Guild Wars 2

So I’m a fairly casual player coming from MMOs where usually you have to stand still and cast. I love the ability to move, attack and dodge in GW2 but I find I’m doing crazy contortions with my fingers just to strafe around while selecting the appropriate attack, switch weapon, F key etc. I’m doing ok in PvE but compared to experienced PvP players I feel like a total Noob.

It seems to me that this game would really benefit from a console style controller.

Tips on what you guys do would be appreciated.

I’m thinking of getting either the Nostromo or Logitech gamepad with the thumb controller but the reviews seem to indicate the thumb controller doesn’t work well in WASD games. Any experiences you guys can share?

You don’t one of those gamepads. Just a Razer Naga or one of the new Logitech MMO mice works just fine for this for instance. So long as you map keys in a way that keeps your fingers on your movements keys the majority of the time you should be fine.

I did try the Logitech MMO mouse. I didn’t really find it intuitive to use and it fit my hand badly. Maybe the Razer would feel better.

I currently have a 4 button mouse so I have dodge on the middle and F on the side and that works just fine. (I have F on the side for easy looting while on the move)

I personally feel that if I could free up the four fingers from my left hand for skills and simply use the thumb for direction, that would be the most intuitive.

Any reason why you say don’t use gamepads?

Not sure, personally I use WSAD for movement, 12345 QERT for my skills, then I have my dodge, elite and F1-F4 on my Razer naga.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t use one or don’t, I’m just saying you don’t need one, and at least with the mouse you’ll still use it all the time instead of getting the gaming keypad and only using it for this pretty much. I am extremely mobile in combat since I got this mouse, just because I don’t have to worry about F1-F4 primarily (I’m an Ele) and it gives me a reflexive dodge and hitting my elite is a tad easier (Was using F before)

You don’t need a Naga for this game, and playing with a gamepad will hurt more than help, unless there’s good turn acceleration.

Here’s my setup with a 4-button mouse

S – Forwards
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right
Shift – Dodge
Space – Jump

Q-T – Weapon Skills
Z-C – Utility Slot Skills
MB3 – Heal
MB4 – Elite
1-4 – Class Skills

And yes, I don’t reverse.

i’ve been using the following setup:

movement: WASD
interact: F
weapon skills: 12345
heal: Q
utilities: ERX
elite: C
prof-specific mechanic: shift+1/2/3/4
dodge: mouse 4 (one of the side buttons)
weapon-swap: mouse 3 (middle mouse button)
auto-run: mouse 5 (one of the side buttons)
about face: ~
look behind: z

also, i’m using the fast-cast option in the general menu.

my mouse is the logitech mx518
http://www.scientiaweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Logitech-MX518-Gaming-Mouse.jpeg

Thanks for the ideas so far. I will test out some of the suggestions later.

Has anyone here actually tried the gamepads? In theory it sounds great since the dynamic nature of movement in this game really should lend itself to a joystick type controller.

I am using a gamepad to play GW2. Im using my old Microsoft Xbox 360 wireless controller with the wireless USB receiver for PCs. It works great. The only disatvantage is you cannot set the buttons with the controller. You have to use another program like xpadder. I recommend it, there are a lot of great profiles on their site, and the program is only 10 bucks.

Essentially you turn the controller from 1 into 3 controllers (for myself at least.) I use one stick for movement (WSQE) for strafing, and one stick for camera movement (mapped to Right Click / Move Mouse) bumpers are skills 4 / 5 and 6 / 0, and the A button is jump. 123 / 789 swap on the other face buttons. class skills (F1-F4) go on the Dpad. Jump on the third profile is swim down. everything else menu oriented.

During combat and exploration, it’s a lot of fun. You can still use ground targeted skills, and it’s pretty easy to set up with a little practice. I played all the betas using keyboard and mouse, and with my setup I am required to use wireless devices. The controller for me simply has a better battery life and response time. During combat it feels like it was meant to be.

During anything else the mouse and keyboard are the way to go, for sure, but it is perfectly viable to use any controller set up. Send me a PM if you’d like some more details. I can share my xpadder profile with you to give you a good framework to build your own set up on.

The logitech G13 gaming keyboard is nice… made me laugh when someone said using it will hurt more than help.

Personally – don’t get the Razer gaming keyboard – it isn’t very compatible with Windows 7 and made me dislike the company cause they said they’d get around to updating drivers to eb compatible sometime this November.

