Macros? Are they mandatory?

[Arkamenitas]

Just got my first month and game copy from Raptr <3. Been doing some reading about classes and rotations ...(Playing a Rogue and a Mage right now) and all these guys say I need to use these crazy macros or something? Like, bind 4 abilities to one macro and use that in a rotation???

Is that necessary? Are rotations in this game really that complex?

here, i'll give you an example. the cleric spec Shaman is a 2h melee dps spec. the 'core' mechanic behind shaman is that they weave air and water based attacks in between their heavy hitting physical face smashers. Specifically, when a magical attack is used, the next physical attack deals 30% more damage (so it's always better to do magic -> phys > magic, and try not to ever do phys twice in a row or magic twice in a row). they way it works, they have alot of cooldown attacks, but then they have both a magical and physical "filler" - Icy blow and crushing blow. now, when it comes to fillers, icy blow hits harder than crushing blow (and also ignores armor, as it's magic). However, if you icy blow then crushing blow, the crushing blow gains that +30% physical damage bonus, making it hit harder than icy blow, and be a dps gain. how does this work overall:


My buttons:

1. Lightning hammer. this is a DoT effect that deals more damage towards the end of it's duration, but has iirc a 6 second cd, while lasting like 15 or 20 seconds. so basically, you don't ever want to clip it, thus it gets it's own button.

2 + 3 are macros (cover these in a sec)

4. Jolt - this is a magical melee range attack that deals low damage, but deals very high damage after a crit. basically, you only want to use this after a crit (otherwise it's weaker than anything else you could use). it also has a 6s cd, but since you are casting this after a crit, and not every time its up, it needs its own button.


2 + 3 are my macro buttons. 2 is as follows:

Magic Abilities macro: (in cast order from macro) (NOTE: This is only the order of the spells by line from the macro)

Frozen Wrath (15 sec dot, highest magic damage per button press, must maintain at all times as it also increases vengeance damage. vengeance is a passive you apply on each hit depending on what you have up - for example, extra damage on the target, or less damage per target that will cleave)
glacial strike (magical 30s cooldown execute-phase ability. still doesnt hit as hard as frozen wrath though)
icy blow ( magic attack, no cd, this is your magical filler when nothing else is up)

basically, every time i hit this macro it'll use the highest priority magic attack. i dont care too much what magic attack is being cast at the time, as long as its a magic attack (so my next one can be physical and deal extra damage)

3 is my physical macro. in order, it has

massive blow - hardest physical hitter. also causes a short bleed. 15s cd, but cd remaining is reduced slightly for every attack you do while it's on cd
combined effort - debuff on target, hits hard, but not as hard as massive blow. lasts 15s, 15s cd, so you want it up all the time (like frozen wrath). causes enemy to take 5% more damage from you.
crushing blow - physical filler. no cd.

So, for single target damage, what you want to do is
activate vengeance of the winter storm self buff (adds damage to each attack) (lasts 1h)

put up lightning hammer (1)
physical macro (3) because LH is magic
magic macro (2) which will put up frozen wrath if available
Physical macro (because you always use this after magic). lets say this crits.
press jolt (4) because you need to use a magic attack, and you just crit.
press phys (3) (because jolt is magic).
press magic(2).

and so in. in priority list form

What did i press last?

if 1 (magic), 2 (magic), or 4 (magic), hit 3

if 3 (physical) - check. If lightning hammer is not on the target, hit 1. If it is, next check: Is jolt ready (did you just crit? if you did, jolt icon will appear in your reactive ability window signifying that bonus damage is read). If yes, press 4. if you did not need to use jolt or lightning hammer, hit 2 (magic macro).

long story short, your rotation is always 23232323232323 UNLESS: you need to cast lightning hammer? press 1 instead of 2. You need to cast jolt? press 4 instead of 2). every second ability will always be physical. i hope that kind of illustrates the point. that;s your basic single target dps reduced to four buttons (though its actually 8 abilities). you will need other buttons for aoes and other buttons for major cooldowns, but two macros have effectively condensed 6 abilities onto two buttons that will always do the right ability if pressed.

[Trialtm]

Not really mandatory. I don't use very many macros myself. But macros can be very useful for off GCD abilities.

Pretty much this. They arnt needed in rift really. If u cant handle more than 8+ buttons then maybe a MMO isnt for you.

[Onorvele]

Hadn't seen this bit of info in the thread yet:

Rift macros do only 1 thing when you press the button. Or zero.

This is different from WoW macros that can do both an oGCD and GCD ability, and I think also a chain of abilities, with timer between? Either way, if you want to do your oGCD ability (trinket or whatever other cooldown) and then cast a damage ability, you're gonna have to mash that button twice.

[Lilly32]

I mained a mage for a long time and they are the only class that cant really use macros. You can only add abilities that have CDs to those long macro list and mages dont have many of those. I know there was one for Pyro but it wasnt crazy like some of the 8-10 ability Melee cleric macros. Also my Chloro never had any macros other than mouseovers. My rogue used a few again only a few abilities in them.

[Kelimbror]

I mained a mage for a long time and they are the only class that cant really use macros. You can only add abilities that have CDs to those long macro list and mages dont have many of those. I know there was one for Pyro but it wasnt crazy like some of the 8-10 ability Melee cleric macros. Also my Chloro never had any macros other than mouseovers. My rogue used a few again only a few abilities in them.

Now that Harbinger exists you can put everything on a macro. It's actually cool, b/c you can pay more attention to your surroundings and be more efficient.

[Rocketsurgeon]

I mained a mage for a long time and they are the only class that cant really use macros. You can only add abilities that have CDs to those long macro list and mages dont have many of those. I know there was one for Pyro but it wasnt crazy like some of the 8-10 ability Melee cleric macros. Also my Chloro never had any macros other than mouseovers. My rogue used a few again only a few abilities in them.

Lazy elementalist spec. Most macro'd spec I have for any of my characters My chloro only ever made minor use of macros. All the classes have specs that can utilize them more or less.