Hey Bioware! Stop forcing me to use KB&M

I think we can all agree that Bioware has moved from creating awesome rpgs that appeal to hardcore rpg nerds (such as myself) towards making games that seek a more broad audience and work on consoles.  
I love playing DA:O or Kotor with my mouse and keyboard, but when a game is clearly designed with a controller in mind why the fuck would they not give me the option to switch to it if I feel like it?. It´s nuts, just let me chose. 
 
Keep in mind: 
I do not own a console and I would not play these games on a console. 
I do not enjoy having to spend hours trying to figure out a way to map the interface to my x360 controller using xpadder.

Because they weren't thinking of you or your PC in the first place.

Which game are you talking about? I can't think of any Bioware games recently that play better with a controller. Even DAII, which was arguably more console-centric, was much better with the hotbar.

Because they weren't thinking of you or your PC in the first place.

Which game are you talking about? I can't think of any Bioware games recently that play better with a controller. Even DAII, which was arguably more console-centric, was much better with the hotbar.

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

I thought you could play Mass Effect with a pad? I'm fairly sure. I don't agree at all about playing DA or SWtOR with a pad.

BioWare Anger Brigade using strange tactics today. Tomorrow they'll get back to "dumbing games down for console and CoD crowd GRAAAAGH".

ME - I loathe playing a shooter with dual analog sticks. Give me KB&M any day for that super fast aiming.

DA - I need to be able to move my character, turn the camera, and access all of my abilities at the same time.

TOR - I currently use 29 different hotkeys for all my abilities. How am I going to do that and have total control over my character and camera at the same time on a controller?

But then again I'm all about precision and optimization and less about comfort.

Yeah the option would be nice, especially if they start designing more games with controllers as the primary option.

I have no idea how you would play TOR with a controller. I use about 11-13 abilities.

I went through this with ME. I purchased them both on Steam during a sale so that I could get a full save for ME3, but after trying to play them with KB&M I gave up. Guess I'm stuck with 360.

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

@Delta_Ass said:

I have no idea how you would play TOR with a controller. I use about 11-13 abilities.

Where in his post did he say he wanted to play TOR with a controller? cause i don't see it. He would like to play KOToR with a controller on his PC, and quite frankly so would i.

@pornstorestiffi

He edited it out.

@Rattle618: Instead of remapping XPadder controls, just remap the keyboard controls for the game. No need to make it hard for yourself.

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

@pornstorestiffi

He edited it out.

Ahh ok i see. Well in that case he is insane.

@pornstorestiffi: he did say "Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 and The Old Republic"

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

@Delta_Ass said:

I have no idea how you would play TOR with a controller. I use about 11-13 abilities.

Where in his post did he say he wanted to play TOR with a controller? cause i don't see it. He would like to play KOToR with a controller on his PC, and quite frankly so would i.

Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 and The Old Republic are three games I can see myself enjoying from a comfortable position away from the monitor, and Im sure ME3 and DA3 and whatever else comes from them will walk a similar path. 
 I understand that is probably not the most popular of preferences but...

@pornstorestiffi

He edited it out.

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

BioWare Anger Brigade using strange tactics today. Tomorrow they'll get back to "dumbing games down for console and CoD crowd GRAAAAGH".

@JustKamToo said:

@pornstorestiffi: he did say "Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 and The Old Republic"

@ZeForgotten said:

@pornstorestiffi said:

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

@Delta_Ass said:

I have no idea how you would play TOR with a controller. I use about 11-13 abilities.

Where in his post did he say he wanted to play TOR with a controller? cause i don't see it. He would like to play KOToR with a controller on his PC, and quite frankly so would i.

Second Post he made in this thread:

Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age 2 and The Old Republic are three games I can see myself enjoying from a comfortable position away from the monitor, and Im sure ME3 and DA3 and whatever else comes from them will walk a similar path.
I understand that is probably not the most popular of preferences but...

Guess i read the second post as it was Knights too,so sorry about that.

