Share your latest tips

I'm curious how you found out about the features in the default UI (user interface)

You didn't tell us how to access them either, and how did you get a deity pet?

I'm sorry, your great tip just flew over my head. DR buff?? how do I make this macro, when do I make it, where do I make it. Sorry, I know this is why people who know what they are doing get aggravated with those of us who don't.

This is the best tip in this whole discussion. Thank you, Drunk Ninja Monkey

Well the Damage Reduction Buff is actually a skill of mine. It's called Battle Cry, I have an alternate advancement that adds 2% Damage Reduction to it.

As for the macro, I use it on my Stoneskins such as Tower of Stone. The macro is as I listed it.

The first line of the macro is
"/cancel_spellcast"

The second line is the ability you wish to use. Simple as that

To create a macro, hit O and then select the macro tab. You will get a macro editing window much like this, but no commands in it:



See the "Macro Step" button? It will allow you to insert a command line (an example of which is the top line in this macro). It will also let you insert a spell/ability line, which is exemplified by the second line here. For the Spell/ability lines, you just drag the appropriate spell from you Knowledge Book (Press K to open).

For all my emergency spells (cures, big heals, evac, rescue, etc.), the first line is /cancel_spellcast. That stops anything that you are presently casting, then fires off whatever else is in your macro, usually the emergency spell.

The third type of "Macro Step" is "Use Equipment", which would allow you to do things such as swap out your regular armor for crafting armor.

A couple of things to note:

(1) You can only fire two spell/ability in a macro. The first fires, the second queues. If you have additional spell/ability lines in your macro, the second one is bypassed and the third queues. Or two and three are bypassed and four queues, etc.

(2) The icon in the top right can be anything. SOE gives you a default set of icons to select, or as I did above, you can drag an item from your inventory or a spell from your Knowledge Book. Having the first spell in the macro as the icon is useful, because then the icon shows the refresh by going dark as you cast it, and lighting up gradually as you recover.

(3) Not everything can be usefully macroed. My brick wall is consuming alcoholic beverages. I wanted a macro that would let me click one hotbutton to drink a shot of Gnomish Spirits. Alas, this doesn't work, and as far as the experts tell me, there is no real way to make it work. So I have dragged the stack of booze bottles to the hotbar, right click them, and select "use" as a workaround. /grumbles

I read the patch notes everytime there is a patch and I've played since release. All the UI elements I mentioned as well as click to cure & detriments showing in the raid window have been added over the years & were mentioned in patch notes. However, how many new players are going to pour through 9 years worth of patch notes? I know I wouldn't want to. The slash commands I only know because of other players early in the game shared them. I have no idea how they found them.

New players COULD look through the options in game & see what there are commands for, however with the addition of the basic/advanced button at the top that changes what you can actually see can make that confusing. It would be nice if the /help page were actually up to date. Some parts have been up dated but it still talks about equipment weight and xp debt which have been gone for quite a while now. There is no way for a new player to sort through it all and figure out what is actually current to the game.

Out of game resources & asking other players is the best way to find anything out.

One thing that may not be clear in the discussion of macros is that the entire macro isn't queued/activated as a unit.

This means if you don't allow the macro to finish, pressing the macro again, or spamming it, will only cause it to abort further progress (if you have a /cancel_spellcast as part of that macro) and it will restart from the beginning.

In other words, don't spam a macro (with /cancel_spellcast) thinking it will give better results.

Well, there's a threat meter, which can be accessed by checking a box within the ui section of the options menu.

Also, there's an auto-attack bar, which I believe can be likewise turned on from within options.

F11 shows FPS/Latency, which is helpful in configuring your visual settings.

(Tbh I can't think of all of them off of the top of my head without my u.i. in front of me, but there are more.)

As for the deity pets, they are a reward from the third quest in every deity questline, which all players should complete:

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Gods

The pets add a substantial amount to each of your stats and many deity blessings and miracles are extremely powerful.

Thank you, I remember running into the prophets but didn't know what was really going on. Now to figure out how to get me a cool signature like you have.

see... I tried to make one and ended up with someone elses

Okay, this will take me a bit of practice but thanks for the help. I will look for more macros in the wikis.

First, go to EQ2U and enter your character name and server in the information box to the right. (You may want to right click that link and open in another tab, so that you'll remain logged in - but it is entirely up to you.)

Next, when it pulls up your character information, scroll down to the bottom of the page and you should see a link that says "Get my EQ2U Signature!" Click that link, then read and follow the instructions on the window that appears. After following those instructions you will have a EQ2U Signature on the Forums.

Well I have to say I amend my prior post. Everyone here has been most helpful and patient. Thanks so much

Deity pets come from a certain stage in each Deity quest. http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Gods shows the deities you can pick; the level 50 quest for each deity rewards the pet.

And for something completely different:

Are you a new or newish player who is being driven to distraction by the combat autoface/autotarget? Tired of trying to run from mobs while backpedaling?

Go into Options >Controls> View Options. Uncheck Combat Auto Face Camera and Combat Auto Face Target.

There is an awesome collection here and we are very grateful for the input. I'm going to collect these up and we'll start planning to get some new ones in!

I would be careful with this one, if you turn off both, you are liable to have times when you are not facing the right target when facing multiples. For casters, this doesn't mean much, but for melee, it means no auto attack. The choice is obviously the players preference, but I always recommend;
Combat Auto Face Camera = OFF
Combat Auto Face Avatar = ON

Leeroy is right in the fact that if you try to run away this may keep you facing the mob and running backwards, but all you have to do is hit the ESC key to drop target and you can turn tail and run.

A right mouse click is your friend! I spent many a frustrated moment waiting for an elevator before I realised that I could right click the control for more options.

You can split a stack of stuff in your inventory by holding shift while clicking. This brings up a window that lets you put in the amount you want to move.

Ctrl Clicking an item will allow you to preview it (for equipment and most furniture)

You can link an item or spell/ability in chat by dragging it into the chat window, or you can Shift Click for the same result.

I hope I have those the right way around!

edit: Oh, and if you can't click on something with your mouse, sometimes you can still select it by mousing over it until the cursor changes and then hitting the F key.

I think you mean shift+drag (since shift+click is the "item link" thing). Additionally, ctrl+drag lets you remove an item from a stack (while leaving the remainder of the stack - essentially it is the same thing as doing shift+drag and selecting 1 as the quantity).