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Practically all PC mice come with scroll wheels now, and most games take advantage of it in one form or another. Mostly, I've seen its function been used for scrolling in menus and zooming in and out. Personally, I think zooming in and out would be a cosmetic and perfectly pointless feature in SC2 (or any RTS). So I don't think the mouse wheel should be used for that function in SC2. I'd like to see it take on a more useful role.
In FPS games, which I don't play too often, the mouse wheel is usually used to cycle through your weapons. I just bought Half Life 2 and while I was playing it I reminisced about playing Doom way back in the day. This drove me to make comparisons based on interface, and it was remarkable just how intuitive and fluid the controls for HL2 are. And one of the biggest differences was the use of the mouse wheel to select weapons.
Then I got to thinking... hey, this'd be great in SC! Wouldn't it be nice to bind certain unit abilities to the mouse wheel? Think about it... instead of pressing 4t5t6t 4a click 5a click 6a click to stim and attack, wouldn't it be nice to have the option to press 4 then spin the mouse wheel for stim, then A and a click to attack move? I think it'd be great.
I don't think the mouse wheel should be used to activate abilities like morph (hydra -> lurker) or targetted spells (psi storm, lockdown), but it'd be fantastic for a number of immediate and unit specific abilities.
Abilities from SC1 I think the mouse wheel could handle:
Terran
Marine: Stim
Firebat: Stim
Tank: Siege
Sieged Tank: Unsiege
Ghost: Cloak
Wraith: Cloak
Dropship: Unload cargo (without stopping)
Zerg
Hatchery: Select larva
Zerg ground units: Burrow
Overlord: Unload cargo (without stopping)
Protoss
Reaver: Make scarab
Carrier: Make interceptor
Shuttle: Unload cargo (without stopping)
In SC2, I think it'd also be good for toggling supply depots (above or below ground).
I personally don't think this would noobify the game, but rather it'd just improve the control interface, similar to remapping hotkeys on your keyboard. Please leave your thoughts on this.
Poll: What should the mouse wheel function be?
(Vote): The mouse wheel should have no function.
(Vote): The mouse wheel should be used for scrolling menus only.
(Vote): The mouse wheel should be used for zooming in and out.
(Vote): The mouse wheel should be used for abilities that affect the caster.
(Vote): The mouse wheel should be used for all unit abilities, treat it like an FPS weapons' scroll.
(Vote): The mouse wheel should perfrom an unnamed function (post below specifying).
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Canada7170 Posts
But what happens when you have two different units selected?
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They can give weight in the code to certain abilities based on expected frequency of use, I'm sure. Like, say you have 1 tank in a group with some mnm, using the mouse wheel should stim the marines and leave the tank alone. That's just how I'd do it, though. They could also do it like WC3, where groups have highlighted subgroups defined by unit type...
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make the mouse wheel separate group of units, thatd be more useful.
Say you have 15marines and 5 medics selected, pressing the mouse wheel lets you select all the marines in that group while pressing it again let you select the next higher rank unit, like a medic or something else inside that formation.
so moving a huge group of Terran metals around youd just be like, *click mouse wheel* I+left click (for mines, then *click mouse wheel* O for siege mode.
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Calgary25981 Posts
Who voted no function? At the very least it should move the map in and out.
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One very big problem with using the mouse wheel for abilities, is that the mouse wheel is very sensitive, and you definitely don't want to stim 5 times just because you rolled the wheel a few too many clicks. And I find hotkeys more intuitive, because it's easier for me to click while pushing the keyboard. For example, scrolling to switch to weapons in an FPS is good because you aren't actually shooting during that time. Meanwhile, in SC, you would probably be right clicking or attack clicking while you're stimming.
Zoom in and out should be what it's used for, because in my opinion even the aesthetic zoom in and out is better than a dead mouse wheel.
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I shouldn't have made "no function" the first poll option. People that don't like my idea are probably just reading the first option, noticing that it makes my idea impossible, and selecting it. :/ I personally thought that "scrolling menus" option would've been the popular answer for people that don't like mouse wheels in their games, but that hasn't received any votes yet....
On September 17 2007 13:26 TheShizno wrote:
One very big problem with using the mouse wheel for abilities, is that the mouse wheel is very sensitive, and you definitely don't want to stim 5 times just because you rolled the wheel a few too many clicks.
I could see using the mouse wheel for abilities being a dexterity problem for people that are used to rightclicking places while stimming, but practice fixes that. As far as stimming 5 times in a row, I'm sure an input delay could be implemented in the software to avoid that problem (which would be very big). But its a good criticism to bring up, especially if an input delay turns out to be buggy or impossible.
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Though I do think mouse wheel could serve a function, and I agree that map zooming is rather stupid and pointless, I don't think tying functions to it such as unit abilities and attacks should be the answer. I was thinking it should be incorporated with the UI somehow, such as scrolling through your idle workers or your control groups, etc.
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I would want it to do what most players expect it to do by default, zoom in and zoom out. However, it would be cool if players could map it to various functions. Didn't Blizz already say that we would be able to remap our hotkeys and stuff? If so, it would be cool to see what uses for the mouse wheel people find if it was made mappable.
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zoom in and zoom out sounds stupid to me because how many people would want to be zoomed in? (and thus see less of the map)
it just sounds annoying if you accidentally scroll it like that
using it for unit abilities is an option but like you said there are definitely some problems with overstimming or accidentally sieging/unsieging really fast so it gets stuck etc. which could probably be worked out with some input delays
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United States7166 Posts
mousewheel could be used to scroll through the different subgroups in any selection of units/buildings
(replacing the tab key)
for those who don't know what i mean, if you have medics, marines, and tanks selected in a group, you can have one of those groups (such as medics) selected within the group. (so with that subgroup selected within your entire selection you can cast things like Flare even though you have marines and tanks in the entire group. it's a feature of wc3 and now sc2)
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is awesome32274 Posts
How about for map signals? it would ping your partner/s where you are looking. Like if you see dts in your expo, you wheel at your expo. and it would ping them there.
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On September 17 2007 14:27 IntoTheWow wrote:
How about for map signals? it would ping your partner/s where you are looking. Like if you see dts in your expo, you wheel at your expo. and it would ping them there.
but you can already do that with minimap
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What about just using the mouse wheel as an alternative to tabbing through groups? Then again, I guess it could be a bit too sensitive for that too.
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Sweden33719 Posts
In WC3, isn't it used to move up/down in perspective? I haven't played in a while.. I think that's the best use for it, seems pretty easy to make mistakes otherwise.
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maybe cycle through the hotkey groups?
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fuck gives about zooming in and out im not michael bay
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is awesome32274 Posts
On September 17 2007 14:50 XCetron wrote:Show nested quote +On September 17 2007 14:27 IntoTheWow wrote:
How about for map signals? it would ping your partner/s where you are looking. Like if you see dts in your expo, you wheel at your expo. and it would ping them there. but you can already do that with minimap
That was not my point -_-
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i like the idea.
I have 2 extra buttons in my mice that can be configured
Right now the do
0 in one button, 9 in the other.
So i dont jump around so much using the keyboard. Still got to access 678 somehow 
Building a probe with wheel down for example, would be nice.
Or burrowing lurks, siege mode, lockdown.
But im a guy that likes easier interfaces to concentrate more on the game. Many MANYYYY ppl here just want a game with all kind of hard stuff to do to add skill 
hope mice can be configured well in sc2
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Just like everything else in the game let it be customizable. If I want to bind my mouse scrolls to f2 f3 f4 for easier location hotkey I can or if I want it to be bind to a number hotkey why not?
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EPT
