From Clicks to Keybindings: Movement
A while ago, I revealed that I haven’t always been a keybinder. I can safely say as one that has made the transition that I still can feel the awkwardness of it at times, but that what little of that is left is starting to slip away. What that means is I really have to write about this stuff before I lose any ability to empathize with the clicking family. If there’s one thing that the keybinding community is notoriously terrible at, it’s empathizing at all with a clicker’s situation. Today’s topic loosely connects with my previous post revealing my older playstyle and looks to explore the movement of a keybinder and what people making the jump from clicks to keybinds can expect.
Getting the Grey out of the Way
The power of keybindings is that it allows you to move with the mouse. This is done by holding both your left and your right mouse buttons down in order to move forward. With those buttons held down you can also move the mouse side to side to spin your character at speeds far, far faster than using your arrow keys on a keyboard. You can execute the 180 turn and run noticeably faster than a keyboard turner.
We’re starting to enter the wonderful world of grey area here though because there’s nothing stopping a clicker from utilizing this same movement. As a clicker myself, I used to move like this at times too.
What’s the Point then?
The difference, of course, is that a keybinder moves and does things. A clicker just moves. The result is that if you’re forced to quickly move out of something and actually do something that you’ll always be slower to do that next thing as a clicker. You’ll be less than a second slower, but you’ll be slower nonetheless. This is something so difficult to measure especially for those of us that are really, really experienced clickers. I realize as someone that was a clicker for years that you literally learn to click without even looking at where you’re clicking. That said, we’re still dealing with fractions of seconds not equalities. Even though you’ll have a million different things to blame wipes on, there’s no denying that sometimes that fraction of a second is the difference between saving a teammate, yourself or the entire raid.
And remember, this assumes, you’re a ridiculously good clicker. If you’re new and just not at that level of speed yet and it’s noticeable to you that clicking takes some time after movement then you won’t just notice small gains, you’ll notice huge ones. We’re talking about the difference between barely making the raid team and being an every day member.
So, How Should I Move?
This is a touchy subject. I don’t know if there’s a best way to move, but what I can tell you is how you can make the transition from clicks to keybindings easier. One of the biggest mistakes I made that really slowed my development as a pure keybinder is assuming that I only should move forward with the mouse and that I should map back to some insane other key. In reality, the following approach was sufficient.
- Q stayed as Strafe left
- W stayed as move Forward
- E stayed as Strafe right
- S stayed as move Backward
Which means only A and D (my turn buttons) got re-mapped to abilities and I now exclusively turn my swinging my mouse. There’s no speed loss for moving forward with W nor moving backward with S and thus no harm in still using them as long as you’re intelligent about how you form your keys around those abilities.
In my particular setup, A and D have became a number of Shouts (Demo, Battle, Commanding) and a number of pulling/movement techniques (Heroic Throw, Charge/Intercept/Intervene, Regular Throw). Basically, my keybinding setup is designed around being able to hover up at the 1-4 keys, move with the QWE keys and as a result, I’ve got less frequent used, but nonetheless important abilities underneath those.
What to Take away from this
When making the move to keybindings, don’t be afraid to do it gradually and keep some of what you know the same. It’ll make the process a lot faster and more bearable. The power of keybindings is being able to react quickly, react while moving and react with multiple abilities simultaneously. (read: use stuff off the global cooldown like Spell Reflect or Shield Bash with stuff on the global cooldown like Devastate and Shield Slam)
If you’re wondering, will this painful process be worth it? My answer is absolutely, Yes. The newer you are to WoW the larger the impact you’ll notice from the change. However, even myself having been a truly seasoned clicker, who never even in Sunwell felt limited by it at all, has really noticed aspects of my game have become much stronger since I made the move many months ago. Most importantly, I now learn encounters faster and I can react to the unknown better than I ever used to.
Simply put, making the move from clicks to keybinds was the singlest greatest thing I ever did to enhance my game. If you’re here looking for some of the big secrets to becoming a better tank, this is one of them. Don’t say I never told ya and remember nothing ever worth doing came easy. 
May 25th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Sounds good to me!
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May 25th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I agree 100%. Hands down moving away from keyboard turning / clicking your action bars and towards keybindings is the win!
It’s the #1 thing I tell any up-and-coming player.
