Posts with tag key-bindings

Before we get started, let's make one thing very clear. I'm not saying there's anything inherently wrong with clicking. If you want to click, that's just fine, this article isn't for you. If you're someone who clicks and is perfectly happy about it, then skip over all this and tell me about it in the comments. But, if you are a clicker who wants to change, then read on. As an aside, now's a great time to make the switch, we've got a while without new content...

So what is a clicker?

Without this key piece of information, the above won't be that relevant. A clicker is a term for someone who uses mouse-clicks to hit their abilities rather than keybinding them. There is an assumption made that people who are clicking their abilities are also using their keyboard to move. Their mouse is tied up with moving around the screen to hit abilities, and therefore only occasionally has the time to move their character. It's not necessarily true, but it seems a reasonable position.

Why does clicking get a bad reputation? Well, a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's slower. It is slower to move your mouse across your screen and hit different abilities than it is to move your hand across a keyboard. If you don't believe me, here's an experiment: head over to this keyboard site, and type a simple sentence by clicking the keys. Now try it with your keyboard. Unless there's something else at play, the latter should be faster. What's more, turn a full circle on the spot with your keyboard, and do the same with your mouse. One's a lot faster than the other.

WoW Insider covers the world of player vs. player action in Blood Sport for fans of Battleground, world PvP and Arena play. Steering you to victory is Olivia Grace, who never clicks anything but her fingers.

My last column dealt with the basics of macros and focus targets and their use in PvP. This time, we're tackling an even more heady topic, one that is arguably even more key to PvP success than macros and the use of focus targets. This article is a rare occasion when I will assert that one course of action is better than another!

Clicking is a tricky subject. People may be surprised to see it in the title up there hanging out right next other key PvP skills. I would like to say that, with one caveat that will come up later, I wouldn't encourage clicking in PvP.

First and foremost, what is clicking? When PvPers (and for that matter, probably PvEers) talk about clicking, they are referring to the practice of putting your abilities on your bars and clicking them with your mouse. In order to do this and move at the same time, you pretty much have to move with your keyboard.

OK, so now that it's completely clear what clicking is, why is it bad? First and foremost, let's look at movement. Moving with your keyboard is slow. It's really slow. If you don't believe me, stand your character still and spin through 180 degrees with your keyboard. Now do the same with your mouse. Much faster! Rather like the difference between a d-pad and a thumb joystick on a console controller, mouse movement is far more intuitive, far easier to fine tune and far faster.