Altered Time - your #1 World of Warcraft Mage resource!

As we all know, there are two default ways of moving a character around in WoW: using keyboard (WSAD by default) or using mouse (press right button to turn and press both buttons to run forward). Most players I encountered have tried a bit of both or a combination (press W while turn with mouse), but I exclusively use mouse to move. I use a cheaper Razor that only have two side buttons, when my left hand is busy casting spell on the keyboard, my right hand takes care of displacements and target switching. In Patchwerk-style fight or dummy practice, my right hand is basically idle.

I have anticipated that it's rare to move with mouse exclusively. Earlier today, however, I've asked some guildies and friends about this play style, and most of them sound... astonished. Some said "play the game the way you feel comfortable" out of politeness, some of them said "I've seen people/I am one that moves exclusively with keyboard, but I've never seen people moving exclusively with mouse.", some of them said "that will eventually be the bottleneck of your WoW career, trust me."

Personally, I mostly plays a mage, and I haven't felt much inconvenience yet. I can move wherever I want, and I can make quick and accurate turns and delicate displacements, while comsuming FoF/Brain Freeze/Pyro! charges on GCD unaffected. Sure, it contributed to my dislike of Ice Floe, but since there are few fights where Ice Floe is imperative, I don't think it's a big issue. I can imagine that tanking, though I've hardly tried out in WoW, will be harder for me, since in order to backstep, I have to turn my character 180 degree, run forward, and turn back, and I can't dodge or parry in the small time window.

However, the voice I received was so generally negative. Therefore, I decide to bring this to AT.com and ask around, under the assumption that I've long got totally used to my current play style:
1. Is there anyone here that moves exclusively with mouse? Not "dominantly", not a combination as mentioned above, EXCLUSIVELY.
2. If not, have you ever seen anyone doing this beside me?
3. Is there a strong disadvantage to my WoW career? Is there a bottleneck that can't be overcome unless I start integrating keyboard movement as I play WoW at higher and higher level?
4. As I said, I know it'll be harder for me to tank. Will this play style make it impossible for me to play a tank? Explain how if yes.
5. Will it hinder me from healing better? I played 2 healers in 5.4, both have cleared (old) Normal SoO with on-par performance. Explain how if yes.
6. Will it hinder me from playing a melee DPS? I have a rogue toon that has also cleared Normal SoO back in 5.4, and I think I'm quite agile on my feet with it. Explain how if yes.
7. Will it hinder me from doing better in the arena? For now, I'm comfortable with my aiming of CoC/Dragon's Breath.


I can still be convinced to re-learn my footwork in WoW from scratch, if the disadvantage is indeed "fatal" as some of them put it. So please cut the "it's all right" routine and state your reasoning. Thank you ^_^

3.

If moving with mouse you always face the direction you're moving. When strafing I can look another way. With strafe I can run in a line away from a target and still cast instants on it. Possible when moving wiht mouse aswell, jump and turn but to me it's seems like more effort.

If you're moving with the mouse it's hard to (if no impossible) to use mouseover spells. Used to've living bomb on mouse over, if moving with keys I could still bomb whichever target I wished on my screen while moving. Mouseover is almost default when healing. Can you power word shield or rejuinate someone when moving with mouse?

Myself use e, s and f for movement and turn with mouse. Allows me to stop turning but still move and change target with mouse or use mouse for mouseovers.

I can kite by running away from the enemy, turn 180 degree+throw a lance+turn back within the blink of an eye, rinse and repeat every GCD. This does seem to be more effort on paper but I've long got proficient with it.

When I heal back in 5.4, it's true that I have to stay my feet, cast mouseover instant heal, and start running if there is a reason to. This is less of a problem in 6.0, considering how many healing spells are no longer instant.

The bottom line is: I hope this habit alone will not prevent me from being a decent mage, which I choose to main and to devote to. Beyond this, if possible, I wish to keep this habit while delving into melee, healing and tanking a bit.

Turning 180 degrees is fine if your at range but if you are going to be in melee rang, you will take more damage because you have 0 chance to dodge. Straffing gets around that and you can always cast.

Strafing and camera angle, mostly. It helps when kiting, dogding and controlling the direction of your jumps.

