To macro or not?

[Rescorla]

I returned to Rift after a year layoff. My one level 50 is a rogue and I have created several macros listed in the Rogue's Bible thread. After running several expert dungeons with a ranger primary spec, I am mainly just pushing two buttons with an occasional third one thrown in for AOEs. I am doing well in terms of how much DPS I am putting out but its pretty boring just pushing the same few buttons over and over again.

I've played MMOs for years and have seen both extremes like in EQ2 where you have a gazillion buttons to push and most recently SWTOR and Tera where there are a lot of abilitiy buttons to select from. I've not played any other Rift class past 10 so was curious to know if warrior, mage or cleric are also macro-friendly or are those classes more complex and difficult to play than the rogue?

[Rounded]

I returned to Rift after a year layoff. My one level 50 is a rogue and I have created several macros listed in the Rogue's Bible thread. After running several expert dungeons with a ranger primary spec, I am mainly just pushing two buttons with an occasional third one thrown in for AOEs. I am doing well in terms of how much DPS I am putting out but its pretty boring just pushing the same few buttons over and over again.

I've played MMOs for years and have seen both extremes like in EQ2 where you have a gazillion buttons to push and most recently SWTOR and Tera where there are a lot of abilitiy buttons to select from. I've not played any other Rift class past 10 so was curious to know if warrior, mage or cleric are also macro-friendly or are those classes more complex and difficult to play than the rogue?

It all boils down to specs, some are macroable to a few buttons across all classes, then you have specs which require you to have almost all abilities as separate jsut to manage them, namely defilemancer (38lock/28pyro) from mage.

[BrownsMageNerfDelivery]

Even for some builds that are conducive to macros, piling everything into a few macros may not be optimal, simply due to a potential DoT clip or lack of uptime on a buff/debuff a particular ability might supply if not manually reapplied.

That said, rogues are fairly easy to macro for DPS, particularly when compared to something like mages and Defilemancer, which is as close to macroless as you get.

[Wood E]

I've played MMOs for years and have seen both extremes like in EQ2 where you have a gazillion buttons to push

Never played EQ2 but did play EQ1. If you did way back and you played a bard and remember threading songs, good god that was a pain. When they introduced melody it made life a lot easy for bards. Some people though like my wife still played the old way and was quite good at it. It was just what she was used to.
I guess it comes down to what feels better for you and what enhances your play style.

[No_Exit]

No matter the spec im never 1 buttoning.

Even the simplest of specs i have has 5+ macros.

It definitely depends on the spec and your comfort level or even personal choice. Macros make managing things a lot easier since not only are you dealing with button pressing, but movement, visual/verbal cues, and voice/type communication. It also depends on your computer setup. Depending on keyboard, mouse, and more... macros may be almost required... or not required at all.

[Primalthirst]

In general Warrior, Rogue and Cleric dps are all highly macroable.
Cleric healing is not highly macro oriented since healing is almost always about flexibility and control, rather than pure numbers. I do not particularly enjoy playing anything other than my Mage, I find all other classes to be mind-numbingly simple. The exception being tanking on my warrior, but tanks have a lot more things to focus on than just their rotation.

An important thing to remember is that optimal performance is rarely macroable. You may be able to eek 98% or more out of a spec through heavy use of macros, but there are always situations where you need the flexibility that comes from having abilities on your bars individually. So if you really want to perfect your play then you will find yourself using less and less macros, something I have found as I've gotten better.

[Lewin]

Some abilites link intercept and incriminate basically require macros to function properly.

[No_Exit]

An important thing to remember is that optimal performance is rarely macroable. You may be able to eek 98% or more out of a spec through heavy use of macros, but there are always situations where you need the flexibility that comes from having abilities on your bars individually. So if you really want to perfect your play then you will find yourself using less and less macros, something I have found as I've gotten better.

I disagree with the first part (that optimal performance if rarely macroable) but agree that you don't want to have just macros on your bar. In a realistic situation you cant always use macros to get the job done. At times you will need the actual abilities.. separate from macros to accommodate for certain situations/mechanics/etc.

As i had stated.. i don't have just 1 spam macro.. i have a good 5+ in any spec and there is a good reason for that. I want more control over my rotations... and my reactions. Certain abilities actualy work better in macros then out due tot he chain effect. However i do keep nearly every ability on my bars separate from my macros in case i need them out of the macro setup.

[Hotter]

All classes are macro friendly. Whether you use them or not is personal choice.

[Ferrnitty]

Macros are the key to victory. If you plan on being mobile in pvp they are a must. Or you will need to grow another arm.

[TJ74]

Macros are the key to victory....

that is all

[Madreefer]

As far as leveling goes macros are your best friend. At least in my opinion the point of leveling is to get to level cap and start enjoying endgame content. The difference is to reach level cap is you can copy and paste macros off the forum without knowing what they mean, but when you get to raiding your dps can suffer a huge loss clipping your dots and just using the macro you leveled with. Before raiding you need to know how to play your class and know exactly what each attack does and which is more effective.

[Calidus]

From my experience the ranger / marksman builds for rogues are really quite straight forward and can be boiled down to just a few long macros. Try a melee build! I really enjoyed playing Nightblade / Riftstalker builds on my rogue because teleporting between mobs and having to keep within melee range / behind a mob is more engaging that sitting at 35m away mashing 1111,22,333 etc.

Also if you want more buttons to press, Bard has a lot of abilities simply because the motifs cant be macro'ed together. So you gotta keep check on them running out and renew, whilst maintaining dps/ heals.

Just my two cents!

[Magnuzone]

Some skills you use often is nice to be able to tweak. Like adding shift/ctrl modifier to certain skills such as heals. So in the end you end up with a lot of macros anyway.