How to deal with PLD's bloat?

[WhyAmIHere]

How do you deal with having so many keys to hit? Like, aside from your bread and butter combos, how frequently are some of these skills used?

[kashi11]

I wouldn't necessarily say that paladins suffer from button bloat. Are you playing on PS4/using the XHOTBAR system with a controller?

[Maku]

PLDs have many more buttons to worry about than the other tanks. I use controller for everything but healers and PLD is my main tank and it is a bit rough but since everything is really an oGCD it isn't that bad to switch to my oGCD bars to use them. I have all my oGCD skills set onto on of the keyboard hotbars as well so that I can monitor CDs without having to change bars just for that.

[WhyAmIHere]

I wouldn't necessarily say that paladins suffer from button bloat. Are you playing on PS4/using the XHOTBAR system with a controller?

I play on a keyboard.
I want to try and acknowledge it might just be my muscle memory on how I have the jobs I play slotted, but it's mainly just tough to have room for all of my skills.
Like, I have 1, 2, and 3 set for the Halone combo, but branching into CTRL1->CTRL2 for the DoT, and CTRL->3 for RA. Then there's Shift 1-6, which is just a hodge podge of skills.

[Hruodig]

Just play the class a lot and it'll go to your muscle memory. Personally I like having so many options on pld, it's such a great class right now for versatility and utility.

[TouchandFeel]

If you are on PC and using M+KB I would highly suggest picking up a MMO mouse like the Razer Naga or the Logitech G600 (I personally prefer the Naga myself) as well as potentially a gamepad/gameboard like the Razer Orbweaver or the Logitech G13. They really make playing a MMO feel way smoother and far more ergonomic.

If you are on PS4 or for some other reason unable to use specialized hardware, you will need to come up with a very smart and custom tailored keybind setup.

Here is a general list of tips based on the types of things that I do that may be of some help.

1) You may want to move movement away from the standard WASD keys and shift them down to a position where you can easily control them with your thumb. This will free up you four other fingers for controlling abilities and help to alleviate your fingers stumbling over each other when you are having to quickly move and activate a lot of abilities in the middle of combat. It may feel awkward and uncomfortable at first but it is worth a try to see if it works for you.
Addendum: If using your thumb to control movement is too uncomfortable for you, it may still be a good idea to shift movement controls down one row on the keyboard. That way the QWERTY keys are now where the 1-6 keys were relative to your new hand position and then you still have the the number keys above those to use and they are still fairly easy to reach.

2)Get used to the mouse steering controls for movement while using right-mouse movement steering and the left-mouse+right-mouse auto-run. Like #1, this will help free your fingers up for controlling abilities. Learning to use this in tandem with alternate movement controls like in #1 can be really helpful.

3) Set up good tab-targetting keybinds with at least two binds, one that cycles one way and the other cycling the opposite. This will help with quickly acquiring targets without having to result to point-clicking with the mouse which in turn frees it up for other tasks.

4) Arrange your abilities by "frequency of use" going from left to right.
The 1-6 keys should be kept for your more frequently used abilities like your combos, special attacks that you use a lot like Holy Spirit and buffs/defensives/etc. that have short recast times.
For example you have 1-2-3 bound to the Halone combo while having your other combos bound to ctrl+1, ctrl+2. Of your three combos you likely use Halone the least, so it might be better to bind your most common combo (RA) to 1-2-3, and then the second most common (Goring) to 1-2-4 and then Halone to 1-5-6. Now all your combos are there available by using the 1-6 keys with no modifiers like shift or ctrl.
Relegate your less frequently used abilities to the 7 - + keys since you will need to stretch or move your hand to reach them.

5) Try to group similar abilities as best you can into "key groups", such as grouping all the keys for your standard combos to 1-6, having all or most of your attack abilities not use modifiers, i.e. no shift+ or ctrl+, while grouping your defensives all under one modifier like shift+. This can help a great deal with muscle-memory because it creates an easy to understand organizational structure that your brain can pick up on very quickly.

6) Make use of the letter keys for abilities. If you did #1 and moved movement away from WASD, you now have an entire row of keys (QWERTY) that is easily within reach and free for assigning abilities to. That pretty much doubles your immediately accessible keys from 6 to 12. Then consider the modifiers like shift (since ctrl and alt are a little harder and less comfortable to reach) and just with that you have 24 keys.

7) Set up a "point and click" hotbar for less used but still important functions. Basically find a good spot that you like on your screen that is easy for you to click on and doesn't screw with your view too much and place some abilities like Hallowed or Tempered there. This will make it so that you can prepare for a situation coming up where you will need to use that ability, but have it so you can still keep your main key-pressing hand in it's regular position and not have to worry about moving it or stretching. This can make it easier to not lose your flow when you have to activate those rare, out of the way abilities. Keep in mind these abilities should still be bound so that they can still be activated with a key press with relative ease. The "point and click" hotbar just gives options and flexibility.

8) Remember most mice have more buttons on them than just the two main left and right ones, put them to use. For example the "forward" and "back" buttons on the side of the mouse could work great for tab-targeting or stance swapping. Also most scroll wheels these days have a mouse-wheel click function that can be bound just like any other key.

[whiskeybravo]

I tried to play with KB+M once. Then I plugged in a PS4 controller.

Good luck bro!

(for real PLD does still have a lot of button bloat. War and Drk the standard XHB is fine, PLD is the only one where I have to use the new expanded XHB to keep all the skills accessible)

[Linx0r]

It’s not that bad with ps4 controller. Just know how to and be comfortable with being able to switch your hot bars. Memorize where your offensive and defensive cd’s are. It may take some getting used to but it will go smooth once you are comfortable

[Silver_Blade]

Bloat implies they have useless skills.
Only 1 skill is a waste and that is shield swipe. Low potency proc with a effect almost everything that matters is immune to.
All their other skills are 100% gold.

[Otorinth]

Bloat implies they have useless skills.
Only 1 skill is a waste and that is shield swipe. Low potency proc with a effect almost everything that matters is immune to.
All their other skills are 100% gold.

Shield Swipe is free damage with no cost. It is anything but useless.