GamePad Mode is Archaic, Suggestions

Apox · June 2017

Hey Folks, I'm unsure if this is the correct forum, if it isn't I'll move the post.

I know most of you like playing with keyboard and mouse, and i sure wold like to myself, but I can't. I suffered a spinal cord injury that left me with very little feeling from my neck down and I lost most of my fine motor skills, so i can't use a keyboard for competitive gaming. Gamepads, however, sit well in the hand and have a familiar simple layout, so I can use them.

I'd like to offer advice from my perspective, someone that has trouble with accessibility, and what I've found works.

It could use more leniency for keybinds. This isn't an issue at all for keyboards because the game is relatively simple, utilizing only 6 or 7 buttons at a time for combat spread across all the available binds on a keyboard, but it's a bit more complex on a gamepad. There's only just enough buttons to fit your 5 main abilities, you have to begin using combos for ultimate and synergy, and these combos are very limited to what they can be. I'd propose to open up the available keybinds to let us use the triggers as button modifiers. Much the same way that LT+B is dodge roll, LT+X could be bound to ultimate, synergy, or even one of the action buttons. The same with LT+Y, LT+A, and with Right Trigger and so on.

Due to my disability, i have trouble hitting the bumpers on my controller. i know this is very much a me problem, but I could see plenty of people enjoying additional customization. When I play other games, i try to keep important abilities away from the bumpers if i can. With ESO, that's very difficult to do.

I don't want to be so bold as to blatantly compare the games, I'd never be so brazen, but this method I mentioned even worked for World of Warcraft, which i play with my xbox controller, very effectively I might add. You can see my method in action here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HGVANQzhSEo&t=5199s

Also, as a side note, perhaps also add an option that causes spells and abilities to be cast on key press instead of key release. I looked around and didnt find an option fo it, I dont know if there's an addon to do this, but it could be helpful.

I beta tested many moons ago and absolutely love this game, but since my disability I just have such a hard time doing competitive content when i know it could be so much easier with a little developer support.

Hope I didn't waste anyones time,

Apox

acw37162 · June 2017

If you play on a PC you can keybind your controller however you want in the settings menu same as if it was a keyboard.

Quite honestly I want the same feature in console. I can't stand the controller layout options for PS4 and the lack of customization

victoriana-blue · June 2017

Seconded. Using the left trigger as a modifier on things like ultimates would be awesome, since ime things like ults aren't usually stopped by a mis-timed LT press/release like a channelled attack can be. It would be even better if I didn't have to use Steam's awful Big Picture interface or a 3rd party application to set the bindings. Triangle+circle/Y+B for synergies (and blade of woe, etc) is awkward even when it works, and I frequently have to hit LB+RB a couple times before it registers that I want to fire an ult; on the other hand, I can roll-dodge like a pro.

(For the record, I don't have any mobility disabilities, I simply find the DS4 controller more comfortable than k&m. I don't even have a PS4!)

It's like curb cutting: accessibility makes things better for everyone. \o/

Apox · June 2017

acw37162 wrote: »

If you play on a PC you can keybind your controller however you want in the settings menu same as if it was a keyboard.

Quite honestly I want the same feature in console. I can't stand the controller layout options for PS4 and the lack of customization

I know, but as I said, the options for rebinding are very limited. I don't like the default binds for synergy and Ultimate so I wanted to rebind them, however my options for rebinding them were very limited. The ideas i proposed would let folks rebind using LT or RT as a modifiers, so you could bind synergy to LT+X(or Square), Ultimate to RT+Y if you wanted, or even rebind the 5 original action buttons.

Opening LT, RT, and LT+RT up to keybind modifiers would triple the amount of available keybinds for gamepad users. We'd still have less than PC, but more than enough to get by. The average controller these days has 15 buttons, 14 if you omit the xbox home button/ps4/steam controller equivalent, they dont seem to work in ESO either, add the LT, RT, and LT+RT modifiers, your 14 buttons becomes 56 buttons minus 1 because RT+B already exists(as default dodge roll), which is, as I've proven, enough ti even play WoW with.

Kalitas · June 2017

I play on PC, have my desktop hooked up to a tv and usually play with my controller for now. Once I get more competitive I'll probably swap to KB+M. I use the xbox elite controller and a few of the paddles mapped to some buttons. One I've really liked is having weapon swap back there. Makes it much easier than reaching down, having to take my thumb off the left joy stick. I can just hit that back paddle and swap weapons.

