Which jobs require the least frantic button pressing (healer or DPS)?

[Xialoh]

Thinking about getting back into this, but I don't feel like straining my hands like I did when I did raiding years ago (not to say I can't do it at all, I just don't want to). Which jobs are the least demanding on the hands to play?

i.e. I've heard bard requires a ton of constant input. I don't want that. I really want to play the game more for content tourism and story than anything.

I've always been partial to healing, but I am considering going for a DPS for a change.

[DarkFenix]

The least demanding dps classes in terms of button inputs are probably the dancer, red mage, and black mage. Dancer and red mage are the two simplest dps classes overall, and while black mage has complications elsewhere, the rotation is nothing too busy.

[useless puppy]

White mages prefer to stand still and heal only use lillies to heal outside of ultimates.

[Elazul]

Dancer is probably your best bet for DPS you can turn off the brain and just smash glowing buttons.

[Jin-]

Dancer. Very relaxing to play. A bit boring since you don't have any recourse to manage but still relaxing and looks pretty

[Delphaneux laCroix]

As already mentioned, it sounds like Dancer is the job for you.
I main Red Mage and while it is fairly simple for the most part, it can get a bit ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy during bursts.

[✚ Mariel ✚]

Of the healers, White Mage is easiest, but it can still be frantic at certain times, especially when you need to cover for mistakes. Red Mage is a very easy and versatile damage dealer class, it can raise dead players, and has an actually strong heal that can make the difference between a dead player and a nearly dead player in hard situations.

[bad at video games]

WHM is the lowest APM job and probably the easiest one too. And it's got the best dps output out of the healers, also better healing than them unless put up against an AST who knows what they're doing (rare).

[Drakzen]

Probably healer as you'll only really need to be doing alot of frantic button pressing if your tank does big pulls in non optimal gear.

Not sure about dps but something like Smn or Rdm I found not very hectic to play with.

[Xialoh]

So Dancer, Red Mage, or Black Mage if I want to DPS. White Mage if I want to heal (what about Astrologian?). Thanks for the recommendations.

Of these the only one that doesn't interest me too much is probably Black Mage. Despite not wanting the frantic tapping, I do like to be able to move a lot.

I don't mind the occasional frantic moments either. Pretty much I just don't want to play something where the entirety of a raid for me is mashing 1-2-3-F-X-G-R-B as fast as I possibly can, forever.

This is why I have a preference for healing, as in other games it would let me react to the need for high activity (compensating for party mistakes/burst phases), rather than guaranteeing my hands will be at the same high level of activity permanently. And it gets me fast queues and the ability to wipe a lot less, potentially..

Although as I understand it, healers have to DPS here in the XIV world, so that reaction playstyle with downtime probably doesn't exist here. Still has slower moments though at least, I assume.

[Jonas™]

Ranged DPS - MCH probably, I have everything on 1-6 and ctrl+1-5 (the 5 is a bit of a stretch) and 2 DPS cooldowns that I click every couple minutes. They have a relatively fast rotation, but fewest keybinds, and the rotation is very predictable with no procs, so you can concentrate on movement and mechanics.

I played both BRD and DNC to 70 and couldn't force myself to keep going. They have way too many procs and you spend half your time staring at the resource bar watching for something to flash. Very unpredictable, high investment rotations, same goes for RDM IMO. I would avoid BLM as well if you don't want a metric ton of hotkeys that are all used situationally. BLM complexity is up there with the melee DPS (ton of hotkeys, more than SMN even).

Tank - WAR, hands down. Basic rotation on 1-6 and ctrl+1-4 then, I click the DPS cooldown and defensives, but you could bind them and not have that many more. The rotation is slow and easy. PAL isn't to bad either, but WAR has better defensives. GNB and DRK are more complex, but not hugely so, mainly their DPS rotation.

Healer - Again, not even a close one, WHM. They have a fair number of binds but you only really use ~10 frequently. The rest are situationals and cooldowns so it's safe to click them unless you are doing progression. SCH is probably second, but they have fewer healing options (more shields) and I find the pet mechanics annoying. I only played it to 80 because I enjoy SMN, which is the same leveling class and you get MUCH faster queues than as DPS.