However I don’t use keys for movement, I use the thumbstick for movement and continue to hold the RMB for looking since I have to use the mouse pointer when it comes to ground targeted abilities.

Then the programmable keys are very nice as well since I can press G10 and not change the skill from key 1 – because at least during the Betas reconfiguring it screwed up the range notifier. What I mean is the gaming keyboard acts like a hotkey instead of a reassignment so your skills will still show the red bar saying you’re out of range whilst changing them made that function stop working.

I’ve hotkeyed all 10 skills and the 4 F-keys as well as jump, drop bundle (aka weapon swap), and interact to the keypad and still have 5 keys I can assign at a later time if I so choose.

I would personally love to not have to use the mouse as I think it’s an outdated method of input… but there’s no quick way to ground target without it so I’ve had to make do.

NinjaKnight.1340:

So I’m a fairly casual player coming from MMOs where usually you have to stand still and cast. I love the ability to move, attack and dodge in GW2 but I find I’m doing crazy contortions with my fingers just to strafe around while selecting the appropriate attack, switch weapon, F key etc. I’m doing ok in PvE but compared to experienced PvP players I feel like a total Noob.

It seems to me that this game would really benefit from a console style controller.

Tips on what you guys do would be appreciated.

I’m thinking of getting either the Nostromo or Logitech gamepad with the thumb controller but the reviews seem to indicate the thumb controller doesn’t work well in WASD games. Any experiences you guys can share?

A gamepad is the last thing you need. This game is not friendly to keyboard turners, which is pretty much what a gamepad makes you. If you’re finding it hard to play now, you’ll be that much more ineffectual with a gamepad.

The solution is to work on your keybindings and possibly invest in a mouse with a few extra options. You don’t need a million buttons on your mouse. I play fine with just a couple of extra ones, one on each side and it cost be about $30. Setting up a proper keybind scheme, one that works for your play style, is all you need to do after that.

Bvhjdbvkjf.1987:

The logitech G13 gaming keyboard is nice… made me laugh when someone said using it will hurt more than help.

Personally – don’t get the Razer gaming keyboard – it isn’t very compatible with Windows 7 and made me dislike the company cause they said they’d get around to updating drivers to eb compatible sometime this November.

However I don’t use keys for movement, I use the thumbstick for movement and continue to hold the RMB for looking since I have to use the mouse pointer when it comes to ground targeted abilities.

Then the programmable keys are very nice as well since I can press G10 and not change the skill from key 1 – because at least during the Betas reconfiguring it screwed up the range notifier. What I mean is the gaming keyboard acts like a hotkey instead of a reassignment so your skills will still show the red bar saying you’re out of range whilst changing them made that function stop working.

I’ve hotkeyed all 10 skills and the 4 F-keys as well as jump, drop bundle (aka weapon swap), and interact to the keypad and still have 5 keys I can assign at a later time if I so choose.

I would personally love to not have to use the mouse as I think it’s an outdated method of input… but there’s no quick way to ground target without it so I’ve had to make do.

Thanks for this info. I’m getting so much conflicting info on this I think it must simply be a matter of personal preference. Maybe I’ll buy it from somewhere that has a decent return policy in case i don’t like it. But the G13 was exactly the Gamepad I was thinking of.

Blacklight.2871:

A gamepad is the last thing you need. This game is not friendly to keyboard turners, which is pretty much what a gamepad makes you. If you’re finding it hard to play now, you’ll be that much more ineffectual with a gamepad.

The solution is to work on your keybindings and possibly invest in a mouse with a few extra options. You don’t need a million buttons on your mouse. I play fine with just a couple of extra ones, one on each side and it cost be about $30. Setting up a proper keybind scheme, one that works for your play style, is all you need to do after that.

Not really sure what you mean by " not friendly to keyboard turners".

Anyways here’s the thing – I’m strafing left and right using Q and E (index and ring finger), and mouse to keep facing the mobs/bosses. I have to reach up with my pinky to hit 1-2 to attack if i don’t want to stop moving. Can’t reach the others or F buttons unless I’m strafing right with my index finger, or stop moving momentarily.

The technique works well, using a ranged weapon, by continuously moving I can handle several mob solo, even ones several levels higher and I don’t even have to roll dodge much. But it feels really unwieldy to be stretching my fingers like that. The keyboard really isn’t suited for a game that relies on so much movement while hitting attack keys.

If the G13 works as advertised I should be able to use my thumb to control strafing and forward back movement freeing all four fingers for attacks and other commands. I use my middle mouse button at present for dodge.