Please, teach me how to play with a mouse

[VeteranoNoob]

Hi guys!

Not joking btw, let me explain.

As far as I understood, almost everyone plays with mouse and keyboard. What I mean is it seems that most of you guys use 1-5, F1-F4, and some qweasd + the mouse when you are in combat.

The way I play is somthing like this: when I am not in combat, I use wasd (qe to strafe) to move and the mouse to click npc, use items and so. When I am in combat I basically just use my mouse before fight starts to select my first target, if I need to switch targets I use Tab. So when the fight starts, I use 1-5 for CDs (def ones) and my mouse hand goes to my Num Pad, where I use 0-9, and both - +, and some ctrl macros for stuns/interupts.

Playing like this give a really good timing on pressing whatever I want, but when I need to turn around or click something else, lets say cast a spell in a place, I have to take my right hand of the num pad and hold the mouse again. Also I guess turn around using the mouse is 10x times faster than pressing D for example.

I have been playing like this since I started playing WoW. Maybe is too late to change?

Could you please let me know the way you play? How do you move your char? Do you have enough keys for cds, spells, items when one of your hands is using the mouse? Right now if dont use my num pad, I will lose 11 keys! How the hell do I replace those keys?

Dont know if it matters or not... I am DK (all specs) and my mouse has 2 side buttons + the wheel.

Thank you very much!!! I hope this is not a wrong place to post this.

[Dald]

use 1-5, qerfzxc keys for binds
use shift to modify those same keys for double the binds

hand never leaves mouse

[Absintheminded]

You can add shift and alt as modifiers. You shouldn't have a problem binding all the things you need. Also, you can bind some buttons on the mouse.

[Onikaroshi]

You can always change, I used to only use a keyboard until I got a mouse with 12 side buttonhttps://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Gami.../dp/B0086UK7IQ

Now i can't play without the damn thing lol.

[Kyphael]

Uh... I play with mouse and keyboard too, mouse for clicking spells, which makes me a clicker though, and keyboard for movement and jumping, and tab targeting. It's how I learned to play and what I'm comfortable with, and I healed to Kingslayer with it so obviously everyone has their way. I've heard how "clickers suck" but it's funny that even in pvp, I can kill other players while they have seizures around me. Just find what you like and are comfortable with.

[Deleted]

It will be hard at first to get use to a/d strafing and mouse turning but bare with it, it definitely be worth it and improve your gameplay!
I personally only have 2 side buttons too, what i use is q,e,r,f for core rotation spells, z,x,c,v for occasional dmg (like procs) with shift again if needed extra stuff eg macros and summon demons etc. My side mouse button for interupt and importand cd (plus 1-3) and shift variations of those, and 4/5 for personal defensives and movement abilities.
I use this layout for all my characters so its easy to adapt, im sure most people do some thing similar although mapping them to whatever is comfortable to them.
I recommend just starting out with basic stuff first and slowly adding in couple of spells over time so dont get overwhelmed, soon it be all in muscle memory and happy times. Hope this helps good luck!

[Deleted]

Could you please let me know the way you play? How do you move your char? Do you have enough keys for cds, spells, items when one of your hands is using the mouse?

my mouse has 2 side buttons + the wheel.

I play very lightweight. Meaning I don't have a bunch of macros and keybinds and mousebinds. Like yours, my mouse has two on the side and the wheel. I use them for Autorun, that's it. I have Q, E and F bound to "reactive spells", like insta-cast Mind Blast on my priest, or just spells I use a lot but has a cooldown, like Avengers Shield on my paladin. Everything else is either 1-6 or mouseclicks on bars.

I don't NEED 117 macros for situational purposes. I just play. It's how I've played since Vanilla.

[Mirishka]

Uh... I play with mouse and keyboard too, mouse for clicking spells, which makes me a clicker though, and keyboard for movement and jumping, and tab targeting. It's how I learned to play and what I'm comfortable with, and I healed to Kingslayer with it so obviously everyone has their way. I've heard how "clickers suck" but it's funny that even in pvp, I can kill other players while they have seizures around me. Just find what you like and are comfortable with.

