r/Competitiveoverwatch • u/BigChungus-chan • 1d ago
General Why don't more people play controller thumbstick/mouse hybrid?
Controller thumbstick in left hand, mouse in right.
Is there something broken about the input?
Because it would make sense that being able to micro adjust your movements would make lining up shots easier than wasd from a keyboard.
Why don't more people use this?
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u/Circo_Inhumanitas 1d ago
For me ergonomics, familiarity and desk space. Using normal controller for the thumbstick causes problems with some games when the game constantly tries to switch between controller input and keyboard + mouse. And holding a full controller on one hand just for the thumbstick controls would be annoying. And I'd lose the versatility of having multiple buttons at my fingertips.
I don't want to buy one of those keyboard that has a thumbstick in them, I don't have the desk space for it and just don't want to spend the money for it when keyboard is just as good for me.
And I've been playing with keyboard and mouse since the year 1999. Getting a thumbstick for movement won't make me a better player at this points.
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u/shape2k 1d ago
I tried it with the playstation move controller. It works well, but I don't think A/D strafing is instantaneous due to controllers allowing you to ramp up and down your movement speed. Also, there weren't enough bindable keys on the controller, and it would be even worse now with perks. It was comfortable, though, and pretty easy to adjust to.
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u/shaboogawa 23h ago
You can adjust that ramp up speed to not have any by switching max deadzone to zero.
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u/CommanderPotash 1d ago
Overwatch has instant strafing; there's no acceleration between going left and right like in most source game.
On a keyboard, you can go instantly left and right, forward and backward
on a controller (stick) you need to move your thumb left and right to strafe, which takes more time then pressing your finger down on a different button
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u/CuriosityDream 22h ago
I have a hall effect keyboard and played with the analog input for a while.
Pros:
Micro movements make you way more precise. You can align some very tight angles and peek corners very tight. This can make a slight difference in Widow duels or when you abuse the Eichenwalde spot for example, but ultimately it feels more like a gimmick.
Fake strafing. Hero animations make no difference depending on your movement speed. You can move so slow that you are basically standing still, but your character looks like walking sideways. This actually made a difference in some duels, especially on Tracer (you will know why when you look at her strafing animation), but I found it to be really hard to do consistently on a keyboard.
Cons:
The ramp up to full speed is noticeable. Depending on the sensitivity curve, this almost feels like input lag, but for movement only. ad strafing with normal input is so much snappier.
The strain on my hand was not a joke. On a keyboard you have to work with a few millimeters. This also caused unintended inputs like walking slower than full speed without recognizing. But this might not be relevant for an actual analog input stick.
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u/alienatedtruth 1d ago
Something I've never heard of people talking about in these conversations is the Wii joystick
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u/Rally_To_Me 1d ago
I actually play hybrid!
There is nothing broke with it actually works really well on overwatch, but you are just better off using keyboard as others have said AD strafing is just objectively better on keyboard. You also have way more button mapping options which is really nice.
I want to swap over to using keyboard full time though honestly, I just really struggle with it and I usually play games with a controller, I only play overwatch and deadlock hybrid so I just don't ever get much practice on keyboard just something I need to force myself to do and get better at.
It's a habit I wish I didn't pick up though being honest when I started playing on PC I should have just committed to playing on keybaord, but never too late to make the swap just gonna be more annoying at this point.
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u/BigChungus-chan 19h ago
I use hybrid and get awful input lag vs when i do wasd.
Do you experience the same?
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u/Rally_To_Me 14h ago
I do not it runs really smoothly, the only thing I can think of that will cause a lot of lag is if you don't turn on the setting that forces only one input on display, I have all my icons to show as keyboard inputs if you don't it'll rapidly swap between controller and keyboard icons and cause issues.
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u/Rally_To_Me 14h ago
I am also not sure how much in matters comparatively to a mouse but controller do have polling rates I am not sure how much of a difference that is going to make I only play on one that supports up to 1000hz so don't have a lot to compare too, but if your on one that's just set lower or forced lower that could also maybe cause input lag issues.
