Mouselook or autoaim?

[indio]

I've recently started playing DOOM again after getting burnt out on some Dota 2. I've been playing DOOM with mouselook on when I played it back in 2017 until now, where I finished The Ultimate DOOM and DOOM 2 with autoaim on and mouselook off. Then I got the compulsion to play Plutonia with mouselook on, so I've been playing it with the option enabled. I was just wondering on whether or not I should keep playing with autoaim on mouselook off, or vice versa. Also, which do you guys prefer?
 

[BoxY]

It's really a matter of preference, nobody is going to kick down your door and arrest you for enjoying one control style or the other, or even both :). A couple years ago I was die-hard in favour of mouselook and used it for everything, but over time I experimented with disabling more and more advanced source port features and slowly bought my control style back to more vanilla settings, which is what I prefer now. Auto aim has its limitations but in general I'd say it feels more natural and efficient to me on most maps. That said, a lot of modern UDMF maps are designed with mouselook in mind and don't play nice with auto aim, so I switch if it's really needed.

[amackert]

You should do whatever you want.

 

Personally, I play with traditional auto-aim because that's how I've always played DOOM. It feels most natural to me that way. When I mess around with mouse aiming, I feel like I'm cheating. I only use it in WADs that were designed around it (same with things like jumping).

[Biodegradable]

I personally prefer Mouselook, no auto-aim. It makes things feel more fluid and less stiff, plus auto-aim can have a habit of really putting me in a jam by hitting the wrong target when I REALLY need it to hit the specific one I'm pointing at badly cos OH MY GOD I'M ABOUT TO DIE! lol

 

Doom it your way, baby, cos there ain't no wrong way to play. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by Biodegradable

[idbeholdME]

If I were to use mouse aiming in Doom, I would 100% disable auto-aim.

 

But as a keyboard only player, it always stays on.

[unerxai]

Quote

Also, which do you guys prefer?

 

Auto-aim for Doom

 

Mouselook for games that have it

Edited September 22, 2020 by unerxai

[Reisal]

Freelook and free aim, always. Don't need autoaim, I am capable of getting them without issue.

[Mayomancer]

When i do mouselook i turn autoaim off, but i usually don't mouselook unless the mod/wad calls for it.

[seed]

Always autoaim, freelook depending on context.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

From my experience, freelook can alters a map's design in some ways:

 

• Visual-breaking, some maps might rely on engine oddities and the texture assignment system to create interesting tricks like hanging crates, a bunch of corpses. Mouselooking (at least without considerable amount of efforts of messing around the settings) will definitely make these visual types aesthetically displeasing.
• Progression/Gameplay. Many maps have vertical switches that are so poorly hidden a simple look upwards and a bullet could easily enable them, potentially allowing you to skip big chunks of the maps. Same case with enemies, especially ones that are intentionally set to be troublesome only when you can't freelook. 

The best thing it offers is precision, where you can land your shots the way you intended. Generally, these cases of elevated enemies are few and far between, so I always use freelook when possible, it helps my reflex more stabilized.

 

Autoaim is competent enough, you get to multitask less, but it is not good for targets from afar that happen to be so elevated from you as well. You can easily kill and cheat yourself with the rocket launcher, so that's definitely something. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by TheNoob_Gamer

[Phobus]

If ever a thread needed a poll, it's this one.

 

For me, mouselook and no autoaim is the way to go. I tend to save ammo and avoid the frustrations that come with not guaranteeing my shot will go where I expect it to.

[Kokoro Hane]

I personally prefer autoaim since that is the way the game was designed. Unless it's a mod that requires mouselook, I'll play it without it. 

[Vermil]

I use autoaim

7 minutes ago, Kokoro Hane said:

I personally prefer autoaim since that is the way the game was designed. Unless it's a mod that requires mouselook, I'll play it without it. 

This.

[Deadwing]

Both

[Thermal Lance]

I stick with vanilla-style all the time. Except if the wad I am playing was designed with mouse-look in mind.

[CoyoteComrade]

Mouselook. This is the zoomer in me but I want to decide where my bullets go, not John Carmack.