I forget which, but one of the 'world first' guilds had a rogue who was a clicker and still did stupid-amazing dps.

[Dispraise]

Uh... I play with mouse and keyboard too, mouse for clicking spells, which makes me a clicker though, and keyboard for movement and jumping, and tab targeting. It's how I learned to play and what I'm comfortable with, and I healed to Kingslayer with it so obviously everyone has their way. I've heard how "clickers suck" but it's funny that even in pvp, I can kill other players while they have seizures around me. Just find what you like and are comfortable with.

Being a "clicker" is a handicap, that's just a demonstrable fact. Being able to do well isn't evidence that there is no handicap, only that you've adapted to do well despite the handicap. By way of analogy, a girl without arms might learn to paint using her toes and reach a level of skill rivaling the great masters. Wouldn't mean having no arms isn't a handicap.

What I'm saying is, you're doing it wrong. You just happen to be doing it wrong really well.

[draganid]

get razr naga mmo mouse

[Deleted]

I forget which, but one of the 'world first' guilds had a rogue who was a clicker and still did stupid-amazing dps.

None of them

Because he never existed

[Kyphael]

I forget which, but one of the 'world first' guilds had a rogue who was a clicker and still did stupid-amazing dps.

Funny enough my first toon was a rogue. =P

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Being a "clicker" is a handicap, that's just a demonstrable fact. Being able to do well isn't evidence that there is no handicap, only that you've adapted to do well despite the handicap. By way of analogy, a girl without arms might learn to paint using her toes and reach a level of skill rivaling the great masters. Wouldn't mean having no arms isn't a handicap.

What I'm saying is, you're doing it wrong. You just happen to be doing it wrong really well.

Fair enough, but it is what it is, it's what I'm comfortable with. Everyone should play however they are comfortable with as long as they perform to a satisfactory level (personal or required of their guild.) I don't think being a clicker is a handicap in PVE though, even the hardest mechanics are stupid easy if you study the fight. It's probably more detrimental in high level PVP, though I dabbled even in 2 v 2 arena and won a couple times. It probably would have caught up to me if I kept trying arena. I could play with a mouse if I wanted to, I do sometimes when healing, I just prefer clicking. Can't shake it.

[Thelxi]

The most basic thing that you and all other keyboard turners should learn is controlling the camera/movement with your mouse. It gives you a lot more freedom and will objectively make you better and more effective at the game. I have never heard of a keyboard turner that kicked the habit and then went back to it. It's just dumb quite frankly.

Controlling camera and movement with your mouse is just the basics though. If you are looking for change and improvement I would get a mouse with buttons on it. That way you free up your left hand to focus more on movement and a handful of easy to reach keys, while your right thumb does a lot of work without interfering with everything else your right hand does. It's very efficient and I would never again play an MMO with ~30 keybinds without a mouse with buttons on it, personally.

[Kyphael]

I use
qweasd for movement, together with mouse.
12345rfvdc for abilities, with shift and alt as modifiers, that's more than enough to bind required combat abilities to keys within "finger reach".

I move with mouse, one way to pracice is the famous hunter jump shot - you can do this with other ranged wih insta-cast abilities as well, you can kinda do it with melee as well (not running though, but jumping in place), but it's the hunter "signature move".

Run away from target (use a dummy or something for practice), jump, turn facing the dummy in mid-air, shoot the dummy while still in air and turn back facing your original direction before you land. This way you won't lose direction or speed - but can still put some DPS on the target hile kiting it.
This is very hard to pull off if you must click things or use keyboard turning, so it's a good way to practice.

Learning to control camera and movement properly with mouse is important in order to increase awareness and movement during encounters.

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Yeah - if you're comfortable with a playstyle and you can keep up with tasks and produce good results, it doesn't matter, just go with whatever you feel works for you. There are very high-end mythic players who "click" as well. If it works for you, then it works.

