How can I manage all of my skills on hotbars?

When I leveled Summoner and Black Mage, I didn't have much trouble managing my skills on hot bars.
I also don't have this issue with WHM.

But I am leveling Ninja now and there are so many skills and it seems like I need to use all of them very frequently.

I play on a PC.
I have 3 main hotbars I use for skills. Bottom hot bar has the basic combo attacks, plus Trick and Sneak attack and Death Blossom toward the middle. (which is very uncomfortable for me, but I can't find a better place.)
Second bar has ninjutsu, Kassatsu, Mug, Jugulate, Throwing Knives
Top bar has Assasinate, Mutilation, Internal Release, Blood for Blood

Other skills used less frequently are scattered about (Second Wind, Goad, Invigorate etc)

I use the shift key to target the second row and the Control key to target the top.

But my hands are not very big and I can't comfortably reach beyond the 4 key.
I sometimes need to use the mouse to click on a skill, which seems so inefficient.

I often sometimes can't even see the location of the mouse on my screen.

I am only level 51 now, but it's still overwhelming trying to reach every skill!

Do I need to buy one of those mouses with like 10 keys on them? (mine only has 3 extra programmable keys)

Please teach me how I can better manage my hotbars for efficiency and comfortableness.

Exactly which hotkeys are you using? You can add easy to reach letters as well. Personally I use Q, E, R, T and 1-6 and then shift/control. Another modifier if you can't reach further than 4 and R is Alt, while it might be uncomfortable at the start getting used to it is probably the only way for you to not be forced to use a 10+ key mouse. Also how do you hold your hand over the keyboard, while 6 is quite far to reach, 5 shouldn't be hard to reach even with a small hand if you position your hand correctly.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

Exactly which hotkeys are you using? You can add easy to reach letters as well. Personally I use Q, E, R, T and 1-6 and then shift/control. Another modifier if you can't reach further than 4 and R is Alt, while it might be uncomfortable at the start getting used to it is probably the only way for you to not be forced to use a 10+ key mouse. Also how do you hold your hand over the keyboard, while 6 is quite far to reach, 5 shouldn't be hard to reach even with a small hand if you position your hand correctly.

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Can you not just use the other alt and control on the right for the other half of the keyboard?

Just play with both hands, one for 1-5 and one for 6-´ :D

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Originally Posted by Masekase_Hurricane

Can you not just use the other alt and control on the right for the other half of the keyboard?

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Would have to let go of the mouse to do that, that would be dangerous in any scenario where you need to dodge, don't see a way to quickly control your character without the mouse.

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Originally Posted by FinaSel

SNIP

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Use a controller?
I have one hotbar plus cross tabs (32 skills) and that's all the skills minus four that I need (Wasp, Viper, Sneak Attack,Shade Shift) which I relegated to hotbar 2 that I almost never use.

I have considered using a controller, but I don't have one. I'd need to buy one...

If I used two hands, how would I use the mouse?
I constantly use the mouse in battle to look at my surroundings. It is often more efficient for clicking on enemies than "Tab", which is just...I can't even.

I have considered using the ALT key, but I play with a Japanese keyboard and the key to switch language settings is directly next to the ALT key. It also means the ALT key is about half the size of the ALT key on non-Japanese keyboards.
It creates three problems.
1.) It's quite hard to hit the ALT key while playing.
2.) Due to the position of it, it's hard to press the ALT key and number keys at the same time. I need to position my hand in a very strange way.
3.) If I press the language settings key by accident and suddenly need to type, I find myself in a predicament, since I might have the press that key several more times to switch back to the desired input.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

Exactly which hotkeys are you using? You can add easy to reach letters as well. Personally I use Q, E, R, T and 1-6 and then shift/control.

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Thank you. I will try using those keys too.

