Saabik

I use ESDF as well, key mapping is here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?k...BH3hyFTg&hl=en

I've gotten pretty apt at hitting the alt and shift binds in combat, I put mostly non-combat items on ctrl. My philosophy is anything that could have saved a wipe, won a PVP fight, or tapped a gas cloud before someone else deserves a keybind.

I'm still looking for a minimalist rune watcher, though, most of that has becomes pretty second nature now.

 

dreadai

Got my N52 a few days ago, and despite my first negative impressions of it, I persevered, and am finding it useful.

Binding main strikes and Oblit + RP dump and using the dpad + mouse for movement takes a bit of getting used to, but does work well. I'm pondering setting keypress macros up for it for basic use.

 

Nolari

The link doesn't seem publically accessible. Either that, or you blocked me specifically, in which case I'd like to know why. :P

Rune Pack perhaps?

http://ctprofiles.net/2140192

 

Darial

Try XPerl. It's a very good addon with an excellent rune-watcher.

 

Essarhaddon

I use an N52 as well and find it quite helpful. I never found using the dpad for movement to be comfortable, so I macroed four of the standard keys to be arrow keys for movement and then macroed my most commonly used abilities to the dpad instead.

 

Kjelin

I've noticed that many people are still listing that they use keyboard movement keys. I find by just using my mouse I can keybind from 1-3 down to Z-C for 12 keybinds with shift modifiers for all those, for 24 keybinds, add in whatever else and you can end up with as many keybinds as you need. These bindings all end up within 3 keys of each other as well allowing for fast reaction with minimal movement.


To achieve a greater ability to preform movement actions as well, just bind autorun to your mouse thumb button and move backward to your right side mouse button. I found mouse turning in combination with this allows for some pretty speedy hijinks!

 

Acaila

I use a Fang Game pad (Ideazon? Precision Gaming Tools [Fang Gamepad]) with some custom mappings.

The shear number of buttons mean I gave pretty much every ability, or combination in a macro, assigned to a different key.

 

dreadai

More updates! N52 is still peachy, but I did find that having Rune Strike Macro'd *everywhere* was ultimately counterproductive, as I would run out of Runic Power at critical moments.

I've left it macro'd onto Obliterate and Frost strike, and have SCT ready flash up procs

am finding moving with mouse + D-Pad now fine. it does take some getting used to though.

 

Najani

I switched from a keyboard setup to a N52 last week. I run roughly the same setup. Strafe L, strafe R, forward and backward on the Dpad. Everything else on the keys. Shift mod for a few abilities and a few /castsequences thrown in for things like Pest/BB. It was a nightmare to get used to. In the end I removed all my keyboard bindings so I'd be forced to learn. After about 5 heroics it became second nature and my life has been much easier since. Well worth the switch.

My only gripe is that setting up the initial keybindings was a horrific experience. It became much easier when I configured bartender4 to look like the key layout on my screen. This assisted with the initial learning greatly.

 

jooce

If you use the basic setup and want to free up some keys there are a lot of 'good' keys that are bound to silly things by Blizzard.

Things like z, x, c, v, f, g, `, even t (if you're a caster esp) can be turned into something useful. Get used to using shift and/or control and feel free to bind all those things you seldom use (sit, unsheath) to ctrl modifiers. Name plates are U.

Bind the things you use the most easiest obviously.

 

Prag

I also use a SpeedPad n52te. I think I've been through 2 of them (Red Bull is sticky when spilled), but they've truly made it much more enjoyable, especially considering my clumsy hands.

My setup is:

D-Pad Up: Tab (Target Nearest Enemy)
D-Pad Down: Shift (Modifier)
D-Pad Left/Right: Strafe Left/Right
Northeast/Northwest/Southeast/Southwest are disabled. I found it doesn't work well for WoW.

The actual number pad is setup as follows:

[4][3][2][1][W]
[8][7][6][5][D]
[=][-][0][9]

The small circular button is Ctrl (also my Ventrilo PTT).

So, my 4 action bars are:

A.B. 1 - Main abilities - 1 through = (No modifiers)
A.B. 2 - Main abilities (cont.) - Shift + 1 through Shift + =
A.B. 3 - Cooldown Abilities - Ctrl + 1 through Ctrl + =
A.B. 4 - Consumables, Presences, Path of Frost - NumPad 1 through NumPad 9.

I think that's about it. I would highly reccomend anyone with clumsy, fumbling hands such as myself give this thing a try.

 

MissnL1nK

I personally do not macro anything that has to do with my abilities. I find that you lose a certain control of your character when this is done. Just personal preference of course. I like having complete control over my abilities to ensure the timing is correct and the RP usage is intact.

 

OmniDo

While this is true to a certain extent, it also has the advantage of amplifying a characters potential by virute of "Fire and Forget" methodology.

