Game pad vs Keyboard

[Krausus]

well thats what i meant by fumbling over skills. you have 3 pages of skills where most of them have mostly the same icon. blm has like 5 buffs with the same icon, its really hard to tell which is which, especially if i have to scroll over to the one i need.

the nostromo i had was perfect for this, but the analog stick and side buttons seriously strained by thumb after 20 minutes of use. im trying to find something else

Also this is how I run my BLM

http://www.xivpads.com/?Specs&518

attack buffs below my thunder chain
heal abilities below that (or above thunder chain)
- hate abilities centered for easy access from my thunder or fire chain
protection spells all the way to the right for easy access from the left or right side of the hotbar
resonance near my AOE abilities to increase AOE area

[Lux_Rayna]

how do you guys with controllers deal with fumbling over skills? i was considering doing xbox360 controller with keypad addon for this.. id PREFER ps3 with keypad, but the 0-9 keys are far too out of reach

lol practice. Firstly, you have to spend a good chunk of time mapping out your action bar in the *rough* order youll use skills. This means that you have to have a set rotation in your head. If you don't have a rotation yet, definitely think of one. Fights are so much easier when what you are going to do is basically automatic. Less you have to think about the better. Once you have that rotation hammered down, its a matter of picking an order. I set my action bar up a bit unconventional. Instead of placing everything in a row, I made it into a box. I'll use my Bard as an example.

Action bar 1: 1 Song, 2 Song, 3 Light shot, 4 Shadow Bind, 5 Barrage

Action bar 2: 1 Rain of Death, 2 Quick Knock, 3 Heavy Shot, 4 Leaden Arrow, 5 Wide Volley, rest are filler

Action Bar 3: 1 Blood Letter, 2 Gloom Arrow, 3 Piercing Arrow, rest are filler

Raging Strike and Quelling strike are on macro.

The rotation is as follows: (Raging, Light Shot x3)*, Quelling, Light Shot, Raging, Barrage, Light Shot

As you can see above, those are all very easy to hit. Very little movement. It gets better though.



My first combo is rain of death. So from Light Shot, I hit down on Dpad straight into Heavy Shot. Up on Dpad to hit light Shot. Down on dpad and left one to hit next skill. Up on Dpad an right one to light shot. Down on Dpad and left two for Rain of Death. Up on Dpad and Right two to Light Shot. As you can see it forms a neat and easy pattern. Basically you dont have to know what the icon is, because you know the order. Its like memorizing a cheat code on those old console games: A, Down, A, Up, A, Down, Left, A, Up, Right, A, Down, Left, Left, A, Up, Right, Right, A. I tried to make the movement easy, like a box, so it would be easy for my fingers to memorize. The Idea was that I'd always return to the Light Shot bar because thats where my songs were. So If I had to interrupt my combo for any reason, the songs were right there for use. Continuing was easy, because my next combo is in the same sorta pattern.

Bloodletter combo is next, Wide volley combo is last, Shadowbind is filler if I have spare tp. If you're bored, look at how I have it mapped above and see how the rest of the pattern works out.





*This only applies if Raging Strike is not charged from the last battle. Otherwise this step is skipped.

[Krausus]

I use controller, I cant even play this game with KB+M. Its all about the bar set up that allows you to be efficient with controller.

For example this is how I play my dragoon http://www.xivpads.com/?Specs&517 first slot is reserved for throwing weapons and not sure why the spec program throws up 2 x featherfoot I do just ass much up and down movements as I do left and right.

[Rannie]

I use controller, I cant even play this game with KB+M. Its all about the bar set up that allows you to be efficient with controller.

For example this is how I play my dragoon http://www.xivpads.com/?Specs&517 first slot is reserved for throwing weapons and not sure why the spec program throws up 2 x featherfoot I do just ass much up and down movements as I do left and right.

you're extremely lost without your game pad rofl

[Krausus]

you're extremely lost without your game pad rofl

true story, when my last one died and I tried to play KB+M I just stood in uldah and got drunk because I sucked so bad at KB+M I was useless.

[Rannie]

I was there remember rofl

[Hanabira]

thats a pretty good setup

[Krausus]

thats a pretty good setup

its really all about preference and the ability to know when to go up or down to achieve your next move in a quick way, like say I needed to cure and I'm currently on thunder, well I wouldn't hit down x2 I would just hit up once to get to second wind or to go from thunder to say featherfoot, I would go left once and then up once.

If your used to playing one way I wouldn't recommend changing to another unless you are really dead set on doing so as there is no noticeable benefit in either play style. They are both good, but if you do plan to play on both PC and PS3 when it is realeased I suggest getting used to a controller asap because the transition might be a bit frustrating.

[Ricky]

Mouse and keyboard superior in all situations, even moreso in 2.0 I'm sure

[ispano]

Here, let's do it this way.

Two players, one with a controller, the other with keyboard+mouse. Both are sitting in front of a group of say 6~ mobs. You want to target one in the middle and cast a spell. Said spell may or may not be on your active bar. Show the steps needed for each player.