Another major benefit of switching away from clicking your abilities is it frees up your mouse to click other things in that time-space… like targets. And of course if you target with your mouse, your not TAB targeting… the 2nd greatest evil of tanking.
Using your mouse to move is the first step towards moving your character and camera independent of each other. A great skill to master; moving your camera independent of your toon allows you to strafe in one direction and “look” in another; a technique many people employ for tracking say…. malygos sparks.
Finally, to some degree you must look at your action bars if your clicking. I know people can “practically not look at the buttons” when clicking; but in my experiences I was far more comfortable (and consistent) watching the action when pressing keys, rather then clicking buttons; allowing to keep more of my attention on the fight, and not where my mouse is on the screen.
There are a million ways to bind your keys, find something that works for you! I had to purchase a peripheral before I could get off the clicking bandwagon… the keyboard just didn’t do it for me. Contrary to Vene’s advice, I jumped right in; didn’t take it slow at all. The raid suffered. I wiped us a whole night! But you know what? It was worth it! I’m far faster and have far more weapons at my (quick!) disposal then before.
I’m a convert!
p.s. The peripheral is http://www.n52te.com/ and is major win-sauce. Combo it with a good mouse, and you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips. Software is easy to use; on-board memory too! Great for gaming at a cafe or buddies house. Biggest plus is the X-Box style “D Pad”; use your thumb instead of 2-3 fingers to control strafing!
Doesn’t suit everyone; but those who use it can’t live without.
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Kevin reply on May 27, 2009 12:21 pm:
I have to agree with the n52te, I bought one and it totally changed the way I play wow. I was a much better tank as a result. Also its usually cheaper than I nice keyboard, so you can bang away at it and when it wears out just buy a new one ; )
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Zaren reply on May 28, 2009 1:26 pm:
I recently switched to the n52te also!
I was an avid clicker. (thought it was better than keybinding) Then a coworker that play(ed) WoW told me about the n52te after he received one from his girl at Christmas time.
Took me a while to get used to it, so I basically clicked my screen and used a very limited amount of key bindings on the n52te. I would not raid until I got the hang of it, so I just soloed a lot doing dailies, etc.
I ended up frustrated, cause as my keypushing level rose, I didn’t have ENOUGH keys bound. Back then, I didn’t know how to keybind across the three colors modes on the key pad. NOW I have mastered my bound keys and switching between the Blue, Red, and Green modes of the n52te!
My game has improved greatly - not just on my Tank - but on all my alts!! Definitely a must have tool! In conjunction with my wheel ball mouse, I can change direction with the turn of my thumb and not have to move the mouse at all!
/cheer!
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May 25th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
what i did is to use Q and E as keybinds for abilities(shield slam and devastate as protection…skillz you spamm most) and use A and D for straffing….i cant stress enough how wonderful Q and E are for abilities…once you gone that way you wont go back ;]]
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May 25th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Second that.
Q: ss
E: hs
A/D: strafe
X: taunt
C: tc
Z: revenge
1: dev
2: shock wave
3: reflect
Use a wolfking keyboard. All my abilities are on a single hand. Others I have bigger buttons for right under my char on my ui I click. Shield block, demo, an the like.
Other numbers 4-0 I end up clicking usually.
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May 25th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
You can even try to move your default movement keys to SDFE (S and E for straffing, E and D moving forward and backwards), that will left A as a great keybind as well.
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May 25th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
I agree whole heartedly with your statements about clickers being slower, I used to be a clicker back in BC and have transitioned to keybinds as well in WotLK. One thing I find strange about your setup however is Q/E is still strafe and not A/D since your fingers should naturally rest on WASD. Myself, I have A/D as strafe so that it frees up Q and E and I can move without moving my fingers from their natural position.
My keybinds are as follows :
1 Shield Block
2 HS
3 Revenge
4 Deva
5 Reflect
Q Cleave
E SS
R/F SW/CB
and I modify other buttons around them with Shift/Ctrl.
I even have my “oh sh**” buttons keybound as well with shift modifiers because I find clicking can be too slow. This goes for trinkets and other items as well such as healthstones, pots, etc.
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May 25th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I play on a laptop. As soon as WoW got installed, over four years ago, it was obvious that clicking spells using the trackpad wasn’t going to work. Maybe it would for a bit with a mouse, but left and right clicks with a trackpad… forget it.
It also wouldn’t work to press ability keys using my left hand (I’m right handed). You need to press these pretty accurately and fast, and doing it with the left hand would be too hard.
