Midnight

First of all - thanks for all the replies, gave me something to try out.

After changing my movement keys to esdf and moving most instant spells around those I kept hitting the wrong keys which made even killing easy mobs while farming somewhat irritating. I think for the time beeing I´ll settle for keeping my wasd layout and start with moving just one instant (wing clip) to a new key (e) and try to get used to it.

The one question I´m really curious about hasn´t been answered though: how did I manage to occasionally automove in a certain direction by accident? I even had it happen to me once or twice that I automoved upwards with my flying mount unintentionally and I had to hit the jump key to stop it.

 

jsoeph

I suggest you try Belkin Nostromo 52 game pad. It is quite awesome. I play shaman and for good or bad I use 30 binded keys in my playstyle, including all totem, different level shocks and potions.

 

tedv

Warning: Huge amounts of keyboard nerdery incoming!

Maybe 10 years ago when I played FPS games rather competitively I researched this same problem. I was always bothered that I had to spend three fingers to do strafe left/right and forward/backward, when I would only choose two of those at the same time. Here's the keyboard setup I eventually came up with.

Movement:

Forward / Backward: T / G (use index finger)
Strafe Left / Right: R / F (use middle finger)

Primary Utility keys:

Use pinky / pinky / ring

1 2 3 / Q W E / A S D / Z X C

Secondary Utility Keys:

~ (pinky) / 4 (ring) / 5 6 (middle) / 7 8 9 0 - = (mouse click)
Y U / H J / V B N H (all thumb)

And of course your right hand is on the mouse for turning and selection. The result is that you have 12+ keys that you can press while moving forward, strafing, AND jumping at the same time, and another 7 if you're not jumping.

There are two problems with this setup. First, having R / F for left / right is very hard to learn. I spent around a week of strafing into walls and lava before I figured it out. Now it's very natural and I've used it for years. It's well worth the effort.

Second, it's very easy to hit the simultaneous key limit on your keyboard. The client might not interprets a new key press if you're already holding down a number of keys. This depends both on the number of keys already pressed and which keys. For example, on the keyboard I'm using now, I can hold down E and then R and then L and see all three letters typed out. But if I hold down E and then R, the letter T won't show up if I keep all three keys pressed at the same time. (As far as I know, it's essentially an issue with how keyboards are wired.) Of course, this will be an issue with any key binding setup you use. Eventually you run into the key press limit.

 

• GokieKS

I can't even imagine myself getting used to using R/F for left/right. It's just so counter-intuitive.

My main problem with keybindings in WoW is not so much with the action bars, but rather with all the other UI elements. I currently use WASD for movement and strafing, giving me Q/E (and Shift/Alt/Ctrl modifers of each) to work with in addition to my 1-8 (and modifer versions of each) buttons. Switching to ESDF actually seems like a very attractive proposition because it would give me up to 4 more close keys to use (A/Q/W/R/T/F), but it also raises the issue of having to find replacements for the functions currently bound to those keys - using the R key for whispers, for example, is so close to being second nature at this point that I'm really not sure if I can/should change it.

I guess what I'd like to know is what do you guys whose keybind setups are vastly different from the default use for the UI functions whose default keybinds are now used for something else?

 

Astrik

It took me about a week to adapt to ESDF as well. I thought it would take longer to be honest, but I am glad that I did it. I also completely took off the turn key bindings to force myself to use the mouse since I was a habitual key turner.

I still have a lot of problems trying to use instant cast spells while I am strafing though... maybe my fingers aren't nimble enough or I need more buttons on my mouse or something. And I also find that due to my key setup, I almost always strafe to the left rather than the right

It also drive me nuts to have too many shift or cntl macros setup. I use A for CS and shift-A for focus CS while Z is sheep and shift-Z is focus sheep. Beyond that, I don't use the modifier keys. How would you for instance strafe while shift-keying an instant spell? (my hand is aching just thinking about it)

edit
This is something I may have to consider.

 

tedv

Everything I want to do in a fight fits into one of the keybindings I listed-- benefit of >20 keys at my disposal. I just shuffled the other bindings (eg. talents, character pane, bag) to the right half of the keyboard. Keys like U I O P [ ] \ J K L ; ' are just bound to the information panes. What they are actually set to doesn't matter as long as you get used to it.

 

Largo

After years of playing with a nearly default layout, I switched everything around. No longer could I reply using R or see my equipment with C. Using Bartender, I basically laid out every button as a graphical display of my current keyboard, which is a split-key ergo. Where my movement keys are, I just left blank. Playing a hunter primarily and moving towards playing a priest for PVP, I've had to put some thought into this in the last few weeks.

