Game pad vs Keyboard

[Dzian]

So I can near instantly move the mouse to target something out of a group, can near instantly zip around 180 degrees and target something inside of another group. Something a Thumbstick cannot do mind you, you have to to first change the speed the system moves at for stick movement, which nearly increases the speed of all stick positions. Where with a controller, you have nearly whatever speed you wish just by changing how fast you move the mouse. Then you have to target a mob in the middle of said mob by, in the case of FFXIV, using the DPad(Or whatever you chose to bind it too) potentially taking your finger off the stick, whereas the mouse user can move over and be ready for the next target. Now you finally have the target, you have to use a given skill, which depending on where it is could take several more presses. With how I have my Mouse thumb buttons set up, any given skill takes no more than 3 presses to do, third one being confirmation for spells if I have that option on. For targeting in a visual world, the mouse is going to be superior.

Most of that doesnt make much sense but in my case I can target what i want, hit the spell i want in 3 or 4 button presses given that i have macros on triggers. in av for example group stop at your kill spot target your mob usually involves pressing left or right once or twice if you target one thet dies fast hit your trigger and press your macro.

while a mouse has a sense of precision in the mass pull fests this game has trying to click the mob in the middle with the most hp with a mouse is rather hard to do personally. with a pad i can just hit left or rightt ill i find one with high enough hp to survive my casting time.

the differences between pad vs mouse/keyboard aren't dramatically different. and vary hugely. you'll never see evidence that gamepad monks regularly out perform mouse keyboards monks or vice versa

[ispano]

Most of that doesnt make much sense but in my case I can target what i want, hit the spell i want in 3 or 4 button presses given that i have macros on triggers. in av for example group stop at your kill spot target your mob usually involves pressing left or right once or twice if you target one thet dies fast hit your trigger and press your macro.

while a mouse has a sense of precision in the mass pull fests this game has trying to click the mob in the middle with the most hp with a mouse is rather hard to do personally. with a pad i can just hit left or rightt ill i find one with high enough hp to survive my casting time.

the differences between pad vs mouse/keyboard aren't dramatically different. and vary hugely. you'll never see evidence that gamepad monks regularly out perform mouse keyboards monks or vice versa

You'll hopefully realize in my first response I said that the current UI latency and whatnot reduces the effectiveness. However, come 2.0 much of that should be cleared up.

Let me ask you this? What if you have several macros, not just 2 or 3? What if you need many many skills? You'll have to hit a button several more times to get to the appropriate key. As it is now, I hit the key I need, OR use a thumb button once to move the bar up or down, then hit one key. I don't need to move to the right or left whatsoever. Come 2.0 I won't have to move the bar either.

As for one outdoing the other? I've played with many people, many who use one form of control or the other. The ones using Gamepads I can regularly see me, even with my 200+ Latency, performing skill chains before them, getting into position before them and whatnot. That's of course only my word on that, no real proof.

Also, not to mention, while you're "tabbing" through targets to get the right one, with the default controller setup you're also not moving. If you change movement to the other stick, or targeting to a different button you can, but then you can't do something else while moving and targeting. I can.

Also saying the differences aren't dramatically different, yet vary hugely, is contradicting yourself.

[darkstarpoet1]

You'll hopefully realize in my first response I said that the current UI latency and whatnot reduces the effectiveness. However, come 2.0 much of that should be cleared up.

Let me ask you this? What if you have several macros, not just 2 or 3? What if you need many many skills? You'll have to hit a button several more times to get to the appropriate key. As it is now, I hit the key I need, OR use a thumb button once to move the bar up or down, then hit one key. I don't need to move to the right or left whatsoever. Come 2.0 I won't have to move the bar either.

As for one outdoing the other? I've played with many people, many who use one form of control or the other. The ones using Gamepads I can regularly see me, even with my 200+ Latency, performing skill chains before them, getting into position before them and whatnot. That's of course only my word on that, no real proof.

Also, not to mention, while you're "tabbing" through targets to get the right one, with the default controller setup you're also not moving. If you change movement to the other stick, or targeting to a different button you can, but then you can't do something else while moving and targeting. I can.

