Many spells; handle it.Follow

So, this is a question that's been on my mind off and on over the last couple of weeks: how many keybinds/spells/whatever do you feel you can actually use?

For example, I realized a while back my Warlock has over 60 keybound spells. While it's nice to have them there, there's no way I could ever fully utilize a character with that level of complexity. In the end, I end up prioritizing things like fears and the more powerful spells; meaning many of the useful utility buttons never get touched as I don't really have a convenient place to bind them. Even if I did have a good keybind, I doubt I could actually remember it in the heat of the moment.

Compare the Warlock to something like my druid, and things seem more manageable. Yes Druids have a lot of spells, but so many of them are only available in a certain form. Meaning I never feel like I have more than a dozen or two different buttons I'm playing with at any time.

So here's my questions to all you sexy people:

How many keybound spells does your character have?

How many of your keybinds can you recite from memory?

How many of the keybinds do you feel you can actually use effectively?

For myself the Warlock has 62-ish total keybinds, and I can tell you what about 2 dozen of those are from memory. However I actually feel I can only use about maybe 12-15 of those spells well. The others I'll either forget where they are, or the keybind will be too weird (think like Alt-F12 or something) for me to reach quickly enough to make it matter.

As a Rogue, I have:

QWES - movement/strafing (NO TURNING KEYS!!!)

AD - unbound ... need to use these but I'm lazy and stuck in my ways!

` stealth
1 kick
2 hemo
3 evis (why is this here??)
4 gouge
5 backstab (not a great spot for it, but I've been using it forever...)

alt-` mount
alt-1 rupture
alt-2 slice n dice
alt-3 kidney shot
alt-4 unused

r - shiv
shift-v (un)deadly throw (useless except as an emergency slow)
alt-e smoke bomb

Stealth/Shadow Dance abilities are handled on a seperate bar that replaces my main bar (and `12345, alt`123, shift 4) with Bar 7, which puts all stealth abilities in their right place.

I use a G15 keyboard, and have a number of defensive CDs, as well as blind and shadowdance, assigned to G15 keys

The more I type this post, the more I realize I should rearrange things... But that means learning it over ... and losing some fights terribly because I hit the wrong key!

I have 1 to 5 keyboud, shift1 to shift 5, ctrl1 to ctrl3, alt 1 to alt 4, middle mouse click, alt+left click, alt middle click, ctrl left click. I use them all often, some more than others. And I can recite them all from memory. So...21 that I actually use almost every fight.
I have some minor others, like Flight Form, auto de, auto prospect and etc that I only use it here and there and I actually bind them to things like 9, 0 or whatever non-sense that I cant reach while I`m fighting. I also have shift backwards mouse wheel to shapeshift to cat and shift forward mouse wheel to shapeshift to Moonkin.

I`m seriouslly considering buying a Naga or Razor.

Edit: TBH there are some on those 21 that I actually dont use anymore. FF is keybound to 4, wich is useless nowadays, Hurricane to 5 and its useless also. I also have Tranquility bound to ctrl4, making 20 keybounds that I actually use most fights.

I have some healing stuff wich I almost dont use keybound to ctrl5 and alt5 to alt7, they are more for leveling or grinding than to actually anything that matters (I don't pvp with my moonkin).
I probably should keybound Rebirth, but I'm lazy and I have to click in the person anyway.

About what keybound does what, lets see
1 - Starfire
2 - Wrath
3 - Moonfire/Sunfire
4 - FF (useless. Should change this to volcanic potion)
5 - Hurricane (useless)
S1 - Insect Swarm
S2 - Starsurge
S3 - Treants
S4 - Starfall
S5 - Typhoon
C1/Middle Mouse - WM
C2/alt left click - WM: Detonate
C3 - Worgen Racial
C4 - Tranquility
C5 - Regrowth (almost useless)
A1 - On use Trinket
A2 - Barskin
A3 - Solar Beam
A4 - Cyclone/Roots (I rarelly use them)
A5 - Cyclone/Healing Stone (Usually HS here)

I have some new keybounds that I`m still get used to.
Alt+Middle Mouse - Macro for Solar Cleave
CTRL+Left click - Castsequence Macro with MouseOver that resets when I change target for Multi Dot.
I made those this weekend, so Im still trying to use them more often.

Edited, Jun 6th 2011 3:03pm by Brisin

I have all my abilities in a castsequence macro.

I spam 1 a lot.

Edit: I'll give a more serious answer once I've installed the game. Getting a new rig is awesome, but having to reinstall everything is time consuming as hell.

Edited, Jun 6th 2011 9:10pm by Mazra

I have most stuff on my bars but for actual keybinds that I use as such, the numbers one through nine on my main bar cover my most used spells for most of the classes I play. Any other abilities such as buffs or long cooldowns or heals (on dps specs) I normally just click as needed. Sometimes for certain boss fights I will move a few spells around like purge or frost shock if they are needed but normally I hardly touch those spells.

The abilities that are used as keybinds

1 is usually autoattack or wand though on my Warrior it's always been my taunt bind.

2,3 & 4 are usually my standard rotational/priority abilities and are lava lash, stormstrike and flame shock on my Shaman.

5 is usually an ability that isn't used quite as often because of cooldown or proc based and is unleash elements on my Shaman.

6 is usually a proc or something that I need handy but don't want to hit by accident. On my Shaman it is earth shock since I try to rotate that with my flame shock.

7 is bound to my R key and is my interupt on every class that I have an interupt on. If I don't have an interupt then it's a stun or anything that might be able to interupt a cast.

