Guild Wars 2

The fact that GW2 does not have controller support honestly enrages me. The game would play so much smoother if it did, and It’s obviously possible because programs like XPadder and Pinnacle Game Profiler make it work (near) flawlessly. But we shouldn’t have to pay for third party software to play a game the way it was meant to be played. So I ask you ArenaNet, why is there no support for controllers? And would it honestly be that difficult to implement?

I’m thinking the Developers decided ‘how it was meant to be played’, and opted out of controller-support.

the way it’s meant to be played is keyboard+mouse, the controller is how you want to play it, not how the devs designed the game to be played.

Insert something about how this isn’t a console game…
MMO’s don’t lend themselves to controller support, if they did they would need to be designed slightly differently and that would take away from the default KB/Mouse users that outnumber controller users by a large margin.

Hate console ports that just lazily bind controller input to the keyboard and mouse or expect that it can be used just as well with a mouse on their controller interface…

Anyway, this is why third party support is there, for the PC players that use controllers or just haven’t gotten used to or refuse to adapt to using a KB/Mouse.

I don’t know any PC only MMO’s that support controllers by default.

xpadder is like 10 bucks.

I used a controller for playing for the first 2 months out of beta to try it out. it was more frustrating that it was worth. the difficulties of note included jumping puzzles, ground-targeted abilities, and where to assign the “swim down” button.

This game is almost simple enough to be all controller, assuming you never open menus, chat, or do anything but simple combat. I just got a wireless keyboard / mouse instead and it’s a much better experience.

I thought xpadder was free. Had mine for the longest time and have been using a xbox controller all this time. I just can’t get use to keyboard and mouse all. U just have to tweak the buttons to your liking. Ground targeting is hard if u play classes that uses alot of it. The only bad thing about xpadder is u can’t play with sweetfx. When sweetfx is running some how xpadder stops working. Other than that I love xpadder.

. . . but it’s a PC game. It’s not made for controllers. That’s not “how it’s meant to be played.” Wherever did you get that idea?

Lol, i could never play or would want to play a PC mmo with a controller. Its this generation of gamers that are qq for this. It would be a waste of resourses to spend time trying for controller surpport too.

GW2 would actually be really fun to play with a controller if they made a few small tweaks to it. I’ve used Pinnacle Game Profiler with it, and it feels just shy of being a great experience.

Raeysa Penrose.8450:

. . . but it’s a PC game. It’s not made for controllers. That’s not “how it’s meant to be played.” Wherever did you get that idea?

Lots of PC games are made to be used with controllers. If not, Steam machine wouldn’t be a thing.

wmtyrance.3571:

Lol, i could never play or would want to play a PC mmo with a controller. Its this generation of gamers that are qq for this. It would be a waste of resourses to spend time trying for controller surpport too.

“I don’t like that idea so it’s pretty obviously a stupid one”

Lil Puppy.5216:

I don’t know any PC only MMO’s that support controllers by default.

And I don’t know any MMO’s that release all their content via temporary story arcs every 2 weeks.

I keep saying to myself that if I get any solid driving wheel controller I will try it out playing hambow in tpvp. Friend of mine tried playing hambow with a joystick and a mouse, being successful hambow in soloq.

Go ahead and use third party software to play this game on a gamepad instead of mouse/keyboard. I’ll take advantage of your severe combat disadvantage. Good luck using anything more than 1 button to use ten different skills, because the remaining 7 buttons will be bound to jump/dodge/weapon swap/heal/interact/auto-loot/inventory. That leaves no room for anything else.

How do you quick turn? How do you open the numerous other menus? You can’t pause the game to mess with a cumbersome main menu. What about mail? Using the TP and scrolling through thousands of items or searching for a specific item? Accessing sPvP? W3? Friend menu? LFG? HOW WILL YOU EVEN CHAT?

You would need multiple gamepads to play the game, and I’m pretty sure you are only physically able to efficiently use one at a time (possibly two if you develop the dexterity in your feet).

