The User Interface - Mouse and Keyboard Users

[Rowyne]

This has been one of my biggest issues with FFXIV. I am a PC gamer and a keyboard/mouse user.

I don't like using controllers. I haven't been a console gamer in a number of years, and controllers feel large and unnatural in my hands.

When I played FFXI, I played exclusively with my keyboard, only because the mouse was pretty much unusable. All MMOs since then, I've played with a keyboard/mouse setup.

Anyone who played FFXI will most likely tell you it feels like a console game, since it was first released for PS2 and then ported to PC. This time around, FFXIV was released first for the PC, to be later released on the PS3. Out of the box, FFXIV does feel more keyboard/mouse friendly than FFXI. To me, that was a very welcome change.

From what I understand, the fact that SE creates MMOs with consoles in mind is a cultural difference. From what one Japanese friend tells me, they have gaming cafes with consoles set up and often play by the hour, whereas we come home and boot up our computers.

Still, getting SE to fully understand that the majority of the NA MMO market are PC players hasn't been easy. Watching mouse improvements evolve through beta was painful, and was something people complained about daily. We almost didn't get a hardware mouse (which would have been a gamebreaker for many).

Yet, there are many who will play on PS3 or even on PC with a controller - people play in different ways, so the idea of a dual UI has been kicked around for a while to stop trying to split the middle with a one-size-fits-all setup. I'm personally in favor of this. In fact, after the battle system is sorted out, I think it needs to be a top priority. No longer will the UI feel clunky if it's tailored to your playstyle. You have an option to choose one of two UI layouts - Keyboard/Mouse or Controller.

As a Keyboard/Mouse player, these are the top things that are missing for me:

1. All action bars showing all the time. I don't want to use my arrow keys to flip through them. It's awkward, and precious time lost. They should all show on my screen.

2. Drag and drop functionality. I should be able to drag and drop abilities to/from my action bars. The extra clicks not only take extra time, but they're not intuitive. People used to ask all the time, "How do I put abilities on my action bar?"

3. Complete key bindings. I want to be able to fully bind everything. Even if it means putting the camera controls on my arrow keys and using the escape key to open my menu.

4. Mouseover tooltips. Everything should have a tooltip pop up when you mouseover it so there is no guessing what something is/does. This has improved with time. Keep going.

5. Right-click functionality. I should be able to right-click on an NPC to get him to talk to me, not double-left click or hit enter. I should be able to right-click on an aetheryte, not go through an interaction menu.

6. Mouse camera tweaks. The mouse could use some sensitivity tweaking. It's still not as responsive as it could be. Plus, it's still not a proper mouse look. Left-click-drag should pan the camera. Right-click-drag should actually pivot your character.