Guild Wars 2

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The reason why Guild Wars 2’s combat is clunky and unappealing is that the default keybind is terrible.

If you want new players to stay, remove turn left/right and replace them with strafe left and right. This will improve experience for new players. I have seen new players that have used the default. When you fix this, all future new players will not cry over clunky combat.

Here’s another question, why is it so easy.

What I’m try to figure out as a n00b right now is how can I access all 8 of my skills in a timely manner on my keyboard while still maintaining effective evasion? Even further, how can I squeeze in the bind to switch between weapon sets after mapping out 8 keys in close proximity to my left hand?

Wow, there are so many players that know how to keep new players still playing this game.

If I had a new player friend and he/she quit becouse he/she turn instead of strafe when I hit A and D, then I would say go ahead quit I bet you wasn’t realy interested in playing this game from the start since you can change keybindings whenever you wan’t.

Also, I think the majority of the player base keeps right mouse button down while pressing A and D to strafe, I myself have right mouse button down about 95% of my game time, I don’t even notice that I turn or strafe with A and D. But if I would compare I rather have turn than strafe.

Arnox.5128:

What I’m try to figure out as a n00b right now is how can I access all 8 of my skills in a timely manner on my keyboard while still maintaining effective evasion? Even further, how can I squeeze in the bind to switch between weapon sets after mapping out 8 keys in close proximity to my left hand?

I bind my 6-0 as shift1-shift5. Other than that, default keybinds. I seem to do fine.

Arnox.5128:

What I’m try to figure out as a n00b right now is how can I access all 8 of my skills in a timely manner on my keyboard while still maintaining effective evasion? Even further, how can I squeeze in the bind to switch between weapon sets after mapping out 8 keys in close proximity to my left hand?

Put dodge on mouse and use esdf for movement.

So now even controls are to hard for gw2 players? Arenanet needs to nerf keyboards.

Its no clunky at all. It the most free movement out there for mmorpg yet.

Sovta.4719:

So now even controls are to hard for gw2 players? Arenanet needs to nerf keyboards.

lol

You sir made this thread epic.

I would disagree, I’ve seen ‘professional’ gamers who use WASD movement just like this and manage to handle all their abilities just fine. In my opinion, what makes the combat clunky is the dodge system and numerous targeting problems . The dodge system is too simplified, a good foundation but applied in the clunkiest way possible. And targeting isn’t specific enough, leading to random targeting switches and frequent wild and disorienting changes.

Simple, ANet crammed action elements into a game that still has the UI if a classical MMORPG.

The targetting bugs are annoying yes, but as for the controls…well, I use my mouse for most of my skill usage and I have little issues apart from taregtting. Dodging is easy thanks to double tap though.

using mouse like razer naga helps a lot well, at least for me ._.

The two things that bother me most are targeting, and the speed at which your skills respond.

I am not even really talking lag on skills. Let me give you a couple examples. Someone once mentioned they thought it was the weapon chain attack doing it.

On my ele I can switch attunement and the next attack to go off will still be the last attunement. I see the switch I get the buff, next attack still the last attunement. And better yet I can switch targets and still have the next attack go to my first target. When running a staff having a nice second long pause between attacks then not having them do what you want is a pain.

hmm, never had that delay in response time, wryscher

I play a staff elementalist as well and I often will quickly swap to the reflection skill while the enemy’s projectile is in the air. It works instantly and seamlessly for me (my favorite ability against the karka).

If the game had a proper lag indicator, we could say if it was related to game mechanics or simply a lag spike. All MMOs seems to think they can trust the player computer with various calculations initially. This to avoid or reduce the impact of lag. But botters quickly remind them why the player end can’t really be trusted to behave, and so things get moved to the server side with subsequent patches.

if you hold down the right mouse button you can strafe no problem, I dont think the combat is clunky at all.

I find GW2 combat somewhat sluggish in terms of the way Anet let the skill-shot animations impact mobs. Like they try to make the combat reactions similar to those that one would find in MMORTS where the exact impact points of the skills doesn’t have to be 100% synchronous with the physical target (as long as it’s enough to tell a player that: a) the skill use is xxxx. b) the damage you dealt was yyyy).

Ultimately, they way skill animations work in GW2 makes combat feel ‘cheap’ IMO. And that’s terrible if you consider how much time they spent into detailing the character models by putting in new ‘enhanced character texture highlight’ and implementing all those higher level object texture graphics options.

Conncept.7638:

I would disagree, I’ve seen ‘professional’ gamers who use WASD movement just like this and manage to handle all their abilities just fine. In my opinion, what makes the combat clunky is the dodge system and numerous targeting problems . The dodge system is too simplified, a good foundation but applied in the clunkiest way possible. And targeting isn’t specific enough, leading to random targeting switches and frequent wild and disorienting changes.

Except professional gamers != new players.

runeblade.7514:

Conncept.7638:

I would disagree, I’ve seen ‘professional’ gamers who use WASD movement just like this and manage to handle all their abilities just fine. In my opinion, what makes the combat clunky is the dodge system and numerous targeting problems . The dodge system is too simplified, a good foundation but applied in the clunkiest way possible. And targeting isn’t specific enough, leading to random targeting switches and frequent wild and disorienting changes.

Except professional gamers != new players.

True, but honestly, when I speak about professional gamers I’m using the term professional very very loosely. Professional gamers don’t master anything that the average player can’t, they just manage it faster because they play so much more. But even then, basic controls are undoubtedly something which even the average player should master within a few play sessions.

Do people actually use the default key bindings? Whoa.

