23 replies to this topic

[Awesoome]

Hi...well I don´t know if I´m asking a strange question, but I´m left-handed.
I could reconfigure the keyboard in order to be able to use the mouse with the left hand, and the rest of the commands with the right one. There must be many left handed players like me. Some people get used to the "right-handed world" more easily, but for others, like me, apparently is much harder.

The problem I can´t solve is some mechs that have their main weapon on the right side, such as the right arm or right torso like the Hunchback. I feel this very uncomfortable since I can´t hide behind a wall and come out by the left side and shoot, for example.
I´ve seen mechs (such as some ShadowHawks) that have weapons in their right arm but none in the left one. Well, hope that you understand. It would feel more natural to pilot a "flipped" or mirrored version of some mechs.
Would it be possible to do? It´s not neccesary to make new builds. only to add a "lefty mode" button or something...without having to rewrite the whole game ha ha . See you!

[SirLANsalot]

I feel the exact opposite when I run my Battlemaster 1G with its ballistics in the OTHER (left) arm from where all the other mechs had been so far (right armed). Took some time getting used to that, which finally I came up with (in my mind) associating the left button right button of my mouse to the left arm right arm of my mech. This made piloting any mech much easier, regardless of what weapons were where.

I used to always have left button be energy and right button be ballistics, but when those mechs came, I had to adjust to flipping that around and just thinking about Left side/Right side of a mech instead of what each weapon was.



As to your issue. I would suggest running the Battlemaster 1G and 1D which have there "big" guns in the left side of the mech. The same applies for the Shadowhawk which is a 5 ton heavier, JJ, mirrored mech of the Hunchback (and should be treated like one). The Thunderbolt also has a ballistic in its left arm (on one variant).

So basically your wish was granted in the form of the Phoenix mechs.

[Escef]

I don't expect it to happen, but you could use mechs that can be configured to favor the left side. The ballistic points on all of the Shadowhawks are on the left, and the 2D2 has an energy mount on the left arm as well. Provided you favor the ballistic arm, the BLR-1G and 1D should both work for you. And several mechs are effectively ambidextrous.

[Ruccus]

While I'm ambidextrous, I do like to have my main gun on the left side of my mech so that when I press the left mouse button the weapon fires from the left of the screen.

Here's a Blackjack BJ-1 AC20 build that allows for that, and here's a Jagermech JM6-S triple AC5 build that also favours the left side. Whenever I create an asymmetrical build I like to favour the left side of my mech.

As noted above, the Shadowhawk can use their left hardpoints for their main weaponry as can the Battlemaster.

[Ken Burkhart]

I'm one of those left-handed people that got used to a right handed world. The only things I can't do with my right are the heavy coordination things, like brushing my teeth, writing, eating(and similar). I do sports with my right, and my right arm has gotten stronger than my left, which I think is all caused by growing up with P.E. teachers that don't show you how to do things with your left unless you speak up and ask which I never did.

I've never had a problem putting my mouse on the right, and in fact I've gotten very used to it, as in it is my default manner. I agree with the other posters though. In MWO, I split my weapons mostly to LR which then maps to LR mouse buttons, with a third group(like missiles or chain firing support weapons) on the middle button. I've never had a problem corner peeking from either side specifically as long as I remember what weapons I have where. For example, I like a Jenner-F with one ERPPC and 3 Med Lasers. One group is much longer range than the other, as well as one being "projectile" and the other being direct hit. I have to remember which corner I'm peeking out of and what ranges I'm shooting at, which then tells me if I lead my target(ERPPC) or hit directly(lasers).

[levitas]

You can load the stalker 5M and misery to be very leftish. The AC20 + PPC SHD 2D2 is also a lefty.

[Fang01]

I was born left but switched right, thus I am cross-dominant. Perhaps because of this I have never paid much preference to where hardpoints were located simply accepting and adapting as needed.

I'd no idea anyone had issues as such. interesting

[Kyynele]

I'm right handed but have played "left handed" mechs like the Battlemaster quite a bit. It never even crossed my mind that this could be a problem for anyone. For me, putting left arm weapons to the left mouse button and right arm weapons to right feels very intuitive and I fail to see why this wouldn't work just the same for left handed players.

Anyway, there are some mechs that are left handed by default and a lot of ones that are more or less symmetrical allowing you to build them one-sided whichever way you want.

Part of getting good in the game is to learn to recognize which parts of mechs are dangerous and thus which parts you want to destroy first. Being able to mirror mechs at will would make this much harder, which is one of the reasons why this feature will not make it into the game even though it likely wouldn't be that difficult to implement.

