What's your playstyle?

I use both hands to type what I want to buy or sell or both. Then I usually use my right hand to hit enter...but when things really get crazy in kamadan there's no telling what I might use to hit enter. And don't get me started on the up arrow...

Quote from Ddraeg

This is really interesting and useful Kabong. I may try your pressing enter technique. How many keyboards do you go through a week?

ive said too much already. The secrets of PhD must remain...

I used to play with lag, so whatever keyboard button i pressed/sometimes hit/very rare smashed, my toon will do nothing until few seconds/milisecond after, so i trusted my henchi for pve and comerade for pvp

uh... i often read "ffs" in windows chat while on the way to Rago with random group, i miss ffs and other flamemable thing

keyboard i use wasd to move

1-8 on number pad is my party members, 0 toggles my pet commander for rangers/pre characters with pet to tank on charr runs.

C for closest target foe, tab to cycle target foe.

mouse is logitech g600 (used to use razor naga, logi has more buttons)

left/right click is normal. 3rd button is space, left/right scroll wheel targets chests/items

1-8 mouse thumb buttons for skills, 9-12 is weapon sets, sometimes 9 is other things if I only use 3 weapon sets on the character

one button on top of mouse is 'r' to run

In pre 9 on mouse is usually a macro to select my charr partner and cast healing breeze on them

I use a combination of keys and clicks. It's not too scientific, just instinctive.

WASD to move, V to call targets (with thumb), key numbers 1-3 to activate the respective skills. I click the skill bar to activate skills 4-8. I also click on a target to select and attack it.

ZQSD for moving, and I also have a logitech g600s. They're easy to use, except for the 3 last ones thumb buttons.

1-8 are for skills, 9 is for inventory. I have 2 more buttons near the wheel, one is for quest log, an other for party finder.

I use WASD or click to move for movement. Skills 1-5 with the corresponding numbers on my keyboard. Skills 6-8 with Q, E and R. Weapon sets are Z, X, V and B. I click the party window to target.

I’ve always used a standard 5-button mouse. In my opinion the 3000-button mice are just a gimmick. I’ve never ran out of keys on my keyboard for binds, ever. Also, most of those mice have inferior sensors (lag, jitter, acceleration etc), which is horrible when playing any type of FPS. Which is also true for most mice on the market.

Quote from cosyfiep

who is saying mice are inferior???

I guess I am just old fashioned...my mouse has a tale (wired) though it does have extra buttons, I never use them...my thumb doesnt like to do extra work either!

I only use wired mice too! I’m sure the wireless mice got better over the years. But my experience with them wasn’t pleasing at all

Quote from Ddraeg

I've used an old Logitech gaming mouse for a while but it only has the forward and backward buttons for your thumb, how do you find the thumb buttons? Are they easy to use or is it a bit tricky to get use to?

Its pretty easy to get used to the thumb buttons on the g600.

As Crimson Raven said the hardest is the 10-12 row, but g600 beats naga for those.

On the naga the thumb button grid is flat with only bumps on every other row to help id them. It comes with stickers to 'train' you on button placement.

The g600 approach was to arrange them in 'cups' for lack of a better word. 1-3 and 4-6 are the front 'cup' used with the tip of your thumb. 7-9 and 10-12 make up the rear 'cup' and with practice you can use the ball of your thumb (the joint) to use them. It helps if you have 'hitchhiker thumbs' (where holding your thumb out the top joint by the nail extends backwards)

At worst, if you get one, you will be able to use 1-9 for skills/whatever and there is the option for the 3rd mouse button (or w/e you set) to be like a 'mouse shift' so 'ms + other mouse button' = moar possible combos.

If you don't mind shift combos its like 2x the possible button assignments of a razer naga... and more solidly built... believe me i've been thru about 8 nagas so far over the past years.

Quote from cosyfiep

I guess I am the only one who almost exclusively uses the mouse and not the keyboard, guess my left hand just likes to do no work outside of c and space

Sorry for dbl post,

C and space are on my mouse, so is Y which is set to target next item (chests/drops). My setup is made for mouse only chest running sometimes. Yes, I use wasd for 'labor intensive' times but by no means 'all' the time... or even possibly 'most'.

I mostly just use the mouse. I have the mouse wheel button mapped to R with X-Mouse Button Control.

When playing in areas that I want to open chests, I enable StickyKeys in Windows Control Panel Accessibility Options and double-tap the Alt key so it will stay held down making the chests visible as soon as they're in range. Only minor annoyance is I have to remember to tap Alt before chatting so Enter doesn't make it switch to windowed mode.

Quote from Ddraeg

Thanks for the info Looney! It does sound very appealing and if I can assign those keys to my skillbar it might make things alot easier!

The thumb buttons by default are 1 thru 0 and -/= on the keyboard top row even without drivers. Everything can be remapped or short macros once you install the drivers from logitech. I use it as skills for 1-8 then 10-12 is f1-f3.

Nobody has mentioned the rows/columns, it leads to 'odd' build templates. My self heal is always button 4, enchants are like 7 or 8.... that isn't too weird. My sin has his 1-3 attack chain but moebius strike is in slot 6 because button 6 is behind button 3. I often do eotn tours/droks,etc and chest run if using a DS+<run skill> combo I have ds in 4 and the run skill in 7 behind it.