I get that a lot of people really like to play games using gamepads, but you have to understand that not every game is meant to be played with a game pad. If, existence forbid, they ported GW2 to the consoles, those players better hope that XBO/PS4 have support for a full mouse/keyboard, because they will be at a severe disadvantage otherwise. Then they will simply turn around and say the game sucks, when in reality the players were just lacking common sense.

@Zera: a bit of a hyperbole, I think. I play with a gamepad all the time, and it’s not as terrible as you say it is. I mean, why would you do any of the menu-related stuff with a gamepad anyway? Why would you use anything except Teamspeak in sPVP? If you’re checking the mail in the middle of a fight, you’re doing something wrong. Clearly you would use the mouse and keyboard to do your Trading Post stuff, but when you’re actually playing the game, you would use the gamepad.

I use XPadder and Autohotkey for my setup. This is what I do, in relation to an Xbox controller.

Left Stick – ASDW
Right Stick – Center mouse on screen. Hold down right click and move mouse.
R1 – 1
R2 – Jump
R3 – Dodge (thinking of switching this with R2)
L1 – Interact
L2 – Toggle Skills
L3 – 6
ABXY – 2345
L2 + ABXY – 7890
Dpad – ZXCV
L2 + Dpad – Targeting/quickturn

I can do everything in combat with these settings. When I play on a tablet (using Kainy), so I have touch screen controls for stuff like accessing the map and trading post.

Dragin.3012:

The fact that GW2 does not have controller support honestly enrages me. The game would play so much smoother if it did, and It’s obviously possible because programs like XPadder and Pinnacle Game Profiler make it work (near) flawlessly. But we shouldn’t have to pay for third party software to play a game the way it was meant to be played. So I ask you ArenaNet, why is there no support for controllers? And would it honestly be that difficult to implement?

Since when was it meant to be played on a controller? o.O

ArenaNet isn’t obligated to make a game for every person’s system. It’s intended as a keyboard/mouse game, and that’s no crime. :P I don’t know what more there is to say on the matter.

DCUO has mastered controller support with in an mmo. I saw something where DDO has controller support that works really good.

Not sure why GW2 has no controller support since it’s one of the better mmo’s out there right now.

Katai.6240:

@Zera: a bit of a hyperbole, I think. I play with a gamepad all the time, and it’s not as terrible as you say it is. I mean, why would you do any of the menu-related stuff with a gamepad anyway? Why would you use anything except Teamspeak in sPVP? If you’re checking the mail in the middle of a fight, you’re doing something wrong. Clearly you would use the mouse and keyboard to do your Trading Post stuff, but when you’re actually playing the game, you would use the gamepad.

I use XPadder and Autohotkey for my setup. This is what I do, in relation to an Xbox controller.

Left Stick – ASDW
Right Stick – Center mouse on screen. Hold down right click and move mouse.
R1 – 1
R2 – Jump
R3 – Dodge (thinking of switching this with R2)
L1 – Interact
L2 – Toggle Skills
L3 – 6
ABXY – 2345
L2 + ABXY – 7890
Dpad – ZXCV
L2 + Dpad – Targeting/quickturn

I can do everything in combat with these settings. When I play on a tablet (using Kainy), so I have touch screen controls for stuff like accessing the map and trading post.

Where’s your weapon-switch? And where’s your F1-F4? As an elementalist I need those a lot. Did you manage to jump Clockwork-Tower(Halloween JP) or Winter Wonderland(Wintersday JP) with those settings? How fast can you pop Fire Elemental Powder and Ogre Pet Whistle when infight? How long do you need to tell a teammember via chat what he hast to do (once you realise that he has no clue whatsoever)?

Edit: just realized that the thread was necroed. sry

When the steam controller comes along, we’ll talk. Until then: I know Skyrim was like this, but it was misleading – the rest of RPGs or MMORPGs don’t work like that.

I can just imagine the influx of controller players in my PUG runs. “Hey guard can you grab wall of reflect?” “Sorry, it takes 10 minutes to change utilities or traits with my controller setup”

I’ve come across 4 mmo’s with " default " gamepad support and I must say, the combat is much better and more relaxing than the keyboard and mouse, in my opinion.

Does anyone feel this game would be better with " default " gamepad support ?

