Easier to Tank or Heal on PS3?

So currently I'm only able to play FFXIV on the PS3. I've played it like this for 5 months and have had no complaints and have enjoyed every minute of it. To date, I've only ever played DPS classes. I have a 50 SMN, and have dabbled in THM and Archer.

My question is, should I want to change it up a bit and try out a healing or tank class, which would be easier, given the PS3's control scheme? My instincts say healing, as I can just cycle through the party members using the D-pad, but I'm not sure.

So what do you guys think? Which is easier on the PS3 in your experience?

*Note* Please no PS3 hate in this thread! Let's be happy and respectful of everyone's play styles and platform of choice! :)

I would say healing but only because targeting can be a little painful on the ps3/4 when there is a lot of mobs. Everything else you can work round easy enough with a few had and character setting changes

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Originally Posted by Floppytop

I would say healing but only because targeting can be a little painful on the ps3/4 when there is a lot of mobs. Everything else you can work round easy enough with a few had and character setting changes

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Ok, very cool. That's kind of along the same line I was thinking. Looks like I may try out WHM some time then. Thanks for the opinion!

Hmmm, can you tell me what you have your target settings set as? I started leveling CNJ (Forever scared to tank) but I am having a heck of a time targeting friendlies. I think I messed something up, as I usually play as a Monk so I remember I did something with the targeting so I would STOP targeting friendlies. That was about 8 months ago, lol. I don't remember what I did!!

My CNJ is currently a tiny level 8, doing ALL THE LEVES!

I've been playing on ps3 since launch, only recently upgraded to ps4. I think Tank is easier than Heal, for one simple reason: on Titan you don't want to EVER move your finger away from the left analog stick, you must be ready to dodge any time, and if you are selecting a party member through the d-pad you won't have enough time to react to Plumes, also considering ps3 latency (no hate, but my gaming experience really changed once I upgraded to ps4).
As a tank though (I second main a Warrior) you can easily cycle through your targets by holding R2 or L2 and pressing R1 or L1 (cycle targets). This way you can even keep using your skills while changing targets and moving at the same time.
Also, I think Warrior's skills fit better in a single cross hotbar than WHM's or SCH's ones.

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Originally Posted by Dagger_32

Hmmm, can you tell me what you have your target settings set as? I started leveling CNJ (Forever scared to tank) but I am having a heck of a time targeting friendlies. I think I messed something up, as I usually play as a Monk so I remember I did something with the targeting so I would STOP targeting friendlies. That was about 8 months ago, lol. I don't remember what I did!!

My CNJ is currently a tiny level 8, doing ALL THE LEVES!

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You can just use up/down on the D-pad to select party members and the above combination L2 (hold down) + R1/L1 (press) to cycle through enemies.

It's borderline but I'd say tanking might be a tine bit easier than healing. In regards of targeting mob - if you'd use toggle / mixed crossbar mode than all you need to do to scrolls the target between the mob while the bar is up is to tap L1 or R1 - most effective IMO. As healer I prefer to use F1 - F8 on keyboard instead of up / down on controller as I have the crossbar constanly up in toggle / mixed mode and it would take me muc hlonger to put the bar down, use several up or down presses to select taret, fire up spell and then repeat to return to main (tank) target. Using the F1 - F8 approach you'll also avoid accidental use of spell bound to up / down if you press them whille crossbar is up ')

If you have MT targeted you are only a max of 4 up or down movements away from any target and if you don't select the target you want to heal i.e don't press x on him you just cycle through and then cast once you have cast that spell you will automatically target the MT again. Then you are back to the start max 4 clicks from everyone. With the cast times around 2.5 secs you can use that time to target your next target as well. :-)

I am doing ok with healing killed all primals accept rahmah and currently on t7 30%.

Thank you for all the fantastic answers!!!

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Originally Posted by Dagger_32

Thank you for all the fantastic answers!!!

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Agreed! Thank you all!

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Originally Posted by Zanarkander

You can just use up/down on the D-pad to select party members

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This works for healing party members. If you also want to be able to heal players (or NPCs) you're not partied with, you'll want to set up multiple targeting filters. (It's in Character Settings, under Hotbars in the left-hand section, then the Filters tab.) There's a couple different ways of setting them up, one that lets you set different filters when your weapon is drawn or sheathed, and the other you can select between up to four filters by using L1 + a face button. (You should select one of these schemes or the other. If both are enabled, they'll interfere with each other.)

Personally, I like the L1 + face button version. (I use the controller setup that only enables the crossbars when R2 and/or L2 is pressed though, and I've heard it's less convenient for players using the toggle mode.) Basically, I can set it so L1 + square sets my targeting mode to enemies only, L1 + circle sets it to targeting players only, and L1 + triangle sets my targeting to cycle between everything. And each of those is configurable. So when I want to heal a non-party player, I can hit L1+circle, cycle to that player, heal him/her, then when no players need healing, hit L1+square to change my targeting back to enemies and throw out some DPS.

That's most useful in open world content, like FATEs, where you'll be playing alongside others you may not be grouped with, or if you like performing the occasional drive-by-healing on anyone you see struggling with their fight. In dungeons, I keep my targeting filters on enemies even when playing a healer. There the only players are members of my party, so the up/down buttons work easiest for selecting them (as Zanarkander mentioned), while the left/right buttons use my "Enemies" target filter for throwing some DPS out whenever nobody's in immediate need of healing.

Something to keep in mind for controller users:

L1 + Left/Right cycles through Alliance members so you can heal/raise other groups in crystal tower.

L1 + Up/Down cycles through the enemy list (the list that shows the enemies along with how much hate you have on them) which is useful for tanks when they lose hate on a specific enemy out of a pack.


I also second making the targeting filter in order to heal others in FATEs. Alternatively, you can make a target-of-target macro, target an enemy, hit the macro and you will be able to heal its target.