[M_W]

Play however you want, but I think you should play classic WADs without freelook, autoaim enabled at least once, even if only for a few levels. It changes how the game plays.

 

It's not any better or worse, per se, but when you can't shoot the cacos shooting at you from behind hellknights because the hellknights are in the way, it forces you to either dispatch the hellknights as quickly as possible, find a new--possibly more dangerous--vantage point, or use some other method of herding the monsters. I personally feel like using freelook can take away from this to some extent because you can just look up and pop whatever you want.

 

It doesn't make the game worse, but it's makes it very different. This isn't a matter of developer intent (developer intent doesn't matter, in my opinion, the game plays how it plays at the end of the day).

Edited September 22, 2020 by M_W

[NoXion]

My preference is to have mouselook with autoaim completely switched off. I dislike the idea of a computer choosing my firing vectors for me. When a monster closet suddenly opens up behind me on an elevated position, and I whip round and instantly blast them all away with the super shotgun, I get to feel smug about having done all that myself.

[Thorogrimm]

I like both. For GZDoom I prefer to have mouselook with auto-aim off, and for vanilla-oriented ports, I enjoy the experience of just horizontal aiming.

[Lila Feuer]

Auto-aim unless it's GZDoom, why complicate things?

[Chow Yun Thin]

Mouselook with no auto-aim, but reading the responses has me realize that I'm picking off enemies where the auto-aim may not have allowed me to.

[VanaheimRanger]

Personally I use freelook AND vertical autoaim.  I have found that people will tell me often that this is bad...but it works for me.  I use freelook because I want to see the architecture above and below me, I use autoaim because I also want a bit of vanilla behavior.  My tip is do whatever feels best for you.

[Lippeth]

If the engine supports it, I bind mouselook to the alt key, and keep it off under normal circumstances to prevent motion sickness. I don't think I've ever turned off auto-aim, and generally can't play mods that require it and mouselook for more than a minute before the barfey feeling sets in, especially if using software rendering. 3D rendering helps a little because the whole world doesn't warp when looking up and down, but then I don't find it as aesthetically pleasing. Even if I didn't get sick I think I would still prefer no mouselook and full auto-aim, it's just simpler.

[DNSKILL5]

I agree with everyone saying you should play how you want to, but you asked for opinions so here's mine:

 

I use autoaim and don't use mouselook for Doom, but mouselook and no autoaim for Heretic/Hexen/Strife. I just prefer Doom with the old school style of aiming more. I think it's debatable whether using mouselook  -autoaim or not using mouselook +autoaim makes the game any easier/harder. I think the change in difficulty people argue about is a psychological change, not a real significant or game-breaking one. So, like others have said, do what makes you feel the most satisfaction.

Edited September 22, 2020 by Gerolf

[Bridgeburner56]

Mouse look. Auto aim makes me shoot rockets into stairs when I fire down at monsters. 

[VanaheimRanger]

2 minutes ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Mouse look. Auto aim makes me shoot rockets into stairs when I fire down at monsters. 

I have blown myself up many times due to this, lol.

[Biodegradable]

1 hour ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Mouse look. Auto aim makes me shoot rockets into stairs when I fire down at monsters. 

 

1 hour ago, guitardz said:

I have blown myself up many times due to this, lol.

 

>tfw you want to rocket a Cacodemon, but the auto-aim thinks you wanted to frag the Hell Knight miles downward from the high ledge you're standing on, clips the edge of the platform and blows your legs off.

 

Yeah, that happened one too many times for my liking heh.

[Endless]

1 minute ago, Biodegradable said:

 

 

>tfw you want to rocket a Cacodemon, but the auto-aim thinks you wanted to frag the Hell Knight miles downward from the high ledge you're standing on, clips the edge of the platform and blows your legs off.

 

Yeah, that happened one too many times for my liking heh.

Obligatory reference video:

 

[Stabbey]

I am too used to modern FPS, so mouselook and autoaim are on. Most wads are not designed for the use of mouselook... but rarely does mouselook break their design.

[Scotty]

Autoaim. The game feels and looks straight up wrong with freelook.

 

Modern FPS games are so far departed from Doom's style of gameplay that i can switch between old and new school with ease.

Edited September 23, 2020 by Scotty