Question about Combo Timers & Classes

[MidKnightGeek]

Hello,

Started a Pugilist, and I'm enjoying the Class/Job enough, but plan on switching to Rogue in one more lvl at 10.

But I have a concern. I love the look/style and atmosphere of the game, but I find myself looking at the UI to watch the timers on my atm 3 active attacks so that I can get the combo chain benefits of extra dps...instead of watching the game and action as much as I'd like.

I've played several MMOs that have attack or spell cooldowns and a preferred rotation. But with the need of precise timing to execute and maintain the combo chain, this seems to take the need to attention to a whole new lvl.

Is this the way it's suppose to be? Seems a bit tedious, like a Healer in "other" mmos that simply stares at his Raid UI and spams the keys through the rotation and only watching the health bars of the group.

Are "all" the Classes set up this way or are some different with different mechanics, like perhaps an Archer with ranged dps rather than melee or hand 2 hand combat?

I like the game, just not digging the Combo system...

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

I pretty much ended playing Age of Conan back in the day for the same reason. Don't love having to stare at my keyboard/UI to pull off attack chains.

On a side note/fyi LOTRO has attack/trait cooldowns as well BUT you can stack attacks that the "game" keeps track of and initiates in the order you've clicked allowing you to have a better over all awareness of what's going on and an easier time to plan upcoming actions.

Anyway, not a hater, but like I said, I have concerns. The game may not be for me and that's fine. I'm sure there are some who might enjoy this system.

I'm just trying to make sure I'm not missing something or if the game mechanics change at a certain lvl or if classes differ enough to make a difference to me and what I prefer.

Thanks and Best Regards,

Rol

[Rusty Knight]

Just make few macros for desired rotations, like i did for my Dragoon. It`ll look like this
/ac "action name" <wait.3>
/ac "action name" <wait.3>
/ac "action name" <wait.3>
/ac "action name"
Or something like this (also, since i`ve got pretty bad ping, i`m using delay one second longer than my actual gcd. If you wanna dish out maximum damage, go to the striking dummy and experiment with delays).

[MidKnightGeek]

That's a really good idea, thank you!

I wasn't aware FFXIV used marcos ;)

That will probably help quite a bit.

Best Regards!

[Kay]

Originally posted by Rolend44:

That's a really good idea, thank you!

I wasn't aware FFXIV used marcos ;)

That will probably help quite a bit.

Best Regards!

I would suggest not using macros for ninjitsu skills, there are so many of them you'll probably end up with the top bar filled with macros when you only need 4 slots.

Also, try a 2.6 or 2.5 wait instead of a 3, that will activate skills almost the moment the timer is down.

[Oberon]

Originally posted by Ki'agh:

Originally posted by Rolend44:

That's a really good idea, thank you!

I wasn't aware FFXIV used marcos ;)

That will probably help quite a bit.

Best Regards!

I would suggest not using macros for ninjitsu skills, there are so many of them you'll probably end up with the top bar filled with macros when you only need 4 slots.

Also, try a 2.6 or 2.5 wait instead of a 3, that will activate skills almost the moment the timer is down.

Actually the flaw with using macros for ninjutsu is that the macros can't input it as fast as a human could. The minimum wait time you can have a macro do is 1 second, but the actual timer on the skills is a half a second. So with a macro, you'd be standing around waiting three seconds for the ninjutsu to be ready (Since you can't do anything else without disrupting it) instead of only one and a half.

[Kay]

Originally posted by Big Chief Devil Hawk Fireball:

Originally posted by Ki'agh:

I would suggest not using macros for ninjitsu skills, there are so many of them you'll probably end up with the top bar filled with macros when you only need 4 slots.

Also, try a 2.6 or 2.5 wait instead of a 3, that will activate skills almost the moment the timer is down.

Actually the flaw with using macros for ninjutsu is that the macros can't input it as fast as a human could. The minimum wait time you can have a macro do is 1 second, but the actual timer on the skills is a half a second. So with a macro, you'd be standing around waiting three seconds for the ninjutsu to be ready (Since you can't do anything else without disrupting it) instead of only one and a half.

that too, never noticed it since I didn't even bother trying, mostly due to the fact my toolbars are filled up anyway without unnesecary macros.

[Heyu]

Don't macro your skills. They'll end up having delays every time, and you will lose a ton of DPS.

[Kay]

Originally posted by Hey You!:

Don't macro your skills. They'll end up having delays every time, and you will lose a ton of DPS.

depends, if you are just killing random mobs (for quests etc.) then go for it, macro them, then you just have to push one button, wait for the mob to die and move on. If you are in a dungeon, pay attention and don't macro, the DPS is needed there.

