In-Game Macros

Dear Anet, please add in-game macros for skills. It seems a LARGE portion of the population is already using them, as evidenced by a quick glance at the combat logs where an enemy gets off 6 attacks to my 1 (I don't use any 3rd party programs outside of Discord), and the disadvantage has become quite overwhelming. So again, maybe it's time to add them.

Thing is, macros won't help you do 6 attacks at once because they won't remove the cast times, and macro players are usually terrible players that have to run and wait for cooldowns if they miss their spike. Everything a macro can do can be done with a sensible set of keybinds and a decent number of buttons on your mouse.

There are some very twitchy people playing, but yes OP, it is pretty obvious sometimes when a macro is being used. Moa them and laugh, when timed right. But, yes, I wish Anet would allow macro use in game, just like I wish they would allow us to modify the UI. Neither is ever going to happen. But, good luck on your request.

I have never encountered any1 that used any sequence of skills that could be tracked to macroing. Maybe OP doesn't know some skills are instant cast and can be used while casting a different skill?

they are pretty evident when you see a player do a perfect secuence of skill cast in the perfect timing over and over again. That's somethign should not happen in any decent pvp game mode. From there to simply allow bots it's just matter of semanthics.

Anet should follow thru and ban permanently those accounts on the spot, as they have expalined many times: It is against the TOS to use a macro which perfomrs more than one action with one click or press of a key.

And if you think they can't track those and Anet doesn't know who is who you are very wrong.

What class actually even have burst combo that need macros? Using 6 skills same time wouldn't even be hard without macros. One finger can use two skills same time and mouse hand can use 3 or 4 skills same time. Good thing is that you don't need to use 6 skills same time if you don't play some weird engineer build or something.

I can’t imagine many people actually use macros and even if they do, I would assume it’s hugely restrictive and can’t imagine it makes you a better player. You can’t just combo the same way with the same exact timing and win every fight. Sometimes you want to delay part of the burst or you simply don’t have enough time to execute the whole thing. It’s not difficult to teach yourself a burst combo on a keyboard using actual keys and it allows you to make subtle changes which are much better for high level play. I’ve been accused of using a macro many times and always find it hilarious.

Macros should be banned outright , along with a host of other crap thats being used ... but anet don`t care about hacks or cheats , just gem sales

I dont think skill macro is allowed in the game

@Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365 said:I have never encountered any1 that used any sequence of skills that could be tracked to macroing. Maybe OP doesn't know some skills are instant cast and can be used while casting a different skill?

I've been playing since beta, and as a roamer I encounter them quite often, and yes, I'm very aware of the difference between instant cast and skills that have a casting time.

@Talindra.4958 said:I dont think skill macro is allowed in the game

Macros aren't allowed, but it's become quite obvious that a lot of players use them (in fact I hear it discussed regularly in comms by players who use them). Anet has become (or maybe always has been) bad at policing their own game. Those of you who have been around long enough to remember players flying around with the orbs in the first several months will know what I'm talking about.

The alternative are the players who use a hack that allows for no cooldowns on skills (sadly it does exist).

(edited for additional comments)

@Exzen.2976 said:I can’t imagine many people actually use macros and even if they do, I would assume it’s hugely restrictive and can’t imagine it makes you a better player. You can’t just combo the same way with the same exact timing and win every fight. Sometimes you want to delay part of the burst or you simply don’t have enough time to execute the whole thing. It’s not difficult to teach yourself a burst combo on a keyboard using actual keys and it allows you to make subtle changes which are much better for high level play. I’ve been accused of using a macro many times and always find it hilarious.

I seem to encounter it mostly with rangers, mesmers and necros. Thieves have no need for it due to a lack of cooldowns across the majority of their skills (another brilliant idea Anet!)

It may actually be bots.

