Guild Wars 2

Myself and a few friends have been playing the game with controllers. I spent a good amount of time to create a profile that works well with GW2 using xpadder. Having my friends test it out. What they keep telling me is the game just feels more natural to them, more comfortable. One friend could only play game for short time periods cause of wrist pain with keyboard and mouse setup, but using a controller he doesn’t have the same issue.

It is not just the controller config however, the controller would not work as well as it does without Immersive Combat Mode. http://wesslen.org/ICM/ All the features but the combat mode I disabled for my use. My xpadder layout would not without it though.

Layout: https://www.dropbox.com/s/uqsrgzc0adu7hqg/GW2_ICM.xpadderprofile

Layout is as follows:
SET 1:
Left Stick: Movement
Right Stick: Camera Control
D-Pad
Up: Zoom In
Down: Zoom Out
Left: Bags also sets controller to SET 4
Right: Hero Panel also sets controller to SET 4
A: Jump
B: Interact
X: Drop/Change Weapon
Y: Heal
Left Bumper: Modifier when held ( SET 2 )
Left Trigger: 1 Skill
Right Bumper: Modifier when held ( SET 3 )
Right Trigger: Dodge
Back/Select: Nothing
Start: Esc also sets controller to SET 4
L3: Mark Target
R3: Autorun

SET 2 ( Only active when Left Bumper is held )
Left Stick: Movement
Right Stick: Camer Control
D-Pad
Up: Nothing
Down: Nothing
Left: Nothing
Right: Nothing
A: 2
B: 4
X: 3
Y: 5
Left Bumper: Being Held to be at SET 2
Left Trigger: Nothing
Right Bumper: R ( F3 )
Right Trigger: X ( F4 )
Back/Select: Go back to SET 1 ( Problem with xpadder can sometimes get stuck on a set from a helm key. This will send it back to SET 1 )
Start: Nothing
L3: Nothing
R3: Nothing

SET 3 ( Only active when Left Bumper is held )
Left Stick: Movement
Right Stick: Camera Control
D-Pad
Up: Nothing
Down: Nothing
Left: Nothing
Right: Nothing
A: 7
B: 9
X: 8
Y: 0
Left Bumper: Q ( F1 )
Left Trigger: E ( F2 )
Right Bumper: Being Held to be at SET 3
Right Trigger: Nothing
Back/Select: Go back to SET 1 ( Problem with xpadder can sometimes get stuck on a set from a helm key. This will send it back to SET 1 )
Start: Nothing
L3: Nothing
R3: Nothing

SET 4 Is only used for mouse control such as bags, hero panel. Can no longer move.
Left Stick: Mouse pointer control
Right Stick: Mostly for Map control. Zoom In/Zoom Out
D-Pad
Up: Zoom In
Down: Zoom out
Left: Bags also sets controller to SET 1
Right: Hero Panel also sets controller to SET 1
A: Left Click
B: Right Click
X: Nothing
Y: Nothing
Left Bumper: Nothing
Left Trigger: Nothing
Right Bumper: Nothing
Right Trigger: Nothing
Back/Select: Back to SET 1
Start: ESC
L3: Nothing
R3: Spacebar for centering map when the map is open.

Are there any plans to support controllers in the future? I feel this would be a great addition to the game, I am sure there are others out there that agree and it might even make their experience more enjoyable.

For anyone that wants to try my xpadder controller layout I put a link at the top. I rebound the following keys.
Original —> Mine
F1 --> Q
F2 —> E
F3 --> R
F4 —> X
H --> C
I —> B
B --> I

The images are SET 1 through SET 4.

I thought of this a couple of times, thank you for linking your controller layout, I might try this with my PS3 sixaxis! I hope a dev sees this and puts a definitive answer about it. But as far as hunches go, I say they won’t put controller support. Since that would add a whole lot of problems for them and seeing as how this game keeps on expanding I don’t think the hassle over this is worth it!

SUPPORT for the controller Please

Xsqueezit.1284:

I thought of this a couple of times, thank you for linking your controller layout, I might try this with my PS3 sixaxis! I hope a dev sees this and puts a definitive answer about it. But as far as hunches go, I say they won’t put controller support. Since that would add a whole lot of problems for them and seeing as how this game keeps on expanding I don’t think the hassle over this is worth it!

I play with a PS3 sixaxis too, ill post my layout hope it helps you.

The layout from the right is active just while you are pressing the L2 button, if you release L2 it turns back to the layout from the left of the image. This can be used with an xbox controller also. I personally find it more comfortable than sas layout but it s a matter of taste.

It would be nice to have another way of playing other then the normal keyboard and mouse, but this in itself has a problem in the small things, like opening your inventiry, and even something as simple as typing.

Inventory is easy, my profile can do that. For typing the keyboard is never taken away from you. There are issues, but then I am using another program to simulate controller support. I am sure if Arenanet were to do it, it would massively trump what I have done.

I use the ps3 sixaxis to play, but i always keep the keyboard and mouse near me, in my profile i didnt put the inventory because it s more comfortable for me to use the keyborad and mouse. I use the gamepad to explore and fight ( I find it awsome for jumping puzzles =) ), and switching to the keyboard for chat or whenever needed, doesn t feel uncomfortable. I could have mapped the invetory too but it was pointless for me , I also find pointless to map the hero pannel to the gamepad or the trading post(there are 5 free spaces in my profile to map anything you want).

Note: there are some ps3 games where you can use the sixaxis to play and a keyboard to chat and it s very comfortable so i wouldn t worry about the need to switch for typing.