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Posts with tag Hotkeys

Is World of Warcraft really World of Diablo?

So how do you design Diablo 3 anyway? Bargain Bin Reviews has an idea -- just retrofit World of Warcraft. Shift talent points to spells, decrease enemy health and damage and increase the number of enemies by a factor of 10 or so, do away with healing spells and tanking, and you're essentially done. It's a bit silly and a bit tongue in cheek, yes, but it also brings up a good point. In the end, WoW is probably influenced by Diablo 2 as much as it is by Warcraft 3, if not more.

Continue reading Is World of Warcraft really World of Diablo?

Blood Sport: Tips and Tricks

PvP in its purest form is a beautiful thing. Amanda Dean, always obsessed with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat brings you news you can use in the Arena. When last seen, former Blood Sport columnist V'Ming Chew had defeated a pack of angry Gnome Warlocks and had decided to take up retirement in a lovely chateau overlooking the Ring of Trials in Nagrand.

So thanks to the new point requirements for Battleground gear in Arena Season Four, many people who are not as familiar with the arena will be forced to queue up. When I first started playing arenas, I didn't see it as tremendously different from battlegrounds. After several hard-learned lessons I found that I had to be much more flexible. I've also picked up a few tricks along the way.

You have to count on all of your opponents using every tool available. If you're not already doing these things, give some of them a shot.

Continue reading Blood Sport: Tips and Tricks

Breakfast topic: Clicking vs hotkeys

If you've never done arenas via LAN, you really might want to try it. Of course it's much easier to communicate when you're speaking to someone right next to you and can see their screen to get a different perspective on the battle. You can also learn fascinating information about their AddOns and how they interface with the game.

I had a friend come over to play and was absolutely shocked when I saw him clicking away at his spells and abilities instead of using hotkeys. When I first started playing WoW, my mentor would swat at my hand with a wooden ruler every time I clicked where I should have mashed. (Ok, it was actually just a stern glare- no ruler.) I spent several hours with my fledgling Priest killing Scarlet Warriors and learning the motions for keyboard controls. I quickly learned that Q, W, E, A, S and D are the most valuable real estate on the keyboard. Since fractions of seconds can be critical, it takes a relatively long time to move around the screen with a mouse.

Continue reading Breakfast topic: Clicking vs hotkeys

Breakfast Topic: Key bindings

I hate my mouse. Really, I do. I try to do as much as possible from the keyboard, both in and out of WoW. I have key bindings for just about everything, either in WoW's key bindings interface or using Bongo Bars. If I'm not going to have a key bound to a button, I don't usually bother making it, because I know I'm not going to mouse all the way over to click it. It's much easier to just type "/cast mind blast" than it is to figure out which is the mind blast button, move my hand to my mouse, position the cursor over the button, and click.

But that's just me -- I know a lot of people who play very well clicking all of their spells. I can't imagine it, but apparently it goes on anyway. However, clickers, you are not the subject of this breakfast topic. My question for you today: what are your favorite key bindings? What are the first hotkeys you set up when you first roll on a new realm -- or do you just go with the defaults? My first hotkeys are always "\" for run-lock (because my laptop keyboard doesn't have an easy num lock) and "B" for whatever bag mod I'm using, or for open all bags if I'm not using one.

[thanks, Dr. Funbags, for this suggestion, even if I'm pretty sure you just sent it in to see if I would really write "thanks, Dr. Funbags"]


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