Playing with second hand gamepad support software like Xpadder seems like a player could run into trouble since the game wasn’t designed by the developers to use a gamepad which is why I place emphasize on " default " gamepad support.

I’m completely against this if the “default” gamepad support either
A: inhibits mouse + keyboard controls
B: gives an unfair advantage to gamepad users

By making the game “made for controllers” ANet would have to drastically decrease the number of keys that you need during combat. Also they couldn’t bring content that requires fast and precise camera-control like clockwork-tower or winter-wonderland. So it boils down to either dumb down the game for the sake of controllers or computer-assist the controllers, which would lead to an unfair advantage.

In my experience anyone who uses a gamepad against those who use m+k will never be able to perform equally in twitch-based combat. There is a long history of this, so I cannot imagine it being an issue. That said, most if not all modern gamepads can be bound to match the functions of m+k. Anyone who desires to play that way so desperately can easily do it themselves.

Console kids this way >>>>

Thanks, bye.

Ark Bladesteele.2943:

In my experience anyone who uses a gamepad against those who use m+k will never be able to perform equally in twitch-based combat. There is a long history of this, so I cannot imagine it being an issue.

That’s been pretty much my experience as well. In another game I play War Thunder (WWII vehicle PvP combat) they managed to integrate M+K PC players, joystick PC players, and console players in the same game. Not surprisingly, the console players ended up getting slaughtered by the PC players on a regular basis.

I really don’t understand why you would want to limit yourself like that, but hey, whatever makes you a happy gamer. Perhaps it’s because I’m an older gamer, and the last console/gamepad I ever owned was a SEGA Genesis before Sonic the Hedgehog was released. I built my first PC around 1992 and never looked back.

Lil Puppy.5216:

Insert something about how this isn’t a console game…
MMO’s don’t lend themselves to controller support, if they did they would need to be designed slightly differently and that would take away from the default KB/Mouse users that outnumber controller users by a large margin.

Hate console ports that just lazily bind controller input to the keyboard and mouse or expect that it can be used just as well with a mouse on their controller interface…

Anyway, this is why third party support is there, for the PC players that use controllers or just haven’t gotten used to or refuse to adapt to using a KB/Mouse.

I don’t know any PC only MMO’s that support controllers by default.

DC Universe, Tera Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online and Champions Online all have default gamepad support.

Ark Bladesteele.2943:

In my experience anyone who uses a gamepad against those who use m+k will never be able to perform equally in twitch-based combat. There is a long history of this, so I cannot imagine it being an issue. That said, most if not all modern gamepads can be bound to match the functions of m+k. Anyone who desires to play that way so desperately can easily do it themselves.

Hmmmm. Well I think it depends on the game. I know for a fact that the Gamepad in DC Universe gives you a slight advantage over the mouse and keyboard because of quick mobility and comfort.

I hear the gamepad works very well in Tera with pvp for the same reason but I can’t put a stamp on that one because I have yet to fully play the game.

I saw a comment that said pc games aren’t meant to be played with a gamepad. If this is true, why are there pc gamepads ?

When you play gw2. And you’r looking at all skills you can keybind, its like over 50keys you can keybind? I don’t know the exact number. But I know that a gamepad doesn’t have 50buttons.

Let’s say you only key-bind the keys that are necessary for combat, that’s

4 —- F1-F4
1 —- Weapon swap
10 —- Skills 1-0
4 —- Movement
1 —- Jumping
1 —- Dodging
1 —- Interacting/Looting
3 —- Target closest, next and pinged target
1 —- Look behind (useful in WvW and PvP)
1 —- Ping target as primary target
4 —- camera-control
1 —- place ground-targeted skills
1 —- open inventory for consumables or alternate weapons
33 —- total

And up to this day noone explained to me how to chat with a gamepad. How do you explain a random what he has to do in a dungeon if you realise that he has no clue? Someone explain this to me pls, since I’ve never owned a controller myself.

The biggest issue is the mouse. It’s used to control your attacks AND your camera. You’ll have to bind buttons for your mouse buttons and you’d have to have some software to make the cursor move rapidly with the joystick.

