~~Why WASD Is Outdated and the Benefits of Using TFGH!~~

[zywrath]

[at] Emotears
Thanks for your post - it really got me thinking. I've been stuck in the WASD universe forever. You've given some good ideas that I'm looking forward to experimenting with.

[at] Bloodnuke
Thanks for sharing your preferred keybinding strategies. These, in addition to Emotears' post will be really helpful.

Cheers,

Zywrath
Requisite - Mal'Ganis

PS MMO-Champ won't let me use the 'at' symbol, because i've posted too few posts so far.

[iAreEddie]

Honestly unless you keyboard turn why do you need turn right, turn left or back peddle? Only movement keys i have bound on the my letter keys are asd
a-strafe left
s-forward
d-strafe left
use your mouse to turn and never NEVER backpeddle.
I also bind my abilities in order to Q, W, E, R, F, V, C, X, Z, mouse button 1(not left or right click), mouse button two(not left or right click either), and click mouse wheel. I use shift and alt as modifiers, giving me 24 buttons for standard abilites.
I use 1234 and 5 for offensive cool downs, and ctrl for defensive cool downs
so in total i have a possibility of 68 possible binds without moving my left hand more that 2 inches.
Now, If I were to plug in my Razor Naga... Well lets just say thats too many binds..

[Deleted]

GL using all keymods (alt/ctrl/shift) with your fingers in middle of your keyboard.
No I use my precious wsad since days of quake and don't have reason to change it.

[Deleted]

Good idea... but I play FPS games on the PC too, all using WASD which is much more convenient for pressing shift for sprint, z - prone, c - crouch, space - jump etc.

Id have to retrain myself for every game...

also I havnt been having problems using WASD in WoW

so thanks, but no thanks

[kronpas]

Honestly unless you keyboard turn why do you need turn right, turn left or back peddle? Only movement keys i have bound on the my letter keys are asd
a-strafe left
s-forward
d-strafe left
use your mouse to turn and never NEVER backpeddle.
I also bind my abilities in order to Q, W, E, R, F, V, C, X, Z, mouse button 1(not left or right click), mouse button two(not left or right click either), and click mouse wheel. I use shift and alt as modifiers, giving me 24 buttons for standard abilites.
I use 1234 and 5 for offensive cool downs, and ctrl for defensive cool downs
so in total i have a possibility of 68 possible binds without moving my left hand more that 2 inches.
Now, If I were to plug in my Razor Naga... Well lets just say thats too many binds..

Backpedal if you ever want to record a game session. No viewer would want to watch a shaky video where the cameraman turning right and left every second, although it might be the more effective playstyle.

[Purgex]

I use WASD. I think its better than your offer, Has more combinations and here is why:


movement= WASD
on-demand TAB targeting
on-demand CAPS LOCK

keybinds= basic
f1-f4 (works better than your offer)
Q,E,R,F
`,1,2,3,4
using the 2 side buttons a 5 button mouse (left, right, scrollwheel press, "2 side buttons")
keybinds= advanced
(not using ctrl, instead Shift because this is shorter pinky movement plus a larger keypad)
SHIFT + 2,3,4,E,R,D,F,S,mouse side button 1 and 2, scrollwheel up and down
keybinds= advanced plus
Using ALT, since using your thumb for jumping is already trained, ALT should be easy as well
ALT+ 2,3,W,E,mouse side buttons, and scrollwheel up and down
keybinds= Illustrious advanced plus
SHIFT + Left click, right lick, Space-keypad
ALT + Left click, right lick

40 keybinds!

My pro-advice would be to use the easier to touch buttons with priority skills and the less important ones with the less comfortable combinations, considering self buffs, utility vs main attacks, heal , etc

for example:

I use hover macros only, so my self buffage like judgement would be on a mouse button while a main heal would be E or R, or most basic repeated attacks ( fillers ) would be on a mouse button and rotations like dps dots from warlocks would be on E or Q.

/flex

Thankyou,
A couple of my thoughts.

First, WASD or ESDF are by far the best combinations, because the number of combinations created by the modifier keys ALT CTRL & Shift far outweigh the buttons available otherwise. You are also losing the following 15 combinations:
ALT mousewheel DOWN
ALT mousewheel UP
ALT middlemouse
ALT mousebutton 4
ALT mousebutton 5
CTRL mousewheel DOWN
CTRL mousewheel UP
CTRL middlemouse
CTRL mousebutton 4
CTRL mousebutton 5
SHIFT mousewheel DOWN
SHIFT mousewheel UP
SHIFT middlemouse
SHIFT mousebutton 4
SHIFT mousebutton 5
all of which can are commonly attached to hover macros by healers (2*15=30), so you are effectively losing 15 of the fastest-reacting buttons you have (Your mouse has lower latency than your keyboard, and binary input from the mouse is prioritized over keyboard input, because it it part of the mouse's datastream.

This is a great idea, I should try it for a couple of raids/heroics and see how it goes. Personally, I went from arrow-keys to WASD with very little difficulty, maybe TFGH, or the less common ESDF key set ups will work better.

Second, stop trolling, please tell me you are joking, no one ever used the arrow keys!

Is there a way to change which keys you can use as modifiers? If so are there limitations as to what keys you could use?

Sorry, not without software that would (unfortunately) get you banned, unless you're running a personal version of linux or something.

