Why are your eyes so slow? Even if I did forget the key after all this time, it only takes a fraction of a second to check.

And get a mouse. That's half the problem right there.

I save Iron Heart Attack for the following situations:
-There are large clusters of enemies.
-Half (or more) of the team is low on health.
-I am low on health.
-A lot of dangerous enemies that do high damage are around, so the occasional Defense Up orb is nice, especially if there is poison (yes, I believe it restores the defense loss you suffer while poisoned, though you obviously still can't heal).

I save the Seraphic Aura for the following situations:
-My shield is broken and there are lots of enemies around. (The increased shield regen is an amazing thing, and if you're trapped this gives you time to hack and slash your way out of the corner without taking damage)
-I need to walk over traps to gain mobility in a room in a pinch.

I save the Disintegration Ray for the following situations:
-I need to kill a set of enemies a tad faster.
-Royal Jelly, Vanaduke Mask, and Snarbolax, and any of their shadow lair variants.
-Spawn camp deadnaught that will take just a tad more than a Blitz Needle Charge (without the defense down) to kill.

I almost never use Concussive Firebolt.

I use Backfire Barrier for the following situations:
-Gotta go fast.
-Need a quick defense up and want to be hurrdurr with my vortex/brandish and spam away.

I never use Explosive Firestorm because I picked it for looks, not the utility that Frenzied Firestorm provides. I might get a second utility-only Drakon.

I am still fattening up my Maskeraith.
-Past Level 50 I feed my pet orbs and grind in the clockworks. (125 Orbs)
-Past 75 I feed it stars until it reaches 105. (105 = 100 + 5 final perks) (147 Stars because of 150 - 3 for catalysts)
-This actually isn't that hard to accomplish if you plan for it in advance. Power leveling the pet past 50 like this will get your pet from 50 to 105 in about 7 days at the most. It's even easier if you (like me) decide to exclusively use heat from the clockworks to heat your pet until it gets to needing stones.

I have my sprite skills set to W, E, and R for skills 3, 2, and 1 respectively. I use 1 the least so it needs to be more out of the way.
I may look like I'm lazy in battle, but I'm rather saving my sprite skills for when they're more effectively used. I really hate being on cooldown when I'm in need of my sprite's skills in a pinch.

Quick slots for 1, 2, 3, 4.
Weapon selection for mouse and F.
WASD for move NWSE.
Space for move forward.
CTRL for modifier
Shift for AT Toggle.

I don't think it's hard to find and use a control scheme that's ergonomic for you while incorporating your sprite's skills... though maybe that's my opinion after playing WoW and quitting.

"move forward"? Why would anyone use "move forward"? Also if you have sprite skills mapped to W, how can you have WASD movement?

Uh he specifically stated "WASD for move NWSE"

Isn't 123 the default for sprite skills? I use 1234 for vials since I'm used to it.

Get a better computer/internet or stop playing
One does not simply get a better computer or internet.

In fact, in most places, there is only one internet service provider, so they run a local monopoly that gives you substandard internet. Then comes to the question of can you afford better internet if you could get it.
Just because your hardware or net isn't the best of the best doesn't mean you can't play a game, no less a game that's pretty simple and fun with a large social base to it.

Would you drive a car that had no tires? I sure hope not.

My Seraphynx isn't Level 105 yet, but I'll list how I use it's powers:
-I use the Ray of Light for extra DPS when fighting enemies.
-I use the Heart Attack rarely, but I'll use it as a last resort to get health.
-I use the Angelic Aura to bypass traps and nullify enemy damage temporarily so I can charge up an attack or consume a health capsule to restore health.

Sometimes I usually forget I have my sprite's skills because I'm so focused on fighting. Being distracted could cause massive problems for me.

I don't have the other sprites, however, so I can't list my reasons on how I use them.

I find Seraphynx' aura to break instantly if there's more than just myself under it.

It makes the ability selfish, because you can only use it to protect yourself. At least with Drakon's flame barrier, you can get aggro from enemies and tank hits for a while.

It doesn't help that attacks from your allies will also break the shield.

