Playing an MMO with a controller

[Ayrie]

I played for a long time on KB+Mouse until Titan Hard was clobbering faces for a very long time, with a little support from Twintania. Once I crossed those two I realized quick movement and reaction was something that this game absolutely required and that's when I tried a controller. Once I made the swap it was so hard to swap back, as movement on the keyboard and mouse just seemed clunky and difficult (try auto-facing when using a skill on the KB vs controller, especially as a bard or tank on the move).

Only downfall I've noticed is immediately available actions. With ctrl+alt and 1 thru = on the keyboard you have almost 40 abilities on demand. That's a lot of bumping r1 to swap tabs right quick. I did go out and get a razer tartarus to help extend my access to keys and that has been a dream. When I want to dps as a healer now I can easily use the keys on the tartarus to click on cleric stance and sling my spells, then bump cleric stance off and go back to the controller for my heals and movement.

It has seriously increased my a game.

Edit: also, having a single vertical bar to track things like cooldowns and a macro with them all on it (no wait) has been great for me, too. Especially as a bard with 6 dps cooldowns or whatever. I hit the button 6 times to fire them all, or hit it once if I know one is off cooldown and ready to fire (looking at you, internal release). Pretty nifty. Macros definitely help the controller, too. Mashing Straight Shot + Bloodletter + Misery's End into one button helps me get the most out of the crossbar while not sacrificing critical abilities on demand.