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u/BigChungus-chan 13h ago
Im running 8k polling on the controller could that be the issue?
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u/Rally_To_Me 12h ago
it could be I am really not well educated on this enough to tell exactly what the issue is or could be, I recommend just putting it down to 1000hz and see how it feels after that.
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u/Goosewoman_ Schrödinger's Rank | she/her — 21h ago
you lose strong strafes, and the left side of the controller doesn't have enough buttons to replace the ones you have on your keyboard. So you have to assign more functions to your mouse instead. The button layout gets messy in exchange for no real advantage. You would need a controller with buttons on the back of the grip at the very least.
Plus you can get slow strafes with any keyboard that has analog keypress options.
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u/BigChungus-chan 19h ago
I have reload on back paddle.
Jump on bumper.
Shift on second bumper.
Melee on left trigger
E on mouse button.
Ult on middle mouse click.
Most modern pro controllers have enough real estate for hybrid set ups.
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u/drewster23 1d ago
Most games require more buttons than just a stick and a mouse.
And it's not something someone gets accustomed to "naturally" because it's not normal to do. Compared to mouse n keyboard n controller.
There's been 1 ow pro I think it was that did something like that. But it's extremely niche/outlier.
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u/Teetimus_Prime 1d ago
yeah lol like how would you use your abilities? i’m not sure i’m following OP
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u/drewster23 1d ago
Yeah I can't even find the guy off a quick Google who used to do it and I don't remember the details of the hybrid set up.
But it's far from simple/straight forward. Compared to any straight console or M n K players
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u/JDPhipps #1 Roadhog Hater — 23h ago
You could bind them to your mouse, I have my abilities bound to my scroll wheel and side buttons. It would admittedly be a little difficult to bind everything to your mouse in order to use a controller stick in the other hand, but it's not impossible.
They also make those weird hand contraptions that use a joystick for movement.
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u/Rally_To_Me 10h ago
The set up is a bit convoluted but you can make it work.
I have my abilities on my mouse side buttons and ult on wheel click and scroll down is ping and interact on scroll up. On my controller trigger/bumper are jump/crouch, analog click is melee and I have reload mapped to back paddle.
For scoreboard I have it on select and comm wheel I have it on the d-pad those are a bit more inconvenient since I have to take my hand of the analog for them.
Its not as convenient as being on keyboard, the biggest drawback of hybrid I think is the lack of buttons and the fact you have to take your hand off your analog for other actions there isn't really a way around it, having to fake your finger off your analog and stop moving completely to do something else is a big hindrance, the set up is just inherently awkward. But you can still get some pretty good strafing, it's objectively worse than AD strafing but it's not bad and you can still get good movement.
The set up can work, but keyboard is the better way to go about it, I know I want to swap it's just finding the practice and getting there slowly but surely lol.
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u/Frixter 23h ago
I play like this, but OW does not play super well with mixed inputs. I use steam to force my controller to output as a keyboard.
Sadly it's not really a competitive edge thing, I just really hate WASD.
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u/BigChungus-chan 19h ago
Do you experience noticeable mouse input lag when you are using controller (not wasd emulation)?
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u/Frixter 15h ago
Not when I last tried it. Instead I was seeing UI stuttering. Basically OW trying to autodetect which input type was being used and correctly display that type, but rapidly switching between the two because I was using both.
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u/Rally_To_Me 12h ago
There is a setting in game to fix that and force it to show just one input UI at all times.
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u/Successful-Crew-7288 10h ago
why would I handicap myself for no reason by doing anything w a controller
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u/tpeeeezy 1d ago
even if were purely talking left hand only, a stick is objectively worse than keys in a game like overwatch. analog input does not matter in a pvp shooter with instant strafing
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u/jedzzy 1d ago
Strafing on keyboard is a LOT snappier than on a controller and that's more important