Remapping Engineer special key

Is there any way to re-bind the special key just for the Engineer class?

When I went to my key mapping settings there didn't seem to be a way.

With any other class or vehicle the special key triggers your shield/cloak/self-heal, so I instinctively press that key as soon as I get shot at. With the Engineer though I instead throw out a spectacularly useless ammo pack and get killed.

Thank you,

In the meantime, while you're waiting for the feature to be implemented, would learning not to rely on instinctive button pressing help you?

As a medic main when I play infantry, I feel your pain.

This makes zero sense.
It's like if there was one class where LMB was aim and RMB was fire. And then you blamed people who had trouble using it because they "rely on instinctive button pressing", even though the real reason for the difficulty is inconsistency in the game design.

If a game (or many other things, like say a car) is designed correctly, it should be the case that you can operate the controls 'instinctively' while thinking about what your desired result is, not about what controls you need to use to accomplish that result. What if different cars had the gas, brake, and clutch in different orders? And you had to consciously think about which ones to press in which order during a high-stress situation?

If that were the case, you'd be able to press anything and get the desired result. If you press a button that should activate your shield and instead you throw down ammo, you're just not paying attention to what you're doing. You're probably excited, yes, but beyond excitement comes rational decision-making based on what's going on around you and what you have to work with. At some point you need to realize that you're an Engineer; else, you'll be pressing that special button, nothing happening, and keep pressing it through life death and respawn, wondering why nothing is happening.

That's not a very good example. All of the keys on the keyboard are exactly the same and perform the results as defined in the settings, just as all the controls in the car are outlined in its manual. There's a good deal of conformity between designs for easy recognition as well as ergonomics, but that's essentially what WSAD is supposed to do. if you have a button that activates your special ability, you have to ask what your sepcial ability is at the moment, do it can change. Even you argue that it can change - Heavy Shield, Infiltrator Cloak, Combat Medic-dealie. But the buttons on the steering wheel may be in slightly different configurations from car to car, as well as the controls around the center column, and so forth (if one car even does any of the functions of the last one). It's all in the manual. You don't have to memorize the manual; you just have to learn what different buttons do, like when you set the car radio time using what are normally the channel and volume controls.

Automobiles can be quickly split into two groups - manual transmission and automatic transmission - and neither all manual cars or all automatic cars will have the same gear shift layouts. Get a person who doesn't know about driving stick - he only kows automtaic - and he's bound to have significant issues until he learns what to do and what not to do, issues that he must iron out through control and practice, with potential wear and tear of the vehicle until then.

Most people ride on either the accelerator or the brake and remember either to slam down on the brake or switch pedals before slamming their foot down. At least, the ones that don't just panic and hit the wrong pedal by accident because they're in the middle of panicking. If you get into a car accident because you stepped on the Ammo Pack when you intended to step on the Heavy Shield, don't call me. Call a Medic. And a lawyer. Unless I am the Medic at the time. You should still talk to the lawyer.

I'm sorry, but a car has controls that can be operated instinctively, yet you are not able to "press anything and get the desired result." This argument does not follow.

That's exactly the issue, there is not a good deal of conformity between pressing F for a combat boost, versus for throwing ammo. Calling them both 'special abilities' in an attempt to correlate them is functionally meaningless.

This further proves my point. A person used to automatic will need to do some learning to drive a stick, but that control scheme builds on, rather than alters, the control scheme they already know. Once they learn the stick shift, they can easily go back to automatic, and none of the automatic's controls differ from the stick's. There are simply fewer of them. But all of the shared controls have the same exact functions, and are in the same exact places, on both types of vehicles.
A Planetside 2-style implementation would, say, switch the break pedal out for the clutch when going between auto and stick. Which would obviously cause some issues for drivers who may be used to one or the other, even if they have experience and knowledge of both.

Oh well, that's unfortunate.

Throwing-down-the-ammo-box-and-dying is not a common thing for me, but it is common enough that I was looking to change my keybindings.

