A Video I promised someone.....

[EaMett]

RE: DoTs: Forgetting buffs/debuffs is something I struggle with, with all jobs not just healing. I don't know why sometimes I just forget about a buff, or debuff... I really like SAM but man do I keep forgetting the two self-buffs... or the debuffs on other DPS jobs... it's something I could definitely improve upon but not sure why I have such trouble keeping track of them. I have short-term memory problems IRL, as I suspect I have sleep apnea, so that could be a part of it.

Since you're on PC it might be interesting to look into setting up timers on ACT for your dots. It'll notify you when your dots fall off.
I don't know how controversial this is but it's definitely something you can explore.

[Maeka]

"Setting up timers on ACT"? I have no idea what that means. Is that some sort of unofficial modding or something (since you said it is controversial)?

[Tridus]

ACT is the parser that PC players can use to get realtime stats.

[Xiun]

I didn't watch the whole video, but one thing that WILL help a lot - keybinds and mouse movement. It's super awkward, but if you want to really improve you have to force yourself (I did it myself many years ago on wow- was rough transition but my play improved 20 fold). Being comfortable with a dungeon definitely helps (knowing when you can let people sit low on health or need to top them for something etc), but you can still play agressive.

I'm no expert healer, or expert WHM (Play ast normally) but I do find I can dps quite a bit in dungeons.

I streamed an expert if you want to see. There is one point a dps dies due to mechanics and where I got a little too greedy on aoe - but you have the tools to overcome hiccups like that. (note - i make lots and lots of mistakes in there, its by no means perfect play but hey, i can try to help)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/203021333

[Maeka]

I didn't watch the whole video, but one thing that WILL help a lot - keybinds and mouse movement.

As I said earlier in the thread, I cannot do mouse movement. I have tried many times, and I fumble like crazy every time I try, I even tried to force myself to do it over the course of a week, and I even spent nearly $200 in gaming mice and other accessories that people say helped them... nope. Just can't do it.


I think the problem is, is that my first MMORPG was Final Fantasy XI which I played for _years_. FFXI does not encourage mouse usage at all, everything is done with the keyboard. I mean, Everything. I eventually went to WoW and a couple WoW-Clones, but for the most part, keyboard movement was perfectly fine, if you perfected the use of simultaneously strafing and turning at the same time to dodge AoEs, turn corners, etc.

Well, it's been ingrained so deeply into my subconscious that I can't seem to change it. It's like hard-wired by this point and anything else just causes mass confusion, distractions, entire seconds where I sit there staring at the screen going "uh, what was I supposed to do now...?" while stuff is going on. I just... it won't work.

As far as keybinds, I already use keybinds, mostly. Again as previously said in the thread, for some reason I'm having trouble with the last 3-4 buttons on the hotkey bar (9 through =) where I keep hitting the wrong key for some weird reason when things get hectic. That, and I really need to re-bind the keys... especially now that I've been playing WoW again (just came back from a hiatus there too). WoW uses Shift+ while FFXIV uses Ctrl+ for the 2nd hotbar. I think if I re-bind the 2nd hotbar as shift+ I will probably do better and I plan on doing that. Just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

But I do thank you for the suggestions, and I thank you for being civil with the mouse-movement suggestion, even though I specifically said in the thread I can't do it. hehe. No hard feelings, though, because you were civil and respectful about it. I've met far too many people who were very rude and condescending when it came to Keyboard Turning vs Mouse Movement, so it is refreshing to meet people who don't treat me like I'm utter trash because I don't use the mouse for movement.

EDIT: Eh, when I say I "can't" do mouse-movement, I can't in combat. I can do limited mouse movement when I'm not in combat (such as swimming or flying), or I'm fighting easy stuff that takes almost zero concentration. But anytime things get hectic, I start fumbling all over myself. I understand *how* to do mouse-movement, it's just... I don't know, something just goes very wrong anytime I try to concentrate on something else simultaneously.

[Miste]

snip

Have you maybe thought of trying out controller?

I am a PC user but I use a controller for FFXIV and I do well enough, but it may take a bit of practice. For me personally, in FFXI and FFXIV, controller just seemed to come more naturally to me, but I am not sure if you have tried it or what your thoughts are on it.

[Maeka]

Have you maybe thought of trying out controller?

I am a PC user but I use a controller for FFXIV and I do well enough, but it may take a bit of practice. For me personally, in FFXI and FFXIV, controller just seemed to come more naturally to me, but I am not sure if you have tried it or what your thoughts are on it.

Well, I do have a 360 controller... but I don't really... uh? understand? how you would do some of the game's functions with a controller... I mean, to take a quest off of an NPC, you'd have to essentially tab-target the NPC just to talk to them (kinda like FFXI), or if you want to move items around in your inventory, how does that work?

