So I'm A Clicker!!

[jayremy]

Ring finger for Z and index finger for X.

Its funny maybe cause my fingers are physically fucked up I just learned like few years ago (age 23) that I can't bend my fingers like "normal" people do. Its not impossible for me to press z but my finger shakes/feels weak in that position. Also a large reason I can't type in the formal manner even if I tried my fingers are thick, short and crooked. Ooh what I would give to have thin longer fingers that can do shit like catch/grip balls, type and just be more dextrous. Though I know my case is not really uncommon or severe it really fucks me up for being a PC guy.

I also broke or smashed most of my fingers many times, so both genetics and life made my fingers crooked.

I can do every letter of the bottom row comfortably z-b with my thumbs including alt and spacebar, I might try doing f and g with my thumbs too. Problem with playing with keys for me is in clutch moments taking fingers off of 'a' and 'd' can make me lose spot or/and misclick.

I wonder how many other keys other people can reach easily I can't.

[fourpointthreestillsux]

Key-bind your buttons to the keys located nearest to your fingers (i.e., Q/E/F/etc.). Half of the default bindings are irrelevant or unimportant enough to reassign.

From here, it's a simple matter of adapting and possibly tweaking to fit your play-style. Clicking is highly inefficient and can/will cost you a lot of deaths and frustration, not to mention how you will probably never be able to reach decent DPS or be fully raid aware.

If you're looking down to try and click a button, then you're not looking up at what's going on to know that you're standing in fire.

[Hardeen]

Started the game as clicker on a different toon, but after I started my lock I was a masher for my main casts. I was going to apply to a new guild that would get me an opportunity to do heroic raids and figured I should maximize my potential and key-bound everything. I really went out of the box though I shifted my movement buttons all over so WERD are my movement keys are my movement keys with WR being strafes I really liked it cause it opened up more one off keybinds on the left hand side so my hand isn't having to move as much since QAS are all open as well as TFG for things I use often and then the bottom row ZXCV for are open for my Big Cd's that I'll only use 1-2 per fight and then my main spells are 1-5.

[PopeJamal]

I was in elementary school when the I got my first gaming machine: an Atari 2600. It had just been released 9 months prior. I've been a gamer since then. I'm a clicker. I do everything I want to do fine. I'm not worried about it.

Honestly, unless you want to change because it will help you enjoy the game more, don't worry about it. Find something else to spend the mental energy on. I can pretty much guarantee you that being a clicker will have absolutely no effect on how you feel on your death bed or who shows up at your funeral.

There are much bigger things to worry about.

[Tatsujin]

If you have the money, get Razer Naga and get either Logitech G13 or Razer Nostromo. The mouse is priority. These two could be found on Amazon for about 10-20 dollars cheaper than the original price.

If you don't have the money, that's completely fine. What I recommended will simply make your life easier for an MMO player.

Now, on the main topic - the first thing you need to do is KEYBIND ALL OF YOUR BATTLE ACTIONS! Anything that is not for combat like Mounts, Pets, Professions, Foods and Drinks, etc. should never ever be keybinded. I also recommend getting OPie addon, you can assort everything in a single key that you know you'll never use in combat (F5, F6, F7, etc) and when you press and hold that key however you configured it will allow mounts, pets, or whatever else to hover around your mouse and allows you to choose. Good for non-combat stuff.

If you do get the Razer Naga, keybind your short CD attacks to it (10 seconds and less). Use keys 10, 11, and 12 for your big cool downs (I use defensive CDs on 10 to 12). Any other CD you have you can place on your keyboard. You also have the choice to via versa what I said. I use `, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, z, x, c, f, r, F1, F2, F3, F4 as my keys. For my second keybindings, I use ALT (I also have some keybinds on my Razer Naga for my secondary keybinds using ALT). For my third keybindings, I use CTRL but only relates to my keyboard.

Tip - keep your combos near each other. Keep your procs near each other. Keep your big CDs near each other. For example, as an Arms Warrior, this is how I have my keybinds - I will list few of them as an example.