It seems to be a fix that wouldn't be very difficult to implement; hopefully this functionality shows up in a future patch...

That's the point. It's not "press F for 'Give combat boost' " or "press F for 'Use stealth boost'." It's "press F to 'Use Ability '." That's what the keybind is called - an "ability." It doesn't indicate what the ability will be - that's a matter of context - nor does it promise that there will always be a special ability. The Engineer didn't have an 'F' function for a portion of its life. The Light Assault still doesn't have one. (The Light Assault has a contextual double jump.) By your definition, the MAX must be a complete mess since what happens when you press the F key goes all over the board.

While driving automatic, you normally don't have to touch the shift stick unless you stop and park or reverse. A person with manual has to change gears to handle road and traffic conditions. The process of starting the vehicle is also different, enough that I would not be able to start my current car because the engine won't turn over unless I start in "Park." (It's a safety feature that can be disabled, mind you, but the other control scheme requires that I start in "Neutral.") I don't have to watch the tachometer or ever respond to it while driving in automatic while it's a prominent status control for using manual properly. While I admit it's good for appreciating the subtleties of what your transmission is quietly doing, manual doesn't really build on the tactile operation of the automobile for an automatic driver and instead just gives him more things to focus on while he uses the standard control scheme.

But the concerns and manipulation of manual's controls do differ from automatic and that's the important part. You don't have to feather a clutch or touch the shift stick or make certain you have the appropriate RPM to gain or lose speed. The results of these actions occur just in the act of trying to change speed. Going back to the stick shift, however, if you try to functionally map the 2nd gear on a manual shift to the "2" on an automatic because they both use a "2" to describe what they do, it's not going to produce the desired result.

You ignored my points about support of the classic direction keys, essentially the ergonomics of first person games being similar to the position of the accelerator, brake, and clutch as you're stated but are contrasted against the variance with its secondary feature controls, such as the buttons on the steering wheel. Some have more than others, many have buttons in the same regions, but rarely do they do the exact same things. The classic ergonomics are already there in this game. In my opinion a "special ability key" is not among them as many games do something different, if they do anything. Similarity between controls for the same sorts of actions also don't apply to everything. Do you press to throw grenade, switch to grenades and then throw them, do you get to control the angle and power behind the throw or is it just an automatic toss; this is something different from game to game. If I tried to throw a PlanetSide 2 grenade in PlanetSide Classic, I would get a big explosion right at my feet and a lot of pain (but I also would not be dead from full health).

Just for a specific example: an automobile I used to own required a press and twist action on the pommel of the wind shield wiper control arm to spray wiper fluid. The car I am currently driving relies on pulling the lever in a direction that would not activate the wipers. Instead, twisting the pommel has fine adjustments for wiper speeds between the traditional 1-2-3. I've seen wiper control arms that are a solid piece, no extra knobs, but you push in on the whole arm as if it were large thumbstick for the wiper fluid. Don't want to look at the controls? just gotta remember what they do for a given vehicle.

To come back to where I started, I have not, at any point, complained that your proposal is a bad one or that I disagree with it. Since we're not pressed for control space like on a game pad (sorry PS4, under the bus with you) it'd be a simple thing to do. I do think, however, that you'll have a smoother time, even after it's introduction, if you learned to keep in the back of your mind whether you have a rocket launcher on hand versus a nano-repair kit. Think of the unfortunate vehicle you'd be trying to interact with. Forgetting you're an Engineer is a green soldier's flub - it's something everyone does when they started playing, especially if they've been playing non-Engineer classes a whole lot, and may panic and do once in a while even now, but it's a slip of the mind and finger that grows less common with experience and care.

The problem here is that you're approaching this from a technical standpoint and not a user-oriented standpoint. The fact that they're all "Special abilities" in the controls menu is meaningless. All that matters when it comes to actual gameplay is the user's intuition.

