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In fighting games for example, most people will tell you to use the D-pad over the sticks so you can more consistently perform rapid complex movements.
With sticks I find it easier to accidentally press up-right instead of just right, something that never happens to me on a d pad.
Ultimately its down to preference, but D-pads do have certain advantages over sticks and vice versa
Is it up to the player whether to use either and then that player maps the D-pad or sticks (or whatever will replace my usual mouse/keyboard setup) or is it game specific? Say I'm playing a 1st person shooter which I use WASD and the mouse to manage everything. I could either use the D-pad or the sticks or even both in combination? As someone whose used to not using a controller, what would be the best approach to duplicate the the action/mechanics of the mouse and keyboard? How do the touchpad things work as a mouse pointer/aimer? I think that the closest thing I can imagine to what I can expect the deck to be for me is using a laptop and touchpad instead of a mouse to game. Does that sound reasonable?
For a first person shooter: Trackpad + Gyro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1cn_qSanVA
Steam has this Steam Input feature that allows you to map buttons to other buttons so even if a game does not support controllers at all then you can, for example, map WASD to d-pad and mouse to a stick and a trackpad simultaneously. The options are quite wide and nearly unlimited what you can do with Steam Input.
Even if the game supports a controller but does not come with a mapping functionality, it is possible to use Steam Input to map controller buttons to other controller buttons.
Note: You do not necessarily have to map the buttons if a game works out of the box. Some games may have decent default bindings, but the option to customize everything is up to the player. The Steam Input bindings are game specific because different games may require different bindings.
The trackpad is fantastic for camera control, especially if the game supports mouse for camera. You may need to fiddle with the sensitivity settings to make it feel comfortable.
The trackpads on Steam Controller have been better than any laptop trackpads I've used, and with mouse camera it gives a lot better control over the camera than a thumbstick does. Mouse vs. trackpad comparison is a bit harder because it comes down to personal preference and what you are used to. I'd guess it might take you some time to get used to a trackpad for a camera control but I definitely don't think it loses to mouse. I haven't personally used gyro very much. It's one of those things I tried even though I didn't feel need for it but I've heard it can be used for small and accurate control to support trackpad's wide and fast control.
Steam Controller lacked a proper d-pad, and had a trackpad as its replacement. My previous controller before SC had a d-pad but it wasn't very good which I realized once I started using SC and the trackpad as a d-pad.
On a keyboard one would normally use arrows or WASD keys for movement. On a controller I'd personally use different options depending on the type of the game. For example, 2D platformers with d-pad / trackpad, and 3D games (1st or 3rd person) with a thumbstick. The circular movement of a thumbstick feels a lot better in my opinion in a 3D environment compared to a trackpad, but for basically everything else I greatly enjoyed using the left trackpad for movement on a Steam Controller. I'm kind of curious to try the d-pad and compare it to the trackpad when I get Steam Deck in Q3.
Going through menus is a much better experience with a d-pad / trackpad than with a thumbstick in my opinion.
In a game that has fixed camera from the top, and player controls movement and the direction a character is facing, then two sticks should be good for that.
In conclusion, and in addition to what ugafan already said about trackpad + gyro, WASD keys can be mapped to d-pad, trackpad or stick without much hassle but each of those options offer different feel of control, and can better suit for different use cases. Mouse can easily be mapped to stick or trackpad, although for camera I definitely recommend the trackpad.
Also, please remember that these are based on my experiences (and I don't have the Deck yet), so your mileage may vary. Just like with any kind of input device, controllers can take time to learn and, for example, when I got my first controller I had trouble even with remembering where ABXY buttons were (or more like which button was which), and had to check them multiple times, or with Steam Controller getting used to the trackpads.