No direct controller support because this game is more complex than FPS control styles. I’m not sure why OP is surprised there’s no controller support. They’s lucky it’s even a half-plausible idea for GW2. Imagine playing something like Aion with a controller.

No way to pop 4 different skill bars effectively with a controller unless you do some ridiculous programming to make every action a combination of multiple buttons to parse out actions like you’re trying to pop an alt code symbol.

I had a controller setup I rigged for playing GW1 but I could only do it casually. Not for playing difficult or intricate gameplay.

And owyea, please don’t compare DCUO freeware arcade mmo with gw2. These are 2 different games.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

I saw a comment that said pc games aren’t meant to be played with a gamepad. If this is true, why are there pc gamepads ?

To play console ports of course.

I have no idea why anyone would want to play an mmo with a controller. It’s a pc game.

It’s a personal preference but I guess I’m one of the few people who actually use a controller 100% of the time to play this game (been playing this way since first BWE). I tried keyboard and mouse and found it too cumbersome for me to use; I’m not a great typist, & I have small hands / short fingers so reaching for the number keys is a chore for me.

I have four 80s; mesmer, Guardian, thief and elementalist that I man using a controller and have no issues playing any content in the game ( pve, spvp, jp, dungeons, wvw.) I find that no one can tell that I’m using a controller to play and are in disbelief when I tell them otherwise.

Using xpadder, I’m able to map all the movement, combat, dodging, targeting, camera controls, and skill keys to the buttons/sticks on a xbox 360 controller- making playing the game much more enjoyable for me because everything is accessible via my thumbs and index fingers.

I’m willing to share this profile with anyone who’s interested ????

Blasphemy!!!! Its a PC MMORPG not some silly play station RPG.

OP: what could the Anet devs possibly do that would be any better than what you can do with Xpadder?

I play on a 360 controller with Xpadder and have been for over two years. I STILL find better ways to customize my controls. My point: Anet devs aren’t going to be able to do ANYTHING that makes my experience better with a controller – only I can do that.

kamizefrog.3421:

I have four 80s; mesmer, Guardian, thief and elementalist that I man using a controller and have no issues playing any content in the game ( pve, spvp, jp, dungeons, wvw.)

I’ve been playing warrior, guardian, and mesmer with Xpadder. I’ve found that the warrior is SO easy because he doesn’t typically need ground-targeting, and guardian is also relatively easy. Mesmer I’ve found is a little tougher.

How do you deal with ground-targeting? I can’t imagine what an elementalist would be like, but I want to play one after I finish with mesmer.

Katai.6240:

@Zera: a bit of a hyperbole, I think. I play with a gamepad all the time, and it’s not as terrible as you say it is. I mean, why would you do any of the menu-related stuff with a gamepad anyway? Why would you use anything except Teamspeak in sPVP? If you’re checking the mail in the middle of a fight, you’re doing something wrong. Clearly you would use the mouse and keyboard to do your Trading Post stuff, but when you’re actually playing the game, you would use the gamepad.

I use XPadder and Autohotkey for my setup. This is what I do, in relation to an Xbox controller.

Left Stick – ASDW
Right Stick – Center mouse on screen. Hold down right click and move mouse.
R1 – 1
R2 – Jump
R3 – Dodge (thinking of switching this with R2)
L1 – Interact
L2 – Toggle Skills
L3 – 6
ABXY – 2345
L2 + ABXY – 7890
Dpad – ZXCV
L2 + Dpad – Targeting/quickturn

I can do everything in combat with these settings. When I play on a tablet (using Kainy), so I have touch screen controls for stuff like accessing the map and trading post.

What tablet is this that runs GW2 o.O ?

SonOfJacob.7396:

kamizefrog.3421:

I have four 80s; mesmer, Guardian, thief and elementalist that I man using a controller and have no issues playing any content in the game ( pve, spvp, jp, dungeons, wvw.)

I’ve been playing warrior, guardian, and mesmer with Xpadder. I’ve found that the warrior is SO easy because he doesn’t typically need ground-targeting, and guardian is also relatively easy. Mesmer I’ve found is a little tougher.

