[Guide] From Clicking to Keybinding

Introduction: Usually when you start playing wow for the first time, you start the game by clicking on things. Clicking is a really bad habit to get into even if it's 1 or 2 abilities. It's really not the choice to play, and if you are looking at this guide to begin with chances are that you click as well hence why you even bother looking but that's fine. If you feel a part of what most people address as "Clicker, Keyboard-turn, backpedaling, etc." then hopefully I'll get everything cleared out for you. Clicking is bad. Don't click. Staph.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meTFJwL_wnQ

"How do I know if I'm clicking?"
Basically, a good test to know if you are what it is considered a clicker is if you can play the game (that is raiding or doing arenas) while holding right click at ALL times, then you are not a clicker. If you let go even once to click on your bars, then sadly I have bad news for you. Well obviously this is excluding if you want to target something else or if you need to click on a raid frame or anything minor like that.

Disclaimer: Only healers get to have an excuse on this of course.

This will be a simple 3-step guide,

Spoiler: Show

Step 1: Enable your Action Bars

Game Menu > Interface > Action Bars > Select all action bars

This will display all possible action bars so you can start binding them. If you select the option "Lock action bars" this will prevent you from click and drag a bind by accident. If you want to change something with this option enabled, you need press shift+click and then drag a bind away.

Step 2: Keybinding Panel

Game Menu > Interface > Keybindings

This opens the keybinding panel. This is where the magic happens. I'm not going to go through every single section because that's just boring. The first section are your movement keys. You can change this section the way you want, but a highly don't recommend this because if you have been playing wow the way you have and you like it, then stick to it (WASD, maybe?). A bit bellow that you will find your "Action Bar Functions". Button 1-12 is your main action bar. You can also find special button bindings which are for vehicles and pet bindings. Even further bellow you will find "MultiActionBar Bindings". This section is for the additional action bars that we enabled in step 1.

Step 3: Start Binding!

Simple as that. Click on on whatever you want to change and press the binding you want to set it to. Remember that you can have modifier keys too! (shift, alt, ctrl)

Note: If you decide to bind something make sure that key is not currently occupied or you might have some confusion. For example if you want to bind C, and you currently have C for your character info panel then you have set a new bind for that (or leave it unbinded if that's what you want)

*Changing your movement keys
This is up to you. Most people play with WASD and disable turning right/left options because Q and E are very comfortable bindings. Also you can try ESDF and that enables you to have more reach on your keys, but it is a little more difficult to hit your modifier keys. You can also try it your own way. For example Reckful plays with Z and X (left, right) and he moves forward with his mouse. Obviously this is not recommended but you can be open minded and play on your own way.

*Some good keybinds?: Obviously you should NEVER copy someone's keybinds because they may be ok for them, but they might not be ok for you. Some good binds however are: Q,E,R,T,G,F,Z,X,C, `, [CAPS LOCK], [SPACE]
This also depends on your keyboard as well as with your hand reach. I can comfortable hit up to 6, but beyond that I'm pushing it.

*Transition
Start by doing your rotation and applying your dots or w.e on a training dummy. Do this up to the point where you can do your rotation blindfold. Then when you are done with that, start adding some cooldowns, utility spells, etc. Once you have all you need binded, start by going to a bg or an rdf and try to play with your new binds.
This is not something that you will do overnight. It takes time to get used to new binds. A lot of time. Personally, the reason why I started binding was because my Q key broke, so I needed new ways to move and I started messing with my keybinds. Later on, I added more and more keys as I played my warrior until everything I needed was bound. However, don't wait like I did for a key to break, the sooner you start binding the better.

Note: You DO NOT need to keybind every single thing. That's stupid. You only need to bind what you are going to be using. For most classes, you only need to bind your Main Action Bar and the one above it. That is more than sufficient.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me on forums or ingame. Thanks

-Nattyz