Strafing shifted from QE to AD

[Ovalkvadratcylinder.9365]

... why? legit. my brain is not able to cope with these big brain 5head changes

[Sobx.1758]

Probably because strafing has better value/impact on the gameplay and the chances are you're more often using "a/d while holding right mouse button" than just using "regular a/d".

One way or another, you can just re-bind it if you want it like it was.

 

 

e: the amount of confused reactions only shows me how many of you fail at moving, so I guess anet got tired of seeing it and just took care of it before the new wave of steam players gets used to it like you did 😄

Edited August 3, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Players haven't been using the keyboard to turn in MMOs for 15 years. The default keybinds in most games since the last decade or more is to strafe left/right with keyboard and turn with the mouse.

 

Though bug: Mounts can't strafe it seems.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Hashberry.4510]

Yep just AD to strafe, QE for utilities.

[Chyro.1462]

Just logged in and very confused ... don't know if I used turning or strafing before. My A and D just stopped doing anything after logging in.

Kinda weird to just change everyone's keybinds. May have been better to only make that change affect new characters and the 'reset to default' option.

Edit: Oh, and E was my interact button. Probably not hard to fix, but must be super confusing to newer players that don't read patch notes to suddenly have their inputs changed.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Chyro.1462

[Zepoolpe.9217]

Honestly... spending time on something like that when there are still bugs from day 1?

/facepalm

 

[Obtena.7952]

37 minutes ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

Players haven't been using the keyboard to turn in MMOs for 15 years.

Um, yes they have (because news flash, not everyone plays the same way and the proof is the fact that people noticed this change from playing the game.)

On the flip side ... not really that big a deal. Just remap your key binds

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Obtena.7952

[Randulf.7614]

Why force a keybind change after 10 years? Why not let people change it themselves? Was this actually something that needed force changing?

I don’t get the thinking behind making a change to controls at this stage of the game, esp when prob many don’t read patch notes
 

Not that I remember if I used default or rebound on those keys. Guess I’ll either not notice or get very confused. Bizarre change either way. Very bizarre.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Randulf.7614

[Astralporing.1957]

It was supposed to be a change of default settings for new players, not a forced change to those that got used to their own settings long ago.

[Doggie.3184]

They're training new players the wrong way.

[Sobx.1758]

I had Q/E bound to skills and these remained unchanged (which is obviously a desired outcome)

Edited August 2, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[Danikat.8537]

My guess is either Anet noticed most games with WASD controls use A and D for strafe rather than turning and thought it would be less confusing for new players, or maybe their data showed most players set it that way?

Either way it's not supposed to affect existing players, only new accounts created after the patch. I've seen a few people saying their controls were changed so it sounds like there's a bug.

[Sinmir.6504]

I don't see a point in automatically changing it for people who have been playing for years, but it can be changed back by the player. I just changed it to what it had been for years. though I don't see a point in doing it in the update, if I wanted it to be the new way I could have changed it to that myself any time.

[Zeivu.3615]

Everyone is asking why their keys aren't working Anet. Why did you have to kitten with our keybinds? Just put a tutorial in that tells new players how to change their binds.

[DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49]

It's very wrong to replace keys like that!

I had skills mapped to some of those forcibly changed keys and now it's unplayable until I re-map them. I need try to remember which was what and re-check everything to be sure, so it will take a bit of time. I thought I'll just play a bit at the Pavilion, but meh, I'll do it later...

At first I thought my keyboard broke again, which happened to me before, I needed to clean circuits inside, it's just thin plastic with metal lines, and I thought the issue returned. But it's just Anet changed my keys settings...

Edited August 2, 2022 by DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49

[Forgotten Legend.9281]

this makes me want to not even update the game until it's fixed. I've re-mapped many actions to hotkeys and i don't want to have to remember what i did. 

[Randulf.7614]

12 minutes ago, Forgotten Legend.9281 said:

this makes me want to not even update the game until it's fixed. I've re-mapped many actions to hotkeys and i don't want to have to remember what i did. 