How do you deal with ground-targeting? I can’t imagine what an elementalist would be like, but I want to play one after I finish with mesmer.

Sadly, ground targeting still requires the some use of the mouse. My 1-3 keys are bound to the shoulder buttons so on a staff ele this give me access to five ground targeting skills on my left hand – lava fount, ice spike, geyser, and eruption. When i need to cast these skills I’d use my left hand fingers to access them and use the mouse to control the camera and position the ground target, and cast the skill by pressing the respective key on the controller. My movement and dodging ability isn’t hampered by this because my I have w,q,e,s, and dodge mapped to my left analog stick.

I have keys 4-0 mapped to the face buttons of the controllers, so I cast skills like meteor shower, frozen ground, healing rain, static field, and unsteady ground by “prepping” skill with a press of the face button with my right thumb, then moving my right hand off the controller and onto the mouse, position the ground target and cast the skill using the left mouse button. As in the above scenario with the 1-3 keys, my left hand is free to control movement, dodges, etc.

when running in dungeon groups, I tend to keep the mouse courser centered on my character. I do this because most of the fights in dungeons requires stacking – so basically the mobs come to your group. This eliminates the need to use the mouse for ground targeting, because you should already have the targets right where you need them to be (on top on your party stack.)

It sounds more complicated than it really is. :P

Nope – I totally get it. It’s tough at first, but you get used to it.

BunjiKugashira.9754:

Let’s say you only key-bind the keys that are necessary for combat, that’s

4 —- F1-F4
1 —- Weapon swap
10 —- Skills 1-0
4 —- Movement
1 —- Jumping
1 —- Dodging
1 —- Interacting/Looting
3 —- Target closest, next and pinged target
1 —- Look behind (useful in WvW and PvP)
1 —- Ping target as primary target
4 —- camera-control
1 —- place ground-targeted skills
1 —- open inventory for consumables or alternate weapons
33 —- total

And up to this day noone explained to me how to chat with a gamepad. How do you explain a random what he has to do in a dungeon if you realise that he has no clue? Someone explain this to me pls, since I’ve never owned a controller myself.

Only 33 buttons needed? Well here’s how it can be done plus a lot more.

Take a Xbox 360 controller for example, there’s 24 buttons in total if u count the sticks (4 directional and press down into it for the 5th). 2 of those 24 buttons are gona be set as Alt and Ctrl so say 22 free functional buttons for you to set how ever you wanted them.

Now:
1 set = 22 functions.
Alt + full set = 22 more functions.
Ctrl + full set = 22 more functions.
Alt + Ctrl + full set = 22 more functions.

For a grand total of 88 different functions on a 24 physical button game pad. That’s not even taking into consideration that some game pad software allows you to have more than 1 full set of key maps on one game pad, now multiply that 88 by another 10…

And as to how to chat, i would suggest pressing enter and then type in what ever you want to chat about on a normal keyboard just like everyone else, the last I checked most PCs have more than 1 USB plugs installed.

I think the proper question is: why does the game ‘need’ controller support? And what other future feature are you willing to forgo to get it?

The game was designed for the PC and ANet deliberately avoided making a console port of the game. It would take a huge amount of work to program for controllers and additional work to QA future changes to make sure that controllers always work. That effort will mean resources that won’t be working on something else.

tl;dr There’s no controller support because it is too expensive for this computer-based game.

BunjiKugashira.9754:

Let’s say you only key-bind the keys that are necessary for combat, that’s

4 —- F1-F4
1 —- Weapon swap
10 —- Skills 1-0
4 —- Movement
1 —- Jumping
1 —- Dodging
1 —- Interacting/Looting
3 —- Target closest, next and pinged target
1 —- Look behind (useful in WvW and PvP)
1 —- Ping target as primary target
4 —- camera-control
1 —- place ground-targeted skills
1 —- open inventory for consumables or alternate weapons
33 —- total

And up to this day noone explained to me how to chat with a gamepad. How do you explain a random what he has to do in a dungeon if you realise that he has no clue? Someone explain this to me pls, since I’ve never owned a controller myself.

