#ffxiv beginner guide

[fleurarmor]

Menu Buttons for a Clean FFXIV HUD Using Macros

I like to have a fairly empty display most of the time so I use macros to make custom "collapsing menu" hotbars. This lets me pull up what I need, like to change classes or teleport or have a short list of emotes without needing to look at them all the time. I'll go through them from simplest to most complex.

Initial Setup

You'll need to set up your always visible hotbars first.

Click the System button.

Click HUD Layout.

Set up the hotbars you are going to always have visible. I use Hotbar 1 and Hotbar 2 for my primary job actions and Hotbar 3 for menu buttons, nonbattle actions, and some niche use actions.

Hide/Show Duty List

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. I use card suits for my menu button macros to easily group them together.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Hide Duty List.

In the main body of the macro, enter the following, making sure each line is its own line:

/hud "Duty List" /hud "Scenario Guide"

8. Finally, place the macro on one of your visible hotbars. When you click the macro button it will either hide or show both the Duty List and the Scenario Guide. This is nice for when you want to appreciate the scenery.

Situational Action Menu

I tried for many years to keep all my actions on two and a half bars to minimize how many bars I have but then I realized I can toggle those on and off! I personally like keeping my main two battle bars always up in case of accidental aggro, but you could have this toggle off all your job related bars, if you wanted. I toggle this on as soon as I enter a dungeon or raid but otherwise keep it hidden.

I keep my tank specific actions like those related to enmity as well as emergency actions like healing and partywide buffs on this bar.

For healers I keep my raise kit, Esuna, and shield type actions on there as I need to be able to find those quickly but they aren't part of a rotation.

Make the Macro

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. I use card suits for my menu button macros to easily group them together.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Situational Actions.

In the main body of the macro, enter the following:

/hotbar display 6

Adjust the HUD

Place the macro on one of your visible hotbars.

Open the HUD Layout interface (System >> HUD Layout) and place Hotbar 6 where you want it. Also adjust the layout and size. I use the 4x3 option for my Situational Actions menu.

Click Save.

Drag actions from the Actions & Traits interface (Character >> Actions & Traits) or other hotbars onto your newly created menu hotbar.

You can also add macros, like a raise macro, from the User Macros interface (System >> User Macros).

You will need to add actions and macros to this menu for each job individually.

Emotes Menu

This makes an easy to access shortlist of emotes that is often faster than typing the emote in chat or using the Social >> Emotes menu path.

Make the Macro

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. I use card suits for my menu button macros to easily group them together.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Emotes.

In the main body of the macro, enter the following, making sure each line is its own line:

/hotbar display 4 /hotbar display 5

Adjust the HUD

Place the macro on one of your visible hotbars.

Open the HUD Layout interface (System >> HUD Layout) and place the hotbars where you want them. Also adjust their layout and size. I use the 2x6 option for both hotbars of my Emotes menu.

Make sure that both hotbars, in this case Hotbar 4 and Hotbar 5, are either both visible or both not visible. If one is visible and one is not the macro button will only switch which is visible, it won't turn them both either on or off.

Click Save.

Drag emotes from the Emotes interface (Social >> Emotes) onto the menu hotbars.

If you use hotbars 4 and 5 you shouldn't need to do this for every job, just the once.

Change Job Menu

This is the same as the Emotes menu but is instead a menu for macros to change jobs. I also keep my return and teleport buttons here as well. Haven't made job change macros yet? Click this text to view my guide for making job change macros.

Make the Macro

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. I use card suits for my menu button macros to easily group them together.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Job Change.

In the main body of the macro, enter the following, making sure each line is its own line:

/hotbar display 7 /hotbar display 8 /hotbar display 9

Adjust the HUD

Place the macro on one of your visible hotbars.

Open the HUD Layout interface (System >> HUD Layout) and place the hotbars where you want them. Also adjust their layout and size. I use the 1x12 option for the 3 hotbars of my Job Change menu.

Make sure that all hotbars, in this case Hotbar 7, Hotbar 8, and Hotbar 9 are either all visible or all not visible. If one is visible and one is not the macro button will only switch which is visible, it won't turn them all either on or off.

Drag your job change macros from the User Macros interface (System >> User Macros) onto the menu hotbars. You can group them together by job type (healer, gatherer, tank, etc.) or keep your main jobs all together.

If you use hotbars 7, 8, and 9 you shouldn't need to do this for every job, just the once.

[fleurarmor]

Raise and Other Job Action Macros for FFXIV

If you play FFXIV long enough you'll end up seeing a message in chat while running a duty letting folks know someone is getting raised. These are usually done via macro.

Why Do People Use Raise and Other Job Action Macros?

Raise messages basically boil down to "Other healers and raise capable members of the party, I am raising this person so don't waste your Swiftcast."

They can also communicate if this is a hard rez (no Swiftcast) and will therefore take time.

They tell you who scraped you off the floor so you have a suggestion of who to give your commendation. (This is why I appreciate others using them, personally).

They communicate part of a mechanic that another player might not know. The classic example was Paladin's Divine Veil, where they needed to be healed for the action to be completed. Although Divine Veil no longer requires it.

Creating and Editing Macros

Click the System button.

Click User Macros.

Select an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

In the opened macro, click the macro icon.

Select an icon to represent this macro. Or, use /micon in the macro itself to use the icon for the action.

Enter a descriptive name in the Name field, like Sage Hard Rez.

