I spent most of this past BWE trying to get used to the move or die element of the games combat system.
Unfortunately, It seems to be Dieing more than moving.
This is the first time I've ever played where I had to keep moving while fireing off skills and I have to admit the learning curve for me seems to be rather steep.
It seems to me I have be able to move, activate skills/spells AND work with camera angles so I can see what is going on. Only have 2 hands, I find it hard to do all three things at the same time, unless I can somehow figure out how to grow another arm.
I think part of the problem for me is the differences between straffing and turning. While in combat I want to be moving via straffing, but then my camera angles get all messed up and I can't see what I'm doing. I then try to use the turn to fix the camera and angle my character toward his target, thus working in circling around the target, but this is proving very difficult for me to manage.
I try using the mouse to move, and that takes care of the camera angles, but then I can't straffe unless I take my hand from the mouse (I use a trackball, cause I like them far more than mouses, but it seems like for gaming I may have to go out and purchase a mouse, though I'm hoping to avoid having to do that.) For movement I have also tried using the arrow keys, but then I have a problem of which to use...straffe or turn. For basic, world movement, I can't stand straffe, but in combat, using turn turns me away from my target which, I believe, makes it harder for me to hit my target.
Right now I am sure some of you are throwing things at your screen, hoping they will fly through and knock me on the head. It seems those who use wasd to move believe that anyone not doing so is an idiot and must be repeatedly pummeled about the head until they change.
The problem I have with using the wasd keys is that if I'm doing that, how can I move and use my skills at the same time? I have to move my fingers up to the numbers row for that and hope I get them in the correct locations.
As someone who has gamed before, I probably should be better at the whole move or die style of combat, but I'm afraid I'm not. I also know there are lots of different people out there who don't know what to do about this, and are hoping to find some concrete, helpful information that doesn't involve cranial bombardment, so....
HELP!!!
Just saying, "Use the wasd" doesn't really help, you see. If I'm doing that, how do I do the other things? I am more than willing to learn how to do this, but I'm afraid I need a more detailed explaination of what to do with each hand and how to incorporate all three aspects with only two hands to be able to move as I see the other players moving in all these wonderful videos. If I could learn to move like that, then I would not be reluctant to give the pvp stuff a try. as it is, i am reluctant cause I don't want my poor playing to hinder a group in pvp, be it world or structured.
So any detailed explainations that can help me figure this all out would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advanced, cause I know you guys are actually very nice to poor little newbes on here, especially since in fact we are all newbs to GW2 in one way or another.
Galen
Frankly I don't care how people play their game or how they move their toons.. Nobody and I do mean NOBODY has the right or wrong way to move their character around in the world or through combat. So you won't get pummeled from me. Now you can be offered tips what works for another player and you can try it out, but it doesn't mean it will work for you. Basically you will have to find what is comfortable for you. I use the wsad keys as well as the srifing keys and I use my mouse( a thumb trackball and I won't use another mouse). As far as using skills I am a clicker and I don't give a damn what other players think about that either. It works for me and has since the day I started playing mmos and I will continue to click. So others can just sneer their nose up at it if they want it won't make a bit of difference to me. That's how I move around through combat with the keys and mouse. If you aren't use to that it can feel awkward until you get use to it. Try going out in an areas where there are no aggressive critters and practice combat and movements using the wsadeq keys and using your mouse to fire off your skills. See how that feels to you.
Creed
I don't really expect anyone on here to be annoyed with me using the arrow keys and such, that is mostly just a matter of jest, though I do know some people do not like the idea of doing. Of course, truth be told, however I do it, they have no way of knowing unless they are actually sitting next to me, in which case, if they pummel me, I'll just have to dump my diet mountain dew all over them. Then get them to go buy me a new 2 liter, hopefully :)
Your idea is interesting to me. I have from time to time used the mouse (or in my case the Trackball, since I so love it) to click on a skill here and there, so I don't think it will take much time to get used to that in all honesty. I've just never thought of actually using it full time. I will definately give that a try next time.
Thanks for the thoughts. Definately some nice advantages there.
Galen
Galen
I always swap my Q and A keys and my E and D keys, it makes mouse turning and strafing much easier for me. I usually move by holding both mouse keys, use the mouse turn to face where I want, and use Q or E to move myself tiny amounts. Lets me circle strafe people, which in PVP can be a life saver.
@Galen,
I use mouselook to turn by right clicking the mouse (while moving it left or right). To circle strafe I hold the "D" and "A" for lateral movement (counterclockwise and clockwise respectively).. So "A" and "D" are strafe, but right clicking the mouse and moving it with my wrist allows me to continually adjust and face my target as I hold the strafe. The main issue with this method is hitting your hot keys for abilities while continuing to hold your strafe key down. My solution will probably be a mouse with it's own mappable buttons or I may try assigning hotkeys off the numbered list to more strategic locations.
"W" and "S" are forward and backward. "E" is target nearest enemy (though I may change this in favor of mapping a high use hotbar skill). Usuallly "F" is target self, but in this game I am unsure yet if I really need it for that. I may start trying to assign more important hotbar skills to easy to reach keys like "F", "R", "T", and "G", as these are easily reached by my index finger when using the WASD configuration for movement.