not all of those are “required” for combat. this may be somewhat of a stereotype, but imo, someone using a controller in a pc mmo is probably a casual gamer that might not even pvp, with that in mind

f1-f4 – 4 (less depending on class. but for the sake of inclusion i’ll leave it at 4)
weapon skills/utilities – 10
movement – 4
camera – 4
dodge – 1
maybe a button for ground targetting – 1
jumping, though not really needed in combat, is nice for exploring so i’ll include it – 1
weapon swap – 1

that’s really all you need as a casual gamer. 26 buttons, though 8 of them will be on the sticks, so in reality, it would be 18. more than possible if you’re using a controller on PC.

as for the rest of it, it’s not really that hard to also have a keyboard nearby as well. just because you use a controller doesn’t mean you have to unplug your keyboard and toss it in a corner.

I’ve seen people play tera with a controller, and it seemed to work really well, so i’d think it would be more than possible to use a controller in gw2 with support (i mean geez there’s some people out there that play with controllers now!)

while i don’t use a controller, i have no qualms with them adding support to the game for people that do.

i play with a controller through Pinnacle Game Profiler. it’s easier on my wrists. otherwise i’m prone to developing pain in my wrists and forearms which i don’t want to develop into carpal tunnel.
i have one of every character (and 3 rangers), all but the necro are 80. my keyboard and mouse still sit on the table right in front of me within easy reach... i handle ground targeting by taking one hand off my controller, putting it on my mouse, and dropping the target ring where i want it... i can move, spin, about face and fight just fine... WvW, sPvP, and and PvE no problems. and when i need to type... i put DOWN my controller,... and type... just like if you were using your mouse and keyboard, you would have to stop what you were doing (or have on autorun... the Pugmander’s curse!) take your hand off your mouse, and type... why is it so hard to believe i can set my controller down to do the same thing.

you can play with a ps3 controller as long as you know how to map it

Dragin.3012:

The fact that GW2 does not have controller support honestly enrages me. The game would play so much smoother if it did, and It’s obviously possible because programs like XPadder and Pinnacle Game Profiler make it work (near) flawlessly. But we shouldn’t have to pay for third party software to play a game the way it was meant to be played. So I ask you ArenaNet, why is there no support for controllers? And would it honestly be that difficult to implement?

More like: Thank god there is no controller support!

The players in PVP are bad enough using K/M, imagine them using a controller? The horror.

If they implement controller support i’ll leave.

GuildWarsPlayer.5608:

I saw a comment that said pc games aren’t meant to be played with a gamepad. If this is true, why are there pc gamepads ?

same reason we have console ports and never the twain should meet. Console jockeys can’t accept the fact they are inferior (game wise)

http://www.rahulsood.com/2010/07/console-gamers-get-killed-against-pc.html

for ppl who say that they can play DCUO with a controller, the whole reason is because the game was made around the PS3 controller and later made for PC use.
GW2 is made around PC use, anything beside that is obviously not supported.

it’s not what the company supports, it’s what kind of platform they are focusing on.
a game made for both a PC &console will always have a controller support, a game only made for a PC will (for the most part) always made with only KBM in mind.
it’s not rocket science….

I have been using a Logitech controller with 19 functions mapped to Logitech software for 2 years and 9000+ AP now. I wouldn’t pvp with it, but then I don’t pvp. My hands and wrists aren’t great and the controller is easy and fun to use. Why does it upset others that the OP would ask for that support when it just another option which doesn’t prevent anyone else from playing just the way they want?

ffletcher.3468:

I have been using a Logitech controller with 19 functions mapped to Logitech software for 2 years and 9000+ AP now. I wouldn’t pvp with it, but then I don’t pvp. My hands and wrists aren’t great and the controller is easy and fun to use. Why does it upset others that the OP would ask for that support when it just another option which doesn’t prevent anyone else from playing just the way they want?

Because those of us that have played console-imports on PC are afraid, that changes will be made that make the KBM-experience feel like a console-import. As long as controllers are not officially supportet, ANet can utilize KBM to it’s fullest and noone can complain that controllers can’t keep up (Our controller-experts most likely won’t complain, but other casual players will).

Good answer, Bunji. I have played some of those console-imports and understand the concern.