Melee DPS - lol don't bother, they all have hugely complex and situational rotations. DRG is probably the most predictable, but also the most punishing for f***ing up, both in terms of DPS loss and dieing during animation lock.

I'm in your boat as not being able to deal with a huge number of binds, so I know where you are coming from. I've played everything except the melee DPS to 70 and 6 jobs that I play regularly at 80. From my personal perspective MCH > WHM > WAR > SMN > GNB > SCH, but my enjoyment drops off steeply after SMN (which I love, has the best glamour out of all my jobs, but makes my hands hurt after playing for an hour or so).

[Jin-]

I main Red Mage and yea it is simple but have agree with @Delphanaud that it can be hectic at the times. Especially if you need to be offhealer or res mage. At those times it can get very hectic.

Also if you don't pay attention you can over fill the recourse which makes recovering from it costly for your dps and takes time

[Kai]

Първоначално публикувано от Xialoh:

So Dancer, Red Mage, or Black Mage if I want to DPS. White Mage if I want to heal (what about Astrologian?). Thanks for the recommendations.

Of these the only one that doesn't interest me too much is probably Black Mage. Despite not wanting the frantic tapping, I do like to be able to move a lot.

I don't mind the occasional frantic moments either. Pretty much I just don't want to play something where the entirety of a raid for me is mashing 1-2-3-F-X-G-R-B as fast as I possibly can, forever.

This is why I have a preference for healing, as in other games it would let me react to the need for high activity (compensating for party mistakes/burst phases), rather than guaranteeing my hands will be at the same high level of activity permanently. And it gets me fast queues and the ability to wipe a lot less, potentially..

Although as I understand it, healers have to DPS here in the XIV world, so that reaction playstyle with downtime probably doesn't exist here. Still has slower moments though at least, I assume.

You can hotkey configure your keyboard for interesting combinations of keys.
I use Shift, Ctrl, and ALT with my mouse4 and mouse5 button (forward and back) to get 6 more shortcuts.
Plus I free up the Z, X, C, by using it with "Ctrl+" and Alt+1/2/3/4 to make it easy to 'buff' skill.

My setup is:
1/2/3
Shift+M4/M5
Alt+M4/M5
Ctrl+M4/M5

I focus on putting 'short cooldown' active skills there.

For Alt+1/2/3/4 I put skills that are buff focused since I main dragoon.
For the two jumps, I put Alt+M4/M5 for that.
I also set a Alt+X for the #5 on my hotbar, as a 'ultimate' attack.

I put limit break on Ctrl+Z, and Ctrl+C is usually a healing move or a potion, and Ctrl+X can be whatever else I put.

But in general you have quite the freedom to combine two keys and get a function out of it, just delete functions that you would otherwise use (ctrl+C for currency is kinda useless).

If you want, you can remap R to be not auto-run and put auto run as Shift+R or something else.

If only there is context sensitive hotkey functions like holding down 1 and scrolling/moving mouse ( or wheel) to choose different commands, etc.

[bad at video games]

AST can require a lot of double weaving and is the highest APM healer while being mid-range fot APM over all jobs. I main it and the opener can be really rough even if your hands are fine because it's not just double weaving, its double weaving + having to react to what card you get in a very very short window of time.

[Infinite Pudding]

I just got Black Mage unlocked and having come from maining Monk it's so much easier. I also started playing with a controller rather than Keyboard and mouse and it's made things a lot better was well. It's easier for me to remember what's assigned to d-pads and face buttons than it is the Fkeys. Maybe give it a try.

[Jonas™]

Първоначално публикувано от Infinite Pudding:

I just got Black Mage unlocked and having come from maining Monk it's so much easier. I also started playing with a controller rather than Keyboard and mouse and it's made things a lot better was well. It's easier for me to remember what's assigned to d-pads and face buttons than it is the Fkeys. Maybe give it a try.

Wait until you hit 61+ and have 4 or 5 of each single target fire and ice spell, plus AoEs, plus maintainance buffs, that all must be hotkeyed since unlike SMN/RDM the upgraded ones don't replace the lower level ones, which you will need to have for any sub-60 dungeon.