Hi Guys! 

I was hoping to have a bit of discussion/advice regarding some game-play control conflicts which I have run into

Backstory:

As I try to get more and more people involved in beta testing my upcoming Steam release of BorderStrain I am starting to notice two very different control preferences from the users

Since the game is a mixture of more pure top-down ARPG and Crafting I have been receiving players from both these kind of playerbases.

Unfortunately the expected game-play controls differ between the two groups

ARPG players seems to like the controls, which are typically what you would expect in an ARPG, using mouse click left to move and right click to attack. Skills and various actions are on the key-board with default bindings for skills being Q,W,E,R

Players with a background in Crafting games, however, seems to expect to use keyboard keys to move and the mouse to interact, which typically found in games such as minecraft or 2d sidescrolling crafting games. This makes BorderStrains controls seem unintuitive.

I am trying to find some solution to this clash but so far I only have 2 solutions and both have their own drawbacks:

Solution 1: Daddy knows best

Taking a "Daddy knows best" approach by saying that the default configuration is the most popular one and simply forcing news players to accept it (with exception for changing keyboard bindings of-course)

Drawback: People expecting other type of controls feels disoriented and simply gives up on the game because they dont like the control

Solution 2: Optional Configuration

Present the player with a start-up option to use either an Standard (ARPG) control or a Crafting style of control layout. This would allow both player groups to get going relatively smoothly

Drawback: Whilst using the keyboard to move would work in the initial stages of the game, the game is still quite skill focused for combat. In a typical ARPG you have the left hand free to handle skills/actions easily. With a Crafting style setup I fear that the players using the keyboard to move as well will struggle immensly with simultanious control of skills and movement in combat and therefore get an unpleasant and confusing experience as the gameplay progress

I would love to get some feedback and ideas from you guys! 

My vote is for solution 2. On the place where users can change the configuration, state the pros and cons for both configs.

For testing purposes at least, go with Option 2.  The crafting players will decide for themselves whether crafting controls trip them up in combat, and if it does, you'll be able to get valuable advice for how to refine the layout.