How does any of that disprove my point? Driving a stick is exactly the same as driving an automatic, just with stuff added. An automatic simply automates some of the actions the driver would otherwise do. None of the controls are swapped out. There is nothing a driver who has driven a stick all their life needs to learn the first time they get in an automatic.
Case in point: The first time I drove an automatic was ~3 years after I got my license. I drove a stick nearly every day up until that point. Then I drove an automatic with zero training. Because it's the same, except a machine is doing some of the stuff for you.

An automobile's peripheral controls are not critical in a life-or-death situation, and so manufacturers can change them without harm. This is because they do not have to be operated instinctively, and that puts them outside the realm of this discussion. The same goes for starting or parking the vehicle.
Let's see an auto manufacturer try to get away with changing the order of the gas and brake pedals. My guess is that NHTSA would be on top of them before they could finish the initial sketch.

Buttons on the steering wheel are not needed in a high-stakes scenario. See my previous point. The shield is a core survival function, and has to be activated instantly for the best chances of survival. The fact that myself, the OP, and almost every PS2 player I've talked with about this matter take issue with how pressing F in a firefight means "Live" on one class and "Die" on another, indicates that this control scheme is not user-friendly, regardless of the theoretical ergonomics you're discussing.

A user is a wise fool. At some point you need to cut them off and tell them that they need to subsist on rational options, else you'll just get an overblown project feature scope and metrics you'll never meet.

"I'm playing Engineer. My class is designed to alleviate the combat issues other players are facing. Pressing the 'F' key drops ammo." That's all that matters. The second part is optional.

You're not going to get me to argue that automatic is not easier. Learning the other way around is more of an exercise, even if only by a bit.

If you've not figured my position out yet, then I'll spell it out. The special abilities of the classes are their peripheral controls to the WASD (or WSAD, if you like to pair opposite directions). They change from class to class even though the mechanisms may inhabit the same physical locations. If you've come to depend on them to survive then my personal opinion is you're driving poorly; but, I'm not interested in building a major argument criticizing your driving from moment to moment because even mine sucks from another's perspective. All I'm asking is you remember what kind of vehicle you are driving when you go through the motions (not that I recommend that either) and not let your car stall when you panic. That's because ...

... the problem is that you don't have a Heavy Assault Shield when playing as an Engineer. No matter what other points of this argument, you do not have a second shield. Trying to activate something that doesn't exist won't be good for your survival. You'll go into situations, expecting a boost, and press a featureless button, and die because you don't remember that you don't havethe feature you want. Granted, you won't stop shooting because you prioritize putting something down on the ground, but you'll feel indignant all the same.

Well then you and I have fundamentally different design philosophies. Look at the iPhone. Techies mocked it three ways to Sunday when it was announced because it catered to the user experience above all else, being designed to be as intuitive as possible. So easy a child could use it.
"It'll never compete with real productivity devices like the Blackberry or Windows Mobile!" they said.
Lo and behold, it was the most successful handheld launch in history, completely redefining how every cell phone in existence was designed.
Meanwhile BB and WinMo are in the "The user must be told to subsist on 'rational options'" grave.

Not a thought that should need to occur in a split-second engagement.

Ignoring how this argument is simply bad design (as I already mentioned), LA's special ability, the jetpack, is not bound to F. So even in the Planetside 2 universe, this rule you're thinking of does not exist.

Actually, this isn't a problem at all. Accidentally pressing F on Light Assault has zero negative repercussions. No one presses it expecting a boost, because the user is not an idiot and knows the are LA. They press it because it is reflexive to do so when getting shot. If nothing happens, great! That's literally the desired outcome in that situation.

Yeah, great idea.... Also, make a special key for Infil cloak, and the medic healing field, and the shield bubble...

F is the ability key, and players are expected to know what is the ability of their class, and when to use it.
I get the whole "muscle memory" thing, but after dying 2 or 3 times usually your brain get the idea.