Also saying the differences aren't dramatically different, yet vary hugely, is contradicting yourself.

you say you are one way, but i'm on the other end of the spectrum. i use controller and usually top in the parse of any party i'm in whether it is doing damage or the amount of healing done. what he said is that it's not drastically different, but the results will vary greatly and that is correct.

there's not a huge difference between a good keyboard/mouse user and a good controller user.

the results varying greatly is just as correct. a bad controller is by no means going to be anywhere near a good keyboard/mouse user and vise versa.

there will always be a big difference between a good player and a bad player. that's regardless if you are comparing 2 that use controller, 2 that use keyboard and mouse, 2 that use keyboard only, or any combination of them.

[ispano]

you say you are one way, but i'm on the other end of the spectrum. i use controller and usually top in the parse of any party i'm in whether it is doing damage or the amount of healing done. what he said is that it's not drastically different, but the results will vary greatly and that is correct.

there's not a huge difference between a good keyboard/mouse user and a good controller user.

the results varying greatly is just as correct. a bad controller is by no means going to be anywhere near a good keyboard/mouse user and vise versa.

there will always be a big difference between a good player and a bad player. that's regardless if you are comparing 2 that use controller, 2 that use keyboard and mouse, 2 that use keyboard only, or any combination of them.

And yet, if you compare the two interfaces on their own, without a person using it, one is clearly superior for a given job. That may sound odd to some since someone has to use it for it to do anything, however, outside of them being two different control methods, the only other real variable is the player. If you remove that variable and compare the two as they are, again, one will be superior for a given job. Period.

[Dzian]

Also, not to mention, while you're "tabbing" through targets to get the right one, with the default controller setup you're also not moving. If you change movement to the other stick, or targeting to a different button you can, but then you can't do something else while moving and targeting. I can..

I fail to see how selecting targets prevents me from moving or doing something else.
I can run to a given nuke spot target my chosen mob and have my selected spell ready to cast before I even get there, start casting as soon as i get there and have second wind ready to pop as if i'm the first to get my spell of i'm likely to take a few hits.

the idea that I can't move my character if i'm selecting a target or something is very very wrong.

if i needed to i could run over here, target something over there, swing the camera around on it, hit any action i wanted to do and do it all at the same time.

I would simply say, if you can't then you suck with gamepads which is really no different to how i suck with a mouse and keyboard. comes down to preference.

[ispano]

I fail to see how selecting targets prevents me from moving or doing something else.
I can run to a given nuke spot target my chosen mob and have my selected spell ready to cast before I even get there, start casting as soon as i get there and have second wind ready to pop as if i'm the first to get my spell of i'm likely to take a few hits.

the idea that I can't move my character if i'm selecting a target or something is very very wrong.

if i needed to i could run over here, target something over there, swing the camera around on it, hit any action i wanted to do and do it all at the same time.

I would simply say, if you can't then you suck with gamepads which is really no different to how i suck with a mouse and keyboard. comes down to preference.

My point was that you're limited to how much you can do at the same time with a gamepad, I know this because I use one for many many games. If moving and targeting are the left stick and the dpad, which they are by default, unless you have weird fingers, you're not doing both at the same time.

[Cynthis]

I would never play with a mouse keyboard just from an ergonomic standpoint. I have seen way too many people get problems with back and shoulders just from the typing they do at work, and I also do far too much of that, to ever sit and use mouse and keyboard all evening at home.

[AceofRains]

I'm currently using a keyboard and I hate it compared to gamepad.
Although the controls aren't that different to me I haven't really mastered shortcuts on the keyboard like the target filter or simply opening the main menu. (don't judge its a laptop...lol)

:/ I sure can't wait to get my controller back.

[SoapySan]

I use a gamepad when I'm being lazy. But I've been using my keyboard/mouse alot. Mainly because my mouse has all of these damn buttons on it.

[Eruantien]

I use a controller, just like one of the other posters I like to sit back on the sofa and play