If you need another easy to reach modifier key, you can always turn Caps Lock into a Function key or either Alt. I use a large variety of keys, but I never have to reach very far. I left Q, E, R, T, F, and bound lock-on to C as per 1.x, but I use Caps 1-4, Shift 1-4, Ctrl 1-4; Caps, Shift, and Ctrl -Q, -E, and -R; Shift-F, -Z, -X, -C, -T, -G, -V, -B; Alt -S, -D, -F, -G, -X, -C, -V, -B; and Ctrl -A, -S, -D, -F, -Z, -X-, -C, -V. It may sound overly complex, but it keeps everything in very easy reach, and supports more than just rotational binds (including multiple tab types, target of target, set focus target, target focus target, target last attacker (only really use in PvP), signs, macro commands, mouse-overs, etc, and of course the bloating PvP skills). Its really hard to run out of binds on a keyboard.

You can also bind some abilities to the mouse, along with modifier key uses for each.

If you haven't gotten too used to your current setup yet, I'd recommend trying to systematize according to a given priority, focusing on a particular setting, such as raids. For instance, I'd keep CDs that you want to have immediately visible for setting up burst or making snap decisions in a highly visible position, such as the top-left corner or whatnot, and then set up the remaining CDs of similar length or priority in order by said cooldown length or their usage order in burst, etc.

If you don't need binding reminders and want to free up space, you can also set your bindings across hotbars 1-3, and then place duplicates of just the abilities you need to track on 4-6, swapping between the two for a binds-visible or compact mode.

You should use a mouse with more buttons. I use an mmo mouse with 12 buttons. Then I use ctrl, alt, and shift to modify the mouse. But you could also use a mouse with very few buttons. If you do that, then put ctrl, shift, and alt on the mouse and use that to modify your keyboard.

Thank you for your advice.

I tried to use Caps Lock, but when it try to bind it, nothing happens. I think it is because I use Japanese keyboard.
A Japanese keyboard has several keys an English one does not, and some keys are in different locations. Caps Lock also switching between languages.
(Unlike the two language keys, which switch between type of input. It is a little difficult to explain unless you use it.)

But, I did bind Q, E, and R, and their Shift and Controls too.
So it gives me 9 extra keybinds I didn't have before. It's really useful!

I will probably use T in the future when I feel I need a new skill to bind.

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Originally Posted by cheolsu

You should use a mouse with more buttons. I use an mmo mouse with 12 buttons. Then I use ctrl, alt, and shift to modify the mouse. But you could also use a mouse with very few buttons. If you do that, then put ctrl, shift, and alt on the mouse and use that to modify your keyboard.

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I have considered getting a mouse with more buttons. If using these new keybinds isn't enough, I will probably do that.

Mapping Control, Shift, and Alt to the mouse is an interesting idea, but I currently use my mouse keys for other actions. I've been using them for my White Mage since I started playing and I think it would take a long time to get used to not having them available.

Since WHM is my main, I don't want to sacrifice those keybinds.

But as I play more jobs, I might need to adjust my mappings in the end.
Thank you for the advice.

How do you change CAPs into a modifier key? because that would be great (and change windows key/alt+esc, as those kick me out often mid fight lol. Oh yeah, Num lock as well, since I use the num pad for all my abilities >.>; )

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

How do you change CAPs into a modifier key? because that would be great (and change windows key/alt+esc, as those kick me out often mid fight lol. Oh yeah, Num lock as well, since I use the num pad for all my abilities >.>; )

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I just googled it a year back or so. I think I used a program called Smartkeys or whatnot? I forget; I didn't bother to keep the app after using (it adjusts the registry and creates a backup save file that the same or similar programs can quickly pick up to revert to, or can be reverted through windows itself, so the effects don't require the program to be running, but neither is there any real element of risk). Should be able to change any key to whatever, just know that not all programs recognize the function key or differentiate between left and right alts.

Funny. I dont use the mouse. At all. And never had any problems moving the camera to look around with only the key board. :)

With the amount of skills we have on our classes, both PvE and PvP, I cant imagine myself playing with only one hand on the keyboard!

