I wish I could cycle through my combat spells FPS style and use a "fire key" equivalent. Does anyone know away to dynamically reassign keybindings on the fly? The mouse still seems like the logical place for combat control, I guess old habits die hard.
Right now I'm using the zboard Fang but it's big and uncomfortable for long use. I have a G15, but I found the extra keys were too far away for comfortable use and the learning curve on the nostromo was steep enough that I gave up on it.
I'm a closet clicker who only has my few 1) spammable or 2) speed is of the essence keys bound. As a warlock that basically means:
1: Shadowbolt
2: Drain Soul
3: Drain Life
Mouse Thumb: Life Tap
W-A-S-D: Directions
Since I'm PvE, and an SM/Ruin spec the majority of my spells are instant cast (Corruption, Agony, Siphon, Life Tap, etc.) or channeled (Drain Soul, Drain Life, Hellfire, and Rain of Fire) with the exception of my 1 cast item (Shadowbolt). Because all of those instant cast spells come with a 1.5 second global cooldown, I have plenty of time to get my pointer from one action button to another in an ideal Corruption+Agony+Siphon application cycle. On top of that I generally tab target my enemies which means that my mouse is generally free to do the clicking whereas if I keybound those items I'd have to multitask with my left fingers (tab + keybind) or take my right hand off my mouse.
But reading here I have a couple of questions that make me wonder if it's worth the pain of relearning to become a keybinder.
1) If 90% of your possible actions come with a global cooldown instead of being spammable, does it make sense to have anything other than the spammable 10% keybound? This is assuming I can't ever get away from keyboard movement as mouse movement is completely and thoroughly alien to my sense of kinesthesia.
2) Is there anyone out there that has a warlock main that's PvE focused who uses keybindings that can tell me what spells they bind and where? I saw the one up above with fear and death coil keybound and it was pretty evident that their alt was for PvP mostly.
I went and purchased a Nostromo-52 at lunch time today because if I'm missing a lot of efficiency, I'm determined that I'm going to make the change. But if it's just a small upgrade I probably won't bother and I'll just return it.
q - frost shock
A-q - decurse
w - LHW top rank
A-w - HW top rank
e - stomp
A-e - potion macro
r - stormsrike
A-r HW rank 4ish?
t - tremor totem
A-t - poison clense totem
y - disease clense totem
A-y - (reach too clumsy)
a - earth shock top rank
A-a - earth shock rank 1
s - left
d - forward
f - right
g - grounding totem
A-g - (air totem of choice...WF, GoA, TA)
z - purge
A-z - purge rank 1
x - target/assist macro1
A-x - target/assist macro2
c - back
v - searing totem
A-v - fire nova totem
b - magma totem
A-b - magma totem rank 1
space - flame shock
the only things i click are like trade skill stuff sometimes...and food/water. it might be a bit extreme, but i like it :D
1) If 90% of your possible actions come with a global cooldown instead of being spammable, does it make sense to have anything other than the spammable 10% keybound? This is assuming I can't ever get away from keyboard movement as mouse movement is completely and thoroughly alien to my sense of kinesthesia.
I'm an N52 user, with a primary character of a rogue, and an alt char of a warlock. Two classes at the opposite sides of the spectrum in terms of what can/needs to be bound. I can get away with using the N52 on my rogue no problem - just swap out bombs and blind for rupture and feint or something (to have everything bound w/out using "shift states"). However the warlock is a completely different matter.
My goal for this weekend is to actually re-configure the N52 from the ground up, implementing WASD movement (instead of the directional), and alt+ and shift+ casting. As is, the warlock has access to *way* too many skills to have bound by just mouse/base N52 options. Nevermind the various pet abilities I like to micro manage.
What I'm looking to do is have my side mouse buttons (or maybe mouse tilt left/right) be my shift and alt states, then bind all my spammable DD's (and targeting functions) in whatever's left on the base N52 keys, curses on the shift state mapping, and consumables on the alt state mapping.
I've yet to see an N52 set up that I've been overly impressed with though. Also by my guess, over the last 18+ months I've probably remapped my rogue/warlock binds probably 20+ times. Key binds strike me as one of those things that's going to be unique to each character. Almost everything you do w/ that one character should be factored into your binds in order for them to make sense. At least to me.