Would you drive a car that had no tires? I sure hope not.
In this situation, a better comparison would be you have only one shop that sells tires but they only have old used ones that only fit on your car barely. It makes it work, but it isn't desirable, but it's better than nothing. Then someone else insults you and tells you to "get better tires" when there is absolutely no way to get better tires.

And Blazzberry, you're not alone in that. If I can I'll try to run my aura over people but lag and that delay of giving them protection just doesn't help. Usually I'll try to run the aura over them if I see their shield break, because Seraphic aura is great in that area.
Granted I don't use MSI usually but I still try to let my protector role fall into place.

@blazzberry I never thought of that. If I'm gonna run MSI VH, I much prefer to use Backfire Barrier. Randoms are ingrates and/or don't realize the aura helps them :(

Don't waste 5* mats. You'll need them for Stars once you reach level 75 or so

I know you're joking, but evo catalysts are bound except the last two Ultimates. Which they would be dumb to buy early.

@Actual Topic

Sometimes I forget to use my sprite skill, and often times my sprite skill just kind of fails me. Like, if I use drakon's ash of agni, then it will somehow manage to get stuck, or if I use seraphynx's shield it will instantly break. I think it is in part those kinds of experiences, and not wanting to botch the sprite skill, that work against people using them. I am improving though. A while back I thought that seraphynx's barrier thing was kind of useless, but I recently found good use for it during the tortodrones.

Of course the other bit of that was that I forget a bunch. I've already beaten most everything without a sprite, and I have a good bit of muscle memory regarding the dodges, layouts, etc. Even if it would help me in the future to use and really master them hard, I tend to out of sheer laziness just go back to what I've been doing for forever.

@Addy

Sounds like you like it pretty rough ;) I would love to hear more about your life, actually. Being one of the humans must be fascinating.

Fehzor - My life is not rough, I'm honestly the happiest I have ever been, minus the time to play SK. Please don't talk to me.

Batabii - *shrug* I play SK because it's pretty casual, but that's also why I rarely run with random people. There's a difference between casual players like myself, who can pull their own weight, and entitled babies, like the people you're complaining about.
It sounds to me though like you should find a core group of people to run with and try not to stray, because no amount of complaining on a forum is gonna change an entire playerbase. It's just not gonna happen and I'm sorry the game community isn't the way you feel it should be, but there's no sense in getting upset about it.

Do you really want me to apologize for having a bad computer?? I have been poor my entire life. This job is finally letting me build a PC. I have about half the parts now, next paycheck I can buy the rest and the monitor hopefully, so popping onto SK to level my sprites (which are actually already level 100) won't be an issue beyond that.
However, I only brought up my own personal experience because there are **other people who can't just hop on.** Not everybody is blessed with the money to build a good computer, the kind of free time you have, etc, etc. I'm speaking for myself but I know there are others in similar situations to mine, or even busier than me. And I'm speaking for those people!

Empathy, bro. We all have different lives and different situations and getting upset at somebody for not having the same idea of how to spend their free time.

and againnn, checkin forums only takes a few minutes. I'm a pretty fast typist, this whole thing just now took five minutes. I'm sure you've noticed that I've been posting a lot less lately?

Time to go on another casual Jelly King run, eh, Larry? I'll bring my Iron Slug.

And when I mean too far, it's taking a simple problem and blowing it out of proportion.

Spiral Knights was a casual game from the start. You're not supposed to spend 90+ hours grinding, it has meant to be a game that is accessible for everyone.

Weird how your comment only lead to you being sad while I was only made incredibly uncomfortable.

First you complain Greavers are impossible to beat (which is just biased junk, I can easily smite them a Final Flourish), then tell people to get a better internet/computer or stop playing (this reminds of Gaia Online...), then you complain that SK isn't a causal game (which it was from the very start, thank you very much)...

Batabii, stop playing SK. We don't want jerks like you.

And before you go "you hypocrite", you might actually be right on that. It still gives you no excuse to harass people who aren't given the privilege of having a good computer. And mine is only sub-par, yet it's been working circa 2004 if I remember correctly.

Lady-Of-War pats Addy on the back.