The first time I did pvp in ESO was during the midyear mayhem this year. I never usually pvp in mmos, because competitive things aren't my taste and I get physically tired very easily in battlegrounds, the same with long dungeons and trials. Because I was still really new to ESO in general, and had never pvp'd here before I didn't really know a lot.

Well, I went into Imperial City to do the quests and world bosses and over the course of an hour or so became very frustrated because I was being killed repeatedly by one player, who would only use light attacks and before I could even shield myself or react, would get off over 10 light attacks in a row and kill you. A lot of people were complaining about him in zone chat, to the point where some were leaving.

One guy was saying, it has to be a cheater - he's using macros. A lot of people came to argue with him, saying the same stuff as the poster above, that no one ever does that, you should get good, etc etc. But no one was able to counter this guy, and he was attacking to quickly to even react. Eventually I left and did something else, mostly because everyone was arguing instead of doing objectives and I was tired of being seemingly one-shot without anyone around to help.

Throughout the rest of the event I encountered a few more players like that, they were always in Imperial City or Cyrodiil, never in battlegrounds, only used light attacks, and the death recap would show so many light attacks it seemed impossible in such a super short period of time, like 1 second.

Since Midyear Mayhem has ended...haven't seen that since, and I've continued to do Cyrodiil, Imp City, and battlegrounds. I'm in Imp City a lot less frequently but spend a great deal of time in Cyrodiil, and while there are a ton of super powerful players, none of them have been like that.

Even when I've been totally demolished by another player, it's never like 10+ light attacks in under 1 second. And I have a really good system, and have fewer lag/disconnect issues than most. So I'm inclined to believe that yes those players were cheating, and taking advantage of how many people were participating in the event, especially newer players or unexperienced pvpers, to go unnoticed.

tmbrinks wrote: »

Macros of any type, if detected, are against the ToS, and could lead to your account being banned.

Yes, there is software that can make it "appear" to not be a macro, but you're playing with fire (and your account).

This and Zos has reiterated this in various manners.

There is no question that a person who uses a macro to help them in combat is cheating. It is plain and simple cheating regardless if it is to handle the weaving of basic attacks or the execution of skills. There is no justification.

Even if a player does not weave, and merely uses skills, a macro would help them minimize the time between skills and as such can provide an advantage that would be difficult to replicate manually. This is why it is cheating, without a doubt.

It is having a computer program play the game for you.

etchedpixels wrote: »

You have to press two buttons a second maximum to use your skills and attacks, assuming the game isn't lagged out and/or crashing at the time. That does not require much dexterity. You don't need magic helpers for combat. For things like filleting 400 fish or crafting otoh 8)


The only people I know who use macro type helpers are peopel who have disabilities- and I'm sure if Zenimax started banning people with disabilities there would be much hoohah and a lawsuit or three.

If Zos banned players for clear violations of the TOS it would be for violations of the TOS. It would be doubtful that Zos would aware someone had disabilities. As such, it would be hard to build a solid case against Zos.

L_Nici wrote: »

@Jeremy Yes they are still used very frequent, especially by that self proclaimed "God" PvP players. They are the ones that beat entire zergs to the ground without a scratch and then flame how bad the players are.

Its very fun to see them come and go, and sometimes appearing with new accounts, just to do the same again. There are some names I could drop now, but sadly thats against the forum rules.

What server are you on?

Do players use macros?
Personally I think I've seen 3 people using macros in all my time.

Two in PvP to bash immediately after Execute, one is a relatively well known content creator and the other not really. One in PvE to automatically use Synergies.

Heard of others, mainly bash-cancelling back when bash was useful. But only ever been convinced of two.

Tattooo wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

nuttytom wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

I honestly would love to know how macros can help you in pvp.

Let me know

I don't see the merit in using them, especially since everything is bound to a GCD, so even if you enter two actions at the same time, only one will go off.

In respect to macros specifically, they can be used to attach automatic light attacks to all of your abilities. So you can flawlessly weave even while jumping through the air spinning. So it is an advantage if you use them smartly. They also be used to create burst you can unload after a stun and things like that.

I've used macros on other games (like WoW) and they help, trust me. There is a reason people use them.

or you could also just use the hands that god has given you, instead of saying that it is tied to using macros

You can and should use your hand. Not everyone does though. Some use macros instead. And good luck competing manually with automated attacks. You're going to need it.

It’s not hard tho lol, it’s literally better to just use your hands as tattooo said, macros don’t help in this game (pvp)

How is it going to be better if you use your hands? A macro is going to weave flawlessly every time you hit it with less effort. So you can just fire off your abilities and weave automatically. So I don't understand your argument.

the whole point is that, everyone who does it flawlessly without macros still gets accused of using macros, even tho u can't pull it off with macros, because everything is tied to a gcd making macros useless.

The only instance of macros being useful was back in pve, to get synergies.

I don't think you understand the word macro. A macro isn't a slew of automatic inputs spammed all at once, they are programed with set delays between each action and can perform as little as 2 actions, up to unlimited actions, depending upon numerous factors. ie: Press key 1, wait 1/2 second, press key 2, wait 1 sec, etc.... The easy way to spot someone using a macro is if they go into an entire rotation accidentally, which I have seen in Cyro many times. One second the guy was repairing a door, suddenly he fired a couple arrows at it, dodge rolled into it, cast 2-3 more skills and then went back to repairing it. Obviously he hit his attack macro instead of the door repair one by accident.

