Guild Wars 2

Hi,

As you can see, my questions is in the title. So where should my hands be placed, on the keyboard if I am using the default keys for the game? At the moment I am just clicking the abilities with my mouse, but I know that isn’t a very good way to play the game. When I try to click on the numbers my hand doesn’t quite reach that far. I will need to let go of the movement keys.
My left hand is on the keys ‘w,a,d’ fingers 2,3,4. Counting from the thumb. And my right hand is on the mouse, which I use to turn and to click my abilities/skills.

Or should I just change the key bindings? If so, where should I put the keys?

Sorry if I made it confusing, I am not that great at English gramma.

Thanks for the help!

[quote=5620791;TonedZacinator.6924:]

I don’t understand how anyone is able to move and use skills with the default keys. So I definitely recommend moving them. Where to move them really depends on you though. I recommend trying a few different set-ups to see what you find most comfortable.

Common options I’ve seen are to have the skills and other ‘combat keys’ (like weapon swap) in a ring around the movement keys. For example use E,S,D,F for movement and then Q,W,R,T,A,G,Z,X,C,V for skills. Or using 1-5 and Shift+1-5 for skills.

Quite a few people buy a mouse with extra buttons on the side so they can move some/all their skills there.

(My personal favourite is to have my skills on the number pad and use the arrow keys to move, but that only works if you have your right hand on the keyboard. I’m left-handed so it’s perfect for me but probably very difficult for other people.)

Just move all of the combat keys to something you find comfortable within easy reach. What I did was move most of the skills to 1-5 and F1-F4, with the 4 extras on my mouse. It means that I can reach every skill without needing to let go of movement buttons but I also keep the standard movement keybinds/action used in pretty much every game.

Dated but nonetheless helpful.
http://taugrim.com/2012/06/27/guide-to-guild-wars-2-keybinds/

Or you can get a mouse with a few extra buttons and put your WASD stuff on it. I use the Naga HEX and it works marvelously to free my left hand up to tap any needed key while my right hand provides my mobility (though it does mean I can’t manage the Clocktower due to mouse steering being inadequate for the constant fast right turning).

i dont know how ppl play with all the crazy keybinds.. i just use the wasd (qe for strafe) to move. 123 on keyboard space to jump.

then i have the 12button naga mouse, f1234 is mouse wheel left right click and button behind wheel

then 4567890 on the side of the mouse. with the number 1 key on side mapped to right control for teamspeak.

i have a friend that plays ele and the keybinds they had for D/D was insane, shift clicks and such all over the place. not interested in early carpal tunnel.

I know I linked a blog discussing keybinds, but my personal ones are not nearly that extreme (relocating WASD) and for the most part are just about remapping keys 6-0 and ditching keyboard turning.

Movement: WASD (forward, strafe left, back, right strafe) no keyboard turning
Profession: F1-F5
Weapon Skills: 1-5
Weapon Swap: `
Heal: Q
Utilities: Z,X,C
Elite: E
Dodge: V
Stomp/Rez: F
About Face: R
Take Target: T (Call Target ctrl-T)
Stow Weapon: Middle Mouse
Auto Run: Mouse 4
Target Nearest: Mouse 5/Tab

I think that’s it as far as combat would be concerned.

Although I am new to GW2, I’m a very experienced MMO gamer, so take as much of this as fits your experience. I do also use a mouse with “extra” buttons.

I remapped a few keys to simplify things and my mouse has 7 extra buttons on it – See Logitech G700 (or Naga, RAT, or many other manufacturers) mice.

A few things I did to my mappings:

1. - changed letters A and D to Strafe Left and Strafe Right. You can probably get used to using your right mouse button for steering (this works VERY WELL with #2).
2. - Map Auto-Run to “scroll button click” on mouse. Many mice allow you to press directly down on the scroll wheel found between your left and right mouse buttons. This is defined by your computer as its own, separate mouse “button.” Mapping this to Auto-run allows me FULL movement with just my mouse hand. Short runs = click both mouse buttons. Long runs = click scroll wheel. Steer by holding right mouse and look by holding left.
3. - Changed letter Q to Elite Skill and E to Heal Skill. Please note that I mapped the other abilities to mouse buttons but I believe you could use Shift + Q and Shift + E for a couple more abilities. Maybe Alt + Q and Alt + E as well if they’re not defaulted to anything important…. ?
4. - Mapped one of my “extra” mouse buttons to Dodge. This way I can turn off double-tap to dodge and I just click this mouse button with my right hand and I naturally roll whatever direction my left hand is pressing.
5. - Mapped the remaining Skill buttons (7, 8, and 9, if I recall correctly) to the “extra” mouse buttons on the side of my mouse.

I’m not suggesting that your ONLY solution requires a big, expensive new mouse. I will say that you can find some that are pretty cheap, comparatively speaking though.

These changes helped me out a lot.

Bear in mind that you need to pay very close attention to the red text when you remap a key. If there’s something that’s going to get overwritten, you’ll want to be sure you don’t need it.

I would say your hands should be where ever you find it comfortable to put them on the keyboard. Have you keyboard in front of you, one hand on the mouse (assuming you are planning on using your mouse for movement, if not do the next bit for both hands), close your eyes, and then put the other hand on the keyboard, open your eyes and look at what keys you are touching. Those should be your main weapon skill keys, then map the other keys in easy reach to what ever feels right.

I won’t say much about my mapping as I am a little odd that my mouse is in my left hand and my right hand is on the keyboard for the skills and strafing. My main weapon skills are the number keys 5 – 9 on the top row not the number pad. That puts most of my keyboard in reach of one or more fingers or thumb which is what I need.

What is most important in my opinion is that nothing is a strain to reach, one finger always stays on its home key so that my fingers automatically return to where they should be without me having to look down. I can also easily reach the alt key with my thumb and therefore use that as added keybinds (I prefer to use alt + 5 – 9 for things that are normally bound to the F keys, such as pet attacks). Keep things in easy reach and you are less likely to end up with finger problems later.