More options is never, ever a bad thing. Custom keybinds and other optional toggles can be a massive boon to people with forms of disability ranging from carpal tunnel to paralysis, etc. That being said the current implementation of movement/camera just feels a bit wonky and in many instances leads to annoyances in combat scenarios. If we're not going to get WASD movement we need to be able to pan/rotate the camera perspective in some ways. I've lost count how many times trees, buildings, etc. have managed to get in the way of my combat visuals or lead to unintended interaction with world objects. It also leads to combat feeling a bit less snappy and less fluid IMO. Either of the above suggestions would address the issue, but I'm sure implementing WASD would be easier from a dev perspective.

I had this happen to me as well, I managed to fix it but honestly just by accident. I'm not sure what exactly triggered it to fix itself.

Instead of outright restrictions I think they should add penalization. If a spell is intended for a mage in light armor then I think you should still be able to use it in heavier armor, but it should come at some sort of trade-off. Either per ability like increased spell cost, longer CD, etc. However I personally prefer the idea of just give a flat stat or cost/Cooldown penalty based upon the weight of the armor worn and not only for skills but for player movement as well. This should be implemented in a way where once you reach a threshold it just becomes unrealistic/dumb to use a skill unless it's meant for a very niche situation. The current system is still a class system, just in a slightly different skin. Instead of a class name you click during character creation it's based upon what weapon/armor type you're using.

The armor weight system above would also help make each character build feel unique not just by their equipped skills/gear but also how that gear affects how they choose to interact with the world and with PVP. Archers and rogues should be fast, wily, and annoying to fight against. Mages should be able to keep their distance from a big, heavy melee character fully ironclad without the need for CC. Melee characters with lighter armor should be rewarded for doing so with increased movement and/or attack speed. The current system massively limits build diversity and actively discourages players from experimentation.

@GamerSeuss I've read the comments made by @Prometheus all the way back in 2017 and frankly the reasoning doesn't make much sense. The reason they don't want to provide it as an OPTION is because the players who use it will put themselves at a disadvantage? So what? If they're more comfortable playing that way, better or worse individual performance isn't the devs concern. Accessibility and comfort are going to be far more important to most people than anything else especially in a new game or genre. If it truly does lead to a disadvantage then the option to revert back to the intended control scheme will always be there and players who are concerned that their competitive edge has been dulled by the choice of WASD can revert back.

I also heavily dispute the thought process being used when operating on the belief that there will be more freedom/effectiveness in combat. Players using WASD who may have reduced ability to do quick flicks for various reasons would benefit from the WASD control scheme, rather than be hurt by it. All I've seen about it basically boils down to 'Well Diablo and POE do it, so we're going to do it as well.'

@GamerSeuss All of that is fair enough. They have a vision and it's good to stick to it. Plenty of devs don't know when to say no. There are core design principles in any game. However when something comes up so often and consistently over 3 years then the devs owe it to the game's community to give them solid reasons; which they've failed to do in this instance. Which makes it come off as disrespectful or at the least dismissive to the community, those who funded and those interested in funding the game.

Since you seem to agree with them, maybe you could inform me a bit more on what heir outlook might be here since what they provided didn't really make any sense if you stopped to think about it for a minute. Why do you think not providing an option for WASD is preferable?

I hope this doesn't come off as hostile, that's not the intent. I'm just curious how even having the option can be seen as being a bad thing for the game.

It would be nice if we could consolidate all of our QOL suggestions into one megathread for the devs to easily find the most requested/highest interest QOL features/options. I understand that we're still early in the dev cycle and these kinds of things tend to come later, but I don't think it's ever too soon for players to let the devs know what kind of QOL features are most important for them to see by the launch window.

