Dev Discussion Poll | Battle of the Keybinds! ⚔

Vaknar

🎮 We've all been there, deep into an intense session, when suddenly, the need to access our inventory or backpack pops up.

Which key do you reach for? Is it 'I' for inventory or 'B' for backpack?

Do you stick with the default key bindings, or do you customize them?

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As a reminder, you'll be able to customize your keybinds!

Ludullu

'I' for 'Inventory'

Tab

If it's not tab, then I is the default alternative. And if the game doesn't have I as inventory then I'll just get used to what it uses.

I rarely rearrange the entire keybinding scheme, purely because it's faster to get used to what the game wants me to use, than to try and enforce my preference on every game (when some of them might not even match my preferred layout).

CROW3

'B' for 'Backpack'

Neither. I have the '12' key on my mouse.

Vaknar

If you HAD to choose one, which would it be?

Xeeg

'B' for 'Backpack'

Personally prefer the following 12 keys for anything quick response/combat related:

1,2,3,4,Q,E,R,F,Z,X,C,V

I would use 5,T,G,B for things that are more rarely used in combat, but still want my hand to remain close to combat position, (WASD) centric.

"B" for "bag/backpack" is fine if we are expected to open our bags quite regularly or even during combat situations. Maybe we need to poof a couple items in order to pick up someone's deathpile in the middle of battle. Then our hands don't have to change position and potentially start miss-clicking everything.

Typically I prefer all of the UI type things like character screen, quest logs, etc. to be on the right hand side of the keyboard so you don't accidentally hit them during combat.

"I" for "inventory" could be fine, because the odds of fat fingering it when trying to use V are lower. Depends on the frequency/situations that the devs anticipate usage as part of the game play.

Azherae

'I' for 'Inventory'

I think I've pressed a keyboard key to open inventory directly less times than I can count on fingers.

Don't think I generally ever need to access inv quickly in a non-controller game, to that point, and the game also didn't have macros for using or doing whatever it was I wanted to do.

Given that, I'm pretty sure I'd think to hit 'I' first.

Rvj

'I' for 'Inventory'

MMOs don't require you to open your inventory quickly because everything is hot keyed. B is much more valuable as a hotkey for consumables or abilities. I is for inventory.

FatalSyndicate

I would say if Tab isn't an option then "I" is for inventory. But Tab is typically my preference.

GrilledCheeseMojito

'I' for 'Inventory'

I have never consciously thought about the button I hit for inventory on a long time. On controller, it's usually the rightmost button (Circle on PS, B on Xbox) or some key that is equivalent to a menu (Options/Start on controller, Tab on PC).

By that metric, neither option makes sense to me, but I makes more sense than B.

SongRune

'I' for 'Inventory'

Alt+i.

I never need inventory to be a no-modifiers hotkey. Opening it in combat accidentally is usually annoying, and you shouldn't ever need to do it instantly anyway. (You'd hotbar anything that you need to activate instantly.)

But otherwise, yeah. "i"

blat

'I' for 'Inventory'

Vaknar wrote: »

If you HAD to choose one, which would it be?

It'd be I simply because, similar to @Xeeg's answer above, I like to reserve the most convenient keys for combat. And B tends to be in my sort've 2nd tier for key prio.
I tend to use it for speed/movement related abilities (for some reason). I like to stick to binding themes across games/chars where possible to help with muscle memory.

I would definitely bind it though, I realise to some it seems minor but I can't imagine actually mouse-clicking something that I use all day.

CROW3

'B' for 'Backpack'

"B" because that's where my thumb can easily reach

Voeltz

'B' for 'Backpack'

I would prefer B because that's easier to reach

Percimes

'I' for 'Inventory'

B is too close from WASD to be sacrificed to a non-urgent action. Too far for an important one, but close enough for a situational one.

SpaceWolf

'I' for 'Inventory'

I, because as some others have said, inventory access is a non-urgent action (or at least, it really should be).

