World of Warcraft™

I have been a clicker since I started playing in 2008. I play on a MacBook with no mouse whatsoever. I keyboard turn and click everything. I know I am extremely limited and gimping myself by doing this, and would love to learn to use a mouse and key binds. A couple of months ago I bought the Razer Naga thinking I would be able to learn, but I failed miserably and returned the mouse before my 30 day limit was up. If you actually care, more on that can be found in my original thread: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2517162191

As much as I suck at it, I still want to learn to use a mouse and key binds. I just purchased a generic 3-button $8 mouse to try this again. So far, I'm just as frustrated as I was the first time.

This time, however, I want to try to get the hang of it via my feral kitty spec and the training dummies/doing my Firelands dalies each day. With that being said, I'm looking for a good starting point as far as key binds specifically for kitties go. For example, do people typically key bind Feral Charge to [KEY] and Ravage to alt-[KEY] because they go together? Do people typically key bind the spell they use the most to 1 or do they key bind the first spell in their rotation to 1 and the second spell to 2 and so on? Also, using anything numbers at the top of the keyboard beyond 4 is uncomfortable and hard to reach, especially while needing to hit the space bar to jump or a modifier key. So, how do people do it?

I really want to learn how to do this, but it's just so unnatural and uncomfortable to me. A lot of things don't even make sense. Like, if you're a druid running on foot with the mouse, you must have travel form key bound, because otherwise you can't shift into it without stopping, right? Because the way I play, I'm running with W and can simply click the travel form icon on the move.

Anything I can get would be much appreciated.

I recognized your name as soon as I saw the thread title :P

Starting with the Naga can be a bit overwhelming, so good move with getting the cheap 3-button mouse to start. Practicing on target dummies and dailies (especially with how many dailies are on the Molten Front now) will help break down and rebuild your muscle memory at your own pace.

As for where things are bound, it's really up to the user and what they're comfortable doing. Like I mentioned in the previous thread, I have small female hands so I can't exactly swipe the entire keyboard easily. With the way my keyboard is designed, I can't press certain modifiers easily either (alt is awkward but ctrl is comfortable) so my setup is tailored to my needs. If one of my male counterparts tried to use my setup, I'd imagine he would cramp up and strain badly after a long playing session :P

There aren't many rules or guidelines to keybinding, but in general you want your frequent abilities bound together while other things like mounts, toys, pets, etc can be clickable instead. I also tend to keep long cooldowns unbound so I don't accidentally trigger them if I miss a key (yes, I was -that- paladin that would use Lay on Hands in the middle of a city).

Maybe seeing my druid's binds would give you some ideas. Copy/pasting my visual from the other thread (ignore caps/shift and the tilde):
~ 1 2 3 4 5
tab Q W E R T
caps A S D F G H
shift - - - V
Because of my keyboard's setup (Razer Lycosa) I can easily reach over to the 5 key. Beyond that I'm straining and would need to use my right hand.

To save posting space and give a better visual, I did the write-up in TinyPad and used a screenshot. Feel free to ask any questions, and if you need to see other form keybindings let me know!

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1966/icekittykeybindings.jpg

Edit: All of my shapeshifting abilities are not keybound, but I have click macros for them on the separate little actionbar under the minimap.

07/19/2011 03:59 PMPosted by Icedragon

I also tend to keep long cooldowns unbound so I don't accidentally trigger them if I miss a key (yes, I was -that- paladin that would use Lay on Hands in the middle of a city).

Haha! Don't worry, One of my guilds' main tanks is a Prot. Pally. Back in Wrath he accidentally "fat fingered" his Divine Intervention button during the LK fight one time, and I, being the Main Healer was set as his focus for his macro.....that didn't turn out very well....lol

For those of you who don't know what Divine Intervention was (it was removed in 4.0.1)...here's the spell description:

Divine Intervention
Instant cast
40 yards range
Reagents: [Symbol of Divinity]
The paladin sacrifices <himself/herself> to remove the targeted party member from harm's way. Enemies will stop attacking the protected party member, who will be immune to all harmful attacks but will not be able to take any action for 3 min.

Here's my setup for druid, Linbreeze; Feral Combat spec for relevance.