@spoletta Is it creating a lot of different builds though? I know there will be many more skills come launch time, so we don't have the full picture, but as it is the variety in builds feels extremely limited without even considering heavy armor atm and the more limitations we have the less chance there is for meta to shift and offmeta to shine. Obviously there's a line that needs to exist, but when judging it based on what's there right now it's is too overbearing. I'd like to think the devs have all of this in mind already, but I'd still rather have people share their ideas and feedback. Because at this stage there's plenty of time and room for improvements.

@GamerSeuss All of that is fair enough. They have a vision and it's good to stick to it. Plenty of devs don't know when to say no. There are core design principles in any game. However when something comes up so often and consistently over 3 years then the devs owe it to the game's community to give them solid reasons; which they've failed to do in this instance. Which makes it come off as disrespectful or at the least dismissive to the community, those who funded and those interested in funding the game.

Since you seem to agree with them, maybe you could inform me a bit more on what heir outlook might be here since what they provided didn't really make any sense if you stopped to think about it for a minute. Why do you think not providing an option for WASD is preferable?

I hope this doesn't come off as hostile, that's not the intent. I'm just curious how even having the option can be seen as being a bad thing for the game.

I had this happen to me as well, I managed to fix it but honestly just by accident. I'm not sure what exactly triggered it to fix itself.

@GamerSeuss I've read the comments made by @Prometheus all the way back in 2017 and frankly the reasoning doesn't make much sense. The reason they don't want to provide it as an OPTION is because the players who use it will put themselves at a disadvantage? So what? If they're more comfortable playing that way, better or worse individual performance isn't the devs concern. Accessibility and comfort are going to be far more important to most people than anything else especially in a new game or genre. If it truly does lead to a disadvantage then the option to revert back to the intended control scheme will always be there and players who are concerned that their competitive edge has been dulled by the choice of WASD can revert back.

I also heavily dispute the thought process being used when operating on the belief that there will be more freedom/effectiveness in combat. Players using WASD who may have reduced ability to do quick flicks for various reasons would benefit from the WASD control scheme, rather than be hurt by it. All I've seen about it basically boils down to 'Well Diablo and POE do it, so we're going to do it as well.'

Instead of outright restrictions I think they should add penalization. If a spell is intended for a mage in light armor then I think you should still be able to use it in heavier armor, but it should come at some sort of trade-off. Either per ability like increased spell cost, longer CD, etc. However I personally prefer the idea of just give a flat stat or cost/Cooldown penalty based upon the weight of the armor worn and not only for skills but for player movement as well. This should be implemented in a way where once you reach a threshold it just becomes unrealistic/dumb to use a skill unless it's meant for a very niche situation. The current system is still a class system, just in a slightly different skin. Instead of a class name you click during character creation it's based upon what weapon/armor type you're using.

The armor weight system above would also help make each character build feel unique not just by their equipped skills/gear but also how that gear affects how they choose to interact with the world and with PVP. Archers and rogues should be fast, wily, and annoying to fight against. Mages should be able to keep their distance from a big, heavy melee character fully ironclad without the need for CC. Melee characters with lighter armor should be rewarded for doing so with increased movement and/or attack speed. The current system massively limits build diversity and actively discourages players from experimentation.

It would be nice if we could consolidate all of our QOL suggestions into one megathread for the devs to easily find the most requested/highest interest QOL features/options. I understand that we're still early in the dev cycle and these kinds of things tend to come later, but I don't think it's ever too soon for players to let the devs know what kind of QOL features are most important for them to see by the launch window.

More options is never, ever a bad thing. Custom keybinds and other optional toggles can be a massive boon to people with forms of disability ranging from carpal tunnel to paralysis, etc. That being said the current implementation of movement/camera just feels a bit wonky and in many instances leads to annoyances in combat scenarios. If we're not going to get WASD movement we need to be able to pan/rotate the camera perspective in some ways. I've lost count how many times trees, buildings, etc. have managed to get in the way of my combat visuals or lead to unintended interaction with world objects. It also leads to combat feeling a bit less snappy and less fluid IMO. Either of the above suggestions would address the issue, but I'm sure implementing WASD would be easier from a dev perspective.