Whether or not your preference makes sense, you have the right to enjoy your input device of choice... So yeah, Bioware need to implement gamepad support! 
 
I never knew they didn't btw, news to me.

Just a thought: Your complaint might have more effect if it were aired on a board BioWare might actually see. Posting it here makes it seem like you're just ranting into the uncaring void of the internet.

*TF2 Heavy Voice* Because Keyboard and Mouse is superior way to play games to babby gamers controllers.

Anyway, I have no idea. I would never choose to play a game with a controller when the option to use a KBM is available. As far as it just being a matter of giving the option, I believe they balance the games to play a little differently when you use a KBM then with a controller because you can do more and act faster with the KBM that you can't with a controller. I just know from playing ME 1 on the 360 and then later on the PC the combat felt much different and more chaotic on the PC.

And just for the record, you are insane if you think you can play The Old Republic with a controller. Maybe the first 1-5 levels, but you very quickly get 20+ powers you need to have in a hotbar and there is no button remapping that would allow you to activate them in any serious way that would allow you to stay alive.

*TF2 Heavy Voice* Because Keyboard and Mouse is superior way to play games to babby gamers controllers.

Anyway, I have no idea. I would never choose to play a game with a controller when the option to use a KBM is available. As far as it just being a matter of giving the option, I believe they balance the games to play a little differently when you use a KBM then with a controller because you can do more and act faster with the KBM that you can't with a controller. I just know from playing ME 1 on the 360 and then later on the PC the combat felt much different and more chaotic on the PC.

And just for the record, you are insane if you think you can play The Old Republic with a controller. Maybe the first 1-5 levels, but you very quickly get 20+ powers you need to have in a hotbar and there is no button remapping that would allow you to activate them in any serious way that would allow you to stay alive.

@Rattle618 said:

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

DC universe works ok with a controller, Im sure they could figure it out for ToR if they wanted to.
@Brodehouse said:

BioWare Anger Brigade using strange tactics today. Tomorrow they'll get back to "dumbing games down for console and CoD crowd GRAAAAGH".

Nah man, I love Bioware, Im just saying not adding the choice (specially since the work is already done) doesn´t make a lot of sense, that´s all.

DC Universe was designed from the ground up to have the compromises needed to powers to work with a controller. It was balanced specifically to limit you to only having enough powers active at any one time that there would be an open button to press on the controller. TOR has been balanced from the ground up to have hot keys and 4 quick slot bars of 10-12 slots each. I'm in the mid 20's on my Bounty Hunter and I have three of the four quick slot tool bars full of things I need to activate. There is no way you could map all of those things to a controller. To make TOR work on a controller they would have to rebalanced the entire skill tree of every class, and completely change how the game works.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Whether or not your preference makes sense, you have the right to enjoy your input device of choice... So yeah, Bioware need to implement gamepad support! I never knew they didn't btw, news to me.

That's basically what I think. I don't think anyone said controllers were "better." Just that they preferred using one.

I knew Kotor didn't have controller support since I bought it on Steam real cheap. I just assumed it was because it was an older game. I had no idea they didn't have controller support for something like Mass Effect or Dragon Age. I agree with the OP, that that doesn't make much sense considering those are new games that are on consoles. The option should at least be there.

@AhmadMetallic said:

Whether or not your preference makes sense, you have the right to enjoy your input device of choice... So yeah, Bioware need to implement gamepad support! I never knew they didn't btw, news to me.

This. Not doing that is basically overlooking one of the PC's strong points. I like my options, don't take them away please.

@TobbRobb said:

I thought you could play Mass Effect with a pad? I'm fairly sure. I don't agree at all about playing DA or SWtOR with a pad.

Neither ME nor ME2 have native gamepad support. There were leftover files for the 360 interface in the PC version (which it makes it even worse, IMO), and the community did try to restore them into working order. It kinda worked, but still had a lot of issues.

I agree with you. However, @Ravenlight is right (and also needs to take off his Santa hat!) You should air this concern on the BioWare boards. Take the advice of some of the people in this thread and be sure to express in your initial post that your preferences may not be the most popular, but you feel the work has already been done and would like to see it implemented.

