Guild Wars 2

What exactly are you guys doing to keep the camera behind you while moving so precisely? Any thief video will show the camera is in constant motion behind the thief and I thought it was just clicking both mouse buttons at the same time but that turned out too difficult and straightforward, literally. Are you guys just holding left click and manually sliding? Btw, this is my first pc game so I am certain there is something I dont know about. Back on topic, I usually control camera and movement with the traditional qweasd and quickly press both mouse buttons and the same time and swing around for a quick about face. But how the other guys do it seems much more professional and, well, necessary. Any help would be appreciated

W – forward
S – backward
Q and E unbind.
A- strafe left
D – strafe right.
All the turning and looking around done with mouse and wasd combination. U rly shouldnt push A and D to turn your character around

What you have to do is only bind forward backward and strafe. Never turn with your Keys. Its called keyboard turning and Its a bad thing. Just turn by holding your right mouse key. Cheers

thx! also if anyone else has other combos feel free to post, variety is the spice of life

Aaah karolis was faster then me :p

I’ve always been one to stand by the “Play your own way” motto. Hence, I play with:
W: move forward
A: Strafe left
S: Move back
D: Strafe right
Q: Turn camera left
E: Turn camera right

I usually use the mouse to turn the camera, but dungeons and PvE content sometimes makes me go keyboard crazy

^ i might try swapping, that way i still have “trainingwheels” for a new set up but they are somewhat out of the way

Lately I have been trying something a bit less conventional but instead of unbinding just Q and E, I have also unbound my S (Backwards) Button(s). The reasoning for this is moving backwards only hinders your character and strafing to the side + turning 90 degrees will always be faster. It takes a little getting used to but in the end I think it is a fast setup.

So as follows:
S – Move Forward
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right

I have been running this setup for about 2-3 weeks now and find myself getting very used to it and I am able to engage targets a lot easier. It helps keep a mindset to always face in to the target while engaging and turning around when you actually have to get out. Then obviously I turn with right mouse button.

Pentalic.5409:

I’ve always been one to stand by the “Play your own way” motto. Hence, I play with:
W: move forward
A: Strafe left
S: Move back
D: Strafe right
Q: Turn camera left
E: Turn camera right

I usually use the mouse to turn the camera, but dungeons and PvE content sometimes makes me go keyboard crazy

And you lose Q and E buttons which could ( and should) be used for skills/utilities.

Selcaro.2584:

Lately I have been trying something a bit less conventional but instead of unbinding just Q and E, I have also unbound my S (Backwards) Button(s). The reasoning for this is moving backwards only hinders your character and strafing to the side + turning 90 degrees will always be faster. It takes a little getting used to but in the end I think it is a fast setup.

So as follows:
S – Move Forward
A – Strafe Left
D – Strafe Right

I have been running this setup for about 2-3 weeks now and find myself getting very used to it and I am able to engage targets a lot easier. It helps keep a mindset to always face in to the target while engaging and turning around when you actually have to get out. Then obviously I turn with right mouse button.

Well… while in WoW backpedaling was a huge NO NO, in gw2 its even nessesary in some situations.

Karolis.4261:

Pentalic.5409:

I’ve always been one to stand by the “Play your own way” motto. Hence, I play with:
W: move forward
A: Strafe left
S: Move back
D: Strafe right
Q: Turn camera left
E: Turn camera right

I usually use the mouse to turn the camera, but dungeons and PvE content sometimes makes me go keyboard crazy

And you lose Q and E buttons which could ( and should) be used for skills/utilities.

I have a friend who plays SOLELY with the keyboard and he is one of the best Guardians I’ve met, so I don’t think any keys SHOULD be used for certain things. I also know of many people using the keyboard number pad for their weapon skills and they switch back and forth between the mouse and keyboard very fast.

Pentalic.5409:

Karolis.4261:

Pentalic.5409:

I’ve always been one to stand by the “Play your own way” motto. Hence, I play with:
W: move forward
A: Strafe left
S: Move back
D: Strafe right
Q: Turn camera left
E: Turn camera right

I usually use the mouse to turn the camera, but dungeons and PvE content sometimes makes me go keyboard crazy

And you lose Q and E buttons which could ( and should) be used for skills/utilities.

I have a friend who plays SOLELY with the keyboard and he is one of the best Guardians I’ve met, so I don’t think any keys SHOULD be used for certain things. I also know of many people using the keyboard number pad for their weapon skills and they switch back and forth between the mouse and keyboard very fast.

Wasd or any other combination + skill keybinds around it + mouse turning is simply faster. Noone can deny it.

I’m just interested, not trying to troll at all here, in what situations do you feel backpedaling is necessary?

Selcaro.2584:

I’m just interested, not trying to troll at all here, in what situations do you feel backpedaling is necessary?

just guessing, perhaps a shortbow moment is an example, or PP

I can’t speak for him, but one that I can think of is if a large AoE effect is placed in front of you (you are already standing somewhat inside it), it would probably be faster to back out than turn out.
Even then, though, a dodge automatically brings you back and a side dodge would most definitely bring you out of it…

Considering backpedaling is half the speed of forward movement (in combat), backpedaling with a ranged weapon while someone is approaching you is effectively the same as using Cripple on them, buying you more time to shoot them before they reach you.

I back-peddle some in GW2 because, while it is slower movement speed, you are punished quite a bit for exposing your back/sides in this game. it is not always possible to run “at”/“through” someone, for instance, when they have friends behind them.

