CTRL+M / ALT+M --> *ALL* spells? o_O

[Cablemonkey]

This is something I've noticed for a while now, but really dismissed until I leveled Blue Mage. I'm sure someone has some logical explanation that I'm completely overlooking...


Why is it that when you press CTRL+M or ALT+M from the keyboard (at least on the PC version) you see a list of every possible spell/ninjitsu/summon you have learned/acquired regardless of the ones you actually have access to on your current job, or in the case of Blue Mage, just the spells that you currently have set or are usable via Unbridled Learning?

In defense of this question, CTRL+W / ALT+W does not show a list of every possible WS you have learned for every weapon.

[RAIST]

because it is a short-cut key to your master magic list, sort of like off your main menu (upper right corner) and not the one off your active character menu (lower left corner). From the upper right menu, you can always see all your learned magic, regardless of what job you are on (even though, there it is broken down by class), where as the lower left only shows what is available to the job you are on.

Why they chose to set it to that menu is anyone's guess.......

[Mirage]

I think most of us knew it was a shortcut to the "master magic" list, and the real question of this thread is in actuality "why that list in particular?". Or perhaps, why can't we change that shortcut to a different magic list

[Cablemonkey]

and the real question of this thread is in actuality "why that list in particular?". Or perhaps, why can't we change that shortcut to a different magic list

Exactly! As someone who plays only using a keyboard, I rarely ever use the menu that appears in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Except for when gear swaps are needed, I usually use the CTRL/ALT shortcuts on the keyboard to access items (ALT+I), job abilities (ALT+J), and weapon skills (ALT+W). Then we get to magic, and wind up spending 5 minutes scrolling through a gazillion Blue Mage spells when trying to proc "grellow" or use some other spell I rarely use. Yes, I could write a macro, but I'll be the first to admit that I'm lazy, plus its not symmetric with how the other shortcuts work.

[RAIST]

There are all kinds of ways to customize it already, more than I could probably imagine. The game always felt like it was set up more with the console in mind, PC second. Maybe they didn't feel like revamping some portions of the code because it was so console-centric to start with. Using a controller, its really easy to pull it up--X, Down Button, X-- and your'e in your job's magic list, which is basically the same as Enter, down, Enter on the keyboard. Other things that come to mind:

<enter>, Down Arrow, <enter> gets you in your jobs magic menu (lower left menus). You can hit those keys easily on a standard 101 style keyboard using the enter key on number pad (thumb on arrow, pinky on Enter). Then use arrows to navigate, enter to select, etc.

If you're using a mouse, you have all kinds of options depending on how you arrange your buttons in Windows--double left click opens lower left, or third button (maybe scroll wheel) can open upper right. If you have a scroll wheel you might be able to use that to navigate up and down (I have a 4 button track ball, so not sure about scrolling support). Note that in FFXI config, you can click a button to assign different motion controllers for menu navigation and such--this may allow you to assign scroll wheel for up/down navigation.

Hit the - on the number pad to open the upper right menu, arrow to your jobs magic list, hit enter, arrow keys, etc...with your right hand. If you are using cursor memory, it remembers where you last went, so next time you hit -, it will go to Black Magic if that is where you last were, hit enter and it will be on the last spell you cast. Manually sorting spells to arrange them more intuitively to how you cast helps out a lot if going that route (also with the lower left menu too for that matter).

Alternatively, you could set up macros for your most used spells, and/or type some commands out and then pull it from your chat history by hitting <ctrl> L or <ctrl> P to open up chatline and then using the up/down keys to pull it again from chat history. That can be problematic though if you are chatting while you play--in that case, some just type certain spells all the time and have certain other spells/gear swaps macroed.

The point is...simply introducing mouse/keyboard created LOTS of alternate ways to manage your spells and abilities--but the UI seems to be more controller friendly for many aspects, probably because of the original design. Considering how much of the playerbase was on consoles initially, they probably felt it best to leave it setup to be more controller friendly in that respect. Who knows.

[Schwertzauberer]

I prefer having the separate magic lists. I can use the menu activated one for one part of the list (such as healing) and the CTRL-M activated one for a quick stand-by to augment my macros.

[Dragoy]

It is a bit strange, but never overly bothered me, as from the start, I arranged the spells in a way I could use the huge list, or rather huge, that is, I got all RDM spells, thankfully not many BLU, BRD, and SMN spells as those are (for now) low level, but already some of those as well, all the Ninjutsu, and more stuff I can't remember right now.

I definitely would not mind it if it would be possible to change the behaviour of the short-cut so that it would open a list for only those that can be used at the time.