Guild Wars 2

Hi guys,

I don’t really want to get flamed for this post… But when I watch videos of ppl playing their characters you never see the cursor. So how does this 1-9 button pushing work. Do you have a different set of movement buttons? Instead of w a s z?.. My fingers feel so clumsy. Is it still possible to be a good player using a traditional method of mouse?
Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

The best tip is to not use the default 1-9 keys. Each person has his or her own preferences; I’ll share mine:

Movement
S – Move Forwards
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right

*Note: I don’t have a key for Move Backwards because, as with other MMOs, moving backwards “manually” is usually slower than other methods.

Combat
Q, W, E, R, T – Weapon Skills
Mouse Button 4 – Heal Skill
Z, X, C – Utility Skills
Mouse Button 5 – Elite Skill
~ – Weapon Swap
1, 2, 3, 4 – Profession Skills

*Note: This is with a 5-button mouse. You can adapt the Heal and Elite Skill buttons to the keyboard as you see fit. Typically you would want the Heal to be somewhere close by, while the Elite can be placed somewhere “less convenient” due to their typically long cooldowns.

Misc
F – Interact with Object

Hey there pottsy!

Many folks do not use keys 6-9/7-9 as like you said it is very clumsy!
People like me bind 6-9 to other keys such as C,X,Z. Many also have multiple buttons on their mice (I recently got one for an early bday present)

About not seeing the cursor if you hold the right mouse button this cause the cursor to disappear allowing you to control the direction the character faces. (This is an advantage as allows for faster turning compared to the default A+D)

Don’t worry about getting flamed or worrying about feeling silly asking questions.
DO ASK IF YOU’RE NOT SURE!

Folks in the forum are friendly and mature. Don’t worry.

Everything they said is true, and I would also agree that it’s a good idea to change the keys to something that feels smooth to you.

As far as the videos go though, keep in mind that a lot of video recording software has an option that allows you to simply not record the cursor. So it’s probably there and doing something, it just doesn’t show up in the video. As glitch said, it’s used primarily for camera rotation in this game.

All of the suggestions I’ve seen in this thread are good, and like most, I remapped most of my keys to whatever felt most comfortable. In my case, F1-F4 have been remapped to Shift+1, Shift+2, Shift+3, and Shift+4. I also have 6-8 mapped to one button: the button itself, Shift+that button, and Ctrl+that button. My best advice is to see how far your fingers are comfortable reaching and then try a variety of key mappings until you find one that is comfortable and makes the most sense to you – and never feel bad for asking questions!

Another helpful thing for some professions is to look for a toggle in the options menu (I forget exactly what it’s called) that lets you instantly throw/cast ground-placement skills where your cursor is, rather than having to activate the skill, position the cursor, and then press a button to complete the cast. It’s overall much faster and if you position your cursor somewhere easy to find , like near the center of the screen, you can use that location as a target and more easily use such skills while on the move. It might take a little practice to get used to it, though, so use whatever is most comfortable for you.

Thank you all very much for your replies. I have decided to use your suggestions and start out on a newb char.. See how it goes.

My highest character at the moment is only 15, so this gives me plenty of game play to adapt to a new style.

Thanks once again!

I know some people use one of these monstrosities:
http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-naga-molten/

I use a razar-naga mouse while the key presses are awkward at first, with some practice you will never see yourself reaching for the numbers again. Having tried other gaming mouses, dollar for dollar this mouse does give you good value and with most games using the 1 – 0 key and +, – you can use it for plenty of your other games.

I hate to ask another question, but for the life of me I can’t get weapon swapping to work. I have no idea what I’m doing wrong. The "H"ero page doesn’t show any way to do it, the keystroke “`” does nothing and switching by going to the hero page is VERY slow.

Any help would be appreciated. And again, sorry to be such a dolt.

Mine are:

WASD – Movement (Standard)
QE – Strafe (Standard)
R – Heal
F – Use
ZXC – Utility
V – Elite

I actually do use the 7, 8, and 9 keys. I have large hands though, and it’s not hard for me to work an entire keyboard with two fingers on my right hand. I’m also left handed on the mouse, that might change things too. My pinky handles the entire number pad. navigation is handled by the six key block above the arrow keys, and I use my ring and middle for that. My index finger can reach to O with my middle still holding the <Home> key.

As for gaming mice, personally, I’d say using anything from Razer is just a bad call. You can get a Hex for smart button placement. You can get an Epic or Molten for pretty lights. You can get the regular one for 17 buttons.

Or, you can get a Corsair M90. It’s got better DPI than the Razer Naga. Adjustable response times. Smart button placement, like the Hex, only with more buttons. It’s like everything good about each individual Razer mouse, all rolled into one. For exactly the same price.
http://www.corsair.com/us/vengeance-gaming/vengeance-gaming-mice/vengeance-m90-performance-mmo-rts-laser-gaming-mouse.html

pottsy.6074:

Hi guys,

I don’t really want to get flamed for this post… But when I watch videos of ppl playing their characters you never see the cursor. So how does this 1-9 button pushing work. Do you have a different set of movement buttons? Instead of w a s z?.. My fingers feel so clumsy. Is it still possible to be a good player using a traditional method of mouse?
Any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

You can get accustomed to the controls or not, but what really matters is that you understand what you want to use them for. If the default keybindings just don’t work for you, switch them for a personalized setup.

I’d say the most important things you need in order to become a good player, is an understanding of how the classes work, discovering which skills and weapons suit you best, and enjoying how you do whatever it is you do. That, and learning when to dodge, and when to receive a blow in order to save the endurance for a more critical moment.