For example, I use a macro that uses Deathchill and Howling Blast simultainously.
Since I am a Frost Spec for tanking, this has the added advantage of also doubling as a standard Howling Blast.
I wouldnt want the crit to affect Icy Touch, or any other ability other than Howling Blast, simply because it is an AoE and it makes no productive sense to Crit on an Icy Touch when you could crit on a much higher damage spell that affects multiple targets.
Thus, Deathchill is never used on anything other than Howling Blast.
Another example is the use of Rune Strike, macro'd with any other standard ability; Death Strike, Blood Strike, <insert other non-runic power ability here> as a fire and forget mechanism.
Since Frost Strike uses Runic power, macro'ing this would be pointless, unless you had enough surplus runic power to do both, which although possible isnt very practical.

As for /castsequence macros, I would tend to agree with you, depending on the situation.
Especially for situations like tanking, a sequence macro isnt reliable when the conditions of its use could (although they shouldnt) change drastically, thus resulting in a dud-button.

There is something to be said though about the one-button "Oh Shit" factor when linking abilities together such as: Icebound Fortitude, Unbreakable Armor, and Lichbone, all at the stroke of one key.

 

Rawsomeyaple

I am new to these forums so if there is a better place to post this please let me know.

I am a blood spec Death Knight with Blood Gorged. My goal is to have a macro that will choose Obliterate if I have 75% or more health or Death Strike if I have 74% or less. I know the mechanics are possible because we used a similar function with powershifting macros to gain energy for feral druids with the furour talent. However I am horrible with macros so I usually just copy and paste them.

If you can direct me to a macro with this function or help me make one I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Mags

I've always used the Function keys as the keyboard shortcuts for my second action bar. I used to have Z, X and C mapped to stance shifts on my warrior. Since DKs don't need to really stance dance, I mapped them to Dark Command, Blood Tap and Death Grip respectively.

Finding a good UI for displaying runes is tricky, and I suspect we'll all find slightly different solutions that we're comfortable with. While I was levelling I was a chronic action bar watcher, but that doesn't really cut it for level 80 content. I tried both RuneWatch and MagicRunes, and nothing seemed to "click" till I made a couple of changes to MagicRune defaults.

First I changed the bars from horizontal to vertical, and then I changed the rune display order to F-U-B-B-F-U. Adjusting the runes to better match my basic rotation (Icy Touch/Plague Strike - BS - BS - Scourge Strike) seemed to make the display more understandable to me. The most helpful part of Magic Runes (as opposed to action bar watching) is getting a better idea on when I should be fitting a Death Coil or other RP ability into my rotation, or whether I should wait that extra half second to use a rune ability. I do still find myself staring at the action bar from time to time though (usually when I want to drop Death and Decay again) so I think its largely a matter of training myself to focus on the runes.

 

◊ Bryne

The mechanics aren't possible. I'm not sure why you think this is analogous to powershifting, but you can't base macros off conditionals such as your health level.

 

kirson

Powershifting exploited a loophole in the protected code that allowed you to cancel the form buff based on a condition. This can still be done but they patched the Furor talent such that it doesn't give you the bonus more than once per combat.

 

Neckface

I'm surprised how many people are putting both hands on the keyboard. I used to play this way (well, I originally was a WASD mover + clicker..../shudder). I KNEW that I would be more mobile with mouse movement, but every time I tried to learn how to move with the mouse the competency threshold was so high that I always gave up. Finally I rolled a brand new rogue which I leveled up to 39, twinked out, and ran tons of BGs using exclusively mouse movement and left-hand keybinds. Only then did I remap my main, and very soon thereafter remapped all my other toons. If anybody is still moving exclusively with keys I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you learn how to mouse move, using a new toon if necessary.

As far as binding enough keys given that I now only have one hand to use, I use SHIFT (and sometimes CTRL) to give keys multiple duty. Any given key maps to a spot on my main hotbar unmodified, and maps to the same spot on the bottom right hotbar if I hold the shift key down with my pinky. (Pinky finger has no other duties other than hitting modifier keys.) That gives me access to 24 abilities right there. The CTRL key is a little bit tricker to hit smoothly, so I then do the same thing with my righthand toolbar and CTRL, but limit it to less timing-critical or less frequently used abilities, such as my Mount macro or Gargoyle.

 

Outy

Hey everyone, I'm just looking for a little advice here on a so called "problem" that I apparently have. I have been a clicker ever since I started playing wow. I am well aware that for the most part people use key bindings and what not. Do you feel as a Death Knight, or any class for that matter, that clicking "gimps" you as a player? (In my case as a tank)

I've read on this thread what keys people bind their abilities to and I like the idea as a whole, but clicking is a hard habit to break...

Any thoughts / suggestions?

 

Draegan

If you're tanking and all you have to do is stand there and fire off abilities then clicking is fine. But with most fights mobility is key and clicking does affect this.

Looking for a guild.

 

raei

Don't really know how useful this is for most people, but it's one way to make things tidier using Bartender.

