Hello all and happy new year! I have messed up my shoulder and have extremely limited mobility w/ it right now. I picked up an Xbox controller and have been leveling a DH w/ it and it feels pretty good but I tried a dungeon last night and it was…interesting haha. I had trouble targeting mobs for interrupts.
I’m a pretty casual player, mostly just level alts and do super casual PvP (BGs and 2s, not pushing rating or anything) so I think I can make this work for me but if anyone out there has any experience or tips please share!! Especially with targeting haha, usually I use tab targeting but w/ the controller I am using an addon (I forget what it’s called, wanna say Controller Port or something like that) and it’s using the new action targeting thingy that Blizz introduced for DF.
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Ignore the people hating on it. Best advice would be to join the ConsolePort discord and ask there. Tanking and dpsing is pretty easy with a controller. Healing has more of a learning curve.
The new targeting system works by targeting whatever your character is directly looking at. So to interrupt you face towards them or you can also bind target next and previous enemy. I use the dpad left and right buttons for that. Practice on target dummies to remove any group anxiety.
So far I’ve done DPS and healing with a controller up to m+8 this season.
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awesome thank you! I will take a look at the discord and do some practice on target dummies, that’s a fantastic idea.
Idk why people hate on the controller, it’s a neat alternative way to play. I like it so far!
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There is a couple videos on YouTube explaining how to best play with a controller in m+. Last I saw of one he was doing a m+16 in shadowlands.
Biggest thing just like playing with keybinds is to have everything memorized and just be familiar with it. Leveling a new toon from level 1 is how I got used to playing with a controller my first time.
i hope blizzard continues to add more ingame support for controllers. i’d love to be able to try it more without having to set up an add on. i tried and its so complicated haha
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I would love to get to point where addon isn’t required for it just maybe enhances it. You can play without ConsolePort right now but you need a mouse for bags and any UI stuff.
ConsolePort fixes most of that. But it does have a learning curve especially for healing. Enabling the raid cursor makes healing easier with it. Gives you a target and you have another target on your healing frames but you give up the dpad buttons to do it.
Set target enemy scan to a button you’re comfortable with (for me that’s RB). Tab targeting is still a little wonky but it gets the job done. Anything that uses ground-targeted spells/abilities is annoying, unless you can macro it to @player.
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Absolutely love Console Port and I started playing back in vanilla with keys/mouse. I love using a controller and with the add on, I can do everything I need in terms of macros and keybinds. You just have to get use to bumper, trigger, etc combos to access different keybinds. I also set up the target scanning so it works great. I’m mostly a PvPer and do just fine. I’m a musician for a living and too much keyboard/mouse messes my hands up. Controller allows for a more relaxed posture and I find less strenuous on arm, hand and wrist muscles. Good luck.
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What i really want for this game is gamepad support similar to what they have with FFXIV i was very comfortable with that setup. Very intuitive.
Also for my controller bar profile to be independent from my keyboard/mouse profile.
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You can use the add-on MySlot to save button placement, keybinds and macros. I use it for switching between keyboard and controller
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I really wish I was smart enough on how people do controller support. Even with YouTube tutorials I felt so confused haha. I’m really showing my age lol. Makes me want to get that valve steam mobile system to try wow.
haha yeah it takes some getting used to for sure. I spent almost the whole day Saturday just trying to figure out how to get it set up in a way that made the most sense to me. And I think some classes are definitely easier than others. I tried it without the addon first but just couldn’t get the hang of it. I have some stuff down now but other things are still difficult! Just takes practice though I think. I used to feel the same way about keybinds years ago but they are second nature to me now. Even us old dogs can learn new tricks 
Maybe I’ll give it one last try on my day off lol. You inspire me 
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I prefer using the console command ‘GamePadCursorForTargeting 2’ - the 2 modifier will make it so the AOE will go to your current target. Unfortunately ConsolePort overrides this great option with a worse option so you have to put this in every time. But it’s worked great for me as DH.
Right now the main problem I’m having playing controller is that the new targeting system has bugged out the cleartarget function so you will be stuck hard targeting a corpse for no reason and it’s impossible to clear it without the use of a macro which is very irritating. Otherwise it works okay. Just really bad in dungeons when you’re trying to support the tank and focus their target and the game is stuck targeting a corpse from a pull ago. 
I would recommend giving this video a watch: watch?v=u7IYkMmpIfk it has a macro and UI setup that I like and is a lot more intuitive to set up than ConsolePort which frankly is a little obtuse. I still use it but I don’t use the action bars that comes with the addon. With the built in controller support you can just assign the buttons very easily whereas with ConsolePort you have to dig through a bunch of menus and stuff.
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This.
This corpse-targetting thing is driving me nuts! I keep forgetting to clear target or press my esc kb to change targets and try to figure out for a sec why my skills aren’t going off.
Has anyone discovered a workaround to this?
Until you get the hang of it, and an expensive controller with back paddles, I do not recommend Druid.
Every other class should work just fine.
I had no problem getting AotC when I cared to go for it maining either a healer or tank. I’ve used ConsolePort exclusively since Legion and even completed all of the Mage Tower challenges I cared to do with a controller.
WoW adapts pretty comfortably to controller play.
I believe learning a new tool during rehabilitation to be potentially more detrimental to long term recovery. Depending on your pre injury shoulder health, mobility, proprioception and strength, and your past experience using the same controller format. If the injury / loss of limb function is to stay, then looking to the future and adapting to a controller is a way to maintain positive habits.
Its not like your spine is going to start growing new arms, but still in the caution of developing neck strain from having to learn how to hold up one device you are not used to, while avoiding what would set off your shoulder.
i can imagine working around the problems that come with a controller except one thing…
nothing beats mouse look, “keyboard turning” with a thumb stick sounds like a big nono
let’s just say id rather have you use a mouse if youre in my m+ groups 
i imagine you need two thumbsticks to move around while freelooking, which leaves very few options to press buttons while that’s going on. sounds like an handicap
The skies the limit if you’re willing to become drummer boy. Keybind each quadrant in camera view, the pacing of the game is still set by gcds and potential preplanning of movement. Controllers are similar to playing first person where I’d imagine the whole group being on the same control system helps keep the flow of things manageable.
I’d rather attach multiple electrodes to my nipples.