Oh please, now you're just being facetious. The request was to have the option to un-bind non-combat abilities like "throw ammo" from the F key. Simple as that. Don't try to build a straw man here.

I was being sarcastic.

Seriously, I play Engineer a lot, yet when I switch to Heavy for a change of pace, I never died because I forgot to use my shield. Because in my head, I know what effect is triggered when I press F, based on the class I'm using.

The issue here is the OP thinks "F triggers a combat boost", which is a false statement. F triggers the special ability of your class, it has been this way since the beginning of the game, and it is not hard to get what the ability do and when to use it.

Nobody thinks that. As I've already mentioned, pressing F when shot at is simply a reflexive response. Not caused by not knowing which class you're currently playing. People who play engineer more than other classes (I presume like you?) apparently have trouble understanding this. As someone who mainly plays medic, it makes perfect sense to have the option to un-bind 'throw ammo'. Honestly, up until this thread, I didn't think anyone could possibly be against this option.

Does a Light Assault instinctively press F when shot at ? No. Neither does the Engineer, or a Combat Medic with Shield Recharging Field. As for the Infiltrator, outside of Nano-Armor Cloak I'm not even sure if that helps in any way. This reflexive response you speak of really boils down to people being too dependant on their Heavy shield and/or Medic healt-regen field.

As stated, F is the ability key. ABILITY. Not the use-when-being-shot-at key.

Now if you want to un-bind the F key while playing Engineer, feel free to do so, but that won't help the fact that you will retain your reflexive response of pressing a key that will do nothing.

That's just you saying that you're not thinking enough about it to not perform a futile action. If you can anticipate and plan around holding down the jump button to get helpful distance/height as a Light Assault, you should be entirely capable of remembering not to press a button in a situation where it's not helpful. If there was a class that could slip through cerain marked walls and that was your reflexive "get out of jail" action, when not playing as that class you end up bumbling against the collision of the wall without allowance, you'd have a real inescapable problem.

The pattern you've been describing is called a bad habit. Ergonomics aside, you typically want to break those or, at least, not coddle them, lest worse arise.

As much as I am not the kind of elitist that demands perfection from my enemies, my allies, or even myself, I have a strong distaste for the notion of playing whichever class as some least common denominator of all the classes. To me, that's a stale response announcing that you are only barely engaged in the subtleties of the game and may as well be playing a more generic one.

Need a placeholder to keep the automobile theme going but didn't have anything to tie in this time. Uhm, don't play Gran Turismo like you would Mario Kart?

It's called muscle memory and all the top performing players in any high speed reactionary situation rely on it. It's what you TRAIN your body to do so that when it comes time to react you can do it WITHOUT THINKING about it.

Having the same muscle memory response for oh **** I'm getting shot is a result of good training kicking in. Tossing a ******* ammo pack is poor control scheme design.

I support this change. Anyone who doesn't is an *** hole.

Nope. Muscle memory is the key to all training. You train so that you can rely on performing the task reflexively. As in WITHOUT THINKING about it. It applies to anything in which you have to train or practice to "get better" you form new neural connections during the training that take over when performing the action so you don't have to consciously think about what your body is doing.

Imagine if you changed the keys on a piano. Then said to a pianist. Just think about what notes your playing. Don't wotry about all the years of practice you have with the keys being tied to certain notes. Play it non reflexively.

That's essentially what the engineer class is. It's a piano with one of the keys tied to a different note.

Can you be retrained specifically for the engineer button scheme? Sure. Should the buttons be able to be remapped? Yup.

Disagree completely.

Skill isnt defined as simply how good your muscle memory is, but how well you can play the whole game.
Changing your relex movements to suit your new class and situation is part of the skill of playing.

Its also a balancing thing, sort of.
You put 100% of your time into HA, your going to feel the pain when using other classes.
But thats a small effect imo, switching to 'not pressing F' mode is not hard to do at all.


Suggestion for OP, remove your F key when playing engineer.
You can still press the button with a pencil or something when needing ammo .