I have bar1 as the main skills (was hidden, but since I keep respeccing that became inconvenient, I've learned to stop watching skill cooldowns now anyway) then make bar 2 secondary skills, placed somewhere off in the middle of the screen (wherever, doesn't matter) and then bar 3 above that with less common skills. Then I bind shift 1234 etc to the skills on the secondary bar, and alt/ctrl 1234 (preference) to bar 3. Then set bar 1 to page to 2/3 when you use those shift/alt modifiers, and set 2 and 3 to always hide, so you never have to see them again. Allows for nice logical things like OB/DS on the same button without having to make a macro for every damn button.

By setting the bars that way and having the swap modifier it does seem a bit convoluted, but I found that without that the keys wouldn't work; the pageswap only let me see the bar, not use the new hotkey.

Hopefully that all made sense >.<

 

Himmel

I use mouse wheel up for Plague Strike and wheel down for Icy Touch as these 2 abilities always used in quick succession. Then goes Heart Strike on 1, Obliterate on 3 and Death Coil on clicking mouse wheel. Cycle complete with very few finger acrobatics.

Utility and cooldowns are spread around ASWD movement, Q, Z, X, V, T also Shift and Ctrl modificators for them.
I'd like to mention that interrupts (both Strangulate and Mind Freeze) should be especially accessible, my choice is E and 4.
Hope this post helps.

The only thing that sustains one through life is the consciousness of the immense inferiority of everybody else, and this is a feeling that I have always cultivated.

Oscar Wilde, "The Remarkable Rocket"

 

Avair

Death Knight is the first class I have played that uses a pet in WoW. Is it possible to bind a pet ability (for example the Stun) to a convenient keybind (like F2)? I tried briefly to drag the ability onto my hot bars, but that didn't seem to work.

I ask mostly since having a readily accessible stun (as opposed to needing to click) in PvP would be quite handy.

 

EwokChilli

You can drag them to your bars from your spell book, there are a list of pet abilities in there. I macro'd /cast Gnaw into my lazy farming macro to make my pet stun whenever his stun is up. Pet abilities strangely work just like yours.

 

UserBanned

Its interesting to see all of these keybindings, but most do not address simple 'leveling' (especially for people without all of the class skills)

My own style? I love mouse side buttons and I don't have the finger nimbleness to do Shift/Ctrl at the same time as other keys with my left hand (broke my hand 4 times in the 1990s.. skateboading = Fail.) I can do shift/ctrl + mouse buttons with other hand, so that is my setup (and I find it works very well).

Oh, I also turn off pet's LEAP ability as I find it it be a useless ability that just slows its DPS and combines horribly with Death Grip (pulls adds, etc.).

My own bindings are this: (Level 70 - Unholy spec (6/0/54) I use Dominoes bar mod so all the binding is through that interface. Most of this is designed for easy killing of hundreds of creatures in a row with as good DPS as possible (without worrying if it is not perfect)

1= Auto Attack
2= Icy Touch
3= Plague Strike
4= Death Coil
5= Blood Strike
q = Scourge Strike
r = use healing potion

Movement = WASD

Mouse 4 = fight macro (/castsequence [reset=combat] Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Blood Strike, Blood Strike, Scourge Strike, Death Coil, Scourge Strike, Scourge Strike, Scourge Strike, Death Coil

Shift+Mouse 4 = spellcast interrupt (/cast Mind Freeze /cast Strangulate)

Ctrl+Mouse 4 = AoE macro (/castsequence [reset=combat] Icy Touch, Plague Strike, Pestilence, Boil Blood, Death Strike, Unholy Blight, Death Strike, Boil Blood, Boil Blood)

Mouse 5 = grab/pet stun macro (/cast Death Grip /cast Gnaw)

Shift+Mouse 5 = Death and Decay

Ctrl+Mouse 5 = Death Coil

----

While leveling, it is a simple matter of asking myself "Single Target or AoE?" If it is a single mob, I target the mob and just go wild spamming my Mouse 4 button. If I see any of my macro attacks miss (parry/dodge etc.) I use the corresponding 2-5 or q key to use that ability again till it sticks.

If it is a group then I use the ghoul to round up a few extra and once they aggro I use death grip (Mouse 5) on a target to where I want to fight and to bring back the ghoul. I usually start with Death and Decay (Shift+Mouse 5) Then I target the one with most HP and start spamming Ctrl+Mouse 4. If a disease misses I retry with 2 or 3, and once it hits I continue spamming Ctrl+Mouse 4. Death Strike is less damage than Scourge Strike, but I find the extra healing helps in AoE fights. I rarely use 1 to restart auto-attack when I still have a mob left, but no runic power/runes up.

If I find my runic power is maxed I start the next fight with Death coil (Ctrl+Mouse 5) or Unholy Blight (click the button)

I do still use my mouse to click my non-combat skills or my rarely used combat skills like 'rune strike' or 'death strike' in a single fight that i need healing.

I will be very happy once Horn of Winter has no rune cost next patch, as I will find it a spot in my macros.