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Originally Posted by Lilyth

Funny. I dont use the mouse. At all. And never had any problems moving the camera to look around with only the key board. :)

With the amount of skills we have on our classes, both PvE and PvP, I cant imagine myself playing with only one hand on the keyboard!

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Could you please explain how you move the camera without the mouse? What keys do you use?

I use the mouse to click on buffs and click through my opener since I don't have to move for it. I have my most used skills from 1 to 5, AoEs on 7-8 and any positional/situational/skills with longer cool down or proc skills are actually big and floating around the mid screen so I can click on them mid-combat without wasting time or sacrificing movement. It's not all that pretty but it works for me.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

Would have to let go of the mouse to do that, that would be dangerous in any scenario where you need to dodge, don't see a way to quickly control your character without the mouse.

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Can you not lift up your hand and move it to the other side of keyboard and press the other control/shift? Your other hand can still stay on the mouse.

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Originally Posted by FinaSel

Could you please explain how you move the camera without the mouse? What keys do you use?

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When I'm playing with the standard movement controls I move the camera with either "A" and "D" (which turns your character as well) or I use the arrow keys with my right hand. If I need to quickly see behind, I press "V" which reverses the camera.

This way I keep my left hand all the time at "ASDW", mostly for movement and a couple of skills on 1 2 3 and 4, and my right hand stays over the right number pad where I keep pretty much all of my actions.

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Originally Posted by FinaSel

Could you please explain how you move the camera without the mouse? What keys do you use?

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While not her, I have all my abilities on the num pad.
My Thumb is resting over the arrow keys, and So I press them to look around.
Mouse targets I use a macro to target my current target.
Q and E are my target left to right, and R and F are my target up to down.

Essentially im trying to mimic a controller on my keyboard.

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Originally Posted by Masekase_Hurricane

Can you not lift up your hand and move it to the other side of keyboard and press the other control/shift? Your other hand can still stay on the mouse.

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I don't remember what an English keyboard looks like, but the Japanese one has a lot several more keys in the top row and bottom row.
The Ctrl key is quite far from the number keys.

If I move my hand to reach the control key on the other side, the only keys I can comfortably reach are 0 and 9, and it's quite awkward.
Not to mention the size of the Ctrl keys are smaller, and the right shift key is also very small.

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Originally Posted by Lilyth

When I'm playing with the standard movement controls I move the camera with either "A" and "D" (which turns your character as well) or I use the arrow keys with my right hand. If I need to quickly see behind, I press "V" which reverses the camera.

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I see. The arrow keys move the camera as well. It will take some getting used to, but I will test it out.

The number pad keys though seem to have several functions, none of which I've ever used. Are they important? Can I safely remove / change them? Or do I need to reassign those keys somewhere else.
Now I can see how it is possible to control the camera without a mouse.

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Originally Posted by Claire_Pendragon

Q and E are my target left to right, and R and F are my target up to down.

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That's interesting. I've been using Tab or the mouse to select targets (Or a keybind for "target target's target" so I can always target the tank's target or the tank.)

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Originally Posted by FinaSel

I see. The arrow keys move the camera as well. It will take some getting used to, but I will test it out.

The number pad keys though seem to have several functions, none of which I've ever used. Are they important? Can I safely remove / change them? Or do I need to reassign those keys somewhere else.
Now I can see how it is possible to control the camera without a mouse.

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I never really seemed to miss any of those functions. Also don't worry about reassigning any important keys, you can always click "default" to revert them back to their original positions. The only functions the game makes sure you need to have assigned somewhere are "confirm", "cancel" and "escape". But the system always tells you that if you mistakenly erase them.

The advantages (for me) of using the right number pad is that it gives you soooo much available keys, all close to each other for easy access (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 / * - + . , ENTER). After they are all taken out, you can use some modifiers such as "ctrl", "alt" and "shift" to effectly quadruple the amount of available keys. It takes a little while to get used to, but the recent ability bloat issue hasn't affected me too much. I've barely started to use my second modifier (alt) and I already have all my skills mapped out, includind PvP and pet ones.

