The Forgotten Playerbase: Where are my macros?

Hey, thanks for the reply. You definitely fall in the category of players who don't understand macros too well (hence your inability to "code" them; trust me, macro-building is nothing close to coding) but would also not care if they were in the game. That's the attitude most players should have. And if BW put the effort forth, they could give you a quick in-game tutorial on how to create a macro with some of your most used abilities.

Stop crying, non-combat macros are fine. Basically what you want is the game to play for you so you can make casting macros. Nope, sorry. l2p.

Don't deny it.

I understand macros and am glad they aren't in the game.

Sorry but macros don't do that. Apparently so many SWTOR players have no clue what macros do in mmos.

That's fear-mongering at its best. The players you're describing were maybe those folks in the 2,100 rating+ brackets in WoW Arena and even then, they were the extreme minority. Most players never even got to PvP against them since they never reached that rank.

And trust me, if they were to implement the creation of macros tomorrow, I wouldn't become better overnight. It would simply add some much-needed automation so I can be more effective in using more important abilities.

I completely disagree that the game in its "natural" form provides more of a challenge without macros. If one can bind his keys efficiently enough so that the most used abilities are bound to the most ergonomic keys around your left hand, then you've already maximized your efficiency when it comes to skill rotation. Macros would add to that efficiency, making it invaluable for many more scenarios not only exclusive to PvP.

Good post OP, summed up my thoughts.

The macros people want are not I-WIN buttons that play your class for you. They're a lot more basic than that and an essential extension of UI customisation.

This decision leaves no in-game alternative to programmable keyboards and mice. I realise that there are deals with Razer at stake but surely ownership of a G-15 or Naga is a higher barrier to entry than whatever they're worried about?

I am on the side that doesnt see any need for macros.

game is working just fine without them.

For a long time, in the history of MMOs, combat macros have existed. And in most games, players using combat macros have had a distinct advantage over non-macro users. For example: SW:G had macros that basically automated your character, allowing you to turn into a bot to farm spawn points, and kill stuff for hours on end if you were a skilled enough macro writer. Or you had a friend who was seriously skilled, and could write one for you.

In WoW, you had the infamous BM Hunter macro, which by constantly clicking one button, you were able to max out your DPS. Now granted, that macro came as a response to an error in how damage for Hunters was made, but it still made the game essentially a one button spam fest.

I tried out RIFT for a while, but left after a few months. One of the reasons I left was due to the sweeping, across the board, use of macros. In fact, if you do a search of the RIFT community forum, you will see some basically (IMHO), game breaking, meta macros that turn the game into a 3-6 button push.

TL;DR: Combat macros reduce the skill required to play a game down to a minimal level. And this game is optimized so you only need to push at most 6 buttons to do max DPS.

Yes and I'm taking it that they do not want to have it happen in TOR. They cannot really stop us doing it via hardware but seems they are sticking to their principles. Do you not have a programable keyboard or mouse? If you don't then get one, if you do then use it to macro until maybe someday in the future they change their stance. They told us yesterday there is no combat macros so don't expect them to change their minds overnight.

LOL, "no macros!" in the actual game for casual players, but they're marketing an official hardware solution...that's really "sticking to their principles". Personally, I'd call forking out an additional $3-400 a "barrier to entry". Of course, the fanboys won't see it that way.