5-button Mouse (approx $20)
Left + Right Mouse button - Move and Steer
Middle Mouse button - Toggle Autorun
"Page Forward" Mouse button (@ Mouse button 4) - Strafe Left
"Page Back" Mouse button (@Mouse button 5) - Strafe Right
Scroll wheel Up - Taunt/Growl macro
Scroll wheel Down - Shapeshift macro

Keyboard
F1-F4 - Character Sheet, Open All Bags, Spellbook and Talents
1 - Mythical Healing Potion
2 - Healthstone
5 - Mark of the Wild

Q - Tiger's Fury/Enrage/Innervate macro
Shift+Q - Berserk
W - Barkskin, Survival Instincts castsequence
Shift+W - Frenzied Regeneration
E - Savage Roar/Demoralizing Roar macro
Shift+E - Challenging Roar
R - Dash
Shift+R - Stampeding Roar(Cat Form)/Stampeding Roar(Bear Form) macro

Z - Cyclone focus macro
Shift+Z - Hibernate focus macro
X - Entangling Roots
Shift+X - Nature's Grasp
C - Remove Corruption mouseover macro
Shift+C - Soothe
V - Lifebloom
Shift+V - Tranquility

Cat Form
A - Mangle(Cat Form)
Shift+A - Swipe(Cat Form)
S - Shred
Shift+S - Rake
D - Rip
Shift+D - Furious Bite
F - Faerie Fire(Feral)
Shift+F - Feral Charge, Ravage castsquence macro
G - Skull Bash(Cat Form)
Shift+G - Maim

Bear Form
A - Mangle(Bear Form)
Shift+A - Maul
S - Lacerate
Shift+S - Pulverize
D - Thrash
Shift+D - Swipe(Bear Form)
F - Faerie Fire(Feral)
Shift+F - Feral Charge(Bear Form)
G- Skull Bash(Bear Form)
Shift+G - Bash

Taunt/Growl macro
#showtooltip
/cast [form:1] Growl; [form:2] Prowl

Shapeshift macro
#showtooltip
/cast [swimming,mod:shift] Aquatic Form; [flyable,nocombat,mod:shift] Swift Flight Form; [outdoors,mod:shift] Travel Form; [form:1] Cat Form; [form:3] Bear Form

Tiger's Fury/Enrage/Innervate macro
#showtooltip
/cast [form:1] Enrage; [form:3] Tiger's Fury; [noform:1/3,@mouseover] Innervate

07/19/2011 02:59 PMPosted by Torque

As much as I suck at it, I still want to learn to use a mouse and key binds.

That's the spirit!

07/19/2011 02:59 PMPosted by Torque

Like, if you're a druid running on foot with the mouse, you must have travel form key bound, because otherwise you can't shift into it without stopping, right?

Set a key to "Toggle Autorun". For example, I'd hit my Autorun button, steer with the Right Mouse button and hit Shift+Scroll wheel Down to change forms.

07/19/2011 02:59 PMPosted by Torque

For example, do people typically key bind Feral Charge to [KEY] and Ravage to alt-[KEY] because they go together?

Typically, most folks set it up as a castsequence macro
#showtooltip
/castsequence reset=30 Feral Charge(Cat Form),Ravage

07/19/2011 02:59 PMPosted by Torque

Do people typically key bind the spell they use the most to 1 or do they key bind the first spell in their rotation to 1 and the second spell to 2 and so on?

Can't speak for others, but that's the general idea for all my toons, i.e. spells are arranged left to right, according to priority. Notice also that I use Shift-modified keys to execute spells that relate the the unmodified key, e.g. Thrash and Swipe (AoE attack), Rip and Furious Bite (finishers).

Keep practicing and let us know what roadblocks we can help bust down!

Both posts are extremely helpful and exactly what I was looking for (no surprise from you, Ice!). I'm only just getting on the game after making this thread now, so I don't have much to say yet, but don't doubt that I will be back with plenty more questions and how I did tonight trying to adapt these setups, soon enough.

I actually haven't had a chance yet to really start messing with the mouse and key binds, but I do have a quick question: Is it possible to bind left + right mouse click (which is normally run, if you hold them down), to auto-run?

07/20/2011 02:44 PMPosted by Torque

I actually haven't had a chance yet to really start messing with the mouse and key binds, but I do have a quick question: Is it possible to bind left + right mouse click (which is normally run, if you hold them down), to auto-run?