But I still rather SE don't give us even more abilities in 4.0 because even with so many keys, it can be a pain to map and keep track of all of them x_x

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Originally Posted by Masekase_Hurricane

Can you not lift up your hand and move it to the other side of keyboard and press the other control/shift? Your other hand can still stay on the mouse.

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You should never move your hand away from movement, even a second or so is going to matter in a situation were you might be targetted by an AoE so moving your hand away from the movement keys is detrimental.

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Originally Posted by Lilyth

Funny. I dont use the mouse. At all. And never had any problems moving the camera to look around with only the key board. :)

With the amount of skills we have on our classes, both PvE and PvP, I cant imagine myself playing with only one hand on the keyboard!

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I can see this work if you play like with a controller.
But from what you've written below, you only use WASD and arrow keys for movement, how do you strafe and run backwards, if you use the standard movement you'll backpedel and strafe is bound to Q and E if you don't use your mouse?

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Originally Posted by Krindor

But from what you've written below, you only use WASD and arrow keys for movement, how do you strafe and run backwards, if you use the standard movement you'll backpedel and strafe is bound to Q and E if you don't use your mouse?

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Yeah, when I use standard controls, I do strafe with Q and E. To move backwards I strafe too, except I turn my character a little bit so that I move backwards.

I say "when I play with standard" because I use both legacy and standard controls depending on the class I'm playing with. MNK for example I use standard, while I prefer legacy for BLM.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

You should never move your hand away from movement, even a second or so is going to matter in a situation were you might be targetted by an AoE so moving your hand away from the movement keys is detrimental.

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This isn't a problem if both hands have movement keys available. While this reduces the keys available for other functions, it's worth it as movement is by far the most important action.

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Originally Posted by Krindor

how do you strafe and run backwards, if you use the standard movement you'll backpedel and strafe is bound to Q and E if you don't use your mouse?

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Originally Posted by Lilyth

Yeah, when I use standard controls, I do strafe with Q and E. To move backwards I strafe too, except I turn my character a little bit so that I move backwards.

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Using legacy movement, consider the following keybinds.

Code:

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Move Forward              :  W  |  UpArrow
Move Back / Walk Backwards :  S  |  DownArrow
Move Left / Turn Left      :  Q  |  LeftArrow
Move Right / Turn Right    :  E  |  RightArrow
Strafe Left                : [NO BINDS]
Strafe Right              : [NO BINDS]
...
Point Camera to the Left  : A
Point Camera to the Right  : D

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If you eschew the strafe keys altogether, dodging in eight directions is far easier and doesn't require moving the camera. There will be a slight arc to left and right movement but there will no longer be possibility of back pedalling.

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Originally Posted by Lilyth

I say "when I play with standard" because I use both legacy and standard controls depending on the class I'm playing with. MNK for example I use standard, while I prefer legacy for BLM.

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I'm curious as to why you prefer standard at all if you use legacy some of the time. Have you tried fulltiming legacy and using the Lock Camera on Target (default Num5) to toggle a standard feel?

It's a bit of an adjustment, but consider using ESDF for movement rather than WASD. E::Up, S::left, D::Down, F::Right.

This gives me Q, A, Z, X, C, V, R, T, G, V, 1, 2, 3, 4 as keys I can hit very easily with Shift and Ctrl still close enough to use as modifier keys. Altogether that's 14 x 3, or 42 pretty easily accessible keys that don't require your right hand to ever leave the ESDF movement buttons.

Consider looking at and learning Auto-Hotkey as well to write up scripts that hold down the right mouse button for you (gives the game an FPS feel), and allow you to bind keys you normally wouldn't be able too like the mouse wheel. As an example, I use the mouse wheel to change my entire hotbar.

I guess people don't do hotbar switching anymore? Sometimes I feel like it's a skill that's been lost to the ages. It's basically driving manual instead of automatic.