So, I keep both hands on the keyboard. I move and mark with my left hand, using the standard movement keys. All my abilities (over 25 of them) are bound to the right hand side of the keyboards and I can press at least 5 keys (4 in a row and the one under my thumb) without moving my hand. Emergency abilities are on ALT-Space.
A few keys in the middle are bound to things like friends list. I’ve bound the forward and back cursor keys to pich up/down for more fun while flying, so I never move with the cursor keys. I click only tradeskills, loot, and UI windows, and to adjust bad camera angles.
Although “keyboard turners” are supposed to be fail, I’m not being easily convinced to change this system. It allows movement, hitting a rotation, and hitting additional abilities very quickly and reliably at the same time. It does mean that I have to plan how I angle my character so I can strafe, catch adds, etc. I have slow reflexes but good awareness, so this works for me.
This setup does fail for PvP, and for fights where you have to turn around as a gimmick, like Murmur. I don’t do much of that.
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Veneretio reply on May 26, 2009 9:05 am:
While I agree that playing the way you do has all the advantages of keybindings for speed of threat and use of stuff like Shield Bash (which is great), it’s not just keyboard turning that you’re missing out on. You’re also forcing yourself to rely heavily on tabbing which is just far inferior to using the mouse to select your enemies often.
I’m not saying I never tab. Sometimes it is appropriate, but most of the time especially in the more challenging situations where multiple adds are coming at you and you need to pick up a specific target… mouse selection just trumps tabbing any day of the week.
Now certainly you can make macros to get around this (I used to rely on targeting macros heavily as a clicker), but then that’s where the line in the article of “I now learn encounters faster and I can react to the unknown better than I ever used to” comes from.
It’d be awkward to change from dual keyboarding to keyboard and mouse, but I think you’d find it’d be easier to make this transition than you think. Certainly you’d have an easier time than a clicker going to keybindings would.
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Machus reply on May 26, 2009 5:07 pm:
Tabbing is certainly weak. When I tanked MgT I found the general failure of tab targeting around the fountain areas hugely frustrating (not that I could see the mobs to target them in that place either). For Mimiron, as DPS, I end up binding two /target macros for the ACU and the Assault bot, and other maintenance heavy solutions like this.
My main concern though is not moving with the mouse but pressing abilities with my “bad” hand, assuming I use my “good” hand for the mouse.
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Veneretio reply on May 26, 2009 8:46 pm:
There’s nothing saying you couldn’t use your left hand with the mouse if it’s your right that you’re worried about losing. Certainly that increases the challenge as I suspect you’re normally a right handed mouse user, but can’t hurt to try it a little… it may be surprisingly intuitive for you.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I find that having all movement bound to the mouse helps heaps. Sure I still have movement bound to keys as well but rarely use them. I can strafe left and right, move forwards and backwards all using the mouse.
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May 26th, 2009 at 5:55 am
It seems like the majority of people who rebind to WASD came with an FPS game background. That was definitely why I changed it initially.
I’ve seen some people say they bind reverse to the mouse as well. If you do, what do you use for that? I’d kill for an “autorun backwards” key, especially for fights like Grobbulus and Hodir.
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Cataren reply on May 26, 2009 6:40 am:
I bind back up to my mouse and it is great for being able to back up and still use all my abilities without any falter. I move with my mouse 99% of the time. So to me the advantage is no matter what type of movement there needs to be I can continue my rotation without missing a beat.
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Blackheathen reply on May 26, 2009 6:57 pm:
I bound reverse to the scroll button. Just push it down and back I go, not auto run though lol. Makes things much simpler IMO.
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May 26th, 2009 at 9:15 am
I don’t think you can really have an optimal movement set up with a traditional mouse & keyboard.
If you move with a keybind, holding down that key whatever it is inhibits your normal free handed striking of action keys. If you move by holding down a button on your mouse, that inhibits your ability to press your other mouse buttons or switch targets. At the least, I just have a hard time justifying using many mouse buttons for infrequent movements since they’re prime hotkey real estate to me. I think to really move elegantly in combat, while performing actions and switching targets, you’d need to bind movement to something like the n52 and let your left thumb do it.
I don’t disagree with anything said in the post, but to me the best movement solutions with a normal keyboard and mouse still leave something to be desired in those rare but painful moments when you need to move, target, and cast all together.
