Controlling a White Mage / Healing with a computer

[Danfingo]

Just chiming in... I'd say you're over complicating your UI by having so many individual target macros. I feel like you're working much harder than you need to in order to play efficiently!

I would scaling way back on the amount of macros and just get better at switching targets mid-cast. Like somebody mentioned, there's plenty of time during cast/gcd to switch. It'll just take some getting used to, but when you do you'll be able to sip your coffee while healing! xD

[BobbinT]

quick selecting party member 1-8: F1-F8.

simple enuff. lol

[Hells]

I use <mo> <t> <focus> macros for all my healing spells, in that order. Always Focus your tank. Keybind my heals with 1-6 - Cure, Cure II, esuna, Medica, Medica II, Cure III - Alt 1-6 are my DD spells. My mouse has 4 side buttons (Steel Series Sensei RAW), these are all of my buffs WHM (6) - SCH (5) with ALT mods changing out the easiest to click for embrace. Always keep the tank or Boss targeted. Then mouse over to heal myself or others. While on SCH I target another player if they need a lot of healing so I can spam embrace and cures. Otherwise I'm always pressing embrace for the tank and MO for anyone else. So you can micro and multi task easily. I also change my movement keys. I only use strafe left (w) right (r) and forward (e) and I use the mousse with those to move. DON'T NEED MOVE BACK OR RIGHT LEFT!!! For Regen (D) Eye for and Eye (A) Stoneskin (S) and Virus (Q) and also benediction (F) I use the buttons that are all close to my left hand at all times.

[DivineAyumi]

I personally hate <mo>.
Well, not hate, is just that I do so much and move so much that <mo> is simply not a good option for me.

I do use F1-F8 to target party members, combined with actually clicking on the party list.

As far as macros go I have lots of them, but they are all used on special occasions.

Macros for:
-Swiftcast+Raise
-Swiftcast+Holy
-Swiftcast+Protect
-Swiftcast+Stoneskin

-/ac Stoneskin <me>, /ac Stoneskin <2>,..... /ac Stoneskin <8>
-/Focustarget + Virus + Eye for an Eye

Misc macroes for party shouts:
-Bards use MP song
-Use limitbreak
-Use Esuna+Regen (on me)
-/p <2> has the Allagan Rod <se.4<se.1> + /y #2 has the Allagan Rod!

My hotbar is messy for lots, its Godly for others, Ive been using the same set-up for about 10 years of gaming as a healer.

-ALT+1 - Alt+= --> Healing Spells
-Ctrl+1 - Ctrl+= --> Damage Spells
-Shift+1 - Shift+= --> Buffs/Debuffs
-F1 - F8 --> Swap Party Members

[Elzynia]

People tend to make their job as a healer more complicated than it needs to be
Others summed up pretty much how I have played healer for 10 years or so:

* F1-8 for party target combined with mouse selecting in party window, whichever I feel like at the time. (I have had to deal with raids of 24 people - so I'm used to using both)
* Macros for special skills/combinations - not normal healing. I tried healing via macro and I just find it Bleh
* I personally don't like <mo> because I use my mouse for camera panning constantly and it leads to some awkward situations
* I don't use shortcuts for switching Hotbars - I use mouse therefore all healing based skills are on Hotbar 1
* Rearrange my HUD layout for ease of use = My Layout
Switching it around can make the world of difference
That combined with the suggestions others have offered should help you a lot

[Vahnaynay]

I use macros for my skills
For healing its set to heal mouseover target
Then target
Then target of target
Then me

So if one isnt available it goes down the list until it heals me.
Its helpful for a variety of situations and leaves my keybinds to more important things

I keybind all my skills with the help of a razer naga. The usefulness of this mouse is underrated, theres 12-16 buttons to use, and they can be used with combination of the alt and ctrl keys too.

My binds are a little different then the standard ones people use
I use t f g h for movement
And for skills i use "z x s a e r y u j n" along with the mouse buttons and alt/ctrl
Sometimes if i really need to, i use 1-10 o the keyboard (my mouse uses numpad)

[ladymoreta]

I switched my movement keys to the number pad. I can move around with my right hand or reach over and target things with my mouse while keeping my left hand on my hotbars/macros at all times so I can cast immediately. I use the F keys to target players before pressing my hotkeys, which are just set to <t>. I have one row set to just the numbers, one row set to Alt+[number], and one row set to Ctrl+[number]. The Ctrl row is less common things, like Raise, Protect, and food, and I have it as a vertical row on the far right side of my screen.

[Maelwys]

I have the same default setup for both Tank + Healer roles:

Numpad 1-8 targets party members, Numpad 9 targets pet.
The various Numpad keys around those ones (/*-+0.) are heals and buffs and other stuff that I want to cast on those teammates (6 abilities total)
Holding Control or Shift or Alt gives me other sets of stuff to cast on those teammates (4 x 6 = 24 abilities total or two full hotbars)

The standard numeric keys and function keys along the top of the keyboard are also affected by Shift/Control/Alt modifiers (for another 8 hotbars total!) so I've access to all ten hotbars worth of stuff directly from the keyboard.

Target swapping can seem a little iffy if you're not using mouseover macros for everything, but the /targetlastenemy command (bound to an easy-to-hit key such as "Pause") is your friend
If I'm targetting an enemy to DoT it up, and suddenly want to heal player 2 I'll hit (Numpad2) (Numpad0) (Pause) - it's practically instantaneous to target the player and queue the heal, and I've already switched back to the enemy again by the time the cast bar appears.

For more raidy stuff, I just set the Main tank as the Focus target and use [Heal Focus target] macros
(e.g. If Numpad0 is my usual Heal, I'll bind this so it triggers a Focus Target Heal when I hold Control and Press Numpad0).

[Rrylia]

I am a game pad user (mainly because I mostly play on PS3 as it's easier for me). I played FFXI for years also using a game pad. The only challenge with a gamepad is larger party sizes where it's not so quick to use up and down to scroll away from your focus target. Am not high enough yet for this content yet so will have to see! But my thought was to have shortcuts to the 6th, 12th, 18th member perhaps. So far I haven't been held back at all using cross bars and pad but will be interesting to see how adaptable this is with larger groups. I may need to switch back to PC yet!

[Linkan]

I use F1-F8 for members.