There's no need to have unique keybinds for every hotkey, this is where all the 'skill bloat' issues are coming from, but it doesn't have to be that way. Just have one set of good keybinds and then duplicate them across every hotbar you have. "2" on my primary hotbar is Slug Shot for instance, but "2" on the shift-2 hotbar is Lead Shot. If I want Lead Shot, I hit shift-2 between GCDs to change what bar I'm on, and then use the same hotkey, except now I get a different skill. I can access 44 different skills with only 11 hotkeys, so much space that even 'optional' things that some people cheat and click on are bound (PvP abilities, potion, chocobo mounting/dismounting..).

Since you're only using one set of keybinds for everything, you can just use good binds and avoid having to use unwieldly 2-button combinations to activate abilities. By manually switching bars, you're basically moving the extra work to the unused down time in-between GCDs instead. I dislike 2-button combinations for activating skills in general. What if you need to jump at the same time you use that skill? Or strafe? Or both? It's restrictive and locks you out of options in combat.

There's really no downside; It does require you to have more APM, since you'll be switching between your bars as needed between GCDS; but for all the people out there that love to complain the game is too easy, this should be really exciting for you then. I mean, you get to solve your 'skill bloat' issue and demonstrate you can use a more mechanically intensive control scheme at the same time, talk about a win/win situation!

Getting a mouse with more buttons is your best bet. Binding ctrl, shift on the mouse buttons (alt is bad due to alt tabbing ^^) makes it much easier to use the abilities than using the regular ctrl and shift.

I have a mouse with 5 additional buttons. Two at the top for ctrl and shift, and three on side for 7-9. That way I can activite 9 abilities on the mouse itself, which I mosty use for instant casts and buffs.

1-6 is easily reached on the keyboard, combined with the mod keys 18 abilities.

I also use F6-F8 for potions and stuff like stances. (Too much used to F1 self targeting)

Then there is the button ";" next to 1, that one is handy too and you can bind stuff there.

As there are many, many skills... I also binded skills to R, T, Y which can be again used with the mod keys giving you nice chunk of additional free binds.

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Originally Posted by Myon88

Since you're only using one set of keybinds for everything, you can just use good binds and avoid having to use unwieldly 2-button combinations to activate abilities. By manually switching bars, you're basically moving the extra work to the unused down time in-between GCDs instead. I dislike 2-button combinations for activating skills in general. What if you need to jump at the same time you use that skill? Or strafe? Or both? It's restrictive and locks you out of options in combat.

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This is definitely a clever idea to solving a situation were you don't have enough keybindings. But I disagree that it's in any way more restrictive in terms of handmovement. If we were to look at it. If we have 1 ability on shift 3. That's one press. But if we have an ability set on slot 1 hotbar 2(Shift 2) we then have to press Shift + 2 -> 1 -> Shift + 1 if we're going back to the earlier hotbar. That's 3 keypresses instead of one and pressing shift 2 times is worse than pressing it once if you need to move. If you're on a melee class you might be moving all the time for positionals, so the downtime is not unused and I would rather press one 2-button combination for the ability rather than 2 mid movement. When weaving in skills you would go 1 -> Shift+1 -> 2 if normal during one GCD. With hotbar switching it would be 1 -> Shift + 2 -> 1 -> Shift + 1 -> 2.

It's just a matter of getting used to the timing, and thinking one GCD ahead so when the time comes, you're 'already' on the correct hotbar and just press one key. The key difference for me is that the only time you're hitting shift+number to change hotbars in this scheme is during the downtime between GCDs when nothing is happening. Personally I prefer this to 2-button keybinds which force you to have fingers on 2 buttons at the moment the skill is being fired.

This goes for weaving ogcds too, even ogcds have their own shorter 'GCD', so if you're weaving but want to change hotbars in-between skills the same principle applies, you just need to do it faster.