No, but you can rebind the auto-run command (which is the / key over the NumPad by default) in the Keybindings menu.

Just something to note is that if keybinding is already difficult for you, redoing your entire setup at once will make the transition murderous and even more frustrating. Figure out something you spam often (like Shred or Mangle, for a cat) and bind it to a key so you're "forced" to press the key often instead of clicking it. That'll get the process going a bit faster than starting with a 3 minute cooldown like Berserk that you don't hit often. Pick one or two spammable things and start from there.

This is how I started when I realized I wanted to overhaul my binds:

1) Figure out what keys I can comfortably use. Painful knuckles in a raid are not fun.

2) Figure out what abilities I wanted to bind. If I have ten keys I can use, I can pick out ten abilities to bind. Leave modifiers out of the equation when you're just starting out.

3) Figure out what keys I want to hit repeatedly. For me, it's more natural to spam 1-5 than it is to spam letter keys simply because I've been doing it for years.

4) Bind spammable abilities to spammable keys! Then get used to it after a week or so.

5) Slowly add more things to the other keys like the combo point moves, cooldowns, etc.

Once I had a workable setup, I expanded things with macros and modifiers. I also started out using an actionbar AddOn because I abhor the default UI. I was never a clicker, but I did change the default keybinds and add new ones so it's just as jarring to make the transition.

Edit: I swear I can count to five.

I also started out using an actionbar AddOn...

I had also started out by using Bartender4 and plastering my main skills in the middle of the screen. This helped a ton, as early on as I had to constantly remind myself of new keybinds, etc. and having it in the middle meant my focus was never far from the action (especially on a 24" screen).

I would recommend you get the addon bartender4, it makes the binding process easier, and you can move your action bars around and reposition them as you like, and much more.

Everyone probably has their own bind system. Personally I try to bind all my most important skills (the ones I will be using constantly in combat) all reachable from my left hand that is on the movement keys (ASDW). I use Q, E, F, G, H, Z, X, C, V, and B typically, and the number keys 1-4 as I can hit all of those without looking at my keyboard (which is what you want). I try, whenever possible to use a letter that makes sense with the name of the skill, like F for faerie fire. But most of the time....the letters don't really match up. Another thing I do is with ALL my toons, spell interrupt is ALWAYS bound to C, that way consistently with whatever toon I am playing spell interrupt is automatic, and I don't have to think about where it is. I always have my mount bound to H as well.

I have a mouse with 2 extra buttons on the side, and for a while I had those buttons bound to "Shift" and "alt" so that I could then hit the mouse "shift" button with any of the above mentioned keys, thus DOUBLING the amount binds I could use, without looking at the keyboard. But typically I only used a few alt or shift binds....And unfortunately my mouse buttons stopped working (even though the mouse is a relatively new Razer Deathadder). So I have to do a few extra clicks now for anything I had bound to shift and alt before. For some reason I can't easily hit shift or alt on my keyboard with my left hand......Shift isn't so bad but alt I can never hit.

Oh yeah, and the last thing is, most classes have way too many skills to all be bound to the limited keys reachable by your left hand. So I still have a fair amount of skills on actionbars that I click. But typically these are all skills that I won't need during combat, or only in special cases. For example on my mage I might need mirror image in combat, but only once in a while if I draw too much agg, so that one is kept on my right side actionbar, and I click it when needed (which is not very often). I also keep all my cooldowns in the same spot on all my toons, and click them when needed.

I don't understand how people strafe and cast spells at the same time. I guess it makes sense if you have you have strafing bound to your mouse, but I know a lot of people don't, and I'm not getting how they do it, because I sure as hell can't.

There is so much I still can't figure out. I'm SO bad at this. I wish I knew someone in real life that plays this game that could show me the ways.

07/29/2011 09:12 AMPosted by Torque

I don't understand how people strafe and cast spells at the same time

Practice. I sucked badly at keybinds and mouse turning for the looooonnnnnggggest time.

Don't let it get you down.

For instance on my mage I keep instant cat abilities on 4 5 t and g those are easy to reach while also holding either q or e.

But really Practice and lots of it.

Yup, practice. I just went cold turkey. Rebound everything at once, so I didn't have a choice but to get it down. Practiced on low level mobs, pretended they were bosses casting dangerous crap, kited them around unnecessarily, that kind of thing. :)

It also helps to arrange your keybinds to keep abilities you need to use the most while strafing away from those fingers.

