Clicking is totally viable in FFXIV because A) the GCD is so incredibly long, and B) your gameplay in competitive settings is arguably already FUBAR'd by the horrific TAB targeting system.
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Meanwhile I'm out here completely unable to wrap my head around how anyone could play an MMO with a controller. It's nuts to me lol, I can't imagine playing this with anything but mouse and keyboard.
Ah, I hadn't mentioned in my post, but I also use a controller. Specifically, a DS4 whether I'm in front of my computer or streaming on the go using a tablet or getting away with it at work.
Part of your latency is probably from using RDP in general. It absolutely sucks for games and I'm assuming you're probably either keeping FFXIV running before you leave or playing in DX9 mode because Remote Desktop will not let you launch the game in DX11 mode if your experiences are the same as mine. I used to do the exact same thing using a Surface RT instead of paying attention in class, and then with other portable devices when away from my desktop.
If your host computer can encode a video in realtime (pretty much anything that can play FFXIV decently) and your client computer can decode a video (including something of like, Chromebook tier) you'd probably benefit from using one of the streaming programs instead because they're a lot lower latency. While there are a handful of options, I'm personally a fan of Parsec because I can get my full desktop experience. I've basically replaced using RDP for everything in that sense, and the added controller wrapping is handy. Compare to like, the PS4 streaming experience where you do some set up o the gaming device, login to an account, and then you get your full experience.
I'd venture to say most of the PC people using controllers are still using their mouse and keyboard quite a bit, like me. The controller is used for actively playing the game. Then you set it down to type or do other UI stuff as needed. I still switch back to keyboard controls for crafting usually, as I can stack more bars for easy skill/macro access without switch hotbars/crossbars.
As someone who has played this game for 3 and a half years on only controller, it came out of the fact I had no other option at the time. I feel like xiv is more suited to controller play then people think, especially if you use Extended Hotbar. It then comes down to playing the game long enough that it's like how typists know everything without looking
I imagine it makes sense if you're familiar with controller functions. But yeah, I've only ever played keyboard and mouse so parts of it baffle me too. Though I admit right now that I use a trackball instead of a traditional mouse. I can't move around with a traditional mouse for anything. The one time I tried (back when I first started MMO gaming) I couldn't grasp how to keep my camera from dragging into the ground where I couldn't see anything. Switched to trackball and haven't looked back since lol.
Razer Tartarus v2 with a Logitech G602 mouse.
my Desk (added privacy to bits on the second screen.)
https://i.imgur.com/XqDAfYE.jpg
Screen showing my UI how I play normally.
https://i.imgur.com/ImTtnQH.png
I want to start using a controller for Leap of Faith and jump puzzles. I do think M+KB is great but feels terrible for platforming, even on games meant for it.