Turning keyboard turners around
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 17th 2008 at 4:00PM
Zg thinks, quite unreasonably, that 99% of players in the game are "keyboard turners"-- people who use the keyboard to turn their characters rather than holding down the right mouse button and moving the camera to turn. It's hardly anywhere near 99%, but given that WoW is a game that attracts casual players (a.k.a. people who aren't experienced videogame players), I wouldn't be surprised if there are more people in Azeroth than in, say, Counter-Strike, who use the keyboard to do most of their navigating.Personally, I'm one of those that come from a CS background, and so I use the mouse for pretty much all movement whenever possible-- I'll often just hold down both mouse buttons if I need to run for a short distance (and anything longer gets the run lock key from me). I also think that circle strafing is pretty much the best game mechanic ever made, but I know that there are those who disagree with me-- back when I worked at Gamestop, one of our employees there just couldn't seem to wrap his head around the fact that he should turn and move at the same time, and as a result just got dominated in our Halo matches.
But habits are a powerful thing, and so keyboard turning is probably around to stay. I won't go so far as to say that fast-turning with a mouse is required to be a good player, but certainly that kind of reflex is required to be a really great player. So keyboard turners, pick up that mouse and start looking around-- you'll thank me later.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Humor
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Unigolyn Feb 5th 2008 10:30AM
I *think* I'm a keyboard turner. This is not because of any sort of noobiness on my part - I've played WASD+mouse FPS since Quake 1 and I've done a lot of MOHAA team deathmatch in my day.
WoW isn't an FPS. It's neither first person NOR a shooter. My biggest problem with using the mouse to turn my toon is that I can't see the entire area. I almost constantly have the LMB held down so the view does not rotate with my toon unless I whip the mouse around to get a better view at something. If I see someone in trouble behind my *toon's* back, *I* can see it, hit the RMB to instantly start running towards trouble, when I'm holding W to run I am now free to rightclick on the new target to enable autoattack. Then, without needing to reposition my toon, I can turn the camera 180 degrees to get a view of what is happening with the mob I was dealing with.
If I was using the mouse to turn my toon like in an FPS I couldn't click to target or hit a pot or something else I don't have keymapped (things I don't need to twitch for aren't keymapped - as a warrior obviously stance dancing and attacks are macroed and mapped).
In PVP I do use mouse turning if I'm 1v1 with someone who I need to keep bashing constantly to build rage for yellow attacks, but instead of FPS I go far more old school - I whip the camera up to a top-down view and keep myself pointed at them Gauntlet-style.
Avari Mar 1st 2008 7:09PM
I SERIOUSLY cannot believe that you actually took the time to post an article on wowinsider to tell people this. Maybe I'm oblivious to the level of know-how in the gaming community; idunno.
Dave Jan 17th 2008 4:11PM
I think the circle strafe in WoW is an entirely overrated thing and I literally laugh out loud when I see someone doing it.
It's much more useful in a first-person perspective where your opponent literally can't see AND hit you.
It's significantly more idiotic looking in a game where the majority of classes have a cone-shaped attack pattern, and your hitbox is usually inside their attack pattern even when you're trying to circle strafe, mostly due to lag.
I'd say that out of all the people who attempt it, maybe half are moderately successful with it on a significant enough basis to have it actually matter.
Everytime I see someone do it, I just think "yet another Rogue who thinks they're playing Counterstrike" and sigh.
I know the general consensus among people who do it is that it's an essential blah blah if you don't do it you're a nub, etc etc... but people in this game also think that loot rolls are determined by who your leader is in the game and that Blizzard has someone watching all your drops and plans for you to get Paladin loot whenever there are no paladins in the raid.
I put no stock in the idea whatsoever, and it's hideously easy to make someone look foolish if they're wasting their effort in trying to execute a perfect circle strafe in WoW, especially if they're not on a low latency connection.
scott veirs Jan 17th 2008 8:55PM
What a noob! ROFL L2Play with better tactics.
Zakk Jan 17th 2008 4:11PM
I kinda miss keyboard turning. The thing that finally pushed me over the edge to start using the mouse exclusively was the promise of two more very easily accessible keys for key bindings (Q&E, since the strafe buttons were bound to the turn buttons when the turn buttons became purposeless).
Before I bound my Q&E keys to abilities, I'd use the mouse for PvP, and the keys for just running from place to place. I really miss having the map open and being able to turn, but I guess two more readily available abilities were worth it.
