Breakfast topic: Clicking vs hotkeys
by Amanda Dean 
Feb 13th 2008 at 8:00AM
If you've never done arenas via LAN, you really might want to try it. Of course it's much easier to communicate when you're speaking to someone right next to you and can see their screen to get a different perspective on the battle. You can also learn fascinating information about their AddOns and how they interface with the game.
I had a friend come over to play and was absolutely shocked when I saw him clicking away at his spells and abilities instead of using hotkeys. When I first started playing WoW, my mentor would swat at my hand with a wooden ruler every time I clicked where I should have mashed. (Ok, it was actually just a stern glare- no ruler.) I spent several hours with my fledgling Priest killing Scarlet Warriors and learning the motions for keyboard controls. I quickly learned that Q, W, E, A, S and D are the most valuable real estate on the keyboard. Since fractions of seconds can be critical, it takes a relatively long time to move around the screen with a mouse.
I made numerous mistakes in those early days, but I would never go back to clicking. I have almost every key mapped now and try to keep spells with similar effects consistently mapped across my characters. I can't imagine healing an instance or an arena by clicking. It took another training session to learn to control my Hunter's Dragonhawk with hotkeys, but now it's pretty natural- even habitual.
How do you interact? Do you click or key?
Filed under: Tips, Tricks, Breakfast topics, Classes, Arena
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
kevan Feb 13th 2008 8:38AM
definitely use the keys! It's just....easier! I can control my character and use spells/abilities at the same time - no substitute for that!
Sefen Feb 13th 2008 8:39AM
I do a hybrid of both. I go into the key bindings and map key combinations (i.e. Shift+Mouse1, Crtl + Mouse2). I found that this is incredibly useful in a time crunch.
I get a total of 6 different spells or a abilities I can quickly activate using solely Crtl, Shift and my Mouse buttons. I then have other not as critical spells mapped with different combos such as Shift + V or Shift + F.
**Note: Having Shield Bash or Kick mapped to a mouse button is freaking amazing.
~Sefen
Luclan Feb 13th 2008 9:03AM
@9
Little reason? In pvp seconds matter, and when you have a warrior barreling down on you (I'm a mage) I dont have time to drag my mouse down from wherever it is and click blink. Instead I have it bound to the ` button (just below esc) for quick access.
I use hotkeys on everything except buffs which I saw unfit for hotkeys since I've never before thought "OH #$%^ here comes the druid, quick cast arcane intellect!!!". But every spell that I could need is hotkeyed and most have some kind of macro. (stop spellcasts and target focus and such)
Neil T. Feb 13th 2008 8:42AM
Bit of both. I use the mouse to target people in raids and the keyboard to cast healing spells (so right-hand on mouse, left-hand on hotkeys). Most common spells are on my main action bar and are mapped 1234567890-= - everything else is on other action bars. In parties I use the F1-5 keys for targeting party members and almost never use the mouse.
My girlfriend is totally different - she just uses the mouse, but she's a mage so she doesn't tend to cast lots of spells in quick succession.
Gearov Feb 13th 2008 12:33PM
I am a fast mouser. By that, I mean a -bloody fast- mouser. The keyboard is used for movement only - but not for turning, I still use the mouse for that.
I do not have troubles keeping up with rapid changes in BGs or in instance/raids. I don't know why the keybinders view the mousers with such disdain, or why that's a big deal to anyone. So long as I'm pulling my own weight and performing nominally, what's the big deal?
LostOne Feb 13th 2008 8:51AM
I do a bit of both...but try to avoid the mouse because I play on a laptop with a touchpad mouse, which annoys me. (Where I usually play doesn't have space for a USB mouse).
One of the things I hate as far as hotkeys goes is the warrior stances, paladin auras, druid shapeshifting. ctrl + function keys is a horrible default setting and I'm not sure if those are changable (however I keep forgetting to check the key bindings settings, it's been a long time since I've played any of those classes, partially because of those bad default hotkeys).