Apox · June 2017

I bought an elite controller for this game as well but I didn't find it as useful as I'd hoped. he flappers are harder to hit for me because i don't have very much feeling in my hands and they have very little analog feedback, no real audible or sensible click when you press them. I was a little disappointed that they only were available to bind to the xbox buttons and not anything from the keyboard as well. I just ended up accidentally hitting the flappers when i didn't want to and had to hold the controller in a weird way, so i stopped using them. Plus the elite controller is a pretty large investment for a single person to add a little more flexibility to their binds, and it might not even work for them.

CaffeinatedMayhem · June 2017

I wrote some more on gamepad from my POV here https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/346730/please-fix-controller-gamepad-mode

I have severe issues with strain (think carpal) in my hands and wrists, so white using keyboard is possible, it's extremely painful.

I agree that having extra maps would really help, I need to re-map sprint, but to do so would mess up everything else so I don't bother and just deal with numb thumb while farming.

I also suffer from a weird visual impairment, where rapid camera movements make me nauseous. It would really help for me if gamepad menus allowed category to be collapsed, and allowed admins to modify the menu. Instead I have to turn off gamepad mode and go to keyboard every time I craft, decon, sell, bank... you get the idea.

Also, the stupid camera angle change when opening a box, like writ rewards? Please, stop. No thank you helped a lot by removing camera movement, but since the add-on broke with the last API change, and the authors aren't in game anymore, even daily writs are painful for me, or means I open rewards with my eyes closed.

Apox · June 2017

I also think they should open up keybind customization for console- last i checked they don't have that yet and it's incredibly unfair for the console gamers to be forced into presets.

I'd really like to see this game open up so much more accessibility for controller support.

16BitForestCat · June 2017

Hear, hear! I actually caused very expensive permanent nerve damage to my shoulder a year and a half ago from trying to game with keyboard/mouse (and yes, ESO was the final culprit, sadly--and to add insult to injury, gamepad support came out only one week after my injury. It SHOULD have been present from the beginning.) Controller works so much better for me, and it annoys me I can't set decent customized button combos (which is also a complaint with keyboard, but even more of one with the fewer buttons you have on controller.) I especially have trouble with synergy, which IS a preset button combo, but it's so awkward to hit the buttons at the right time that I'm only able to activate synergy about three out of every ten attempts, which is not particularly useful to other players or myself. I can think of other button combos that would work so much better for me, but I can't assign them because the function just isn't there.

I wish all games had robust controller options. I've had to just stop playing a lot of PC games due to the strain keyboard/mouse puts on my nerves.

Apox · June 2017

I feel you. As I said, WoW is my main game, and it wasn't built with controller use in mind at all, nobody ever anticipated it. i feel like this was actually a blessing, because it allowed a wonderful person to create an addon that worked with a program similar to xpadder, so he had the freedom to forge his own path in gamepad support.

I love ESO to death, but I feel like I'm just too far behind kb/m players to be competitive, so playing and trying to compete is not only difficult, but not fun for me.

Having messed around with multiple other mmos with gamepad support, i can say none of them hit the nail on the head with it. The only mmo I can play with freedom of keybind diversity is WoW, a game that never intended the player to use a gamepad in the first place. I'd love to see ESO open up and allow custom player made keybinds and combos to drive home the excellent gamepad experience and be one of the only MMOs i can think of with good gamepad support.

Kova · November 2018

BOW BEFORE ME, THE MIGHTY FORUM NECROMANCER!

This still hasn't been addressed. As the OP stated over a year ago, you CANNOT map certain button combos for some reason. LT+A for your 4th ability is fine, but for some reason LT+ literally any other non-bumper/trigger button is out of the question.

I've played using xpadder since beta to morrowind and then switched to controller companion. Since the beginning I've been able to play on keyboard and mouse but still feel at my best on controller, but the inability to map the buttons as I do in controller companion is a real headache. I will continue to use controller companion, but I honestly don't understand why it's so hard to just let us map the buttons how we want?

It seems like such a simple fix. Add an input array here or there, and viola! Now people affected with mobility disorders have more control.

Here's to wishful thinking!