Controller Support

Hello

I hope you will consider adding controller support to expand accessibility. While some players prefer mouse and keyboard, controllers allow more people to enjoy the game comfortably, including those with disabilities.

Controller support is now standard in many PC games and MMOs. It would be inclusive to implement such an option from the start, rather than trying to haphazardly add it later. Millions of PC gamers use controllers from PlayStation and Xbox on a regular basis.

By supporting different control schemes, you have the opportunity to welcome more types of players into your community. This can help the long-term health and growth of the game. I encourage taking the time to ensure your gameplay is accessible and enjoyable for people of all abilities. An open, diverse player base is beneficial for everyone.

Please take this positive feedback and make the game available to the widest audience possible for everyone to enjoy how they like. Controller compatibility from the start is a small investment that could pay off significantly in goodwill and new players.

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BembridgeScholars

patrick68794 wrote: »

George_Black wrote: »

patrick68794 wrote: »

George_Black wrote: »

Hanslanda wrote: »

George_Black wrote: »

ItsNoGood wrote: »

Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.

George_Black wrote: »

ItsNoGood wrote: »

Binding 48 spells to a controller isn't impossible, FF14 does it just fine. It would be pretty silly if they didn't add controller support at some point.

Ff14 doesnt have PvP (just an afterthought added years later). Ff14 doesnt require re-action or judgement. Every class has ONE rotation of skills which players have performed 10k times on a mostly static boss, and all they have to do is walk out of the incoming aoe dmg zones.

It's a very static game which allows for the slow usage of combination buttons on a controller. Another bad example of an mmo.

Would you say AoC is of similar play style to WoW? Because that game has built in controller support.

Cash grab. Who wins? Controllers or ppl using keyboard?

Depends on skill more than input method, especially in a game like this one. I'd put money on a high level controller user if they're going up against most kb&m users.

Lol...
Skilled vs most random.

The average players are just going to be a wash regardless of input method. Top level players are going to be competitive with one another as well. In a game like AoC there's really not going to be a noticeable skill gap based on input method. This isn't a game where needing the high precision and speed of a mouse is going to have any real benefit and controllers can handle essentially any input that a keyboard can.

If Star Citizen can manage full controller support with some of the most complex controls in any game without a change in design then Intrepid shouldn't have any issue whatsoever with doing the same in AoC.

That’s a good point I had forgotten about that game.

Lightsoff

Please include controller! Due to my disability im unable to use keyboard and mouse properly and would appreciate if the game includes controller support so I can enjoy the game and many others like me.

Lightsoff

Please take ideas from existing mmorpg on consoles like TERA, final fantasy 14, bdo etc on how to implement good controller support.

DrBoria

Please, add controller support. Or at least option to map controller buttons with reWASD.
Thanks!

patrick68794

They've said that it's something they'll look into closer to launch. I hope it's something they implement and really there's nothing stopping them technically.

Just as a forewarning though, there are a lot of kb&m zealots here that might flood this with trolling/hate.

nanfoodle

Ya with no Add On in game, its a IS thing or no option. I did enjoy playing WoW with the controller Add On. Also ESO.

Cadveun

I played Dungeons and Dragons Online from 2006 with a Controller. I used a Controller/Keyboard hybrid. I was the best wizard on my entire server (Sarlona) for years. It can be done and if implemented correctly it far outperforms keyboard and mouse. MMOs are "tab" to target enemies. If it was FPS with actual aiming then I would agree that a Mouse and Keyboard is superior. Its 2024, there should be built in controller support out of the box or at a minimum the ability to map all of the controls to a keyboard. I was able to do this back in 2006.

robingoodfella

Controller support can help those who have disabilities . Some people can't use keyboard and mouse option for either long period of time or at all but still want to play and participate in events, raids, dungeons etc.

thunderfury2024

In my opinion, controllers only work in MMOs when there are no more than three or four skills.

As soon as there are more, a player with a controller always has disadvantages

DeadlyDave

As you get older in life, certain body parts don't work as well as they use too

My days of playing on a keyboard & mouse 12 hours a day 7 days a week are gone.
I now suffer with aching joints after about 2 hours, controller would be a nice option, after all we are in 2024.

bussyo

I always play with a controller on PC and I mainly play mmorpgs. There's no harm in playing with a controller, it's just a matter of getting used to it. The reference for controller compatible mmorpgs is FFXIV. I hope that full controller support will be taken into account soon enough and I won't be the only one happy.

DerRoc

Edit: Here is my initial version design for Steam controller shared on Steam Community Layouts. You should be able to use it with an X-Box or PS controller layout.

Diamond Gaming: Ash of Creation (AoC) v2.3 - Steam Controller
*Can be found under Desktop Community Layouts
steam://controllerconfig/413080/3381188497

Controller Layout Button Mapping
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fYIcICswH9A2Q5iGnwvQcYISpVi7GasK/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=111712705319170777091&rtpof=true&sd=true
*I enabled Comments if anyone wants to offer any suggestions for future versions.

It's done. I've just finished mapping my own controller support through Steam with a Steam controller. I had no issues mapping 8 actions for all 3 hotbars and created an additional Action Set that includes all 3 hotbar by including the D-pad.
*1 of my underneath paddle-buttons are broken, otherwise I would have been able to map all 3 hotbars by default.