Also, if you're smart about it you'll find you don't have to actually switch hotbars that often either. If you apply logic while binding skills and, for example, assign your main weaponskills to shift-1 (the easiest to reach bar), shift-2 for cooldowns, and the far away shift-4 for rarely used things like limit breaks - you'll find that you're only really switching bars at set points in your rotation, and not every GCD.

Another useful tip (that works for any control scheme) is to make good use of jumping. It lets you preserve momentum while in the air, so if there are situations that require you to move and execute awkward keyboard combinations at the same time - you can store your velocity for half a second while you do what you need to do in the air.

I am one of these weird player that uses f1 - f6, shift + q w e r t a s d f g z, 1 - 8, I hold down both mouse button to move.

I don't use QWE for abilities (non-modded) as I do still like to keep the turn-left/right buttons for those moments where you simply have to let go of the mouse but want to navigate on auto-run, however rare it may be (I drink copious amounts of tea while playing, typically with my mouse-hand while my left moves/turns).

Frequently Pressed Abilities:
Shift Mod + QWERT, ASDFG.

Infrequently Pressed Abilities:
CTRL Mod + QWE, ASD.

OMG PANIC MASH Abilities:
ZXCV (Unmodded)

Stances & Buffs:
ALT+1234

Mount & Companion:
SHIFT+1234

Consumables & Macros:
12345 (Sprint, Def, Nuke, Heal, Potion).

I use both hands on the keyboard and use strafe rather than the keyboard and practicing until I could get my hands to move as fast as they needed to be so I could do all of my rotations without fail while still maintaining my situational awareness of the arena as a whole and dodging telegraphs. Not sure if that would work for you OP.

You can macro some. Such examples are:

/macroicon "Dream Within a Dream"
/ac "Assassinate" <t>
/ac "Dream Within a Dream" <t>

/macroicon "Swiftcast"
/ac "Swiftcast" <me>
/ac "Raise" <t>

/macroicon "Fight or Flight"
/ac "Fight or Flight" <me>
/ac "Bloodbath" <me>

I'm against certain macros, like when tanks have all their defensive CDs under on macro. I use Hotbar 8 for these by Holding L2 then R2, and Holding R2 then L2.

Wow, thank you everyone for your advice. There is so much. So many things to try.

I am using the Q E and R keys now, combined with Shift and Control to give me 9 additional hotkeys.
I have used WSAD my whole life, so switching is maybe difficult for me.

I have considered hotbar switching. If the new Q E R keys don't work out, I will try it. I still have two more ninja abilities to aquire, so that might be easier.

I also am quite fond of using the mouse for camera controls and some movement.
The only problem with removing Q and E is my strafe keys are gone, but I can still do it with the mouse.

I sometimes forget they are gone though. So I need to get used to it.

Playing ninja is so different from WHM because with Ninja I need almost all of my skills all the time.
But with WHM, I either only need offensive or defensive at any one time, depending on my stance. And cooldowns on most skills are long enough that I don't need to access them every 30 seconds.

I need more practice with ninja. I need to do more dungeons, especially 50+.

I will use this thread as a reference to try future ideas.

You can place strafing on A/D and turn your character with the mouse. That's what I was used from every game with strafing so far ('movement' only on keyboard, direction of looking is done by mouse).

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Originally Posted by Neophyte

You can place strafing on A/D and turn your character with the mouse. That's what I was used from every game with strafing so far ('movement' only on keyboard, direction of looking is done by mouse).

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I don't recall how it is in other games but here you don't even need to bind A and D to strafe, you just need to hold right mouse button down and you'll strafe with A and D.

Since you mentioned potentially getting a controller, I'll quote myself from an older thread...