8 & 9 are bound to my A and D keys and are things that are also in my rotation or used often enough to need a keybind and are my lightning bolt and chain lightning on my Shaman.

I have the T bound to pet attack so any classes that have a controllable pet use this button (spirit wolves on the Shaman).

I have the G bound to 'get away' abilities such as ghost wolf (instant of course) on my Shaman, blink on my Mage and sprint on my Rogue.


I try to set up all my characters with the same basic set up so I find it easier to adjust when I switch classes. I do click more than I should but I'm clumsy with the shift key and I use my alt key for vent push to talk. I use the SWQE for some movement and the strafing and I do my turning with the trackball (instead of a mouse). I have been considering binding more of my abilities and perhaps using the ZXCV since those aren't too hard to reach.

That depends entirely on the speed of the HD on your old pc and your external HD. I tried to do that when I I got my new pc back in January, and it was going to take a few hours just to copy all the files to the external HD from my laptop. So I ended up just copying my interface and WTF folders so I didn't have to set up addons and everything all over again.

I'm not sure how many keybinds I have, but I can list them. I do feel like my druid has fewer keybinds than my priest, but that's probably due to what Brisin said about druid forms.

For my priest, I use WASD for moving, with S and D for strafing. I use my mouse for turning.

Shadow keybinds:

1 Shadow Word:P
2 Mind Flay
3 Mind Blast
4 Devouring Plague
5 Shadowfiend
E Shadow Word:D
SQ Mind Sear
SW Fade
B4 Macro for multi-dotting
B5 Macro for Synapse Springs, Vampiric Touch, Devouring Plague
Q Goblin Jump
B3 Mind Spike
T Dispersion macro
CF Focus target macro
F Switching target/focus macro (REALLY helpful during V&T for multi-dotting)
CD Divine Hymn
CH Hymn of Hope

Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I'll look at the others when I log in later.

It's rather simple I have 72 actions within 2 keystrokes at all times.

Bind 1-12 as the 1-12 on the action bar.

Bind 6 keys one to each page of actions. Example would be a=1 b=2 c=3 etc.

From there I'll put all offensive abilities/spells on page 1 all offensive buffs on page 3 all defensive abilities/spells on page 2 all defensive buffs on page 4, misc on page 6, etc.

So to hit my primary damage ability while fighting I'll hit the 'a' key and then hit the '1' key. Happens all within a second. I need to quickly heal so I hit the 'b' key and then the '1' key to cast my primary healing spell. Happens in an instant. I keep it consistent between characters as much as I can which makes switching easier. But I don't have to remember where my spells or abilities are just section they would be sorted under, offensive, defensive, buff, debuff, panic, etc.. Then I just press the page key that's suppose to be sorted for that and quickly find the ability. It's quicker to memorize and makes adding new abilities easier on where they should go.

No.

I can't speak for tankadins since I don't play one, but for the characters I do play I don't have an issue. I suppose it can be a little overwhelming getting a handle on a toon that is new to 85, but that challenge is part of the fun! At least that's the way I look at it. =x

Locks have lots of abilities but even in pvp you only really use the stuff that's relevant for your spec. Affliction for example, all you really need to bind are a few dots, fear death coil and howl and demon circle teleport. Oh, and pet counterspell/devour magic. Then a few targeting macros for arena. With modifiers i manage with only about 12-15 keybinds, some of which have multiple functions based on what i'm targeting or whether i'm holding holding shift/alt/ctrl.

I probably average around 40 keybinds per toon. The rarely used stuff is somewhere visible that I just click.

My bear does somehow have shift-x as Barkskin and shift-c as /cancelform.

Will mainly put my druids keybinds, but will add where other classes use additional keybinds.

WASD - movement, \ and C to turn (but that's when I'm bored or not using my mouse, so practically they are not used)

` - Rebirth/Res macro
1 - Starfire
2 - Wrath
3 - Starsurge
4 - Hurricane
5 - Solar beam
6 - Starfall (but I usually click this one, only press if I'm on the move, my fingers aren't that long)
Q - Moonfire
E - Insect Swarm

1-3, Q and E have modifier macros on other toons (usually shift) and for my healing abilities I use alt to self cast
Shift + mouse wheel up changes the page and here I have my healing macros (for healing spec it changes to damage spells)
I have stuff bound 7-9 but I can't reach these keys comfortably (or accurately) so I click them if needed.

F1 - Treants
F2 - Barksin (but I normally click it)
F3 - WM
F4 - WM Detonate
F5 - Innervate

I have a G510 keyboard so I also have:
G12 - Hibernate
G11 - Roots
G9 - (Purge on my shaman, RoF on my mage)
G6 - (Frost shock, Spellsteal)

Other G keys are bound but I tend to click those abilities and it's mostly stuff I'd do out of combat (Buffs, fishing, food)

On my mouse I have B12 and B13 for strafing
B9 - (Lightning bolt/Fire Nova(depending on spec)/Smite)
B7 - (Leap of Faith)
B4 - (Silence)

The keyboard and mouse are still fairly new so I'm getting used to having the extra buttons available and slowly teaching myself to use the extra keybinds, adding abilities when I run out of room with the ones I can reach easily at the moment.

I have 6 keybinds on my shadow. The rest gets clicked. Since I neither do arena nor hardmodes that's sufficient.

Edit: I have wasd for running/strifing in addition to the 6 keybinds mentioned. So that's 10 keybinds! I feel awesome.

Edited, Jun 7th 2011 3:39pm by TherealLogros