@Exzen.2976 said:It’s not difficult to teach yourself a burst combo on a keyboard using actual keys and it allows you to make subtle changes which are much better for high level play. I’ve been accused of using a macro many times and always find it hilarious.

Tell this to people who are seriously too dumb to change their hotkeys for skills that are difficult to access with the default settings. :p

@ArchonWing.9480 said:It may actually be bots.

There are a flood of bots in pvp, no reason they won't pour into wvw either. Anet can't be bothered with them.

@Ubi.4136 said:There are some very twitchy people playing, but yes OP, it is pretty obvious sometimes when a macro is being used. Moa them and laugh, when timed right. But, yes, I wish Anet would allow macro use in game, just like I wish they would allow us to modify the UI. Neither is ever going to happen. But, good luck on your request.

How do u know is not precasting istead of macros?

@Ronin.4501 said:

@Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365 said:I have never encountered any1 that used any sequence of skills that could be tracked to macroing. Maybe OP doesn't know some skills are instant cast and can be used while casting a different skill?

@Talindra.4958 said:I dont think skill macro is allowed in the game

How do u know a player isnt pre casting his skills, or mayne u dont even know what pre cast means

eh, no macros, i'd suggest Anet Perma ban them.

@"anduriell.6280" said:they are pretty evident when you see a player do a perfect secuence of skill cast in the perfect timing over and over again. That's somethign should not happen in any decent pvp game mode. From there to simply allow bots it's just matter of semanthics.

Someone needs to learn about muscle memory and precasting.It caaaan be "evident" when the otherwise bad player repeatedly keeps performing perfect sequences, sure. Otherwise, that's absolutely not a definite proof for anything.

...actually even then that's not evident, someone can keep repeating the same combo over and over again while still overally being bad at the game. Not higihly probable, sure, but still possible, so it's not a proof for anything.

Some mesmers and Revs do seem a bit suspicious. :/ But perhaps they are just damn fast.

@wevh.2903 said:

@Ronin.4501 said:

@Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365 said:I have never encountered any1 that used any sequence of skills that could be tracked to macroing. Maybe OP doesn't know some skills are instant cast and can be used while casting a different skill?

@Talindra.4958 said:I dont think skill macro is allowed in the game

Gotta love the players who can't come up with an argument so they try to insult instead. Since you were too lazy to read my other comments, I'll explain again; I've been playing the game since beta so I'm quite familiar with casting durations and pre-casting. What's your excuse for not being able to spell? Spellcheck has been around a lot longer than this game but you still haven't mastered that one.

How would a macro go around cast times, animations and pre/aftercasts? I just don't see how it would work out in this game. But it's probably bcs I've neve rused one before.

@Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365 said:How would a macro go around cast times, animations and pre/aftercasts? I just don't see how it would work out in this game. But it's probably bcs I've neve rused one before.

I've never used any 3rd party programs myself so unfortunately I cannot answer that, but I do know they exist. Long ago someone on a non-official website linked another site full of cheats and hacks and I took a look out of curiosity; there was just about every kind of hack you could imagine from speed boosts to the ability to fly...even a hack to break outside the map which some servers used to keep enemy maps full despite having only half the normal map population actually playing. I've also seen a certain guild (which I am not allowed to name) use a hack which eliminated all skill cooldowns. But again I'm no programmer so I have no concept on how these programs operate.

Easily fixed if they wanted to by inserting a minimum time between skills or ICD, but they never bothered. Almost like they don't care if people exploit it.

@SweetPotato.7456 said:eh, no macros, i'd suggest Anet Perma ban them.

Then Anet need to ban half of the WSR player

@Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365 said:How would a macro go around cast times, animations and pre/aftercasts? I just don't see how it would work out in this game. But it's probably bcs I've neve rused one before.

They would be used for skills without cast times. Or skills that you can at least cast simultaneously. I've seen videos of scourges who were clearly macroing because they would place F1 shade, then F2 F3 F4 F5 would literally go off at exactly the same time, every time.