I back pedal with the SB, and throw in backwards dodges. I only do this for a short period of time of course, then I’ll usually steal towards them when swapping to melee, where I’ll spend a lot of time doing the good old fashioned “run through them” instead of backwards.

Backpedaling is good for making tiny tweaks to your positioning (which is immensely important in this game.) For instance, causing LOS issues for your opponent while you’re on a ledge, sort of poking in an out of los and around corners using tiny movements. Having to swing your camera 90 degrees every time you wanted to make a small adjustment is just slower.

Here’s another example.. elementalist. Burning speed has a set distance and always travels in the direction you’re facing… to line up the burst at the end of the pathing you need to be facing your target and be at exactly the right range… using packpedal to reorient your facing while dialing in the range can be very helpful.

gimmethegepgun.1284:

Considering backpedaling is half the speed of forward movement (in combat)

Forward movement is not only faster then strafing and (even slower) back-pedalling, it’s also the only direction that profits from improved movement speed from skills and boons.

Without backpedaling I cannot dodge backwards. So it’s kind of important.

But aside from that using strafing as opposed to keyboard turning is a big deal.

Skizo.8410:

What you have to do is only bind forward backward and strafe. Never turn with your Keys. Its called keyboard turning and Its a bad thing. Just turn by holding your right mouse key. Cheers

Except if you want to land skill-shots on the fly, you need to learn utilize “keyboard turning” so that your mouse is free to aim with.

Learning to turn with keys and having your mouse free is essential if you want to be the very best for personal or PvP motivations.

Dee Jay.2460:

Without backpedaling I cannot dodge backwards. So it’s kind of important.

But aside from that using strafing as opposed to keyboard turning is a big deal.

Not to nitpick but this is a misunderstanding. I personally have never liked the double tap evade and always used my bound key to do so, “V”. If you are not pressing any directional keys and press it, it immediately will evade back. So unbinding your backpedal does not hinder this ability.

I find it best to bind powers and utilities in the immediate area around your movement keys. But I use numpad and mouse left-handed…

Karolis.4261:

W – forward
S – backward
Q and E unbind.
A- strafe left
D – strafe right.
All the turning and looking around done with mouse and wasd combination. U rly shouldnt push A and D to turn your character around

This is what I did first thing. Every game I get in I always remap controls from the start, they never suit my picky needs

My keybind setup should be pretty similar to others but I did a few things differently for my own preferences.

- E = Forward.
- S & F = Strafe left and right.
- X = Backwards.
- D = Dodge. I hate double tapping to dodge so I put that key in the middle of my movement keys. It then becomes easy to use two fingers to dodge in any direction.
- C = Heal.
- Function skills 1-4 were rebound to Q, W, R, T.
- Interact key went from F to G.
- Swap weapons = A.
- The 9 buttons for weapon, utility and elite skills are bound to my mouse.
- As others said, right click and turn with the mouse.

Edit: I decided to flesh out my mouse setup. It is a 12 button razr naga but I am only using 9 of them. Below is the layout I use. Imagine 1-5 as weapon skills, 6-8 as utility and 9 as the elite.

0 0 0 (Top row not used)
8 5 9
2 1 3
6 4 7

The 1-5 skills are a cross with my thumb resting on the 1 key. The utility and elite skills are the corners. Yes, this did take me a while to get used to. I did so by leveling my first character like this. Now it is second nature and I love it. Very smooth and natural for me.

Presss. ’R* Autorun
Move camera with left mouse

Pentalic.5409:

I have a friend who plays SOLELY with the keyboard and he is one of the best Guardians I’ve met, so I don’t think any keys SHOULD be used for certain things. I also know of many people using the keyboard number pad for their weapon skills and they switch back and forth between the mouse and keyboard very fast.

And how does he manage ground targeting with keyboard ?

Puts his cursor somewhere on the screen, and disables reticle targeting :p

Man, that would be hard.

To answer your original question – there is a “reverse camera” option you can bind to some key. It is really handy, just looks behind you. Then there is the “free Camera” which can also be bound to a button so you can hold it down and swing your camera behind you without your character deviating from his course. It took me a while to find comfy keys for these but I got there in the end with the help of a G600 mouse and a program called Sharpkeys that lets you re-bind any key to anything you like on a regular keyboard. I’d say check it out.

1. Q / E for turning is valid. There are some movement options that you lose if you unbind keyboard turns. Naturally, you should mouseturn the majority of the time, but if you need to click to select an alternate target, or if you need to pan the camera while turning, then Q/E are necessary.

2. GW2 doesn’t have multiple ability bars in any fashion, so rebinding some combination of 7-8-9-0 tends to be necessary. Q/E are good bind spots for some of those.

So, overall there’s no reason to necessarily criticize Q/E use for turning or non-use for turning. As long as they’re not using Q/E for general purpose turning.

That is, as long as they’ve dealt with 7-8-9-0.

yup, did a few pvp matches with mouse turning and by the pale tree… i dont know if i was having a good day, they sucked , or this method truly is magical, either way i was averaging like 15 kills per game. Using the mouse lets me CnD and backstab much more fluidly thank you guys so much! Even mesmers were a ton easier to kill this way since you can keep the pressure on them for so long. (i dont know which is worse for a thief a mesmer or a dd ele) Now i can officially practice roaming techniques in WvW >.>

funky fat thighs.1267:

Puts his cursor somewhere on the screen, and disables reticle targeting :p

Man, that would be hard.

So he casts his skills “somewhere on the screen” ?
mmm interesting…