@Little_Socrates said:

@Ravenlight [...] needs to take off his Santa hat!

Fuck, you're right! Good call, duder.

@Ravenlight said:

@Little_Socrates said:

@Ravenlight [...] needs to take off his Santa hat!

Fuck, you're right! Good call, duder.

I took my hat off late, too. It's an easy thing to miss!

The only reason I play Mass Effect on 360 now is because I don't like the BioWare points thing at all (for DLC), Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 both play much nicer on PC, no need to use that stupid wheel. I played ME1 & 2 on PC originally and switched to console after when I wanted to do all of the DLC. The first game is bad on 360, so many framerate problems, second game is much better, but again, the wheel is not great to deal with.

I did find it a bit baffling that they lacked controller support. I thought it was some sort of joke.

@Little_Socrates said:

@Ravenlight said:

@Little_Socrates said:

@Ravenlight [...] needs to take off his Santa hat!

Fuck, you're right! Good call, duder.

I took my hat off late, too. It's an easy thing to miss!

I too need to do this, but am fairly lazy about doing it. I guess I might as well go do it now......maybe.

I agree with you. However, @Ravenlight is right (and also needs to take off his Santa hat!) You should air this concern on the BioWare boards. Take the advice of some of the people in this thread and be sure to express in your initial post that your preferences may not be the most popular, but you feel the work has already been done and would like to see it implemented.

I agree that it is weird that Bioware doesn't allow the option to play the ME games with a controller on the PC. 
Luckily there are mods that allow that, though it doesn't work flawlessly for ME2, it is perfectly playable: 
Mass Effect 1 
Mass Effect 2

@Jack268 said:

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

@pornstorestiffi

He edited it out.

None of his posts say "Edited X minutes ago" below them. Either way, I played WoW with a controller occasionally, because your average DPS rotation only includes 5 spells or so anyway. I also played with a fightstick once, but no mouse control and camera control is terrible for business. But I agree, if a game has a different UI for consoles, they should allow you to switch to that and use a controller in the PC version. This is one of the good things about Kingdoms of Amalur.

ah.. sorry.. lol. I knew it was somewhere, but couldn't see it so I just assumed it was edited. lol.

@Rattle618 said:

@SLUSHiNaToR said:

Uh.. You honestly think playing an MMO would be better with a controller? REALLY? I couldn't even imagine playing TOR with one.

DC universe works ok with a controller, Im sure they could figure it out for ToR if they wanted to.

DCUO doesn't play like a standard mmo. It's more action oriented. Also, it was designed with a console in mind. I don't disagree that it COULD possibly work okay with a controller, but it wouldn't work well.

@Brodehouse said:

BioWare Anger Brigade using strange tactics today. Tomorrow they'll get back to "dumbing games down for console and CoD crowd GRAAAAGH".

Don't worry we're still doing that today.

I got a free copy of Mass Effect 2 from Origin, but have decided not to play it since I couldn't use a 360 controller. :( It runs so smooth, too!

I assume the reason behind it is the following: "meh".

I've been playing to lvl 20 with a blutooth PS3 controller in SWTOR. Been fun since the very start. Space combat is more fun than sliding you mouse around, combat is more enjoyable, wireless keypad for chat, etc. I have no reason to go back to keyboard and mouse. I get top damage in my PvP brackets most of the time. For offensive players, gamepads can work if you know what you're doing, and how to set them up. My 2 cents.

This thread is dumb. It's like demanding that the arcade versions of Street Fighter games come with keyboard and mouse support.

I was really disappointed that ME & ME2 on PC had zero support for 360 controllers. Both were on consoles it seemed like a no-brainer to me.

While I don't understand why anyone would want to use a gamepad over KB/M on PC, I also understand that some people are weird like that, and so I also have no idea why Bioware doesn't include the option. They already have most of the code, too, so it's really quite mind boggling.

@Rattle618: You've obviously never played DA:O on a console if you think it's a good way to play the game.