FFXIV Ultimate Healer Targeting Macro; or Gamepad Done Right!

[radioactive_lego]

SE: The video below shows (through the use of many complex macro) how many gamepad users would like to easily target party members without the use of the the Directional Pad.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VR2_qJLZ1sg

All: I'm sure many of you have seen similar vids (many made by me) for targeting. But I believe this is the first to incorperate 8-person, full party targeting without using all 8 hotbars, or other methods to select party individuals. This is not an exhibition of skill. It's an exhibition of mechanics.

For those of you wonder "what's wrong with how it works now?" I re-submit my $.02 in the wall of text hidden below.

I don't understand... What is so hard about hitting up and down on the dpad [to target players for healing] exactly?

It's not hard, per se. However, it is cumbersome (higher probability for errors) for a variety of reasons. I've discussed these encumbrances elsewhere but I'm more than happy to explain, at length, again. I apologize for getting geeky and technical (boring).

1. The Claw.
Using the d-pad is a left-thumb specific input on the controller. This, coupled with the fact that most people use the left thumbstick for movement (default) makes targeting while moving problematic. To mitigate this problem, people reach with thier right hand to the d-pad, to change targets, aka; "The Claw."
Non-default user input options include making the right thumbstick the movement control, or complex macros. Both are widely, and rightly, criticized becasue they cause other problems.

2. Toggle/Mixed vs Hold Hotbars*.
The default hotbar activation scheme is "Hold". Players must hold the trigger button L2/R2 for using skills/casting, and release the trigger to enable player targeting through the d-pad. While not a huge ordeal, it does add a button press between the act of selecting a player and the act of casting. This can lead to finger strain and errors of input in "heated" situations. To alleviate finger strain many players (especially DPS/Tanks) choose to use Toggle or Mixed (T/M) hotbars. This allows for a press, rather than a hold, to (de)activate the hotbar. T/M hotbars, used in conjuction with hotbar swap macros, make it so DPS/tanks almost never have to deactivate a hotbar. They have have less errors because of this. If you heal, and you use T/M hotbars, you are placing an additional button press before AND after the party selection process, further slowing things down, and increasing the rate of errors.

3. "Soft" Targeting.
The ability to keep a target active while you momentarily shift to another party member for a single cast is commonly known as "soft" targeting. While many consider soft targeting a good/convenient thing, there are those of us who do not care for it. I see the advantages, but consider the disadvantages; A) If you want to hard target another player, there is an additional button press (select) prior to your cast (this contributes to error rate). B) If you want to cast multiple skills/spells on the same player, the actions below are common, given the hard targeted player is #3 (tank) and the desired target is #6 (DPS):
i. release trigger
ii. dpad dn
iii. dpad dn
iv. dpad dn
v. press trigger
vi. cast (esuna)
vii. release trigger
viii. dpad dn
ix. dpad dn
x. dpad dn
xi. press trigger
xii. cast (regen)
Twelve distinct controller actions to cast two spells on a soft-targeted player. That's a lot of room for error.
Now consider the number of distinct controller actions required if player targeting worked like enemy (hard) targeting (remember, there is no need to (de)activate hotbars):
i. R1
ii. R1
iii. R1
iv. cast (esuna)
v. cast (regen)
Five distinct contoller actions. I see the advantage of not having to reselect the tank, if you are only casting a single spell on another player. However, more often than not, you will be casting 2-3 spells on the tank, then a spell on #7, then two on #5, then who knows... the bottom line is, soft targeting saves you minimally on the amount of up/dn presses for player targeting in Primal EX/Coil ops where all players are consistently taking damage/status effects. Furthermore, since you are forced to fiddle with (de)activation of hotbars, your error rate is higher. Which brings me to...

