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How to stop clicking
Before we get started, let's make one thing very clear. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with clicking. If you want to click, that's just fine, this article isn't for you. If you're someone who clicks and is perfectly happy about it, then skip over all this and tell me about it in the comments. But, if you are a clicker who wants to change, then read on. As an aside, now's a great time to make the switch, we've got a while without new content... So what is a clicker? Without this key piece of information, the above won't be that relevant. A clicker is a term for someone who uses mouse-clicks to hit their abilities rather than keybinding them. There is an assumption made that people who are clicking their abilities are also using their keyboard to move. Their mouse is tied up with moving around the screen to hit abilities, and therefore only occasionally has the time to move their character. It's not necessarily true, but it seems a reasonable position. Why does clicking get a bad reputation? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's slower. It is slower to move your mouse across your screen and hit different abilities than it is to move your hand across a keyboard. If you don't believe me, here's an experiment: head over to this keyboard site, and type a simple sentence by clicking the keys. Now try it with your keyboard. Unless there's something else at play, the latter should be faster. What's more, turn a full circle on the spot with your keyboard, and do the same with your mouse. One's a lot faster than the other.
Speed up your gameplay with key bindings and macros
While many tout using the mouse for speedy gameplay, you can't overlook the power of the keyboard. While moving and turning is most quickly done with a mouse, it's a slow way to activate spells or open menus, so if you want to speed up your game, it's a good idea to learn WoW's default keyboard shortcuts as well as how to make your own key bindings and macros. We'll cover the basics and help you get started. WoW's keyboard shortcuts You may be surprised to see how much you can control with your keyboard. The first step to keyboard mastery is by opening up WoW's key binding interface. Just hit your escape key to open up the game menu and then select Key Bindings. Now, we aren't going to mention every key binding in WoW here, because as you scroll through this menu you'll see there are a lot of them.
Player guide explains Mabinogi 2 Arena gameplay
After the recent release of various videos demonstrating the upcoming Mabinogi 2 Arena, players have voiced questions about how the gameplay works and which predecessor it will more closely resemble, Mabinogi or Vindictus. In answer, Steparu has put together an initial explanation of the combat mechanics and gameplay. The guide maps out the keyboard controls for both attacks and counter moves; fighting is controlled by only seven keys (X, Z, C, and 1-4), with one more (Q) bound to consuming potions. It also highlights one of Mabinogi 2 Arena's unique features -- the fact that attack animations change depending on where an enemy is situated and what condition it is in (such as stunned). Once in battle, Mabinogi veterans will recognize that mobs glowing different colors signifies which skill or action the mobs are using.
Keys to PvP: Keybinding, movement and clicking
WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who never clicks anything but her fingers. My last column dealt with the basics of macros and focus targets and their use in PvP. This time, we're tackling an even more heady topic, one that is arguably even more key to PvP success than macros and the use of focus targets. This article is a rare occasion when I will assert that one course of action is better than another! Clicking is a tricky subject. People may be surprised to see it in the title up there hanging out right next other key PvP skills. I would like to say that, with one caveat that will come up later, I wouldn't encourage clicking in PvP. First and foremost, what is clicking? When PvPers (and for that matter, probably PvEers) talk about clicking, they are referring to the practice of putting your abilities on your bars and clicking them with your mouse. In order to do this and move at the same time, you pretty much have to move with your keyboard. OK, so now that it's completely clear what clicking is, why is it bad? First and foremost, let's look at movement. Moving with your keyboard is slow. It's really slow. If you don't believe me, stand your character still and spin through 180 degrees with your keyboard. Now do the same with your mouse. Much faster! Rather like the difference between a d-pad and a thumb joystick on a console controller, mouse movement is far more intuitive, far easier to fine tune and far faster.
Interact with target keybind gets you past players atop NPCs
Have you been frustrated with all of the dragons and mammoths sitting atop your vendors and quest NPCs? If you're like every other WoW player in history, the answer to that question is yes. It happens in every content patch and in every expansion. Every crucial NPC is completely obscured. Luckily, back in patch 3.1, Blizzard added the ability to set an "Interact With Target" keybind, which few players seem to know about. To set this keybind, bring up World of Warcraft's main Options menu (hitting Escape will bring it up), go to the Key Bindings menu, scroll down to Targeting Functions, and you should be able to find the option easily. You can also set an Interact With Mouseover key bind if you so choose. If you've never customized your key bindings before, be careful about the key you choose to bind to these functions. You don't want to overwrite other crucial keybinds accidentally. Once your Interact With Target key is set, you no longer need to worry about crowds or mammoths. Just /target who you want to interact with and hit the appropriate key. It will bring up the dialogue prompt, and you're set. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
The Art of War(craft): Keybinding your way to winning form
Zach only has one key bound on his keyboard: the I WIN button. Welcome to WoW Insider's weekly PvP column, The Art of War(craft), focusing on good, old-fashioned PvP. Last week, we discussed a few pointers on how to continue your winning ways on the battlefield. We talked about how your machine and connection will help give you a competitive edge, and we also briefly touched on how other playstyle improvements such as macros and keybindings will contribute to your game. Keybinding, quite simply, is using your keyboard keys (or mouse buttons) to activate your spells and abilities, as opposed to clicking on them with your cursor. If there is any bad habit at all that you need to break, it's clicking. It's an even graver gaming sin than keyboard turning. In fact, learning how to keybind can effectively prevent you from keyboard turning. By default, the game has set the W, A, S, D keys as forward, turn left, backward and turn right, respectively. Keyboard turning means you use the A and D keys (or any keyboard keys set to rotate) to change direction. You can easily remedy this by unbinding the A and D keys and binding them to the strafe buttons instead. Head on to the game menu by pressing the Esc key (instead of clicking on the computer icon on your bar -- isn't that much faster?) and going to the Key Bindings section. You'll see that World of Warcraft actually allows for two different sets of keys or instructions for movement and other game commands. In most cases, you'll only really need one set.