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Veneretio reply on May 26, 2009 10:38 am:
It’s for the very reasons you state that I prefer having movement keys bound to both my keyboard and being able to move with my mouse. The situation you’ve described is usually handled as such:
1. Turn and start running with the mouse.
2. Keep moving forward with W while selecting with the mouse.
3. Continue running by holding down mouse buttons and execute action using keyboard.
Yes, that sounds a complicated, but it’s done efficiently and effectively with practice and done far faster than a pure keyboard mover or pure mouse mover could execute it.
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Drae reply on May 26, 2009 1:12 pm:
I used to do that before I moved to the N52te, now it’s a non-issue. It does work very well to circumvent the problem mandragon pointed out.
There are certain situations with the n52te like this tho; like running forward while jumping.. Since your thumb controls “jump” and “forward” and your can’t hit em both at once your forced to use the left and right mouse button to move forward…. which can be quite interesting if for whatever reason your camera is pointed some way other then forward.
I’ve never tried double keyboarding, but it just seems like the mouse is far more accurate. It reminds me of playing Call of Duty4 on PS3, the Dpad isn’t terrible accuracy, but I’m FFFAAAAARRRRR more precise with the mouse in Call of Duty World at War on PC.
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Cornfedhick reply on May 26, 2009 4:58 pm:
Not to mention if you have one of the newer mice with the mouse wheel you can strafe with the mouse while changing you camera angle at the same time and using your normal keybinds with the other hand.
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Cornfedhick reply on May 26, 2009 5:00 pm:
oops…meant to say the newer mice with the pivot buttons on either side of the mouse wheel.
May 26th, 2009 at 9:16 am
http://www.tankspot.com/photoplog/images/4641/1_PICT4140m.jpg
the keypad on the left allows organizing keybinds beyond any possible keyboard you can imagine. It is far more intuitiative to use. The top grey part moves forward backwards left and right (the black base stays still)so I use mouse for turning and camera control.
27 keybinds without moving my fingers (except thumb to operate 3 shifts)
and most of the movement.
That is a step beyond keyboard keybind guys.
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Onlyhuman reply on May 26, 2009 9:21 am:
…mouse for targeting aswell. That config makes best of both world. Precision of targeting with a mouse and ability to keep rotation while running and jumping around.
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Drae reply on May 26, 2009 1:18 pm:
interesting set-up, very similar to the n52. Where’d you buy it? I’ve never seen anything like that before. I find the keyboard limiting too!
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May 26th, 2009 at 9:54 am
I am left handed and I use the mouse for most of my movement and targetting. The only keybind movement I use is backwards and the only targetting that is not done via mouse is via macros (I use macros extensively). For my left handed keybind..it’s posted here somewhere for those who are interested.
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May 26th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Just think of how much less fail Failgo could be if you could convince him to make the switch as well..
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Veneretio reply on May 26, 2009 10:57 am:
I’ve gotta pick my battles
That said, he’s playing surprisingly pretty good when he’s not destroying his computer and being forced to re-install WoW.
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May 27th, 2009 at 8:25 am
If you ever played ego-shooters before you will problably run the W-A-S-D setup.
I run it and have my 12 buttonkeys mapped to:
1,2,3,4,5,6,Q,E,R,F,C,X
Another 12 buttons by using the above+SHIFT
Other crap:
F1-F4 = Oh shit, pots
T,G, Mousebuttons = special stuff and trinket
Btw try to map you keys in a way that you can press the next melee swing, non-global cooldown abilities and global cooldown attacks at the same time.
Example:
Heroic strike on ringfinger or mousebutton
Shieldblock/Spellreflect on middlefinger oder mousebutton
Standard attacks on forefinger
Works best for me, but I am playing this way since DOOM 1 / Duke3D
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May 27th, 2009 at 11:26 am
I recommend the Logitech G13 game pad, but any similar game pad will help. You can bind movement (forward, back, strafe) keys to a thumbstick, and get 22 other keys all under your left hand. That leaves the right hand free for using the moust to select targets, steer, etc.
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Drae reply on May 27, 2009 3:37 pm:
I do believe the g13 is very similar to the n52te; with more keys. The one feature it has I wish belkin would incorporate into the n52 is the “bump” on the home keys so you can tell where your hand is based on touch.
The g13 is more expensive then the belkin; at least here in canada.
