Keybinding

[anacreon]

The buttons I use for my Jugg Warrior are 1,2,3,4,5,6 and even 7 (for out of combat health regen). 1-5 all have shift modifiers for other abilities. I also use `, q,e,r,t,h,g,v,b,c,x,z,a,f,d and all these too have shift modifiers (including a couple with ctrl modifiers). All in all I have roughly 40 key binds (as you may have noticed I only move with w and s on the keyboard, I have strafes bound to two of my mouse buttons) .

My keybinds are intuitive, in that I couple similar abilities with each other. For example, smash and sweeping strikes are C/shift c respectively (both aoe abilities). My taunt is T and my aoe taunt is shift T. Charge is v, force push shift v (both are distancers). My trinkets are x and shift x. And so on and so forth. Also, I try to relegate abilities I don't use much to harder to get to keybinds. For example, shift z is the hilt smash ability (I forget its exact name). Finally, almost all my 'oh shit buttons' use a shift modifier since I don't want to accidentally use them.

[Necodreus]

I had been wasd for a long time, but went esdf for this game to have access to more buttons as a 50 vanguard its amazing the amount you need to use. After a month its finally starting to get easy with my hand finally naturally going to esdf instead of wasd.

I use wqazxrtgvc +shift, and my naga mouse 1234567890-= +shifts and tab. this gives me 11+12=23*2=46 buttons that dont require me to cramp my hand and dont need alt or control. sf are rebinded to strafe as well, q is my switch targets, tab my use med packs. Im still gettibg used to my mouse 3/wheel/and 2 extra buttons on the mouse which is 4 to 8 more buttons? so i like this very much so far. All area attacks on shift all normal attacks on numbers. All instants, cc's, and trinkets on letters around my esdf. Im still trying to find a way to make it natural between all toons. Not there yet but slowly getting there

[theothersteve7]

Finally bought a Naga. Between that and my old FPS-optimized keyboard, I'm pretty well set up now. It's all about the mouse buttons.

I'm ending a month-long hiatus and rejoining the game this week. On a related note, I will have fully beaten Skyrim tonight; I have about four quests to go.

[Marek]

(02-29-2012 04:18 AM)theothersteve7 Wrote:  Finally bought a Naga.

Nice. I upgraded to a G700 last August and absolutely love it. I'm using shift and control modifiers on almost every key, which gives me 21 binds on the mouse alone right now.

How is the keypad on the Naga?

[Necodreus]

The manual for naga says takes about 18 hrs to get used to it. after making my priority attack macro on number 5 to spam putting my thumb in the middle of mouse took like 5 hrs to have it feel natual. moving to esdf was alot harder lol.

Using just keyboard had only 1 - 5 easily pressed. With my thumb in the middle of the keypad on mouse thats 1 - 9 easily hit. Plus hitting both mouse buttons to move and my thumb attacking can eat drink and whatever with left. Its great Highly recommend it.

[Godzillamax]

Great advice in this thread!

[Khal'Drogo]

I’ve taken a modified approach based around the way I strike keys when I’m typing. My left hand is in the home position. I’ve removed my walk forward key and just use my mouse. I have autorun hot keyed as well. I’ve also moved my jump key to my mouse wheel (I click it). I use A and F as my left and right strafe, and use the spacebar for backward movement. So my main keys for abilities are:

QWERT

SDG

ZXCVB

123456

I have my Shift key bound with all the “letter” keys above. I like the Shift key over the Ctrl and Alt keys because it’s bigger and I find the range of motion easier for me. I have a Razor Naga mouse as well (see attachment). It gives me an additional 12 keys.

So in total I have 47 keys (including mouse) at my disposal. I’ve found this more than enough and not a huge adjustment for me.

[Thergood]

As someone had previously mentioned Taugrim's Keybinding Guide is pretty good. I don't follow it exactly, but it was a big help in settling on my final keybinds for this game. FYI - I still have forward and backward bound. I can't get down the strafe only stuff.

My best advice -

1. Keep it as simple as possible (especially if you're new to binding)

Use as little modifiers as possible. Stay away from shift/ctrl/alt or any combination of them if you can. It's probably impossible in SWTOR to get rid of them completely, but you can use them wisely.

If you are running out of convenient binds then make sure you're not binding stuff that is not necessary to bind. Your class buff, sprint, or stims are good examples. These don't need to be hit in the heat of battle, don't bind them if you're limited on binds.

2. Keep it consistent

I have a level 50 Vanguard, a level 50 Sentinel and four other sub 50 alts. I try and keep as many keybinds consistent between them as possible.

Abilities like CC breakers, CC's, finishers, gap closers, AoE's, resource generators, and defensive CD's can and should all be bound to the same keys between classes and even between games.

My Binds -

Movement:

WASD with AD being strafe instead of turn.

Top Center Bar:
Q | E | R | T | Y | Z | X | C | V | B | - | =

- and = are pretty much not bound. I use them for things like pass in huttball, etc. I find it difficult to monitor cooldowns in those positions anyway.

Bottom Center Bar:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | F | G | H | J

Left Bar:
Shift + 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | - | =

I really only use Shift + 1/2/3/4/5 as actual binds. The rest are used for my G15 buff macro, calling my mount which is bound to a mouse button, etc.

Right Bar:

My right bar has no binds and is used for all the stuff that doesn't really need a bind. My class buff, my Rakata stim, Sprint, and some rarely used stuff like my heroic moment buff and other PvE only skills (I'm a PvPer)

[Khal'Drogo]

(03-02-2012 02:39 AM)Thergood Wrote:  2. Keep it consistent

I have a level 50 Vanguard, a level 50 Sentinel and four other sub 50 alts. I try and keep as many keybinds consistent between them as possible.

Abilities like CC breakers, CC's, finishers, gap closers, AoE's, resource generators, and defensive CD's can and should all be bound to the same keys between classes and even between games.

Great point. This is very helpful if you play lots of alts.

[Malal]

I have seen a lot of people say its a good idea to replace the turn left and right buttons with strafe. Is this really that good of an idea? I have become hugely used to using the right click in conjunction with the keyboard turn to strafe.

Its what I am comfortable with but would making this change improve my gaming?


Edit

I am also surprised to hear that people don't use the lower keys. I use the E/S/F setup for movement. Am I the only person who binds C, V, B, N? Pointer finger can get C and V and thumb grabs B and N. I've done this for years and after reading this thread I feel pretty inovative lol.