Besides mouseover macros, it's also easier to target with your mouse free. Also, ping the map and use addons that add an interface meant for clicking, like Decursive, BattlegroundTargets and Gladius.

In arena, I expect it to hinder your awreness, as you're limited to specific angles of view. If you played Smite, where your camera is tied to your God's view direction, you probably know how crippling it is to flee without being able to see what your chasers are doing and where they are aiming.

Strafing and camera angle, mostly. It helps when kiting, dogding and controlling the direction of your jumps.

Besides mouseover macros, it's also easier to target with your mouse free. Also, ping the map and use addons that add an interface meant for clicking, like Decursive, BattlegroundTargets and Gladius.

In arena, I expect it to hinder your awreness, as you're limited to specific angles of view. If you played Smite, where your camera is tied to your God's view direction, you probably know how crippling it is to flee without being able to see what your chasers are doing and where they are aiming.

I find that, since I always press the right mouse button to turn my camera (and my left mouse button if I don't want my character to turn), I can point my camera in whatever 3D angle I like with good accuracy.

However, it is true that when I run, I cannot keep my camera pointed in any direction other than the one I'm running towards (except adjusting it upward or downward, ofc).

If it's crucial to be able to see what's behind my back when I displace in arena, maybe I can start by learning to move forward with keyboard while swing the camera (with left mouse button) to see my back?

There are two things at play here.

Your skill - You have a lot of experience and dexterity moving with only the Mouse. I don't doubt that
Skill ceiling - The upper limit of skill in general.

Play a fps, like CS Go and avoid using the strafe buttons to move . . . Doesn't work well does it?

Regardless of how good you are at moving with a Mouse only, pulling fancy 180's to cast instants . . . it doesn't matter. Using a strafe button to move lets you look around/aim AND cast instants with a fraction of the effort.

In WoW you can get away without strafing because there's more wiggle room for less than optimal gameplay. People can get away with clicking and getting carried through content. But the fact is Mouse only is effectively playing at 98%, sure you can take #1 on the meters and rank in World of Logs. It may only become an issue on high movement fights like Tectus, Ogron Twins, Ko Ragh, etc. But if you care about your best, you'll want to cover that 2% improvement.

Yes it will suck learning to strafe, you'll probably do worse for a while. Changing habits and muscle memory always sucks. But if you want to play at your very best, and it sounds like you do, you need to learn to strafe.

Thanks Synkronized for your answer.

You mentioned the FPS genre of games, and actually this is one thing I don't quite understand about myself. I finished the campaign of every major work in the Call of Duty series at Veteran difficulty, during which strafing is not only something I do all the time, but an essential part of my aiming process and imperative to my usage of cover. I'm also wondering why I can't do the same comfortably in WoW.

But then again, I don't have to press hotkeys very often in CoD. When I need to do things like "throw a grenade while moving my feet", I usually do it rather poorly.

A lot of it has to do with familiarity. Maybe you got comfortable playing w/ Mouse only through DotA or Diablo? So it translated naturally. If you do try changing I'd say the best mentality would try think about 3rd person shooters like Gears of War or Mass Effect.

I am using WASD + QE (strafe) + mouse, as needed. I've also played melee, where using combinations of these can create some useful movement patterns (semi circular, elliptical, etc). Some might say that all you need is the mouse, but in my opinion, it's better knowing how to use all 6 movement keys in combination with the mouse.

I'm not sure if it have been coted before but there's a few mmo that use fps style. I did play at neverwinter. All the game was centered around it.
Wow can use both without problem.

I use both without even thinking about it. If I'm not in combat with anything I tend to alternated between WSAD and the mouse. Balances the load on my fingers I guess? Keeps them fresh for those ice lances.

i am in the same situation, i play with a G15 and a razer Hex and use the mouse to move.

My (cheap) solution: something like this, with strafe and backpedal or jump binded to it



or you can consider a gaming keypad that have a small joystick

Bottleneck? I'd say that moving exclusively with mouse my limit you in certain areas, but that limitation is so minimal that if you had the rest you could compete in guilds like method.
I feel that these limitations are roughly equal with the limitations that WASD has in comparison to ESDF. ESDF is in theory better but personal prefference is thr way to go

I feel like Ice floes are an absolute must on every fight and a definite dps gain.