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Drae reply on May 27, 2009 3:39 pm:
The G13 is much bigger too.
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May 27th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I use my mouse to move freeing my other hand just to use spells (only strafe on keyboard).
Left/Right mouse click for forward
Middle mouse click for backwards
I have found it helps keep my hands on the rotation not my move keys.
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May 28th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I want foot pedals. Why hasn’t someone invented them yet? Just think how easy it would be to control movement if you had foot pedals like you had in your car?
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Cleaved reply on May 28, 2009 10:07 am:
Why stop there? I want something that sticks monitoring electrodes on my forehead and moves when I THINK about going a direction. Maybe its out there… and for a cool 20 grand you can free up 4 keys for binds!
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Tankette reply on May 28, 2009 10:33 am:
My biggest frustration with WoW has always been when I know what I want my character to do but I can’t get my fingers to hit the right buttons to make it happen. So, ya, sign me up for the electrodes too.
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Thox reply on May 28, 2009 11:32 am:
I think this is pretty close to that whole electrode thing :p, and doesn’t cost that much considering
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GC-000-OC&utm_source=froogle
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Cleaved reply on May 28, 2009 1:17 pm:
From the reviews on that site, it sounds like it takes a LOT of getting used to. Prompting a computer to interpret signals from your brain as what you intend something to do on the screen… sounds a little iffy at that price. I mean, I see it working, but I also see some very small distraction causing a wipe because the software thought you meant Right, and you wanted Left instead.
Psy reply on May 30, 2009 2:34 am:
If you combine Head Tracking: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw&feature=channel_page
With Automatic Projector Calibration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrGjJUBF_I
Using multiple overlayed projectors (To get around shadowing your body space) it should, and I use should extremely loosely here, be possible to augment reality; As in, you’re standing in a room, moving your head rotates the cameras and your character in game, while the projectors track with you so that you always have the game world displayed in the direction you’re looking
Sound insane? Probably is. But I have a summer project!
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Veneretio reply on May 28, 2009 10:09 am:
lol foot pedals would be pretty genius. On an EJ thread, I remember reading that a person used it for push-to-talk on vent which I still think is an absolutely amazing use for it. (It also confirms that it must be possible in someway)
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Tankette reply on May 28, 2009 10:27 am:
Ok, I found this: http://pedalpeddler.com/ShoppingCart.aspx
I’ll test it out and report back. If it will give me forward with one foot and back with the other that would be great. Or I might go with forward with one foot and Vent push-to-talk with the other.
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Veneretio reply on May 28, 2009 12:56 pm:
Ya, I’d really be interested in how this works out. I think I’m going to try to hunt down a 1 button pedal in the 20 dollar range on ebay.
Cleaved reply on May 28, 2009 1:18 pm:
A foot pedal for Vent would be awesome. I hate binding that to the mouse, as I use more buttons on the Mouse for movement/abilities, but its a pain having it bound to a key on the board as well. On the ground would be perfect.
Tankette reply on June 8, 2009 7:31 am:
Here’s my update on the footpedals:
They are very easy to install. I mapped the two pedals to two keys on the keyboard I never use. I then changed the push-to-talk button for Vent to one of those keys.
So now my left foot pedal is my Vent push-to-talk - this works great! I had a hard time talking in Vent during battle before but not anymore.
The other pedal I mapped to the up arrow in WoW for my forward run. I gave this quite a bit of use. In some situations I found this helpful as I could hit my abilities faster, (1,2,3,4 buttons) since I didn’t have to have my left index finger stuck to my W key. However, I found that without having my left index finger on W, or starting at W, my fingers somehow got lost and I couldn’t find my way back to my straffe keys or S when I needed to back up.
Another problem I had with using the second pedal for moving forward is the device apparently doesn’t let you use both pedals at once. So if I already had the left pedal pressed down and was speaking in Vent, when I pressed the right pedal down to run forward it wouldn’t work. Or if if I had the right pedal pressed and was moving forward and then pressed the left pedal to say something in Vent then the mic wouldn’t trigger.
Finally, the pedals are small, close together and a little hard to press down. It isn’t a problem to use one of them but using both of them is a little awkward.
So the bottom line is the pedals are a good idea for at least the one pedal. I am going to play around with other uses for the second pedal since run forward didn’t pan out.
