Doctor Archive
Thread: THE ULTIMATE BUFFING MACRO!!!!
Kinshi wrote:
Hoever I disagree that SOE is not aware of this. Those guys know exactly what the potential of this macroing system, and it is foolish to think they are not aware of just how far you can go with it.
Don't be so sure. I think you're working off a slightly flawed assumption, but I'll get to that later.
I can't say for sure what they do and do not know, but I do know that when I was at SOE headquarters, I did mention some of the powers of the macro system, and the devs did not know the full extent of what it could do.
The truth is, it was never designed to do what some of us have done. This should be apparent in how convoluted it is to do some basic programming concepts. It takes creative thinking and application of what is presented. Someone who writes code usually is too focused on what it is designed to do that they have trouble stepping outside that to explore what it really can do. That is why companies hire a different group of people to test the code. That group isn't mentally constrained by what they think it is supposed to do.
THe games macroing system is an offshoot of itsquest engine that dicates how NPCS and other objects act. Its the same engine that drives the creatures and NPCs for Live Events. One of the core components of a MMO is the internal scripting engine, its just a matter of how much you are willing to expose to the user.
I can't confirm or deny this. The reason is I have no clue what their event scripts look like. But I will say that I seriously doubt it is the same. The macros and aliases are part of the client, but the NPC scripting is in the server. The server side scripting for NPCs and events probably looks more like a traditional scripting language. I could see a case for them being the same if the macros and aliases were executed by the server. But they are not. They never leave your computer.
To be clear, consider there are several types of commands....
Commands that are sent to the server. Generally these are commands like spatial chat (/say, /emote, /shout, etc) ant specials (/bactashot, /flourish, etc). These are pretty plain in what they do. These are also the only commands you could make a case for the server side scripting sharing.
Commands that have a side effect that is sent to the server. I'm thinking commands like /target, or /ui commands that change target. Targetting is a client side thing, but it does have some server effects. I can't think of any other obvious examples of this type of command.
Commands that are only client side. This is things like /echo, most /ui action commands, and such.
Series of commands. That is commands separated by a ;. The series itself is handled by the client. Each individual command is handled on it's own.
Commands that alter the execution of a series of commands. There are only two, /pause and /dump.
Macros. A single macro is a pre-written series of commands. A single macro does nothing more interesting than execute each command in turn. Starting another macro within a macro can give the appearance of a simple control structure.
Aliases. An alias is like a macro but with a couple key differences. The first is that when an alias is called, it's name is replaced with the defined command series. The rest of the line remains intact. This was done so you could create aliases for chat channels, or other similar reasons. The second is that aliases can be defined or redefined with a command. It is the combination of these two that allows the approximation of more complex control structures like conditional statements.
I said above the devs don't know the power of macros. Sure, they do know the power of the / commands. Those were specifically implemented to do what they do. But the power to make something interactive has nothing to do with specific / commands, but is a creative application of how everything works together. It was never designed to work that way.
This is definitely the most interesting thread I've read in awhile. I thought it was going to be a simple macro that makes me a better doc in combat and it's this entirely different monster.
As a non-programmer, I have no desire to understand how the macro works though I have no problem believing it works without 3rd party software.
I actually think it's great that Some-Guy found a way to create content that goes beyond the game itself.
The posts from Damicatzseem like nothing butsour grapes. So you won't believe he didn't use 3rd party software unless he shares his code? Why should he care if you believe him or not? He made it perfectly clear that your opinion has zero value and the only opinion that does matter is SOE's, which so far hasn't done anything. Some-Guy created this macro, he can do with it what he wants as long as it's ok with SOE. If he wants to keep it a secret, it's totally his right. It has nothing to do with ownership in a monetary sense or intellectual property. Within the game,he can do with his scripts what he wants as long as SOE doesn't say stop. Other than SOE, he doesn't need to answer to Damicatz or any other person.
I do agree that this could potentially hurt the game if another brilliant programmer founda way to go beyond what Some-Guy did and make the ultimate pvp bot or something. The other wprry I have is credit farm owners hiring someone to create their own code. (For instance, a group macro where the 8th AFK bot is automatically getting 2 new missions while the other 7AFK botscontinue the hunt so there is no gap in time where the whole group is getting missions again).
If I were scrupulous, I'd hire someone to create ultimate player macros and sell these characters on ebay. The ebay person would just tell me what name/race/profs they want their character to be and within a week or 2, they'd have a fully loaded toon with the macros to play either AFK or macros touse in PVP battles. I'd design macrosthat couldrecognize a dueler's profs and apply the correct timed strategy to defeat them (which debuffs to use, when to heal etc).
I also have no doubt that there are thousands of other programmers with the brains to make these kinds of macros (assuming everything I'm talking about is possible) that do not play Star Wars. However, all it takes is for a credit farm ownerto pay one of these programmers enough money to do this. Since 3rd world programmers are a dimea dozen, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility.
Again, as a non-programmer and with no familiarity with this stuff, I may be thinking of scenarios that can't happen, but I think people who create this kind of stuff just to see if they can do it are great. It's the people who use it to affect the balance in the game which scare me.
In the end, if Some-guy (or anyone else) chooses to post the code, I don't care myself. It's not his job to police the use, it's SOE, and if SOE was smart (i know..laughs everywhere), they'll do not what the majority of gamers want, they'll do what makes them the most profit. If these macros hurt their player base enough to reduce revenue, they'll nerf it. If it doesn't affect it negatively, they'll concentrate on stuff that does. All this whining is pointless because bad people will always do everything they can to exploit everything they can. They won't stop just cause you don't like it. They'll stop if it no longer benefits them.
People like Same-Guy are good for the game in my opinion. Their efforts in creating something new will often lead to new ideas that SOE may never have thought of that in the end can onlyhelp the game.
Long boring post I know (but nobody forced you to read it :smileywink
but some non-programmer needed to support Some-Guy.
Just another programming ignorant Master Doc from Naritus
Tallo
