Phantom Roll MacrosFollow

There is another thread touching on this here

~Ath

Not exactly what I was asking about, but I can post there if needed.

My question is how to make my macros prettier and more informative when communicating them to the group and making sure my group is aware of which numbers are lucky and unlucky.

Should I include a 5 second wait in my macros to allow people to gather up if they want in on a particular buff.


Ive already got macros in line fore recasts and what not, I'm not terribly concerned about my performance, I just wanted to know if I can make my macros more useful for the party.





Anyways, if you want me to consolidate with that thread, I can do that.

eh I just have one line in pt chat that says the name of the roll, what it does and the lucky in parenthesis. So "Chaos Roll attack bonus (4)"

As for ppl gathering... best of luck lol. Melees are usually easy enough, at the mob most of the time. Mages who either position themselves poorly (ie on top of the melees) or who run off and don't even realize you're rolling on them. That's partly why I'd advocate a line in pt chat. Makes it more obvious to everyone what you're trying to do.

Sometimes you've got to be pretty creative when buffing. A lot of times (like in salvage) after the last fight say Hammerblow, the melees and mages tend to stand on each other while someone goes to the porter. If there's just one mage, I can usually stand in a spot where only he'll get the roll even if the others are real close. Distance plug is real nice for that. I def wouldnt put a wait line in though, just get good at anticipating where ppl will be, when they might move. If someone runs into an evokers roll, oh well. Not much you coulda done lol.

To further touch on this...

I don't think you need a /p line in your macro every roll for a warning. If the party isn't positioned where you can put the proper rolls on all who need them, I explain that they need to stand in the right spots to get their buffs. I give them one warning. If, after I've already given a reminder, that random MNK wants to stand next to the mages... Well, the most effective way to stop him from doing that is to simply give him Evoker's Roll. It's amazing how fast they learn that way. You can ask someone to move for an hour and it can be a struggle. Refreshing the MNK is 10x more effective without typing a word.

Another point - the only people who give a damn about lucky numbers are Corsairs (and CORs on another job who already know the luckies anyway). It's wasted space in /p.

Poor Wiki, what did it ever do to them?

Now that you guys mention it, I don't think people even care or know that there are lucky numbers. I could have a 1, 8, or 11 on a Hunter's Roll and they wouldn't know the difference. Maybe I will take the /party line as suggested, and I do like the echo line that follows so I might incorporate it.

My macros are for example:

{Chaos Roll} O 4 =/= X 8
/ja "Chaos Roll" <me>

I never catch echo text in the thick of combat so its easier for me to announce it to party chat.

Maybe it's just me but the /echo is kinda moot at this point. I just kinda memorize all the lucky numbers.

Ath

You might want to avoid putting /p announcements in your Phantom Roll macros, especially in endgame events like Dynamis where people have to watch for certain things in the chat log. I've never seen anyone complain about it (in game at least), but it's something to consider.

Currently, my Phantom Roll macros all follow the same template:

/echo "{<job>'s Roll}! {<Status/Ability>} {Up}!
/ja "<job>'s Roll" <me>
/wait 8
/echo Lucky Number is x! Unlucky Number is y!
/wait 52
/recast "Phantom Roll"

...I've been using the same macro for Phantom Rolls for about two or three years now, and they probably need some cleaning up. The /wait 8 is an old holdover from when I used to announce effects and lucky numbers in /p chat, and allowed all the "So-and-so has recieved the effect of Such-and-such!" to scroll by. In fact, I'll probably revamp all of my macros once I get a Commodore's Tricorne (IF I ever do...), but this layout served me well in parties for as long as I can remember.

I think I replied like this similarly in another macro thread, but this is how my macros are set up:

1 pallet for each subjob, with some subs using 2 pallets for different phantom roll macro placements depending on what I might be doing with that sub.

All of my phantom roll macros are designed as below, stolen from my buddy Krieg on seraph here:




-Where, 'xxx' is the job. In the title, the 3 letter abbreviation and in the JA line, naturally, the full roll name typed out.

-The # sign is replaced with the lucky number of the roll being used. This way when I hold ALT or CTRL down to display the macro pallet, I can see what the lucky number is.

Example:


-Where 'xxx' is whatever ring you normally wear for TP. This macro is not necessary if you have a TP macro which equips rings and any other TPing gear.
-In lag, this macro doesn't work so well. Whenever I have lag it only lasts for a split second or less than noticable, so it's never been an issue. If you hit this macro with luzaf's ring on, it will swap to the 2nd ring. if you use it with the 2nd ring on, it will swap to luzaf's. Do not put any line inbetween them or it won't work. The downside is that you can't tell which ring is currently equipped since all you see is the standard /echo line of 'Equipment Changed'. XD; It's another mental trip that could be avoided if you are pushing into a long duration party where you're losing that fresh, frosty edge.

I find that if someone in the party uses /p for a spell or ability they use often, I just mentally block out all /p I see. Then if something important is said in /p I tend to miss it.

People don't need to know what the lucky number is, and they don't care, they just want to see big numbers on their WS or to have plenty of mp to use. The same way Cor don't need to know when a Mnk uses Boost, and the party doesn't need to be informed every time a mage casts cure.

I use a recast for Phantom Roll to determine when Double-Up is going to wear off. If I hit an unlucky 7 for example...I often will wait until Double-Up is almost gone before trying to roll-off...so it gives me a gauge each shot to see where I am so I can budget.

Plus, it never hurts to help out your mental timer ;)