Will they ever reduce the amount of buttons needed?

[Nalam the Venom]

Hey.

One of the main reasons why i don’t feel like ever trying out this game.

Every guide i’ve ever seen seems to have like 20 buttons to keep track of (Samurai guide on Icy veins have 17) Which feels overwhelming and daunting.

Is there no ”Easy” class?

[hzjf]

just look for XIV Combo Plugin

Makes the Game 10 times better and more relaxing

[VinceVega]

You click the same combo again and again anyway on most jobs. FF14 rotation is very static.

Play it a bit and it gets into muscle memory very fast. Combined with the long GCD you don't even really need hotkeys.

[Yarathir]

Marginally. But hopefully not too much. It may seem daunting if you look at it from the outside in, but it gets pretty intuitive once you actually play. You gain abilities as you level and get used to them.

The exceptions are jobs that start at 60 and 70, because you get a lot of buttons thrown at you simultaneously there.

[Leyre]

just look for XIV Combo Plugin

Makes the Game 10 times better and more relaxing

Adding to this, if you wanna be even MORE lazy, look XIV Sloth Combo

[A Chozo]

yeah op, plenty of addons to help you with your rotation, and even more to help with your in-game performance to practice.

[Caprias]

just look for XIV Combo Plugin

Makes the Game 10 times better and more relaxing

Adding to this, if you wanna be even MORE lazy, look XIV Sloth Combo

Just prepare to never play on patchday or even longer due to them not functioning and also constantly squinting towards where you're at in the combo for positionals and ogcd usage (since you'll have less muscle memory to rely on).

And unless you're pretty old or have carpal tunnel syndrome it's really not that bad, every job is playable by binding 3 actionbars.

[NineSpine]

Hey.

One of the main reasons why i don’t feel like ever trying out this game.

Every guide i’ve ever seen seems to have like 20 buttons to keep track of (Samurai guide on Icy veins have 17) Which feels overwhelming and daunting.

Is there no ”Easy” class?

Don't think of it like "WoW with ability bloat". The rotations don't work the same way. It's not comparable. Some classes are definitely on the edge, but I am way more overwhelmed by the amount of RNG in WoW rotations than I am by the number of buttons in FF14. For example, in most cases, half your buttons are only getting pressed once or twice every two minutes, and since there is very little RNG its all one rhythm and you get into the flow of it.

[hzjf]

Just prepare to never play on patchday or even longer due to them not functioning and also constantly squinting towards where you're at in the combo for positionals and ogcd usage (since you'll have less muscle memory to rely on).

And unless you're pretty old or have carpal tunnel syndrome it's really not that bad, every job is playable by binding 3 actionbars.

how is that even an issue for you ? as if you cant remember if you pressed your Keybind 1 or 2 times. 3 Actions bars are 36 keybinds. Not gonna bother using Keybinds im absolute not comfortable with.

They could just reduce so many unneeded Spells and nobody would miss them

[Radaney]

Some of those buttons will be combo buttons, so standard 1-2-3. The rotations are quite simple, as you level up the game gradually gives you more spells and learn the rotations very naturally.

If it's daunting for you I suggest trying out Summoner, Dragoon.

[Caprias]

how is that even an issue for you ? as if you cant remember if you pressed your Keybind 1 or 2 times. 3 Actions bars are 36 keybinds. Not gonna bother using Keybinds im absolute not comfortable with.

They could just reduce so many unneeded Spells and nobody would miss them

Just my experience with it, tried dragoon with those plugins and in the heat when my attention is on boss mechanics I would drift ogcds or miss positionals I could hit with proper muscle memory, obviously this is very subjective but for me reason enough to uninstall the plugin right away.
But I also raid at patchdays so it wasn't for me to begin with I guess, plugins take some time to update depending on the patch size.

And yes, you could say 36 keybinds.
Or 12 keybinds with 3 modifiers you're comfortable with...

[KrayZ33]

Hey.

One of the main reasons why i don’t feel like ever trying out this game.

Every guide i’ve ever seen seems to have like 20 buttons to keep track of (Samurai guide on Icy veins have 17) Which feels overwhelming and daunting.

Is there no ”Easy” class?

SAM is very easy.
After the change it has become relatively easy to play 100% optimal (or should I say "even more"?), as the only "tough" thing is to figure out the extra GCDs you have to invest to line up cooldowns. Most of the timer however, you don't even need to do that due to bosses doing stuff.

Button bloat exist.
Get your rotation to 1 2 3 4 and "modifier"-1/2/3/.

AoE rotation is hardly needed in a raid context but can be done with basically 2 buttons.

Cooldowns are on a relatively strict 1 and 2 minute timer, you don't have to keep track, you will just remember that it is "time to press this now" after a while of actually playing the class.
And with the change in the recent patch, it's basically impossible to fuck up kenki management.

I usually manage with 1-4 + modifiers and the usual Q/E/X/C/F button or mouse4/5.

However, maybe a healer would be easier for you. They don't have many buttons in terms of how to deal DPS and the healing stuff is never really a "rotation" thing and you will have both enough time as well as enough tools to heal whatever raids and dungeons throw at your party. Not always of course, but we are basically talking about doing one specific heal very 45 seconds or so. Even in Savage, actually.