A,D = strafe left, strafe right
Skills 1,2,3,4,5 = CQERT —- Its soooo nice just hitting C with your thumb instead of reaching for 1

Heal = 2
Utility 1,2,3 = 345
Elite = 6
Dodge = mouse thumb button
Profession skills (virtues, attunements, etc) = Shift, capslock, 1, ~

With a setup like this, there is no reaching, no looking at the keyboard, able to hit multiple buttons at once or in rapid sequence.

To OP: I’d recommend changing the title to “key bindings” instead of “combat” since we all know the combat in GW2 is extremely smooth, compared to most other games.

Q E R T I get, but C with your thumb? That’s not comfortable at all if you have long fingers.

I use 1-5, alt 1 instead of 6 for heals, Q and E for first two utilities, mouse thumb button for third, shift-space for elite. Class mechanics are set to C (it’s not a big deal if I’m not spamming), Shift Q, Shift E, Shift R. R is set to autorun, V is dodge, and my other mouse thumb button is target nearest. Works for me.

GW2’s combat is clunky because there is an option that is inferior to another. Curse your logicbrain!

Arnox.5128:

What I’m try to figure out as a n00b right now is how can I access all 8 of my skills in a timely manner on my keyboard while still maintaining effective evasion? Even further, how can I squeeze in the bind to switch between weapon sets after mapping out 8 keys in close proximity to my left hand?

My keybinds are as follows:

1-5 for Profession Skills
Alt 1-5 for Healing, Utility and Elite skills
` (key to left of 1) for weapon swapping

I also have dodge bound to an extra mouse button for ease of use.

I found the Alt key much easier than the Shift key as my thumb is pretty much sitting on it when using the movement keys.

I have also used a registry setting to disable the left Windows key so I don’t accidently drop myself to the desktop in the heat of battle!

Buy a gaming mouse, bind actions to the myriad buttons readily available and within easy reach and all on one hand.

Secret: Bind dodge and jump to a key on your keyboard (or gaming mouse) and enjoy an awesome looking dodge flip in mid-air. I only ever use this, it looks so awesome.

In b4 Right click targeting. The inclusion of sporadic boars or antlers in my story is kitten annoying.

Bind dodge to a key that you’re used to using in FPS

As a formal wow DK player, this post makes me laugh so badly.

I solved the too-many-to-press keys question by purchasing a mmo mouse with too-many-to-not-press sidebuttons.

History of first/third person movement for me:

Doom: Arrow keys and I think space bar
Jedi Knight: Introduction of mouse look and wasd
Every game after that: Some variation of keybinds and wasd with mouse look functions

As long as you mix mouse look and keyboard movement you will be fine for mobility. In the past people used to make fun of keyboard turners because they were slower in reaction time and mobility. Then they ridiculed the “clickers” because they couldn’t push the buttons fast enough.

Now we make fun of people who don’t keybind and use wasd?

I still wasd with a and d as turn functions because I hold the right mouse button, if I ever let go of my mouse button I can still run forward and navigate while clicking a target or opening a menu/equipping an item, or drawing/pinging the minimap.

It is kind of a dance between dominant hands on which is moving and navigating, I also left/right mouse press to run if need be and release the w key to press other keybinds if I have to.

I have a 12 button mouse but for gw2 I only need or want one extra button (dodge, because double tap is too slow or kills me on jumping puzzles)

after that I use 1,2,3,4,5 and Shif1,2,3,4,5 for ease of reach.

In WoW you were inundated with tons of buttons so I needed a lot of keybinds and macros with shift states or action cycles to keep everything in a usable reach. GW2 is sleek and fast and I enjoy the combat a lot more. It is only clunky if you do not have a smooth and fluid setup for your end of the interface.

As far as interesting combat mechanics go, they could do a lot more. So the combat system is not bad its the mechanics are not fully fleshed out I feel.

I guess the moral of my story is that more is not always better, and different is not always worse. If it works for them then fine, if they want to change then let them. Don’t down on others cause they are not you.

Oh and the dodge jump, lets you clear bigger gaps, you can do this manually but maybe a double keybind would make it easier to do.

Uh i personally found the combat trivializes the Monsters AI…as in makes combat too easy to play, there is no downside to the combats freedom, hence mobs get too easily killed..

I also purchased one of these
http://gaming.logitech.com/en-us/product/g600-mmo-gaming-mouse

What is this? I don’t even.

Actually what came to mind was “because they still haven’t made the #1 attack on the grenade kit function like every other attack in the game, a direct target system”

Wow.

Can’t-you-just-adjust?

What happened to the gamers today.

knives.6345:

Wow.

Can’t-you-just-adjust?

What happened to the gamers today.

Gamers have no fault in this. If the game was meant to be played in this way, that way should’ve been the default.

runeblade.7514:

knives.6345:

Wow.

Can’t-you-just-adjust?

What happened to the gamers today.

Gamers have no fault in this. If the game was meant to be played in this way, that way should’ve been the default.

Tell me one game that has optimal controls setup by default?

step 1. use an MMO gameing mouse for keybindings. most of them have 6=12 thumb keys. it takes a few days to learn the lay out and gain muscle memory for your thumg.

step 2. holding the right mouse button lets you mouse turn. this action causes turn left/right to become strafe left/right.

step 3. all keys bound to the mouse have freed up all the keys on the keyboard for easy access to dodges etc.

bad ppl will always be bad. if a new player has any sense of gameing they will know to rebind keys and other things for basic game play. casuals will always be casual no matter how “easy” you make it.

I’m assuming it’s not clunky for an mmo – I wouldn’t know, I’ve never played an mmo before.

But it half-introduced elements for an action rpg, which for example makes me expect things like:
- crosshair and mouselook toggle
- left-click for auto attack
- right click for select target (seeing as there’s no need for zoom)
- shift+right click for lock or nearest target (just an example)

The lack of the above, the camera, the targeting system, the ground targeted abilities all take some time to get used to, and I’m still not entirely comfortable with them.