Keybinding SetupFollow

I have been using keybindings for a while on my rogue, but now after I have had them for a while, I realized i started clicking a lot of my skills as again for things ill need in combat only in certain occassions. Also, I have needed to add new items/skills to it(not skills anymore since 70...)but found there is no room for my current setup to expand well(i have many more buttons i can use, but they would be waay out of reach) such as new bg trink and w/e. Any advice on setup is appreciated.

I generally always had all my skills that I would use in combat bound to easily accessible keys. I got a Fang gamepad a long while ago, and I used that for playing (obviously I still had a keyboard for typing and such). I like the fang because of the layout. The double row of buttons above the movement keys is priceless, and they have a better feel than any keyboard that I have used (not necessarily because of the press... just because of the placement). The thing has enough keys that I could bind everything (normal moves, finishers, general cooldowns, racial abilities (WotF), hell even to toggle the raid/guild pane, character pane, screen shot, open all bags, mount, etc...). The shape is such that you can do everything easily without moving your hand very far... which is great. In combination with general mouse turning/movement, it feels very natural.

I also have a Nostromo n52; however, I will say that I never really got used to the shape. My hand is a little bit too big for that thing, and it wasn't nearly as comfortable as the fang for longer WoW session (though it had plenty of cool features).

My biggest gripe with normal keyboards is that there aren't enough buttons above the movement keys. Also, all the keys feel the same. The first problem can be solved by completely changing all your binds and moving them over and down a row (or whatever). However, I like the compact and tactile feel of the game pad a lot more. I like the synergy between mouse turning / normal movement buttons / and all the keys within a finger's reach so you never have to move your hand in the slightest to reach something. The downside is (obviously) that you need a separate keyboard. I'm a fairly big guy, and when I naturally put my arms on a desk (shoulder width apart), there is plenty of room for a smaller keyboard between my mouse surface and my gamepad. However, I could see this being a problem if you had limited desk space or if keeping a keyboard in the middle of the two devices would cause your arms to be out at an unnatural angle (something to think about really if you are raiding or what not for several hours on end... you want to be comfy!).

lol... now I rock out a few feet from a 40" monitor and kick my feet up... mucho relaxing for farming :P

Keybindings are a lot more useful than clicking .. as long as you have practiced and practiced and practiced them. Nothing will kill you faster than going into a fight, especially PvP, with fresh, untried bindings.

I use bongos myself so I have all my standard on normal, finishing moves and trinkets on shift-## and stealth moves has it's own contextual bar. I have left the trade skills etc as clickable items far off the main field of view...

Have I finished tweaking the set up ? Nope. Will I ever finish tweaking the setup? Nope. Does switching to my warrior witrh a complete different set of bindings cause me big headaches? Yup.

I can get the fang Keyboard (no link sry) and Its a fully keyboard, witht eh special pad build in on the side XD. My bro has one for his online war games. They are really nice and so many possible choices.

I beleive the reason people are usually against clicking is that it means you can't be mouse-moving at the same time. I don't think its a huge deal for PvE, mainly for PvP where mouse-moving is a clear advantage.

Its human nature to simplify and make blanket statements because some pvp authority said clicking abilities is inferior though. People make statements like 'clickers are bad at the game', and its not necessarily true, perhaps more circumstantial.

I run WoW on two computers. One laptop and my desktop. The laptop is nice because I can sit on the couch and play. On it, I keyboard turn, (still use bindings just because its what I'm used to) and in PvE, it doesn't hurt me, I can get away from things just fine with strafe.

Also, remember your mouse has buttons you can bind to. Its not very efficient using the mousewheel, which can potentially be three bindings, for zooming. Put zooming as something like pg up/pg down. Currently, I have kick as mousewheel up, gouge as mousewheel click, and feint as mousewheel down(I always forget to use it, so with it here I use it a lot and stop turning mobs :P Once I get used to remembering it, I'l probably bind this to blind) Having kick as a mouse bind has made me much more helpful in raids :P


Oh yeah, also if you're using the bindings, don't forget that shift+# changes action bars. I have a ton of not right-away abilities on the second action bar so I can just shift+2, # them. Pretty quick and you can have a ton of bindings that way. Stuff like expose armor, sprint, etc go here. Its pretty fast when you get used to it. As fast as typing 'As' :p shift+4 brings up my slow skills, fishing, mounting, lockpicking, and my consumables. If you use the same setup for each character, it becomes second nature. need a consumable? Shift+4! They're all suddenly a key away.

Edited, Mar 25th 2008 10:04am by digitalcraft

I am currently only lvl 35 (Half way there!), but here is my set up. I use ESDF to move/strafe and my mouse (5 button) to turn.

MWU= Mouse Wheel Up
MWC= Mouse Wheel Click
MWD= Mouse Wheel Down

Q: Evasion
W: Stealth
A: Throw
R: Sprint
G: Vanish
C: Kidney Shot
V: Blind
4: Will of the Forsaken

Alt+MWD: Feint
Shft+MWU: Rupture
M4: Kick
M5: Cold Blood

Unstealthed
MWU: Eviscerate
MWC: Gouge
MWD: Sinister Strike
Alt+MWU: Slice & Dice
Alt+MWC: Expose Armor

Stealthed
MWU: Cheap Shot
MWC: Garrote
MWD: Sap
Alt+MWU: Distract
Alt+MWC: Pick Pocket

All potions/bandages/food I click to use. I don't bind or take up space on my bars with professions as I find clicking "p" and naviagting to them easy enough. I am at work so a few of these bindings could be incorrect as I'm working from memory.

I bought a Razer Copperhead mouse for FPS gaming. (More necessary there than it is for WoW, but still overkill.) It's got 7 buttons excluding the primary and secondary (left and right). So with the three main modifiers, shift, alt, and ctrl, I essentially have a 21 button (7 * 3) mouse.

At one point I did have it set up so I could play without using the keyboard at all, but that wasn't very effective, more of a concept thing.

I'd suggest getting a similarly buttoned out mouse and split all your most used items between it and the 1-5 keys. My rogue setup isn't too complex, but you should see the one I've put together for my lock. Makes use of 17 of the 21 slots.

Edited, Mar 25th 2008 6:14pm by iMyst