Hotkey Efficiency & The Tank

While the MMORPG is generally devoid of the infamous "twitch," there is an unfortunate misconception that skills are not required for play. This is simply not the case; good group play is definitely something one has to work towards. Much like RTS games, hotkey customization, speed, and efficiency are a good place to start trying to hone your skills.

As a Protection minded Warrior you are often placed in a primary leading role for your party, and while no class is necessarily expendable, lets assume as fact out of my personal bias that the warrior is definitely not.:) Below is a rundown of a reasonably efficient hotkey setup I've come to use... obviously as the game continues to change here in beta things may need to be re-prioritized. That is pretty much the key to any hotkey setup... priorities, which you'll see below.

(Before I get going, lets assume its a given that you have Cosmos installed, or whatever similar UI:Mod may be around at the time. I'm running on the assumption that at the very least you have a second action bar above your first, which is hotkey compatible)

http://www.planetageofmythology.com/images/forums/members/jcl/jayhotkeys.GIF

1 - Taunt 2 - Sunder Armor 3 - Revenge 4 - Shield Bash 5 - Demoralizing Shout 6 - Battle Shout 7 - Challenging Shout 8 - Inner Rage

Alt 1 - Bloodrage Alt 2 - Disarm Alt 3 - Shield Block Alt 4 - Shield Wall Alt 5 - Potions Alt 6 - Intimidating Shout

Now for some pretty simple reasoning. Its much easier for your left hand to hit Alt and 1 then to slide down and try to find 0, -, or = for those obscure final hotkeys to the right of your bar. I've prioritized the most important skills to be on the left for easiest and swiftest access, so that a rather lopsided action bar has developed.

These hotkeys are clearly not setup for solo play, but focused on groups.

Every battle will have you casting Taunt, without any doubt as the warrior currently stands. Sunder Armor is usually worthless, unless you have a Rogue or an Offensive Warrior, etc in your group. Bloodrage should be cast every battle, probably twice in later fights as they become more extended. Disarm is very effective, and as shield Block and Revenge make a great combination I've placed them in line vertically. Potions are of course reasonably close as well for emergencies, as opposed to bandages and food. Intimidating Shout is slightly off, because a misclick of that could easily lead to Wipe.

I'm considering swapping Sunder Armor/Disarm with Shield Block/Revenge. Assuming I have the Rage, Shield Block helps preserve my own life and therefore tanking ability, and Revenge, with a 40% stun rate with talents, helps to shut mobs down further. My job is not to do damage, so any spare rage I can get should go to minimizing my own damage taken (ie, stunning and blocking). Shield Bash as well should be very accessible, because out of all the above skills its perhaps most "twitch" friendly, when mobs have relatively short casting times that need to be interrupted before its too late.

Concussion Blow will likely be placed between Shield Wall & Shield Block, and give me an extra buffer between a Spammed Skill (Shield Block) and a Shield Wall which is a life saver with such a long timer, to help guard against accidently misclicks.

For pulling I generally use a Gun, with the Shoot action being placed on a Sidebar, as patience goes a long way with Pulling I figure I can get away with a manual click for it usually.

/testwiki