Why are their no macro's again?

"Again?"

I've never been aware of macros in this game since launch......

1) I never said I used them, I was offering the OP a solution to a problem. I know this is a rare thing on forums, but it happens from time to time.
2) Basic macros are allowed in pretty much all MMOs provided the actions can be reasonably mimicked by the player without them. Mouseover macros and two-click macros are almost universally allowed. Chains of 5-20 abilities and botting scripts are almost universally bannable offenses.
3) I appreciate you giving me your permission to do things

So a number of people have asked about text macros. A couple of others (even on reddit!) have mentioned 'colour detection to determine which action to take' systems. I even saw a questions about sequence clicking... I even saw claims that we can't detect anything and won't do a thing about this issue.

I'll address all four...

Text Macros
Strictly speaking, text macro's are against the ToS. If its for emotes etc and isn't being used as a way to advise others of an impending attack in a Warzone (inc snow! for example), then we will turn a blind eye to an extent. If you fire off emotes too many times in quick succession of course then you will get evaluated for if you are spamming.

One click 'enter chat, type 'inc snow!', hit enter' text macros designed to warn others is completely against the ToS. You need to make a decision - do I take the time to type 'inc snow' to the ops group, or do I just keep fighting this person... Think of it as an evaluation on if you are using a tool that gives you an unfair advantage over somebody not using that same tool.

Colour detection and evaluated action macros
The very act of determining a colour of a pixel on screen and as a result then using a specific action is one of the easy to understand examples of what we call automation. As soon as you have two things happening based on one key press, then its against the ToS.

Sequence clicking
If you have a system set up so that if you hit the same key 4 times likes so: '1, 1, 1, 1' and instead of just firing off whatever 1 is bound to it fires off '1, 2, 3, 4', then as long as you keep it to 'one key == one other key hit' its in that grey area of not true automation. There is a caveat - you can't have the macro determine a minimum time between clicks to work around the global cool down timing and only fire the next button in sequence if the GCD has expired.

If you instead have a system that when you hit 1, it fires of 1, 2, 3, 4 in quick succession or all at once (i.e. one click == many actions) in order to try and fire something that isn't currently in a cool down state then yes, that is against the ToS. Again, one click must always equal one action and only one action within the game.


Detection of abuse
There are many claims based on guesswork that we can't tell when a person is running automation for systems like field respeccing within seconds. Every time you interact with the server we log either the specific event or an aggregate of similar events firing multiple times. We can (and do!) look through those logs using analytic engines. If you want to know more about the concept, look up 'big data' in google - we strive to make all decisions on making changes to the game based on the data we have, and we have a lot of data.

We also use that data for game forensics - we may not react in a real-time manner for most things, but as people foolish enough to speedhack know, we can and do act based on irrefutable data.

Now, all that said, what are we going to be doing going forwards now that this issue is very much in the limelight?

Expect changes to the ability to field respec in Warzones. We were already working on this as part of some upcoming PvP updates (Bruce detailed some of that this week I believe), and we may bring the field respec changes forward - or we may just keep them where they are so to not impact the game update schedules and instead update our existing Warzone game forensic reporting to include inhumanly fast field respec events. Either way my advise if you are currently macroing within Warzones is to stop.

That's exactly the thing. Hardware macros are still macros and they are still against the Terms of Service. Bioware has clearly stated that if you chain queue abilities to one button in any way or shape or form, be that with third-party software or expensive hardware, you are violating the ToS. Three activated skills (even skills not on the GCD) require either three button pushes, three clicks or a combination thereof. So pressing a button on your mouse or keyboard to activate three defensive cooldowns simultaneously is considered cheating. (Any action that gives you an advantage in violation of the ToS is cheating.)

But at the same time that Bioware is also marketing (and presumably taking cuts of the profit) these expensive hardware through a cross-promotion with Razer. People who invest hundreds of dollars into advanced computer accessories do so because they want the advantages they bring, not in the least the option to use macros to simplify their gaming. (And not because of all the shiny LED lights on them) And then they're told that they're violating the ToS if they're using said advanced features.

So it's a very awkward situation. On one hand they encourage you to spend piles of money on expensive mice and keyboards, but on the other they forbid you from using some of the features that distinguish said hardware from 10 buck junk mice.

Will they take action against hardware macros? Presumably, no. My friend has been using every concievable type of macro such paraphernalia can offer as well as mouse-over healing (he used to be a hardcore WoW player) since day one and he's as happy as ever. Bioware is yet to crack down on him for having played in violation of ToS for close to two years. They, presumably, never will.

But nevertheless the option remains. Macros on Razers, Nostromos and G-series keyboards are in violation of ToS. Can they detect ability chaining and mouse-over healing? Yes. Do they have the grounds for banning you for doing so? Yes. Will they actually do it? Not likely.

Everyone knows Jawas are troublemakers.

AND.. they travel in packs too.

This may be true in MOST MMO's, but I do not think it is true in this one. I believe this is the latest dev position on macros and third party hardware:

That's exactly the thing. Hardware macros are still macros and they are still against the Terms of Service. Bioware has clearly stated that if you chain queue abilities to one button in any way or shape or form, be that with third-party software or expensive hardware, you are violating the ToS. Three activated skills (even skills not on the GCD) require either three button pushes, three clicks or a combination thereof. So pressing a button on your mouse or keyboard to activate three defensive cooldowns simultaneously is considered cheating. (Any action that gives you an advantage in violation of the ToS is cheating.)

But at the same time that Bioware is also marketing (and presumably taking cuts of the profit) these expensive hardware through a cross-promotion with Razer. People who invest hundreds of dollars into advanced computer accessories do so because they want the advantages they bring, not in the least the option to use macros to simplify their gaming. (And not because of all the shiny LED lights on them) And then they're told that they're violating the ToS if they're using said advanced features.

So it's a very awkward situation. On one hand they encourage you to spend piles of money on expensive mice and keyboards, but on the other they forbid you from using some of the features that distinguish said hardware from 10 buck junk mice.

Will they take action against hardware macros? Presumably, no. My friend has been using every concievable type of macro such paraphernalia can offer as well as mouse-over healing (he used to be a hardcore WoW player) since day one and he's as happy as ever. Bioware is yet to crack down on him for having played in violation of ToS for close to two years. They, presumably, never will.

But nevertheless the option remains. Macros on Razers, Nostromos and G-series keyboards are in violation of ToS. Can they detect ability chaining and mouse-over healing? Yes. Do they have the grounds for banning you for doing so? Yes. Will they actually do it? Not likely.

Here why combat macro are bad when i played wow i made a macro that basically turned a hunter into a 2 button spam marco. That macro could nuke some one in pvp before they could ever get there full rotation off because at the time the macro looked at what was on CD and did not cast it if i had a cool down up. IE why Blizzard changed how there combat macro worked at one point. So my macro was faster at a rotation then a manual button masher.

Then add that with how naga mouse which could spam those 2 button faster then humanly possible . Guess what happen to the people i shot they died it was not skill other then my ability to right a macro better then a key binder. This is why there are no combat macro people like me that can push a macro to the edge.

There you go this is the reason we have no macro system

You do realize that SWOTR was tied with Razer when released. How do you think the public would react if EA banned everyone using Razer gaming peripherals?

No game that has had them has EVER had them as mandatory, EVER. Plenty of people get tops on the leader boards, tops dps meters, and overall win without them. all the time in games with macros. You can believe whatever you want, but the fact is they are ALWAYS optional.

You do realize that SWOTR was tied with Razer when released. How do you think the public would react if EA banned everyone using Razer gaming peripherals?