Healers Controllers or keyboards

[DivineAyumi]

Keyboard/Mouse.
You can swap targets WAY faster and accurately with it.

[Capita]

I use controller for leveling and doing some easy dungeons.

But anything that needs attention goes to KB/M. The targetting is just far and away better.

Target an enemy without randomly aiming at someone's carbuncle? I got that. Scrolling through enemies? I got that. Scrolling through party list? I got that. Mouseover heal without losing my initial target? I got that. Click someone who's low HP and about to die, instead of having to cycle through a bunch of other people? I got that. Controller's just way too slow.

All of those things are possible with the controller if you configure the settings properly and are familiar with using it.

I used a controller most of Beta. When I set my "target only enemies" filter, it still kept targetting Carbuncles. Mouseover isn't possible. Directly targetting someone instead of cycling isn't possible. Best you could do is a target tank macro, unless you plan on macroing all 24 players in your raid.

But this isn't a KB/M vs gamepad argument. It's what works for you. Gamepad had a lot of shortcomings for me.

[Len]

Target an enemy without randomly aiming at someone's carbuncle? I got that. Scrolling through enemies? I got that. Scrolling through party list? I got that. Mouseover heal without losing my initial target? I got that. Click someone who's low HP and about to die, instead of having to cycle through a bunch of other people? I got that. Controller's just way too slow.

All of those things are possible with the controller if you configure the settings properly and are familiar with using it.

[Petori]

Gamepad in my left hand and mouse in my right. Yes a bit strange combination but it's surprisingly comfortable and works rather well.

[zoa01]

keyboard/mouse for me.

[Fatalmephisto]

Controller for me. Macro's come in handy for healers.

[Edu]

KB/M is the only way to play WHM... some end game FC's wont allow players to play WHM if they use controller

[AleviaA]

KB/M is the only way to play WHM... some end game FC's wont allow players to play WHM if they use controller

That's mainly due to 1.0's limitation to scrolling side to side on the hotbar. It was indeed slower and did not really help with min/maxing. However, in 2.0 gamepad has been optimized to be smoother, faster, and work just as good as kb/mouse, unless the healer themselves just fail. I am in a hardcore FC and I have been using gamepad since 1.0. I did not let the limitations handicap me, and I can tell you that 2.0 gamepad has definitely been optimized for the use of healing.

[Edu]

That's mainly due to 1.0's limitation to scrolling side to side on the hotbar. It was indeed slower and did not really help with min/maxing. However, in 2.0 gamepad has been optimized to be smoother, faster, and work just as good as kb/mouse, unless the healer themselves just fail. I am in a hardcore FC and I have been using gamepad since 1.0. I did not let the limitations handicap me, and I can tell you that 2.0 gamepad has definitely been optimized for the use of healing.

Sure the controller has been optimized for 2.0 but its still not on par with KB/M. When doing the 24 main raids you will never be able to select targets faster than a KB/M user. I would expect someone from BG to understand that.

[AleviaA]

Sure the controller has been optimized for 2.0 but its still not on par with KB/M. When doing the 24 main raids you will never be able to select targets faster than a KB/M user. I would expect someone from BG to understand that.

Good thing I don't just use a gamepad. For casual people a gamepad is good enough. Clearly for 24 man raids and even extreme versions of end game content it is best to be more prominent and use more than just a gamepad, therefore using a gamepad along with keyboard and mouse will be complex at first, but definitely proactive. FCs want a proactive and reactive healer, not just one nor the other. If a healer is simply reactive then it doesn't matter if they use kb/m or gamepad, because they are limited by their reactions. I always did say kb/m was best, but that does not mean you are limited by the device, as you drive the device up to par with how you see fit.