NEW player how on earth are you suppose to press 1-21 keys?

[Shurrikhan]

As if not troll:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, cZ, cX, cV, cC, cB <click> <click>
s1, s2, s3, s4, sR, sF, sC, sV, sB, sT, sY, sG
c1, c2, c3, c4, aS, aD, aF, aG, aX, aC, aV, aB

Onscreen:


Actual keys:


The alt-S through -G bindings sound awkward at first, but they're actually really comfy... if I were to add another 4 abilities, they'd simply be alt-E through alt-Y. Here's hoping we don't get more bloat, though.

[Mycow8me]

You dont even know the struggle till you play drg endgame. The button struggle for drg is real.

[Evangela]

I mainly press 1-6 since I don't like pressing any key beyond 6.

1-6 = Hotbar 1
Ctrl+1-6 = Hotbar 2
Shift+1-6 = Hotbar 3

These should have most of the main skills covered.

Then I have Ctrl+Q, E, Tab, Z, X for other stuffs like LB, mount, stance shifting, sprint, etc.

For unimportant skills, I click them with the mouse.

[Alexftw]

IKR?

In all seriousness, I use: 1-6, Q E R T F G V B, then combinations of various mouse buttons with those. My mouse has four possible buttons to use, one of which is bound to my Push To Talk in my VoIP and one of which I use on its own (scroll wheel). I assigned one to Shift and one to Ctrl in the software for the mouse itself, and I find that I have more than enough space.

Some stuff I still activate by clicking just to make sure I don't fat-finger it or because speed isn't all that important (mounts, etc).

Side walk (Q/E) can actually be quite useful in bosses such as thordan ^^". Unless you changed these keybinds to another.

[l---------------l]

Gamepad user, I still wondering how the hell people can still moving plus doing skills with a keyboard + mouse... I have never been too good at it aside of writing, but, writing is totally different than starting to use the keys you need at perfect time and perfect moment and order... I mean, moving with keyboard is most annoying thing ever, how come you can move while even doing anything else?! In my gamepad I can easily move the character to all 360º just with a thumb. And camera with the another thumb... Rest of the fingers are free and ready to press whatever.

[ChocoFeru]

Probably a bait but...

Switch to a controller if you're not used on keyboard. It has its pros and cons just like keyboard.

I used to play on keyboard on every MMORPG until I switched to gamepad here in FFXIV.
Top players uses gamepad too, there's no real cap.
Keyboard has more buttons, Gamepad has insta-access to any skill etc...

Check some gameplays/kills videos using gamepad on internet!

[Reinha]

Gamepad user, I still wondering how the hell people can still moving plus doing skills with a keyboard + mouse... I have never been too good at it aside of writing, but, writing is totally different than starting to use the keys you need at perfect time and perfect moment and order... I mean, moving with keyboard is most annoying thing ever, how come you can move while even doing anything else?! In my gamepad I can easily move the character to all 360º just with a thumb. And camera with the another thumb... Rest of the fingers are free and ready to press whatever.

Wondering about this also. I find it really difficult to use movement keys and number keys above effectively without one screwing over the other. I can only reach E and Q if I rest my hand on WASD. The 2.5 second global cooldown allows a healthy young adult to mouseclick on all the rotational abilities with ease, oGCD included (test here for example), and moving your character is much easier when you don't have manage your rotation with the same hand. I get that clicker habits are not the popular way to go but... tbh I make just as many mistakes trying to hit the buttons of an MMO mouse than I do hitting the icons with my cursor. If the GCD was very short I could see there being some issues with mouseclicking but as it is not really. No need to sweat about keybinds and buying fancy input devices imo, just click everything if it's more comfortable.

[Averax]

Thanks all. I think I will invest in a good controller. Any reccomednations?
also are you suppose to use all your skills in boss fights etc? can someone help me for example machinist what do i spam and what do i not spam?

I recommend the DS4, but i don't think the touchpad functions on anything except the PS4.

[Hivernica]

Thanks all. I think I will invest in a good controller. Any reccomednations?
also are you suppose to use all your skills in boss fights etc? can someone help me for example machinist what do i spam and what do i not spam?

It's not about spamming skills, it's more about knowing how each work. I suggest you look up a guide for machinist.

[OmegaStrongtan]

Welcome to skill bloat heaven.
Next Expansion all game pad users can commit Sudoku.