In the main body of the macro, you will enter the code of the macro, making sure each line is its own line.

Macro Components

/ac tells the system you are starting a command about an action.

"Action Name" says which action you want to use. This is job specific so you will need to make a rez macro for each job as it is Egeiro vs Raise vs Resurrection vs Ascend etc.

<wait.#> is telling the system to wait before executing the next line. The number tells the system how many seconds to wait. How long you need depends on your computer, internet connection and how congested the immediate area in game is. 2 seconds works for my current machine very well, 3 seconds worked better for my old laptop and if I'm at a world boss Fate or hunt train I don't even try to use the macro due to the long wait time needed.

/party tells the system to send the text that follows to the party chat.

<t> tells the system to substitute the name of who you are currently targeting in whatever message you are sending in chat.

<#> The number will tell the system who to target based on the position in the party list. So a 3 will target the 3rd person on the party list.

/micon "Action Name" will tell the system to give the macro the same icon as the named action.

Optimizing Rez Macro Placement on Your Hotbar

To get the most bang for your buck on your rez macro, I recommend the following order on your hotbar:

[Swiftcast] [Quick Raise Macro] [Raise] [Full Heal Action]

This set up will let you see if Swiftcast is still on cooldown. If it is you can skip your Quick Raise macro and either just click Raise directly or a Long Raise macro (which in that image is the X icon below my Quick Raise macro's icon).

Example Macros

These can all be directly copy and pasted into the body section of the macro editor.

Basic Rez Macro (RDM)

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Verraise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Hard (Long) Rez Macro (SGE)

/party Swiftcast is down! Hard rez-ing <t>! <wait.3> /ac "Egeiro"

Rez Macro with Swiftcast and Thin Air (WHM)

This is specific to WHM level 58+ and will allow you to instantly cast Raise with no MP cost to help make the most of your resources.

/ac "Swiftcast" <wait.2> /ac "Thin Air" <wait.2> /ac "Raise" <wait.2> /party Raising <t>! Get back in the fight!

Improvisation Macro (DNC)

Unless your team has played a lot of Dancer themselves they likely won't understand how Improv works. Macro messages are great for telling other people in your party what they need to do to benefit from things like DNC's Improvisation or PLD's Passage of Arms.

/micon "Improvisation" /ac "Improvisation" /party Stand near me until you hear the bongos for healing!

Aetherial Manipulation (for the BLM Who Can't Target Party Members to Literally Save Their Own Lives)

Its me, I'm that black mage. This automatically targets the third person in the party's list which will be the healer in a Light Party or the second tank in a Full Party. You will aether skate over to whoever that is.

/ac "Aetherial Manipulation" <3>

Living Dead Macro (DRK)

This is no longer required as Living Dead has been updated. But it is a good example of making a macro message fun while giving a needed instruction.

/micon "Living Dead" /ac "Living Dead" <wait.2> /party Whether by accident or purpose, I have used Living Dead. Please heal me to full or else I will soon be Dead Dead. :')

[fleurarmor]

Job Change Macros for FFXIV

Macros to change your job in FFXIV allow you to not only quickly change jobs but can also let you change the HUD Layout and even execute an emote for some flare while doing so.

Gear Sets

These macros rely on the use of Gear Sets for your jobs. If you don't know how to use Gear Sets, here is the official guide to help you out.

Basic Job Change Macro

Let's ease into this with the most basic macro to get the job of changing jobs done.

Open the Character menu (press C or Character >> Character).

Click the Gear Set List button, it looks like a single page of paper and is above your current level and job. Use the list of Gear Sets to find the Gear Set number for each job.

Open the User Macros menu (System >> User Macros).

Click an empty macro or one you would like to overwrite.

You do not need to assign an icon to this macro, part of the macro we will use will assign it.

Put a name in the Name field, like BLU or Black Mage.

Enter the following information in the body of the macro, making sure each line is its own line and the number on the gearset lines matches the job you are making the macro for:

/micon 21 gearset /gearset change 21 /hudlayout 1

/micon is for macro icon, it tells the macro to assign the icon based on the information on that line. Here we're telling it to look at Gear Set 21.

/gearset tells the system that it needs to work with our Gear Set. In this case, we're telling it to change and to change to Gear Set 21.

/hudlayout is telling the system to also change the HUD layout. You don't need to include this if you only use one HUD layout for all jobs. However, if you change the HUD layout for even one job, ALL job changing macros need to include this direction telling the system what layout you want to use with this job. For example, I use Layout 1 on most jobs but Layout 4 on Red Mage and White Mage. On almost all jobs the final line is /hudlayout 1 but my macros for Red Mage and White Mage use /hudlayout 4.

Add an Emote to a Job Change Macro

You can also add an emote by adding one line to the macro above. For example:

/micon 3 gearset /snap <wait.1> /gearset change 3 /hudlayout 4

In short, on the second line, add the emote and also the instruction for how many seconds to wait. It uses the same emote code you would type in the chat box to execute an emote.

The wait instruction is important as the system reads these directions line by line immediately one after the other unless told otherwise. So you need to tell the system to wait to give the emote time to finish before moving on to the next step.

Some common wait lengths, the number representing seconds:

/snap <wait.1> /fist <wait.3> /vexed <wait.4> /hknight <wait.4>

Once you have macros to change jobs you can put them on one of your hotbars so changing jobs is as easy as a single click of your mouse. You can also put them on a collapsible menu so they don't clog up your HUD, too.