On some level, every MMO is going to feel like it has the wrong controls to me. The reason for this is simple: My first MMO was Final Fantasy XI, which uses such a radically different control setup from every other game that my original muscle memory still sends my right hand to the numpad as my primary means of locomotion. Yes, I got intimately accustomed to moving with my right hand and tweaking the camera with my thumb. No, it does not help me unlearn this fact that I can get away with that in Final Fantasy XIV so long as I never try to jump.
Of course, even when you don’t have that particular bit of oddness to deal with, you still have an adjustment period. After all, going from FFXIV to World of Warcraft is full of reminders that even though the games have many of the same keybinds, they’re not all the same by default (“L” opens the quest log in the latter and the linkshell setup in the former), and even some of the finer details (WoW jumps are shorter, movement speed is different, there’s no universal Sprint) can trip you up. So let’s open this up for everyone. How long does it take you to acclimate to a new MMO control scheme?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