Abilities I use most often, I tend to bind to Q, E, R, using a WSAD movement. It took me about a week to teach the muscle memory, but I did it mostly in BGs. I also tend to use Alt-Keys since the only thing my thumb is doing is spamming the ADDJump and my thumb feels more "in control" of itself than my weak-ass pinky.

The biggest change I've considered is shifting any instant-cast to non-alt keys with the cast-time spells to alt-keys. Reason being, if I'm spamming my movement with any two WSAD's and trying to cast, I really don't want to be trying to mash 4+ keys. So its either move+1, or standing alt+1. The thing I like about my ergo, without having to buy a "gaming" keyboard, is that the split down the middle makes a good physical "border" for my fingers to recognize.

 

Maliva

The way I have things setup are really differnt from anyone I've come across, give it a shot if you want, it'll feel strange at first but once you get used to it I can pretty much guarantee your response time will increase, which for me as a healer is really important.

Equipment:
Mouse: Logitec MX610
The mouse has 2 buttons on the left side, i'll call them T1, T2. There are three buttons on top along the left side of the leftclick button, which I use with my index finger, I1, I2 & I3. The scroll wheel is left, right and center clickable, SL, SR, SC.

So, all in all my mouse has the following programmable buttons, which I have keybound to:

T1 - 4
T2 - 5
I1 - 6
I2 - 7
I3 - 8
SL - 9
SC - 0
SR - Tab

For each of the above Keybinds I also have spells bound to both "shift+" and "ctrl+" for those groups giving me a total of 24 keybinds that I have instant access with a click of a button on my mouse. I use WASD for movement, and my mouse to set/change my camera distance/angle if needed. This allows me to move comfortably with me left hand and have all the spells I need bound to varrious buttons on my mouse.

Its kind of the reverse set-up to those who bash keyboard turners. I use my mouse for keybinds and my keyboard for moving instead of the other way around.

 

Cromfel

Now that we are into really optimizing the keybindings, have anyone considered using both feet aswel? Sure it may sound ridiculous, and maybe it is. But you have 2 potential keypushers out of use! Right feet for jumping and left for? :P

Edit: Left feet for War Stomp hotkey, now why didnt I think of it earlier!

.:. Retribution Paladin Hideout .:. http://cromfel.battlefield.fi/

 

Eyago

You could probably rig up one of those racing game foot pedal kits or flight sim pedals to work as your shift + alt keys and allow for some fast, flowing paging between 3 full bars of keys. Shoot, I kinda wish I had a set of those just to see if it'd work.

 

Xenth

I also made the move to the Nostromo n52, and have been loving it. I mapped my movement to the thumb pad, freeing up all my other fingers for abilities.

Two things to watch out for, though.
- The d-pad only has 4 distinct states. For example, the NW diagonal is created by sending both the N and W keys together. Using the Belkin drivers on a Mac I was unable to use the diagonals to use the diagonals to go forward and strafe at the same time. I did manage this with the ControllerMate software, however.

- It took me a couple weeks to get used to moving with the thumb pad. I find it very natural now, though.

 

jammy

I cannot possibly be alone here..


I use mouse in right hand with 2 thumb buttons assigned to powers. I right click to steer my character, left click to pan the camera around my character. I use the mouse wheel BUTTON (I don't use scroll for anything) for a power. I will also click both right and mouse button together to move forward if the situation calls for it, like if i need to completely move my left hand from movement keys, for example.

Now on to the strange part (at least I haven't seen it in this thread yet):

I use left hand on the arrow keys for 99% of movement. UpArrow is forward, DownArrow is backward, left and right are strafe. All "turning" is done with mouse. It is carry over from FPS games I suppose.

This leaves me with a wide assortment of keys all around my movement keys. I use every keypad key for a power (as a rogue there are so many reactionary powers that they must each have their own key), although the numpad 7, 4, 1 and 0 see most usage (keypad 0 is targeting and kypad 1 is jump, all index fingered). I make heavy use of the Insert, Home, PageUp, Delete, End, and PageDown keys that are positioned directly above the arrow keys, also combining shift+ with these keys.

So that covers the right of the arrow keys, and above the arrow keys - but I still have the left side available. I use Backspace and \ for powers, and typcal chat functions for the enter and / keys. We know what shift is for, and RightCTRL is my vent.

That's it, works for me <shrug>. Everything is easily within reach of arrow keys. I think I'm too old now to try to move to ESDF or WASD, new tricks and all - and my fat fingers appreciate the small open space between arrow keys and everything else.