I've yet to see an N52 set up that I've been overly impressed with though. Also by my guess, over the last 18+ months I've probably remapped my rogue/warlock binds probably 20+ times. Key binds strike me as one of those things that's going to be unique to each character. Almost everything you do w/ that one character should be factored into your binds in order for them to make sense. At least to me.
Although this is a different character, a priest, I was pretty impressed with the way this person configured his spells on the n52. The most impressive part, in my mind, was eliminating the WASD movement keys from all other shift states. He did this by placing all the instacast spells with his WASD keys in the native shift state; the only spells that you can cast on the move are grouped with WASD keys. Makes sense and saves you 4 keys on all other shift states :)
Reason I mention this is it could save you quite a number of keybinds on your warlock :)
I use WASD and the mouse primarily, CAPS-LOCK rebound to CTRL. I only have a couple rare binds past "6" on the numbers, and those are abilities that I could only use while standing still anyway.
Mouse - default settings
Left Click = camera
Right Click = turn
Mouse Wheel = zoom in/out
Thumb 1 = Backstab / Ambush
Thumb 2 = Vent push-to-talk
Middle Mouse = Cheap Shot / Kidney Shot
WASD = movement
E = stealth
F = assist
shift-T = trinket 1
shift-G = trinket 2
Q = flip camera
` = autoattack
1 = Sinister Strike / Sap
2 = Eviscerate / Garrote
3 = Slice and Dice (swapped with Rupture when I PVP)
4 = Gouge
5 = Kick
6 = Feint
7 = Rupture
8 = Shoot Gun
One of the easiest ways I've found when I need to take my fingers off 1 of the movement keys is just to press both L Mouse and R Mouse at the same time to move forward. I can always keep at least 1 finger on either A or D so I can still strafe while reaching some of my harder-to-reach hotkeys.
Borrowing from the Unique UI thread and with the help of Discord Action Bars, i just redid my keybindings so the keys are in the shape of the number pad....hopefully this will help encourage using bindings over clicking.
After seeing so many people raving about the N52, I went out last week and bought one. I tried it for a full day of play, and decided that its not for me. The orange thumb button is so stiff that it rarely actually clicks. The d-pad is so squishy that it is difficult to control. The thumb shift button is so soft that it goes off sometimes with your thumb just resting on it. The scroll wheel is very stiff compared to any mouse scroll wheel I've ever used... not something you want for quickly scrolling through a list. I found that the rubberized bottom didn't actually provide enough traction to keep it from slipping on my desk as I tried to press the stupid orange button.
So after a good 8+ hours of trying to like the N52, I said fuckit and went back to using the keyboard. Borrowing another suggestion I've heard, I shifted my key layout over to ESDF from the standard WASD. By doing this, I was able to keybind every ability I need and hide my actionbars. I'd highly recommend moving to ESDF for anyone else looking for a way to increase easily accessible keys for binding.
the main problem with the 1-9 bindings is...you cannot hit the bindings while moving (well maybe you can you little octopussy :>).
well at least i cant, it doesnt feel comfortable. One big point...there is NO need to optimize anything until you start raiding or do some serious pvp. Well its mainly pvp cause mobs won't move much. In PvE you can just stand there do nothing just hit some buttons, at least if you are a caster.
Here are my bindings for my def-warrior:
moving:
w - forward
a - strafe left
s - backward
d - strafe right
space - jump
stance dance:
i do this with my mouse. just rebind the CTRL+F1, CTRL+F2 and CTRL+F3 bindings to sth useful.
I use sth like shift + mwheel up (berserker)
shift + mhweel down (def stance)
alt + mwheel up (combat)
extra mousebuttons will do just fine.
action bars:
q - button1
e - button2
r - button3
f - button4
c - button5
x - button6
shift+q - button7
shift+e - button8
shift+r - button9
shift+f - button10
shift+c - button11
shift+x - button12
pot/rescue bar:
1 - Racial
2 - Life Giving Gem
3 - Last Stand
4 - Shield Wall
5 - Pot
6 - bandage
The nature of druids (ie. three roles in one toon) can make keybinding quite difficult. I have one button on my mouse bound to the 'shift' key, meaning I dont need to evolve and pick up some double jointed thumbs.