Primary Attacks - Keyboard

` - Charge (Macro, cancels Bladestorm)
1 - Mortal Strike (Macro)
2 - Heroic Strike (Macro)
3 - Overpower (Macro)
4 - Execute (Macro)
5 - Hamstring (Macro)

Area of Attacks + Control

Z - Bladestorm (Macro)
X - Thunder Clap (Macro)
R - Whirlwind OR Piercing Howl (PvP only)
F - Throwdown

Razer Naga - Additional Primary Attacks + Secondary Attacks

1 - Battle Stance/Berserker Stance (Macro)
2 - Auto Run (no battle action)
3 - Slam (Macro)
4 - Rend (Macro)
5 - Colossus Smash (Macro)
6 - Victory Rush
7 - Cleave (Macro, Sweeping Strikes)
8 - Pummel
9 - Enrage Regeneration
10 - Heroic Leap (Auto Trigger)
11 - Rallying Cry
12 - Shield Wall (Macro)

Additional Running Speed

Button Mouse 4 - Darkflight (Worgen Racial)
Button Mouse 5 - Nitro Boost (Engineering)

Rage & Long CDs

ALT + 1 - Battle Shout
ALT + 2 - Berserker Rage (Macro, Inner Rage included)
ALT + 3 - Deadly Calm (Macro)
ALT + 4 - Recklessness (Macro)
ALT + 5 - Retaliation (Macro, Sweeping Strikes)

Secondary Long CDs

F1 - Heroic Throw
F2 - Shattering Throw
F3 - Spell Reflection (Macro)
F4 - Intimidating Shout
F8 - Golem Potion (forgot the whole name)

Additional Combat Keybinds / Razer Naga

ALT + 1 - [CURRENT WEAPON SWITCHED TO IF NOT EQUIPPED - I.E. USING SHIELD WALL REQUIRES SHIELD WHICH PUTS MY 2 HANDER AWAY]
ALT + 3 - Slam (Macro)
ALT + 4 - Disarm (Macro)
ALT + 5 - Health Stone
ALT + 6 - Parachute (Engineering)
ALT + 7 - Demoralizing Shout
ALT + 12 - Shield Wall (Macro)

hmm ... not sure if I missed anything, I think I listed everything? I'm way too tired (past 24 hours, no sleep yet). I'm having one issue at the moment and it's using Q, W, E, A, S, D to move my character. Honestly, I fucking hate it. I'm saving up to get me a Logitech G13 or Razer Nostromo. I haven't decided yet but those two allow for more keybindings, macros and also gives me the ability to free my 4 fingers, allowing my thumb to take full control of moving my character on-screen.

If you've played a Warrior you could tell a lot of my combat attacks that are in priority are next to each other, excluding Slam and CS which I have no problem hitting. I hope this gives you some insight on becoming a keybinder and getting away from being a clicker. I personally hate clicking. It's okay to click your mount. It's not okay to click your combat attacks. If I were to PvP with you and your a clicker, I'll give you a pleasant hard time and /dance /spit /lol at you before I kill you. I do it all the time. :P

Edit -- Also, once you keybind all of your combat attacks, start using them. Go in Battle Grounds or LFR or LFD and start using your keybinds. If you get killed or aren't doing well, then that is fine. It will take you sometime to get used to it. Some people it takes them days, some takes them weeks. The average player will feel most comfortable using keybinds in two weeks or less providing that they play daily and never click any combat attacks. It's all about how much effort and time and seriousness you want to put to become a better player.

[nicci]

you can also mix it

not that im any arena god or sumthing, but ive done 11milion damage in my last rbg whereas nr2 did 3milion or so. was around 1700~ exp or so im not a total nut i tend to believe :P

i use a mix of keybindings and my mouse. never learned anything other then the standard movement buttons, i still use WASD. and QE for strafing, thats right... i tried it for a few days to just move with my mouse and use the move buttons for different spells. needless to say, i sucked terribly. and yes they say you learn after a while but it didnt rly work out. i use the standard blizz UI with buttons 1-2-3-4-5 + SHIFT. thats 10 spells you got a place for. also using F1 F2 F3 F4 + SHIFT. another 8 spells. and i use mouse middle button click + shift. this gives me all the space i need for several characters. including my main which is frost dk.

so yea use whatever works

[Rorcanna]

I did well as a clicker. I could still out-dps a lot of people AND out-survive them on encounters, but...not until I got my new mouse (razer naga) and started using keybinds did I FEEL really good. As a clicker I stood no chance in PVP, now it's so easy I could cry, especially when one can spot a clicker.

