Question about BLM Spell-Casting Macros

Halifirien

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Halifirien
I'm still new to the game and, after joining my first parties, have have boosted my BLM from Lv. 10 to Lv. 14 very quickly.

One thing I've been grateful for are the tanks who include a line in their macro to let the party know they're using Provoke. It makes it easier for me to space out my spells so I don't have to worry about an irate snipper trying to claw my taru face off.

My question is this: Should I be including a similar line in my macros to tell the party what spell I'm casting? I'm not sure what point it would serve, other than creating useless battle spam to make it more obvious that I'm a contributing nuker.

But as I said, I'm new and could be wrong. What advice do you have?
 
Well maybe Im in the minority here, and maybe not. I do not "announce" what Im casting. In multi-mage parties, I work out ahead of time who is casting what, and that's it. The only time thus far that I have "announced" a spell is when using freeze, and this is only because I have to start casting it 5 seconds before the melee starts the skillchain.
 
Well, I mostly only tell my Party when im casting something that they need to know, such as Cure 2, because it might draw aggro, or Sleep, so that they know to disengage. Other than that, I don't think they need to know every Spell you cast.
 
I'd have to agree, putting a line that you're casting a nuke isn't needed. Your party will know you're doing your job when it dies, lol.

My husband plays BLM, and the only spells he actually announces are the elemental enfeebles- and that's really because he changes which ones go up according to situation. He'll put up Frost and Drown to help the Melees when TP is low, but if a SC is coming he'll put up Shock and Burn to enhance his burst. :lol:

Much, much more important that any /p lines in a BLM macro is the use of <bt>. You are using it, right? :P Everything should be on <bt> except perhaps a sleep macro, which can be put to <stnpc>.
 
I wont lie i announce everything but it is just <fire>. I find it very handy when there are other spell casters in the pt because they dont have to look at the little yellow print to see what im casting so it doesnt conflict. I usually work out enfeebs b4 hand but i still announce. Just a simple auto translated word is helpful to me.
 
I haven't had that one in my macros, no. I haven't had any problems because I target the monster as soon as the puller gets to us, but I'll add it. Better safe than sorry.
 
Halifirien said:
I haven't had that one in my macros, no. I haven't had any problems because I target the monster as soon as the puller gets to us, but I'll add it. Better safe than sorry.

One thing to note about <bt>, when you sleep a link, it turns red (as in, claimed-by-you-red) for a bit, so you end up with two things the game considers <bt>. I don't know if it picks one based on distance or on who engaged it or what, but if you just use <bt> you may end up sending all your nukes to the wrong mob. ><

One thing that's been useful for me has been to have a macro that just targets <bt>, maybe one with <stnpc> would be better, dunno (but I am DONE (woohoo!) lvling BLM).
 
I post my macros in the /party chat just to announce what I'm casting. My enfeebs are probably the most important because then other players can react to them. I also do the party chat announcement so I kind of know the spell is coming up because lag sometimes occurs and there's a bit of a delay. I think it's just personal preference. I just have simple macros such as "casting <spell> on <bt>" I don't have the imagination to write out a separate one for every spell..
 
As a lvl 60 RDM i have to say, i hate it when people put those macros in party chat. Except for the skillchain info. I have enough reading to see when a buff/debuff wears off, and when to dispel. the rest is just usless spam to me. (Wishes there was a filter to keep from seeing what other parties around me are casting whille still seeing what mob you are fighting is doing)
 
Wishes there was a filter to keep from seeing what other parties around me are casting whille still seeing what mob you are fighting is doing)

uh.....there is :o You can choose to filter out the actions of others, but not your own party.
 
but that takes out the monsters's special ability's it casts on itself.
 
Yep. Which, in turn, leads to not knowing when the mob put up a buff that said RDM needs to dispel ;)
 
altho, you COULD just watch the monster. its easy to see when a crab puts up Stoneskin, or when a beetle uses Rhino Guard, or whatever
 
I've seen a lot of higher lvl blms put (/Casting Spell\) whatever in parties. Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see the point. I mean, the only reason I could think to use it is if the rest of the party has so many filters on that they can't see you cast, but even then I don't really see the need. I should hope that by the time you hit the higher lvls your party can trust you to be casting the appropritate spells.

Of course, I normally play on PS2, or on a comp with a PS2 controller, so it really is easier to go through the spells menu than use the macros, so I really have very few spells macro'd.

The only one I use is my Elemental Seal + Sleep macro, just to make sure I don't waste it when the melee runs up to tag the mob.
 
personally i have macros for all my elemental spells funny thing is i mostly just go into the magic menu :lol:

WHAT?!

it gives you a cooldown time so there

*sticks his tongue out*
 
I put party chat on Sleep, Escape, and my Cures so the WHM knows when I'm backup healing. I had Freeze on macro, but I stopped bursting with that cause it's not as MP efficient.
 
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