Veneretio reply on June 8, 2009 7:54 am:
Good to hear that it’s as effective as I suspected for Ventrilo. I’m trying to hunt down a cheap, single pedal for myself.
Drae reply on June 9, 2009 11:26 am:
amg 2nd pedal bound to the OMFG macro. you know the macro for LAST STAND SHIELDWALL POTION HEALTHSTONE and “AMG HEAL ME” raid warning.
Tankette reply on June 12, 2009 9:43 am:
2nd pedal can be hard to hit unless you keep both feet on the pedals at all times, which is a little difficulty becuase they are small. Might work if you get the thing stuck to the floor somehow though. There’s also nothing to stop you from ordering more than one of these devices and having more pedals. You just need an open USB prot for each set of pedals.
May 28th, 2009 at 10:04 am
I think I stated it in the prior article about keybinds and such… but I’m more a hybrid. I bounce between whichever works for the fight. If I have to move a lot, I can do it with the keyboard/mouse combo of strafing and using the mouse to orient the camera (turn). So I don’t failbot and keyboard turn, but I also click while turning and hit my abilities. I find the time between GCDs is enough to orient the camera. When I am sitting still, I mash keybinds since I don’t have to be mobile. On a fight like Ignis, I kite him around playing 4-square and bounce seamlessly between mouse-clicking and keyboard-pressing. I would move solidly forward into just keybinds as was stated in this article, but I find that in 2 years of clicking and 1 year of hybrid click/bind setups, I can’t get rid of the muscle memory for certain binds. Not that I can’t… so much as it isn’t comfortable. Binds, I find, are good for things on the GCD and used quickly, while longer CD’s and oh-shit buttons, I can live with being positioned where I can hit them instantly and then wait on their CD to be up for another shot. Those longer CD items, I click, and the GCD/instants are used on binds. I find no reason to bind a shout that I will do every 2 minutes, nor anything else that is higher than GCD. But that is all preference, and it works for me, up to General in 25-man atm.
I’d like to get that n52, but I just don’t have the desk space atm… but it sounds like a solid option if you have room.
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May 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
I use a combination of keyboard control and clicking. I have no issues using my left hand to to move and do things while my mouse is also helping me move or quickly clicking on the screen. I think a mastery of both is more beneficial than seeing how many things you can keybind.
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Veneretio reply on May 28, 2009 12:28 pm:
Can you describe how you accomplish the challenge presented in this post?
http://www.tankingtips.com/2009/05/01/once-youre-comfortable-overwhelm-yourself/
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Cleaved reply on May 28, 2009 1:08 pm:
I think that scenario is very tightly marked. I mean, you can strive to reach that much TPS, but in practice, I don’t see threat falling that much. I typically raid with people doing insane DPS and I tend to have very few issues with threat, and on the fights I do, I learn to do better given my way of doing things. I also (as stated above) use Keyboard and Clicking and switch between them given the situation and movement. I think you have to focus on doing what works for you and adapting that to each fight as needed. If your hand-eye coordination is such that you can manage key binds and clicks and shift between the 2 while moving and keep it fluid… then more power to you. If you feel more comfortable with dropping some keys for left/right and making them binds, then so be it. As I said, it comes down to preference, and if the bosses die, then you are doing things right.
I will mention that the majority of times I do happen to lose threat, its to a Lock applying DoTs to a boss. The only reason for this ever happening, is the movement of the fight puts no one on the boss for a short period, like an AOE fear or moving to snow mounds or out of void zones. It happens very rarely, but those are the only times I see myself losing significant boss-kill altering threat. Even then, it only slows down the kill if someone dies or I just have to reposition the boss… but I can only think of it happening maybe 1-2 times recently in Ulduar.
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Hammock reply on June 1, 2009 9:44 am:
I do it all with my left hand and the aid of my mouse. It’s not really difficult to do all of that at once imo. I use 12345 with a shift-12345 for my secondary bars and I move with WASD/Mouse or I move with WASD and click on things with the mouse if needed. “Overwhelming” myself is a practice I use every time I play and I seriously get headaches from how much I try to process and do while tanking.
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May 29th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I also came from a FPS background, and WASD was a staple for me at the start of my WoW playing days. I got myself a G15 keyboard & MX518 Gaming mouse about a year and half ago. At that point I was still keyboard moving and then one day read a article on TS about moving via the mouse. I decided to bind my keys to my mouse and the rest as they say is history. I’m sure alot of people can give examples of things you could do just as well using the keyboard. To each their owe I guess, all I know is once I got use to the new way of doing it, it made a huge impact on my tanking and overall game play. I spent 1/2 hour a day flying around with a oven mit on my left hand until I stopped reaching for the WASD keys and have not looked back since.
