The difficulty curve in the game has... problems...

[Issaella]

I've literally tried every possible solution, like I said, I've been playing MMOs for 20y. If I use both shift and control modifiers I will hit the wrong one a non-zero percentage of the time, regardless of how much I've practiced it. If I try to use anything beyond 7 or shift+6 I will hit the wrong key a relatively large percentage of the time. Again, despite endless practice. So about what I have is 1-6, shift+1-6, e/q and shift+e/q (the latter pairs generally I set for cooldowns and movement abilities). Even with shift+5 and shift+6 after half an hour or so it starts making my hand hurt, which is an entirely different issue. I can handle MCH, SMN, DRG, and RPR with only clicking my big cooldowns, but other jobs with more abilities means more clicking. I can almost do RDM, but mis-tapping the melee combo still give me issues, I was really hoping they would compress that into 1 key like they did with the GNB cartridge spender. Tanks and healers aren't as big an issue so I don't have as much issue there, either do to fewer primary abilities (WAR, GNB) or the simplified DPS rotation (WHM/SGE) allowing for more efficient clicking.

[IdowhatIwant]

I've literally tried every possible solution, like I said, I've been playing MMOs for 20y. If I use both shift and control modifiers I will hit the wrong one a non-zero percentage of the time, regardless of how much I've practiced it. If I try to use anything beyond 7 or shift+6 I will hit the wrong key a relatively large percentage of the time. Again, despite endless practice. So about what I have is 1-6, shift+1-6, e/q and shift+e/q (the latter pairs generally I set for cooldowns and movement abilities). Even with shift+5 and shift+6 after half an hour or so it starts making my hand hurt, which is an entirely different issue. I can handle MCH, SMN, DRG, and RPR with only clicking my big cooldowns, but other jobs with more abilities means more clicking. I can almost do RDM, but mis-tapping the melee combo still give me issues, I was really hoping they would compress that into 1 key like they did with the GNB cartridge spender. Tanks and healers aren't as big an issue so I don't have as much issue there, either do to fewer primary abilities (WAR, GNB) or the simplified DPS rotation (WHM/SGE) allowing for more efficient clicking.

Keybinds will make a huge difference. I can't stress enough how important getting keybinds set up in a way that you a comfortable with improves your performance. Best way is to make a system where certain skills are always going to be certain buttons so that all jobs you can use the same system. Once you get that all set up it's just getting muscle memory from that point on.

[LeonKeyh]

I've literally tried every possible solution, like I said, I've been playing MMOs for 20y. If I use both shift and control modifiers I will hit the wrong one a non-zero percentage of the time, regardless of how much I've practiced it. If I try to use anything beyond 7 or shift+6 I will hit the wrong key a relatively large percentage of the time. Again, despite endless practice. So about what I have is 1-6, shift+1-6, e/q and shift+e/q (the latter pairs generally I set for cooldowns and movement abilities). Even with shift+5 and shift+6 after half an hour or so it starts making my hand hurt, which is an entirely different issue. I can handle MCH, SMN, DRG, and RPR with only clicking my big cooldowns, but other jobs with more abilities means more clicking. I can almost do RDM, but mis-tapping the melee combo still give me issues, I was really hoping they would compress that into 1 key like they did with the GNB cartridge spender. Tanks and healers aren't as big an issue so I don't have as much issue there, either do to fewer primary abilities (WAR, GNB) or the simplified DPS rotation (WHM/SGE) allowing for more efficient clicking.

Unironically; Play with a controller.

Pick a job that you haven't leveled that you've been meaning to check out (or start a new character) and level it using a controller. After playing FF14 with a controller, I can't go back to hotbar combat MMOs with keyboard.