About the action bar

[Deleted]

On all videos I see there is 1-9 or something on their action bar with abilities. I haven't seen any video where they use other key binds. Does it exist? Will it maybe be fixed at release? Because it looks terrible to have to click in action or press all those 6,7,8,9 with your hand while moving.
Can anyone pls give me a short brief of it pls?

[omlech]

You can rebind any of the keys to whatever you want along with modifiers like ctrl+Q or something like that.

[Fencers]

You can re-bind the keys. Video of the options screen confirms it's the same as in the first game. Also Mike B's Battle of Khylo PVP video he clearly states he rebound hotkeys. Go to Gamebreaker.tv to look up the video.



He says it in like the first 10 seconds.

[airea]

Am I the only one who think that pressing ctrl/alt + (insert random key here) sounds even more tedious than using the number keys? I'm just giving in and getting a Naga.

[Fencers]

It's just you. :P

Proper binds in hotkey MMOs use modifiers. There is not a lot of room for opinion on the matter. The system has been around long enough that is demonstrable what the most efficient set up is like. Whether one feels comfortable with that is another matter.

[Larynx]

How is pressing 9 easier than pressing Shift-E?

[grandpab]

Am I the only one who think that pressing ctrl/alt + (insert random key here) sounds even more tedious than using the number keys? I'm just giving in and getting a Naga.

Most MMOs use so many buttons that I always end up having every number key, and ` - = all bound along with a shift modifier for each one. It's pretty much required. I have a naga though so pressing the buttons from 6 on isn't a problem.

[Deleted]

Am I the only one who think that pressing ctrl/alt + (insert random key here) sounds even more tedious than using the number keys? I'm just giving in and getting a Naga.

As said, other MMOs have loads of skills set to their bars, and after a while you will be out of ideas and have to take Ctrl + E or something similar. This is one thing I love about Guild Wars 2, the first 5 skills, there is no need for me to bind, I reach 5 easily on my keyboard. The last 6 to 0 button I will just change to my Razer Naga

[logobola]

Am I the only one who think that pressing ctrl/alt + (insert random key here) sounds even more tedious than using the number keys? I'm just giving in and getting a Naga.

It could also be related to a mouse setup for the actions. With my naga I generally use ctrl+alt keys quite a bit for actions outside of the 1-9 on my mouse. Got into the habit of doing such modifiers to avoid causing any issue with internal game default keybindings.

[Ryph]

GW1 didn't allow the use of modifiers and from this video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXbd...=youtu.be&hd=1

it specifically states that "Keys couldn't be rebound to CTRL + or Shift + leaving some mouse clicking necessary". And from the video posted above by Fencers, they never said anything about modifiers. The player could have been using a Naga, which GW1 did allow the use of assigning mouse buttons for keybinds. It's something simple that shouldn't be left out in a modern day MMO. Not having them in GW1 was a huge letdown for me and it's something that I never understood. They put default hotkeys as the Function keys. This was partly because GW1 was based around click-to-move movement, but this game is all about WASD type movement. Fix it ANet, plain and simple. It's not that hard and would please a lot of gamers.

[Malthurius]

I don't think you'll need modifier keys for GW2.

10 skills, 1-4 class specific skills, and weapon swap isn't hard to map without modifiers.
Q, E, R, T, F, G, Z, X, C, V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are the keys that you can easily reach. with your left hand on WASD.
That's 15 keys, which is just enough for any class. Of course others are more comfortable with different things, but it's doable without modifiers.

Me? I own a Razor Naga, and I'll have all skills on my mouse. That way I can concentrate on dodging and positioning with my left hand.

[Ryph]

I don't think you'll need modifier keys for GW2.

10 skills, 1-4 class specific skills, and weapon swap isn't hard to map without modifiers.
Q, E, R, T, F, G, Z, X, C, V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are the keys that you can easily reach. with your left hand on WASD.
That's 15 keys, which is just enough for any class. Of course others are more comfortable with different things, but it's doable without modifiers.

Me? I own a Razor Naga, and I'll have all skills on my mouse. That way I can concentrate on dodging and positioning with my left hand.

I know I can rebind keys to the ones you mentioned, but the point I'm trying to make is that why should when they can easily give us the option to play how we're used to playing? Some of my classes in WoW don't have as many keybinds as the others, so I make use of different ones for different characters. The point is that there are players out there, like me, who prefer the modifiers because we've been playing that way for a very long time. It's not a big deal for them to fix it. It doesn't hurt players like you who have a Naga or ones that use Q,E,V, etc either. It's just an easy fix and one that should be in the game.

[jaakkeli]

10 skills, 1-4 class specific skills, and weapon swap isn't hard to map without modifiers.
Q, E, R, T, F, G, Z, X, C, V, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are the keys that you can easily reach. with your left hand on WASD.