[MsSideEye]

Looking at any class in the game at max level is going to be overwhelming, especially if you're doing something like Icy veins which is all 'We're going to give you the best way to be Top Tier!' and then generally give you the absolute least fun way of playing.

With the way 14's leveling and what not is designed, though, you get drip fed your abilities slowly enough that you get a pretty good handle of what you can do/is expected of a class at their respective levels. Most of the classses have a 1-2-3 set up as their most basic of damaging spells and that's what you'll be doing most of the time until you get much higher and new skills are added. It also depends on what class you play as well. The Tanks and Healers generally have less stressful rotations for their abilities because they've got the added difficulty of doing their jobs. And some DPS are drasticly different than others when it comes to their skill set up (Monk, for example, is focused more on positionals for it's damage while Ninja focuses on having pressing abilities in particular orders to unlock different skills).

I will say that they DO realize that there is some button bloat in the game and have been focusing on methods to fix that. Some abilities have been pruned over the expansions and some of the newest abilities have been baked into other skills. The newest combo for Paladins, for example, was all put on a single button for them that changes after the previous attack has been satisfied. I know there's been feedback to the devs about this might being the way to go for the future and the 14 Devs are usually pretty solid about listening to the fanbase.

I'd honestly suggest ignoring most guides until you've actually given the system a chance, since they're so primed to being all about the end game.

[gd8]

Definitely recommend a combo plugin like some of the other people suggested, it freed up a lot of keybinds for me. Really the abilities should just function like that by default like they do in WoW (for example void eruption being replaced on your bars by void bolt after it's used) it's dumb and inefficient that they don't

[Wrecktangle]

Looking at any class in the game at max level is going to be overwhelming, especially if you're doing something like Icy veins which is all 'We're going to give you the best way to be Top Tier!' and then generally give you the absolute least fun way of playing.

I'm no expert on icyveins as I haven't ever really used it, but what do you mean they give you the "absolute least fun way of playing"?

[Onikaroshi]

I'm no expert on icyveins as I haven't ever really used it, but what do you mean they give you the "absolute least fun way of playing"?

Obviously the only fun way to play things is freestyle samurai and ice black mage.

[Pannonian]

Obviously the only fun way to play things is freestyle samurai and ice black mage.

icemage is so 2019 - real chads nowadays play thundermage!

- - - Updated - - -

Definitely recommend a combo plugin like some of the other people suggested, it freed up a lot of keybinds for me. Really the abilities should just function like that by default like they do in WoW (for example void eruption being replaced on your bars by void bolt after it's used) it's dumb and inefficient that they don't

Don't they? Especially the newer jobs:

RPR has a lot of shared buttons as does SGE with empowered (shield) spells, same goes for GBN (Repeat), hell even an older "new" job like RDM/MCH have them. Come to think of it - WAR has 1 or 2 too

[Maljinwo]

Is there no ”Easy” class?

Well, looking at a max level MMO from the outside without playing it can look daunting. But I think the game does a good job at the pace they give you your spells and abilities while leveling.

You obviously begin with only 1 skill and usually you get more combo abilities.
For example a Lancer would get a Spear Thrust at level 1
At level 3 they would get 'cooler thrust' which is meant to be used after Spear Thrust. So that would be a 1, 2 keyboard press
Later you would get 'Even cooler thrust' which is meant to be used after 'cooler thrust'. So now your basic damage combo would be 1, 2, 3

At later levels you get off global cooldown abilities that you can use between your attacks in each combo.

For example, you get Disembowel, which is meant to be used after Spear Thrust, it deals less damage than 'cooler thrust'. However it increases all your damage by 10% for 30 seconds.
So, in longer encounters you would first go for the damage boost and then get back to your normal damage combo.


It's easier than it looks like on, for example, ICy Veins where they just throw every skill that is available on max level.
You shouldn't worry about those, as you learn each skill by leveling, giving you ample time to get how a job works

[Arewn]

It sounds like a lot of skills but isn't that much to manage. The game has fairly static rotations and the buttons literally light up for you for most of it.
They are also implementing more and more skills that are just one button that auto changes to the next skill in the sequence.
The newest iteration of summoner actually has very few buttons on your bars.
Healers and tanks tend not to have many buttons either.
The game also teaches you in stages. Every 10 levels past 50 it introduces a new mechanic of your class.

[Katchii]

I'm no expert on icyveins as I haven't ever really used it, but what do you mean they give you the "absolute least fun way of playing"?

It's just very prescriptive, that for you to perform optimally you have to do EXACTLY this. With gear recommendations (that most will take as requirements), enchantments, gems, etc..

It surgically describes exactly what to manage, when to manage it, what to push, what to prioritize, etc... in such an unemotional, flat way that it can feel robotic when you just follow those directions.

They're not wrong, though, it just kind of sucks the creativity, fun and enjoyment out of it when you've basically been told exactly what to do.

Instead of just playing the game and enjoying yourself as you go along, following the guide turns the game into this kind of checklist where you just go down the list and check the boxes rather than a creative discovery type adventure. /shrug.