SteelSeries WoW mouse gets new functionality
Long after its initial release, which saw the mouse come under fire for its dubious EULA-breaking built-in functionality, WoWVault at IGN reports that the Steelseries World of Warcraft mouse has received a functional upgrade in that players can now "bind all 15 buttons without leaving the game." Patch 3.2.2 introduced a new interface for the mouse, which allows for the creation and customization of macros and key bindings from within the game, and assigned to different character profiles. The game now recognizes the mouse buttons as completely new and unique buttons, adding more buttons to augment players' normal keyboard buttons. This should make the mouse completely usable out of the box for all players without fear of breaking the game's end-user policies, as opposed to how it was when it first shipped as it took advantage of disallowed automated and timed scripts. The Steelseries website notes that players can "achieve faster response time(s) by customizing (their) mouse setup in-game and thereby removing a layer of software." It was this "layer of software" outside the game that delivered commands to the mouse and conflicted with the game's policies. So fear not, players! The Steelseries WoW mouse is now completely EULA-compliant! I mean, it still kind of looks like a robotic turtle, but at least it won't get you banned from the game anymore.
WoW Rookie: Leaner, meaner character controls
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.How do you control your character? If you move with the W-A-S-D keys and stab at spell and ability icons on-screen with your mouse, you're missing out on a whole world of options that can streamline your game. Simply by setting up your character controls a little differently, you can make your game play easier and more efficient. WoW Rookie pulls together a whole host of options to mull over. One of the first points to consider: How do you move your character? If you read a bit of WoW and gaming sites around the 'net, you've probably seen the phrase "mouthbreathing keyboard turner" bandied about. You're a keyboard turner if you use keys (usually W-A-S-D) on the keyboard to turn and move your character. Your character can turn (and get behind and around things and other players) much, much faster if you whip around with the mouse rather than slowly pivoting in place with your keyboard. So why's that such a big issue?
Key bindings and you
Horns over at Yet Another Warlock Nerf wrote an extremely handy guide to key bindings in his l2pvp series, and it's a pretty good read. Although he writes mostly for a Warlock audience, pretty much all of his tips hit the nail right on the head, giving a practical, easy to understand guide on how to start key binding. I wanted to cover this at some point in The Art of War(craft), but with guys like Horn writing guides like these, I probably don't have to! He notes the three principles of successful key binding: Start slowly - Horn says to take your time and not rush to key bind everything you've got (that would actually be pretty unwieldy...). Key bind one or two spells first and get used to it, eventually moving on to more key bindings. Speed - He also rightly points out that key bindings should consist of key combinations that are accessible with one hand, e.g., it doesn't make sense to bind CTRL+9 unless you're some sort of long-fingered, quintuple-jointed mutant Efficiency - Bind the important spells first, and not those on long cooldowns that aren't always clutch, like Innervate. Which means I'll probably need to unbind my Mini Tyrael... He even has a great illustration of a keyboard lay-out color coded to show which keys are easier to access along with the modifier keys. There are a whole bunch more of excellent tips over at his blog so give it a read if you want to get rid of that clicking habit. What the guide seems to lack, though, is an actual step-by-step guide on how to actually bind what spells to what keys through the World of Warcraft interface. Personally, I just use Bindpad since the default Key Bindings interface gets me a little dizzy.
Turning keyboard turners around
Zg thinks, quite unreasonably, that 99% of players in the game are "keyboard turners"-- people who use the keyboard to turn their characters rather than holding down the right mouse button and moving the camera to turn. It's hardly anywhere near 99%, but given that WoW is a game that attracts casual players (a.k.a. people who aren't experienced videogame players), I wouldn't be surprised if there are more people in Azeroth than in, say, Counter-Strike, who use the keyboard to do most of their navigating.Personally, I'm one of those that come from a CS background, and so I use the mouse for pretty much all movement whenever possible-- I'll often just hold down both mouse buttons if I need to run for a short distance (and anything longer gets the run lock key from me). I also think that circle strafing is pretty much the best game mechanic ever made, but I know that there are those who disagree with me-- back when I worked at Gamestop, one of our employees there just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that he should turn and move at the same time, and as a result just got dominated in our Halo matches.But habits are a powerful thing, and so keyboard turning is probably around to stay. I won't go so far as to say that fast-turning with a mouse is required to be a good player, but certainly that kind of reflex is required to be a really great player. So keyboard turners, pick up that mouse and start looking around-- you'll thank me later.
Breakfast Topic: Key bindings
I hate my mouse. Really, I do. I try to do as much as possible from the keyboard, both in and out of WoW. I have key bindings for just about everything, either in WoW's key bindings interface or using Bongo Bars. If I'm not going to have a key bound to a button, I don't usually bother making it, because I know I'm not going to mouse all the way over to click it. It's much easier to just type "/cast mind blast" than it is to figure out which is the mind blast button, move my hand to my mouse, position the cursor over the button, and click.But that's just me -- I know a lot of people who play very well clicking all of their spells. I can't imagine it, but apparently it goes on anyway. However, clickers, you are not the subject of this breakfast topic. My question for you today: what are your favorite key bindings? What are the first hotkeys you set up when you first roll on a new realm -- or do you just go with the defaults? My first hotkeys are always "\" for run-lock (because my laptop keyboard doesn't have an easy num lock) and "B" for whatever bag mod I'm using, or for open all bags if I'm not using one.[thanks, Dr. Funbags, for this suggestion, even if I'm pretty sure you just sent it in to see if I would really write "thanks, Dr. Funbags"]