Interesting idea, but to me, it wouldn't be worth it, since I use double bars when playing Holy Paladin, depending on if I heal or dps. I just switch between them by using the shift-key and scroll with my mouse, which is kind of easy if you know how to deal with it.

I also use f1, f2, f3, etc. for certain buffs and particular spells I do not need to cast every single time, but are useful once you need them. Plus, I use the r-, f-, and c-keys for special dps attacks, finishers, etc.

What I would recommend to anyone who needs to change keybinds, so you can play your class a bit more efficient, is to experiment and try to find what customisation is the most comfortable for you. After all, there are several approaches to this, since the amount of keys on a keyboard are plenty.

Stop this. Download addons, Bartender 4.0 or Dominos. Your bars will change (automagically) when you switch specs, and you can save presets and the keybindings you use, even the physical appearance and location of the bars, so they aren't taking up the bottom 10% of your screen. Also, ~, 4 & 5 should be your finisher(being hardest to reach), assuming you are pressing the easier to spam buttons for your main attacks (paladin Crusader Strike, mage Arcane Blast, etc)

Also, this poster is correct, just bind F1 to F14 for your passive buffs, auras & other miscellaneous stuff.

You can unbind "Z" and "X", unless you need to put your staff away during combat, or you're hardcore in 5s, and feel the need to spam X over their dead body.

---------- Post added 2011-03-08 at 05:15 PM ----------

[at] Emotears
Thanks for your post - it really got me thinking. I've been stuck in the WASD universe forever. You've given some good ideas that I'm looking forward to experimenting with.

[at] Bloodnuke
Thanks for sharing your preferred keybinding strategies. These, in addition to Emotears' post will be really helpful.

Cheers,

Zywrath
Requisite - Mal'Ganis

PS MMO-Champ won't let me use the 'at' symbol, because i've posted too few posts so far.

Press to reply to multiple people.

[Ekkoeu]

I'm used to WASD but if ESF is more effective I'd be tempted to move. To be fair I'd miss the modifier keys too much by going across the keyboard more with your setup.

[Raqubor]

I have a Logitech G13, your argument is invalid. Or should I say, way ahead of you?

[Tehfred]

Woot, four more keys to wear the letters off of!

[Deleted]

hmm, ive never understood the huge flamewars that rage over a/d bindings, not sure if its because i havent practiced enough or just how my fingers naturally move, but i find it far easier to keep a / d as turning and then right click in conjunction to turn it into a strafe, ive never had any problems using that combo to strafe / turn while using abilities at the same time

(razer naga mouse with alienware TactX keyboard)

[Voluum]

Pressing keys in general is awkward in general for me..

[Gonken]

I use QWE, really nice imo. Using TFGH doesn't allow me to use ctrl or shift modifiers.

[Greennunu]

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboa...d/devices/5123

I invested in one of these, even before this I never use WASD to move, I bound auto-run to "middle mouse click". After I got this and started to strafe I use use mini joystick for moving, one of the button at the bottom is for jumping. The rest of the key is full customizable, the hud is useless. obviously any left side customizable numpad will suffice, I just chose this one cause it's shiny.

[Raqubor]

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboa...d/devices/5123

I invested in one of these, even before this I never use WASD to move, I bound auto-run to "middle mouse click". After I got this and started to strafe I use use mini joystick for moving, one of the button at the bottom is for jumping. The rest of the key is full customizable, the hud is useless. obviously any left side customizable numpad will suffice, I just chose this one cause it's shiny.

I have the same thing and I also thought of moving with the joystick, but it didn't fit for me, so I just use the middle of the board to move and put cooldown spells on the joy like Vanish, Blind and so on for my rogue and aspects and traps for my hunter.
I use it to shift stances on my warrior.

[Deleted]

oooo, his name is Emo tears, not Emote arse... oke, anyways. i am used to WASDQE, people who are lefthanded often use yuihjk. i don't like changing it since most games use WASDQE.

[jerkface]

Honestly unless you keyboard turn why do you need turn right, turn left or back peddle? Only movement keys i have bound on the my letter keys are asd
a-strafe left
s-forward
d-strafe left

Fan of NASCAR, are we?

[Deleted]

Am I the only one that uses autorun to move the charachter ? The button for autorun is my first side button on the mouse, then I use only D to strafe right (or turn right), then I use only the ALT modifier with \-1-2-3-4-5-Q-E-R-F-X-C-V plus the obviously \-1-2-3-4-5-6-f1-f2-f3-f4, mouse wheel up and down I'm feeling quite good with this bindings but I tried to change them to a more common system of keys

[Ashcrack]

I use WASD and have 30+ bindings that I can press while moving so I think i'll stick with what I have

123456 Q E R T G F V X Y `All with shift modifier and I also use shift space for pvp trinket. Then I have F1 2 3 for arena targetting.

[halmotors]

I use AERG:

A = Left Strafe
E = Back
R = Forward
G = Right Strafe

It opens up all the buttons around those fingers for use in keybinds, and I don't have to cramp my fingers together for long periods of time trying to hit WASD or any of the other ones. Feels far more natural, as that's how my hand falls on the keyboard in the first place.

[Vook]

Easier solution: Get a Razer Naga and don't worry about using your left hand for movement AND abilities.