[Mazzyplz]

i'm righty but i don't really mind? i can adapt to whatever hardpoint but it takes some extra effort; i can recommend the awesome 8t and put your erll in your right hand and some pulses in the other. other similar mirrored mechs are
the k2 catapult and the jagermech? you can use whatever arm is best for your sniper weapon.

at least that's how i play it. i am a righty but i put my sniper weapons in the left because it's like a boxing jab, and the big guns tend to be on the right like a big cross, but i could see how other right handed people would put the er laser on the right???
usually when i get a leftmost hardpoint to snipe with i play it like that, like a jab cross combo.

i don't think this is even down to handedness, really! just preferences.

edit: and when i get a rightmost hardpoint that i have to snipe with i act like i'm dirty harry and have a sick smith & wesson, like the awesome 8r. i got twin erppc on it and i'm like BANG! move a little and BANG!~!!!

Edited by Mazzyplz, 07 April 2014 - 12:34 AM.

[Edustaja]

I'm righthanded and can play with both sided mechs just fine.

[Takashi Uchida]

Hi, fellow southpaw here. I use the mouse with my left hand, and the keyboard with me right. I too have spent some time thinking about weapon groupings and configurations.

I'm a casual gamer with a basic-a** mouse, so that means I've only got 3 buttons (including the mouse wheel, which can be pressed down) to work with on my left hand. I use the numpad for movement controls, and am lucky enough that the (insert/home/pageup/etc) and the arrow keys are close enough for me to map them for things like jump jets, target, adv zoom, weapon groups 3-4- 5, etc.

My index finger click is mapped to group 1, and my middle finger click is mapped to group 2. Mouse wheel is for regular zoom.

Here is how I may choose to configure some typical builds I've seen and used.

AC-40 Jager, or a symmetrical power build:
-In this case, it's pretty simple. Index finger click (group 1) fires the right gun, middle finger click (group 2) fires the left gun. If I've got backup lasers, they will all be group 3 (regardless of what side they are on), which I assign to the right arrow key, which on my keyboard is easily accessible with the thumb. Very intuitive because the middle finger is left-most, while the index finger is right-most.

CTF-3D Poptart (AC5 in right torso and right arm, PPC in both torsos).
-Here, I wouldn't bother splitting what is left and what is right. Index finger shoots both ACs, middle finger shoots both PPCs. I wouldn't really see a need here to separate the weapons based on what side they are on here, because I as a jumpsniper, I'll be popping up behind cover rather than poking out the side. Group 3 is the PPCs for chainfire, in the event I want to use one but am heat-restricted. Much of the firing done in this kind of mech will be alpha strikes anyway. In a sustained direct-fire situation the two ACs are cool enough to be fired continuously.

BLR-1S Missile Boat (LRM 40-50, 1-3 ML, TAG).
-I'll put the TAG in the right torso and assign my index finger to click it (easy, since it's the same side). All backup lasers (left and right torsos) will be fired by the middle finger. Like the Jager example, it doesn't really matter what sides they are on. All missiles will be set to fire by group 3 (right arrow). In the event I want to chainfire my missiles, I'll have them set to group 4 (numpad 0, which the thumb reaches easily). The thumb will by responsible for the missile firing. This is convenient because I'll never have to fire group 3 and 4 at the same time.

BLR-1D Fire Support (Multiple low caliber ACs (2/5/UAC) in the left arm, 2 large lasers in the left torso).
-Left-dominant mech, with the right side to use as a twist-shield if needed (though harder to do because it's a sustained DPS build). I will have the index finger fire my ACs, and the middle finger fire both lasers. Group 3 will be the lasers in chain-fire. Out of my examples so far, this is the most counter-intuitive, because the ACs are more to the left than the lasers. However, in this case I'll get out of thinking about sides because all my weapons are on the left side anyway. There's no way I'll be peeking out the right side of a wall. Here, my thinking will be "index finger primary attack" and "middle finger secondary attack." This is because I'm more comfortable clicking with the index finger (due to everyday non-gaming activities).

As you can see, my process for assigning groups will be dependent on the specific build. Sometimes the theme will be "left side/right side," other times it will be "primary/secondary." It may be a mix of the two. The most common conflicting situation for me is "okay I want to fire the big gun with my index finger because that's the finger I'm more comfortable clicking with, but the gun is located on the left side." So here I'll have to make a decision: am I okay with "right clicking" but seeing the boom come from the left side?