E - forward
D - back
R - strafe right
W - strafe left
1 - Dire Bear
2 - Cat Form
3 - Aquatic Form
4 - Travel Form
5 - Reins of the Frostsaber
T - Moonfire Shift+ T - CTRA Healing Macro
G - Insect Swarm Shift + G - Healing Touch 11
V - Faerie Fire Shift + V - Healing Touch 7
Y - Starfire Shift + Y - Healing Touch Rank 4
H - Wrath Shift+H - Regrowth
B - Barkskin Shift+B - Rejuvenation
Q - Entangling Roots Shift+Q - NS+HT
A - Hibernate Shift+A - Decurse
Z - Cant remember, prolly not important Shift+Z:NS on its own
X - Shadowmeld
In feral form, I dont need the shift key and can just use the main keys (T,G,V,Y ... etc) I like the way I do it as I'm really only ever pressing the same keys, just sometimes holding down a mouse button as well. Although, I'm running out of key bindings and starting to think I might need to make another mouse button 'CTRL' or something.
Any of you guys tried http://www.wolfkingusa.com/ pad? I've been thinking about it; it'd be nice if anyone has first hand experiences to share.
I'm currently using one and I love it.
It took ALOT of time to get used to though, had no control the first time i tried it, but now it's going smooth :D
Only one thing that I'd like better on the wolfclaw, was if it would have been abit smaller/not that far between each button, but I still like it.
After seeing so many people raving about the N52, I went out last week and bought one. I tried it for a full day of play, and decided that its not for me. The orange thumb button is so stiff that it rarely actually clicks. The d-pad is so squishy that it is difficult to control. The thumb shift button is so soft that it goes off sometimes with your thumb just resting on it. The scroll wheel is very stiff compared to any mouse scroll wheel I've ever used... not something you want for quickly scrolling through a list. I found that the rubberized bottom didn't actually provide enough traction to keep it from slipping on my desk as I tried to press the stupid orange button.
So after a good 8+ hours of trying to like the N52, I said fuckit and went back to using the keyboard. Borrowing another suggestion I've heard, I shifted my key layout over to ESDF from the standard WASD. By doing this, I was able to keybind every ability I need and hide my actionbars. I'd highly recommend moving to ESDF for anyone else looking for a way to increase easily accessible keys for binding.
Regarding the N52 I had pretty similar experiences. I didn't like the feeling of the keys as well as the limits for keybinding in terms of keys availible. Of course you might use Shift and Ctrl...but i returned to my keyboard as well. I wouldn't switch to ESDF as well. One the one hand you gain more accessible keys, true. But as soon as you start to keybind some actions to Shift combinations (I did that for my warlock alt (see my previous posting), this is offset by the true awkwardness for your pinky imho.
I have a mx1000, and instead of using it for abilities
I put move forward/move backwards on the two center mouse buttons, strafe left/strafe right on the two side buttons, flip camera on my thumb, and jump on the mousewheel click. I didn't use mousewheel sides for anything because I tend to fat-finger those fairly often.
I also use Z to mount, the rest of my binds are pretty generic, though I like putting stuff on the VBNM,. keys because I can thumb them pretty easily from the spacebar.
I have a mx1000, and instead of using it for abilities
I put move forward/move backwards on the two center mouse buttons, strafe left/strafe right on the two side buttons, flip camera on my thumb, and jump on the mousewheel click. I didn't use mousewheel sides for anything because I tend to fat-finger those fairly often.
I also use Z to mount, the rest of my binds are pretty generic, though I like putting stuff on the VBNM,. keys because I can thumb them pretty easily from the spacebar.
Ok, I have to say that I am damn impressed! By many people on this thread actually. I have learnt a lot on this thread, which will definitely help me become a much more competitive player in both, PvE and PvP, but especially in PvP. And because of this, I'm going to share a little secret with everyone on this thread: before reading this thread, I used to think that I gotta be one of a few geniuses of keybindings in the world! Yes, yes, this sounds conceited and all, but as I said, it is a secret. I never walk(ed) around telling people that I'm a genius in this or that, but to share a little secret with the many good players on this thread, I'm going to say that I secretly used to think that am a genius of keybindings.
Now that I read so many useful tips on this thread, I believe that I am still a very competitive keybinder, who can come up with smart combinations for things, because while reading some useful tips here & there, my mind was actually already coming up with ways to improve and add efficiency to what this or that player is doing or how they're keybinding their stuff.
