v o i c e a c t i v a t i o n

i use ptt on m5 and i blabber on just as much if not more than anyone else on my team during fights

You're over thinking this by a whole lot

If a mouse button feels bad and you can't use voice activity for whatever reason, then just use a keyboard key that's easily within reach of your left hand. Most people use caps or shift but if you use your pinky a lot for movement then you might consider r or f

being able to use every single left hand finger at all times is the most optimal because you never know when you're going to have to crouch, strafe, or jump, right?

some mice like the deathadder you barely have to move your thumb to press down the side button but with my preferred mouse, the ec2-a, the side button is high to the point where I have to make an effort to move my thumb

You could try binding crouch to m4 or something if it really bothers you that much

Crouching is definitely the least important of those three actions in most situations so your pinky should be free most of the time

The real protip here is that your bad comms aren't related to your PTT they're related to you not talking enough.

I have an ec2 evo and I have no problem hitting the side buttons with my claw grip

Maybe just get a mouse that fits your hand better

try m2?

clockwork used side mouse wheel

lets assume most scouts use mechanical keyboards, considering playing scout is a constant "adadadddadaadda" its rather unwise to not use push-to-talk considering the amount of noise these keyboards produce

what do you mean side mouse wheel

Use a toggle instead of holding a button.

Revolutionary update!
-say "okay, tf2" to acticate voice chat

I use Q and when I need to strafe left while talking I just press a by laying my finger flat on the keyboard, I've never found this uncomfortable

You could use toggle mute, will be awkward for a while but once you get used to it its very nice.

a mechanical keyboard will be just as loud and obnoxious with voice activation + toggle mute as with ptt unless you're a mong and forget to mute it (which will most likely happen at first but hopefully as you get used to it this will stop happening)

I used to do mute/umute with voice recognition. Doesn't bother me during combat, you just have to adjust it so your team doesn't hear the keyboard and shit.

left shift

When I was having issues in S20 with comming during fights I had switched to voice activation, I spent a lot of time configuring it so it wouldn't pick up my keyboard (it still happened but it was pretty rare). Beyond messing with the voice activation a lot O-ring dampeners on non-clicky keyboards helps a decent amount.

Dampeners I use
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AZQ2OF8/

Having a mic that's attached to your headset, facing towards you helps as well.

(not invite or a scout main) I tried capslock but then I would find myself unable to strafe left while comming, so I moved to +duck on mouse4 and push-to-talk on mouse5.

if you use auto reload why not R easy to press and can aim and shoot :)

my old mouse has mouse4/5 activated by index finger on the top of my mouse (god knows why) but i have no problems hitting mouse4/5 with my thumb using a palm-gripped ec2-a. what mouse do you use? otherwise do what other people suggest i guess and use shift/control. you can bind mouse2 to crouch or make space a jump/crouch bind.

mediocre shit like this wont make you invite just use what youre comfortable with

E and R feel very natural, especially if you're not using crouch much (as a scout, you're probably not)

why do they have to be invite just fucking pick a button and use it lol

shift, tho one button won't make you better at the game suddenly

what is clockworks bind for melee

how did you crouch? because I use shift to crouch

use voice activation and have a mute self button