Post your keyboard changes!

[Ico]

I've always been a weirdo when it comes to keybinds. 

 

I use the arrow keys to move, numpad 0 to target next enemy, numpad . to target the next enemy. Then I use numpad 1-9 for main toolbar 1-9. Then numpad Enter for main toobar 10, + for second toolbar 1, - for second 2, * for second 3.  For the rest of the second toolbar I use the page up, page down, insert, etc keygroup.

 

I shove my keyboard over to the left so that the arrow keys are under my left hand.

 

That's pretty much the only way I was able to hit the keys without looking decades ago and I just got used to playing that way.

[RikOz]

Okay, I'm puzzled by the people saying the default movement keys are WASD. On my install, both Homecoming and back on live, Q is "Turn Left" and E is "Turn Right", with A & D being the Strafe keys. I remember liking CoH's default setup so much that, after sunset when I went back to WoW, I changed my WoW settings to match.

 

Anyway, the main keybind change I've made is rebinding the "Previous Tray" and "Next Tray" to the Numpad - & + keys. Because they're out of the way over there. When "Previous Tray" was bound by default to the "-" key next to the top-row zero, I kept accidentally tapping it because I have my travel power bound to "0", so my main power tray kept flipping from 1 to 9.

 

Though I would prefer to be able to simply unbind those functions altogether.

[Twisted Toon]

If I'm not mistaken /bind [key] "" should do the trick for you. I seem to recall that working at least. haven't tried it out recently.

[PopeUrban]

I am simultaneously horrified and impressed by the contents of this thread.

 

My only thing is rebinding stuff to utilize my mouse thumb buttons I have a big button which is bound to P, and that's rebound to jumping so I can single handed run and jump while I have a drink in my other hand. I also keep ctrl and alt on my mouse thumb and my trays tend to look like 1 2 3 4 5 R ctrl1 ctrl2 ctrl3 ctrl4 ctrl5 ctrlr and then alt 123 and so on.

 

This puts my tray setup with east access to about 15 keys without straying from WASD which is more than enough for most builds in most games.

Edited September 20, 2019 by PopeUrban

[Elvenheart]

For traveling, I bind Fly and Hover both to F which makes it a toggle between the two, and I use a bind for G right next to F that toggles off either Fly and Hover, whichever one is active (G for “Ground”) 🙂

 

I also bind autorun to mouse button 4 in all my games so it’s a very ingrained habit to use that now.

 

Using F and G in this way is relatively new for me, and sometimes I forget because I used to use F to just turn fly off and on. I may try what an earlier poster does and it’s F for fly only and G for Hover and see if I like that better.

[biostem]

22 hours ago, RikOz said:

Okay, I'm puzzled by the people saying the default movement keys are WASD. On my install, both Homecoming and back on live, Q is "Turn Left" and E is "Turn Right", with A & D being the Strafe keys. I remember liking CoH's default setup so much that, after sunset when I went back to WoW, I changed my WoW settings to match.

Well, I'd imagine since most people use the mouse to actually look around/turn, having A and D be the strafe keys is probably more useful as the "default".

[RikOz]

On 9/20/2019 at 1:28 PM, biostem said:

Well, I'd imagine since most people use the mouse to actually look around/turn, having A and D be the strafe keys is probably more useful as the "default".

True enough. I generally only use the Turn L/R keys when I take my hand off the mouse to drink from my bottle of water and I don't want to stop moving. Keyboard turning otherwise doesn't have much use in this game, but in WoW there were places - like the overabundance of spiral staircases/ramps that force you to effectively run in a circle - were a lot easier if I used a combination of keys and mouse.

 

Strafe keys ... I've never used them. Strafing looks to me like a holdover from FPS games. Back in WoW I'd see people who weren't even in combat, they were just running around in a city, and they're strafing instead of turning, and it just looked bizarre to me.

