Character Movement.

Best advice would be use whatever system works for you. Some people use the arrow keys (I do), some use the WASD, and others set thier keys by using the Options/Keymapping window.

If someone told me that I'm playing the game wrong, yet I'm contributing to the team play without much problems, I'd probably either ignore him/her or tell 'em to p*ss off.

In any case, it's your account, play the way you're comfortable with.

During manual movement and fights, I use WASD and Q-E for turning. The default turning speed is too slow for me, so I have it increased in Menu-->Options-->Controls to high-700s.

During auto-run/fly, I use right-click+drag for smoother steering with occassional Q-E for quick corrections.

For targeting, I use the defaults Tab and Ctrl-Tab.

Powers activation is all left-clicking on the Powers Tray.

Wow... so many different ways. I was more curious than looking for another method. And thanks to all the reppers, not why I started this, but appreciated none the less.

I use my right hand on the arrow keys and numpad for movement and keybinds (pet commands for Masterminds, witty phrases to accompany Taunt powers on toons that have them), respectively, while my left hand handles tabbing through enemies and power activation. I rarely even use my mouse in combat situations unless there's a particular enemy in a group that needs to be targeted quickly, or I'm fighting on an outdoor map where tab-cycling would target enemies in the next spawn over.

I use my left hand for moving and activating most powers.
- default movement keys (WASD etc)
- my most used powers are in slots 1-5 of the first two trays
- standard use of Tab, custom targeting on alt-Tab, Tilde and alt-Tilde
- binds for Sprint, Ninja Run, Teleport, Recall and vet attacks with the left hand

My right hand operates the mouse for:
- mouse look
- infrequently used powers
- using inspirations
- sometimes for steering, particularly if using Superspeed

Just wanna put in a plug for the Nostromo N52 Speedpad external controller.

I've got mine mapped for (off-mouse hand) WASD movement, jumping, Sprint, Hasten, etc., with the lowest row of keys + thumbpad as #s 1-8 for power activation.

Targeted powers (Rain of Arrows, Wormhole, etc.) go in the base-of-thumb button, with "Nuke" or "Grenade" powers on the top-thumb button.

Works like a charm, highly recommended for gamers and/or very tall people like me, with huge wingspans, for whom using the keyboard itself feels "cramped".

OK - gonna chime in here.

This is my only MMO, and I have never played any FPS games at all. Before City, my game of choice was either something from the arcade games on MSN or Heroes of Might & Magic (not Might & Magic), which is turn-based. Also, never played any console games because I was just a bit too old for the Atari 2600, it belonged to my younger sibs (I was way to sophisticated to play it, besides, I'm a girl and arcade games were a "boy" thing - stereotyped, I know, but that was how it was in small-town West Virginia).

So I developed my own system of moving, etc., which is no doubt very inefficient, but I have tried others and can't really "get" them.

I use a laptop, sometimes with a second keyboard. If I am using the second keyboard, it's on the keyboard tray under the laptop. Movement is on the second keyboard with the left hand, using the arrow keys. Attacks are activated using the mouse pointing to the icons. Jump uses the right hand, moved from the mouse to the laptop keyboard.

If I'm using just the laptop, I still use the arrow keys, but it's a bit more uncomfortable because I have to move my left hand up to the laptop keyboard.

Many people have tried to teach me other methods, but I always come back to this one.

WASD for gross movement, Spacebar for jump, use right-mouse-look to turn and reverse y-axis (I was a pilot, once...) for looking up and down. Mouse wheel to zoom, and mouse button for all powers. I usually end up with 4-5 trays for level 50 characters.

Yeah, I've been told I'm doing it wrong too. Last time I checked, I was paying my own subscription fee, so I'll do as I see fit.

I do like that between keyboard, keybinds, mouse and mouse buttons, you've got a huge variety of ways to set up your controls.

Do as you like.

I use a Saitek dual analog controller. I move with the D-Pad, use the right stick for camera control and click it for TAB-targetting, and use the left stick for the mouse cursor and click it for the left mouse button. My six face buttons are set to numbers 1-6 with 4 set as the jump button by default, my two right shoulder buttons are set to 7 and 8, and my two left shoulder buttons are set to either ALT and CTRL or ALT and SHIFT.

Using the left shoulder buttons and the right stick movements I can cycle through friendly or hostile targets in various ways, and using those shoulder buttons with the other face buttons gives me access to 8 commands in trays 2 and 3 for a total of 23 available tray commands. If the game would recognize combined shift keys (for instance CTRL+ALT+<key>) I could have more commands at my fingertips, though I generally don't need more.