For me, the only way to get away from clicking, was this mouse that enables me to mash abilities with my thumb, and use my keyboard for a select few spells an mods. I couldn't move only with the mouse and mash keybinds on the board, I couldn't reach anything with my small hands.

---------- Post added 2011-12-17 at 12:23 AM ----------

I'll give you a pleasant hard time and /dance /spit /lol at you before I kill you. I do it all the time. :P

That is something to be so proud of...rude emoters in PVP make me wanna hit something very hard. Target clickers and not show mercy towards "bads"? Yes...but no rude emotes for this Naga-user.

[Degenerator]

I dunno if this will help but here goes....

I click, I always have, simply because I didnt know any other way......only found out when asked what my keybinds were when raiding kara on my resto druid at the time, I answered I didnt have any.....this came, as you can imagine, as a huge suprise....simply because the speed that i played at and awareness of encounters never hinted in the slighteset that i was a traditional "clicker".

I write the above to try a dispell one silly myth,....a clicker is not necessarily a bad player, in the same way a key binder is not necessarily a good player.

So, as of 2 days ago I decided to give key binding a go. Im gonna tell you my experience so far, and maybe you can find something useful in what I write.

First of all, I created a new character. I took one that is merciless as a clicker. A melee class. In particular a warrior Arms if you ask Yes melee is the hardest class to play as a clicker. I set A + D to strafe left/right and unbound W for forward to force myself to use the mouse to move forward. I found this awkward and didnt like it, so I rebound W. I will not lie. I HATED IT HATE HATE HATEHATEHATED IT. So weird and stupid, and took until lvl 10 no kidding to even believe I was actually playing this character. I was running past mobs, pressing the wrong button, and even clicking the left mouse button out of habit while pressing the key bind LOL. Yeah, painful.

But, I stuck at it, bound Mortal Strike to Q, Heroic strike became E. Started adding more....I think around lvl 25 or something my girlfriend was chatting to me and I was just killing mobs and completing quests and it dawned on me I was no longer looking at the abilities on the action bar!! What a feeling, it was incredible.....I was watching the game and not the bars. Dont get me wrong, I know as a clicker we do both, but the fact we do BOTH means its harder and we do miss some things on screen, even if it is a fraction of a second.

Im loving it now. I know I have a long way to go, and PvP which is much harder will take time.

Bottom line, stick at it, but try with a new character. Once keybinding makes sense, and a clicker will know what I mean in that, you will easily be able to keybind for your lock. Sorry for the long post, hope it helps.

[zuluslayer]

Admitting you have a problem is the first step in the process of getting help. Gratz OP.

[roahn the warlock]

I'd recommend getting a naga, that's 12 buttons within the reach of your thumb! (Not sure if it's good if you have big hands)

My thumbs are too big, but all in all from my experience, Melee needs to mash, casters can get away with clicking.

[Maldora]

I'm using keybinds for a while now and i would like to use more, the problem is, I don't want to accidently pull something when i want to chat (it happened)
is there an addon that will lock the spells on my keys until i unlock them? right now i'm using 'safe' keys like q,v, F1-F4 and of course 1-5

[dabros]

I'm using keybinds for a while now and i would like to use more, the problem is, I don't want to accidently pull something when i want to chat (it happened)

use "/" to open chat ez
i don't really get what you mean by your second question

[Kompakt]

I am pretty sure that if I had to coordinate right hand movement with visually hovering over buttons on the screen instead of just sensing through proprioception (the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body) where the appropriate keys were, I would be a lot shittier at playing than I am now. You have to spend so much time actively managing where the cursor is, and you don't have the freedom to mouseturn as easily as you would by clicking.

Don't be a clicker. You can probably do OK, but you can never be exceptional, and why settle for less?

[andyrockin123]

being a keybinder is not something that happens over night, it takes time an dedication. i used to be a clicker until cata came out, then i went on the PTR, and bound every key adjacent to my movement keys, and 1-6, to abilities. Try to move by binding strafe (normally q and e) to a and d; then, hold down right mouse to move camera and such. good luck to you!

[Degenerator]

I am pretty sure that if I had to coordinate right hand movement with visually hovering over buttons on the screen instead of just sensing through proprioception (the sense of the relative position of neighbouring parts of the body) where the appropriate keys were, I would be a lot shittier at playing than I am now. You have to spend so much time actively managing where the cursor is, and you don't have the freedom to mouseturn as easily as you would by clicking.

