The Keyboard Challenge

[Quaix]

I think if you're running out of keys for spells you're not using your keybinds well.

If you use ESDF keys there's about ten keys next to your hand that you can reach without taking your fingers off the home row.
Even with a three button mouse, a rarity these days, the combinations of Shift, Ctrl and a mouse button gives you twelve combinations you can use for spells, nine of which don't interfere with your movement fingers.

[Bluddy]

Could you explain why you don't like it for this game?

I don't know if I could provide a good answer given how nebulous this can be.

I think part of it might be that I think I already use a wider variety of spells than most and I tendency to go towards having a "better" position for shooting or dodging regardless of whether my current position already works.

So in a way I suppose some of the interesting challenges presented by keyboard control are ones I already impose on myself in some ways in the name of "protecting against the unexpected", if that makes any sense.

Fair enough.

[Bluddy]

I think if you're running out of keys for spells you're not using your keybinds well.

If you use ESDF keys there's about ten keys next to your hand that you can reach without taking your fingers off the home row.
Even with a three button mouse, a rarity these days, the combinations of Shift, Ctrl and a mouse button gives you twelve combinations you can use for spells, nine of which don't interfere with your movement fingers.

While these keys are reachable, they're not necessarily comfortable. Nor are they easy to use while moving. One of the advantages of keyboard controls is that you have full, comfortable reach of all spells at all times, while still having complete access to full movement controls at all times.

[Penumbra]

With the updated keyboard bindings, I have 15 skills bound to my mouse    And another 15 on the keys around ESDF. I tried out the keyboard only mode, and I found it very difficult. Which difficulty do you play on, Bluddy?

[Bluddy]

With the updated keyboard bindings, I have 15 skills bound to my mouse    And another 15 on the keys around ESDF. I tried out the keyboard only mode, and I found it very difficult. Which difficulty do you play on, Bluddy?

Wow how do you bind 15 skills to the mouse?

It probably takes some adjustment to get good at the keyboard mode. How long did you play it for?

I play on Adept, but I probably need to turn it up a notch because recently it's been too easy. I don't deny that the keyboard mode is harder, but I think that's a good thing. Like I said above, bats are a real nuisance with the keyboard mode because hitting them is not trivial. You also need special tactics to deal with burrowers because they're below your firing line, so you either need to hop and hit diagonally down, or use extra wide spells like energy slice. Other enemies carry their own challenges, which force you to find solutions.

What I found when I switched to mouse mode for a while (and used only 2 spells because more are hard with a touchpad), was that the combat was boring. I could easily zap anything on screen. Bats didn't have a chance against me and the same burrowers who were giving me trouble in keyboard mode could now be hit wherever they were. I could run away from monsters and shoot backwards, making all open area battles trivial. The mouse, to me, gives too much freedom, and without constraints, the combat simply isn't as exciting. I didn't need any other spells because everything could be hit, whereas the keyboard made hitting some things much harder -- it required timing, lining up my sights, leading the target, and finding interesting ways of hitting particular enemies that gave me extra trouble.

[khadgar]

Khadgar, could you be specific about what the problem was in caves? Because I can't think of any obvious problem.

Buildings accord to the 4 compass directions. Walls are straight up and down, floors and straight left and right. Stairwells are a perfect 45 degrees. Caves weren't at that meeting.

[Penumbra]

With the updated keyboard bindings, I have 15 skills bound to my mouse    And another 15 on the keys around ESDF. I tried out the keyboard only mode, and I found it very difficult. Which difficulty do you play on, Bluddy?

Wow how do you bind 15 skills to the mouse?

There is a post in the Mods and Maps section on using modifiers for key bindings. Originally, it required the use of AutoHotkey, but with some help from crayo I was able to create an entire in-game key binding that uses Shift and Alt along with my 5 button mouse, which is comes out to 15.

I usually play on Master Hero, and I use every advantage that having complete control over my aim requires. And, as for your "just click on the enemy" to hit them, I find that I would miss every time if I did that. Leading the target with a bank shot while dodging a bunch of fire is hard enough for me   I hope to be able to play on The Chosen One at some point, but, I'm not there yet.