4. Error Rate (Encumbrance).
Errors in healing causes wipes. If the Monk doesn't max his DPS, or the Tank doesnt max aggro generation or durability, in most cases nobody will notice. If the healer doesnt get the right recovery spell, on target, on time, someone may die; "Sorry, I meant to Medica, but I Esuna'd." If you've played long enough, you've probably heard an excuse like this. It happens to the best healers out there. If they claim they're always perfect, they are lying.
Fundamentals of engineering to reduce errors, malfunctions and failures centers on two entertwined principals; reduce the number of moving parts and decrease complexity. Consider that:
- By moving player targeting to right-thumb or bumper (L1/R1) operations, complexity is decreased (no more "claw").
- By reducing or eliminating the need to (de)activate the trigger and press select buttons between player selection and skill usage, complexity is decreased.
Bottom line: D-pad targeting contributes to error rate.

I hope this clarifies some misconseptions about the "difficulty" surrounding player targeting. While no team can be successful without the right balance of recovery, beef, and damage the healer is arguably the most valuable member, and as such should have targeting schemes at least on par with the other classes.

TL;DR - *Consider the default method of player targeting analogous to driving a car with a standard transmission with a manually operated clutch. You must engage the clutch before shifting gears, and disengage the clutch before hitting the accelerator or laying on the brake.
This method of healing is a clutchless, sequential gearbox!

For those of you wishing to see the macros, and incorperate the sysem for yourself, see the hidden directions/information below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-8wg3W9KysU
Pause the vid to see the individual macro.

The whole premise of this design works off of hotbar swaps with (in this case the Conjurer) base class. The base class is convenient because they are mostly unused. Three hotbars* on the jobbed class and 6 on the base class is what is required. Of the three on your jobbed class two are static, and the third is dynamic - it constantly copies chotbars from the base class.

To start, on your WHM or SCH, pick a chotbar that will be your basic, root hotbar where you put your 14 most used skills. In the vid I chose hotbar 1. I will continue to explain from my example.

Place those 14 skills on the palette where you want to access them. At this point leave the two palettes where you want your target selection macros BLANK. Once you're satisfied with where all your routinely skills are on this primary hotbar, copy the hotbar using the command line:

/chotbar copy current 1 current 3

You'll want to copy this chotbar over to your Conjurer class as well... 6 times. In the vid I used CNJ chotbars 2-7.

/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 2
/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 3
/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 4
/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 5
/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 6
/chotbar copy current 1 cnj 7

At this point you've got all the main hotbars basically set up with skills/spells. If you haven't written all the code for the 16 macros seen in the vid, you'll have to do so now. Once that code is written (and I assume you gave them the same icons I did) you can place the macros on the chotbars as follows:

1's - WHM chotbar 1
2's - CNJ chotbar 2
3's - CNJ chotbar 3
4's - CNJ chotbar 4
5's - CNJ chotbar 5
6's - CNJ chotbar 6
7's - CNJ chotbar 7
8's - WHM chotbar 3

Your party targeting scheme is complete. Test your macro in a large hunt party or, at a minimum, with your company chocobo. If all numbers cycle properly in the right direction as you press them, that's a good indication your chotbar sawps are functioning properly. If you decide to change your main hotbar, you'll have to go change the base class hotbars as well!!

*I used two additional chotbars on the jobbed class for offensive and "buffing" (SoS, DS, etc) skills. This is especially imprtant for SCH since they have so. many. buttons. Chotbars used for these were chotbars 5 and 6. Simple chotbar change macros were used for this, and another was used to switch back to chotbar 1.

To chotbar 5 (offensive skills):
/micon "cleric stance"
/tenemy
/chotbar change 5

To chotbar 6 (buffs);
/chotbar change 6

Return to chotbar 1:
/chotbar change 1

On chotbar 5 I reccomend placing an unmacroed Cleric Stance button near your return to 1 button, so C/S can be turned off before you start healing. I also reccomend placing a C/S button on your shared chotbar, because it's convenient and always available.

GL HF.

- The difference between madness and genius is success.