In World of Warcraft, I have levelled 9 classes over level 55, and I currently switch from one class to another on the fly, so mind you, keybinding is very important for me. I have a dire need for it, and it has to make sense to me from both, a logical and a visual perspective.
You do not have to agree with any of what I say (or repeat from other players) below, but after reading this thread & another web page, I have come up with some tips that I think will be useful to some players, and if I haven't benefitted a lot from this thread, believe me I would've selfishly kept these tips for myself to have as much speed and "reflex" edge on others in PvP as I can (many people never share their best secrets), but since I learnt from some of you here, these are my 2 cents:
Use mouse buttons (preferably on a good gaming-grade mouse), plus Shift / Alt / Ctrl / CAPS-lock or at least 2 of those keys, for your most commonly used and spammed offensive or defensive (healing, decursing, etc) skills & talents. For instance, MB1 = Sinister Strike, Shift-MB1 = Eviscerate.
Switch from the old-school WASD to ESDF movement (which effectively renders Alt useless for me personally--but there is a workaround in the next bullet point), which can potentially liberate & empower you with new instant (no shift, alt, etc) shortcuts, and will also make perfect sense to you if you "touch-type" and are used to have your index finger on the F key.
Remap Ctrl key to CAPS lock using software or an addon of some sort (assuming you will use ESDF for movement).
Contemplate, think deeply about, and plan the macros that you would personally like to have, then script your macros yourself (rather than just copying & pasting what was made by others), even if it involves copying & pasting bits of macros from others that would be improved or changed slightly by you. Remember that macros are your ultimate solution to get rid of clutter & save space on the screen, because they will allow you to have up to FOUR different skills or talents in one single slot!! Imagine that. How? By making the slot clickable for a skill without any modifier keys, then giving a different skill to each modifier key you like from Shift, Alt, and Ctrl.
Depending on the size of your hand & length of your fingers (and assuming you will move by ESDF), bind only numbers 3-5 for use directly on the keyboard with [medium priority] or [short-cooldown] quick-relfex skills & talents, and map the other numbers & keys (1-2 and 6 to =) to the buttons of a gaming-grade mouse (while also mapping Shift-MouseButton with all those numbers & keys) for your [high priority] or [no-cooldown] quick-reflex skills & talents.
Add Bartender, Flexbar (or something similar) to your arsenal of addons and at least try it if you are not using it already.
While doing all the above, visualize yourself fighting in-combat and simulate what happens in your mind, especially your typical situations, and your emergency situations. Plan to use any of the tips above to eventually allow yourself be using the keyboard in-combat only for the ESDF keys for movement, Space bar for anything you like, and the modifier keys CAPS & Shift & Alt. All offensive & defensive skills and talents need to be executed by the mouse buttons, with the modifier key held down sometimes for the skill or talent of your choice.
Finally, always keep in mind that keybinding is an "art", which is one of the main reasons I love this thread, because I always considered it an art, even before bumping into this thread. And because it is an art, it will always be open to improvements, tweakings, fine-tunings, and perfecting, while never becoming really perfect! It is an ongoing little, minor journey of change & improvement.
Hope these tips will be of use to some of you. And thanks to the few smart players on this thread (without mentioning names)!
I think I'm the only person that uses the directional keys to move.
1 - Searing Pain
2 - Shadowbolt
3 - Immolate
4 - Incinerate
5 - Curse of Recklessness
6 - Curse of Agony
7 - Drain Soul
8 - Drain Life
9 - Death Coil
0 - Life tap
- - Summon Kodo
= - Fear
Backspace - Seed of Corruption
Q - Soul Fire
W - Curse of Elements
E - /use Skull of Gul'dan
T - Curse of Tongues
A - Fel Domination
S - Demonic Sacrifice
H - Hellfire
B - Banish
Shift + B - Banish rank 1
Shift + E - /use Hex Shrunken Head
Shift + 1 - Summon Succubus
I think that's all of 'em. I tend to click things like Soulwell, Summoning Portals, etc. /shame
Just curious, for those who switch between multiple classes, do you guys keep similar abilities on the same key? I use ESDF for movement, and W is always my main offensive ability (Shadowbolt, Lightning Bolt, Heroic Strike), A is my snare (Frost Shock, Hamstring), G is my interrupt (Earth Shock, Pummel/Shield Bash). I also use my different lines on my keyboard for similar abilities. 1-5 are DoTs on my 'Lock, AoEs and Shouts on my Warrior, Heals on my healing classes. Z-V are AoEs on my 'Lock, Self-Buffs on my Warrior.
