Why Macros belong in TOR.

Wow. It's making my brain hurt a little with all the people in this thread that adamantly don't want macros but don't even know what they do. Allow me to explain and hopefully shed some light on the issue for the confused....

Some things you should know

1) Macros do not play the game for you

2) Macros are not cheating

3) Macros don't let you do things you couldn't normally do. They just let you combine multiple effects into one keypress.

4) A focus target is not a "calling out a kill target" over vent. A focus target is someone you have set as a kind of "Secondary" target. It defaults to the F key I believe.

Some examples of macros

1) A macro that uses your debuff remover on your focus target without having to focus that player manually

2) A macro that lets you use an ability on whatever target your mouse is hovering over instead of having to target them

3) Using an expertise pot+a DPS buff ability at the same time, instead of having to press two keys at the same time (virtually the same thing, just saves a keybind or two)

4) A macro that casts a CC at your focus target so you don't have to switch targets to use your CC/stun on them.

This is just a short list of examples. None of them are cheating, they all raise the skill cap, and they don't require you to go off and download a large number of addons or do a large amount of research.

Macros just make doing things less annoying. That's all. It allows you to do, what you want to do, more efficiently and with less keystrokes. Let's not force the UI to flatten the skill cap for everyone so everyone is equally bad simply because there's not much way to distinguish yourself as a more skilled player by using your abilities more efficiently.

I didn't read the OP thread, because I'm tired, but I still felt like posting. Sorry.

If Bioware decides to implement macros in the way they could be used when I last played RIFT, then I have very mixed feelings about it.

In Rift you could make a macro like this:

#show searing strike

suppressmacrofailures

cast rift strike

cast frost strike

cast searing strike

cast stonespear

cast windspear

cast flamespear

cast soul sickness

cast frenzied strike

cast inescapable fury

Now, what this macro would do is try to use every spell as they were listed in the column. When one ability was on a cooldown, it would just skip that one in the column and fire off the next one listed. You decide which abilities you wanted to use first, in whatever order you liked, and you put them accordingly. It did make playing the game much easier, but was probably very unnecessary..

So, any "skill" a player gained from just learning which buttons to hit and what times kind of went out the window - for the most part.. When I made macros on Rift I usually only included abilities that were just used for pure damage, and no other effective to them.

Abilities with snares, roots, fears, stuns, silences, etc. I left off the macro. So, there was still "skill" involved, but it was mainly skill of learning the timing of the non damage abilities, and not skill based on knowing when to use what damage abilities with cooldowns.

At this point, yes I do kind of wish I had macros, BUT the only reason I want macros like the ones I used in Rift is because right now my Marader(level 35) just has too many buttons... My keyboard is running out of spots to put them!! I would MUCH rather see Bioware come up with ideas for possibly trying to make some of the abilities classes have condensed somehow(make some passive? combine one ability with another partially? etc.) rather than make it so players can make macros to the point were all you have to do is spam a couple of buttons and have everything fire off perfectly with no effort......(no effort besides making the macro)

Please Bioware, don't screw this one up!!!

I do try and keep an open mind, but I recall watching macros ruin SWG pvp for years. I hear the statements that macros add skill, but from what i witnessed, it took the skill out of the game and let the game *game* itself for you.

I'll pass on macros, save the skill level in pvp and do it myself, thanks.

PvP is fine in this game, develope some skill and you'll get way more enjoyment out of PvP. Nothing more boring and lame than macros, and to a greater extent, addons winning your fights for you.

I knew this was going to happen when this game launched. Players who have spent too much time in other mmos that allowed such things, combined with OP PvP gear making the player untouchable, never actually developed any PvP skill since it was these mechanics that was winning their battles for them.

And now here are said players, crying in droves on the PvP forums of this game after getting their arse handed to them in SWTOR PvP. The devs have clearly stated that PvP gear will not be the same OP junk found in those other games. A 10% stat advantage for PvP gear has been known on this site for ages. Not to mention no macro system, or anything else that plays the game for you. So start developing more manual dexterity, you'll be shocked at how much better your brain, eyes, hands, and fingers are than some silly program could ever hope to be.

Regardless of the fact that I disagree with the OP, your post is pretty much garbage. It reeks of a scorned, bitter WoW player who failed miserably at that game and chalked it up to factors outside of your control. Hitting close to home?

Focus macros do not free up keybinds, they add keybinds. Focus macros do not allow you to play at a higher level of skill in any way, all they do is remove a big part of the game that requires skill. I would love to hear the actual argument for why they require more skill than the alternative, which CLEARLY requires more awareness and input from the player.

Ok, read this, then read a few of the posts I've quoted. And you'll see that a large number of people don't even seem to understand what it is hardcore PVPers are asking for.

All these posts think that macros=bots, or that macros=able to chain attacks together without thinking about which you should be pressing (such as Rift) or some variation of in-between.

Macros don't require more skill, but they can rather be used to gain advantages over opponents who cannot micro-manage the amount of situations as yourself. They dont make the game harder.

Regardless of the fact that I disagree with the OP, your post is pretty much garbage. It reeks of a scorned, bitter WoW player who failed miserably at that game and chalked it up to factors outside of your control. Hitting close to home?

There is more micro management involved in option no macro than option macro.

So without a focus you can see everything you need to know about 2 players, including buffs/debuffs? I think not. Animations also are no good for recognizing buffs/debuffs on players as they are queued.