[Redlynne]

12 minutes ago, RikOz said:

Strafe keys ... I've never used them. Strafing looks to me like a holdover from FPS games. Back in WoW I'd see people who weren't even in combat, they were just running around in a city, and they're strafing instead of turning, and it just looked bizarre to me.

Whereas I use the strafe keys A LOT in controlling aerial movement, particularly with low friction movement powers, so as to be able to "drift drive" through slaloms (like the entrance to the PTA trams.  It's just one of those things where being able to side slip sideways while moving forwards is just incredibly helpful.

 

While playing WoW I'd just the strafe move keybinds while moving forwards so as to be able to "keep my head on a swivel" while running down the roads and such.  I'd basically "turn against" the strafe sideways + forward movement so as to be able to keep running in the direction I wanted to go while turning my view to the side while continuing to move.  I'd then reverse the turn and the strafe sideways while continuing to move forwards so as to check the other side of my view.  This switching back and forth while running in a line essentially gave me additional screens worth of peripheral vision to the sides of where I was going, so I wouldn't be surprised by something approaching from the flanking positions of where I was headed.  It gave me a much greater sense of situational awareness without requiring me to stop running in order to look around.

 

In City of Heroes I so something similar while Hovering/Flying where I'll use the Forward and Up keybind simultaneously, which would normally move my PC in a forward ascent ... but then I angle my view downwards so as to fly in a (relatively) level flight line while looking downwards like a helicopter.  That's because often times I'm not interested in what is directly in front of me while I'm flying at my flight level when I'm searching for prey.  Instead, I want to see what is below me while I proceed with my search pattern.  Angling my view downwards while doing a forward + up movement yields level flight while watching what's below my position.  I can then use the Strafe movements in addition to all of that to fine tune my approach vectors.

[MetaVileTerror]

I use strafing a lot so I can glance left and right without sacrificing directional control.

[Chuckers]

On 9/18/2019 at 4:42 PM, Pharmakon said:

I always change D to turn right and E to strafe right.  Then I change A to turn left and Q to strafe left.

First thing I do is swap Q & A and E & D

 

[Redlynne]

Ah, so you use QWES instead of WERD like I do.  Same idea, just 1 key to the left.

[Lines]

I swap the strafes and turns too, but I do all of my looking around with the mouse (right click+drag). I could easily go without turning on the keyboard.

 

WERD makes an irritating amount of sense and I haven't felt this betrayed since I put the arrow keys behind me. Only thing I'm finding is a bit of a pinky stretch between the neutral position and ctrl. I'd almost wish the windows key wasn't where it was, but I suppose something could be done about that to turn it into another ctrl key? I may have to try it soon.

[Redlynne]

5 hours ago, Lines said:

WERD makes an irritating amount of sense and I haven't felt this betrayed since I put the arrow keys behind me.

5 hours ago, Lines said:

Only thing I'm finding is a bit of a pinky stretch between the neutral position and ctrl.

It'll take a little bit of muscle memory retraining, but you should be able to do it in about a week of playing.  Once you've adapted you'll be fine.  Until then, you'll be frustrated while retraining your muscle memory every time you make that mistake.  You'll just make it less often as time goes on and you keep doing it.  You'll get past that stage.

[Psychic Fury]

I'm quite the geek and I have spreadsheets for my toons, per SG... I also have multiple keybind files that I load for each toon (usually 2 per toon).

I load the Master file that works with every toon. Then I load a specialized file for every toon, to account for character specific emotes, including CCE's, and the specific commands for MM's, if required.

I used to be very fight-hand dominant, but I have a condition that has affected my right hand and made me have to use my mouse with my left hand. It's been a bit frustrating, but I have read some excellent ideas here! I am running a hybrid: left hand mouse for most travels away from mission (and sometimes within mission). I try to use the keyboard for movement and other functiosn within the mission, but it leads to a lot of visits to the hospital. The reason being two-fold - 1) since I forgo the use of the mouse, viewing the conflict area is quite painstakingly slow and complicated, since i am normally Hovering and have to look down to target, which requires me to have binds for "+lookup" and "+lookdown", A and D respectively. I can get quite finger-tied during a major skirmish; 2) My ability to turn quickly has gone by the wayside. I currently the WQES(AD) configuration, but I am going to use a method I have seen here that will allow me to use my mouse again.