The benefit of this is it's easier to learn, the downside is that not all classes have interrupts and snares, so either I put something else that doesn't fit there, throwing out my instinctive pressing, or I lose a button.
(Self) buff tends to be 8 (e.g. Fortitude / MotW / Water Shield)
Debuff tends to be 4 (e.g. Hamstring)
Main attack tends to be 1 (e.g. Mangle / Stormstrike)
Similarly, 'stances' are on my mouse buttons. E.g. Bear/Cat/Travel form vs Defensive/Battle/Zerker stance vs Stealth vs Ghostwolf.
Etc etc. This way it's fairly easy to swap between different characters. The only time I really have issues is when I switch from my Mutilate Rogue to my ShadowStep one. I have the same buttons for Long Cooldowns, and because of Talents those are different. E.g. Cold Blood and Preparation share the same button. That does get confusing at times.
Ignorance can be solved with a book. Stupidity requires a shotgun and a shovel.
the main problem with the 1-9 bindings is...you cannot hit the bindings while moving
Around 12 years ago I was playing FPS games competitively (specifically Quake) and encountered a similar problem. It was hard to switch to some weapons while moving, and in a first person shooter you are either moving or dead. The fundamental problem is that wasd requires three fingers devoted to movement, so you only have your thumb and pinky for all the other activations. No matter how far you shift the keys to the right (even to tfgh), you're still devoting 3 fingers, and that's a problem.
So I designed a different set of key bindings to solve this problem. The core movement keys are TG/RF. T is forward, G is backward, R is sidestep left, F is sidestep right. The index finger handles T and G while the middle finger handles R and F. This frees up the thumb, ring and pinky fingers to access these rows of keybindings:
`1234
qwe
asd
zxcvb
Plus tab and space bar, and the thumb can access almost anything on the right half of the keyboard as well. It took around two weeks of stumbling into walls and lava before my brain learned the reflexes, but it's been second nature every since.
Lots of people are posting how ability X is bound to control-alt-cokebottle-Q, but all that really matters is the number of easily accessible key bindings. To me, easy access means you can press them with one finger while moving in any direction. For me, that number is 16 (plus whatever I stuff on my mouse).
I'd also note that these bindings are helpful for more than just arenas. As a raiding caster, I find the ability to move and cast instants crucial, given how many fights in Sunwell require repositioning. Just a rough number from WWS parses I've seen, the inability to cast while moving can easily cost 50 or even 100 DPS.
The other problem is... this thread was 2 years old.
I see no reason not to leave it going now though, but if it just degenerates into "hi guys, my keybindings are" then it'll get closed fast. Also there's a post earlier in the thread that has a huge font -- there's something screwing with the forums on that one, it wasn't the poster who did it.
Brief addition for me: I have a lot of alts and I try to follow that philosophy too, of trying to make similiar keybinds across chars. That means that E is dispel magic or cleanse for my main chars, but it's also remove curse, and also cloak of shadows. For druid it would be remove poison, for warrior it would be berserker rage. I categorize that key as my "cure/get rid of something" key and so if I'm picking up a char I haven't played in a few weeks, it makes the awkwardness much less.
Cool to see this thread again, almost forgot about it.
With 3.02 on the horizon and expansion right on its heels, I'd be interested to hear how others plan to incorporate new abilities into their UI/binds.
Frankly I have no idea just yet. I have exactly enough button binds for my abilities and playstyle now. I'm using the Razer Tarantula keyboard and the only distiguishing feature from the g15 is the row of hotkeys on the right side of the board (I use the numberpad for the majority of my binds).
Exactly my thoughts & feelings & strategies for switching between classes, Lanth. Yes, I put spell-interruption stuff in the same exact place using the same shortcut. I couldn't switch between classes smoothly if I didn't do that. And yes, when a class doesn't have a spell-interruption skill/talent, I put something different, the closest thing to spell-interruption, a "stun" talent, for example. But there are always exceptions to the rule.
11/10/06, 10:17 AM