Grimlok_S wrote: »

ThePedge wrote: »

L_Nici wrote: »

@Jeremy Yes they are still used very frequent, especially by that self proclaimed "God" PvP players. They are the ones that beat entire zergs to the ground without a scratch and then flame how bad the players are.

Its very fun to see them come and go, and sometimes appearing with new accounts, just to do the same again. There are some names I could drop now, but sadly thats against the forum rules.

What server are you on?

Do players use macros?
Personally I think I've seen 3 people using macros in all my time.

Two in PvP to bash immediately after Execute, one is a relatively well known content creator and the other not really. One in PvE to automatically use Synergies.

Heard of others, mainly bash-cancelling back when bash was useful. But only ever been convinced of two.

I still bash weave executes.. If you can weave light attacks, you can bash weave, it's the same thing. LA -Skill -bash, rinse and repeat.

I still do occasionally but the damage is pitiful.

However using Recount you can see if someone does the bash at the exact same interval each time, down to the millisecond.

Manually you will get some variance.

Jeremy wrote: »

relentless_turnip wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

I honestly would love to know how macros can help you in pvp.

Let me know

I don't see the merit in using them, especially since everything is bound to a GCD, so even if you enter two actions at the same time, only one will go off.

In respect to macros specifically, they can be used to attach automatic light attacks to all of your abilities. So you can flawlessly weave even while flying through the air backwards. So it is an advantage if you use them smartly. They also be used to create burst you can unload after a stun and things like that.

I've used macros on other games (like WoW) and they help, trust me.

In wow they do help and were even allowed (at the time I played), but they were normally used to afk rotations or they coordinated with the swing timer to optimise DPS. In PvP I can't imagine them helping as the right skill is important in wow, but combinations are a lot slower. You are also limited by cast times and cooldowns, which limit you much further than ESOs GCD.

A macro couldn't be performed whilst being knocked back. It is just performing inputs you would normally press. They don't bypass game mechanics. I appreciate you probably didn't mean that literally, you probably just meant under distraction. All the same it doesn't accurately reflect the use of a macro.

You misunderstood me. I meant you can go up to a player and stun them - then hit a macro to unleash your burst on them. I didn't mean it was going to bypass a stun or knockback.

Burst Macros are a common use for macros and I think you underestimate how useful they can be. They can also be used to flawlessly weave as I said. I don't understand why you and others are so gung-*** to dismiss macros. Why is that? I mean if you don't use them and don't know of anyone who does use then why even get involved in the first place?

Given that basically the only thing I do in this game is PvP and have had many people accussing me of cheating using macros etc.... Just because I played better than them is tiresome.

I say I think the use of macros is greatly exaggerated because I believe it is. People get outplayed and they want any reason other than they aren't as good. I get killed and I can see on FTC how I died, if it was a well executed combination I do not assume it was a macro. As I and all the people I play with are capable of exactly the same thing without any form of automation.

Btw I do not mean to upset you with my opinion it is just I find that those making these accusations are the ones dying. Kristofer ESO and many others have done great videos over the years explaining how to do combinations. I found once I got the hang of weaving it came very naturally to me. I think if everyone was more willing to practice and get better they may not arrive at these conclusions. At the end of it all they are just excuses that slow down your own potential.

Kwoung wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

nuttytom wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Tattooo wrote: »

I honestly would love to know how macros can help you in pvp.

Let me know

I don't see the merit in using them, especially since everything is bound to a GCD, so even if you enter two actions at the same time, only one will go off.

In respect to macros specifically, they can be used to attach automatic light attacks to all of your abilities. So you can flawlessly weave even while jumping through the air spinning. So it is an advantage if you use them smartly. They also be used to create burst you can unload after a stun and things like that.

I've used macros on other games (like WoW) and they help, trust me. There is a reason people use them.

or you could also just use the hands that god has given you, instead of saying that it is tied to using macros

You can and should use your hand. Not everyone does though. Some use macros instead. And good luck competing manually with automated attacks. You're going to need it.

It’s not hard tho lol, it’s literally better to just use your hands as tattooo said, macros don’t help in this game (pvp)

How is it going to be better if you use your hands? A macro is going to weave flawlessly every time you hit it with less effort. So you can just fire off your abilities and weave automatically. So I don't understand your argument.

the whole point is that, everyone who does it flawlessly without macros still gets accused of using macros, even tho u can't pull it off with macros, because everything is tied to a gcd making macros useless.

The only instance of macros being useful was back in pve, to get synergies.

I don't think you understand the word macro. A macro isn't a slew of automatic inputs spammed all at once, they are programed with set delays between each action and can perform as little as 2 actions, up to unlimited actions, depending upon numerous factors. ie: Press key 1, wait 1/2 second, press key 2, wait 1 sec, etc.... The easy way to spot someone using a macro is if they go into an entire rotation accidentally, which I have seen in Cyro many times. One second the guy was repairing a door, suddenly he fired a couple arrows at it, dodge rolled into it, cast 2-3 more skills and then went back to repairing it. Obviously he hit his attack macro instead of the door repair one by accident.

I don’t think you understand how macros (don’t)work in a lag environment. Yes they can be programmed with delay between inputs, but with eso lag the delay is always changing and a macro can’t change its delay on the fly so it would be less effective then just doing the skills manually.

As far as your macro example goes it sounds more like the guy was repairing, thought he was getting bombed, roll dodged, and applied his buffs. For most players it’s just a reflex to do that and no indication of a macro.