Understanding & Using Macros
In this guide, I introduce several macros that you'll want to use throughout the leveling process. Let's take a moment and explain them to avoid confusion later on!
Macros are automated actions that attempt to fire abilities, in sequence, until they find an ability that works. For instance, let's say we have two abilities in sequence, Soul Sickness and Necrotic Wounds:
#show Necrotic Wounds
cast Soul Sickness
cast Necrotic Wounds
In this example, the first time a player pressed the macro, they would cast Soul Sickness. However, this would put Soul Sickness on a 15 second cooldown where it cannot be cast again, and the second time a player pressed the macro, the ability would fail. When the ability failed, the macro automatically falls through to Necrotic Wounds. In other words, the first press would cast Soul Sickness and the second press would cast Necrotic Wounds. Any following key-presses would cast Necrotic Wounds.
This fall-through logic is the foundation of Rift macros. In a macro, we're prioritizing our most important attacks in a logical sequence to make us as effective as possible. There are a few special circumstances that you'll see in macros:
- When at range from your target, all targeted melee abilities in a macro will automatically fail and a ranged ability will be cast. Some macros are built around this concept, allowing the same macro the ability to cover both melee and ranged attacks;
- When abilities are on the global cooldown (the 1.5 seconds between each ability you use), all abilities affected by the global cooldown automatically fail and only special abilities that ignore the global cooldown will fire. This is why I can safely place Retaliation beneath other abilities in my macros.
As a rule, you always want to spam macros! In other words, hit them as frequently as you can. You'll get your attacks off more frequently and -- more importantly -- abilities off the global cooldown like Retaliation will be more effective over time.
One of the bigger concerns I see with new players is that they see errors and believe the macros aren't working. This isn't the case! Any time an ability fails in a macro, an error will pop up in red on your screen explaining the reason. However, the next ability in the macro will still attempt to fire. If you don't like errors, you can remove them from macros by adding 'suppressmacrofailures' just above the abilities (example):
#show Necrotic Wounds
suppressmacrofailures
cast Soul Sickness
cast Necrotic Wounds
Finally, one thing that will help you a lot is turning on "Smart Target" in your Settings if it's not already on. This will let the game select a target for you when you're attempting to fire a macro, and is generally always helpful. You can find this by pressing Escape, clicking "Settings," clicking "Interface," clicking "Combat," and checking the "Smart Target" checkbox on the upper right side.
13/04/2012, 15h45