Tl;dr stick spam/needed skills in easiest for you spots

Quote from Ddraeg

This is very useful! I've always wondered an easier way to have chests visible! Thanks!

Sure, no problem.

I always felt Anet should have made an option to enable the effect of holding down Alt without needing a key to do it, but since they didn't, that is a simple solution.

Of course, it could be annoying for someone who mostly uses the keyboard instead of the mouse as other keys may get held down unintentionally. So it's more useful for a point and click style of gameplay.

I own a G602 (11 programmable buttons, best mouse I've ever owned), and Logitech is definitely the brand to go for when playing Guild Wars, however I think, that G600 is way too much and you won't be using all 20 programmable buttons, unless you assign skill usage to them which is incredibly inconvenient, whereas G602 provides 11 buttons which is just the right amount.

The idea is to have the skill keys and switch keys close to each other so that you can switch specific weapons for specific skills proficiently. I use qwer for 1-4 and asdf for 5-8 skills, 1234 for switches and I move only with mouse clicking. The mouse allows you to store profiles on it, so I switch profiles depending whether I'm playing as front/mid/backliner, with each profile having slightly different button configurations on the mouse.

The only instance in which I see clicking skills with mouse and moving with WSAD is SC, in which specific movement patterns are often essential to get the job done. As for entire PvP and the regular PvE it's keyboard for skills and mouse for movement.

As a monk I rarely click on party window, instead I use the buttons located on the side of the mouse for targetting and utility. I move throughout the party roster with 2 targeting keys, namely 'next and previous party member', I have another button for selecting the closest party member, 1 button for picking up the closest items (for flags), dropping button and target self button. Those keys look differently when I'm playing as frontline for instance.

Anyway, when playing as a monk watching party window all the time, switching between bars and keeping them up just doesn't cut it (though even some seasoned PvP players do that, they play the 'Hit the right bar at the right time - guessing game'). In PvE that obviously works since it's more linear, but in PvP you want to watch the battlefield so that you see who is getting pressured or where the frontliners are heading so that you can have a better reaction window upon spikes and pressure. If you don't look at the battlefield, you most likely won't be able to react for spikes, but hey, there ain't nothing a bot can't fix right?

Hey,

First Post Yay. GW is back!

iam using 1-6 above keyboard for Skills and 7-8 binded to my back/frw. mouse buttons.

Q,E,R,F for my 4 Weapon Sets (Def, 20/20Heal, Prot Staff+20%, High Energy Set) Default im on def set with spear, as AI seem to use less anti mage spells on you then.

Mouse and WASD for movement. (In fights always mouse movement, gives better overview and you are faster by always going direct way)

I click the life bars in the party window, or in case of Prots, try to watch the battlefield and prot them by clicking the character getting aggro etc.

I changed my setup for PvP. The faster you can get to a key, the easier it is to use. I changed my keyboard layout with the idea of making it easier to press keys from the time-saving techniques I learned from playing a musical instrument years ago. My setup is:

Auto-run: tilde

Weapon sets f1-f4

Party members: 1-2-3-4 (5-8 are on additional keys on the side of my keyboard - alienware laptop - but I don't gvg, so I don't use them)

Skills: 1-4 = QWER

5-8: ASDF

Z: Reverse camera

X: about-face

C: closest foe

V: closest ally

T: called target

G: target self

B: next ally (shift+b = previous ally)

It took me a few days to get used to it. I still click on the party window to select party members, I have not sat down (figuratively) and practiced targeting party members with the number keys.

If you want good practice, spend some time in HA (for parties of eight or Zaishen Challenge (against the team of Warriors for ease) and practice targeting and healing.

A gaming mouse with extra buttons can help. In Guild Wars 2, I have 1-5 (weapon skills) on my mouse and utility/heal/elite skills on keys 1-5. It works very well.

I will say that binding party targeting to number keys is very important if you want to be able to Resurrect a party member as quickly as possible. You see party member #3 about to die, you get ready to hit 3-F. Very fast.

Also, you should click to walk because it keeps you moving at 100% speed at all times, whether forward, backward, or sideways. Walking backwards using the standard ASWD or arrow keys will reduce your movement greatly if you want to move backwards. And it is important to be moving as fast as you can when running away from Warriors and the like.

Mouse and Keyboard .The general set up

I think i need to try the only use keys to select party members method...

In RA with 4 ppl i think this can work pretty good, but in 8er Teams i think this can be quite a hassle and i dont know if this is still faster than clicking party window. You also need to change weapon sets often as monk, as iam mostly idling on def set to not getting edrained by any stupid mesmer/ranger. So i need to use 3 keys in order to get a heal out= Party Member>40/40 set> skill

Would be great if we get some HA/GVG Monks to share their methods.

I think i will try this in PVE with 8er Teams as vanquishing is boring as hell anyway

As far as i know if you wear a caster weapon the AI will cast anti caster spells on you, if you wear a def set like spear/shield they wont, so even in pve this making a difference a guess. Talk to the asshole wind riders in the asura area for example.

Weapon switchting is ok by myself, i always try to use the right set tbh. This is why iam struggling by also choosing mates over keys as well but i will give it a try.

Here is a nice video of someone monking in GVG using key bindings to select party members. Looks interesting