The Hidden Forest

Long story short..I've been running a 6 man box using eqbc commands hotkeyed on my Main Tank. I've been running into it's limitations.....and certainly my own limitations as well.

I know macros are the next step but I know diddlysquat about them. I've seen snippets of code and I can follow the logic (usually) but not the coding.

Been considering donating on the mq2 forums but not sure it's worth it. From what I've heard there is little support for emu servers. I am also a bit confused about the /delay function. I think I've read that is not working properly here and it seems to be a very valuable function. Am I going to have to learn to code and then learn to code around server limitations?

So much for a long story short...but I'm not sure where to begin. Yes, I've looked at documentation but looking at it and comprehending it are entirely different.

Suggestions?

There are some good guides here and on the internet. If I have time I might write some basic starting points for you. The basic requirements are simple enough once you get the theory and learn some commands.
I'm at work now but will put up some snippets soon.

Until then, start by googling "mq2 macros getting started" or "beginners guide"

I was in the same boat a few weeks back. If you understand the logic behind the code, then the coding syntax will come with time.

First and foremost: you want /timed and not /delay. /delaywill work just fine for a single-line hotkeys:



I taught myself everything based off of the following "generic" routine which can be run on any healing class that will heal groupmates with a specific spell when they are below a HP threshold:



Line 1 identifies that this is the main routine, because no other routines exist and there are no /calls we know that this will be a "single shot."
Line 2 declares that there is a variable that will be an integer (int) and we will call it i (i).
Line 3 is an anchor which is the first half of the repetitive loop, as indicated by the name - you don't need to make yours called :foreverloop... the only requirement is the : to indicate the anchor.
Line 4 is where the macro actually "does something" - we're saying that the variable i is a number between 0 (yourself) and your group size.
Line 4b is where the macro will execute a function based on your declared variable: for first i if that group members HP are < 70%, this healer will cast a set heal on the group member and will try to cast up to 4 times (fizzles, or in the case of nukes/debuffs, resists).
Line 5 says to move to the next i (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for a 6-man group).
Line 6 says that once the routine has checked the HP for every i in the group, it goes back to the :foreverloop anchor above. The process is repeated until the macro is ended (/endmac)
Line 7 every routine must have a /return. In this macro, the /return isn't ever truly used, as you're looping back to the HP check over and over and over.

Obviously this is a great simplification of the process, however, using the above example and the MQ2 wiki (familiarize yourself with TLOs and Macro Flow Control) I have been able to build a Cleric macro that monitors self/tank HP, group HP for epic shield/DA, and a Shaman macro that monitors group hp and has reactive debuffs/hot when fighting a boss mob.

The best way to learn is by teaching, and I'm happy to give you as much feedback as possible as you start coding!

Edit: get Notepad + + as it's awesome for formatting. There's a post by Grey in this subforum that has a customization dealio that will help with color coding and font face type things. Really really helpful when you're trying to find a missed bracket or similar.