[Background]
I’m a new dad so playing on controller would be quite handy.
I have dabbled with controller in past on steam deck using steam input and console port addon. so I’m not starting from zero in terms of playing that way.
My environment: Windows 11PC
Using Switch 2 Joy-cons wirelessly
Undead Paladin played to level 10 at the time of posting
In terms of input and latency the game works flawlessly.
[Feedback]
Firstly there are a few incredible things that I’m glad to see.
- Party frame cycling is amazing
- Radial menu for system
Then there are some pretty mind boggling choices…
- a, x, y, b (no modifier) being locked to fairly useless keys aside from the interact button
- This means that the only non modifier buttons I can use while trying to move are on the d-pad which directly conflicts with actually moving my character with the joystick
- Start is only for the system menu, it is not used as ‘escape’.
- Wastes an extra button by functionally putting escape on ‘b’ instead of allowing start to be escape and system menu
- R1 refuses to quick toggle and struggles to re-target away from current toggle even when point with the right joystick
- Why can’t I just tap R1 to enemy tab target, it works great for keyboard. We don’t need to reinvent everything here
- select is being used for focus target.
- maybe someone else has an idea why this is smart but to me its ridiculous
- ‘Y’ being taken up by what amounts to a target right click is insane.
- If I miss the modifier, say R2+Y not only did I fail to cast but I’m nested in another menu mid combat!!!
- The menu closes when I hit b but because of where plates are it isn’t always readily apparent that I have made the mistake
- I need the option to not have the camera reset to behind me when I start running
- Let me free look while running just like when I play keyboard and mouse
- resetting like this puts players at a disadvantage by limiting their field of view while running
- with a mouse I can run forward while looking back giving me the ability to jump turn and attack while continuing to run. players on controller should have this ability
Choices that are ‘ok’ but would simply be fixed by the freedom to rebind buttons.
- Jump button being ‘a’
- understandable but an absolute waste of important keybind for an ability
- I use a paddle button for jump on steam deck or r-stick press on controllers without a paddle
- ‘Home button’ is seemingly unused, not sure why it or select are not used for the map
- If I go into keybinds in options without gamepad enabled I can choose for example ‘map’ and assign it by pressing the button on the controller. This however does not impact the gamepad bindings. This experience MUST be unified by launch.
[Tips]
This section is quick tips for players trying out WoW with controller for the first time
- If you launch WoW through steam you can enable steam input with your controller
- so you can modify button inputs to keyboard buttons (ex. I made home = m for map)
- you can also assign buttons that Blizzard did not account for like paddles or the rail buttons of joy cons
4 Likes
I’m glad to see more topics from folks giving feedback on controller support. It’s definitely well thought-out, but has plenty of room for improvements. I would love to see a Toggle option for modifiers so you don’t have to hold RT/LT all day. Re-binding all keys and being able to edit the UI are definitely up there as well.
2 Likes
Choosing which buttons act as modifiers would be pretty great. I hadn’t thought about that one.
Another thing I hadn’t mentioned because its less to do with how the controller functions is UI text.
currently none of the settings take into account how the majority of controller users will be a few feet from the screen making quest text difficult to read.
1 Like
I am not part of Blizzard, but this is WOW. Its 20 years old. How many other 20 year old games are able to use controllers. Activision was a controller game. They bought Blizzard a few years back. Why was it not done then. Sony Copyright maybe?? Oh, now Microsoft could use their XBox information and do the deed as we all are one happy family now!! Make it so, ENGAGE Number 1!!
The weird thing is that Consoleport does all of this.
It’s the same issue with the built in cooldown manager, Blizzard always hard codes everything. As a programmer, the first thing you learn is how to use abstractions to build customizable software, and it feels like the whole Blizzard UX team never got the memo.
What’s even crazier is the game HAS gamepad support and without controller mode turned on, it’s possible to bind any controller button or button chord to any action bar slot. It’s such a crazy, unnecessary regression when all that is needed is a UI similar to the consoleport action bar map where you add in inspect, right click etc. as abilities you can map.
To be fair, I have found console port to not be the easiest to wrap my head around.
What I would want out of the ‘stock’ system is closer to ‘just works’ where as, imo, console port asks you to learn first and play second.
That said what is built in now for WoW Forever Beta is definitely a case of cooking and serving without tasting but as an alpha is not surprising that we would be early testers for this and its actually welcome that we get a chance to provide feed back this “early” in the cycle.
That said, with all the resources around them it can be concerning that they haven’t done some more common sense items and we’re now forced to hope they listen to us here lol
a, x, y, b non re-bindable are not the only issue I have in that regards. It is similar for hunt and warlock, the whole LT+RT layout is locked to pet actions. You can’t put anything else on those buttons for these 2 classes. Other class can bind anything to LT+RT.
These kind of restriction should be removed. Obviously the first thing to do here is to unlock LT+RT for all classes.
Second in regards to face buttons, what they need to do, is adding in the general tab of the spell book those 4 actions (attack - which is also not applicable for casters/hunt as it is melee attack, inspect, cancel and jump). This would then allow to rebind them anywhere.
I’m all for accessibility and making the game appeal to a wider audience (I’m disabled myself and play in my living room on a recliner with a lappad for my mouse and keyboard).
But can any of you address how you plan to socialize/interact with others in this game if youre only using a controller? In a dungeon, or end game raid, or even a BG where the team with the most communication has always had a clear advantage. Just some examples.