I've been playing for a couple months now and have never really used the autoattack. When I first started playing, I just hit left mouse repeatedly to attack and quickly found that I kept jumping from baddy to object to friend. So I tried AA, I didn't really like it because it kinda stuck me to somebody until they were dead- not good if something stronger pops up and you have to deal with it. So I stopped using AA, and just hold down the left mouse button- if I have to change focus I just let up and face the new baddy and attack. I haven't used the next baddy buttons either, because I can't seem to keep all the keys straight and am not very fluent with keyboard gaming.

I've never really played a lot of computer games where you use all the keys for stuff (I'm used to controllers and joysticks), so I have trouble keeping everything straight. But I wonder what's the best way of doing things so I don't have to unlearn a bunch of bad habits as my characters get to high levels and I have to be *fast* in what I do. How does AA work? Do you need to keep a button held down or can you let go and use that hand/finger to hit quickbar keys as needed? Do most people use AA then use the "next" buttons to change focus to someone new if necessary?

I'm trying out a couple of completely different characters- a kensai tempest barb, a barb, and a sorcerer. I can see how AA would work for a Barb, who just walks in and destroys, moves then destroys some more and it doesn't matter what he's targetting, but for the sorcerer you must be much more specific in your actions, hit keys for spells, not usually attacking with a weapon, tring to avoid attracting aggro, etc. I could see how having a hand or finger free would be useful for hitting spells though, or allowing you to strafe.

I'm finding the sorcerer very difficult to play because it's so different from anything I've ever done- I never even used a caster once during my old PnP days. There is a lot of key pressing and hotbars to keep straight. I'm going to read the guide I found to get some more tips, but I'm just wondering what the most efficient/ quickest way to learn to play in general (and if it's different between character types) would be.

Thanks, and sorry for the blathering on....
D