Keybinds.

[Boyiee]

I don't understand keybinds and macros in wow. I don't see whats the need for them anyone wanna tell me what they are actually used for and some examples?

This is coming from someone who used to windower macro every piece of EQ for each individual spell and ability (Had a provoke gear swap too <,<)

Keys 1 through = are not enough, and keys 5 or 6 > to the right are too far of a reach. It's much faster and easier to "feel" or do a keypress without looking or accidentally hitting something I don't want to when instead I just hold my pinky down (since it hovers over shift) and press the same movement keys or 1-5 to give me a different ability.

WoW happens fast, it's nothing like ffxi. Most aspects take lots of spamming of several abilities, if you have to look, feel around, click, or anything like that; you are being that much less efficient. Some moments randomly in a fight where I need to use this ability which is more uncommon over something I've been spamming, it's nice to be able to do it in the same exact reaction time by pretty much pressing the same exact key.

[Eaglestrike]

well theres mainly only 5 abilities I need to use from what i've seen fast and those don't really have to be macroed. And I want to macro Righteous Defense to the person with hate but I feel like in instances and raid's later on the best way about it will be to just hit the number then the corresponding F key because it won't always be that same person. Maybe I just don't have enough important abilities yet as a 32 paladin though.

My basic keybinds are:
1= Hammer of the Righteous = 6s cooldown
2= Shield of the Righteous = 6s cooldown
3= Judgment of the Light = 9s cooldown
4= Judgment of Wisdom -> changing to the new taunt when it comes
5= Hammer of Justice = 30s cooldown
6= Righteous Defense = 8s cooldown taunt.
Shft-1 = Holy Shield = 8s cooldown
Shft-2 = Consecration = 8s cooldown
Shft-3 = Avenger's shield = 30s cooldown
shft-4 = Hammer of Wrath = 6s cooldown
Shft-5 = Cleanse = no cooldown

Spells I also use but more situationally:
Exorcism, Holy Wrath, arcane torrent, my two heals, sacred shield, Lay on hands, divine shield, divine protection...avenging wrath...

I'm trying to find keybinds for the other spells, going with alt-1/2 for my undead and have divine protection macro'd, but it's all a matter of whether I can get used to doing it instead of clicking on them, lol.

But yeah...there are a lot of things you pick up along the way as you level that begins to give you so many abilities it starts to stretch your keybinds out and require macro's. It's easy stuff early on while leveling but you need to react very quickly, ESPECIALLY as a tank in raids, so keybinds are very important. Which is why I'm trying to get used to using more...trying, heh.

[synistar]

well theres mainly only 5 abilities I need to use from what i've seen fast and those don't really have to be macroed. And I want to macro Righteous Defense to the person with hate but I feel like in instances and raid's later on the best way about it will be to just hit the number then the corresponding F key because it won't always be that same person. Maybe I just don't have enough important abilities yet as a 32 paladin though.

You'll end up macroing/hotkeying a good dozen buttons. Hand of Freedom/salv/protection definite hotkeys. AW/Trinket macro would work wonders. I have a self and other person buff cast sequence so I dont have to click 3/4 buttons every time. I think it was "/castsequence[Power Word: Fortitude, Divine Spirit, Shadow Protection, Inner Fire. target=self]" or something like that.

Righteous defense pre-3.0 I had a macro that had it target my target's target. And if it was anyone but myself, I hit the button and it would fire off. Still works to an extent but when I AoE pull it lost its usefullness a bit. I think it ended up being a conditional macro that was if target = help, Righteous Defense, else Judgement of Light on target = harm or someting like that.

[chillin]

i play on a macbook so my keys are close, cntrl+w/e is awkward so i avoid those binds.

keys I have bound:
12345678
QERTFGHZXCVB
`
shift of all the letters up there (some of them are to cast on my focus, focus wind shock, focus purge, focus intercept, focus pummel etc). a good thing to do is to bind strafe to A and D instead of Q and E.

also, I bind cure poison/disease/curse to my mouse-scroll, because i tend to need to spam those and it's pretty efficient. i'd recommend cleanse for you.

[Melena]

1-= for me, wtih ctrl and alt versions for lesser needed items. F is universal for anything one time specific like core tossing on vash, when i'm fishing, mass disenchants, etc, b is my pvp trinket macro, custom tricks of the trade macro to have it automatically go on the tank, another custom to hit blade flurry + another trinket simultaneously. My warrior is only 56 so haven't done too much custimization on that.

Also depending on what i'm doing, since I don't pvp very often, for minor adjustments I do keyboard turn, if I have to do any snap turns and runs *hackcoughIChackcoughhaigancouhg* i'll mouse turn.

[Noobta]

My universal key is ~, sucks because that's also my vent key

[Tirrock]

I put all my common stuff on 1-5, then alt 1-5, and ctrl 1-5. My mouse has programmable buttons and I love it. :D

I used to use my G15 (old style) keys, but moving my hand off WASD made it kind of suck. At best I ended up using G9 and G12 (right by the caps lock key). Doesn't matter much since the G15 binder add-on has been broken since lich king.

I didn't really think of binding QERFG before, that's a good idea. I might have to bind the strafe keys to A and D. I've been training myself to not keyboard turn lately and I don't do it nearly as much as I used to. It hasn't been too hard to break this habit since I've only been playing for 3 months.

[Baha]

I started with ~123...= and ctrl and alt variations of that, still ingrained with ffxi sensibilities. But yeah, wow is much higher tempo, the average cooldown is way shorter than 5 minutes, even your "oshit" button is ten minutes cooldown tops, as opposed to 2 hours. Also no real lull in getting new stuff like the usual 55-merit JA drought.

Anyway, now I've bound my keys around my wasd more, but it's still not how i'd like it to be.

~ Kill Command
1 Arcane Shot
2 Steady for comfy spammage
3 Serpent Sting
4 Hunter's Mark/Pet attack
5 BW
6 trinkets
7 mend pet

ctrl
1 AotV/AotDH switching
2 Rapid Fire
3 Barrage
4 Multi

Alt
1 intimidation
2 Wing Clip
3 Concussive Shot

misc
Tab Freezing Trap
A Feign Death
E Disengage
V Killshot

Rest I usually click, but the current setup is kind of annoying for some keys (binds with Alt are slower than I'd like), and I have some stuff that Is bound on stuff like ctrl+0 and is largely useless there. So sad I borked my G11 when I spillt water over it, was so very handy. I guess I'll try to figure something out with either shifting movement away from wasd to something farther to the right, or start using shift instead of alt. My binds seem to be the same as my UI, constant work in progress. ;p

Edit: If you configure the Logitech software to bind the G-keys to some obscure button combo (ctrl+shift+numpad 0 to 9) for example, you can use it without any addon, should work fine. I used to have bags/spellbook/talentpane/map and junk on there, the stuff you don't need to press in life or death situations, but it opened up some close keys to rebind.

[Tirrock]

Edit: If you configure the Logitech software to bind the G-keys to some obscure button combo (ctrl+shift+numpad 0 to 9) for example, you can use it without any addon, should work fine. I used to have bags/spellbook/talentpane/map and junk on there, the stuff you don't need to press in life or death situations, but it opened up some close keys to rebind.

Why didn't I think of that? I can use my G buttons again!