Terminally Online
This is Terminally Online: PC Gamer’s very own MMO column. Every other week, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the genre, interviewing fellow MMO-heads like me, taking a deep-dive into mechanics we’ve all taken for granted, and, occasionally, bringing in guest writers to talk about their MMO of choice.
Every MMO player’s keybinding setup is different, like a snowflake. One boon of the genre is that we can customise our inputs to our heart’s content, and no one answer is wrong. Want to use an MMO mouse? Godspeed. Want to bind your gap closers to the right bracket? Why not! Want to move around with T, F, G, and H? I think you’re probably some kind of pervert, but go ahead. Chase your bliss.
Only, I think we all need to reckon with something—that we are not as peaceful in private as we are in public. I know you’ve seen glimpses of your friend’s UI and gone, internally, ‘what is wrong with you?’ Inside of our tiny hearts, we indulge our capacity for judgement more than any of us would like to admit.
Thus do I call upon you to, for the duration of this article (and some civil debates in the comments, please) state your case and claim. Each of our setups is different, yes—but you’re special, you’re unique. You know the truth that your keybindings are the most objectively correct ones. The most efficient, the most professional. Also, using them probably makes you a better person.
Here, I’ll start: I think MMO mouses are goddamn over-hyped. The mouse is designed for looking and movement, not inputs, beyond the bog standard M3 and M4s most mice come with nowadays. The avarice of a glorified pointer with twenty customisable and macro-ready buttons on it sickens me: And what if your mouse breaks? Are you not left bereft, drifting in the wind? What if they don’t make your mouse anymore?
At the very least, every WASD keyboard is the same. My setup—which again, is objectively the best one—allows me to perform on any gear, from cheap-as-chips slabs with faded lettering to the most professionally clacky mechanical keyboard.
As for what bindings I use, I am a scholar of the old ways. I wield the numbers 1-5, alongside the letters Q, E, R, F, and if I’m feeling a little heretical, M3 and M4. This gives me eleven buttons to press—which I then, elegantly (and a little sexily) augment with Ctrl and Shift for a grand, glorious total of 33 potential keybindings. This is more than enough for most MMO classes in your standard tab-target fayre.
If you follow this holy path, I welcome thee—I do have some other commandments you’ll need to follow, which are not at all hyper-specific:
- Anything bound to E, Shift + E, or Ctrl + E shalt be a healing spell or defensive cooldown.
- If thine hotbar space runs short, thou may extendeth this to thine R keybindings, too.
- Q must be reserved for offensive cooldowns, lest your heart goeth astray.
- F is for gap-closers and teleports, though one may partake of offensive cooldowns shouldst thine game demandeth.
- One’s most-used abilities should remaineth upon unmodified keybindings—Shift shalt be used for higher-cooldown abilities, whilst Ctrl may be reliably called upon for thine long cooldowns.
- If thine fancy takes you, V and T may be called upon for additional cooldowns; but know that such avarice places sin within thine heart.
- If you’ve got something that targets the ground or whatever, M3 and M4 is good. Your hand’s already in the neighbourhood. I’m not your mum.
Already, I’m sure some amongst you are prepared to tell me how wrong I am. Good, good! Let your conviction stir in your chest. Go ahead and comment with your setup, and make your case for why it makes you inherently superior to everybody else. Just—make sure to be nice about it. I’ll turn this raid group around if I see any slap-fighting.
Read the full article here
