MMO Input Devices

DampCat

DampCat

DampCat

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WURGLEWURGLEWURGLE

Murloc impressions aside, i'm after some advice.

I require an input device with assignable keys/buttons that i can use to make myself imbaleet in Murmorperguhs. Previously i would use UI modifications to make it easier to do lots of things with as little hand movements as possible... however UI mods are not available for all games.

Perhaps a little keyboard that has tonnes of buttons in close proximity that can be used to perform macros or bound as standard keys.. or a many buttoned mouse (the WoW mouse is a little expensive, but kinda along the right lines) a la the Razer mouse with 12 thumb buttons.

What do you guys use, if anything?
 
Aces. The Belkin one... what is the black thing on the right hand side? A thumbpad for directional control? Can that be bound to, say, camera movement? Or, can it be bound to 4 different "keys" or macros when pushed up, pulled down, or left and right?
 
I have the Belkin one and yes it comes with a little detachable hat thingy that you can push in or you can just use the directional keys below. You can assign any of the buttons to do what you want. Looking at the cross I use the up arrow for jump, the left for crouch, the down for prone (in games that allow it) and the right for binding the Tab key for scoreboards, etc.
 
Spanking. I think i might order one.

Cheers!

Edit:
Last thing... can it be used in addition to a keyboard or does it replace one?
 
Yes it can be used in conjunction with a keyboard. Belkin one is pretty good but have a read of the reviews for them all. The software with the Belkin one is a bit frustrating sometimes and the new Logitech one is supposed to be pretty swish but I have no idea how comfortable it is. The Belkin is extremely comfortable to rest your hand on for long periods of gaming but the Logitech looks a little flat (not talking about the G11 btw, talking about the G13).

Anyone able to say how comfortable the G13 is ergonomically?
 
If it's not too late, I'll throw another one into the mix: The ZBoard Fang.

I bought one for a couple of reasons: WoW, and being left-handed [it's symmetrical]. Very comfortable to use over long periods: it sits very low and has a decent wrist-rest. The big direction keys are wonderful, especially as it's meant to go in your 'weak' hand. It's completely customisable, too.

There's also the ZBoard Merc, which is a Fang and QWERTY board in one. The controller side is fitted on the left of keyboard, however, meaning it's a bit of a no-go for lefties.

Not that I've used one, but I'm not entirely convinced by the G13. It seems as though half the not-inconsiderable cost is down to an LCD, which you shouldn't be looking at anyway; the major point of an ergo-hand type controller is to *stop* you from looking down at your controller area all the time.

EDIT: Though it does give you access to a lot more keys, I've just noticed, which may suit MMOs more.
 
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Yeah the number of keys on the G13 is very attractive, although the price is daunting.

The Zboard Fang looks decent too at a much more sensible price, although the options seem a little more limited at first glance than the G13. Then again, it doesnt waste time with looking over-fancy like the G13 where im sure you're paying for the style over the function.

I think i'd pick either of these over the Belkin, which i've decided doesnt have enough keys to warrant the price.

The keyboards with macro keys are nice, but the keys are not brilliantly placed for fast finger usage and require you to take your hands away from the WASD position to use them, which is what im trying to avoid.

Thanks for your inputs guys. It's a tossup between the G13 and the Fang. No hope for a cheaper cut-down LCDless version of the G13 eh?
 
The Belkin does allow you to assign a key to use as a colour mode switch so that effectively you have 3 lots of the keyboard. I have found that generally it is enough keys for my needs: 14 keys, wheel up, down and press, single thumb button, 4/8 way directional keypad and lasty a second thumb button at the bottom. I disable the diagonal keys on the directional pad because I find it too hard to get them to register properly so without those 4 you have 23 keys in one mode. Sacrificing a key for switching modes would give you 22 x 3 ie: 22 keys in Red mode, 22 in Green and 22 in Blue.
 
DampCat said:
Yeah the number of keys on the G13 is very attractive, although the price is daunting.

The Zboard Fang looks decent too at a much more sensible price, although the options seem a little more limited at first glance than the G13. Then again, it doesnt waste time with looking over-fancy like the G13 where im sure you're paying for the style over the function.

I think i'd pick either of these over the Belkin, which i've decided doesnt have enough keys to warrant the price.

The keyboards with macro keys are nice, but the keys are not brilliantly placed for fast finger usage and require you to take your hands away from the WASD position to use them, which is what im trying to avoid.

Thanks for your inputs guys. It's a tossup between the G13 and the Fang. No hope for a cheaper cut-down LCDless version of the G13 eh?
Click to expand...

as above, you can get a G11 for about £20 cheaper and it's a verynice keyboard.

it was 18 macro G keys with 3 on the fly profiles which means possible combinations of up to 48 macros...
 
Argh!

Ok, thanks guys. I've ordered the Belkin.

I didnt realise it had a thumb profile switch, plus its half the price of the G13, way more attractive than the Fang and i prefer the ergonomics to that of the macro keyboards.

I'll let you know how easy it becomes to melt faces :)
 
Hopefully you have big hands, i had the Nostromo N52 which is basically the same, though i found it a little annoying to use because i dont have the biggest of hands, the spacebar always felt a bit weird too.

Report back with how you like it anyway
 
Arrived first thing this morning, yay OCUK.

I'll let you know how it goes after the weekend :) Had a quick fiddle at my desk at work, two of the keys need a bit of strecthing to reach without moving my hand, but that's no problem since currently when using the keyboard i have to stretch right up to 0, - and = anyways!
 
I had one of those gamepad-keyboard-esque things. I've since done back to useing the keyboard, the pad just doesn't have enough buttons.

What I have been considering is getting a square layout USB keypad with 5 rows of 5 buttons, I know I've seen one similar somewhere. Map your W,S,A,D to the middle of the bottom and 2nd row of buttons, shift to the left bottom, ALT or CTRL to the right bottom. That should leave you with 17 unused buttons, that you could map as you please, which then triple up when combined with SHIFT and CTRL (or quadruple if yiou can do SHIFT+CTRL+Button) for a nice 68 Buttons to map as you fancy.

If you're playing WoW you could make a Bartender (Addon) layout to match your keypad while you get used to the new map for sake of ease, as far as I remember bartender is quite happy to state change bars based on CTRL, ALT and SHIFT modifiers.

If only I could remember where to buy these keypad things....! :D
 
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Yeah bartender does allow you to shift bars on keypress. Very handy.

As a priest i would have all my damage spells (heart Disc/holy) along the first bar, then healing spells and buffs/debuff removal along the upper... and holding ALT would move the top bar down onto the bottom and use the original binds. Was really useful. 1 would be smite, and also Flash Heal when ALT was held.

This keypad will be usefull for other games as well, though, and not just WoW :)
 
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