I know that's a lot to swallow, but that's how I would look at it. Do you have any specific builds you want help for? Feel free to post em and I'll try to help the best I can.

Edited by Takashi Uchida, 07 April 2014 - 12:37 AM.

[Mazzyplz]

get a dragon 1c and put 2 erppc both on left arm.

shoot your erppc with your left arm like you're shooting a pistol IRL, a big revolver with your dominant hand.

and do nothing at mid range, except poke only your single left arm out and shoot with that. don't expose any more of your mech. use the X key to break hard every meter or so, t hen back out.
at brawling ranges go brawling with lbx and srm6!!

that should work and you got an ams so make sure you invest in the ams range module, i think this would make a good mech for a lefty if you were disciplined to only show your arm like i do with my 8r - twin erppc can get those juicy kill

just map the left ppcs to left click (since they are the main weap and the longest range) or however you feel is best... and maybe the lbx+srm combo on spacebar or right click if you must (i don't use any clicking, i press numbers 1-6 and i do use 6 different groups usually)

Edited by Mazzyplz, 22 May 2015 - 10:54 PM.

[627]

I'm a lefty, too and have my mouse in the left hand. Beside that, I have no problems with a mech layout. What is really helpful is to put your main weapons from left torso/arm on the left button and the same for the right side. This is extremely helpful when peeking around corners.

For left oriented builds, there are some already mentioned pheonix mechs. On top of that, blackjacks are a good start - you can build the AC20 variant for the left arm for example. In My 1X I have 3 ML and an ERPPC, PPC on the left arm, MLs on the right for backup.

And in the end, you can just make a symmetrical build, there're enough mechs in every class that can do this.

[Funkupotamous]

As a lefty I find the shadowhawks appealing at times since they have left shoulder mounted ballistics. Also the Heavy Metal is nice because both arms support a decent amount of your weaponry and can be divided by left and right mouse clicks.

[ShadowbaneX]

I'm a lefty, and I have to rebind every single game I play so that I use the mouse in my left hand and use the numeric keypad with my right for all my movement. As a result of this, I can no longer play console games which are movement with the left-hand.

That aside I guess I'm mentally ambidextrous. I have no problem where my weapons are located. My SHD-2H has an AC/10 in the torso mount (on the left side) and an ER LL in the right arm. My Cataphract-3D has an LB-10/X in the right arm and an ER PPC in the left. Victors with AC/20 in the LA, and Lasers in the RA. Highlanders as well.

I have no bias for which side my weapons are on. Sometimes I'll be hugging a corner and fire half a salvo in to the wall, but it's equal as to have it's the left side or the right.

[oldradagast]

Shadowhawks, the Battlemasters, and a few Thunderbolts have left-side dominance. The Misery is another one, as is the Banshee. The Banshee 3E has the ballistics on the left torso, and the 3S has the arm-mounted energy weapon on the left side.

Good luck!

[EyeOne]

I'm a lefty too but I've never considered which side of the mech the weapons are on. Me, both my sisters and my mom are all left handed but when we got our first computer we left the mouse on the right so we wouldn't have problems using other peoples computers. I can use the mouse equally well with left or right hand, which is the only thing my right hand is good at.

In normal FPS games if I can I switch the weapon to the left hand but still use the mouse the right. I find this an interesting topic had never considered it in MWO.

Edited by EyeOne, 08 April 2014 - 07:03 AM.

[Malcolm Vordermark]

I'm right handed but I've never had issues with mechs that have their main weapon systems on the left side. I've not counted but there are certainly plenty of lefty mechs. especially among the recent phoenix mechs and the recent Banshee. I personally prefer symmetrical mechs. Most of the upcoming clan mechs are symmetrical (until you start swapping the omnipods) but you can always stack firepower on one side or the other.

Edited by Rouken, 08 April 2014 - 07:20 AM.

[Mazzyplz]

as the meta changed the thunderbolt is the obvious choice now

but if you like dragons this would be my choice over the TDR;
2 erppc coming out the same tube is just amazing

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...10acd5f4fbe3eda

Edited by Mazzyplz, 22 May 2015 - 11:13 PM.

[Tarogato]

This inquiry seems very strange to me. As a right-handed person, you use a mouse which is designed such that your left click operates primary functions and your right click, operated by weaker fingers, is secondary. So I would think that right-handed people should prefer left-mounted weaponry, and by extension left-handed people would prefer right-mounted weaponry.

Is this not the case? Do right-handed players fire their right-mounted weaponry with their left click? That just seems so... silly... to me.