, I keep up constantly on myself or on my groupmates when grouped (I solo more than group, btw).  Veil is used less frequently, but I have only occasionally had to cast it on other people.  Also, both of these spells require a target.  That is, it will not default to cast on me if I do not have a target selected, so I even have to target myself to use it.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>No matter what, if I want to cast either of these spells on someone else, I have to target them, so that is going to be a two step process no matter what.  However, there is a /target_self command (I believe that is the syntax...not in-game atm, so I cannot check it).  So I have a macros constructed for these two commands as follows:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>/target_self<BR>/useability Breeze</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>and</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>/target_self<BR>/useability Veil of the Unseen</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This allows me with one click to target myself and cast the desired spell.  Since I rarely cast Veil on others, and since it is unlikely that I would ever cast it in combat, there is no real need to have the actual spell on my hotbars.  So I only keep the macro for Veil on my active hotbars.  If I need to recast it and the recast timer is a concern or if I need to cast it on someone else, I just hit Shift-4 to make the toolbar where that spell resides (toolbar #4) show up on my primary hotbar.  When done, Shift-1 returns the normal toolbar (toolbar #1) to my primary hotbar.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Breeze, on the other hand, is something I cast all the time (on myself) and frequently on others.  Therefore, in addition to having the above breeze macro on my active hotbars, I have the breeze skill itself on the hotbars as well (just above the macro button).  So when Breezing myself, I click on the macro.  When Breezing others, I target them and click the skill itself, and I have the Breeze skill icon visible to tell when I can cast it again in either case.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I find this setup works well for those particular skills and they show a good distinction in when to keep something and when to move it to another toolbar.</DIV><p>Message Edited by Sotaudi on <span class=date_text>03-24-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:16 AM</span>

[Draghixia]

<div></div><p>Good point about what to pick and choose on your hotbars however it does tend to be moot when discussing Ranger setups since we have nothing (with the possible exception of Escape) that can be used on group mates.   On my Druid I'd most definitely not remove buffs from my hot bar to make room for smite or some other spell I only use solo.Breaks down to Rangers don’t need 3 full bars of buttons and watch 2 refresh per "attack run".My first bar contains macros and my archery shots since these I tend to fire manually.My second bar contains the timers for the macros, these being the longest refresh component of the macro, also on bar 2 are path finding and msic buffs.My third bar contains assist and announcements in addition to moves like pounce that are situational.Everyone has their own style but tailoring your style so it works for all classes really does limit you, rangers contribute to the group by dps, path finding and escape.  We have nothing else to cast on group mates so why bother with filling our bars with junk?   The more you tailor your macros to your particular play style the more efficient you are going to be.  I'm dropping HO's in about 3.5 seconds and my Shrouded Strike macro goes off in about another 3 seconds if I have to wait around and click on 3 or 4 buttons rather than 1 or 2 then those times inevitably go up and my dps does drop.  Maybe dps doesn't drop allot but over hours of being grouped those 2-3 per macro savings add up to thousands of dps you didn't waste looking for the next button to click. <!-- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] --><!-- [endif] --></p>

[kyshander]

I used the new macro that I got as a suggestion from these boards for adding a makeshift arrow and a pathfinding.  Works like a charm!

[Shadow-X]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> kyshander wrote:<BR>I used the new macro that I got as a suggestion from these boards for adding a makeshift arrow and a pathfinding.  Works like a charm! <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>I'm glad that macro worked for you kyshander.  For everyone else, those macros can be found at <A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=39&message.id=6274" target=_blank>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=39&message.id=6274</A>