QoL and reducing number of the buttons suggestion

[Supersnow845]

You can also use the regular LR hotbars KBM people use to act as timers for actions that are on hotbars that aren’t visible at the current time

For example I used to keep the actions on my healers I’d press more than once per 30 seconds or so on my main hotbar then my extended hotbars (double tap L or R) would have my more rarely used actions (like say temperance or dissipation), you can then put their icons on LR hotbars and put them off to the side so you can track the timer even if the cross hotbar they are on isn’t visible

Also double tapping L or R on cross hotbar 1 and 3 can be set to both times pop up cross hotbar 2, on my tanks I used to put single target actions on hotbar 1, AOE on 3 and since both popped up hotbar 2 when double tapping L or R I would put my mitigation on 2

The cross hotbar system is actually incredible if you know how to use it, it’s not remotely a limitation (controllers only real limitation is excessive soft targeting like on AST), you just have to know how to use it

[Gemina]

You can also use the regular LR hotbars KBM people use to act as timers for actions that are on hotbars that aren’t visible at the current time

Not only can, should. The crossbar is an unreliable means to keep track of CD timers. Players can set up their crossbars anyway that makes sense to them, but there actually are ideal placements to make skills flow more optimally and that should be the focus when setting them up. If the default crossbar is used to monitor CDs, skills you use much more such as GCD skills will be placed on the expanded L/R inputs. This might not be a problem for some players, but I personally find it cumbersome. Because nearly all jobs have abilities to monitor along with skills that become available after certain conditions are met, hotbar placement is a must for controller users.

Odd as this may sound, I set my crossbar to invisible to avoid cluttering my HUD. For a long time I had both the crossbar and hotbars on my HUD, and it drove me nuts. One of them had to go. Granted, crossbars are never truly invisible as they will still show up anytime L/R is used and will remain on the screen so long as they are held down.

The cross hotbar system is actually incredible if you know how to use it, it’s not remotely a limitation (controllers only real limitation is excessive soft targeting like on AST), you just have to know how to use it

There is one limitation, and that are the inputs you assign to the Dpad. In order to use these skills, you have to take your left thumb off the left analog stick. This compromises your ability to use any skills you assign to these inputs while moving. Some skills such as those that require cast times are negligible, other skills though such as DNC dance steps could be crippling. You can still use autorun for these situations, but you will beeline in one direction.

[TheDustyOne]

Targeting is easily the biggest drawback to controller and is the biggest reason why I refuse healer on controller. It wouldn't be so bad if there were macros to soft-target (not hard-target) a specific party member, I at least have the hotbar space for that, but hard targeting via macros is still annoying when I need to swap back to the boss and relying on the d-pad for soft targeting is also needlessly cumbersome.

[Gemina]

Targeting is easily the biggest drawback to controller and is the biggest reason why I refuse healer on controller. It wouldn't be so bad if there were macros to soft-target (not hard-target) a specific party member, I at least have the hotbar space for that, but hard targeting via macros is still annoying when I need to swap back to the boss and relying on the d-pad for soft targeting is also needlessly cumbersome.

It's not that bad. If you're used to KBM, then I would suspect the additional button presses to target allies and enemies is horrendous, but cast time negates this if you're on controller. Since you should be weaving oGCD heals anyway, the cast time gives you ample time to select the desired party member while executing your spell. The only drawback to controller targeting that I have come across is it takes your ability away to slide cast. However, inputs you assign to the D-pad already do this, which is why you should only assign abilities and spells that are instant to those keys.

[Mr_Gyactus]

Targeting is easily the biggest drawback to controller and is the biggest reason why I refuse healer on controller. It wouldn't be so bad if there were macros to soft-target (not hard-target) a specific party member, I at least have the hotbar space for that, but hard targeting via macros is still annoying when I need to swap back to the boss and relying on the d-pad for soft targeting is also needlessly cumbersome.

some hint.

1. character configuration -> cross hotbars -> cross hotbars: HOLD. D-cross make you choose the target in the party with a circular list [1]<->[2]<->[3]<->[1]
2. /ac "Cure" <mo> you put your mouse where you want in the list and .. don't touch it xD
3 /ac "Cure" <focus> I let you guess what it does.

[TheDustyOne]

I use ctrl and alt on my side mouse buttons since I find it annoying to reach those 2 modifiers, shift isn't as bad. I can technically then use all 3 + combinations of them for a total of 8 hotbars (96 slots), I'd quit the game if we had to use 8 hotbars on jobs simply because "we had the space for it".

[Colt47]

Not sure if this relates to the problem of buttons, but the choice to homogenize the jobs is sort of a design decision more than a right or wrong thing. As I recall, one of the things that Yoshi P. had said ages ago is that he would not have locked jobs behind using specific weapons, as it would make sense a warrior might use a sword, axe, hammer, etc, and wizards would probably use wands, staves, books, whatever they need as a focus. Homogenizing the jobs is a compromise where you technically are playing a different job, but the skills under the job are linked to a role rather than a class, so that way it is more an aesthetic choice which one someone plays. Sort of like having a prebuilt specialization in other MMOs.

Its also a solution to getting people out of a ditch they dig for themselves. What I mean by this is that if the jobs remained unique completely, one advantage would be each job would be an experience onto itself, and if someone wanted to play that job to the highest level, they'd need a good chunk of time to get used to all the skills and how to use them right. This in turn can make it intimidating to swap to another job even in the same role since the two would be completely different even if they share the same gear. So having them work more closely like each other means that it is easier to try different jobs.

The part that is sort of hidden under all this is that homogenizing the jobs is also a way to make it easier for developers to support the jobs. They keep wanting to add new jobs each expansion, and if they kept the original jobs as complex as they were, each job would require unique maintenance from the developers to make sure it was still playable. So this is them trying to modularize jobs so they are an aesthetic choice in a role and role skills are what the base skills are of the true class.

Just throwing this out there since someone earlier was starting to talk about the job homogenization and maybe was thinking this was simplifying the skills or making the skills more complex when it's kind of its own thing.

[strawberrycake]

No, stop reducing anything in this game, stop suggestiing that button bloat is an issue, stop acting like pressing 1 2 3 is hard. It's bad enough I have to wonder if half the people who play this are capable of dressing themselves with how they act when they have to learn content.

[Heroman3003]

No, stop reducing anything in this game, stop suggestiing that button bloat is an issue, stop acting like pressing 1 2 3 is hard. It's bad enough I have to wonder if half the people who play this are capable of dressing themselves with how they act when they have to learn content.

Pressing 123 is not hard. What's hard is that you have one combo at 123, another at 145, two extra skills that you do post combo at 67, then aoe combo at 8910 and those are all just buttons you use all the time, and then there's like 12 more for the 30s, 60s and 120s bursts, buffs and then like 8 more for the mobility or utility actions. You don't consolidate combos because 123 is hard, you do it because reaching for Ctrl+9 and alt+5 during burst is super annoying because you have no easily assignable space left after occupying all actually main and easy to reach buttons with basically 9 copies of same 3 buttons that do same thing with higher numbers and no reason to ever not just press next button in the order.

[ZiraZ]

you do it because reaching for Ctrl+9 and alt+5 during burst is super annoying because you have no easily assignable space left after occupying all actually main and easy to reach buttons with basically 9 copies of same 3 buttons that do same thing with higher numbers and no reason to ever not just press next button in the order.

What job are you playing that requires over 60 hotkeys and giant hands?