This is a learning process, and I've only been back since February. If I can't get myself trained to do this, I would like to know if any of you has any pointers/ideas for me. I'm specifically interestedt to know if any of you know how to turn quicker in combat without making movement incredibly infuriating. I'd also like to know if there is a command available that will allow a quick 180. Please let me know.

My thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread!

[JasperStone]

I use in-game key mapping.

Here are some

 

I move the Teammate section to 1-8 at the top of the keyboard.

Powerselection to Numpad:

• tray 1 0-9
• tray2 Rshift 0-9
• tray Rctrl 0-9

I stay pretty consistent where I slot powers, so there are no new patterns to learn.

Example:

• Movements are always in the 0 slots
• Heals in slots 5. Or buffs if there are no heals

 

Targetting 

• L Tab
• move to next LCtrl =Ltab

Costumes LShift+ F1,F2, or F3

 

I do keep WASD

 

Invert the mouse for camera movement

[Shenanigunner]

Well, old thread, but my binds are —

• Based on the updated GABS main bindfile system, and  then
• Customized to each alt.

The GABS system breaks out generic/common binds so all alts share them, and leaves a large block of keys free for assignment on an alt-by-alt basis. (In this it's an improvement over the earlier system which used one bindfile per alt, making it clumsy to propagate global changes.)

 

It's all also based on years of applying better UI/UX principles, especially to the many keys outside the combat/movement group. It's one thing to tweak your "action" keys... but it's another, IMHO, to put up with the meaningless, sometimes nonsensical "management" binds, no matter how many profiles you sort them into. 🙂

[Greycat]

About the only changes I make are binds which load for masterminds and Khelds - both using the numpad. (Yet another reason I'll never go tenkeyless.)

[Shenanigunner]

11 minutes ago, Greycat said:

About the only changes I make are binds which load for masterminds and Khelds - both using the numpad. (Yet another reason I'll never go tenkeyless.)

 

MM's and buffer/healers that don't use the keypad are... foolish. 🙂

 

Not sure Khelds need it. I use macros to rotate form and matching trays. If you have all your powers up at once (in trays, active binds, etc.) there's so much deadweight from the other forms.

[Greycat]

1 hour ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

Not sure Khelds need it. I use macros to rotate form and matching trays. If you have all your powers up at once (in trays, active binds, etc.) there's so much deadweight from the other forms.

 

Prefer binds. Have since I3. Switch forms, tray switches and (for the warshade) the teleport binds, proper powers on the active row.

[Shenanigunner]

1 hour ago, Greycat said:

Prefer binds. Have since I3. Switch forms, tray switches and (for the warshade) the teleport binds, proper powers on the active row.

 

I'm something of a bind guy, too, but I found one tray with the two shape icons, bracketed by Dwarf-Human-Squid macros, worked better for shape change. Macros also roll the trays for optimal power arrangement to the primary power binds. Then a few standard binds for TP, etc.

 

Basically, nothing on the screen except what;s relevant to the shape, and all mapped to the same combat keys. I could put the shape macros on binds but it seemed like a more deliberate, foolproof way to shift was in order.

[Greycat]

5 hours ago, Shenanigunner said:

 

I'm something of a bind guy, too, but I found one tray with the two shape icons, bracketed by Dwarf-Human-Squid macros, worked better for shape change. Macros also roll the trays for optimal power arrangement to the primary power binds. Then a few standard binds for TP, etc.

 

Basically, nothing on the screen except what;s relevant to the shape, and all mapped to the same combat keys. I could put the shape macros on binds but it seemed like a more deliberate, foolproof way to shift was in order.

 

I'm ... not sure why we're having this conversation. I'm using what I like and am used to, and have on screen what I want... if that works for you, great, my binds work for me.