Typically, other than your heal (depending on class) your abilities that are on the far side of the hotbar are on higher cooldowns, so these abilities while being more powerful, are used far less often. In my opinion, unless these are of an interrupt or heal nature, they should be on keys that are not quite as easy to reach (as they are by default, but of course the default can be improved upon IMO).
As someone else suggested, I typically go to a lowbie area with non-agro animal mobs and just practice my controls first, and tweek as I go. I have often thought of using a trackball for MMO's, but never made the jump to try it out. Do you find any advantages to it?
Edit: (From a "right-handed" person's perspective) As I am looking at my keyboard it may be better to use "Left Shift" pinky finger (left hand) for strafe left, and "V" with my left thumb for strafe right. This leaves my middle 3 fingers sitting on "Q", "W", and "E" very comfortably and allows me to easily shift these fingers down to the next row "A", "S", and "D" easily while still keeping my strafing fingers (left pinky and thumb) on their respective keys. That makes 6 hotbar abilities in EASY reach and the "1", "2", and "3" keys not far off either. The overall effect is that you are stacking hotbar abilities in a column over your left hand, reducing the lateral movement your left hand has to do with the current default of having all the abilities mapped across the number keys. This will require me to hold my left wrist in a piano player's position (which is good ergonomics anyway). I may try this during the stress test.
I use my Fang as movement device together with mouse targeting, as for abilitys and so forth I make use of the lower G keys on my G15 keyboard.
If I am in lazy mode I do everything with my mouse, while the left hand holds a smoke or a mug of coffee or some such, if I need to actually use a more sophisticated handling of control things can get quite messy with spilled coffee and ash all over the place and leaving the very lean back position in my seat.
Anyways, I can get around this way in any game I played (Beside of Hellgate London or other FPS shooters).
@sylvinstar....
Wow. That is a lot of information, but also very good information. What is more amazing, at least to me, is I can actually understand it...hehehe.
As to the Trackball...I think its mostly a matter of taste. I started in on the trackball a loooonnnngggg time ago, probably just shortly after Logitech started making them. I think it was in the late 80's or early 90's. I always got frustrated with my mouse not working properly, those rubber balls were so annoying, and also with running out of room to adequately move my mouse. It always seems to be at the wrong edge of the mat/space right as I need to move it quickly. With the Trackball, that has no effect at all. The trackball is also definately the lazy man's mouse. It doesn't have to move, it doesn't require a flat span to move along. Infact I normally take it off the desk and rest it on my arm rest. It does have a small learning curve as you get used to moving the mouse with your thumb, but it is a very short learning curve and you don't even have to be in game to learn to use it.
The really big advantage mice have over trackballs is versatility. Everyone makes mice, and there are tons of different gaming mice, but only Logitech makes the Trackball. I will say that the trackball lasts far longer than mice. Since the 80's or 90's, whenever it was that I started using it, I have only ever had two trackballs. The first one actually still works. It is a Trackball Marble, the first version they came out with. It is fine, but it has no mouse wheel. That's why I got the Trackman II...it has a wheel. right now I'm considering getting the new wireless trackball cause it has a couple of keys that can be customized and, it may even be able to have multiple profiles so that I can have it set up one way whil in GW2 and another for while surfing the web.
I have to look into this, but I believe such an addition has been a long time comming. the nice thing about them also is they aren't very expensive. About 30 dollars for a basic wired, and 50 or 60 for the new wireless. Basic gaming mice are like twice that from what I've seen.
In short...I'd say there really isn't much of an advantage, definately a dissadvantage when compared to gaming mice and there mass of customizable keys, but for me it is a matter of comfort and preference. I'd suggest, however, thinking it over. Going out and getting a Marble isn't going to be all that rewarding, since it is so limited in what it can do. there is a reason its only like 20 bucks. Its also not much more, really, to get the trackman II and if you want to give it a try, spend that little more, like about 40 i think, to get a real idea of how it works.
Galen
Galen
I'll have to take a look at them. When you play MMO's with the track ball do you use the ball part for mouse pointing only?
the trackball works just like a mouse, except that instead of moving the mouse, you use your thumb to move the ball. That's the only thing the ball does is move the cursor or, if you depress both the right and left mouse button, it causes you to go forward and turning the ball turns your character. It also changes the angle of the camera, moving it up and down. The trackwheel zooms in and out.
I doubt it is much different than useing the mouse, it is just that anything you did by moving the mouse, you now do by moving the ball with your thumb.
Galen
P/S I only had about an hour of stress test, but I was definately having problems getting the handle of the wasd keys. I'm sure its gonna take more time to get used to it, so my journey will continue next bwe :)
Galen
@Galen,
I tried my suggested layout, which just did not work when I put it into practice, and I went back to WASD. I really think the only solution for me is something like Logitech's gamer mouse with the hot buttons on top of the mouse. It is sooo expensive though
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/mice-pointers/mice/wireless-gaming-mouse-g700
or this beauty where I could have all abilities right on top of my mouse and just use the keyboard for movement and other commands like targeting, about-face, and look behind. It even has flash memory for commands
http://warmouse.com/
Specs
http://store.warmouse.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&produ...