Presumably there's also a dodge key and there's underwater combat which might mean that you need an extra movement key bound for "swim down". (But then, most likely backpaddle key is as unnecessary as it is in other MMOs so you can rebind S.) In GW1 you could bind Shift and Ctrl as action keys instead of modifiers so that's some extra easy to reach keys.

[NightZero88]

I know I can rebind keys to the ones you mentioned, but the point I'm trying to make is that why should when they can easily give us the option to play how we're used to playing? Some of my classes in WoW don't have as many keybinds as the others, so I make use of different ones for different characters. The point is that there are players out there, like me, who prefer the modifiers because we've been playing that way for a very long time. It's not a big deal for them to fix it. It doesn't hurt players like you who have a Naga or ones that use Q,E,V, etc either. It's just an easy fix and one that should be in the game.

Are you a coder? If you're not, you don't know if it's an easy fix or not. You're just assuming because you think it is. I'm sure they will likely change and if they don't oh well, but get off your high horse that you can demand anything from ANet. Not only that, this is the MMO-Champ forums, if you want to demand at least pick a forum where they would see it.

[Allanon the Mystic]

Are you a coder? If you're not, you don't know if it's an easy fix or not. You're just assuming because you think it is. I'm sure they will likely change and if they don't oh well, but get off your high horse that you can demand anything from ANet. Not only that, this is the MMO-Champ forums, if you want to demand at least pick a forum where they would see it.

lol at 'coder', it's programmer. And actually, setting up keyevents is one of the most basic set ups there is. Granted, they might have the alt/ctrl/shift keys being used for something else, but to actually put it in the game wouldn't take long, or any resources at all.

Presumably there's also a dodge key and there's underwater combat which might mean that you need an extra movement key bound for "swim down". (But then, most likely backpaddle key is as unnecessary as it is in other MMOs so you can rebind S.) In GW1 you could bind Shift and Ctrl as action keys instead of modifiers so that's some extra easy to reach keys.

Dodge Key is V, and under water combat takes up the 1st four normal abilities you have. Swim down would be the same in most other mmo's (which I believe is X). All my abilties will be `-5 (` is the swap weapons button), F1-5 (or how many I need depending on my profession), then T Y, F G, C V (again depending on how many I need)

[jaakkeli]

I know I can rebind keys to the ones you mentioned, but the point I'm trying to make is that why should when they can easily give us the option to play how we're used to playing?

Surely you're used to pushing 1, E, whatever binds you use without modifiers as well? The point is, they're giving us drastically fewer skills than we're used to in other MMOs, so you won't run out of non-modifier buttons so fast.

[Fencers]

At this point it's enough to know we can move bindings. The specifics of Alt+~+Num2 is not known yet. So chill out and wait for more info.

[Ryph]

Are you a coder? If you're not, you don't know if it's an easy fix or not. You're just assuming because you think it is. I'm sure they will likely change and if they don't oh well, but get off your high horse that you can demand anything from ANet. Not only that, this is the MMO-Champ forums, if you want to demand at least pick a forum where they would see it.

I dabble in code now and then. Am I a professional? No. But given a look at their code could I find a way to input the code necessary to add the ability to use modifiers? Absolutely. This is a forum, and ANet listens a lot to their fans, plain and simple. Keybinds are just a way of changing the input. When you go to options and assign a hotkey for the 1 skill to now be activated by the X key, its just going to that little specific part of the code and changing it. "SkillBtn1.Input=numberkey1" is now SkillBtn1.Input=letterkeyX" I'm dumbing it down a whole lot here, but that's the general idea of it. But remember, they have professional, skilled programmers that are behind this game. While it might take me a while to look at their code and figure how exactly I could do it, they can easily just go to the specific section and just knock it out.

I'm not asking them to completely change an ability in the game or add more elements to a DE. I'm not on a high horse so please don't start with this juvenile shit. Oh and FYI, I know a few friends that are professional programmers(mainly why I dabble in it) and they'll tell you the same thing. It might be a little tedious but extremely hard and complex? Nope. My point stands: It's just an easy fix and one that should be in the game.

EDIT:::

At this point it's enough to know we can move bindings. The specifics of Alt+~+Num2 is not known yet. So chill out and wait for more info.

I'm just a little irritated is all. I don't want to appear like I'm raging but it's just something small that could be fixed is why I'm upset
But if they didn't have it in the game would I not play it? Hell no lol.

[Malthurius]

Dodge Key is V, and under water combat takes up the 1st four normal abilities you have. Swim down would be the same in most other mmo's (which I believe is X). All my abilties will be `-5 (` is the swap weapons button), F1-5 (or how many I need depending on my profession), then T Y, F G, C V (again depending on how many I need)

It's worth noting that you can also dodge by double tapping a movement key (WASD)

[Sentinel]

Personally I'll just put 7-0 on my numpad. I can hit the first six numbers easy enough, but those other ones would be easier reach over with my mouse hand.