Macros in combat, and other combat techniques

[oscarian]

In doing some excursions with the Pegasus Foundation for XP levelling, I discovered the enormous benifit of using macros.

After realising in the hectics of battle how easy it is to mistarget a critter, I set up a simple macro (I use my win-menu key, generally the most useless feature of the modern keyboard - ugh) to "target an entity's target" and used the name of the group tank for gaining the target. Or, for the healer, "target an entity"->"Select shortcut 4" (for me, this is my healing shortcut on every set of hands I have).

This will stop the melee support or offensive mage support from mistargetting herbivors or other critters during a battle. This stops the "Oops, sorry guys" phenomenon widely known throughout any hunting team.

The greatest advantages occur in moments where more than one critter is invoved in a battle, say in an event. Faster response to new targets (many a time a critter has spawned at an inopportune moment) means an immediate melee or mage attack on the new target. It also means that while several critters are attacking several characters, the main tank is supported in taking out the weakest critter (that is, the one with the least amout of hp left, or the creature that is easiest to kill next) while healers can support the main tank and offensive magicians and melee support can assist instantaneously. Of course, a good tank will taunt any critter on to himself during the heat of battle, and this is when being careful with checking your target will come into play.

Another advantage is where multiple teams are involved. If each team's tank is purely focused on the main tank (as an example in GFunk's combat class, team tanks could have set macros to support GFunk's target while their team could have set up a macro to suport their individual tank) which would mean faster kills and less confusion, with more effective support from healers.

Positioning plays a somewhat important role in any teams tactic. Mobs tend to focus on mage users if they get the chance, usually with mage users are too close. Some mobs do this more than others. If a heal or an acid attack spell is cast at the wrong time, a critter may change its attack from the tank to the mage. Mages that stand away from critters will usually live longer. Some healers use bomb, richochet, or spray effects to heal, so having mages close together as well as melee members also close will increase the effectiveness of these types of spells.

I haven't yet experimented fully with ranged attack. The biggest advantage I can see with ranged attack is that you can continue to fire attacks whilst moving. This means I can run from a bodoc while continuing to delve damage (you can guess as to how I came up with this example hehe).

More dangerous critters that move slowly might be, hypothetically, effectively damaged while the character is on the run.

Macros are very important for effective combat tactics, however they are not well documented. A simple "Help, Agro!" shout either in the Around tab or in the Team tab can create enough of a time advantage in team reaction to cause a team that lives rather than total annihilation.

A low level team can be effective against high level mobs for gaining maximum XP without team disasters (eg; "My, the grass smells very green today. Respawn at blah?"). Ah, the fun of looking at your own unconscious toon. Remember, macros!

Now, there is a problem that I and others have noticed with macros. For some reason you have to be quite close to your entity (your tank) for the target macro to work (say, within 15m, not yet tested fully). Make sure, make absolutely certain, that your target ('t' if you don't have it open) is the expected target. You will also notice the target will flash when you execute your macro key shortcut. I have not yet fully worked out the exact distance, but you have to be quite close to an entity to select it's target via a macro. This doesn't happen if you right click on the entity and select "assist", and it doesn't occur when using a healing spell. So, make sure of your target even when using macros. I make sure my target "makes sense" or if there are several critters from the same mob type (3 mean kipees standing in one spot, for example) I make sure my macros causes the target to flash before I start attacking it.

I hope this helps anyone out there looking for some levelling fun.

Cheers-
Oscarian

[sumoman]

this may sound like a noob question but how do u create macros

[XoloX]

Hi!

SHIFT+K is the default key for opening the Macro window.
The rest is working almost like creating a new keybind, except there's a little more options. The really best way to get used to it is to fiddle around a bit by yourself to try and create something that does something in a row until you get the hang of it. In case you still get lost in it I think there's some pretty good guides to macroing in Ryzom around these forums

Have fun & CU