I think that'll drive away a lot of MMO players. But, I'm not sure if it matters, since it's an action MMO and it probably wouldn't be the last irritation average MMO players find with the game.
Action RPGs and action MMOs are becoming their own thing and the key bindings are one of the biggest differences from other MMOs. Neverwinter, I think, has taken the biggest leap, but after the first couple of combats, I was adapted and it began to feel intuitive. This is coming from someone who has been playing MMORPGS since UO, for what it's worth.
However, I prefer a more casual or traditional setup too. I think if Cryptic wants your business, they ought to give you alternative keybind setups like Champions does. Champions is an ARPG too, after all. I actually suspect they're going to do just that. My suspicion (no inside info here) is that they want beta players using the recommended setup. And I COMPLETELY understand why if that's the case. Because if they allowed other kinds of setups, they'd get a lot of players blaming Cryptic after they'd screwed up their settings, trying to get it to feel just like their favorite MMO instead of Neverwinter.
This is actually just what I've done to myself in Champions. That game has always felt clunky to me. I tweaked my controls to function just like City of Heroes. Well recently I changed the settings to work more like they were intended, and low and behold, everything felt really nice and fluid. Of course, that didn't stop me from switching back to my clunky City of Heroes-style controls later; but I did compromise and put a bunch of keybinds around my directional keys, ala The Secret World.
Change is good, except for when I don't like it, and when it comes to controls in an MMO, I freaking hate it. In most cases I'd take mashable buttons and cool-downs (like CoH) over any ARPG any day. But, as strongly as my quirky self feels about it, I know times are a'changin'. In Neverwinter's case I decided to let it grow on me. I think we'll see a lot more games coming out in the ARPG "sub-genre" for MMOs and I don't want to arbitrarily sideline myself. YMMV and this isn't an attempt to talk you into anything, because I sure as heck know how it feels. But for me, personally, I've had to realize, what it comes down to is less "I don't like this control scheme" and more "this doesn't feel like City of Heroes." Because, damn, I just miss the way CoH felt. It felt right and intuitive on day one and never stopped feeling that way. It's weird having to get used to other setups. So weird that I spent a couple of hours my first day in CO, tweaking it to feel as much like CoH as I could get it to.
I know Golden Girl's team wants to build a game where City of Heroes players would feel right at home. She has said that more than once in interviews. Well, I hope they remember the controls and cooldown mechanics and everything. Not every MMO needs to be an ARPG. I've told many people that I feel like NW is kind of the popcorn flick of MMOs. It's a blast to play, but I couldn't settle in there for regular play. When Heroes and Villains comes out some day, I hope the controls feel like City of Heroes felt.
