I guess that's the nature of the summer, right? You take some time off zee internets. I still played WoW quite a bit, but I didn't have a lot to write about, or the discipline to make myself do it anyway :P
The topic on my mind right now is keyboard turning and clicking. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, keyboard turning is using the WASD keys to control your character's movement. Clicking is clicking each spell on your action bar using your mouse. I started playing MMOs back with Ultima Online, and honestly I can't remember what it was like to use the controls in that game, but somehow it started me as a clicker. I'm pretty sure it used a click to move interface, so no keyboard turning there.
Then in EQ I actually used the ARROW KEYS to move my character, lol. For some reason I had an aversion to WASD in that game. Then Hellgate London was sort of a hybrid. That's where I learned to use WASD for movement. Since I had to hold down the mouse button to fire my weapon, and since my weapon was always in use I couldn't use the mouse buttons to click on my skills. Fortunately that game didn't have a ton of skills, and they were easily bound to the number keys above my WASD fingers, so that worked out just fine. Then came WoW...
I don't need anyone to lecture and tell me that mouse turning and keybinding all of your spells is a better way to play. I know that the response time for turning is incredibly fast using a mouse, and rather slow using WASD. I also know that keybinding allows you to hit your spells faster, since you don't need to move your mouse over them before using them. It all makes perfect sense, but I just can't seem to bring myself to make the change.
I'm a very visual player. I associate each of my spells with their icon. If I haven't played a class in a while I'm most likely to describe a spell by its affects or its icon, not by the actual name. I like having my rotations/priorities laid out in a way that makes visual sense to me. I know I could still do that and use keybindings, but then the locations of the spells on my action bars would need to match the locations on my keyboard or I'd get confused or OCD about it, heh. I don't have a ton of OCD ticks but I feel like that would be one of them.
Then we come to mouse movement vs. using the WASD keys to move. Of course keybinding is infinitely easier if you're a mouse mover because you can use those prime spot movement keys for spells instead. I just CAN'T seem to get used to it for the life of me. I created my newbie warlock to learn a new class and also try and teach myself mouse movement and keybinding from the start with a new character. I don't like holding down two mouse buttons all the time to move. For some reason it seems harder than just holding down W for forward and other keys to turn. I did keybind autorun to my side mouse button, and that helped a bit, but I don't like being on autorun a lot because I feel rushed. I like knowing I can let go of a button and I'll stop. Yes technically I can click it again, or press both my mouse buttons and that will override the autorun, but I don't like doing it that way! :P
I've tried to play around with the jump shots that hunters do (run away, jump, while in the air turn behind you and fire a shot, then before you land your jump turn back the same way you were facing originally) and I honestly don't know if it's worth all of the trouble. Okay okay, it's worth it for other people, but not for me, lol.
I suppose I'm just a creature of habit. Honestly, 10 levels of mouse turning and keyboard bindings on my warlock made me not want to play WoW anymore. I kept thinking, if this is the way I HAVE to play in order to be the most effective, then why am I playing? I don't like doing things and not doing them the best I absolutely can, which is why I considered trying to give up my habits in the first place.
Then the other half of my brain kicks in - this is a GAME that you play for FUN. Why not play it the way that's fun for you? You were a hardcore raider in EQ2 and were part of a competitive guild that was one of the first in content on the server. Clicking and turning never held you back there. In WoW you've leveled two toons to 85 and have more on the way, and your main character (death knight) does REALLY well at PvP and in dungeons. Honestly the only reason I don't raid more is that I like to keep to myself and I put too much pressure on me (I have to know EVERY encounter flawlessly before I see it otherwise I'm wasting everyone's time - which is unrealistic). I should be fine with knowing the general strat but needing practice. There's a first time for everything.
I guess this blog hasn't helped me make a decision at all. Keep torturing myself by learning this new way to play and uprooting over 10 years of habits, or continue as I am understanding all of the drawbacks it entails? Meh, once games are like the holodeck I guess I won't have a problem anymore.