Asswipe Johnson Feb 13th 2008 9:14AM
I do both. I only key for the abilities I have bound to 1-= on the main bar. I keep all my main tanking abilities there and the rest on the floating action bars, which I click when I need to because I've never bothered to key-bind any of them.
Decalin Feb 13th 2008 8:59AM
Don't worry, they are very changeable. I have mine bound to my numpad numbers.
sparkinator2tuf Feb 13th 2008 8:53AM
I have a logitec g15 (the one with 18 special keys) and its great. Movement is mapped to two middle buttons, mouse to turn, and all the other keys are mapped to spells/abilities. Takes a while to get used to it, but once you do everything is literally right at your fingertips.
So, I click to target, hotkey for spells/abilities, and click icons for cooking, alchemy, etc, things that don't need to be done in battle.
Dipstick Feb 13th 2008 8:52AM
I've been a healer most of my WoW life, and I've grown accustomed to moving with the keyboard whilst using my mouse to heal (healbot/grid-clique) - since this IS the most effective way of doing so.
Unfortunately that also means I'm kinda used to it, and with other characters I often resort to clicking unless I'm spamming one or two buttons (e.g. I use hotkeys for shadowbolt, shadowburn, drain soul and wand to allow for quicker reactions).
ThorinII Feb 13th 2008 8:59AM
I do both. Have several keys mapped for different toons, especially interupts, pots, and quick heals. I use them a lot more in PvP tha PvE. I usually have a lot more time to react and can predict what's coming more in PvE, so I find I use the mouse more then.
alex965 Feb 13th 2008 9:02AM
i click i only use the hot keys to move
toots Feb 13th 2008 9:09AM
@ 10 - Have I tried clicking a counterspell? Sure, doing it all the time. I just wouldn't know why I'd have my mouse at the other end of the screen.
toots Feb 13th 2008 9:25AM
23: really, why would your mouse be up somewhere, ways away from your action-buttons?
Tib Feb 13th 2008 9:25AM
I'm left handed so use the cursor keys to move and the mouse to click - otherwise all those hotkeys are too far away.
kuett Feb 13th 2008 9:27AM
u click. u fail
whatsoever dont disagree because this is the sad truth
anyway.. i cant understand whats so hard in pressing the keyboards' button, i mean i never clicked and i dont know what is that... clicking
my entire life i have been using the keyboard in all sorts of games , including wow, warcraft , starcraft etc.
dfscott Feb 13th 2008 11:11AM
So you use tab to target and then mash a button? Sounds slower to me. I use mouse buttons to target and cast if I'm healing. If I'm offensive, I target with the mouse and then use keybindings for my abilities.
All these people speaking in absolutes kill me. IMO, a hybrid approach is best: the mouse for turning and targeting, keys for firing off abilities and stopping/starting.
Cat Feb 13th 2008 12:03PM
Because for some people, their keyboard layout just isn't optimal. I, for one, have no numberpad, and it takes two hands to play the numbers, and I'm not hardcore enough into it to remap everything. I did that for D2X, I'm not doing it for WoW.
Then again, I am a paladin. /shrug
Flashbomba Feb 13th 2008 9:28AM
I use hotkeys for most stuff, except to position AoE spells like Freeze, Blizzard and Flamestrike.
Got hotkeys for most spells, pet spells/actions, assigning raid targets, conjuring food/water and drinking/eating, etc.
For most spell I use the numbers 1-0 and the 2 keys to the right of 0. I use them either alone or in combination with shift or ctrl. Pet actions are assigned to other keys.
But - as I'm a mage, its also fairly easy to only use a keyboard... ;-)
http://www.25pixels.com/wowvideos/keyboard-mages.jpg
D. Tyler Feb 13th 2008 9:29AM
i have a nostromo n52 (for those that dont know its a small 14 key keyboard that kinda fits in the hand) so, along with having my spells that i have mapped to it in an arrangement on my screen (in case i forget....since i have altoholicism) i have other lesser used spells on other bars which i will click. when playing as a healer i click unitframes and use the n52 clicking worked for me beforehand though...but i did notice a change in speed after i got used to the nostromo