Items intended to be accessed urgently can have their own hotkey/mini-menu systems, such as Ammo for Monster Hunter's bowguns, and the item slider menu thing it has for potions and whatnot.

As a modded Skyrim player, I have a lot of spells and abilities to choose from, and general-purpose combat ones get sorted into the keys nearest to WASD, and non-urgent ones get moved further out.

Inventory? For me, that's actually Numpad Zero.

Smaashley

'B' for 'Backpack'

B for backpack.

But honestly, put it wherever you want. I just want the option to rebind it as I wish lol

Apok

Binding B for Bag and I for Inventory is much more practical, personally I don't care which one out of the two is used. but I prefer to bind it to Tab for efficiency, and target cycling usually gets bound to my mouse. question is, is that an option?

JamesSunderland

'I' for 'Inventory'

Certainly 'I', it's the one i'm most used to (other than tab for L2).

Also i consider the 'B' keybind to be within the limits of the "WASD important keybinds range" and i don't consider the inventory keybind to be that important.

Alice

'I' for 'Inventory'

General rule,

Leave the right side of the keyboard (IOPJKLNM) for opening windows/menus/UI and useless stuff like emotes. The left side is for combat and things that may be needed urgently or frequently like looting and interacting

Nerror

'I' for 'Inventory'

I use keypads and many-buttoned mice, and not keyboards, for my gaming, so it doesn't matter to me at all in that sense, but if I was forced to go back to using keyboards for all the commonly used stuff, definitely "i" for inventory as the default.

This brings up another point; please don't require us to manually open up our inventory all the time in the game. Open it automatically alongside the player doing actions that require it to be open, but rarely require it otherwise. We know crafting benches in a node will have access to the storage from a distance, so you don't have to run back and forth grabbing materials for example. That's great! Please apply that philosophy to opening the inventory in general.

Krisco

I like buttons that are out of reach from my wasd for keybinds such as map, journal/quest log and inventory. That way I can do whatever binds I see fit for my left hand as far as battle actions/skills are involved... and not have to rebind everything. So keep 123456QERFVTGB TAB, Shift, Ctrl, Alt unbound and let the user pick what goes there. Long story short, I prefer "I" for inventory.

VrDynasty

I like tab for equipment, I for inventory.

Mico

Iv always liked B for opening inventory.

I never re keybind system settings like inventory,maps, or journals.

Tab doesn't make sense, because tab targeting for mobs is important for combat. Also having a CTRL+Tab for targeting NPC's is also important for when population crowding happens around specific NPCs or Node, like a job board.

Orym

'I' for 'Inventory'

I for inventory so I don't spam open and close on B like a professional esports player.

wargen

'B' for 'Backpack'

i use tabe .but if i dint need to open my inventory often on the move b is good fx drop stuf, give stuf, change equipment.

daveywavey

'I' for 'Inventory'

Always i for Inventory, yeah. I'd be re-binding it to i if you made it anything else, anyway.

Otr

'I' for 'Backpack' which I will customize if needed.

Podgnil

i dont understend question ) no ofc i understend, but every one can change it in settings. i always change it in wow on pgdn button. but if cant be change and i should exist "c" "b" "i" i think "i" is best, if interface will be good and i dont need to open it in buttle.

bigepeen

'I' for 'Inventory'

It's not a big deal either way as long as we can rebind it. I would choose B instead if I needed to open inventory in battle, but not sure if that will be necessary in Ashes.

Diamaht

'B' for 'Backpack'

I usually like having "B" but it's not a huge deal. It is nice, however, having "B" as a hotkey and adjusting to "I" when games have that instead take no time at all.

Given how many abilities Ashes will have, I imagine hotkeys will be at a premium so "I" might actually be the best choice here. (So I guess I picked the wrong survey answer)

willsummon

'I' for 'Inventory'

I rekey my keybindings to get the most out of my mmo mouse and ergo-keyboard.