[uygi]

Text triggers are just parsing. 3rd party programs pretty much always refers to something that tampers with, reads or otherwise interferes with communication in between the client and the server. SEQ and MQ are the obvious examples.

Gamepad issues are a different thing, there you're just talking about keystroke macros. The usual guideline the GMs give is don't use anything that gives you an ability the client wouldn't give. Looping macros are against the rules, so if you want to hit one button and have it twist for you that's definitely a violation.

You certainly can set up in game macros and use a gamepad or other input device to activate them, as long as you're just remapping keys and not automating anything. I think if you bind a hotbutton to ALT-Fx (or maybe it's some other combo, I forget) and then map a special key to the same keystroke combo you can avoid having the keystroke interfere with whatever else you're doing, say if you're autorunning while quadding and typing chat at the same time. I knew a lot more about it back on Live when I set up my Nostromo to do all kindsa cool stuff, like have a keystroke tab to a different hotbar and back instantly... I'm not sure if getting that indepth with keystrokes would get you in trouble though, but without AAs how many activated abilities does somebody really need anyways?

If you're singing songs as a bard just map your gamepad buttons to CTRL-# (if I remember that right anyways) and double tap the button to twist.