But if you realize you're always struggling and dying to some mechanic because you can't move fast enough, or you don't produce as much throughput as your fellow raiders because you click, then learning how to do stuff with bindings and mouse might be a good idea. It's all about self-assessment, because you don't want to be the one who slows the progress of your team (and in high-end guilds that probably gets you benched anyway)

Same with UI - there's a point where it starts mattering as well. This old article from Hamlet sums it up:
https://iam.yellingontheinternet.com...acticed-skill/

That's a good read right there and I agree with the thought process.

[Sastank]

There are 10 button mice. Probably those will help you.

Mice with 12 button thumbgrids even! =P Razer Naga Logitech G600 and Corsair Scimitar are 3 of the top namebrand ones.

[h4vok]

I mostly PvP. I have lots of binds as well as a G600. I don't even use all my buttons at this point, but I bind non-combat shortcuts away from my combat buttons so I have access to more keys if I do need them. I use W,A,S,D for moving my character with A and D being strafe instead of turning since I don't ever turn using keys when I have access to a mouse. I bind F1-F4, `-6, Q, E, R, T, Y, F, G, Z, X, C, V, B as toolbar buttons. On my mouse I have everything bound to addition toolbar buttons. Your mouse, like a lot of mice nowadays, has 5 bindable buttons, MWHEELUP, MWHEELDOWN, Mouse3, then two additional buttons, which are usually bound as Mouse4 and 5. Another big perk with using a mouse is being able to move the camera to see other things on the battlefield. I have it so my camera never auto-adjusts so during combat I can move the camera to see what's behind me or to the sides while still being able to move and track my target. The big thing to remember is W will always move your character forward regardless of which way the camera is facing.

I have more than enough buttons and even if I were using a standard mouse instead of a G600 I'd have plenty of buttons. Getting used to this way of playing will take time but is definitely doable with a little practice. Towards the beginning you might have some struggles but if you really want to change your playstyle you have to keep trying. Who knows, maybe you'll look back on your old way of playing and think "How did I play that way?" or maybe not.

[Heladys]

Get a Naga mouse too. 12 extra buttons is no joke.

[Video Games]

Worth the infraction.

[Krawu]

I'd say mice with extra thumb buttons beyond the 2 or 3 you have on almost any mouse these days are advanced stuff and not suited to just learn the basics. I'd cut out the F-Keys as well for a start. I recommend the following:

Bind strafing to A&D, bind Q&E and your mouses' thumb buttons to action bar slots and use these to also use abilities. This gives you more Abilities at your fingertips and removes keyboard turning from your options, forcing you to use the mouse for that. They just try to play that way. With Q, E,your mouse and 1-6 you should have enough buttons to play your character reasonably well. You WILL suck for a couple days, but keep at it and it'll soon feel natural. Once it does you can make further alterations as you see fit. Take away some buttons you can't comfortably reach and maybe add R, F, G and so on. At that point the most important thing, using the mouse to steer your character will have been achieved.

[Veyne]

This is actually the first time I've encountered someone other than myself using the num pad for their rotation!

I've been doing it for 13 years, and at this point, it's going to be virtually impossible to break the habit, but A) I don't PvP, B) I regularly parse 90th percentile plus as DPS with more than a fair share of legendary parses too, and C) I rarely ever die to stupid, and when I do, it's some legitimate stupidness that mouse movement wouldn't have helped.

There's virtually nothing in PvE that can't be handled with properly planned sidestepping and circle strafing, and the only time my hand touches my mouse in combat is to place ground-targeted AoE.

I could theoretically be better if I had learned the "proper" way from the start, but at this point, it's not worth the effort. I also don't push mythic raid content, so what I do works for me personally, and I'm still able to constantly improve.

Unless you absolutely need a new control scheme to address a glaring problem you're having with your performance, like dying to avoidable damage and all, or you just can't get the your parses up, I'd say not to stress over it too much.

I could theoretically inch out a tiny bit more DPS by setting up my dots as mouseover macros, but 9/10, my tab targeting works perfectly fine for me.


But trust me, I've tried the usual keybind setups with mouse movement. I just can't get my muscle-memory used to it. I will always primarily move with my WADS, and that already by default takes fingers away from easy access to keys around the WADS for rotational abilities.