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May 29th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Well im also a hybrid but my biggest issue is in picking up adds in a multi tank situation. I’m really bad about tab targeting but when i try to click to target i usually just fail at that. Any1 have any good advice for that?
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Cleaved reply on May 29, 2009 1:25 pm:
Tab target when you can, click target when you need to. Set a Focus for the 2nd or 3rd mob, or just the hardest one to pickup/target. This way, you can click on the Focus you set (their unit frame) and then do what you need to do to that mob to pick it up.
If you want to click target, I’d say having the nameplates showing would be your best asset. It will let you target mobs easier and also see their HP so if you are aiming for the mob that hasn’t been touched yet amongst some being AOE’d, its easy to find.
The important thing with Tab-Targeting is to be PATIENT. If you are urgently tabbing to get to a certain mob and pass it, you can always back-target, which is Shift-Tab I think, but I’m actually not certain. I don’t back-target, because I take my time and realize that over-tabbing and going back or re-cycling thru targets will take much more time than if I just tab…. tab…. tab… until I get my target.
I try to avoid tab-targeting as much as possible, because in many areas you will target players/mobs beneath you, on the other side of the room that have not yet been engaged or even sometimes through a wall. Click-targeting and using a Focus target is much easier in those situations.
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Hammock reply on June 1, 2009 9:46 am:
A technique that works well for me is moving the camera to a more angled view, almost that i’m top-down but not exactly. It helps tremendously with clicking on targets.
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Drae reply on June 9, 2009 11:15 am:
Tab targeting is the devil. Even if the first tab press nets you the intended target your still slower then clicking.
I had a lot of problems when I first started selecting my enemies with my mouse…
(I’ve even wiped an entire raid because I allegedly tried to click n taunt Thru Sarths FRICKING HUGE MODEL to select a whelp.. why is sarth facing the raid?.. amfg breath!)
.. Name plates are a huge help… default hotkey is V. You can select the name plates (with corresponding health bars) rather then the body of the mob, of course when you hover over the name plate the mobs “lightsup” making it even easier to identify the mob you are selecting. Additionally as mentioned above; rotating the camera to have a better angle can help with selecting those pesky mobs as well.
Name plates greatly increased the speed of my mob selection. In my mind there is never a reason to tab target now that tab-sunder (shudder) is obsolete.
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Tankette reply on June 9, 2009 11:54 am:
I admit I still tab target. I do try to target some with the mouse but I end up predominently going back to tab targeting and hitting devastates in multi mob situations. I have tried using the name plates to help with mouse targeting (hitting control V) but with all the party members name plates in the way it becomes too much of a mess to be any benefit, especially in 25 man raids. Is there a way to only have the unfriendlies have nameplates?
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Blackmambism reply on June 9, 2009 2:29 pm:
yeah, just press v (default binding, i’m sure you can find the binding if you’ve bound v to something else)
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Drae reply on June 10, 2009 8:55 am:
yeah it’s called “show/hide nameplates” I believe. default is “v”.
I’m surprised you tab devestate still; of course everyone style is different.
Personally I find TC + shockwave + demo shout opening followed by spammed TC (talented and glyphed of course) reflective block (with decent BR {30%+) and SBV {1500}) and cleave is sufficient to aoe tank..(im still using the helicopter fist weapon… lotsa deepwounds dot) I do change targets often (by clicking to select, not tab) to rotate Shield slams in while TC on on CD.
To each their own:D I don’t presume to tell others how to play; I just mention what works for me.
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Tankette reply on June 12, 2009 9:44 am:
LOL, all it took was a couple seconds of looking in the keybindings to figure it out. Having my V button mapped to something else was a lot of my problem.
Drae reply on June 12, 2009 10:27 am:
glad you got it figured out; do you find the nameplates to be helping at all?
May 31st, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I just started up with keybinding a couple weeks ago. It’s been a rough transition but I can already tell it will be worth it. I’m already slightly faster than I was with 4 years of clicking and I can see there’s a huge upside coming as my proficiency increases.