I've played nearly every MMORPG I've ever tried on a dual-analog controller (mainly Saitek), with the keyboard being almost solely used for chat.

arrow keys to move, crtl to jump, numpad 0-9 as powers, shift and alt as tray mods, mouse for camera with button 4 as follow 5 as auto run

I use Q and W for left and right strafe.
I use A for forward and Z for backward.
I use mouse for camera control.
I don't bother with a key for flying down, since I just look down or de-toggle flight to "fly down."
The entire left side of my keyboard are all shortcuts/macros for key powers.
I use the number bar to activate powers as well as control and alt + # for the 2nd and 3rd hotbar. However, I don't go beyond 5 since I'd be reaching too much so I just click for powers that has to be in slot 6 and so on.

My movements are setup with the non-traditional W, Q, A, Z because Descent was the first game I've ever played and the default movement keys was such.

Just in my own experience, I can't get used to looking with the arrow keys simply because I can't move the camera and/or my character instantly that way, and the whole panning thing makes me dizzy.

I am right handed and i use the right hand on the arrow keys to move and left on power number buttons. thats just the best way for me

I use the ESDF method. WASD but moved over slightly so I have more bindable keys.

Powers I tend to use 1-4, maybe 5 or 6 but I try to keep it 1-4. I also use tray 2 and 3 for the ctrl+ and alt+ numbers. The number key-ed powers are typically attacks.

Then I use q, a and z and w for more powers If I need more room I typically bind x c and sometimes v. Also the shift+q,z,w keys are usually bound to something too. For characters with buffs, I typically use the w key for a team cycle bind.

Global chat binds are on m, n, and b.

I also have a Logitech MX Revolution with several buttons bound to function keys so F7 through F12 get bound to various powers too, along with the button4 and button5 on my mouse. So I have the forward and back motion of the side scroll wheel, side scroll wheel click, main scroll wheel tilt left/right and the quick search button bound to stuff.

I could go into where I bind powers based on functionality so things are roughly the same between characters (like toggle armors tend to be bound to the forward back motion of my side scroll wheel, AoE holds get bound to c, etc.), but I'd rather not bore people further

I'm a mouse user too with WASD, powers mapped to horizontal numbers keys with a few keys mapped for emotes/macros close to the WASD keys...been working so far. I just could never get used to not being able to look up/down quickly without the mouse.

I actually split move and rotate between my hands; W and S are used to move forward and backward, the left and right arrows are used to rotate. A and D are still bound to "strafe", but I rarely use that. I do hit "F" occasionally when a foe is moving too erratically for me to follow manually.

Q is my "next target" key, Tab selects the nearest target. I prefer that, being able to just zero in on who is closest to me with a single keypress.

Up and Down arrows are used for up and down while flying. Space bar doubles as up although I use it to jump, as if that's a separate function from flying. One difference is that if I'm not flying when I press up, it's bound to activate Flying.

The mouse is used for manipulating windows, and clicking on Inspirations. I use keys almost exclusively in combat. Primarily the 1-5 keys, since they are near my movement hand. (But not rotate, so I can track a foe while still firing)

Not a coincidence, the main keys I use for controlling my Mastermind henchmen are UIOJKL. I can hit them quickly with the right hand while still fighting with my left.

My sister seems tied to the mouseclick movement. I honestly don't know how she does it.

I use the arrow keys for movement, and "Page Up" and "Page Down" for looking up and down - the mouse if for clicking stuff, nothing else

I put my attacks in 1-7, clicks in 8-10 and toggles in the second tray 1-7

I also use WASD to move and mouse to steer.

I PvPed in WoW quite a bit, so it is just second nature for me to bind the following:

Movement: Mainly mouse with a bit of WASD
Powers: 1-5, Ctrl 1-5, Q, E, R (Ctrl Q, E, R), (Shift + keys or Alt + keys as necessary)

I bind auto run to my left mouse button (not left click, but my far right button). The only powers that are really ever clicked are the more passive toggles. For example, I see no reason to bind Willpower toggles to keys as I only ever activate them out of combat.

Even though it takes a bit more time to learn, I strongly recommend learning to hotkey powers. Even though you may only save a quarter/half/whole second here and there, that really adds up over time. Of course, it is your game, and you should play it as you want, but I just wanted to throw the tidbit out there!