I have been playing MMOs for 20+ years and have been using mapped controllers the entire time (EQ2 was my favorite game with controller). Anyone stating playing on a gamepad is a disadvantage has never tried playing on a decent mapped controller. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but I had a friend (EQ2 Shadow Knight) using my mapping and he was a top raiding main tank for the top guild on the server. He could button mash better then any m+k.

Because most players don't have a Steam controller, I'll tweak it for an X-Box/Playstation controller and post the shared Steam mapping URL. No need to rush the Intrepid developers.
*I don't believe in button macroing for controllers, all commands require pressing multiple buttons to achieve different hotbar commands.
**While I personally see no difference mapping a gamepad to: using a one-handed gaming keypad; or a pro-gaming mouse with additional buttons for mapping. If the game developers determine all these forms of button mapping devices are restricted, I will be removing this as an option. (It's their game.)

Bedavere

Ive been an mmo Controller Player all my life, Games like FF14 make it simple to setup as many buttons as you like for combat(Positional Abilities HIghlight the ground/area your facing and you use the camera axis to place/use them), and using the dpad to navigate menus/or macros and hotbars even works fine. In the case of FF11 you can use Control or Alt 1thru0 OR alternatively you can use the dpad to hold Control, and move the selection across the hotbar and confirm abilities. You can argue for pvp all day, and I can understand if you think putting controller in the game hinders KB/Mouse in some ways. But there are ways to use Controller in all of these cases, albeit its handled differently by a controller player. But controllers in the game as an option, is becoming a much bigger deal for players.

I should say personally, I still play FF11/14 because of the controller support. And is the main reason I still play them. New Worlds controller support is terrible, I really hope that if it is implimented in the future, that its not done halfway by someone that doesnt really care about making it a comfortable experience.

PS check out the Scuff controller that has 11 extra buttons(Scuff Envision Pro), super nice in this case for Alpha so far. Just wish I had menu support, oof.

VeeNomine

Intrepid seems to have interest in controller support eventually if people desire it. https://support.ashesofcreation.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500011310021-Will-Ashes-of-Creation-have-game-controller-support

As someone who started developing neuropathy in her hands just two weekends ago while literally playing AoC S2P1, I was confronted with the reality that AoC is currently unplayable for me without controller support which is more ergonomic for most people.

I did consider using a third-party program to allow for rebinding to a controller, but I didn't because I feared that Easy Anti-cheat might view it as an cheat software or something.

Going forward it's up to us, the community members, to advocate for ourselves and let Intrepid know that spending dev hours on accessibility features is paramount. Games need to be build on accessibility, not patched in later.

Azherae

VeeNomine wrote: »

Intrepid seems to have interest in controller support eventually if people desire it. https://support.ashesofcreation.com/hc/en-us/articles/1500011310021-Will-Ashes-of-Creation-have-game-controller-support

As someone who started developing neuropathy in her hands just two weekends ago while literally playing AoC S2P1, I was confronted with the reality that AoC is currently unplayable for me without controller support which is more ergonomic for most people.

I did consider using a third-party program to allow for rebinding to a controller, but I didn't because I feared that Easy Anti-cheat might view it as an cheat software or something.

Going forward it's up to us, the community members, to advocate for ourselves and let Intrepid know that spending dev hours on accessibility features is paramount. Games need to be build on accessibility, not patched in later.

The good news for you is that EAC does not directly view JoyToKey or similar in any negative way, and Intrepid is at worst 'lenient' right now about it.

Their wish is that you simply don't map the game such that pressing one input performs multiple functions or a sequence.

For me, this means the gray area appears when mapping Camera Controls, as it's the only time where the most 'sensible/natural' mapping (move Right Analog stick) needs to be mapped to two different 'inputs' (mouse click + mouse move).

I have continued to use it in hopes that they have no issues with this, but there is actually a solution even for someone being less absolutely careful than me, even if it isn't a full-fledged one. Since the Left and Right Arrow keyboard keys can be mapped to Camera 'swivel' as well, you can at least get that option, though it's slow.

Maybe you didn't need any of this 'help' or won't want to risk it anyway, but I mention it in case it helps you continue testing comfortably.

hayness666

Disabled gamer here! I really hope for controller support! I have been launching through steam and setting up my own for now, but it would be much better if the devs did it consistently for us.

BG3 is a great game to reference when figuring out best way to work in controllers!

hayness666

Yes, very important! I hope they consider it.

nanfoodle

Maybe one day IS will let us submit add ons for approval.

batnotinc

Just got my key, and this was also one of the first thoughts I had as well. While I will play with m+kb if it's the only option, I have definitely enjoyed my experience playing with a controller in FF, even successfully into some savage content.

While I will admit that playing on a gamepad is probably less optimal in something like group PVP due to target selecting, the idea that controllers aren't good for "reactive" gameplay is silly. It's all practice/repetition and muscle memory whether keyboard or controller buttons. For me, personally, I'm not planning on jumping into a ton of complex combat initially and a gamepad would likely be more than adequate, especially for the non-combat activities, but I would bet it's pretty feasible for a lot of combat as well.

Looking forward to seeing the game progress

drascal

Iskiab wrote: »

Yea, controller support I'd say is a nice to have, but think it's unlikely with how many buttons the game has. A controller would need some crazy mapping so it wouldn't work well.

For those with disabilities, this is not as important as you think. I would rather play a game more comfortably and have less skills at the ready with a controller. (you can map more to controllers with a proper setup but this is irrelevant). Regardless if it is as good or comparable to mouse/kb, controller support would be nice.

Give us the disadvantage of using a controller please! We will be ecstatic!

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