[Amastacia]

So, this is just sort of a general query:

I've tried a few different strategies that always somehow wind up with me shooting my PPA off (and rarely knowing exactly how I did it), to the point where I've decided against buying another until I'm 75.

Yes, the easy answer is "don't bother" but that's a shitty answer, so it can kindly go die in a fire.

So, for other people who do bother, what sort of macros or other strategies do you use to minimize the risk of firing 40k CP by accident?

[pathwriter]

Since it has taken months for me to regain the necessary Conquest Points to buy another Patriarch Protector's Arrow, I really do think that "Don't bother" is the appropriate answer. But I'm not the sort of person to leave it at that.

Mercifully, Ranger isn't as macro-intensive as some other jobs, so it should be relatively easy to do this. First of all, whatever standard ammunition you're using, make sure you've got a couple stacks unquivered. That has been what has killed me. I'll manage to magically run out of arrows just before I swap in PPA and fire off Sidewinder, then I'll fail to notice the lack of an equipment change notification and, boom, fired off my good arrow on my next /ra.

What I did for macros before giving up was to keep everything as separate as possible. It reduces your efficiency a little bit (less than you imagine in high lag situations, though), but having to hit Macro1: Unlimited Shot, Macro2: PPArrow, Macro3: Sidewinder (and WS gear), and then Macro4: Kabura Arrow (and/or TP gear) is safer than trying to combine those steps. There's probably minimal harm in tying PPArrow to Unlimited Shot, but trying to merge all four together significantly increases the risk of firing it off.

Ultimately, I just don't think it's worth the trouble. It's not a question of "if," it's a question of "when." Unless you're prepared to open your equipment screen every time you use Unlimited Shot and watch that screen like a hawk, you're going to lose your arrow sooner or later.

[TresDuendes]

make a second ws macro that equips ppa, then unequips it after you've fired

[Dazd]

I have mine equip when I use unlimited shot then ws macro re-equips demon arrows. Just make sure unlimited shot activates because if you hit it too fast after using a ranged attack or another action it changes the arrow but won't activate.

[Spider-Dan]

Three important components that have kept my GMB safe:

1) Unlimited Shot macro and GMB WS macro are separate
2) Unlimited Shot macro only activates U.Shot and equips GMB, nothing else
3) end of GMB WS macro is /wait 1 followed by /equip Ammo, which empties your ammo slot

#1 is important because it allows you to abort easily if something bad happens. Whenever you want a U.Shot WS, make sure that you actually SEE the Unlimited Shot animation before you proceed. Make sure EVERY TIME. Do not try to hurry up before Invincible or Physical Shield or killshot or what have you; sooner or later, you will lose your ammo with that mindset. Wait for the animation.
#2 is important because it minimizes complexity; you don't want a problematic script or some other issue distracting you after you've activated U.Shot. Keep it simple.
#3 is important because if you run out of normal ammo, you will simply get the no-ammo message after you swap back to TP gear, instead of firing off your expensive CP ammo. This is the most important of all the steps.

[Amastacia]

pathwriter, on 05 November 2009 - 02:12 PM, said:

Since it has taken months for me to regain the necessary Conquest Points to buy another Patriarch Protector's Arrow, I really do think that "Don't bother" is the appropriate answer. But I'm not the sort of person to leave it at that.

Mercifully, Ranger isn't as macro-intensive as some other jobs, so it should be relatively easy to do this. First of all, whatever standard ammunition you're using, make sure you've got a couple stacks unquivered. That has been what has killed me. I'll manage to magically run out of arrows just before I swap in PPA and fire off Sidewinder, then I'll fail to notice the lack of an equipment change notification and, boom, fired off my good arrow on my next /ra.

In regards to the first paragraph... I never turned CP into gil, so I'm still sitting on 130k. Given that I don't expect to be playing RNG daily at 75, 3 PPAs should last me a while.

Thinking back, I'd be willing to bet the bolded part is exactly what's lost me at least one of my PPAs as well. I'm used to being miserly on inventory space due to not having any free (thanks NIN and RDM, for being so murderously inventory-intensive!), I should get into the habit of trying to have at least a couple stacks de-quivered.

Dazd, on 05 November 2009 - 02:50 PM, said:

I have mine equip when I use unlimited shot then ws macro re-equips demon arrows. Just make sure unlimited shot activates because if you hit it too fast after using a ranged attack or another action it changes the arrow but won't activate.

I cut everything really fine, even 70-some-odd levels in, the dead space after ranged attacks still kills me. My US macro floods my chatlog with /echo reminders that PPA is on, and to double check that US actually fired.