I looked at a dozen keybinds that other people used for themselves and ended up deciding none of them were me. I saw very few people doing any kind of mind/muscle memory mapping to help them transition.
Here’s the main example of what I’m talking about. S & W remain forward/back. A & D have become strafe left and right. Q & E have become my devastate & revenge spam. I think of Q, W & E as my “Shield/Front area, so Shift-W became my Shield Block, with Shift-Q and Shift-E as my Shield Slam and Shield Bash. Here’s the other main example: after I Charge and TC, I often drop back to put the mobs into a “Cleave formation” for me, pressing D to move back. So Cleave very naturally became Shift-D for me. Back up, Cleave, back up, Cleave…
I guess my main point is rather than copying what you see elsewhere, experiment and carefully think about how you play to create something that will allow you to transition more smoothly.
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June 3rd, 2009 at 12:35 am
Here’s where I see this flaw in my style of playing and in a couple of my friends styles too. I use a laptop 100% of the time I play wow, now I know what you guys are thinking “why does playing on a laptop have anything to do with this?” The answer is simple, I don’t use a mouse! I tank 100% of all heroics, raids, and yes group quests with my touch pad. I am(In my own mind) a great tank and I have no problems keeping up with other tanks. The only thing is as a touch pad clicker I need two hands to click both mouse buttons. I have two USB ports on my computer one for a mouse on the off chance I haven’t broken it in frustration and the other for my headset. My question is simple how would I set up in a way that I could better my self as a tank? Pls get back to me.
Clicker Of Circumstance!
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Chet reply on June 4, 2009 12:22 pm:
I was never able to use a touchpad, but a lot of that has to do with my awful touchpad on my laptop. I’ve known other touchpad players that had much more success. I’d have to see a picture of your touchpad to be able to offer any advice (buttons above and/or below pad, scroll bar, proximity to keys, etc. would all affect playstyle), but I can ask my touchpad friends for any tips they might have on keybinds etc. for laptops.
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Drae reply on June 9, 2009 11:19 am:
My Brother is also a Laptop wow’er. He finds the only solution is mouse plus keyboard binds… he finds the touchpad an extreme liability.
If your laptop only has two USB ports it’s possible is equipped with an old skewl PS/2 connector, you may be able to free up a usb port for one of the above mentioned peripherals to aid in your keybinding quest.
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June 5th, 2009 at 3:44 am
I made a post on here a while back when you mentioned that you went from clicking to key binding. I never got the speed pad that someone suggested but I forced my self to learn key binding. Gotta say it actually feels damn weird clicking any ability now. Mouse wheel up/down and the button it self were where I started. Shield slam on the mouse button, Heroic Strike and Revenge on the up/down scroll. I later rebound strafe left and right to ‘a’ and ‘d’. These changes alone allowed me to keep my eyes on all the action, something that’s difficult to do if you’re looking down at your bars and finding the ability and clicking it. Binding abilities to ‘q’, ‘e’, ‘f’ and ‘c’ came next. I’m now using alt as a modifier and including ‘g’, ‘r’, ‘v’ and 1234 in my binds.
The best practice for me was leveling an alt. I forced my self to bind everything. Food/drink, Mount and Hearthstone. Not absolutely necessary but I began to development the muscle memory and felt more and more comfortable hitting a keyboard key rather than clicking on my bars.
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Drae reply on June 9, 2009 11:21 am:
^^ QFT. Playing an alt is a great way to train yourself.
Have you noticed improvements in reaction speed? I think on of the most overlooked advantages is not having to look at your action bars.
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June 23rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
I play as fury for the most part now. Mimiron phase 2 is easy mode for me simply because I can stare at the Boss and react to his movement and never have to look at my action bars.
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July 13th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
`=charge
1=shockwave
2=devistate/HS macro
3=revenge/shield block macro
4=concussion blow
5=rend
q=taunt
e=Shield Slam
R=shieldbash/pummel
Shift R= spell reflect
On my mouse I have Thunderclap, demo shout, shield wall, last stand.
Intercept I think I have it as a mouse over macro using grid and clique. I havent had to use it for a while as my warrior is not my main.
took me a while but these keys work best for me.
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July 13th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
also… I make the Fkeys my target symbols… f1 skull, f2 X, ect ect.
I rebind A to strafe left and D to strafe right. I turn with the mouse always.
I tried the click to move thing but it didnt feel right for some reason
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