Don't be a clicker. You can probably do OK, but you can never be exceptional, and why settle for less?

See thats the attitude that is not constructive at all. 2 things :

1. You are not automatically "exceptional" because you key bind.
2. You are not "doing ok" just because you click.

Keybinding is being discussed here because the OP wants to learn to do that. Otherwise, who are any of us to tell someone how to play a game they pay for.

[TommiTMX]

Honestly, the best way to stop clicking in WoW is to first find a NEED to turn with your mouse.

The best way to do that, buy CoD for the PC and play it (or any FPS for that matter - CoD was just my tool), after a while playing it when you go back to WoW if you're anything like me you'll expect your body and camera to move with the mouse, at that point you can bind strafe to A and D and it's then impossible for you to click.

After that it's pretty simple, find keybinds comfortable for you, some of mine are

1
2
3
4
Shift + 1
Shift + 2
Shift + 3
Shift + 4
Q
E
Shift + Q
Shift + E
Shift + A
Shift + S
Shift + D
Shift + R
Shift + C
C

To name a few, there are also some Alt and Ctrl keybinds for less used binds (they don't feel that comfortable for me, on the other hand they work perfectly for my nephew, it's all preference at this point).


TLDR:

Play an FPS on PC for a week or so.

[madmonk]

the best way is indeed to keybind EVERYTHING and just practice. that's the way i learned it and it's still the way i learn my new specs. you'll be looking at your bars a lot to find the right button, but in time you'll just know where they are and you'll be able to hit the right key at the right time, without looking and without any issues

[Kompakt]

See thats the attitude that is not constructive at all. 2 things :

1. You are not automatically "exceptional" because you key bind.
2. You are not "doing ok" just because you click.

Keybinding is being discussed here because the OP wants to learn to do that. Otherwise, who are any of us to tell someone how to play a game they pay for.

I never said you were automatically exceptional because you keybind. I was saying that you automatically forfeit being exceptional by being a clicker, which is true. You can never be great by being a clicker. It's just an awful way to play and very restricting. I'm sorry if that's not very constructive, but that really doesn't detract from the truth of the statement. There is more potential in a bad keybinder than in a bad clicker, or decent of both.

I am telling someone how to play a game they are paying for because they explicitly asked. Had they not, I wouldn't have cared at all, anyone who is content with being sub-par will never be bothered by me, they have their niche and they enjoy the game the way they play. This guy apparently does not, so the whole spiel of "who are we to say" becomes almost unintelligible in this context.

[Degenerator]

I never said you were automatically exceptional because you keybind. I was saying that you automatically forfeit being exceptional by being a clicker, which is true. You can never be great by being a clicker. It's just an awful way to play and very restricting. I'm sorry if that's not very constructive, but that really doesn't detract from the truth of the statement. There is more potential in a bad keybinder than in a bad clicker, or decent of both.

I am telling someone how to play a game they are paying for because they explicitly asked. Had they not, I wouldn't have cared at all, anyone who is content with being sub-par will never be bothered by me, they have their niche and they enjoy the game the way they play. This guy apparently does not, so the whole spiel of "who are we to say" becomes almost unintelligible in this context.

Ok, perhaps I missunderstood when you said "Don't be a clicker. You can probably do OK, but you can never be exceptional, and why settle for less?". You can be exceptional as a clicker, simply because its relative to who you are playing the game with. If you mean the best of the best, I agree, clicking will not get you there. However, I do believe it to be more of a pvp issue than pve.

"I wouldn't have cared at all, anyone who is content with being sub-par will never be bothered by me, they have their niche and they enjoy the game the way they play." - again if you genuinely believe these statements are not intended as an insult to someone that clicks, perhaps rephrasing them would help.....as I certainly would see them as such.

[The Ogdru Jahad]

I made a strange transition that may help you. I was originally a clicker on my feral druid. I then learned how to keybind and I bound shred/mangle to holding shift + rolling mousewheel. So shift + rolling wheel up was mangle, and shift + down was shred. Then I bound 4 other abilities I used frequently in my general rotation to 1-4 keys. Eventually I weened myself off the mousewheel and just added shred/mangle to the number keys.

If you find yourself failing at using the keys at first, DON'T give up. It will take time, patience and practice, but you WILL get it eventually. You will see your quality of life in the game increase tenfold and realize you can never go back to clicking spells. Best of luck!