The Keyboard

[Bengals1us]

Again, I am new to WoW, I have been playing for 3 weeks, I am a level 26 Human Warlock and I am wondering how I should be playing as compared to how I am playing. Currently, I only use the directional arrows and the space bar on the keyboard, that is IT! What do some of you use often besides those? What do you find easier to do on the keyboard then you can do with the mouse? Basically I find it annoying to take my left hand off the arrow keys.

[valdor]

I use my mouse for all movement (Hold down both buttons to run). This lets me use my left hand for nothing but casting.

I also use a Nostromo N52 http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=157024

I have all of my spells mapped to individual buttons, so I never have to look down.

Valdor

[Eefex]

Originally Posted by Bengals1us

Again, I am new to WoW, I have been playing for 3 weeks, I am a level 26 Human Warlock and I am wondering how I should be playing as compared to how I am playing. Currently, I only use the directional arrows and the space bar on the keyboard, that is IT! What do some of you use often besides those? What do you find easier to do on the keyboard then you can do with the mouse? Basically I find it annoying to take my left hand off the arrow keys.

Do whatever feels good, I switch between using my mouse and my keyboard to move. Mouse when I'm lazy, keyboard when I really need to be able to cast all my spells as quickly as possible, I just bind all my spells to keys that I can reach quickly, it just seems faster that way then having to go clicking all over my screen when I need to crank off four or five different spells in quick succession.

[nicodemon]

Hi Bengals1us & welcome to WoW,

Here are a few suggestions based on how some people (including me) use their keyboard and mouse in the game before macros and special equipment comes onto the radar.

1. Instead of the arrow keys you could try using the W-A-S-D keys where W is Up-Key/Forward, A is Left, S is Down-Key/Backwards and D is Right.
Additionally you could also use Q to strive left and E to strive right.

2. Go into the Advanced Interface options and activate (top area on the screen) the Hotbars to enable additional menu bars on your interface, the slots of which you can assign functions/spells/actions/items to.

3. Bring up the Spell Book (P) and fill the beforementioned bars with all your favourite functions/spells/actions.

4. Have all your primary combat actions/spells in your hotbar (the one that is there from the beginning) where each one is linked to a key on your keyboard from "1" through to "=" above your QWERTY area.

This setup allows you to have all your combat spells and other actions to be in easy reach when you navigate using the WASD keys. Navigating using WASD+QE is more accurate than navigating through Go-To mouse-clicks for me.

The mouse then is only used for changing your view and zoom as well as selecting mobs.
Talking about selecting mobs, you can also use the Tab key to cycle through the mobs that are in sight.

Something that I have set up for me as well is to change the key binding for Pet-Attack (you'll find it further down in the list of key bindings when bringing up the menu) to the key that is left of the "1" above the QWERTY area, on a UK keyboard that is the ` key.

Hope this helps for a start. Everyone develops a personal play style so you may realise over time where to put categories of items/actions etc to support your style of conquering, questing etc. in Azeroth and later the Outland. Of course you might also find that the configuration above is not your at all.

All the best, Nicodemon.

[AshTokra]

I use the nostromo n52 - and the mouse.

I have my cast sequence macro'd up - 3 different versions for the 3 most commonly cast curses .... (Curse of Agony, CoT, Cos).

I have tab targetting on another button, and have the direction pad mapped to allow me to run around.

The mouse I use to flip views - and select targets, and occasionally to hit spells less commonly used.

The key thing Is I can run and cast any instant cast dots (which was better when I was affliction).

I have a key bound to send my pet in.... which is macrod up to do intercept, seduce for the different pets.

In the early stages as a lock I was very very static. So ran into range, planted feet and used left hand to cycle through dots. (without nostromo)

I used to have it where the my cast sequence was mapped on consecutive buttons e.g Curse of Agony = 3, corruption=4, immolate = 5 so I could just step to the next key (this can be done with a castsequence macro)

I still think I could do a lot more to get my system organised as it can sometimes be a case of hunting for less commonly cast stuff (and I am generally only looking for it when I really need it)

[Nyri]

I would suggest to apply keybindings to the keys Q, E, R, T, F, G.
Imho the strave functions are not needed.
CTRL + Q, CTRL + E, CTRL + R, CTRL + F are also a good option to bind.
If you walk with your mouse instead of your keyboard, you will be handicapped, because you will not be able to switch your target at the same time (only with TAB). Make sure that you can reach all of your important abilities while holding the W Key down.

[Kiralyn]

There are a TON of different ways to utilize your keyboard. The simpilest has been stated above: use the basic bar mapped to 1 thru = for your spells. Most people start here, moving with wasd and casting with those. Once you get into it, you can also re-bind `, rf, and zxc, all of which are easily accesed from wasd for movement. Moving a step furthur and using a few macros, you can bind multiple spells to a single button like so...

/cast [nomodifier:shift] Shadow Bolt; Searing Pain
-or-
/cast [modifier:shift] Searing Pain; Shadowbolt

This allows you to bind 2 to the macro, and pressing 2 casts shadowbolt, and pressing shift+2 casts searing pain. I tend to map spells together that are like-minded or related in some way, like Shadowbolt/incinerate, Immolate/Conflag, and Drain Life/Drain Mana. The idea is to never look down, and have easy access to all the spells you need in combat. For out of combat spells, those are best tucked off to the side in a bar to be clicked with the mouse.

I started there, playing with bindings on my keyboard. I eventually moved into playing with the UI, starting with packs like cosmos and insomniax, to now, where I have my n52 completly bound, and a completly customized UI with a multitude of macros. Play with it, its amazing how much you can learn.

[Bengals1us]

Great help, thanks guys. Basically I am sold on that nostromo n52. I think I will head down to BestBuy later today. I am gaming on my new laptop, I am used to a ergo keyboard, so going from that to the small laptop keyboard is killing me. That n52 will be great, I appreciate all the help.

[valdor]

Since you're getting the n52, I suggest you use the Bartender add on. It allowed me to layout my buttons to match the layout of the N52. I also set one of the thumb buttons to the Alt key, which Bartender then switches everything to a 2nd set of hot keys. This lets me have two banks of spells at my disposal at any time.

[Bengals1us]

Where would I go to get this bartender add on?