And then hotbars... Dear Lord, I've got at least what, 20+ hotbar buttons? A controller only has what again, 4 shoulder buttons, and 4 face buttons?

I could try a controller I suppose, I don't know how well that would actually work. At least, I assume a 360 controller would work with XIV? I know they designed the game for a PS3/PS4 controller, but dunno about a 360.

EDIT: I used a 360 controller for FFXI a long time ago when I had an actual 360 with FFXI installed... it felt OK? But then FFXI is a much slower game. What I didn't like, however, was having to use the On-screen Keyboard... eew. Terrible memories of that. Wound up plugging a USB keyboard into the system, though that was back when I was in the gaming room. I suppose here, in my bedroom, I'm sitting at a desk, I could easily set the controller down to use the keyboard if I had to, to talk to somebody or something.

EDIT2: The controller idea IS intriguing though... I'm tempted to try it, just to see if I can finally put that whole keyboard turning thing to rest.

[Miste]

Well, I do have a 360 controller... but I don't really... uh? understand? how you would do some of the game's functions with a controller... I mean, to take a quest off of an NPC, you'd have to essentially tab-target the NPC just to talk to them (kinda like FFXI), or if you want to move items around in your inventory, how does that work?

I personally use a PS3 or PS4 controller. If you press X while being close to and infront of an NPC it auto targets them then you just press X again to talk to them and to accept the quest.

For moving items in the inventory you would press Start (PS3 controller) or Options (PS4 controller) then go to Inventory open it up and then use d-pad to highlight an item and press X to pick it up then d-pad to move it to a new slot and press X again to set it down.

There are a lot of nuances to learning controller so it would take some practice for sure.

And then hotbars... Dear Lord, I've got at least what, 20+ hotbar buttons? A controller only has what again, 4 shoulder buttons, and 4 face buttons?

Cross hot bar is definitely very different from keyboard and mouse setup.

You have multiple sets you can scroll through but you have to remember where your buttons are, the game is in maintenance atm so I can't take screenshots right now...but I can try to explain.

The basic setup is you have two shoulder buttons R2 and L2 that you hold down in order to access a combination of 8 buttons each. So 16 total for one cross hot bar.

There are expanded options that add more functions, but it gets complicated to use, personally the only expanded option I use is the double hold which is you hold R2 and L2 together to add another 8-16 buttons.

You can actively switch to up to 8 cross hot bars during combat though so it is possible to make use of a lot of buttons, but it generally gets very confusing if you go beyond using 2-3 in my opinion anyway.

If you are curious to see crosshot bar setup you can check my youtube, it might be hard to notice but I use a healing bar and a mirrored healing bar with slight changes (certain spells/abilities are replaced with my DPS spells) to make it easier to DPS while also having heals still there incase. I also use the double hold often, but it may be hard to see because I do it so quickly. It has things like my Earthly Star, Minor Arcana, Redraw, etc.

I can post my WHM bar setup tomorrow after the servers are up if it helps.

[Maeka]

If you want, sure!

Also, what about targeting party members? If I'm going to WHM... I need to know how to target people lol. I think I understand what you mean about the cross hotbars, I have seen Youtube videos of controller people playing, but I couldn't get exactly what they were doing, but now that you give an explanation I think I know what you mean.

I'm sure with some memorization, and careful planning of hotkeys, tucking rarely used keys on the harder to get to bars, etc... shouldn't be too difficult?

[Miste]

If you want, sure!

Also, what about targeting party members? If I'm going to WHM... I need to know how to target people lol. I think I understand what you mean about the cross hotbars, I have seen Youtube videos of controller people playing, but I couldn't get exactly what they were doing, but now that you give an explanation I think I know what you mean.

I'm sure with some memorization, and careful planning of hotkeys, tucking rarely used keys on the harder to get to bars, etc... shouldn't be too difficult?

Sure I'll post it tomorrow morning if I have a quick moment to do so just as an example. I don't suggest you copy me unless you try it and find out it works for you as well. Most people generally need to find what works for them.

For controller targeting the party you use the down and up d-pad to cycle through the members, it can take practice to get used to that and to get quick at it.

It does take some memorization and yes choosing what cross bar locations work the best for you. I personally try to keep some kind of similarity for placement throughout all jobs to make it easier, for example, my Asylum for WHM is in the same spot as my Collective Unconscious for AST and Sacred Soil for SCH. Since all of those are bubbles for healing/mitigation. Same with Cure/Cure II and Benefic/Benefic II and Physick/Adlo I keep the same spots for those spells on WHM, AST, and SCH. But in general it is also about remembering what is where on each job and muscle memory kicks in after awhile.