 

Eyago

That is a little freaky, I'm not gonna lie. Regarding mouse buttons, I've a 5-button mouse that has been tremendously useful for oft-used abilities. I've MB4 bound to UA and MB5 bound to fear since I tend to cast those a ton. Also have both trinkets bound to Shift-MB4/5 and my mousewheel shift-scrolldown function does the reverse camera angle to see any pursuit. I've been thinking about something to bind to shift-scrollup, but can't think of anything practical.

 

Athinira

Druid input here. As druid i try to maximize the performance i get out of my keyboard buttons, and i have binded all abilities. Here is some inspiration and explenation on how i have done it.

First of all, i consider myself an expert of 5 mans (heroics in that sense). I have grinded almost 500 badges, and are still grinding. Besides raiding, heroics is the major kick for me since i love challenging 5 man content (however challenging most of them are after the nerf). I PuG 90% of my heroics, and i am pretty much leader of the group 100% of the time. This requires me, in addition to the normal keybindings, to use keybindings for Raid Icons to be able to mark new targets fast in combat, in addition to the normal keybindings i use.

Second of all, im raid leader in my guild, yet for stupid reasons i haven't got a microphone (too lazy to buy one) .This means that /rw (raid warning) is one of my major tools, and i have 5 macros with /rw commands which i constantly rewrite for each boss encounter to be able to announce different boss abilities. For Aran, for example, i have keybindings to announce his 3 major special attacks + elementals etc.

Third: I have my item sets keybinded to switch them fast.

Last but certainly not least, i don't use visible action bars except one, which means i don't mouseclick anything but consumeables (my only visible action bar), all druid abilities are keybinded.

Now, to get the optimal out of your keybindings you will most likely need a few things:
1) A mouse with sidebuttons. I use a Logitech MX 700, and the two sidebuttons helps me extremely having extra functions available in an easy to reach mode. Screenshot attached:
MX700
2) The ability and coordination to use modifier keys, CTRL and Shift being preferred as i personally find ALT too difficult reaching in hot-combat situations.

Now for my layout:
The buttons 1-6 and CTRL + 1-6 is my main actionbar which also switches when i change form. CTRL + 6 was too hard to reach eventually, so i replaced it with Shift + F. So in using 1-6, CTRL + 1-5 and Shift + F for my general combat abilities.

For shapeshifting i decided to use the sidebuttons on my mouse. They are easy to reach
Mouse4 = Bear
Mouse5 = Cat
Shift + Mouse4 = Travel/Aquatic (macro)
Shift + Mouse5 = Flight

Now, its important to utialize the buttons close to your movement keys for combat action, and the buttons a bit further away for non-combat action. Therefore, these are my out of combat buttons:
Numpad 1-9: Shifting my main weapon between a feral weapon and a healing weapon +
My Raid Warning macros.
Numpad 0, numpad delete, numpad +, numpad -: Changing sets
7 - 0 (normal buttons): Buffing MotW, GotW, Thorns and Omen of Clarity

For healing, decursing and support spells:
G = Remove Curse
T = Abolish Poison
To support Abolish ticks during PvP vs. rogues, i had to bind Remove Poison as well to support it. I binded that in a macro on CTRL + R that casts Remove Poison on a friendly target AND casts Moonfire rank1 on a hostile target (made as an anti-totem defense in PvP)
Shift + 1: Self Innervate
Shift + 2: Rebirth
Shift + 3: Healing Touch
Shift + 4: Nature's Swiftness
Shift + 5: Innervate other than myself
Shift + T: Lifebloom
E = Rejuvenation
CTRL + E: Regrowth
Shift + E: Healing Touch rank 8
Shift + G: Nature's Grasp
V: Tree of Life (if specced that way)

Now instead of just babbling away, note how my keybindings i use in combat are placed close to my movement keys or on my mouse. I combat, besides my shapeshift buttons, i use the buttons 1-6, F, G, T, R and E for my combat spells and abilities, as well as i use the modifiers Shift and CTRL since they are the easiest reachable. I could also use Q, but since i use that for Veltrilo/TS2 (the times i have a mic or borrow one) that won't work out (i do use Shift and CTRL + Q though).

The buttons i don't need in combat, or at least not in PvP Combat, are placed on 7-0 or on my numpad keys so i can move my hand some distance but without needing them suddenly since they are made for out of combat pressing.

I won't get into my keybindings for raid icons etc. but lets just say they are on the lower part of the keybord (Z, X, C, V, B + modifiers).

And last, but certainly not least: MACROS! If you have some abilities you can only use outside of combat, macro them so that the button serves two purposes, one out of combat and one in combat. For a warrior, this could for example be Charge when out of combat and Overpower when in combat. This saves you a keybinding once you get used to it.