Sakerin Jan 17th 2008 4:43PM
Your keyboard doesn't have arrow keys?
Rob Jan 17th 2008 4:14PM
oh manz, my roomate and i were just talking about this. i used to play alot of CS and UT03 back in the days of dorms. i do alot with my mouse....in fact i only really use the keyboard to strafe. i have auto run bound to my thumb button too. but the strafe, run, turn and look thing is how i do the red riding hood fight in kara. i do fine as red buy my roomate always gets killed by the wolf but he cant get the looking while running thing down either.
Talisker Jan 17th 2008 5:09PM
Wow. You guys are really running out of things to write about.
Naix Jan 17th 2008 4:17PM
SHHhhhhhh...
You are taking away the Rogue advantage. As a experienced FPS of 10+ years I can get behind players for few a few 2000+ damage back stab crits.
Once I had a keyboard Alliance warrior turning like a robot back and fourth.
There are two types of gamers on pvp servers. Gamers and noobs.
Xeren Jan 17th 2008 7:30PM
haha, that's funny because i was a keyboard turner until i started playing BG's as a lock. I switched my mouse over to my left side and use that to turn to keep rogues from getting behind me as easily.
It took a while to get used to using the mouse left handed, but it's less wear and tear on your dominant hand (assuming you're a righy of course), and you stop dying as much. :)
I loved seeing the rogues that were keyboard turners try to get behind me. they would try and try but it wouldn't happen. :)
LostOne Jan 17th 2008 4:19PM
I see circle-strafing to great effect in the battlegrounds, I'm assuming it's used well in arena too. Rogues and feral druids and fury warriors tear me up using this method.
Myself I'm a keyboard turner, but that is because I play on a laptop and touchpads suck for that type of thing. I miss the days when I played FPS games on my old desktop (which is dead, and my new place doesn't have a good location for a desktop PC where I could still see a TV), mouse is the best targeting hardware for computers. But with my laptop (on my lap, not at a table where I could use an added mouse easily), I have to use the touchpad. So I'm a keyboard turner in WoW.
springz Jan 17th 2008 6:42PM
since when is it not possible to hook up a usb mouse to a laptop?
Xeren Jan 17th 2008 9:32PM
notice he said, "on my lap, not at a table where I could use an added mouse easily"
L2ReadingComprehension
Matthew Jan 17th 2008 4:20PM
Yeah, this is a lot more critical for PVP servers than it is on PVE. After you get used to turning with a mouse, though, the fluidity of it (and the ease of looking around you) makes it difficult to go back to keyboarding.
Eternalpayn Jan 17th 2008 8:31PM
I've recently started keyboard, and I gotta say, I can't stand not being able to see behind me while I turn. I don't know what you're talking about, being able to see better. :P
kevan Jan 17th 2008 4:29PM
I simply can't use the keyboard to navigate...it's far to bulky and choppy. I couldn't live without my 7 button mouse. I use the mouse for my normal movement and even have my run mapped to a mouse side-button. I always use the keyboard for strafing in battle though. I get lazy sometimes and try to use the keyboard for movement but it's just awkward.
I find myself becoming to antsy in PvP though, running around and losing a decent camera angle. I always end up looking straight down on the battle for some reason. Practice makes perfect though.
FireStar Jan 17th 2008 4:37PM
My dad uses the mouse for everything but talking. He finds using the keyboard and mouse together confusing. He's a level 48 hunter atm. I say more power to him, as long as he's playin.
Marcie Knox Jan 17th 2008 4:43PM
I think being a raid healer is a bit different than dps in that I need to select my targets and heal via my mouse. It also doesn't matter which way I'm facing to heal so quick turning is wasted most of the time. If I had good heals to cast while running (HoT's, PoM, etc.) I'm not sure how the whole target/steering would happen tbh.
That being said, my main goal for this year is to learn to mouse turn. Why? So I can be one of the cool kids. :D
PeeWee Jan 17th 2008 4:48PM
Get Clique, then you dont have to target people to heal them. I hold Shift+Leftclick for small heal, Shift+Rightclick for big heal, and it works on all unitframes (target of target, focus etc)
Nails Jan 17th 2008 4:47PM
if you're not using the mouse do most turning/looking, and if you are clicking most spells/abilities, you fail
mouse turning/looking + W A S D movement + ` 1 2 3 4 5 6 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 Q E F G spells/abilities ftw
that's all you should need (plus shift and ctrl modifiers where applicable)