PS3 Healers Question

Hi, I play on PS3 and have so far only stuck to tanking and DPS. I played CON in 1.0 but wanted to hear how PS3 players have found healing in 2.0 with the targeting system. I shouldn't think there'd be too much of an issue, and I guess my main concern is raids etc/8 mans. So if PS3 healers could respond that would be great (and as a bonus if you've found a particular job better to use between whm and sch).

Cheers

I've only done four man runs so far but it's great, no problem.

I can imagine only having up and down to quickly heal other party members could be a bit harder scrolling through a eight man list, but you should have another healer helping you so it should not be an issue.

I'd also love to hear from someone who had done eight mans with a gamepad. I also play on PC so I guess I could make the mouse work but so far I've been exclusively controller on both systems.

Healing has been good for the most part... occasionally I get the game wanting to do the popup menu when all I'm trying to do is select a main healing target... that gets annoying in the boss and mid-boss fights. But outside of the selection mechanism (why can't selection be up-down d-pad for party, left-right for enemies, and L2 or R2 plus d-pad for other players? Also, as a WHM in a dungeon, how come I can't select carby for heals? Is it a balance issue or...?

This is all about your targeting settings, which can be changed. Turn off the standard target filters for drawn or sheathed weapon. Below that you can change the custom game pad settings so up/down selects party members, and left/right selects monsters. This left/right function will target carby with my settings. I also made it so I can quickly filter out all monsters and only select players using left/right for quick healing of non party members during fates.

Just press up or down button to target each member in party. Simple.
On the attack side, just use macro to target's target to attack on party member's target. This way will make you always lock on your party member for easy heal.

Lastly, make a target filter to target only enemy for selecting other enemy that your team have not locked.

I have WHM and SCH both at level 50 and been playing exclusively on PS3 since launch. I have completed all content except binding coil on PS3. Here are my opinions:

1) Remake all your hotbars abilities into macros that read like this
/target <t>
/ac "Adloquium" <t>
(Without this macro there is way too much shuffling through targets.)

2. Sacred Soil is AWFUL to use on PS3. Simply that. I don't even use it because it's too much effort. Too many times during Titan I almost died because it is too cumbersome to use.

3. Use <tt> macros. e.g. /ac "Stone II" <tt> for those boss fights when you need to heal and add some DPS during phases (fights like Demon Wall or Heart Phase in Titan.) It can be flustering to switch between targets and lose your your target you need to heal.

4. There is no Focus target option for PS3 users. This is a huge drawback.

5. Set up cross hot bar filtering and only enable 2 bars. It is too flustering to shuffle through multiple hot bars. I suggest putting all your DPS abilities on one bar and all your healing/support abilities on the other hot bar. Link them with the following macro:
/chotbar change x
/ac "Cleric Stance" <me>

6. Resize your UI (especially party list.) Remove anything you're not using (e.g. the duty log at level 50.)

7. If you have a smart phone, download ventrilo on your phone to communicate with the PC players. Do not tell them you are on PS3 if you want invites.

8. Jack the camera angle up to 100 and zoom all the way out for boss encounters. The PS3 does not zoom far enough out with the camera angle any lower than this. It may feel weird at first but trust me, you need to see the whole battlefield in certain fights and this is the only way to do it.

9. Use macros to get rid of wasted spots out of your precious 36 crosshotbar spots you have available readily
(e.g. /ac "Swiftcast" <me>, /wait 1, "/ac "Raise/Resurrection" <t>

All in all, PS3 is playable as a healer but far less ideal than PC. I cannot even fathom how 24 man groups will work on PS3.

All the best!

I levelled as WHM and healed my way through most of the XP needed to hit level 50, until I came too 8 mans. Selecting the target for my next heal just felt way to cumbersome and slow with a controller. It was Ifrit Hard Mode that broke the camels back so to say. I was very aware that my effectiveness was sub par. I then switched to Mouse/Keyboard configuration to allow me to continue content without feeling I was being carried somewhat.

What I will say, the mouse speed seemed very slow initially and even within accessory settings, bumping mouse speed up to 'Fast' still did not seem to make much difference. I then tried a mouse @ 1800 DPI and wow. Healing is a pleasure again.

There are people I have spoken too personally who go with a keyboard/controller setup using the keyboard (F-Keys) for targeting, and all I can say is power to them, I just don't have the dexterity for it.

The Thousand Maws was rough for me yesterday. Trying to clear poison after poison with a tank and dps that hadn't run the zone before either and a less than helpful Pugilist. Just about done with grouping on the PS3. Just waiting to download the PC client now and save solo work for PS3.

Part of it might be though the size of my TV. I have my eyes glued to the top left and I can't see much else. First world problem I know. But if that is any indication of my future, bleh.

I found a decent guide on YouTube on setting up controller/gamepad target filtering.

On thing to add if you set up a "party member only" filter I think if you check the minion box it will add summoner/scholar pet targets to your cycle list.

Can this game (on PS3) be played exclusively with the keyboard?

With FFXI, I played on the PS2 with keyboard alone. Anyone who used a controller, or a keyboard & mouse combo, I would tell to learn the keyboard. Everything was much faster that way, so I wonder if it can be done here.

I have no problem with the controller as a tank or a DD, but I'm trying a healer now (Conjuror) and everyone's comments have me thinking about things. lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ChfMojoRising

Can this game (on PS3) be played exclusively with the keyboard?

With FFXI, I played on the PS2 with keyboard alone. Anyone who used a controller, or a keyboard & mouse combo, I would tell to learn the keyboard. Everything was much faster that way, so I wonder if it can be done here.

I have no problem with the controller as a tank or a DD, but I'm trying a healer now (Conjuror) and everyone's comments have me thinking about things. lol

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Yeah you can play solely with the keyboard definitely. You have the option of customizing all the keyboard key bindings to what you want. The only thing that I imagine will cause issues is camera movement and targeting.

I have been playing on PC with a PS3 controller and the only problems I have had are related to my own forgetfulness, like forgetting to switch back to my combat cross hotbar from my pre-fight buff cross hotbar. Therein lies the problem, there are limited slots on the cross hotbar as compared to the regular hotbar. Throw in trying to micromanage a pet and now you have even more hotbar slot issues.

That said, I have always been primarily a console gamer and I'm just more comfortable with a controller in my hand. I don't think learning to manage multiple hotbars is going to make me switch to K/M gaming.

I switched off weapon drawn/sheathed filter options, set the L1+[Square][Cross][Circle][Triangle] filters to Enemies, Attacking Enemies, Friends & All.

I use a Sony Dual-Shock clip-on keyboard which I've key-mapped the numeric keys to numbered party members for instant targeting of the first 8 party members & pet.

As a last resort L1+RStick switches the PS3 to mouse mode if I feel the need to instant select anything with the left analogue stick.

I had to switch direct chat off otherwise any keyboard presses go straight to the chat window and not to your mapping. I also needed to change some of the default keyboard mapping to use shift instead of Ctrl/Alt as the PS3 clip-on keyboard doesn't have those keys.

I've not had much trouble healing quickly so far with this set-up.