Topic of the day: Do keybinds make or break the player?

[Rallaster]

Hey everyone,
I have been a member here for years. Mostly I just watch and reply here and there. But this AM in my office we had been talking about MMO's. The topic was keybinds. Does this make or break a player? I found it interesting on both the front of the players setup and if they even keybind. I'm a true believer that keybinds make you a better player. For me its cut and dry. But at the same time I know someone who does NOT keybind and they PVP and PVE and they do well. Their PVP team is in the upper 2K range. Anyways whats your setup? Addons and hardware both count!

I use a standard Dell mouse and keyboard. I had a gaming board and mouse but when I built my PC a few months back I didn't wanna shell out another $100 for a keyboard. For addons I use bartender.
What do you all think and use? (This is not a flaming thread! Just honest opinions.)

PS. I may have spelling errors due to typing from my phone!

[Wildtree]

In theory keybinding results in better performance. In reality if you aren't savvy with keyboard writing it backfires.
Any typo you make when you write something, would translate into a wrong keybind is used.
While it is true that the results with keybinds are better, it's also true that one doesn't have to have, or learn perfect type writer skills just to play a video game. That demand would be absurd.
Truth is, one ought to use the method they are most comfortable with.

[Imnick]

Keybinding has a higher maximum potential, you can press multiple keys at once and react a lot faster
If you have only used clicking though and swap to keybinds your performance will get worse before it gets better

It is up to the individual player to decide whether the long term gain is worth the short term cost

[Deleted]

I believe a player with keybinds will perform better in general as it allows you to focus on what is going on to 100% instead of having your eyes glued to the action bars a lot of the time as having binds relies more on muscle memory then looking where you move the mouse, About hardware i have a crappy HP keyboard and a logitech G600 with 12 buttons on the side being used with modifiers which makes it into 36 binds at my thumb.

[Deleted]

combination is the way to go, keybinds & clicking, using one instead of the other is baaaad, use both!

I play keyboard style as it works for me, the wife plays dudu healer with mouse only and she is normally top 2 in raids (and i dont mean 2 man healing 10 man raids )

[Deleted]

It really depends on the class you play, I barely keybind any of my abilities as a rogue and I'm able to hit rank 1 logs just fine. As long as you're comfortable with how you're playing then even clicking an ability can be just as fast as a keybind (I'm talking cooldowns, not main rotation abilities, they obviously need to be keybinded).

I know many players who have 1-9 keybinded with their main spells and click their cooldowns (including potions/healthstones) and are able to perform at the top10~ in logs. One of them is in Method.

[Shahad]

In theory keybinding results in better performance. In reality if you aren't savvy with keyboard writing it backfires.
Any typo you make when you write something, would translate into a wrong keybind is used.
While it is true that the results with keybinds are better, it's also true that one doesn't have to have, or learn perfect type writer skills just to play a video game. That demand would be absurd.
Truth is, one ought to use the method they are most comfortable with.

The hell are you talking about?
Keybinds don't require NEAR the same proficiency with keyboards as typewriting. And honestly, something is just wrong with you if putting spells on a handful of keys is too complex.

[Deleted]

I typically go for a combo. Key-bind the most common (or critical) abilities, and click for the rest. That way the usual abilities are engrained in muscle memory, but the cooldowns and less common abilities can be clicked, rather than trying to remember what key they're bound to, and miss-pressing.

[Keoren]

Keybinds have a strong tendency of enhancing one's gaming in most titles. They are almost required in some. In WoW their importance comes down to the content and class, but they are an advantage across the board.

[Otimus]

In PVE, it doesn't seem to matter all that much. In PVP, I'd go so far as to call it essential to have at least a few. I have a number of keys bound to my mouse/keyboard. I pretty much HAVE to have at least one side mouse button because I'm so used to having it for bindings in WoW. If I had to switch to a plain mouse without one, my entire game would be thrown off. Having that ONE extra button, though! I highly recommend it. It opens up a lot of easy combos of keys.

[Wildtree]

The hell are you talking about?
Keybinds don't require NEAR the same proficiency with keyboards as typewriting. And honestly, something is just wrong with you if putting spells on a handful of keys is too complex.

Whats's wrong with you being insulting?
No one needs but a handful of keybinds. A handful is 5 keys. Plus the keys for all kinds of other actions, clutter at some point a multitude of keys.
If I need only 5 keys I can assign them by putting macros into the spell bars and hit the number keys.
Believe it or not, but there are definitely more people out there, that have to look at the keyboard, to actually hit every single key, than there are those who don't have to look at all. And someone who has to look at the keyboard loses the advantage.