Yeah I think I might do the same. Assuming they roll this change back of course

[Taclism.2406]

1 hour ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

It was supposed to be a change of default settings for new players, not a forced change to those that got used to their own settings long ago.

It is a change of defaults settings for every players. Keys you remapped are left untouched.
Personally I was using Q & E to strafe, AD to turn, patch bound both on Q & E. Changed those 2 keys back and voila. Writing this reply took more time and I type at 200wpm

As for why : We've been telling anet for years a bunch of default settings / keybind suck and teach bad reflexes such as slow turns. Improving the new player experience & learning is vital for the longevity of a mmo

EDIT : Ok so the "bug" is you can have 2 functions bounds to Q and E when you log on ... After changing it once, its fixed, the normal message for "this key is already bound elsewhere" still pops up.
My point remains it takes 30sec top to fix and didnt messed all of your setup, and is a significant improvement for noobs - remember the steam release soon-ish. 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Taclism.2406

[Zeivu.3615]

 

 

That is BS, Taclism. I had other keys remapped. Q in particular is my attack button for skill 1 and it didn't function at all until I remapped it.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Zeivu.3615

[Gregg.3970]

1 hour ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Why force a keybind change after 10 years? Why not let people change it themselves? Was this actually something that needed force changing?

I don’t get the thinking behind making a change to controls at this stage of the game, esp when prob many don’t read patch notes
 

Not that I remember if I used default or rebound on those keys. Guess I’ll either not notice or get very confused. Bizarre change either way. Very bizarre.

MVP post in this thread. 

Right on point Mr @Randulf.7614 🙂

NB: Very first thing after patch I did when I got in game was change my keybinds around QE to AD and AD to QE, takes 2 seconds to do, no biggie but really is beyond me why Anet think this was a good idea to change when majority of playerbase were happy with as it was!?! 

Edited August 2, 2022 by Gregg.3970

[DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49]

6 minutes ago, Taclism.2406 said:

It is a change of defaults settings for every players. Keys you remapped are left untouched.

I opened settings just to check it, and you're probably right. But it's very confusing, currently those identical keys are listed for two different actions and only one action is activated.

Skill which used Q do not work now, but indeed Q is still mentioned near that skill. Q is also mapped for turning, which happens after pressing the key.

So maybe it will be easier to fix, but still current config is just wrong. Either 1 key should activate both actions, or they shouldn't map single key to 2 actions.

[Rifton.7346]

What's up with these changes that come out of nowhere and make almost no sense?

[Sobx.1758]

9 minutes ago, DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49 said:

I opened settings just to check it, and you're probably right. But it's very confusing, currently those identical keys are listed for two different actions and only one action is activated.

Skill which used Q do not work now, but indeed Q is still mentioned near that skill. Q is also mapped for turning, which happens after pressing the key.

So maybe it will be easier to fix, but still current config is just wrong. Either 1 key should activate both actions, or they shouldn't map single key to 2 actions.

My Q and E keys remained bound to the skills they were bound to and didn't get a second entry after the patch. On the other hand my "-" was like you're saying here: remained where it was + rebound to the "information dialog" and the previous binding of "-" had no effect until rebound. So seems pretty inconsistent.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Sobx.1758

[itspomf.9523]

Logged in to check out the chronomancer / mesmer changes, and couldn't for the life of me remember what I had done before for movement, so I flipped strafe and turn and that felt ... vaguely more familiar?  I think?

Guys, it's been 10 years.  Don't do this kind of thing.  Especially to something that you don't even think about until wandering around the map suddenly feels wrong.

[Astralporing.1957]

59 minutes ago, Taclism.2406 said:

It is a change of defaults settings for every players. Keys you remapped are left untouched.

That's actually not true. I have already remapped the keys to the new default setting years ago. And yet after logging in i found that my keybinds for A and D were deleted (Q and E remained unchanged). So, there's definitely something really buggy about it. And i bet that if they decide to fix it, they will reset keybinds once again.