[RPGpro]

Just to add something about using macros....the devs have repeated many many many many times on the forums while /wait 2.3 (for example) will WORK it WON'T wait 2.3 seconds....it will wait 3, if you do /wait 1.9 it'll wait 2, etc...always rounded up. Since most cooldowns are just over a full second (i.e. 2.3, 3.1, etc.) this means you get a significant delay between skills.

As for the combo system, there's absolutely no need to watch your hot-keys to pull of combos. The timing doesn't need to be "precise" either, you get approx 10-12 seconds to use the next skill in the combo each time.
All melee classes have at least one combo, bard doesn't have one that I know of, thaumaturge doesn't and neither does arcanist.

[la_nague]

practice more, ull get used to it.

Dont make macros for everything, ull end up being one of those DPS who do half the dmg they should

[Kay]

Originally posted by RPGpro:

Just to add something about using macros....the devs have repeated many many many many times on the forums while /wait 2.3 (for example) will WORK it WON'T wait 2.3 seconds....it will wait 3, if you do /wait 1.9 it'll wait 2, etc...always rounded up. Since most cooldowns are just over a full second (i.e. 2.3, 3.1, etc.) this means you get a significant delay between skills.

As for the combo system, there's absolutely no need to watch your hot-keys to pull of combos. The timing doesn't need to be "precise" either, you get approx 10-12 seconds to use the next skill in the combo each time.
All melee classes have at least one combo, bard doesn't have one that I know of, thaumaturge doesn't and neither does arcanist.

quick correction, the /wait 2.3 will wait 2, not 3

I just tested it, there was about one second difference between wait 3.4 and wait 3.5, it rounds it to the nearest number, not always up. (the difference between a wroking combo macro and a broken one was 2.5 and .24 for me)

It's fine to use them in random combat, where DPS etc. isn't really needed, or to regulate healing etc. so that you don't lose as much mana, however if it is a dungeon you need to be paying full attention anyway and should not be using macros, since it will just make you DPS slower and slower to react to changing circumstances

Also, most skills that aren't on GCD won't interupt combos, so using a ninjitsu while GCD is up won't reset your combo, and you can continue on, same with assasinate, mug and jugulate, also with internal releaase and other buffs.

[RPGpro]

Originally posted by Ki'agh:

Originally posted by RPGpro:

Just to add something about using macros....the devs have repeated many many many many times on the forums while /wait 2.3 (for example) will WORK it WON'T wait 2.3 seconds....it will wait 3, if you do /wait 1.9 it'll wait 2, etc...always rounded up. Since most cooldowns are just over a full second (i.e. 2.3, 3.1, etc.) this means you get a significant delay between skills.

As for the combo system, there's absolutely no need to watch your hot-keys to pull of combos. The timing doesn't need to be "precise" either, you get approx 10-12 seconds to use the next skill in the combo each time.
All melee classes have at least one combo, bard doesn't have one that I know of, thaumaturge doesn't and neither does arcanist.

quick correction, the /wait 2.3 will wait 2, not 3

I just tested it, there was about one second difference between wait 3.4 and wait 3.5, it rounds it to the nearest number, not always up. (the difference between a wroking combo macro and a broken one was 2.5 and .24 for me)

Wow, they musta changed it since I last made macros then :D they used to always round up.

Originally posted by Ki'agh:

It's fine to use them in random combat, where DPS etc. isn't really needed, or to regulate healing etc. so that you don't lose as much mana, however if it is a dungeon you need to be paying full attention anyway and should not be using macros, since it will just make you DPS slower and slower to react to changing circumstances

Also, most skills that aren't on GCD won't interupt combos, so using a ninjitsu while GCD is up won't reset your combo, and you can continue on, same with assasinate, mug and jugulate, also with internal releaase and other buffs.

This is also true for several other skills that aren't part of comboes AND DO use the GCD, flash for example (for gladiator) and the DRK version "unleash"

[MidKnightGeek]

Great info guys, thank you very much! :)

[Kay]

Originally posted by Rolend44:

Great info guys, thank you very much! :)

You are welcome, I have found the community of this game to be generally very good :)

[Kay]

Originally posted by Senzuale:

Pugilist is probably the most combo-y class. It has a fixed rotation at the start and then you need to watch out for all the timers on the buffs and adjust accordingly, you need to be very focused, of course it becomes a more fixed rotation after you get enough experience, takes a while to get used to. It's also the reason why it has the highest DPS output when played right. Was the class i mained before the expansion, honestly lots of fun.

I thought dragoons was the highest DPS now, then monk then ninja (if I remember correctly)