What I said stands as true.. If you cannot think outside of your own box, that's your personal problem, and no reason to insult.

[oplawlz]

It really depends on the class you play, I barely keybind any of my abilities as a rogue and I'm able to hit rank 1 logs just fine. As long as you're comfortable with how you're playing then even clicking an ability can be just as fast as a keybind (I'm talking cooldowns, not main rotation abilities, they obviously need to be keybinded).

I know many players who have 1-9 keybinded with their main spells and click their cooldowns (including potions/healthstones) and are able to perform at the top10~ in logs. One of them is in Method.

This exactly. While I do not see how binding the keys you spam regularly could do anything but improve performance, you probably don't gain anything by binding the 3+ min cds. That said, I will mention that I have a heavily modified UI which allows me to click what I need without looking away from the fight

[Sedative]

PVE: doesn't really matter
PVP: borderline required (outside of the handful of freaks that seem to be able to click with a blindfold on, but the majority of clickers are bad)

[Thelxi]

All it does for sure is make things easier and simpler.

Of course there are always people that learned a specific way and do not want to change that, and they sometimes do well. My grandmother has a dishwasher and a dryer, but she still does the dishes in a sink and hangs clothes to dry.

[yjmark]

Simple answer - no.

Keybinds may give you a slight advantage when properly used. But, it does not make or break the player.

[Shahad]

Whats's wrong with you being insulting?
No one needs but a handful of keybinds. A handful is 5 keys. Plus the keys for all kinds of other actions, clutter at some point a multitude of keys.
If I need only 5 keys I can assign them by putting macros into the spell bars and hit the number keys.
Believe it or not, but there are definitely more people out there, that have to look at the keyboard, to actually hit every single key, than there are those who don't have to look at all. And someone who has to look at the keyboard loses the advantage.

What I said stands as true.. If you cannot think outside of your own box, that's your personal problem, and no reason to insult.

For typing, yes many people need to actually look at the keys, including me. But for a game? You always use the same 10-ish keys that are all placed around WASD. Which are necessary for movement. Memorizing that your interrupt is on Q when it's always at the same place, right next to your hand does not require the same muscle memory as typing with the whole keyboard where you hands are constantly shifting places. Add in things like the Nostromo/n52te and the Razer Naga, and there is absolutely no reason to be "unable" to keybind. And also, with Bartender you can customize bars so that they actually look like your keyboard keys, negating the need to actually look at it, as your onscreen bars matches the positions of the keybinds.

So, yes, if you "can't" keybind, something is wrong with you, be it laziness or medically bad motor skills(which would affect clicking anyway) or whatever else.

[Deleted]

In most cases they make or break the player, but if someone is good with clicking then I don't see any problem. In the end I don't care how players play, as long they play good with however they do it.

PVE: doesn't really matter
PVP: borderline required (outside of the handful of freaks that seem to be able to click with a blindfold on, but the majority of clickers are bad)

There isn't a difference between PvE and PvP...

[Tenjen]

like wildtree said, but i'd like to add that another thing some people may lack is the ability to set up effective keybinds ontop of the ability to use them. Not everyone can intuitively set up keybinds to go along with their dps cycle and cooldowns (cycle keys being the closest and/or easiest to use with cd's not far away, but offensive closer and defensive not far behind). proper use of shift and mouse buttons (along with shift variance) AS PER your play style and dps/tank/healing cycle in conjunction with your chosen ui setup and addo..oh hell you see what i mean.

its not for everyone and some may gain better efficiency (individually) through other means.

and it matters in PVE just as much as PVP but the nature of how you go about it is different. Pvp is effectiveness and adaptation allowance primarily. PVE is efficiency and reactivity primarily (i say primarily cause the others are still evolved but not as relevantly)

[Sedative]

There isn't a difference between PvE and PvP...

PvE: scripted, static, predictable. With the exception of the 1% end game raiding playerbase doing hardmodes, PvE is made fairly trivial via boss warnings, DBM, etc.
PvP: dynamic, fast paced, typically unpredictable, requires changing tactics on the fly.

Nope, no difference.

This isn't a "what takes more skill to play" argument. They both take skill in their own rights. But the question is surrounding clicking your abilities vs. key bindings and how feasible/effective it is.

It can certainly be said that keybinding will make you a better raider versus clicking, in a PvE setting it is also more "forgivable" to click.

[Dastuross]

Tank standpoint here. for me, keybinding everything ( and i mean everything that i'd hit in a fight ) is more or less 100% required to tank, there are times i have to be turning my camera, moving, and hitting 1-2 CDs, all while doing my rotation. you just can't do that nearly as well with clicking.

Just my 2c