Huntercad470

I started this on another topic about too many abilities and, while writing, I went into a completely different direction. There were several folks commenting on the various forms of hardware that are available and their individual access to what was available. a few were in a posiition of not being able to get advanced mice or keyboards and are stuck using a standard board/mouse to play and that keymapping vs ability glut made things very difficult for them. So, in teh course of me wanting to impart things i have figured out through many years of gaming in different genres, it became less on topic and more of a post that garnered its own thread. Overall, there are ways, regardless of you keyboard/mouse, that keymapping can not only enable you more use of your toons abilities, but may enable you to do less clicking.
as you can tell, this is a wall of text. please refrain from stating such.
to start:
i use the Razer Ansi keyboard with a logitech M570 trackball mouse.
the keyboard has six thumb buttons under the space bar and is fully programmable. The mouse has the standard L/R+scroll wheel as well as two other buttons usable with your index finger. Because of this, i can map every available Ability Bay location to fit my needs without having to move my left hand off my base row in any one direction that would cause issues.
NOTE: my movement keys are set to ASDF (i call it my base row) while ALL my abilities use QWERT ZXCVB GH and top row number keys. I have also remapped my numKeypad and a few other keys for utilitarian purposes.
With that said, I honestly have no idea what i did before i got that Ansi keyboard...i think i have blocked it out of my mind, but if you are going to do gaming as an extended hobby then investing in a good keyboard that will allow you to fully map your keys is a must. And i say extended hobby because many folks that game play other games as well. if this is something you do on occasion, then working within the confines of a standard keyboard is very possible. Let me explain.
Before i jumped into MMOs, I played mostly RTS games. In fact, i think i was an exclusive RTS non online RPG gamer for a long while (dating to the atari2600). I had dabbled in other genres but I had difficulty in using the WASD movement method. Couple that with a dailup internet connection and i had little enjoyment. I did try, admittedly, playing some MMOs before Y2K, but they just didn't really work very well for me so i jumped back to RTS games.
In 1999 i finally was able to get cable internet and, since i was familiar with a couple other Sony games, found myself playing Infantry. Unlike some other games, this one was pure keyboard (imho) so i spent a lot of time working on mapping my keyboard to enable me to do well. While i had starting using one Logitech's first trackballs (thumb) i didnt really apply outside of standard computing and working with graphics.
When Jedi Knight: Academy came out I had become such a mouse nub in gaming it took me a week or more to actually get used to using my trackball outside of an RTS/Graphics environment. however, the fact that the game allowed me to remap movement/ability keys AND coupled with the ease of the trackball i fell into a world of bliss. Next came SWG, then WoW, then SWtOR. I had developed a specific keymap set (see above) that i used for all of them.
Up until i got the Ansi, though, I had to get a little creative on how i set things up. with WoW I didnt have hte Ansi nor the two extra buttons on the mouse so i actually mapped my keys where i could switch my left hand from ASDF to JKL; and then doubled my range of abilities while still keeping my movement keys relatively the same. At one point, i began experimenting with using the NumPad as my 'shift+alt' options as well as using all 12 PF keys. the NumPad was easily accessible via my right hand and i had the -, +, <enter> keys to set allow me to also use them like others use the left shift and alt keys.
when Logitech introduced the M570 with the additional two buttons as well as the scroll wheel now becoming another button i was able to simplify things down further by using them to replace some of my more complex combos. I have a limitation that disables my ability to use a standard mouse (gaming or not) for games like this. My son and daughter both use the Razer Naga Chroma and i do admit that it is a nice mouse and i am thinking about trying out the razer Naga Hex and seeing if that can work better for me.
Not to sound one sided, though, Logitech and several other peripheral companies have all jumped into the arena in regards to multi-function boards and mice. I am just not very familiar with them (admittedly, i also focus mostly on ASUS and nVidia products as well).
Overall, be creative in how use keymaps in regards to your current hardware. there is a lot of potential combos right at your fingertips that just take a little practice to use and employ and could greatly enhance your gaming. And, investing in a different keyboard and/or mouse can not only add to what you have developed, but enable you to create combos that may, if this can even be said, put you on a level near that of the great SirCopperfield.
In the end, it doesnt really matter how many abilities are slots you have available, you can use any level of keyboard/mouse + keymapping to elevate your game play where the only limitation you have is your creativity.
TL;DR
I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for answers, I can tell you I don't have them all, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for some people. If you let yourself open to new ideas, then you may find some answers and a new direction.. If not, go now and that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you, but if you don't and become overly critical, I will look for you, I will find you and I will own you.