PS4 controller = difficult?

[Blessedbythesun]

I fail to understand why people say playing with a PS4 controller is difficult (using hot bars and targeting mostly). I play console games frequently so maybe this is a non issue to me and there where thing I enabled/disabled off the bat withing the first month of playing, such as disabling the virtual mouse, enabling certain target filters while weapon is is unsheathed.

Even more recently in the healer forum, some was objecting about targeting npcs that needed to be healed in duties with the virtual mouse and I was left scratching my head as to why they would use that in the first place.

[Seoulstar]

People just underestimate our controllers..

[Werhusky]

I started on PC and swapped to PS4... thats is a year ago.
I remember feeling instantly comfy with healing, even preferred it over Mouse/Keyboard healing. Tanking felt slightly more difficult.
Main difference is I think the swapping between the different bars.
At all I felt and still feel more happy on PS4 than I was on PC but I know more people doing the swap other way round and I had almost all my ingame friends on PS4 so I had enough ppl being patient and explaining and helping

[karateorangutang]

I play on controller and I love it, but there are some clear limits that you have to figure work arounds for.

- Hotbar space: Hotbar space is a premium on controller and almost requires the use of space saving macros to make an efficient bar setup. Tabbing through bars is clumsy at best in high pressure situations so I try to avoid it at all costs.

- Targetting Macros become a must with a controller format just to deal with crowds and the like in towns.

- Voice chat becomes more important too as typing while playing with a controller can get annoying.

I enjoy the freedom of movement that the controller provides though as it creates unique targeting opportunities... and I feel more natural with a controller in my hand. If your aware of its shortcomings and can get systems in place to counteract them then I don't see why controller use would be a hindrance at all.

[Niwashi]

The controller works really well once you've configured things for it. Its target cycling defaults to targeting everything, which can be cumbersome in crowded situations, but once you've set up multiple targeting filters and can switch to the appropriate one for the situation, it works much better. Trying to stay within the initial 16 hotbar slots for everything won't work for long, but once you set up the expanded hold controls and perhaps separate out combat (weapon drawn) bars from out-of-combat (weapon sheathed) bars, you can have a total of 48 slots available before needing to manually switch bars to get to any more.

There are still a few things I wish were easier (ground targeted skills, for one), but I suspect that a lot of the rumors of the controller being awkward originated from people who were initially trying it out and hadn't worked out how to configure it efficiently yet.