Moderator and Organizer on The Druid Wiki
http://druid.wikispaces.com
The Druid Wiki is currently outdated and is scheduled for a major WotLK overhaul. If you are looking for information on druids, i would suggest browsing these forums for now.

 

jammy

I sometimes wonder about my brain. It never dawned on me that I could use shift with mouse buttons like any other key....

You just revolutionized my play style a little bit with that sentence

 

Rephaim

I have my mouse thumb buttons remapped to Alt and Ctrl. This gives me a much easier time in getting more binds closer to my fingers.

 

ruenaros

Conditional macros can help quite a bit for finding more easy to reach keys to use. For example, I have binding heal and mana burn mapped to the same key, and its function changes depending on whether or not my target is friendly or hostile.

example: /cast [help] Binding Heal; [harm] Mana Burn

 

Drfeelgood

I always wonder why people have their turn keys bound in this game. Not only is turning slow....but turning is slow! I completely unbound turn left right and made the ESDF keys forward/back/strafe. Turning is done via mouse...if you're a serious pvper, you aren't turning with the keyboard. I don't have that many spells as a paladin but I have the important ones bound - 1-7, Q-Y, A-H, F1-F6 are all bound to spells/movement along with a few Shift-modified spells. One thing I use that I doubt many do is the tilde key is self target. It's useful for not having to move my mouse when I need to throw an emergency heal on myself - mouse constantly stays over grid where it belongs. My mouse is standard two button but I think I would have a hard time converting to spells bound on mouse buttons.

I switched from WASD to ESDF in about 3 days. After switching, I would never go back - it's very natural to go to that destination on the keyboard and it opens up more keys for bindings. I got the trick from one of Otherguy's videos back when I watched them religiously in my maging days.

 

Bury

Personally, I keep my turn keys bound because I sometimes find myself playing on a Mac laptop without a mouse. Turning with the touchpad and one mouse button gets cumbersome :/

 

• Vulajin

The keyboard nerd in me finds this idea amazing. However, in situations that rely heavily on typing (read: any group that isn't on Vent/TS) I would want to have the movement keys closer to the natural home row positions. So I would probably use R/F with the index finger for forward/backward and E/D with the middle finger for left/right. You lose 4 potential keybinds, but you also don't necessarily always need to be able to perform an action while moving. For example, any spell with a cast time or any channeled spell, I would place on such keys as 3/4/5/T/G/B/V/C, where you could easily reach them while standing still.

I really might have to try this at some point in the near future. It seems like a damn cool idea. Thanks a bunch.

 

tedv

I originally learned the setup with RF / ED instead of TG / RF and found I didn't have enough key bindings. Honestly finding the homerow for typing isn't that hard. You just move your whole hand down and left one key instead of just down one key.

On the other hand, I designed the layout for playing Quake 1, where you needed split second reaction times for a changing to any one of a number of weapons. Warcraft PvP doesn't require reaction time on the same scale.

 

• Leene

I like to keep my bindings to keys that are close to my left hand, which is situated around W,S,A,D for movment (using right mouse button to strafe). I've found that I can't act as fast if I have to stretch over and press keys that are located to far away. So I use the number keys 1-6, and add in +Shit/Alt/Ctrl depending on what type of ability I want to use (+Shift for seals etc). I also use Q,E,R,T,Y,V,B for miscellaneous, but still important, abilities such as BoP and DS.

 

Cyrn

I switched from esdf to rdfg when I rerolled to warlock as I had so many different abilities to bind. I have the side buttons on my mouse bound to CTRL and ALT, so I have everything starting at 7UJM and going left available to me (with 2 modifiers) without changing my hand position. Non-combat stuff is bound to function keys. It took a little getting used to shifting position from the natural typing position, but I feel like I've maximized the number of buttons I can hit without moving my hand. I only wish there were a nostromo with more buttons than the n52 as I really like the thumbwheel.

 

Exto

Ok say you bind some instants to the letters around your WASD movement keys.


For example: R F C X Z all bound to some kind of ability.

What is your alternative to- R (reply to a whisper)
- F (assist)
- C (bring up the character pane)
- X (sit down / up)
- Z (sheath / unsheath weapon)



Do you just not use these functions now that they have been unbound? Or what is your solution.

 

Calantus

R - I don't bind this, I just to "/r"
F - I don't bind this either as I'm a healer, I'd probably use a macro if I needed it
C - 7 (I bind all the menu with 7 8 9 0 - etc)
X - . (period)
Z - , (comma)