Over the years I saw myself increasing progressively the number of buttons to press to play wow, from 1 to 5 (small fingers), then adding shift + everything, then zxc, and so on.
Now I can comfortably use/activate 20 (24 not so comfortably and 27 with some grumbling) skills/itens/macros frequently or reactively and I think any more than that is too much (I’m looking at u, brewmaster and resto shamy).
Is it too few? Too much? Want to know thoughts of other players.
This aspect of the game can get a bit overwhelming. I currently use 1-5, r,q,e,f,t, mouse4, mouse 5, and then shift+ all that for bar 2, and ctrl+ for bar 3. With macros and on use items, it’s easy to fill all 36 spots. Anything beyond 36, I don’t do. So 36 is my limit for what it’s worth lol
Here a resto shamy! say hello to my Keypad Razer Tartarus Pro. 19 binds x 2
Base Attack/Filler → Filler (if slot 1 is Base Attack) → Shortest CD (base rotation) → Longest CD (base rotation) → DoT/Buff (if talented) → Mobility → Snare
1,2,3,4,5,6 is my normal buttons for a rotation, occasionally with 7 bound depending on class.
For example:
Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Rapid Fire, Serpent Sting (if talented), Disengage
I then keep my offensive damage CDs (Meteor for example) bound to mouse5 and mouse4 respectively, with mouse4 having the smaller cooldown or more frequent use of the two.
I then have middle-mouse bound to a targeted reticle (Flamestrike), T for my CD mobility (Shimmer/Ice Floes), and H for my Interrupt. I then make /cast [nomod] macros for T to also use something like Blast Wave while Counterspell is tied to Polymorph.
Binding anything more than that seems redundant since at that point you’re only binding for specific targets like /cast [arena1] spell and that feels redundant to me. Anything with a CD of 2 minutes or more is clicked since it’s only touched once every 2 minutes. Like, I don’t need a 5m CD Ice Block bound to a hotkey when I can easily anticipate when I’m going to need to press it and place my cursor there in advance.
I’ve gotten pretty used to the 3 full action bar setup (36 buttons) because I primarily play healers and it’s super weird to me when I play many of the dps specs that don’t even fill those 3 bars
Razor Tartarus is no meme I can actually play without getting some wrist injury
Was the solution for me.
Help/harm macros are very useful as a healer for reducing keybinds. As an example, I have keybinds that if I hover over a friendly, they heal/buff/whatever, but if I’m targeting an enemy it casts an attack instead.
1 renewing mist/tiger palm
2 vivify/rising sun kick
3 enveloping mist/blackout kick
4 zen pulse/crackling jade lightning/statue
5 essence font/revival (alt modifier)
X decurse/ToD (purge on priest/shaman)
V life cocoon/paralysis/jadefire stomp
Z sheilun’s gift/disable
C soothing mist/keg smash
When it comes down to it, I can play most of the classes without feeling button bloat until I need to start using their utility skills. Then I run out of comfortable key binds and often just point and click them. Never considered using ZXC. My keyboard does also have G1 through G6 additional keys. Have not used them for WoW as of yet.
So, you’re asking for a comfortable # of key binds. Let me first say I shrink bar 1 and 2 down to 10 buttons. I ignore the #6 key. Don’t like going for it. I also have a G502 mouse, so I got a few extra key binds from it.
I’d say I play with 20 action buttons key bound. Find a way to make it work for all classes. Sometimes I even use a macro to double dip. I also never heal! That is with addons making sure I have every needed ability bound on my bars outside of utility.
yeah, those are the cursed ones for me, the Lock’s stones, a macro to focus on mouseover, the pots, the “non frequently” adds up and I feel the need to use em reactively.
The only class I find myself frustrated with is shaman because of the totems. It wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t change so drastically between specs.
Don’t really have an issue anymore with BrM especially now that rjw isn’t such a lock and PTA exists. I was just commenting to my friend that it feels like the simplest tank rotation-wise once you have a grasp of how it functions.
I have no issue with the amount of buttons on any class, and I’d be completely fine if they added more. I like when classes are fleshed out and able to do lots of things, so pruning bugs me. I’d rather see buttons improved than removed.
I still think we can see a console port on the horizon for WoW. Adding more buttons is not something they seem to be doing this go around. Especially with how passive most of the hero talent stuff is. Time will tell but I can play most classes with a Xbox controller just fine. Again, minus the utility stuff.
I have good keybinds for about 26 things and that is basically enough for nearly every character with a small amount of creativity.
1-7, C, Shift+C, V, Shift+V, Z
Q E R F G T + Shift modifiers for each
Shift+1-6, F1-F4 (they are awkwardly distant on my current keyboard so I use function keys for infrequent things)
I could have also done Shift+Z, X, Shift+X but I have a harder time hitting X while doing other things, and Shift + X / Z basically means lifting my whole hand.
If my Function keys were closer I could maybe do Shift combos with them but it’s too much of a stretch right now.
For basically any class that has some kind of heal or utility that ONLY functions when used on an ally, I highly recommend putting it in a Help/Harm macro with something that can only be used on enemies. Monk can do something like Tiger Palm/Vivify for all specs. Mages can do Spellsteal/Remove Curse, things like that. For actual healing specs, this can cut down your overall needed keybinds by like 6-8. Help Harm macros are basically the only reason I don’t need like 10 more keybinds for Monk, Druid and Paladin.
I think 20 things you use on a pretty regular basis is pretty typical and kind of “comfortable.” When you start really pushing up to like 26 and beyond it gets to be a bit much.
Just a warning if you use Z for a keybind it’s very easy to fatfinger it and press Alt+Z instead, effectively removing your UI at a possibly inopportune time if you have the default keybind for hide UI
highly recommend re-binding or un-binding this. Same thing goes for the R and Shift + R keybinds for replying to whispers, C for character panel.
Oh yeah I rebound all those for sure I was just warning others about the horrors of the Z bind
I’d say the sweet spot is between 10 to 15 total, with a few very situational here and there.
I think 14ish is about the limit for most average people. That’s 1-6 and shift 1-6. I’ve got big hands so not sure if I’m able to hit extra buttons or if it’s limiting me. Alt/ctrl just leave my hand in positions where I can either hit attacks or be able to move and not both, which since I play melee and Blizzard designs everything these days like a bullet heck, not a great thing. Obviously at least 2 on mouse, I have a logitech 604 with 6 side buttons so that gives me a few extra.
Sadly I enhancement shaman, closest thing to battlemage, and 12+ is just the basic rotation without any utility/cc/interrupts. I end up having to macro things together so i can fit the important stuff into those keybinds and onto the bars.
I don’t want to use more than 6 in a standard rotation