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Originally Posted by Darkstride

Use the expanded controls (L2 + R2 and R2 + L2) on the cross-hotbar. I play on PC, but use a controller and am able to fit every ability, including a Potion on my Hotbar without issue. I have Shukuchi macro'd to R3 for quick and easy use. I do have Venoms on a separate bar only because there is little need to stance-dance while in combat.

http://i.imgur.com/sEvWyIB.jpg


My main combo abilities are all used with R2. I hold L2 if I want to combo into Shadow Fang or Dancing Edge. I have the 2 vertical hotbars on the left just so that I can see certain cooldowns at all times (and when Assassinate lights up).

Hot bar setups will be different for everyone, since it really needs to fit to your comfort and play style, but I'm simply showing this as an example that you can have every ability available for use. There isn't a need to sacrifice an ability (such as Jugulate, in your previous post).

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I uploaded an image of my keyboard, lighting up bottoms for easier recognition just for this thread xP

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...nd%20setup.jpg

Red = movement (W and R strafing, E walking forward)
Green = regular used skills
Dark blue (bottom) = Defensive CD's
Purple = Less used or special CD's (they're slightly harder to reach, reactiontime thingie)
Yellow = modifiers or switches (Stances usually on F1-4, battlemode on/off on Z, and modifiers on Shift and Alt)

The main advantage here is it's a "natural" position of your hand. If you're used to typing blind, moving your hand 1 row to the left to constantly cover WASD is considered unnatural. Now your index finger is on the same row as F, the same row as when typing blind. It also frees up Q and A to be used for skill by your pink, and you pink will naturally rest on A to begin with. the Shift and Alt modifiers are close to your pink and thumb this way.

This setup comes from Taugrim's keybinding guide, have a look at it if you would like an as natural as possible setup that doesn't require advanced mouses and the like. Even though the guy used to be quite active in the competitive scene, he explains in a really rational and calm manner. It makes a lot of sense.

Good luck! ^^

Ps. pic works for me, let me know if it doesn't for any of you ^^;

Personally, I was never comfortable using WASD AND the mouse for movement. To my brain, using both hands to move seems inefficient. So I have an MMO mouse, and I have movement keys mapped onto the spare keys, rather than combat keys. That way I can do alllll my moving on my mouse, forward, backward, strafe, turn, and sprint. I also include my mount in there for non-combat. That means all my movement is normally controlled with my left hand, leaving my right to operate hotkeys for combat. To my head, that made much more logical sense than trying to teach my brain WASD movement after gaming for more than a decade without using it.

I use both, keyboard and mouse, to both, moving and skills. That is, I have skills I frequently need to use in succes in keyboard. Pretty much everything that needs to be used between (except ninja mudras) I use with mouse. It might seem inefficient at first but that actually let's me use two hands somewhat interchangeably to use in most situations giving room for multitasking regarding the situation. Once learning to use the one thats optimal at the moment it becomes rather efficient.

Woah so many different play styles. What a great thread.

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Originally Posted by Rongway

Using legacy movement, consider the following keybinds.

Code:

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Move Forward              :  W  |  UpArrow
Move Back / Walk Backwards :  S  |  DownArrow
Move Left / Turn Left      :  Q  |  LeftArrow
Move Right / Turn Right    :  E  |  RightArrow
Strafe Left                : [NO BINDS]
Strafe Right              : [NO BINDS]
...
Point Camera to the Left  : A
Point Camera to the Right  : D

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If you eschew the strafe keys altogether, dodging in eight directions is far easier and doesn't require moving the camera. There will be a slight arc to left and right movement but there will no longer be possibility of back pedalling.

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That was so interesting to try out! It was like a mix of both legacy and standard. That said and after having playing with it a bit, I still favor standard for my MNK (more on that below)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rongway

I'm curious as to why you prefer standard at all if you use legacy some of the time. Have you tried fulltiming legacy and using the Lock Camera on Target (default Num5) to toggle a standard feel?

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I don't really know but it feels I have much more control over my camera and my character while on standard. The fights just feels better overall and my DPS was never an issue nor is dodging AoEs while keeping an eye on whats going on around. Oh and I'm not really a fan of locking on, it tunnels your vision way too much for my taste. ^^