For me, strafe is W and E, and those are the only movement keys I have; everything else is on the mouse. My most important abilities are all on my index finger (FRGTVBHY654), and a couple on my pinky. The stuff on 2, 3, S, D, X, and C is stuff I can usually get away without. My index finger can reach D and C pretty easily, too, if need be.

If you don't have backpedaling bound, how do you move back a little bit when a mob is too close to you and you're getting the "must be in front of you" error?

Turn 90 degrees left and strafe left (or right), then turn back. Moves me to the same spot faster than backpedalling.

07/29/2011 10:12 AMPosted by Torque

If you don't have backpedaling bound, how do you move back a little bit when a mob is too close to you and you're getting the "must be in front of you" error?

You could turn and strafe like Ratatoskr said, or you could have backpedaling bound like I do and just back dat ass up.

This thread is making me want to make a video of target dummy practice while filming my hands on the keyboard, purely to give a visual for the movement/abilities combinations. Hmm.

To strafe and cast spells, hold down one key (my strafe is on Q and E) with ring finger or forefinger, then hit keys in the 1-5 area with the other, or if you have lots of buttons on your mouse bind them to keys and put your rotation there.

For backpedaling, I would not get rid of the backpedal key if you're a tank. Backpedaling is the easiest way to bunch mobs up and deal with ones that path weirdly, plus it helps if you have to go to a specific spot.

[quote="29266495547"]This thread is making me want to make a video of target dummy practice while filming my hands on the keyboard, purely to give a visual for the movement/abilities combinations. Hmm.

YES!

I was going to ask if someone could do that from the get-go, but I didn't want to come off as selfish and I didn't except anyone to actually do it either way. I've found maybe two or three similar videos on YouTube already, but they are hardly helpful (for what I need, at least), and I would really, really, really appreciate if you made one.

07/29/2011 11:33 AMPosted by Icedragon

This thread is making me want to make a video of target dummy practice while filming my hands on the keyboard, purely to give a visual for the movement/abilities combinations. Hmm.

A pretty good idea, but;

This may not be as effective if you do that on a Target dummy that has nothing to avoid, which would demostrate movement while attacking.

My suggestion would to be go and solo some of the bosses in Karazhan, or maybe do a solo run of Magister's Terrace. They will be a better, more dynamic example imo.

I think the reason I suck so much at this is because of the more situational stuff than the press a key to attack something stuff. What I mean by that is, if I sit behind a training dummy and do my half-assed feral rotation via key binds, it's easy. I'm not moving, the dummy isn't moving, all I need to worry about is what spells I want to use and what key I need to push accordingly.

Now when you add auto-run, strafing, pulling extra mobs, getting ganked, doing certain simple things in SW, and everything else I'm used to doing and are actually pretty good at with my old no-mouse/click-everything method, I'm totally lost. It's like I can't translate the habits I had and my own ways of doing things into this new way of playing.

As lame as this may sound, I'm pretty obsessed with wanting to learn how to key bind and mouse turn to be able to play this game the right way and no longer have to gimp myself. So obsessed, that even though I just bought a standard $8 mouse, I already upgraded it to the Razer DeathAdder Black Edition, bought a desk to play on (I used to play with my MacBook on my lap and the mouse on a hard mousepad on the bed), and have been looking into the Razer Anansi keyboard/my other keyboard options. I want to be good at this game. I want to be able to do Arena and Battlegrounds, PvE heal, tank, and DPS, blow through achievements, and just generally do things the way the "pros" are used to doing things. I want to make this game more of a hobby of mine than it ever was, and especially now that I just got my girlfriend to finally give it a try (she's a level 31 hunter!).

Everything you guys are giving me is super helpful and actually inspiring at times. But when I bring it into the game, I'm still not getting anywhere. With that being said, I think a video explaining how you play/footage of your hands would actually break the ice for me.

P.S. I know I'm all over with this thread (and I do have more noobish things I want to know the answers to, but I'm trying to keep it to one topic at a time), but how do healers turn with the mouse if they need to be hovering over their Grid/HealBot/whatever to heal people? I think I've asked this one before and I know it can be okay for a healer to keyboard turn, but I also know there are healers that don't keyboard turn at all.