Making the case for using hot keys

Like many players, I started out as a clicker. World of Warcraft (Rift and other MMORPG's as well) is a game that is easy to pick up and start playing, but there are so many things going on it is likely a new player may not even bind their most important spells to hotkeys. To be more clear, the interface will randomly drop spells on to your toolbar that is by default mapped to your number keys. But it will be up to you to use them. The World of Warcraft interface is filled with things to click on and Blizzard does little to force players into good playing habits. As you may already know, clicking on spells and abilities during combat has some significant drawbacks.

The primary drawback is that you have to take your eyes off the action on the screen in order to move your mouse between spells and execute the click. Then your eyes can move back up to look at the action again. Then of course it is just a second or perhaps two later and you once again have to visually find your spell on the toolbar to click once again. This back and forth glancing also can cause fatigue and needlessly increases the effort required to fight your battles. It is far better to be able to use your attention to monitor the health of your party, read the chat for incoming announcements, and focus on how you are going to counter your enemy.

A strategy to learn using hot keys

Most World of Warcraft players do use hotkeys for their more common spells, typically called a rotation. If you are not using hot keys for your most common spells, now is the time to start. You can start off with 4 or 5 of the most common spells you use and then move on from there. I would recommend you begin by taking your typical lead off spell and mapping it to the number 1 key. When you get ready to open up and attack a mob, use the tab key to highlight the mob you want to attack and press the number 1 key. It is just that simple. Notice too that I’m suggesting you use the tab key to select the mob. Clicking on enemies is sometimes necessary but most often you should be able to use tab to find the monster you wish to attack. The goal here is to at least open up your attacks without relying on clicking a spell.

Next, take the spell you typically would use 2^ndin a battle and map it to the number 2 key. This is the beginning of setting up your spell rotation. There are many guides on the Internet for specific classes that will help you identify an ideal spell rotation. The important thing you are trying to achieve is to have the most common spells quickly accessible. After just a bit of practice you should be able to more quickly launch your spells by having them bound to the number keys. The other upside is that you will not have to move your mouse or take your eyes off the battle.

As you get comfortable with 4-5 spells bound you will want to add more of them to further reduce the need to click. The goal should be to have all the spells you use in combat mapped to keys. If you run out of number keys you can bind modifiers such as shift or alt so that you can get an entire new set of key combinations. There are also many hot keys that are by default bound to options that you would really only need to use when out of combat. The talent tree for example is by default bound to ‘N’. Since you will never need to have fast access to the talent tree you can reassign that key to a toolbar and from there a hotkey. Same goes with many of the keys that are bound to interface items. ‘M’ for map, ‘C’ for character, ‘P’ for your spell list, etc. If you find yourself short on hot keys do not hesitate to free these up to use for your battles. When you are not fighting then there is no real penalty for clicking the interface. It may be more convenient to use a hot key for pulling up these screens, but it won’t cost you time in a battle.

Selecting party members with hotkeys

By default members of your party are assigned hotkeys F1-F5. F1 is always your character. This is the first hotkey that you should practice using. Anytime you need to heal yourself hit F1 before casting the spell. Avoid using clicking to select party members. Many players tend to jump around and run in circles to avoid strikes. By using the F1-F5 keys you can select a player regardless of how crazy wild they are running.

Quick Tip Hot Key Summary

·Begin by binding your most important spells in the order you typically use them on the number keys starting with 1.

·Add additional spells until you have all the spells you use in battle under hot keys.

·If you need additional hotkeys, redefine keys that are used for functions that are typically used out of combat.

·While it is not always possible, try to avoid clicking to target monsters. Instead, use the TAB key to cycle through enemies starting with the one nearest to you.

·Use F1-F5 to select members of your party.

·This is just the beginning. By combing hot keys with macros you can get even more efficient in y our combat skills.

·Consider a Razor Naga Mouse. This mouse has personally improved my MMO gaming tremendously as well as making the gameplay more enjoyable. Here is a review I have written on the Razor Naga.

Making the case for mouse turning

The case for using your mouse to turn is a little bit less cut and dried but there is a definite speed advantage to mouse turning. There are many videos on Youtube that show how ineffective keyboard turning is in battle. Here is one of my favorites:

Keyboard Turning is Bad Video

Mouse turning is almost instant while keyboard turning slowly turns you toward the direction you want to go. It really is that simple. The extra speed advantage of turning by mouse is worth learning the technique. You may not notice an immediate benefit in your play, but over time the advantages become more obvious.

Learning to use mouse turning

Pretty early on in my World of Warcraft playing I had bound many of the spells I used frequently to keys but I was a keyboard turner for much longer. To mouse turn you hold down the right mouse while moving your mouse from left to right. You will quickly see how much more quickly you can turn around. It will take a bit of practice however to refine your skills at doing an exact 180 degree turn. To practice just go on a typical quest a few levels below your characters level and give yourself some time to get used to the new interface.

The easiest way to make yourself a mouse turner is to unbind the left and right keys (A and D by default) and replace them with the strafing actions (Q and E by default). This has several advantages. The most important advantage is you will no longer be able to keyboard turn with your typical setup. You will HAVE to use your mouse to turn your character. This will make breaking the habit of keyboard turning a non-issue. The other great advantage of this strategy is it frees up your Q and E key to be used for spells. I personally place my most important defensive or evasive spells under those two keys. Finally, most keyboard turners rarely use their strafing keys. By moving the strafing keys down to where the turning keys were previously it will be natural for them to be used in battles.

Hot keys and mouse turning go together

While I had always used quite a few hot keys for spells, it wasn’t until I started mouse turning that I really started to look for strategies to use hot keys for all my spells in combat. When you mouse turn you are essentially locking up your mouse so you won’t be able to use it to click on spells. Even having one or two spells that you need to hit during a battle will throw off your rhythm and take your eyes off the action. The nice thing is that the spells you have to click during a battle will be obvious and easily identified. Any time you find yourself clicking a spell in a battle rather than using a hot key, make the change at the earliest opportunity. Place it on a hotkey and use the hotkey from now on.

Don’t worry about your current battle, build good habits for future battles

It can be very tempting in the heat of the battle to revert back to old ways. To improve however it is important to not think just about the current battle but to think of your future battles. After just 2-3 battles you should be able to identify spells that need to be on hotkeys. Once you assign them hotkeys, stop clicking the spells altogether. To take off pressure, go to an area where the mobs are a few levels below. Don’t go into PvP for a while as there will be too much temptation to start clicking all over the place when things get messy. Before long you will find yourself getting much better results.