[Shenanigunner]

Sorry, that wasn't meant to be an argument or anything. Just wasn't quite sure we were talking about the same thing.

 

Oddly, I think those are my only two "functional" macros in my entire alt set. I usually reserve them for complex/bulky things that are not needed under any kind of time stress — such as the auto-post answer to "What's the transport SG name again?"

 

My general rule is binds for things you need fast or are useful under "muscle memory", macros for things that either eat up a lot of command/text bulk or can be hunted and clicked while you're scratching your spandex glutes.

[Ukase]

So, my history with MMOs is fairly short. CoH is the only one I've played. 

I recall being fairly puzzled when I first logged in. I couldn't move right away - mainly because it would never, ever occur to me in a million years to use WASD. Now, I know NOW that there's a method to that madness, but I didn't then. So, as soon as I figured out I could change those keys, I did - to the arrow keys. Those make sense. Want to move forward, you use the arrow key that points in that direction. 

I say "It works for me", and to a point, it does. But, I can never be a real "speeder" because my method is too slow. Fast enough for most everything else, but too slow to be any kind of real speedster. 

On every character, V is for the hybrid power, B is for the destiny Buff, n is for the nuke. The three sit on my extra tray in that order. The lore pet is to the left of hybrid. 

I don't know why I picked it, but L is for my jet pack, or fly if the character has flight (like my PB - most characters will get SS)
SuperSpeed is bound to the i key. 

On some characters, H is bound to Hasten. 
That's it. Macros for targeted AoEs. 

[Seigmoraig]

On 4/2/2024 at 10:42 AM, Ukase said:

So, my history with MMOs is fairly short. CoH is the only one I've played. 

I recall being fairly puzzled when I first logged in. I couldn't move right away - mainly because it would never, ever occur to me in a million years to use WASD. Now, I know NOW that there's a method to that madness, but I didn't then. So, as soon as I figured out I could change those keys, I did - to the arrow keys. Those make sense. Want to move forward, you use the arrow key that points in that direction.

WASD is most certainly not just an MMORPG thing, basically every game that has you control a character in first or third person will use that layout by default.

The advantage of using it instead of the arrow keys is that you have easier access to many more buttons so you can avoid having to click on powers. This is why the buttons on your hotbar are numbered, when you use WASD, your fingers are close to the number keys. You then set up the powers you use most often on 1,2,3,4 so you can activate them with minimal movement.

In addition to the number keys you also have quick and easy access to every button around the WASD keys that you can bind to other powers that you use semi often to suppliment your 1,2,3,4 powers in addition to CTRL and ALT combinations. On most full sized keyboards the arrow keys are seperate without any other keys around them which makes it a bit harder to find and press your keybinds since you need to look away from the game.

CoH is a very easy game where anything works and there isn't that many buttons that you need to be pressing at any time. Some MMORPGs like Final Fantasy 14, even with it's generous global cooldown, have many, many more buttons that you need to be pressing and it would be a nightmare to remap everything to work on an arrow key setup while maintaining any semblance of performance

 

Please keep in mind that I'm not telling you how to play by any means, just explaining why WASD is by default in MMORPGs, First Person Shooters and almost every game that has you move around a single character in a 3D plane.

 

Edited April 10 by Seigmoraig

[Ukase]

3 hours ago, Seigmoraig said:

Please keep in mind that I'm not telling you how to play by any means, just explaining why WASD is by default in MMORPGs, First Person Shooters and almost every game that has you move around a single character in a 3D plane.

Hey, no worries here. It's only that Leisure Suit Larry - arrow keys. Centurion: Defenders of Rome - mouse control - just clicking, really. And Chess, well that's more of a click and drag. 
None of the games I've played ever required any kind of directional movement, except for LSL - and that was arrow keys. 

Mind you, aside from chess - those games are from 1986-87. If they had games that required directional movement beyond that - I probably was too broke to afford them.