Spider-Dan, on 05 November 2009 - 10:57 PM, said:

Three important components that have kept my GMB safe:

1) Unlimited Shot macro and GMB WS macro are separate
2) Unlimited Shot macro only activates U.Shot and equips GMB, nothing else
3) end of GMB WS macro is /wait 1 followed by /equip Ammo, which empties your ammo slot

#1 is important because it allows you to abort easily if something bad happens. Whenever you want a U.Shot WS, make sure that you actually SEE the Unlimited Shot animation before you proceed. Make sure EVERY TIME. Do not try to hurry up before Invincible or Physical Shield or killshot or what have you; sooner or later, you will lose your ammo with that mindset. Wait for the animation.
#2 is important because it minimizes complexity; you don't want a problematic script or some other issue distracting you after you've activated U.Shot. Keep it simple.
#3 is important because if you run out of normal ammo, you will simply get the no-ammo message after you swap back to TP gear, instead of firing off your expensive CP ammo. This is the most important of all the steps.

That's similar to how I have things set up now, except I don't have a PPA-only WS macro (I macro /ra and have it /equip whatever ammo I'm using, so I never saw the problem in just having the /equip ammo <blank> line in my only WS macro).

The latter part of your #1 comment is a big problem of mine I've been working on getting better about. I frequently wind up being puller because I was dumb enough to buy runfast and I'm not enough of a princess to say no to a BRD-less party. I try to cut it as close as possible on WS so that I kill the mob without wasting damage overkilling, and I'm usually rushing so that I can grab the next pull ASAP (maybe I should get tricky pre-pulling with Shadowbind, provided it's up, when I have TP?). No point WSing sooner since I'll just have hate anyway and can't pre-pull while tanking.

#2 is exactly how I do it, with /ja "Unlimited Shot" <stpt> so that I have to hit enter again to confirm activating the JA. Guards against fat fingering (macro sits next to Shadowbind), and guards against accidentally equipping PPA if US timer isn't up and I hit the macro (see above on rushing it).

I know we've not always seen eye to eye or gotten along very well, but I just wanted to say I appreciate your willingness to be helpful, as I've certainly not done much to deserve it. I don't doubt we'll butt heads again, but my hat's off to you for being the better man.

[Spider-Dan]

Amastacia, on 05 November 2009 - 09:43 PM, said:

That's similar to how I have things set up now, except I don't have a PPA-only WS macro (I macro /ra and have it /equip whatever ammo I'm using, so I never saw the problem in just having the /equip ammo <blank> line in my only WS macro).

Your /ra macro doesn't really do anything to stop the problem of shooting off your last arrow immediately prior to a WS.

My WS macro equips normal WS ammo. In the pre-windower-script days, it was

/equip Ammo Darksteel Bolt
/ja "Third Eye" <me>
/wait 1
/echo blahblah
/ws "Slug Shot " <t>

Quote

I know we've not always seen eye to eye or gotten along very well,

News to me.

[Amastacia]

Eh, we haven't butted heads in quite a while, I don't even remember specifics, I just remember at least one or two occasions trading heated words.

Your memory is obviously much better than mine (it doesn't hold onto irrelevant crap).

[Spider-Dan]

Oh, one other advantage of having a separate standard-ammo WS macro is that if, for any reason, you are worried about something going wrong (e.g. you get stunned right before you push WS macro, you R0, etc.) you can just fall back to your normal WS macro as a failsafe.

[Dorone]

I use 2 macros:
1: Activates Unltd. Shot... In here I do /ja "Unlimited Shot" <me> - /wait 1 - /ja "Unlimited Shot" <me> - /wait 1 - /ja "Unlimited Shot" <me>. Now this may seem kind of extreme, but it's more or less 100% sure to actually get the JA off
2: As Spider-Dan said, sort of. /equip *insert CP ammo and w/e gear you ws in* - /ws - and then /wait 1 - /equip ammo (which removes the ammo). A good idea is to keep an eye on the "Equipment Removed" message.

Only problem with this can be if you hit macro 2 too fast, it can misfire and remove your ammo, but just time it a second or so and it should work.

Another thing I do is have all my other macros equip some ammo, such as Holy, Acid and Darksteel all being: /equip ammo "bleh" - /ra <t>. For example, Shadowbind, I have /equip 3 kinds of ammo, so if one is used up, it's sure it won't shoot CP.

I went a bit to the extreme I think after shooting 2, but now I've had mine for ages.


*Edited for clarity

[Katchoo]

Quote

/equip ammo "bleh" - /ra <t>.

This

Surely this is the simple way? Just have your TP ammo equip in your /ra macro.

[Amastacia]

Katchoo, on 08 November 2009 - 09:01 AM, said:

This

Surely this is the simple way? Just have your TP ammo equip in your /ra macro.

...works fine, until you fail to notice you're out of your regular ammo.

[Syc]

Amastacia, on 08 November 2009 - 04:42 PM, said:

...works fine, until you fail to notice you're out of your regular ammo.

I macro'd /ra, and it was something like: /equip ammo ; /equip ammo "Demon Arrow"; /ra <t>

That way, whenever you're doing your standard Ranged Attacks, it'll unequip your PPA, and then try to equip your regular ammo.
This works whether you've Demon Arrows unquiv'd or not - it'll just fire nothing if you don't have any in your inventory.


Also, before I quit I used SpellCast. If you happen to use the nasty 3rd Party apps, PM me and I'll send you my SpellCast code that kept my PPA safe for about 10 months before quitga.