FFXIV: Hotbar Setup

[Six]

First of all, this thread is for both PC and Console players, it works the same way as the screenshot thread, but for this thread, you just show off your Hotbar Setup. Feel free to give a bit of an explanation when it comes to your hotbar choices as well.

My subscription ran out yesterday, so I can't post a picture yet, but tomorrow I'll re-sub and get my hotbar in order to show my way of playing.

I know a lot of PC players have a great setup, but I personally still prefer playing with the controller (on the PC), I am however, trying to find a good setup to play with mouse and keyboard, just to avoid the 3rd party (DS3 tool) dying in the middle of combat...

So yeah, let's see yours, and why you chose your current setup!

 

[L]

Well honestly it really all depends on you. What keybinds work for others may not work for some.

That being said, I generally like to keep my hand in the same reach of my most important abilities so that they can be used without any delay and have changed a lot over the years that I have spent playing computer games. I used to keyboard turn and actually bound my abilities to the numpad lol. Now I turn with the mouse and use pretty much every key that I can on the left side of the keyboard and then mouse buttons too.

L, M3 and M5 are all mouse buttons. Everything with a Diamond (actually it is an arrow but its so tiny) beside it is a Shift modifier, and those with a small A an Alt modifier. All the buttons to the side are basically a navigation menu

I like to keep my buffs and debuffs near my bars because I check my bars pretty frequently for cooldowns, so I am more likely to notice them, though I wish they weren't both on the same field.

 

[Ethics]

^ Waaaaay too much screen real estate taken up with hotbars. Personally, I prefer to leave as much open as I can get to allow for me to see more of what is going on around me. It helps (me). I hide irrelevant information (inventory, exp, main menu, etc) using a hidden hotbar of macros. Ctrl+H toggles my HUD and removes irrelevant bits, Ctrl+X brings up everything that is hidden for a bit of debugging, Ctrl+R is return, Ctrl+T teleport, etc etc...

Will supply a screenshot tomorrow in a ninja edit.

Since I main WHM, most of my skills can fit nicely between 1 and 5. I move primarily with mouse during combat, even often in place of strafing because I can often predict it ahead of time and prepare. Hotbar 2 is accessed with a Ctrl modifier, which sounds weird, but Hotbar 3 is what I use for my secondary hotbar. The reason that hotbar 3 is easier to access is because it's my aggressive damage spells, DOTs, holy, stone etc. which I use often. Ctrl modifier for buffs and medica doesn't bother me because I can predict their usage and queue it up before my current cast/GCD is over.

In the end, for me, it all comes down to prediction and preparation and that is why I have my current setup. Maybe I should main scholar and not WHM, but....WHM for life.

Edit: It took me more than a day to get this up, but here it is. Shut up. The last image with the blatant vertical hotbar is the one that is typically hidden. I replaced my debug macro with my Opo-opo minion, because tiny fucking monkeys. I'll explain the macros in the macro thread over here.

 

[AuronX]

I don't have a current sub either, so here's just a random old screenshot. I've used the same layout since day 1 of playing the beta on PS3, even though I now play on PC.

I like to have everything as out-of-the-way as possible. On PC this isn't as big a deal, but back on the PS3's 720p resolution the default configuration felt way too cramped to me. So I tried to distribute the UI mass around the edges of the display to leave the center uncluttered as the focal point. Obviously I'm playing with a controller here, too--I use a Dualshock 3 or Dualshock 4 depending on my mood.

 

[Six]

It would drive me nuts to have my hotbar up at the top...

I am trying to learn to play this game with mouse and keyboard... It's proving to be very difficult. Crafting classes, and my main DPS (Monk) class, I still play with the controller (on PC), but the white mage class, I'm trying to use mouse/keyboard as often as possible.

(Click the images to enlarge)

DPS / Crafting setup:


White mage setup:

 

[Ethics]

Finally got around to updating my earlier post because shut up, I know it took me longer than a day. There was no typo in the previous sentence.

 

[Jake]

This is my White Mage hotbar as of today!

I'm sure it looks completely random to people but I have a reason for most things being where they are. First up, every healing and support related spell (bar a few) are up front. Since WHM is first and foremost a healer, having easy access to everything related to that is very important. Admittedly I'm having trouble with my Scholar hotbar because healing feels secondary there. But anyway! I know my Cure placements bother people, but the point there is that they're opposites. I press the right trigger and down on the d-pad to cast a Cure (I). If I want a Cure (II), I do the positional opposite and press the left trigger and the "x" button. They feel very deliberate this way.

The extra hotbar on the side is there because of this:

Part of my "play style" with WHM is that I like to DPS as much as possible before doing any kind of healing and with my current setup I can do that rather well, I think. Since my offensive skills are on the trigger shortcuts, I can switch in or out of cleric stance and start healing with all of my abilities within one GCD. Additionally, no matter what I'm doing, I'm able to see the cooldowns of my support skills which makes me more likely to use them or to adjust accordingly (Can't tell you how often I "forgot" about certain skills before doing this). I don't have Benediction on the side because the cooldown is so very long that me using it is VERY deliberate.

...

Same idea goes for my Bard:

My "songs" are on the trigger shortcut so they're tucked away, but still available rather easily. Cooldowns and certain offensive skills that can't fit on the first hotbar, are placed on the other trigger shortcut and also the side hotbar so I know when to use them (still need to get a few Dragoon skills for my Bard, but you get the idea).

 

[Six]

Astrologian Hotbar Setup incoming!!

R1+Square

This bar is a mess and needs cleaning up, but it would remain the same. I might slap "Surecast" on there, since I don't have it yet, and I'm sure it would be handy to have at times. Basically all my go to things like Teleport, Sprint, mounts, the Limit Break and food are here.

R1+Triangle

This is my main hotbar. Here you will find all my healing spells and most used buff spells like the cards, Synastry, my Shroud of Saints, etc. Cleric Stance is on both my healing hotbar and my DPS hotbar so that if I switch too fast, I don't have to switch back to a different hotbar. I like to keep my card system close together. All my main heals, cure I, cure II, medica, and medica II are on the right.

R1+Circle

Here's where my pre-fight buffs are, and my "healing bubble" as you don't use it quite as often as you would on WHM due to movement breaking the bubble. Swiftcast, Raise (with message), etc. And then obviously all my DPS skills are on the left. There's one or two cross class skills you can add, but I've never bothered... If I ever do I'll put them on R1+X which... is empty atm.


( The Grinch as you can see I favour R2 for my "role dedicated" spells. This is obviously something you can change to suit your personal playstyle)